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Paper fluttered towards the floor gracefully, whilst the two boys who stood above it argued endlessly.
“We agreed that Reverser and Evillustrator would have equal roles in the story!” The short teenaged boy with dull, ginger hair argued.
“Well, forgive me for accidentally giving favouritism to Reverser, seeing as though, he’s technically me!”
The taller teenaged boy with loud, navy hair yelled back.
Playing this scene back in my mind, I realise how pathetically stupid I sounded. I mean, it’s true that I was Reverser in the past, but that doesn’t mean I should favour myself over my wonderful boyfriend and his evil persona.
But what I didn’t realise, is that just five minutes later, the same akumatized personas we were quarrelling over would make their grand reappearance.
“Hello. Forgive my intrusion, but I sensed a friendly rivalry between two partners of love and art. And arguing over your akumatized versions of yourself… well, I can help you with that. I can give you the power to become those versions of yourselves again, and maybe you could find out which one of you deserves to play a bigger role in the comic, unless you can equal it out.
All I ask in return, is for the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Do we have a deal?”
I hesitated slightly. This couldn’t be happening. We couldn’t be getting akumatized, not right now! But before I could argue or reject the akuma, Nath graciously accepted it. I gasped, as the purple, bubbly substance coated us. I couldn’t fight it, and suddenly, my mind blanked out…
That’s how we got here.
We stood opposite each other on a Parisian rooftop, mirroring a cowboy standoff in the Wild West. Evillustrators eyebrows furrowed, as he gripped his pen. If he gripped it any harder, perhaps it would snap. But I knew at any moment, he’d charge at me, or maybe I’d charge at him. Anger welled up inside me too. I slowly moved my hand behind my back, and conjured up my signature monochrome paper airplane, ready to strike.
The air was still, but the atmosphere was loud. I peeked over the edge of the rooftop, suddenly realising there was a congregation of curious people, phones out, recording our whole ordeal. This distraction made me drop my guard, to which I then heard the nimble pattern of feet running towards me.
Evillustrator pounced on me before I had a chance to reciprocate, he held my arms above my head, and pinched the paper airplane out of my hand, lobbing it down into the crowd below. I heard a scream, and the majority of the crowd dispersed, with just a few brave onlookers staying.
“Let me go!” I hissed, but Evillustrator giggled. I kicked and fought, but to no avail.
“Did anyone ever tell you, you look incredibly cute when you’re angry.” Evillustrator said, a sickeningly sweet grin plastered on his face. As much as I hated this guy right now, this calmed me down.
He let me go, and we stood up, staring at each other again, but this time, a hint of mischief clouded itself around both of us. I raised my eyebrow, hoping he’d get the hint, to which he did.
I hoisted myself up onto my hoverboard, and Evillustrator drew himself a pair of white, feathery wings. We were about to fly away, when we were interrupted by the agitating but familiar sound of a yo-yo. We turned around in sync.
Ladybug and Chat Noir stood furiously in front of us. I looked over at Evillustrator. We knew it was our task to get the Miraculous, but we both truly couldn’t be bothered. But, like they could read our minds, Chrysalis appeared inside my head.
“Get the Miraculous, there’s two of you, and your powers are much more powerful than theirs…”
I shook my head. “Give us some time.” I said.
Ladybug and Chat Noir stormed towards us, getting ready to attack with their trademark weapons, but instead, I grabbed Evillustrators arm, and pulled him off the side of the building. He caught his balance in the windy air, and we flew around for a while, attempting to get the superheroes off our tails.
“What’s the plan?” He yelled down at me.
“Just follow my lead!” I yelled back up, and took a sharp turn left around a narrow corner. We glided down a dingy alleyway, and into darkness. Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to have not followed us.
Although I couldn’t see, I knew Evillustrator stood opposite me. I needed to be careful of him. We still hated each other, and he could do anything to me, at any time.
“I say, we just go around… and have some fun?” I suggested. “If you know what I mean?”
I felt my hands being pinned up against the wall again. He’d got me. He moved closer to me, until his face was just centimetres from mine. I saw glints of his wild orange hair and lilac skin. I always thought I had the cooler supervillain costume.
He tightened his grip on my arms. “I know what you mean.” He gave me a look, and I knew which look it was, because it was one he gave as Nathaniel when he was stressed and needed comforting. This guy sickens me.
