Chapter Text
Marinette was livid.
The man terrorizing Paris had just decided to release an akuma in the middle of the night, prompting Ladybug and Chat Noir to look for said akuma until dawn. And conveniently for the moth-man (who apparently had nothing better to do in the dead hours of the night), the heroes hadn’t found the akuma and it somehow managed to affect half the population of Paris.
The akuma’s ability?
Soul marks.
Born from a sulking teen who read melancholy stories at night, Fortune Teller had the power to connect soulmates via all the methods one could name. Marinette found it bizarre. Straight out of a corny book. People started finding their other halves left and right while the akuma was still at large.
The weary girl dragged her feet into the classroom, hoping that they could finally catch the akuma later in the day. As she rubbed her eyes, she spotted her classmates huddled together, leaning over Alya’s phone.
“What’s going on?” Marinette asked slowly, fearful of the answer.
“Good morning, Mari,” Alya greeted in a singsong voice. “Check this out.”
She stretched out of her arm, proudly showing the words ‘Nino Lahiffe’ imprinted right where her pulse was. Nino brought out his own wrist and revealed his girlfriend’s name on it.
“Congratulations.” Marinette said monotonously. “But I was asking about the phone.”
Rose squealed. “It’s exciting! Alya and Aurore decided to compile a list of the soul marks from Fortune Teller.”
Alix squinted, skimming over the screen. “A timer that counts down to when they meet each other, first words tattooed on their arms, drawing on each others’ body, a red thread connecting them both. Huh, there’s a lot here.”
“Some soulmates are apparently trios, too,” Alya added excitedly.
“You—you do realize it’s the work of an akuma, right?” Marinette said, dropping her bag next to her seat.
“But it’s harmless!” Alya protested. “And so cool! We just have to sit back and enjoy the show until Ladybug and Chat Noir capture the akuma.”
Marinette huffed. I have raised this city to become too complacent, thought she.
“And getting the soul mark didn’t even hurt,” Alya said.
“Jesus, Alya, don’t tell me you got yourself hit on purpose!” Marinette had seen it last night. As soon as people realized what the akuma was doing, some jumped at the chance to find their own soulmates. They became another workload on the heroes’ plate.
“It was me, actually,” Nino raised his hand sheepishly. “Chris suddenly went outside and we both got hit. Then I called Alya and she got the mark too.”
Marinette made a disgruntled sound at the back of the throat.
“Who’s your soulmate, Marinette?” Mylene asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
“No one. I didn’t get hit.” Marinette narrowed her eyes at her best friend. “And don’t think about bringing me to the akuma, Als.”
It was a lie if she said she didn’t want to know, but the soulmate-based akuma ticked her off more. Also, Ladybug couldn’t risk a hit—the innocent civilian who would end up being her soulmate could be targeted by Hawkmoth.
Marinette spared a glance at Adrien, who was strangely dozing off on his table. A shimmer of saliva was dropping down from his mouth. She briefly wondered if he had gotten hit. She averted her gaze immediately. Sure, I’d be happy if it ends up to be him, she decided, but I don’t want to be with him just because an akuma said we were soulmates.
“How does Fortune Teller even know who are soulmates?” she crossed her arms. “Isn’t that a universe-scale kind of power? What right does she have to play matchmaker?”
“According to Markov’s analysis, ninety-five point five of the soulmates are highly compatible. Reports from Parisians state that they instantly hit it off with their respective soulmates,” Max explained, adjusting his glasses.
Marinette wanted to scoff. She needed the akuma gone soon so they could be over with the nonsense.
“Don’t worry about it, girl, you’ll find your man too,” Alya consoled teasingly.
“Chat! Your left!”
He dodged another attack and slid down a roof to meet Ladybug. She looked tired, as he was, and extremely pissed at the akuma.
Fortune Teller wore an elaborate dress paired with the bright marks on her cheeks. She hovered and flew around, releasing magical sparkles from her gun, which had a fat circular barrel. It was the same weapon that allowed soul marks to manifest on people. Chat frowned at the absurd fashion sense.
While her power was sweet, the akuma packed a serious punch. How the hell does she have super strength and flight and glitter bombs that can destroy a whole building?!
Chat Noir extended his baton and tried to reach for her, but she veered sideways immediately. “We should really be getting paid for this, milady,” he told his partner.
“Tell me about it,” Ladybug muttered, “We should be paid for the SLEEP WE LOST!” With her fueled anger, she threw her yoyo, which Fortune Teller expertly avoided again.
