Chapter Text
Deep in a forest that had lost all color, there was a secret garden that no one knew about.
A lone gardener reached out quietly, and picked one of the countless, nameless small flowers that had all wilted.
Even the most beautifully blooming flower will wilt, and because they all die, they all bloom beautifully.
But that lonely gardener never gave up, and tried to create a flower that would never wilt, that would forever bloom eternally in this world.
But that was an impossible wish, and so the flowers said unto the despairing gardener with all their heart, "Don't forget me."
This the story of the Forget-Me-Not.
There was a dull pounding in her head, a constant hum that made Marinette groan from discomfort. For a moment, she wondered why everything was black and why her head hurt, but then she realized that she had her eyes closed. Marinette didn't bother to open them, and continued to lay there with the pounding in her head until the sensation began fading away.
Marinette could feel the cold, hard cement beneath her body, small raindrops dropping from the sky, and the coolness in the breeze. With a start, it was clear that she was outside somewhere, and Marinette was confused. Why would she have fallen asleep outside of all places? That, coupled with the strange headache she had, and it was apparent that something had happened. She could not have simply fallen asleep outside, on the ground, when it was raining, and then wake up with a headache and not have it be suspicious.
Marinette pondered more on what she had been doing before falling unconscious, before realizing that she just couldn't remember. She then realized with a slight panic that she couldn't remember where she was. Yes, she was outside, but where outside? What part of the world? What was her last name? Did she even have a last name? Were last names still a thing?
Did she have a home? Friends? Family? What was her life like? What was the world even like? She couldn't remember.
Then, the last aches of Marinette's head pain faded, and it all came rushing back to her at once.
Her name was Marinette, just Marinette. Her hair was dark, her eyes were blue, and she liked wearing her hair in pigtails. She also liked sewing and drawing pretty clothes. Her childhood was a blur, she couldn't remember anything specific.
She was an akumatized human, or just akuma for short. Akuma were human-like creatures who were corrupt by negative energy. This negative energy would come from a vulnerable human, and latch itself onto a butterfly that would be possessed by it. This butterfly in its entirety, negative energy and all, would be absorbed by the vulnerable human and turn them into a human-like creature with a single superpower based on their personality.
What made a human vulnerable to this negative energy would be, naturally, extreme negative emotions. Jealousy. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. Often times something horrible would happen to someone that would completely devastate them, and then the corrupt butterfly would do its job.
Akuma created in this way were purebreds.
Marinette was a purebred. Her superpower was the lucky charm, which allowed her to summon a yo-yo that was red with black spots. She could then use this yo-yo to summon random objects that were always red with black polka-dots. This power also came with some extra good luck.
Once turned, there was no cure, and no way to turn back into a human. Akuma were like the vampires from myths: almost human, but very clearly not.
After normal humans got used to the presence of what they called monsters, scientists discovered little details that made these akuma different from humans, all originating from the butterflies that corrupted them. The most obvious of these differences was the superpower granted to them, which could vary between time travel or talking to pigeons.
Other differences include feeling negative emotions more powerfully than a human would, and chaotic tendencies as a result. Akuma could also be identified by their drastic change in appearance, which could include strange new skin colors, bizarre hair, and an outlandish uniform that could be summoned at will.
Marinette's uniform was a red full-body suit with black polka-dots and a mask over her eyes. But she usually wore a plain white tee and a pair of khaki capris instead of her akuma uniform.
What was common to every akuma was a power called initiative. Akuma could summon the same negative energy that corrupted them in the first place, and use it to target humans or other akuma. This would, however, leave the user extremely fatigued depending on how strong their will was.
How it worked was that first the akuma had to summon the negative energy in their dominant hand, and then aim it at the intended target. Targeted humans would be so overwhelmed that it would draw a corrupt butterfly to them and they would be immediately be akumatized.
Using initiative on an akuma, however, was like branding them, laying claim to another's mind. Initiative could not grant anyone the use of someone else's superpower, but the spreading of the negative energy would penetrate the mind of the akuma targeted and it would sit in their mind. The user of initiative would then be able to control the target at will.
