académie chapter 4 | Miraculi
"Kagami, wait!"
The raven-haired girl turns around slowly to face her classmate. She recognizes her as Zoe Lee, the mayor's daughter, and the girl who had accidentally ruined her form that morning by bumping into her hand while she was writing. Kagami clasps her hands behind her back, waiting for Zoe to speak.
To her mild surprise, the girl brings out a lunchbox to offer to her.
"I want to make up for earlier." Zoe bites her lip. "I couldn't find you in the cafeteria, so I thought you might be hungry."
She doesn't know I usually do not eat in the cafeteria. Kagami takes one look at the box, and then another look at Zoe's eyes that cradle the same fear she saw in the victims of her intimidation. "I'm sorry. I cannot accept this."
Zoe blinks a few times. "What?"
"You meant to give this to the Couffaine boy, correct?" Kagami tilts her head at a slight angle. "I cannot accept a gift you only decided to give to me because it was rejected by the original recipient."
Zoe's eyes turn wider and her lower lip trembles, seemingly caught red-handed.
But Kagami feels no remorse. It's no secret that the girl is striving to be that boy's object of affection. Even without joining the notorious rumor mill, Kagami can tell. To her, Zoe's efforts seem fruitless—her target doesn't show any signs of reciprocation.
That is why it's meaningless to pursue others romantically, she thinks, especially with the competition right around the corner.
"Besides," Kagami adds, "You already 'made up' for what you've done. You fetched me a new form."
Zoe lowers her gaze, "You're right. I'm sorry. I made this for him but I think he already ate . . . I don't think he'd accept it."
"So you have not even tried to give it to him in the first place."
". . . It's okay, I'll just—"
The explosive blare of the siren cut her off, startling both girls. Kagami's head snaps to both ends of the hallway. 'Emergency. Please evacuate to the nearest safe rooms. Emergency. Please evacuate to the nearest safe rooms.' The intercom repeats its words monotonously.
"What's going on?" Zoe asks.
Suddenly, Kagami feels ice running down her back when she hears a sound she never expected to hear so near to her.
The sound of metal creaking.
"We have to hide!" She hisses, immediately grabbing Zoe's wrist and pulling her to the staircase. They run up to the first landing, crouching down and holding onto the handrails.
'Emergency. Please evacuate to the nearest safe rooms. Emergency. Please evacuate to the nearest safe rooms.'
"Kagami, what's happ—"
"Shh!"
Kagami swallows as she looks toward the hallway. Half of her mind starts praying that it isn't what she thinks while the other half is drawing up plans on how to escape. I don't have my foil at the moment. The nearest safe room is downstairs. Or we will have to go around through the third floor.
Her hands turn clammy while the creaking grows louder.
She holds her breath.
Zoe covers her mouth.
A red light comes into view.
Kagami clenches her jaw. Her fears are confirmed: metallic spider-like legs parade through the hallway as the sentimonster's robotic body shines in the light of the sun. Its mechanical head, bearing a single menacing crimson lens, face directly forward.
The girls duck lower, away from view, when the sentimonster stops just below the staircase. Kagami feels all warmth leave her body even though her cheeks are lined with sweat and her heart is pumping. She also senses Zoe trembling beside her.
'Emergency. Please evacuate to the nearest safe rooms. Emergency. Please evacuate to the nearest safe rooms.'
The announcement continues to ring out.
And the siren still shrieks.
She doesn't know how many seconds pass, but the sentimonster moves on along the path, much like a predator. Behind it, another smaller sentimonster follows.
It doesn't make sense. Kagami shakes her head when the sentimonsters disappear out of view. This is Moreau, one of the most guarded places in Paris. Even if those things had the means to enter the academy, they don't have the equal capacity to think. How can they . . . ?
"We have to go. Evacuate," Zoe chokes out, clutching Kagami's sleeve.
"I don't understand," Kagami whispers. "How can this happen?"
Zoe sniffs. "Kagami . . . Kagami you're in shock. Let's go. We have to go right now."
It doesn't make sense.
"Kagami, please, you have to move. They might come back."
How can they let this happen?
"Come on. The evacuation room's this way. Let's go."
Kagami blows out a long breath. She hides her stone-cold fingers in her blazer pockets and lets the other girl guide her up the stairs and into the safe room with the rest of the students.
---
It's too late to regret each step, each move.
Felix tiptoes along the empty narrow hall, lowering himself into a crouch to avoid being seen. Adrien and Chloe follow suit behind him as the siren and announcement persistently echo throughout the whole building.
"You're crazy! You've lost your mind!" Chloe screeches behind him.
He merely replies: "Quiet. They might hear you."
". . . Who exactly is 'they'?" Adrien asks.
"The sentimonsters."
The statement throws both Chloe and Adrien into silence. They stare at Felix like he's grown another head but he ignores this response.
"Evacuation to safe rooms. This particular siren sound is dedicated to a sentimonster attack," Felix tells them as he looks around vigilantly. "As stated in the school's rulebook."
