Venom: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Adrien-Chapter 16

For as long as Adrien had known Nino, he knew to never trust his advice. One time, it led him to swimming in a lake infested with crocodiles. Another time, it had led him screaming and running away from a hive of bees. And the last time Adrien ever took Nino's dating advice, the girl ended up walking on the opposite side of the street if she even saw him. But this time, his advice about asking Marinette out actually seemed to be producing fruit. Of course, the two of them weren't really dating... But he found that he felt happy around her. Sure, his heart still ached for Ladybug, but now he finally began to see a future where he'd be happy with someone else. Adrien actually wanted to see where this might go with Marinette...

His smile immediately turned into a frown as he landed quietly on the balcony of Master Fu's healing shop as Chat Noir. The sign down below read "closed" but Adrien knew better. Master Fu was waiting for them, and not a single ounce of Adrien was looking forward to it.

Taking a deep breath, Adrien glanced around him anxiously before opening the unlocked glass doors and perching himself on the railing while looking down at the two people waiting for him, sitting on floor mats with their legs crossed, incense burning between them—Master Fu and Ladybug. He and Ladybug made brief eye contact but they both quickly looked away. It seemed as if she felt just as uncomfortable as he did.

Master Fu pressed his palms together and dipped his head to Adrien. "Chat Noir, I do have a front door."

"But do cats really take the most conventional path?" Adrien joked, making himself more comfortable on the railing—he didn't want to be a foot within Ladybug right now. "Besides, I have somewhere to be. Can we make this quick?"

Master Fu eyed Adrien and Ladybug and frowned. "Contention never makes a great team." He lit more incense and the smell wafted into the air, instantly helping calm Adrien's nerves. But still, that didn't get rid of his hurt toward Ladybug.

"Did you bring the necklace?" Ladybug asked and in response, Adrien tossed her the shark tooth that dangled from the cord, Ladybug catching it expertly and placing it down on the table in front of her.

"The akumas are getting stronger," Adrien said, keeping his gaze focused on Master Fu. "Hawk Moth may have disappeared for several years, but he's back and stronger than ever. I can't even break this tooth with a brick. Or a hammer. The akuma is trapped inside."

Raising his eyebrows at him, Master Fu asked, "And your claws?"

Adrien frowned and looked away. "I don't want to use them."

Master Fu sighed. "You cannot be afraid of your power, Chat Noir. That power had been meant to collapse pyramids, to defeat beasts. You cannot fully be Chat Noir until you embrace who you are, even the parts that scare you. People may have gotten hurt, but you can't let that hinder you."

"Not just any person," Adrien said quietly. "The last person I have left in my life."

He reached for his black tail and absently spun it around in circles so he wouldn't have to look at anyone else. He especially didn't like the sad look Ladybug gave him. Usually, he was decently open with her, but he never told her that much.

"Chat, I didn't know..." Ladybug said softly. "I'm sorry."

It was a little too late for apologies. He wasn't sure anything she could say could fix the broken shards she turned his heart into.

Adrien shrugged off her words and tried to focus on the task at hand. "What could make the akumas so powerful? This doesn't seem normal."

"That's because it's not," Master Fu said as he stood up creakily from where he sat and shuffled to the other side of the room to grab a large, dusty book. "Hawk Moth's Miraculous is not meant to be this powerful. The only way Hawk Moth could reach this type of power is through the help of an ancient artifact that was believed to be destroyed thousands of years ago."