More than one akuma could control the same akuma.
An akuma could control more than one akuma.
This quality, more than any other quality of the akuma, was shamed by humans for being despicable. Using initiative would get an akuma imprisoned, and they were sometimes taken straight to execution depending on the extent of the damage done.
With how akuma had superpowers, chaotic tendencies, heightened negative emotions, uniforms that could be summoned by will, and initiative, it was no wonder humans feared them. In the past, just being an akuma could get one sent to jail.
Since then, humans had developed a system to keep akuma in line without having to resort to jailing them all. Families would send underage akuma to their local asylum until they became adults. There, they took remedies to ensure that they would not be causing too much trouble after they were released. Akuma that caused trouble as adults would receive appropriate punishment, and then be sent to a rehab center to properly correct their behavior.
Despite the fact that akuma were viewed as monsters, sending their children away to asylums was still heartbreaking for most families. Oftentimes, akuma that came out of these asylums as adults would never choose to return home to their families, since they had no obligation to do so as adults. This would only serve to create more tragedy among families.
But, without time in an asylum, adolescent akuma would rampage across the world. At least this way, they would be taught to control themselves properly. It was for this reason that the use of asylums for akuma became an accepted practice.
Marinette went to the Françoise Dupont Deux Asylum. It was located in the middle of a dense forest, where it was always cloudy and rained nearly every day. This meant that everyone at the asylum had to wear a rain-jacket and rain-boots, which were provided. These jackets were made specifically for the climate of the forest, and were always plain black.
While the rain jackets were provided, other clothes and items were not. To get them, there was an office in the mess hall where patients could place an order, and the items would shipped to the dorm room immediately free of charge. Food for akuma patients was, of course, provided, though akuma did not need to eat as often as humans did, a single meal a day would suffice. And meal time would take place at the same time that they would take their mandatory medicine.
All of this settled into Marinette's mind, and she became more aware of what was going on around her as she lay on the ground, eyes still closed.
"Oh, I can't believe that I've been sleeping on the roof of all places! Look at my clothes! Ugh, they're soaking wet thanks to this stupid rain! Sabrina! What were you thinking?"
That was unmistakably Chloe's voice. The girl was insufferable and was the cause of more akuma rampages than Marinette could count. Her superpower was supposedly called anticharm, which allowed her to summon a threatening weapon. As long as she was at the asylum, however, she and the other akuma would never be allowed to use any of their superpowers.
"I'm so sorry, Chloe! I promise I'll give you a massage later to make up for it."
That was Sabrina. Chloe's lackey, her assistant, her follower, her minion, her partner. Marinette vaguely recalled Sabrina's superpower to be something along the lines of invisibility. Chloe had used it to threaten people more than once, despite the mandatory medicine suppressing everyone's abilities.
"Hey, Marinette, you okay? Get up!"
That was her best friend, Alya, who was really into gossip. Her superpower had everything to do with wifi and smartphones, which was practically useless at the asylum, where there wasn't such communication.
Marinette groaned and blearily opened her eyes to see Alya in a crouch next to her. Slowly sitting up, Marinette rubbed her eyes with a yawn, and looked around to see that she was on top of the roof of the girls' dorm. The boys' dorm was the building to the right, and the mess hall and recreation center were both behind her somewhere. All around the campus was the thick foliage of the woods.
Marinette wearily stretched before slouching again and facing her friend. She sighed, feeling rather sluggish, and replied, "Hey, Alya. Don't worry, I'm fine."
Alya raised an eyebrow and moved to sit down, not quite believing Marinette, and replied, "You look really tired."
Marinette blinked at Alya a few times, and noticed how weary her friend looked, and deadpanned, "You're one to talk."
Alya raised her arms in surrender with a chuckle and said, "Guilty as charged." The conversation stopped then, Alya sobering up with a tired sigh, and Marinette silently looking around at the others on the roof.
