Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Alya and Zoé’s stint as Scarabella and Kitty Noire was very brief thanks to the Alliance rings revealing their identities to Monarch, but what if they hadn’t worn them…?”

Tikki and Plagg watched Marinette and Adrien’s friends, deciding who should have their Miraculous.

“I hope the one I choose can use one of those Alliance rings to order me some camembert,” Plagg said.

“Plagg! We have more important things to worry about. Besides, one of those things almost exposed Marinette.”

“Wait! What?! Why didn’t you mention this before?”

Tikki shrugged, “It only happened because of the step counter feature. She borrowed one from a friend, and it counted more distance travelled than a normal human could in a short amount of time. Luckily, she thought it had malfunctioned.”

“That still seems risky. What if it led Monarch to us?”

“That doesn't seem likely. What are the chances that Monarch has access to the information from the Alliance rings?”

She thought for a moment.

“Still… perhaps we should warn our new holders not to wear them when superheroing. Speaking of which, I’ve found my holder.”

She pointed at Alya.

The city watched as Scarabella and Kitty Noire battled and defeated Kikou, including Monarch, “You’ve had beginner’s luck today, Scarabella and Kitty Noire, but one way or another, I will have your Miraculous!”

The window to his lair closed.

“Well, Clara,” Nadja said, “Seems like Paris now has two new heroines with strong personalities! Let’s wish the best of luck to Scarabella and Kitty Noire!”

Adrien turned off the TV. He was confident that Plagg had made a good choice in Kitty Noire. He looked at Marinette’s name in his contact list.

Barely any time had passed, and Monarch had already sent another Akuma.

Adrien and Marinette had gotten separated when Sole Destroyer attacked, and he had found a hiding spot.

I suppose I’ll have to get used to it, he thought, and with Plagg gone and no way to contact Ladybug, he had no one to talk to about his former superhero life.

He sighed, wishing that wasn’t the case.

As if the universe had heard him, Kitty Noire burst in just as her timer ran out, revealing her to be… Zoé?

Zoé panicked, “Oh no! How could I have messed up already?!”

Plagg came out of his hiding place, “Relax, everything is fine. Hi, Adrien.”

“Hi, Plagg.”

“Plagg! What are you– wait, how do you know each other?”

Adrien winked, “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with a fellow cat.”

Zoé gaped.

Scarabella and Kitty Noire met on a rooftop.

“Scarabella, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a good news, bad news sort of thing. The bad news is someone found out my identity.”

“What?!” Scarabella became alert.

“But the good news is it’s Chat Noir.”

Scarabella relaxed, “Wait? So out of all the people in Paris, Chat Noir is the found out how you are?”

“Tell me about it, but at least we can contact him now. I just wish that was true for Ladybug too.”

“Umm… I have a bit of a confession to make.

Kitty raised an eyebrow, “Are you saying you know who Ladybug is?”

“Yeah, she’s my best friend. She’s the one who picked me the first time I became Scarabella.”

“Well, that’s convenient, so do you know why she retired? Chat did because the job was getting in the way of him from being with the one he loved.”

“Really? Ladybug retired for the same reason.”

“Huh, what a coincidence.”

“Speaking of love, I know you joked about us being a couple in that interview, but I’m already seeing someone.”

“Ohhh,” Kitty said dramatically, “I guess we will never know what could have been,” She mimed having a broken heart.

Scarabella snorted, “Are all cats this melodramatic, or is it just you two?”

Chapter Text

“Scarabella and Kitty Noire continue to protect Paris.”

Ryukomori walked through the city.

“How do we stop her if we can’t touch her?” Kitty Noire asked.

“I’m wondering how she’s supposed to stop us,” Scarabella replied, “I mean, how is she supposed to get our Miraculous when she can’t see, hear or touch us?”

Kitty shrugged.

Gold Record jumped into a portal.

“I really hate the powers of the Miraculous when a supervillain is using them,” Kitty Noire said.