I leant forward and kissed his forehead. “Not now.” I assured him. “Maybe later, if you impress me!”
He let go of my arms, admitting defeat. I smirked in the darkness, and glided upwards, ready to wreak havoc on Paris.
“You think you can just follow us around, recording our every move, but what would you do if you didn’t know what technology was? Reversion!”
I spent ages carelessly throwing paper airplanes at everyone I saw, until the streets were littered with Parisians stumbling over one another, confused, agitated and begging for mercy. Evillustrator, on the other hand, joyfully flew around, erasing random objects and drawing new, boisterous things to replace them. Where the spire of Notre Dame once stood proudly, now towered a comically large lollipop.
Paris from above now looked like a child’s drawing. Stupid, mundane objects crowded each road, as people danced around and sung, whilst others moped and cried helplessly.
Multiple times we’d seen Ladybug and Chat Noir searching the skylines, and so we’d duck into a house, redecorating it for whichever poor souls lived there.
“Isn’t this so much fun!” I exclaimed, as Evillustrator created a pink goat that ran around, eating everything in the apartment we currently occupied. I’d already reversed the quarrelling couple who lived there, and they danced in the kitchen sloppily, showing far more affection to each other than I care to admit right now.
“Could be us, one day.” I sighed, as the couple fell to the floor from the aggressive kiss they gave each other. Evillustrator suddenly drew a divider between us and the kitchen.
“Why not now? Haven’t I earned it?” He got on one knee, drawing a ring. He presented it to me. It was a simple diamond ring, but in the black and white reversed colours, like me! As much as hatred boiled dangerously inside me, at this moment I just wanted to throw myself onto him.
I took the ring, slipping it onto my finger gingerly. “Hm. I guess maybe you deserve it.”
Evillustrator clambered onto his feet, and jumped. I stood up, and walked over to him. I took my left hand and gripped his chin, pulling him closer. His eyes widened, and his pupils grew larger. The sour expression on my face was just a facade, to make myself feel like the bigger person, because truthfully, inside, butterflies habited my stomach. My heart fluttered like their wings, bashing against me.
I rested my face, and pulled him in. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pushing his head further towards me. His leg brushed against mine, and spun him around, pushing him onto the sofa.
I towered over the rather short villain in front of me. He reached for his pen, but couldn’t find it. I brought my hand out from behind my back, and waved the pen in front of his eyes. “Looking for this?”
“You bastard.” He uttered, as I slipped the pen behind my ear. I knelt down, and our faces crashed together again. As much as I tried to act nonchalantly, these were the best moments of my life, although it’s a damn shame I remembered I would forget these if we were to be deakumatized.
I felt things were maybe going to escalate, but I was not ready for that, so we just kissed passionately. We did so, climbing off each other and locking lips again for around a minute, until we heard a crumbling noise behind us, and the ignorant sensation of the windy air outside assaulted us.
It was Ladybug and Chat Noir. I could hear Chrysalis’ androgynous voice screeching in my head, but I didn’t listen. An odd wave of embarrassment washes over me. They’d just walked in on us kissing! They’d never view us in a good light again. I suddenly felt like I didn’t want to be hated by Paris’ two main superheroes.
I turned over and sat on the sofa next to Evillustrator, who once again reached for his pen. He searched everywhere, and began punching my shoulder.
“You’ve got it! Behind your ear! Give it here!” But I didn’t. I just stared ahead at Ladybug and Chat Noir, who charged forward at us. Before we had a chance to act, Chat Noir wielded his cataclysm and hit my hoverboard, whilst Ladybug grabbed the pen that rest behind my ear, and snapped it.
Dual akumas flew out, and Ladybug performed the de-evilisation ritual… and that’s the last moment I remembered from our time terrorising Paris.
When we arrived back to Marc’s, our phones had blown up. Texts came in from left, right and centre, from friends and from our parents. They talked and asked about our escapades around the city, but we felt hopeless, because we obviously couldn’t remember.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have favoured Reverser. We’re both equally as strange supervillains.” I apologised, taking Nath’s hand. He shook his head.
“I shouldn’t have made a big deal about it. I’m sorry. Let’s never argue again.”
I nodded gleefully, and kissed his forehead.
“You couldn’t kiss me anywhere else?” He asked, pointing at his lips.
“Maybe if you impress me with your drawing of Reverser.” I squeezed his hand, and we settled down, ready for an evening of comic-making.