Ivan stoically stood off to the side with his arms crossed, though Marinette could tell that he was troubled from the look in his eyes.
Alix was standing a few feet in front of him, prodding an unconscious Kim with her foot.
Max, the gamer, stood beside Alix and watched her as she gave a swift kick to Kim's side to wake him up.
Nathanael was alone as usual, huddled up in the corner. His hands were constantly shifting and twitching, with nothing to channel his nervous energy into.
Rose and Juleka were speaking in hushed tones with Felix and Nino by the doorway leading back into the building. Nino was frustrated, arguing with the others while Juleka was quick to firmly reply in her trademarked monotone voice. Rose was worried and trying to keep the peace, though Marinette could tell she was on Juleka's side. Felix appeared to be calm, though Marinette couldn't read the seemingly haunted look in his eye.
The conversation between Rose, Juleka, Felix, and Nino stalled as Chloe stomped over to them with Sabrina following behind her. The four of them exchanged a mysterious look before Nino angrily huffed and marched over to stand beside Ivan.
All four of them were prefects, peer leaders who were in charge of taking care of the others and reported to the director of the asylum. The director was never around, but he kept in constant contact with the prefects. There were no actual janitors, teachers, staff members, or other adults at the asylum. While janitorial duties were filled by akuma patients with nothing better to do, all the other roles of teaching and managing the asylum were filled by the prefects. Even the role of taking care of the younger children at the asylum was also handled by prefects as well.
All prefects were, of course, also akuma who had to take medicine just like the rest of them. They just had the added responsibility of taking care of their peers.
Wordlessly, Juleka crossed her arms and moved to stand in front of the door, saying to the approaching Chloe, "Its medicine time." She then addressed everyone on the roof as she said in a louder voice, "All of you are to report to the mess hall for your medicine at once." She looked over at Chloe as she added, "Do you understand, Chloe?"
Chloe cried out in exasperation, "But I look like a wreck!" She grumbled and crossed her arms in anger, before Sabrina tentatively poked her arm, panicked at the idea of angering Juleka. Chloe sent Sabrina a glare, before turning back to Juleka and sighing in resignation, "Ok, fine, whatever, I'll eat my damn medicine."
With that, Rose moved to open the door and held it open as she said, "Come on, off to the mess hall you go." Juleka went through first, leading the way as Chloe, Sabrina, Ivan, Nino, Alix, Kim, Max, Nathanael, and then Rose herself afterwards.
Marinette watched them, counting them one-by-one, and feeling as though someone were missing. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down, thinking hard, but not being able to think of just what was missing. Marinette looked over at Alya with a contemplative look on her face, wondering just what had happened. Why were they all on the roof? Why did she feel like she was forgetting something?
"Alya," Marinette started slowly, "Do you have the feeling that we're forgetting something important? Why are we up here? Where's My-" Marinette cut herself off then, a frown taking over her face as she began wondering just what she was going to say. A name? She couldn't remember, but, for some reason, Marinette felt as though it was important.
Alya watched Marinette carefully as the half-Asian went back to thinking. Alya sighed, feeling too emotionally exhausted for this, and simply stood up and offered Marinette a hand, "C'mon, Sherlock, we'll talk about that later, it's time to- whoa, oh hey, Felix!"
Felix had silently walked over to them, and placed a hand gently on Alya's shoulder. This got the attention of them both, as he said, "You go on ahead with the others, Alya. I'll help Marinette up."
Alya looked over at Marinette with concern, to which the dark-haired girl responded with an unsure shrug, and then Alya was leaving with a cautious, "Alright, Marinette, I'll see you at the mess hall."
Felix, about a head and a half taller than Marinette herself. He had vivid green eyes and blonde hair that flopped on his head in a way that was messy yet still slightly brushed back. Felix held out a hand to Marinette with a weary smile, as if he were weighed down by the burdens of a thousand years' worth of depression.
