Chapter Text
Chiara Coletti had never expected to become anyone special. But here she was now, staring at a red screen showing the angry words: ‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT.’
An existential threat and she was the one meant to stop it. Well, Crimson Blaze was supposed to save the world but what’s the difference?
If Chiara had to sum up her life in one word, she’d say: unpredictable.
She was twelve years old when she found the small black hexagon-shaped box on her bed. A pair of earrings sat inside and, after searching online about the bizarre appearance of these earrings yet finding nothing, she put them on, and suddenly a buglike creature named Tikki had appeared. Just like that, Chiara Coletti was finally special.
But it was already too late, as in the years before that, Chiara had dug her own grave and now, she had to do whatever it took to not fall in. No one could ever find out.
Chiara had always wanted to be someone even before she got the miraculous. Someone who was great. Someone who was noticed.
At the age of ten, Chiara had joined a production and discovered something about herself. Once she was on the stage, she could throw herself completely into any character she desired. One thought led to another and Chiara had decided to treat the real world as her stage. She had told Felix that she was playing the lead in a heavily anticipated play, and tickets were sold out. He believed her. Then, she told him that she’s met the Queen of England, who considered her an exceptional protector of the environment. The lies kept on getting more and more ridiculous, piling up on each other, until Chiara finally decided to stop.
Yelling, shouting, arguments, rising tensions.
Chiara shoved the memories into the back of her mind. She just needed to wait for Shadow to make his appearance.
“Shadow…”
Chiara had known Shadow, or Felix Fathom as he was also called for the better part of her life. Their parents, who knew each other well, had introduced the two at the age of five. Chiara and Felix had hit it off immediately.
‘Are you coming or what?’ Chiara texted.
Felix didn’t reply. It looks like Shadow was on his way. But then again, Felix was never too big on texting. At first, Chiara had figured that he didn’t like her that much, but soon learned that he was just chronically offline. Still, Felix was always her first choice.
Crimson Blaze had saved a child from a maniac with a gun on her first day on the job. The day after, Felix had noticed that something was up. Chiara spilled everything to him and he supported her the whole way.
It was at that point, when Chiara realised that she was in love with Felix Fathom, and she had been for a long time.
For years, Crimson Blaze protected Paris on her own, but she was stretched thin. For a period of time, it had always felt like she was always saving Paris, and no one ever paid attention.
Chiara quickly glanced at her watch. Why was Felix running so late? Then she glanced at the screen. They still had time. At least a month before things would become too catastrophic.
Once the old Guardian of the Miraculous retired, Chiara took his place. She was fourteen years old. Chiara decided that she needed a whole team of superheroes so that she could finally focus on her own life. Of course, Felix was the first person to receive a miraculous. The Cat. And that was when Felix joined Chiara to become Shadow.
With the new superhero team, Chiara could finally take some rest, spend time on her hobbies and hone her skills.
But of course, no rest for heroes. Even though Chiara now had some free time, there was always something coming up. When someone important…kicked the bucket, Tikki had selected Chiara to take their place.
Now Paris was in the hands of the other superheroes. Chiara got to rest and train. All the time except when there was a multiversal crisis. Like now.
“Hello Chiara.”
Chiara spun around and found herself face to face with a hooded figure in a cute black cat suit. Shadow.
“You were supposed to transform.” Shadow remarked.
“Oops… My bad. Tikki, Spots on!” Chiara giggled nervously.
Immediately her purple hoodie and jeans turned into a red and black suit with a cloak and a hood. Her open hair had grown and tied itself into a ponytail. Her cloak was pinned with a golden badge shaped like a miracle box. Chiara was gone and in her place was Crimson Blaze.
“Do you have any information?” Shadow asked.
Crimson Blaze and Shadow always went on missions together. I mean what was a Ladybug without a Cat to balance her out? And vice versa. Introducing only one of the two most powerful miraculous to a multiverse could throw everything into chaos when the balance shifted.
“The signal is coming from multiverse #281799.” Crimson Blaze explained. “Paris. They’ve been having…issues with rogue holders of the Butterfly.”
“So most likely, the Butterfly?” Shadow asked.
Crimson nodded. “Chrysalis. That’s the current holder’s name.”
“And we’re going in under what identities?”
Crimson froze.
“You forgot to check again, didn’t you?” Shadow realised.
Crimson nodded.
“And what miraculous are in circulation?”
Crimson immediately began running questions through the algorithm.
“All of them. Initially it was just ours held by Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Ladybug put the rest in circulation.”
“Like you did.” Shadow pointed out.
Crimson decided not to react. Her choice was questionable at best.
“The holder of the Ladybug is … Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Crimson read out loud.
“She’s Mariposa in our multiverse, right?” Shadow asked.
“And the holder of the Cat is Adrien Agreste.”
Shadow blanched.
“Your cousin,” Crimson added.
Adrien was a sensitive topic for both of them. When Crimson had been putting all the miraculous into circulation, she’d matched Adrien with the Peacock. She didn’t realize that giving him a miraculous was putting a target on his back.
Within months, Adrien was discovered and was killed for his miraculous. Now, the supervillain Sovereign terrorised Paris with sentimonsters at his command.
“Anyways, what’s the plan?” Shadow asked.
Crimson continued researching.
“Most of the superheroes go to the same school, so that’s where we’re going.” Crimson decided. Then she checked the school records. “Neither of us have ever gone there, but we’ll need to disguise you. Adrien will recognise you.”
After doing more searches, Crimson located Felix Fathom in London, but she could find no trace of herself.
“Strange…”
Meanwhile, Shadow had detransformed and was now poking through the disguise collection. He put on a brown wig and blue contacts.
“What name should I use?” He asked.
“Hmmm… You look like an…Oliver.” Crimson noted. “Oliver Smith.”
Crimson picked up some blush and started to carefully dust Felix/Oliver’s face, darkening his skin tone a little, trying as hard as she could to make it look realistic. Ten minutes later, she was done.
“We’re leaving tomorrow.” Crimson explained.
Felix nodded, transformed and jumped out of the window.
Once he was gone, Crimson detransformed and tossed Tikki a cookie. Then, she sat down in front of her computer to enroll them to Francois Dupont High. Once she was done, she decided to check the school records.
“Chloe Bourgeois left, Zoe Lee joined…” Chiara kept scrolling until something caught her eye.
Lila Rossi: Expelled
Chiara let out a soft gasp.
“Lila Rossi. I remember that name…”