Dark Humor shot arrows at the heroes.

“Do you know why Adrien was so mad at Kim?” Scarabella asked.

He had been attacking the villain when they arrived and had had to drag him away.

“No,” Kitty said, “It must have been really bad for him to attack when he doesn’t have superpowers.”

Cosmoscarab fought Bugfighter while Astrokitty destroyed the asteroid.

“These replacement heroes are just as much trouble as the last ones,” Monarch said.

Scarabella and Kitty Noire arrived to fight Riposte Prime.

“Kagami again already?” Scarabella asked.

“But… Adrien’s not the one I’m in love with,” Zoé said.

“Oh?” Marinette said, “But you two have been spending so much time together.”

“We recently learnt we had a mutual friend.”

“Is this friend the one you have a crush on?”

“God, no!” She composed herself, “No.”

“Who is it then?”

Zoé just smiles at her.

“Oh… Oh! Oh,” they embrace, “I am truly, very honoured. I mean it, Zoé.”

“Thanks, Marinette,” They stop hugging, “You’re right! It’s such a relief to get these things off your chest. You should try it too!”

“What do you mean?”

“Adrien! What are you waiting for? Go tell him you love him, and he could use some cheering up before the diamond dance.”

“The what?”

“You don’t know? Never mind, Adrien can tell you about it.”

“But– wait, what? How is he going to react? And what am I going to say to him?? What if I  do what I always do – mess things up and definitely ruin things between us?!” 

“Marinette… I’ve been wanting to tell you how I feel since the day I met you. But since you’re madly in love with Adrien, I thought it would be pointless and ruin things between us. But look, I just told you, and I can see it doesn’t change anything.”

“Which changes everything for me…”

“You were right: telling someone you love them doesn't ruin anything. It’s time you started taking your own advice, too.”

Marinette becomes wide-eyed.

“What are you waiting for? Go!”

Marinette smiles and gives Zoe one last hug before she leaves.

Plagg pokes his head out of Zoé’s beanie, “Blegh, I thought I was done with this mushy stuff.”

Zoé giggles and pats him on the head.

Chapter Text

Zoé and Marinette sat down in the cinema.

“So You and Adrien are good?”

“Yeah, I gave him this speech about how he can tell me anything and that it didn’t matter that his father was making him go to the diamond dance.”

She shook her head, “I don’t understand that man. He knows Adrien and Kagami broke up. And yet he’s forcing them to dance together.”

“I don’t think anyone understands him.”

Alya and Nino walked down the street, “It’s nice that we’re spending time together,” Nino said, “It feels like you're always busy.”

Alya felt guilty. Being a full-time superhero was harder than Marinette made it look.

“Nino… I…”

An alert from the Scarablog interrupted her.

“Sounds like you need to go.”

Alya’s heart skipped a beat, “Yeah, I need to document this for the Blog.”

“No, I mean Scarabella needs to go.”

She stared at her boyfriend, “How…?”

“You started keeping secrets at the same time Scarabella and Kitty Noire turned up, just like when you became Rena Furtive and the first time Scarabella showed up.”

She sighed as Tikki came out of her purse.

“Hi, I’m Tikki.”

“Nino, but you already know that.”

Another alert came from the Scarablog, “We’ll talk about this later, Tikki, spots on!”

“Wow, the sound effects are good,” Zoé said, “the screams sound very realistic.”

Marinette listened more carefully, “I don’t think that’s the movie.”

People started running into the theatre, “Hide! There’s a supervillain!”

“There’s an Akuma?” Someone asked.

“No, someone using the Peacock Miraculous.”

“Mayura?”

“Wrong again. It’s someone new, a boy about the heroes’ age, and he can make you disappear with the snap of his fingers.”

“Félix!” Marinette snarled.

Zoé looked at her in confusion. Adrien and Plagg had told her how Félix had impersonated his cousin when he was given the Dog Miraculous and used it to steal the yo-yo, but how did Marinette know that? The only other people who knew about that were Scarabella and…

“You were Ladybug?”