Marinette took his hand, and he pulled her up to her feet, steadying her with a hand on her arm before Marinette gently pulled away. "Thanks for helping me up, Felix," Marinette offered with an awkward smile, not sure what to say in response. She felt oddly shy, not quite sure of why Felix had wanted to talk to her alone.
Felix's tired smile wavered as he replied, "No problem." He then took a deep breath in and out, as if trying to calm himself down, before adding casually, "I just wanted to tell you that if there's anything you need, you can come to me, and I'll be glad to help. And, hey, the rain jackets are more than a little bland, and I'd be grateful if someone as talented as you could help us out with giving them a little more flair. There's also some extra room in the recreation center if you want to start a sewing thing."
At the prospect of a new project and being able to customize her rain jacket, Marinette brightened up, as she responded with an excited squeal, "I'd be happy to! Thank you so much!"
As she walked back inside the girls' dorm talking about designs with Felix, Marinette's troubled thoughts were pushed to the back to be dealt with later.
The concept of time at the asylum, however, was skewed. "Later" could be anywhere between two days or ten years, and none of them would've noticed.
Marinette would've never known.
As Marinette gushed about how cute a ladybug pattern would look on the rain jackets, she missed how Felix watched her with eyes narrowed in suspicion. He looked away, biting his lip with a pained expression on his face.
Felix, however, quickly schooled it back into a practiced smile and turned back to Marinette, reminding himself of who he was now, and what he had to protect.
He couldn't afford any more losses.
Time goes on.
Since that day she woke up on the roof of the girls’ dorm, Marinette had been living with a constant, nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she was forgetting something important. The feeling followed her with everything she did, like an itch that was on that one part of the back that you couldn’t reach.
Marinette now spent most of her time in the recreation center, customizing people’s plain clothing and rain gear using supplies that Felix had ordered for her. She worked with a few other akuma patients that had interests in sewing and designing.
So far, Marinette and her team had customized clothes by hand for nearly everyone in the asylum.
Ivan had requested having white cross-bones put on his plain black shirts, while Alix had simply asked for twin green stripes down the sides of her black t-shirts and black gym shorts. Kim had asked for a plain red shooting star symbol on his white t-shirts, while Nino had asked for a black-and-white eye symbol on his blue t-shirts.
Even Chloe had asked for black stripes around the waist of her white tee, while Felix had asked for different colored stripes around the chest of his black shirt. Both requests were surprising, since Chloe actually hated Marinette (and everyone else), while Felix was always unbelievably busy.
Rose and Juleka had even asked for Marinette to customize their clothes, which was also surprising, since the two hardly talked to others unless it had something to do with their duties as prefects.
Marinette’s best friend, Alya, had only asked for Marinette to embroider the pockets of one of her shorts, otherwise content with her plaid button-up and white tee.
The most popular request Marinette received, however, was customizing pajamas for the kids.
Like all other clothes one could order from the asylum, pajamas were always single colored. And while the older patients were content with this, there were patients at the asylum who were as young as 7 or 8 years old, having been sent to the asylum earlier than the average person due to their dangerous superpowers.
These kids were prone to getting upset nearly all the time, and thus prefects eagerly jumped at every opportunity that could calm the kids down. The prefects in charge of the kids took care of most of the requests, but a few of the kids had even shyly approached Marinette and her team directly.
This was the project that Marinette was currently working on.
She sat in a room on the third floor of the recreation center, filled entirely with tables and chairs that were covered in sewing supplies and clothing. Marinette was at one of these tables, currently putting little baby turtles on one boy’s pajamas.
A female akuma with hair tainted white and skin tainted magenta entered the room, aggressively retrieving a roll of cloth before promptly leaving the room again without a word. A male akuma with hair and skin tainted various shades of blue was sitting with his back to the door, also working on a project. He chuckled upon hearing the female akuma storm out, and said, “Jeez, someone’s in a bad mood today.”
Marinette shrugged, looking up only briefly before returning to her work, “Eveline’s been in a bad mood for a while now.”
The male akuma laughed before replying mirthfully, “I wonder why.”
