Stitches • Marichat

Chapter Twelve

Adrien let a smirk grow on his lips as he saw his black-spotted partner swing in next to him, landing lightly on her feet as she nimbly dodged the next silk attack by Soie Aérienne.

"Glad you could join the show, LB," Chat commented. He extended his baton to push him into the air before using his weight to fall forward and onto the blue tissu, using his foot to pin it to the ground.

Soie Aérienne let out an indignant shriek, pulling back her scarf with all her strength and throwing Chat Noir onto his back. Ladybug was quick to use the distraction, throwing her yo-yo around the blue-painted woman that was being held captive and pulling her free of the akuma's grasp.

Chat frowned at the lack of his partner's response but shrugged it off as her being focused on the hostage. Ladybug, on the other hand, threw her yo-yo up to the ceiling, where it hooked onto a metal support beam and swung herself behind Soie Aérienne. There she managed to kick the akuma in the back, giving the woman a small window of escape as the hostage joined the other people outside the building.

"Ugh!" Soie Aérienne growled, "You are so annoying, you disgusting bug!" Ladybug ignored her as slid underneath the blue silk, knees bent as she leaned back. Soie Aérienne's blue striped dress swirled as she turned around to face Ladybug.

"The akuma has to be in her scarf, right?" Ladybug asked before the blue silk wrapped around her torso. Her cerulean eyes widened upon the realization before she was lifted in the air and tossed at Chat Noir. He had his arms open, ready to catch her, but the force of it knocked him onto his back once again, now with Ladybug on top of him. The both groaned but we're quick to leap out of the way of the next attack.

The duo split up, each with a separate end of the tissu chasing after them.

"Yeah," Chat answered Ladybug's question before turning to taunt the akuma. "You're giving quite the performance," Ladybug shook her head with a grimace. "But I think it's time to hang up the silk."

The akuma didn't seem to appreciate his opinion, Chat realized as the silk that was tailing him snapped violently.

"Get ready for the encore then, little kitty."

Suddenly both ends of the tissu were on either side of him as he ran between the pillars of the room. The silk wove between aforementioned pillars when an idea popped in Ladybug's head.

"Keep them distracted Chat!" She yelled before throwinher yo-yo up and exclaiming, "Lucky Charm!"

A pair of ladybug-themed safety scissors fell into her hands.

"Finally! A lucky charm that actually makes sense!" Chat cheered before the breath was knocked out of him as the silk pushed against his chest. Soie Aérienne lifted her palms in the air to attack him again but he dropped to his stomach as the tissu slammed against the wall behind him. He pushed himself up and rolled out of the way.

"Tie them up!" Though it was a very vague command, Chat understood. The moment the silk tissu ends were coming to attack his side's, he grabbed them, halting their assault and quickly began to tie a bow with them on a pillar. Once he was finished, he stepped back with a proud smile at his handiwork.

That is, until Soie Aérienne screeched, and her silk extended, swatting Chat to the side with the big bow. "How dare you put your dirty paws on my tissu?!"

Ladybug acted quickly and darted towards the area where the silk was wrapped around the column, bending every which way to escape the onslaught of the bow Chat had created, smiling gratefully at him as he stepped between her and the tissu, spinning his staff at incredible speeds to fend off the attacks, giving her enough time to cut the silk with the scissors.

The akuma let loose a final scream as her blue tissu dissolved. Black, inky bubbles surrounded her as her pretty black and blue dress disappeared into a tank top and leggings. The purple akuma fluttered in an ill-attempt at escape.

Ladybug's yo-yo suddenly appeared beside it before snapping close on it, trapping it inside. A second later, a white butterfly was flying towards the door and outside.  The scissors were thrown in the air and hundreds of ladybugs washed over the room, repairing all the damage.

"Good job," Chat said, raising a fist to bump with hers. Only to be disappointed as Ladybug turned and hightailed it out of the building, muttering something about her transformation. She missed the hurt that was etched on his face.

Chat Noir was solemn as he watched her leave, only knocked out of his head as the woman that was akumatized murmured a quiet, "Where am I?"

With a heavy heart, Chat turned around the black-haired woman. Her dark brown eyes stared back at him and electricity suddenly courses through his veins as an acidic taste filled his mouth.

He was no longer facing the woman. In her place stood Sandman, his dark eyes sparkling with a mischievous joy and the edges of his lips curled into a cruel and taunting smirk.

Adrien's heart was beating wildly against his chest as his blood turned ice cold. Breathing became suddenly hard.

"Where am I?"

Chat blinked.

Sandman was gone, instead the woman was sitting in front of him, scared and confused as she looked up at Chat Noir. His green eyes softened immediately, as he crouched slowly in front of her, as to not scare her further. Cautiously, he lifted his hands up with a kind smile.

"We're inside Théâtre Mogador. Do you know where that is?" He waited for her to respond. When she nodded he dropped his hands. "Okay, that's good. Is there somewhere you need to go? If so, do you want me to take you there?"

"N-No, I don't need you to take me to the hotel," The woman's French wasn't the best, but he understood the gist of it under her American accent. Nodding his head, he stood up, holding a hand out to the foreign woman. She took it and he helped her up.

"Look up to those who defeat you. Learn to be better than them." He spoke in English, and though his words were a bit choppy, he's pretty sure they were correct. He wasn't sure, it had been a while since he'd spoken English. His thoughts were confirmed when she smiled at him, nodding.

He helped her outside the building to where a group of people were standing. Upon seeing her, they all shouted and ran up to her, dozens of questions flying out of their mouths, asking if she was okay.

The blue-painted woman that had been attacked earlier by Soie Aérienne ran up to the woman.

"Olivia!" She threw her arms around 'Olivia', "I am so glad you're okay!"

'Olivia' smiled sadly as apologies tumbled put of her mouth. She glanced back at Chat Noir one last time. "He helped me learn better."

At least that's what he thinks she said. Again, it's been a while since he'd spoken English. Maybe he should brush up on that?

Chat saluted to her before using his staff to jump away from the scene. While the woman was a nice distraction, he was still sore for the treatment Ladybug had given him earlier. A sudden though popped in his head.

Marinette! He was quick to release his transformation behind the building and ran inside to the closet he had shoved her in only to discover it empty. His heart sank in fear. Did he not imagine Sandman? Was he actually there? And did he take Marinette?! Adrien whipped out his phone, quickly scrolling to Marinette's contact and sending her a text message asking if she was alright. In the seconds it took for her to send back a reply, his heart was thudding painfully in his chest.

His phone dinged with a new message.

Yeah. I went home. Sorry.

And for some reason, those words hurt more than the silent treatment LB was giving him.

Finally an update!! And thanks to the reader who commented on what the silks were called!

So, I might not post all the time like I used to, bc Junior year is frickin hard and if I wanna get to NYU studying is going to be taking up a lot of my time. But I promise I haven't forgotten you guys! I will try to update more regularly I promise!

Until next time, peace!