Panorama | Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter 4 - Nightmares and a Silent Kiss

"My name is Cauchemar. Tell me, dear girl, what is your worst nightmare?" A figure that, though in the light, was a complete shadow asked. Marinette had never seen an akuma so terrifying. The shadow took the figure of a human but it didn't seem quite so. All that she could make out from its dark, blurry figure was its eyes. Two glowing white orbs shone at her as if staring into her soul. Marinette shivered at the sight of it and as she did, it seemed to grow taller and wider.

It must feed on fear, she realized quickly. She gathered her courage and glared at it. "My worst nightmare?" She spat, "Wouldn't you like to know!" She rushed around it and ran down the hall into the community shower room. The blue-haired girl glanced around before calling out, "Tikki, transform me!" The simple red sundress that she had put on after waking up from her nap earlier disappeared in a flurry of pink and red and was replaced with a sturdy red and black polka dot suit. A yo-yo appeared at her hip and a mask covered her face. In a flurry of pink, Marinette was replaced with Ladybug the superheroine.

She used her yo-yo to launch herself out the open window and landed on a nearby rooftop to survey the building. The dorm room that she lived in was now covered in splotches of pitch black goop. "Nasty," she whispered to herself.

~

Adrien was walking back to his shared dorm when he heard a high-pitched scream. "Marinette!" He yelled, recognizing it. He immediately rushed into the building, cleared the stairs quickly, and into his room to find it empty. However, the one thing he did notice was the black goop splotched along the walls. Another scream filled the building followed by many more. Adrien popped his head out his door to see the most terrifying creature he had ever seen in his life. "That must be an akuma," he noted to himself before he closed his door again and called out,

"Plagg, transform me!"

In a matter of seconds, his regular clothes were replaced with a black leather suit in a flash of green. His belt comfortably wrapped around his waist and a mask fit perfectly to his face. Adrien was now gone and replaced with Chat Noir, the superhero of Paris. He used his staff to extend himself out the window and onto a nearby building where he found Ladybug perched watching the villain through the windows.

"Good afternoon, M'lady. I hope you weren't too scared without me here," Chat greeted as he flexed his muscles through his suit.

"I'm no scaredy-cat." She snapped back with a smile.

"So what seems to be the problem today?" He asked, crouching down next to his partner.

"I've been watching for a while and, from what I've gathered, he feeds on fear. I haven't been able to figure out where the akuma is, though."

"We have to keep up a paw-sitive attitude, LB. We'll figure it out,"

Ladybug tried not to show her amusement, she didn't like to encourage his puns, and turned back to the creature, which was on the roof now. Ladybug took the opportunity to study it. Even though he was standing directly in the sunlight, he still appeared to be a shadow. She couldn't find anything on him that could have an akuma in it. That is, however, until she noticed his left hand.

"His hand, Chat! He hasn't opened his left fist," Ladybug announced.

"Well, this seems familiar, doesn't it?" Chat commented.

"Yeah, just like Stone Heart," She confirmed.

Before Chat could reply, undoubtedly with some form of pun, Ladybug rushed off towards the villain leaving her feline-like companion to follow her. When the reached the rooftop, they saw a group of people, mostly students, cowered in a corner. They were shivering with fear and the akuma was towering over them. All the heroes could see around them was darkness with streaks of light coming from the students and leading to the villain. It was as if he was feeding off their fear and turning it to shadow. All that was truly visible was the two glowing eyes that loomed above everyone else.