Marinette paused in her work, looking up at him in suspicion, “Uh, Gerald, do you know something?” That feeling was coming back, but Marinette quickly pushed it away.
Gerald held up the sweater vest he was working on and looked at it as he said with faux innocence, “Nope, not really.” A visible smirk then crossed his face as he said, “Just that I got Rudolph to cheat on her.”
Marinette shot Gerald an exasperated look, yet secretly relieved that it wasn’t anything serious, and asked, “Really? Ugh, Gerald, you’re almost as bad as Chloe.”
Gerald scoffed, “Are you kidding? It was about time they split up. No one looking like Santa’s kinky little helper should be in a relationship with a cone of cotton candy like Eveline.”
Marinette rolled her eyes and went back to the pajamas as she replied, “You can tease her all you want, but you just want Eveline to yourself.”
Gerald shrugged nonchalantly and retorted, “So? What’s wrong with that?”
He then turned the sweater vest around to show to Marinette, revealing an unfinished diamond pattern, “Hey, what do you think of Sabrina’s sweater-vest? I got the teal diamonds on there, it took fucking forever my god. But did she want purple diamonds to go with it, or green ones?”
Marinette looked up for a moment in thought, trying to remember. Again that feeling came back, but she pushed it away, before replying with an unsure shrug, “I don’t remember. Why don’t you just make another one and have one of each? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind having two sweater vests.”
Gerald groaned in exasperation and threw the unfinished sweater vest back on the table, “God, that’s going to take such a long time. I made this entire damn sweater-vest from scratch. Why the fuck are normal sweaters on Felix’s ordering list but not sweater vests? That’s bullshit.”
Marinette raised an eyebrow as she pointed out, “Well, we might not have to pay for this stuff, but it’s not like Felix just gets it for free. Someone has to pay for it, so there’s bound to be limitations on what he can get.”
Gerald sighed, “Yeah, whatever.” He then grudgingly went back to work on Sabrina’s sweater vest, and the room was plunged back into silence as Marinette did the same.
The silence was not meant to last, however, as the door creaked open and a nervous yet slightly deep voice hesitantly said, “Um, hello? C-can I come in?”
Gerald briefly looked over his shoulder to see Nathanael at the door with his purple-tinted skin and red hair. Gerald promptly went back to work as he said, “Yeah, sure.”
Nathanael noticed how Gerald ignored him, and bit his lip nervously, before letting himself relax. Disregard was ok, better than hate at least.
He entered the room, and approached Marinette with more confidence as he said in a more stable tone of voice yet with a slight stutter at the beginning, “Hi, I, uh heard that you were customizing clothes for people, and I was wondering if you could do something for me?”
Marinette, in contrast to Gerald, put down her needle and thread to give Nathanael her full attention as she asked with a kind smile, “Sure! Of course I could, what would you like?”
Nathanael felt a tentative smile come over his face for the first time in what felt like forever – no one talked to him as kindly as Marinette did.
The redhead reached with shaking hands into the pocket of his black pants, and pulled out a crumpled-up napkin with a design drawn on it with some kind of condiment. He then opened up his black rain jacket a bit to reveal that one of his orange t-shirts had been thrown over his shoulder. Placing the shirt on the table with the napkin, he said with a slight eagerness to his anxious tone of voice, “I-I just wanted t-this design on my shirt.”
Marinette picked up the napkin to look at the design, surprised at the defined outline of the drawing despite the fact that it’d been drawn with such crude tools. It was good for something that’d been drawn in sauce, indicating some sort of secret skill.
Secret talents… it reminded her of something… someone? The feeling was back, but Marinette quickly pushed it away. She gave Nathanael another kind smile as she said, “Sure! I’d be glad to. I’ll work on it as soon as I’m done with these pajamas, is that fine with you?”
Nathanael nodded in an anxious joy and replied happier than she’d ever heard him, “Yes, of course! Thank you so much!”