Adrien's gaze flickers towards the intercom. "What if it's a test? A part of the competition?"
Felix shakes his head. "The alarms are real. The emergency is real. If these were a real test, I doubt the faculty will reward reckless behavior such as going against the sentimonsters." He licks his lips. "Besides, there is nothing in this world that can actually damage those monsters except the Miraculous."
"If that's the case then why are we sneaking around here?" Chloe glares. "The earrings and ring are with the heroes."
"The moment the sentimonsters stepped foot into this school, the heroes would've already defeated them. I suspect Ladybug and Chatte Noir are still in Moreau for the proper send-off of the jewels, but they're nowhere to be found right now and the alarms are still sounding." Felix locks his eyes onto one door, gleaming right in front of them. The administrative office. "Perhaps something went wrong, that's preventing them from taking action."
Before the other two can voice their protests, he moves and turns the knob of the office. It's unusually dim inside, with only the sunlight illuminating the dust on the bookshelves and the masterless swivel chair. As Felix predicted, Chloe and Adrien still chase after him.
He does a quick sweep of the room and points. "There."
"No way," Chloe breathes out. "You actually snuck off during an emergency alarm and now you're thinking of stealing . . . ?!"
"Chlo, no one in this school is making it out alive if the sentimonsters aren't dealt with," Felix states bluntly. He sees color drain from the girl's face when he utters the words.
But he isn't going to allow fear to stop him. Felix heads straight towards the door and flings it open.
"I don't think the Miraculi are there," Adrien says.
"Why not?"
The moment Felix turns, he sees it: a live video on Adrien's phone, showing Ladybug and Chatte Noir fighting off a group of sentimonsters by the river Seine. Felix sucks in a breath as he begins thinking again how and why the sentimonsters got inside the school. The battle in the Seine is a diversion, of course.
The sound of metal hitting concrete cuts through all of a sudden.
And then a scream.
Chloe tugs on his jacket. "We have to get out of here."
"Wait."
The ladybug and black cat jewels may not have been in the room, but it isn't entirely empty either. In the sparse lighting, Felix sees glass boxes perched on top of wooden stands. Two hold nothing but satin cushions. The rest encase various accessories.
Miraculi.
"More . . ." He mumbles. "There's more than two this whole time . . ."
Chloe seems to have caught on immediately to his thoughts. "No. From all historical records—"
"The historical records made known to us. It makes perfect sense. It is written that the Miraculi are based off of the Chinese zodiac. But neither the ladybug nor the black cat are part of it." Felix steps forward to examine the jewels more closely. Just as Moreau has held onto the two main Miraculi, it has also guarded the others, it seems.
"The heroes are far away from here," he reasons. "And the only thing that stands a chance against those monsters is another Miraculous."
"No . . . Felix you better not be thinking that," Chloe warns.
The words fall on nothing but deaf ears. There are sentimonsters in their school. They have the means to stop the threat. Those are the only things that register in Felix's head. He walks forward and snatches random jewels from their cases, tossing a comb to Chloe and a bracelet to Adrien.
He takes a necklace for himself.
"We don't even know how to use these." Adrien stares down at the Miraculous in awe.
"We know the transformation words," says Felix. Two utterly generic words we've heard on the television and through videos for years. "There's instructions on the weapons."
"We're not trained." Chloe bites her lip, holding the comb by two fingers as if it can burn her skin anytime. "We can't wield these out of the blue."
Felix can't help the smirk on his face. He knows she knows it as well as he does. "We have the basics mastered. The Miraculous enhances our strength, speed, agility and physical abilities that there is practically no need for training."
He dives in first to avoid any more excuses from the two and utters: transformez-moi. Felix feels the bright light wash over him and the suit materializes around his body. Thicker sleeves, a solid mask, a heavier coat. He twirls the flute that has materialized on his palm and presses a button to view all the information he needs.
Chloe and Adrien gawk at him.
The Miraculous of the Fox. Specialized for stealth and illusion. His breath lightly hitches. Moreau had this kind of power hidden for so long? He can only imagine what the other Miraculi can do.
He twirls the flute in his hand, getting a better feel of it, before looking up at his friends. "If you don't want to use those, then don't. I cannot force you. But I'll be going out there to defeat those sentimonsters while the heroes are occupied."
His feet feel a thousand times lighter when he glides out of the office and ventures out into the hallway. They've only got two choices, he thinks, Chloe will never risk anything that involves her placement in the competition. Adrien is too afraid of his father if he gets caught. It looks like I'll be alone for this one.
Felix follows the prominent creaks of metal at the end of the hallway while keeping himself hidden. He scans the empty but locked classrooms. By now, everyone should be in the safe rooms. He spots the red eye of one of the monsters. I should be free to move but I shouldn't make too much noise.
He finally understands what the Miraculous wielders mean when they say that their bodies are enhanced when transformed. His eyes are sharper beneath his mask, his senses are heightened, and he finds himself able to control his body exactly the way he wants to. He sneaks closer to where the monster is, noting how grotesque it looks up close: the chunks of metal it uses as legs groan with every movement and the additional spikes behind its back make it more predatory.