The akuma flew off far in the distance, spraying her glitter at unsuspecting passersby. Chat and Ladybug stopped near a chimney to concoct another plan. The hot afternoon sun watched on top of them.
“Ideas?” Chat blew out a breath, “All this chasing is tiring meow t. I seriously need a catnap. Again.”
Ladybug threw him a strange look. “I have a question.”
“Shoot, milady.”
“Have you gotten hit at all?”
Chat blinked. “Don’t get me wrong, bugaboo, I’d love it to be you but I don’t want to be hit. It just seems . . . I don't know . . . wrong?. I think people should still be free to choose who to be with.”
The soulmate concept was romantic for him. Almost a dream. But it seemed weird to be tied down to a stranger out of the blue without any say in it in the first place. Even if that stranger happened to be the best person out there. That restriction reminded him of his father’s harsh rules.
“I know!” Ladybug threw her hands up. “That’s what I’ve been saying to my friends the whole day but they were so hung up on the idea of soulmates.”
Chat nodded, remembering the craze sweeping over his class that morning. He was even surprised that school still opened its doors when there was still an akuma on the loose. Even the teachers didn’t seem to think that the city was in grave danger.
“Let’s get this over with,” Ladybug grumbled. She threw her yoyo and called out for her Lucky Charm.
A gun dropped down on her hands, eerily similar to the Fortune Teller was holding.
“Uhh, what are we supposed to do with that?” Chat eyed the gun carefully.
“Well thanks a lot , Tikki.” Ladybug stared at it. She shifted to peek out from behind the chimney. “Oh God, I don’t know what to do with it.”
“What if we need to look for Fortune Teller again to use it?” Chat suggested.
As if on cue, the akuma emerged in front of them and took aim. Both heroes dived out of range, barely missing the sparkles that landed on the roof. Chat saw Ladybug’s eyes widen as she gazed at the akuma. He didn’t know if it was a good reaction or a bad reaction.
“Fu—” Ladybug growled, “I think I know what we should do.”
Chat Noir gulped. No, it’s not good.
She clipped the Lucky Charm to her side and grabbed his wrist. His feet moved underneath him as she dragged them both right in front of Fortune Teller.
The akuma sprayed.
Chat closed his eyes and coughed. When he opened them, the akuma was flying off again. His head whipped towards Ladybug.
“What was that?” he cried out. The glitter settled on both of them and abruptly disappeared.
“We had to get ourselves hit.”
“What for?!”
“I have no idea, okay! I saw the Charm, then I saw Fortune Teller then somehow it had to be the solution.”
“Milady, how will finding out our soulmates beat the akuma?”
Ladybug’s lip twisted. She avoided his eyes. “My theory is . . . now’s not the right time to defeat the akuma. I don’t know exactly why we needed to get hit so I'll have to ask Tikki about it.”
Still stunned, Chat moved away. He rolled his shoulders, gauging if anything was different. “I don’t feel anything,” he observed.
“I don’t either. Do you think we need to detransform—wait!” With lightning speed, Ladybug took out her yoyo to pull up the screen. “The articles say some soul marks don’t appear right away.”
Chat read the civilians’ statements from his own baton.“User concernedParisian01 says ‘Pretty sure I was hit last night but nothing happened? Then I woke up this morning and poof! Everything was black and white!’”
“Which means we might not find out until tomorrow,” Ladybug said.
Worry started to take shape in the pit of Chat’s stomach. On the bright side, Hawkmoth won’t be able to know our soulmates. On the bad side, our soulmates might find out who we are!
They looked far into the horizon. Fortune Teller had disappeared again without a trace, much like the occurrence last night. Chat knew they’d be wasting energy if they continued searching.
“Regroup tomorrow?” he looked at his partner.
She nodded. “And compare our observations.”
That same night, Marinette and Tikki sat on her balcony. The former was too anxious for tomorrow to sleep and the latter was enjoying a snack.
“I don’t understand, Tikki. Why the gun?” Marinette buried her head in her hands. So much for sleeping.
“I don’t have full control of the Lucky Charm,” The kwami replied. “I just knew it was the solution for the meantime.”
“It’ll be alright tomorrow, right?” Like the cloudy skies, Marinette’s head was muddled. There were many possibilities for the soul mark she would receive. She scanned the list and none of the marks seemed appealing if she wanted to protect her identity.
“Hmm, I feel like something bad’s going to happen, though,” said Tikki pensively.
“Tikki don’t say that!” Marinette’s voice raised a pitch. “We should believe it’s okay! It’ll be okay! Simple and straightforward like Nino and Alya’s marks! It should be okay!”