“No problem!” Marinette offered in reply, and, with that, Nathanael turned away with one more longing glance towards Marinette before nervously making his way out the door.
Before he could walk through, however, the door slammed open, making everyone in the room jump in surprise, Gerald even poking his finger accidentally with the needle with a, “Dammit! What the fuck?”
Nathanael’s eyes widened in fear, and he backed up away from the door, only to realize that Marinette was looking back at him in worry. All of a sudden, it was all too much, and he was backing himself up against the wall, shaking in anxiety and curling in on himself as Chloe stalked in, Sabrina following her.
“Marinette! Gerald! Or whoever’s working on my clothes, are you done yet?” Chloe then paused and wrinkled her nose with disgust before saying, “Ugh, what’s that smell? Did someone skip a shower or something?”
The blonde then looked over at the wall to the far left of the room, and saw Nathanael backed up against it, as if trying to fuse with the wall would make him disappear. With a smirk, Chloe sneered, “Oh, why it’s not a someone, but a something! What’re you doing here, half-breed, trying to get Marinette to spice up your pathetic little rags?”
Nathanael just continued shaking in anxiety, and just looked down at his hands as Chloe continued, “Well, you can try, but no amount of extra designs on those things can ever get rid of your disgusting, pathetic, and completely depressing smell that comes with all of you savages. Didn’t you kill your own mother? How worthless.”
“Chloe,” Marinette began firmly, not willing to take a back seat while Chloe continued to rip on Nathanael, “stop it. He didn’t do anything to you.”
“No,” the word surprisingly came from Nathanael, and Marinette looked over at him in surprise. The redhead had a resigned look on his face, as he said despondently, “it-it’s always been like this. Y-you don’t… I mean… I-I’ll just go now…” He then scurried off, trying to slip by through the door, but not being able to escape being tripped by Sabrina.
Chloe laughed, “What a rat!” Marinette could tell that Nathanael was fighting back tears as he ran off, and Chloe shook her head, “and a crybaby, too, how hopeless!”
Marinette thought back to how Nathanael seemed so small when scurrying out of the room, and the feeling that she was forgetting something returned… Hadn’t someone else done something like that? But she pushed the thought away and sent a glare at Chloe, “That was so uncalled for! What has Nathanael ever done to you?”
Chloe scoffed and retorted as if she were stating a fact that Marinette should’ve known, “Existed? You heard him, it’s always been this way and it’s not like we’re all gonna stop now.”
“What do you mean by ‘we’re all’?” Marinette asked searchingly.
Chloe raised an eyebrow and replied, “What, you lost your memory or something?” That strange feeling hit Marinette full force with those words, but Chloe continued on, “Everyone at the asylum avoids the tomato head half-breed freak. And have you heard some of the stuff Alix has said to him? I’m a saint compared to that pink-haired weirdo.”
As if on cue, Marinette heard screams coming from outside, and she got up to go to the window. Looking out, she spotted Nathanael exiting the building, and a crowd of children had spotted him and screamed in fear. Marinette bit her lip in worry, concerned for Nathanael. He just wanted to pass through, and the children were still screaming at him as if he were the devil.
She watched as Nathanael walked around the children, only to go past Alix, Kim, Max, Alya, Ivan, and Nino near the girls’ dorm. She watched as Alix in particular backed away from Nathanael as if he had the plague, and said something Marinette could tell was rude. As Nathanael walked out of their sight, Marinette caught sight of his face, and her heart clenched as she realized that he was crying.
Marinette turned back around and sat down in her chair with a sigh. She looked over at Gerald, who hadn’t looked up from his work throughout the entire conversation. Marinette nudged the table that he sat at with her foot, and he looked up for a brief second, long enough for him to shake his head at her, before returning back to his work.
It then hit her all at once.
She was the only one at this entire asylum who didn’t see Nathanael as some kind of freak, or some kind of plague.
And for what reason? Because he was an akumatized half-breed? Sure, he was more dangerous, but treating him so poorly would only fuel his negative emotions... Did no one understand that?