“What?! No, that’s crazy, why would you think that?”

“Because you knew about Félix, and I know you’re not Scarabella.”

She had seen Scarabella save Marinette a few times.

“Wait? How did you know about Félix?

“Umm…”

“You two are hopeless,” Plagg said and poked his head out.

Marinette stared at the Kwami, “Okay, that explains a lot, but how is Félix making people disappear? The Peacock Miraculous can’t do that.”

“It must be because of a Sentimonster of some kind. I need to get out there. Can you create a distraction and hold onto this?” She handed over her Alliance Ring.

Marinette nodded, “Aaahhh! I hurt my knee!”

While everyone was looking at Marinette, Zoé slipped away.

Chapter Text

As Scarabella watched the supervillain, she got a call on her yo-yo.

“Ladybug, What is it?”

“…Kitty Noire and I found out each other's identities.”

“Seriously?! You two know each other?”

“Apparently.”

“Well, you should know, Nino figured out I’m Scarabella.”

Marinette sighed, “Of course he did.”

She caught sight of Kitty Noire.

“She’s arriving. We’ll talk about this later.”

She hung up just before Kitty Noire landed next to her.

“Is he… Singing?” Kitty asked.

“...snap of my fingers!”

“Yep.”

They jump in front of him.

“Are you trying to get into a talent show or something?” Kitty asked.

“No, I just like singing,” He threw a punch, which Kitty dodged.

“What do you want, Félix?” Scarabella questioned as she dodged a kick.

“So Ladybug told you about me. You may call me Argos, and I want your Miraculous.”

“Argos?” Scarabella asked, “Isn’t that a catalogue-retail company from your country?”

“What? No! Not that Argos! The one from Greek mythology, the hundred-eyed giant who was a servant to the goddess Hera whose sacred animal was peacocks.”

“That’s barely peacock-themed!” Kitty exclaimed.

“You try to come up with a decent peacock name!”

“At least it is peacock-themed,” Scarabella said, “Flairmidable is not dog-themed at all.”

“Shut up!” He shouted, but something hit him on the head.

“Who threw that?”

“That would be me,” said a voice in an improvised Ladybug costume with a helmet.

“Ladybug? I thought you retired.”

“I’m willing to make a comeback just for you.”

She throws a few more items from a trash bin.

“Disgusting!”

Scarabella and Kitty Noire used the distraction to try to sneak up on Argos, but he noticed.

“Oh no, you don’t,” He swings his fan to force them to back off.

“Enough!” Argos shouted, “Red Moon allows me to make anyone who bathed in her light disappear,” He indicated the Sentimonster in the sky, “No sudden moves and definitely no powers!”

Ladybug, Scarabella and Kitty Noire froze, “Why do you want our Miraculous?” Scarabella asked.

“When I merge your Miraculous together, I’ll make a wish to create a better world! A free world – where no one will be under anyone’s control anymore. Where no one will be excluded like I was! A world without people like you to decide what’s right or wrong! Who gets powers and who doesn’t!” He pointed at Ladybug.

“…are you serious?” Scarabella says coldly.

“Pardon?”

“You claim to be fighting for freedom? You? The one who traded fifteen Kwamis to Monarch like a slave trader.”

“Slave trader?! But I…”

“Do you think their freedom doesn’t matter because they're not human? Is that it, you self-righteous hypocrite?!”

Argos looked horrified.

Huh, she honestly didn’t think it would cut that deep.

“Y-you’re right. I have to make this right.”

“Do you expect us to trust–”

Argos snapped his fingers three times, and he was alone.

He jumped to a rooftop where he thought long and hard. If he revealed Gabriel’s identity, it would reveal his secrets as well. He wasn't ready to do that.

Then he got an amusing idea. He snapped his fingers, and Gabriel reappeared.