How can I fight if this Miraculous only produces illusions? He wonders. How effective is a visual trick for sentimonsters? The powers of the two main Miraculi are pretty straightforward. This one is different.
The sentimonster has not sensed him at all.
Felix remembers a report about one generation of the hero pair that cleverly defeated a sentimonster at nighttime in the forest. Sound. It will respond more to sound. Is an audio illusion even possible?
"So what do we do?"
He nearly yelps in surprise because of the voice behind him. Felix whips around to see his friends suited up, adopting Miraculi of their own. His lips part, shock crossing his features. "You followed me?"
"Of course, you idiot. We're not letting you run off playing hero on your own," Chloe clicks her tongue. Felix sees a hairpin clasped on the side of her head, clearly bee-themed and matching her yellow suit.
"Yeah, we don't want you to take all the credit," Adrien smirks. His hero persona is fashioned after a turtle, with the palette bringing out the color of his eyes.
Looks like I misjudged them, Felix fights off a slight smile. "What are your powers?"
"A shield thing . . . I think," Adrien replies, pulling out the large 'shell' from behind his back.
Chloe brings out her own weapon: a bright spinning top attached to a wire, similar to the yoyo of the ladybug wielder. "Apparently this can temporarily paralyze anyone."
"Paralyze, huh?" Felix eyes the new equipment they have. This. So this is the power of the other Miraculi. "I have an idea. I can create a diversion, and Adrien can shield us from the monster in case it comes for us. Chloe, you have to paralyze it."
"Will that make it disappear like Cataclysm does, though?" Chloe says.
"And we don't have the Ladybug cure," Adrien adds.
"For now we just have to keep it from causing trouble." At least until the actual heroes arrive . . . if they ever do. Felix looks back at the robotic creature, wandering deeper into the halls. "Perhaps there are other ways to break it."
"Break them . . .'' Felix corrects himself when he sees another smaller sentimonster making its way up the staircase. Before any of them can react, the newcomer charges towards them and gains the attention of the first sentimonster.
Chloe and Adrien dodge to the side but Felix isn't as fast. In under a second, he's tackled to the ground, trapped between the sharp legs of the monster while his friends call out to him. He grits his teeth, glaring up at the mocking red light towering over him. "Change of plans!" he yells. "We're playing offense."
He manages to squeeze his arms free, and his fingers feel a small button on the side of his flute by some odd luck. An extension springs out from the intrument-turned-staff, which knocks the monster back and gives him a small gap to roll away. At the corner of his eye, he can see Chloe and Adrien fending off the other sentimonster, with the former attempting to catch a leg with her top and the latter keeping his shield in front of him.
"Hate to break it to you both, but if these Miraculi work the same as the ones we know, I'll only be able to use the paralysis once before it's time-out," Chloe brings up, kicking their attacker.
"There has to be some kind of off-button," Adrien huffs. The three of them retreat above the lockers where monsters will take time to reach.
Off button. As far as Felix knows, the sentimonster have only been defeated by the Black Cat's destructive power, or the Ladybug's cleansing after trapping the creatures. There is simply no other weakness for them. But he forces himself to look, to search for anything that can help them get rid of the threats in their school.
What catches his eye is the dent his staff has made on the metal.
"Adrien, how exactly does your power work?"
"I can make a force field of some sort." The boy's eyebrows furrow. "But it doesn't last for too long."
"Can you change its size?"
Adrien double checks the screen on his shield. "Yeah, I think so. What do you have in mind?"
"We need to draw them close to each other." Felix presses the button on his flute again to revert to its first form. "On my signal, paralyze the bigger one, Chloe. Adrien, you'll have to put your shield around them both, but I'll guide you."
The two nod, seemingly catching on. Felix lifts the instrument to his lips. He's by no means a flute player, but the notes glide seamlessly into the air because of the magic. The sound produces an illusion that makes the smaller sentimonster vanish, with the three of them standing in its place to lure the other.
How realistic, he thinks as he stops playing. He gives the monster a few seconds to inch closer to its duplicate before he whispers: "Now, Chloe."
The top flies into the air and pierces straight through the sentimonster's body, immobilizing it in its position. The illusion drops and Felix gives his second cue to Adrien, who makes a shield enclosing the two creatures. Heavy legs twitch and robotic sounds echo from their attackers' struggle to break free from the trap but the turtle's shield remains unbreakable.
"Crush them," Felix tells Adrien. The dome begins to shrink, accompanying the beeping timer of Felix's Miraculous.
And the monsters are reduced to dust, with barely any trace of their existence.
---
A girl slumps over the sink, the school's alarm system still fresh in her ears.
Why did you have to do that? She frowns at herself in the mirror. Her necklace glimmers around while hanging, reminding her of what has passed and what's to come.
Shaking her head, Marinette picks up her bag and rushes out of the bathroom.
AO3 Link | Chapter Masterlist
If you want to support my works, you can buy me a Ko-fi here :3
7 notes
·
View notes