Marinette turned to Chloe and said wearily, knowing there was no chance of Chloe listening to her, “Look, Chloe, just, ease up once in a while, ok? It wouldn’t kill you.”
Chloe predictably scoffed and said, “As if. Look, are my clothes done?”
Gerald then finally spoke up and said, “Yeah, they’re over with Eveline across the hall.”
“Ugh, I came in here for no reason then! What a waste of my time,” Chloe turned around and moved to storm out of the room.
Sabrina, however, lingered for just a moment to ask in a more subdued tone than her blonde friend, “Is my sweater vest done, yet?”
Gerald shook his head and replied, “Nah, not quite, it’s gonna take some extra time. I should have them done two meals from now at most.”
Sabrina brightened up, excited to get her sweater-vest, and said, “Oh, thank you so much!” Chloe then shouted for her, and then Sabrina was out of the door without a second glance.
With Chloe and Sabrina finally out of the room, Marinette slumped over onto the table with a groan, careful not to mess up her work on the turtle pajamas.
Akumatized half-breeds had a bad reputation, even worse than normal akumatized humans, worse than 2nd or 3rd generation akuma, and definitely worse than normal half-breeds. Marinette knew that this poor reputation followed Nathanael around like a plague.
Of course, such a reputation didn’t come from nowhere.
When akuma became a normal occurrence, so had the prospect of the akuma marrying other akuma and producing children. These children would be born akuma, and were called 2nd generation akuma. The children of a 2nd generation akuma would be called a 3rd generation akuma, and so on.
Akuma were legally allowed to marry humans, but this was a practice that came with severe social repercussions. Not only because marrying someone with such pent up anger or depression and strange superpowers was dangerous, but also because of what would become of their children.
Such children of an akuma and a human were called half-breeds. Half-breeds could be anywhere between 0% and 100% akuma, but were never completely human or akuma. Whether the child had more akuma traits or more human traits depended on the mother.
If the mother was an akuma, then the child would show more traits of being an akuma, with their own akuma uniform, superpower, and a matching set of chaotic, angry, and depressed emotions to come with the package. If the mother was a human, the child would be blessed with a clearer mind, and only a mere affinity for their skill instead of having full-blown superpowers.
Most half-breeds fell somewhere in the middle. For example, if a pure-bred akuma had powers over the weather, they would be able to control it. If this akuma were instead a more human-like half-breed, then they would only have a knack for accurately predicting the weather. If this akuma were purely half-human and half-akuma, then they would only have a minor influence over the weather, and their negative emotions could be controlled since they weren’t as strong.
The reputation of a normal half-breed varied depending on whether they were more human-like, more akuma-like, or purely half-and-half. If the half-breed could pass as a pure-bred akuma, then they could and would be treated as such, there was little ambiguity there.
Half-breeds that were more half-and-half couldn’t be categorized so easily, and it all depended on which akuma traits they inherited. Some radicals on the human side would discriminate against them anyway, because just being part akuma was bad enough. Other akuma would be envious of their ability to control their negative emotions, though pitied their weaker superpowers at the same time. How other humans treated these half-breeds would depend on their control over these emotions, how cool their powers were, and the reputation of the akuma parent.
Half-breeds that were more human-like were treated like normal humans, only ever being discriminated against if the akuma parent had a reputation. But it was these human-like half-breeds that were in the most danger.
While other types of half-breeds showed more obvious akuma traits, human-like half-breeds didn’t have much of these traits at all. They were, thus, prone to be mistaken for pure-humans by strangers, or, even worse, rampaging akuma.
Normally, the corrupt butterflies and rampaging akuma that could turn humans into akuma would be able to tell the difference between a half-breed and a human, due to the aura of resentment and depression that wafted off of the akuma, as well as other traits.
They would know not to turn them into akuma, since they already were. Often times, turning them wouldn’t work at all, and they would be put under initiative instead. Sometimes, as is the case with half-breeds that were only around 45% akuma, there was no effect at all.