“What?! Where am–”

Argos took one of his gloves off and took the twin ring and another ring on that finger, “Hey!”

He snapped his fingers again before he could do anything and looked at the second ring. It had a glowing symbol of a dragon on it. Had he… reforged the rings? He snapped his fingers again and took two more rings.

“Why you–”

Snap.

“Give–”

Snap.

“–me–”

Snap.

“–those–”

Snap.

“–back!”

Snap.

“Stop it!”

Snap.

“Nooroo–”

Snap.

“–dark–”

Snap.

“–wings–”

Snap.

“–rise!”

Argos took the Butterfly Miraculous just before he finished the transformation phrase.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes, “Félix, if you don’t give those back, I’ll–”

“You’ll what? Make me disappear with a snap of your fingers?”

Snap.

Ladybug, Scarabella and Kitty Noire reappeared along with everyone else who disappeared.

“–you? Oh, come on!”

“What are those?” Kitty Noire asked, pointing at a brooch and some rings at their feet.

Ladybug gasped, “The Butterfly Miraculous!”

Scarabella picked one of the rings up and noticed it had a symbol that looked just like her old Miraculous. Could it be…?

They gathered them up and took them somewhere private. Once there, Scarabella put it on, and a familiar Kwami appeared, “Trixx!”

“Alya!”

Scarabella pulled him to her cheek.

“If you’re wondering how Trixx appeared when Gabriel modified them so only he could use them, the answer is that in some timelines he doesn't bother, arrogantly believing that he won’t lose any more if he’s careful. This is Gabriel we’re talking about here.”

Suddenly, Scarabella remembered she wasn't alone.

She turned to make an excuse only to discover Kitty Noire had also put a ring on and was happily holding Pollen.

“Vesperia?”

“Rena?”

“That’s the third time tonight,” Ladybug muttered as she removed her helmet.

“Third?” Kitty asked.

“My boyfriend figured out who I am.”

“Nino? But weren’t you and Carapace… oh, wait, he is Carapace.”

“How did you…?”

“I know you’re Alya because you said you were Ladybug's best friend,” Kitty Noire said.

“Oops.”

Marinette groaned.

“Can I reveal who I am?” Kitty asked, “There’s no point anymore. We have all the Miraculous except the Peacock, whose holder seems to not be as bad as we thought, and Monarch is powerless now.”

“I guess,” Marinette said.

Kitty Noire de-transformed.

“Zoé? Of course, it’s you.”

Scarabella de-transformed as well.

“But while we have the Miraculous, Monarch still needs to be brought to justice,” Alya said.

“In a way he already has,” Trixx said.

“What do you mean?”

“Chat Noir’s Cataclysm,” Marinette said.

“Yes,” Pollen agreed, “It has been slowly spreading across his body. It will kill him soon.”

“Oh… I guess once we retrieve the Peacock, the job is done,” Alya said, “I admit I was expecting this to end a little more…”

“Climactically?” Zoé asked.

“Yeah, I guess we should take these back to your home, Marinette. You are still the Guardian.”

She nodded, “Yeah and maybe I can figure out a way to turn them back to their old forms.”

“What about Chat Noir? Should he tell us who he is now that the danger has passed?”

“Sure, I have missed him.”

Zoé snorted a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Marinette asked.

“In all the excitement, I didn’t realise until now. You’re in a love square!”

“A what?” Marinette and Alya said in unison.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see your and Chat’s reactions, Marinette. Alya, you should film it.”

The two other girls exchanged confused looks.

Their reactions were to scream into cushions and question how the universe had such a twisted sense of humour while Alya, Nino and Zoé rolled on the floor laughing, and the Kwamis celebrated both the end of Monarch’s reign and the love square.

Gabriel sat alone in the dark, looking at the Cataclysm mark on his body.

“This can’t be how it ends, no Miraculous, a dying body. It can’t be!”

“Sorry, Gabriel, I’m afraid it is.”