But, they wouldn’t be able to tell that the human-like half-breeds even had any akuma blood in them. Whatever small part of akuma blood they had in them at birth would often augment their temper tantrums if they had any, and were thus prone to be targeted by butterflies drawn to their episodes of distress.
Trying to turn such a half-breed worked, and had disastrous results.
If a half-breed was only 10% akuma from birth, and then they were akumatized again by a butterfly, they would thus be 110% akuma.
They were more of an akuma than normal akuma.
While such a half-breed would’ve been 90% less of an akuma, they were now 10% more of an akuma than the average akuma. This person now has 10% more anger, 10% more depression, 10% more superpowers than a full-akuma. Often times the dark energy that turned them would continue to linger. It could leak off of their skin like a permanent threat, like a constant visible sign of their corruption, and how deranged they’ve become.
It was these akumatized half-breeds that rampaged the most, that lost control of their powers the most, that lost control over their sanity the most, that put others in danger the most, and the ones that needed the most help.
These akumatized half-breeds were required to be sent to an asylum immediately, no matter the age or the social status. They were also required to remain until they’d taken enough medicine and had enough therapy to control themselves, even if it wasn’t until well after adulthood.
It was a curse, but one they’d never asked for, one that they couldn’t help.
But no one cared for this fact. Humans, half-breeds, and pure-bred akuma alike all ostracized these akumatized half-breeds, called them “lunatics” and “savages.”
They saw them as monsters with no ounce of composure.
Marinette froze then, paused in her work on the turtle pajamas as she backpedaled to her last thought. “Monster…” hadn’t there been someone she’d known, someone who wasn’t an akumatized half-breed, but still feared being called a monster all the same?
That feeling returned full force, and this time, it would not be ignored.
It’d been a girl… right? And, and she’d been ashamed of her superpower, so much so that she had this fear complex. Her power had something to do with being turned into something that looked like a monster, but Marinette couldn’t remember the specifics.
Marinette’s eye caught a roll of cloth with rainbow-colored swirls all over it, and it hit her, didn’t this girl have colorful hair? Dreadlocks, were that what they were called? And, and a pink headband, she had one of those. Hadn’t Marinette been the one to make it for her?
A feeling of dread washed over her as she realized, how had she even forgotten one of her companions at all? What really happened on that day when they woke up on the roof? Marinette hadn’t seen anyone in the asylum with such colorful hair, ever, and yet she could still remember clearly that this girl had been their friend. And, and wasn’t she Ivan’s girlfriend?
Marinette then realized with horror that she wasn’t the only one that’d forgotten about this girl. No one had ever mentioned her at all, not even Ivan. Everyone had forgotten her, even her boyfriend.
Marinette was sure now that this girl had existed. But, where had she gone? Maybe, maybe she didn’t exist, and she was remembering it wrong? No, impossible. Marinette could feel it on her skin that this girl used to hang around the asylum, she had definitely existed.
But, what was her name?
Marinette was alarmed when she couldn’t remember her name. How had she forgotten?
Didin’t it start with an M? My-…. My-something? Myra? Myla? Myron? Myles? Mylie?
Then, it clicked, Mylene, her name had been Mylene.
It was unsettling that Marinette had managed to forget one of her friends, and she made a resolution to look for Mylene, and find out why she hadn’t been around. Maybe if she asked around, people would remember…
The thought of asking her friends brought Marinette’s thoughts back to Nathanael, and she bit her lip in worry for the well-being of the redhead. She returned to her work on the turtle pajamas, determined to finish it and the rest of the pajamas so she could work on Nathanael’s shirt.
After a while of working quietly, Gerald broke the long silence, not looking up from his work on Sabrina’s sweater vest as he said, “It’s pointless trying to stand up for Nathanael, you know.”
Marinette simply shook her head with conviction, determined to finish her work, “Nobody deserves to be treated like that.”
At the other end of the asylum, the redheaded adolescent boy was crying again, secretly wishing that everyone would treat him like Marinette did, but knowing that they never would.