Hi everyone and welcome to my new story! This is my first attempt at a Miraculous AU, so I hope it all turns out okay. This is an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while and just wouldn't leave me alone. It didn't help that I'm a sucker for a bit of MariChat. I started jotting down ideas and then it all got a little out of control and I just had to write it. I hope that you enjoy reading it.

Rated T for possible mild language, some violence and the odd darker tone here or there.

I do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. I am making no money out of this.

~ Immortal Bond ~

Chapter 1: No Such Thing

His world was dark. Completely void of any creation and beauty that she had always brought. A world that was now eternally cold and full of nothing but imbalanced destruction. Souls cried out in confusion and fear. Some begged and screamed while others prayed. They floated above him, being dragged into the underworld for all eternity. This place was now nothing but death and misery. There used to be so much life and happiness here. He too used to be full of life and happiness. Now his life barely had any meaning. Now he was eternally and forever alone in his cursed immortal life. Doomed to now only watch his love through the thin veil that separated their worlds.

It had taken hundreds of years to find her, but he had finally done it. Now all he could do was watch. Watch her live out her mortal life that flew by so quickly. She looked just the same. She acted just the same. It was like a cruel joke. But still, he reached a hand up, longing to touch her, to hold her once again as he had done all those centuries ago. As he reached forward, the veil tickled his fingers, weaving between his fingers like a thin, silk-like fabric, barring him from entry. Defeated, he let his hand drop back down to his side before he dug his fingers into the dirt, watching with tears in his eyes at the way her blue eyes sparkled excitedly and her dark hair shone in the light.

Then something happened. The veil weakened, a tear forming as the humans opened the veil up, inviting his world to collide with theirs. A foolish mistake that humans often lived to regret. He could make it through. All he had to do was step forward into their world. He had been invited, and who was he to turn down an invitation? Especially when it would allow him to get so close to the love of his life. Maybe there was a way for them to finally be together again.

He plucked a rose from the dying bush beside him. The instant he touched it, the rose in his hand began rotting away, his powers of destruction left untamed by her absence. The dead petals fluttered away in the light breeze, left blackened and brittle by a world of never ending death, misery and destruction.

As the veil opened wider, causing bright light to shine through, the black cat demon sat on the clifftop, watching the veil split open before he finally stood up, a small smirk forming on his face. He slowly stepped forward, entering the portal that led to the mortal world, excitement beginning to bubble up inside him as he was carried across.

The time had finally come to reclaim what was his.

.

Marinette curled up on the couch in Alya's living room, clutching a cushion to her chest, pressing her face into it while every so often risking a peak at the television. Screams blared out of the speakers, making Marinette jump and hide herself once again. It didn't seem that Rose was faring much better either. She had nuzzled herself into Juleka's side, burying her face into her girlfriend's shoulder. Meanwhile, Juleka remained completely unphased, smiling at the scary, tense moments. Mylène also looked terrified, hiding behind a cushion much like Marinette was. Alix remained sitting on the floor looking slightly bored, every so often laughing at the reactions of the characters. Alya looked engrossed, jumping slightly at the jump scares before laughing it off and continuing to watch.

Sleepovers weren't complete without a scary movie and Marinette hated how they had to conform to that ideal. She hated scary movies. She hated anything even remotely scary. Anything to do with ghosts or demons, Marinette was immediately out. When she had accepted the invitation to Alya's slumber party, the chance that they might watch a horror movie had honestly not crossed Marinette's mind. She had begged and pleaded for them to all watch something else, but she had been outvoted.

"Oh honestly, if a demon was after me, I'd be hiding out at the nearest church." Alya laughed.

"I think it would be cool." Juleka smiled and Alya gave her a weird look.

The movie ended with one more final bloodcurdling scream before the credits started rolling. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling safe to come out of her hiding place. Alya moved over towards the DVD player and removed the disk.

"That was so lame." Alix groaned. "Those reviewers were lying when they said that was the scariest movie of the year."

Alya laughed, pointing towards a pale looking Marinette, Rose and Mylène. "I think they would beg to differ."

"Uh, but those three are wimps." Alix huffed. "Next we should do something that's actually scary."

"No thank you." Marinette whimpered.

"Well…" Juleka smirked, "I did bring my Ouija board."

"Those things are a rip off." Alya giggled.

"It's all very real and serious." Juleka insisted, glaring at Alya.

"Ghosts and demons aren't real, Juleka." Marinette sighed, more trying to reassure herself.

"Oh yeah?" Alix grinned as she turned towards Marinette. "Wanna put your money where your mouth is?"

"I think it could be fun." Alya interjected, moving towards Juleka who had pulled the box out of her backpack. She opened the old, dusty box and pulled the board out, unfolding it and placing it on the coffee table that was situated in front of the couch, next to some candles that had already been lit to create more of an atmosphere when they had watched the horror movie. She then placed the planchette on top before looking around at everyone and grinning.

"Unless you're all too chicken." Juleka teased.

"I ain't a chicken." Alix growled, immediately placing her finger on the planchette.

Juleka smirked and copied her actions as Alya rolled her eyes and calmly placed her finger on it as well. Then all eyes turned to the three remaining girls who looked scared and unsure. Rose looked like she was ready to pass out as she stared at the board in terror. Mylène hesitated before finally giving in to the peer pressure and placing her finger on the planchette as well.

"Don't worry, Rose, it'll be fine." Juleka reassured her. "Nothing can hurt you, I'll make sure you take the correct steps."

Rose gulped before shakily placing her finger on the planchette. All eyes were then on Marinette who frowned and folded her arms over her chest, turning away from the board.

"I'm not about to play with some silly toy."

"She's scared." Alix laughed.

"Yeah, definitely scared." Alya agreed.

Marinette cursed her friends for being able to read her like a book. Although she didn't necessarily believe in ghosts and demons, it didn't mean that she would be willing to mess with something like this and find out that she was wrong. Marinette enjoyed being able to sleep at night and she wasn't about to sacrifice that, thank you very much. She'd had enough of a scare tonight with that horror movie and wasn't about to sit there and let one of her friends prank her into thinking a ghost or a demon was trying to communicate with them. She knew her friends; they would be low enough to do something like that to her.

"Come on, Marinette," Mylène pleaded, "If we all do it, it won't be as scary."

Marinette sighed. "Fine. But if you guys prank me into thinking a demon wants to possess me, you're dead."

Gulping, Marinette shakily reached her hand out and slowly placed her finger on the planchette. She watched the hands of her friends suspiciously, making sure that none of them were going to try and move the small piece of wood themselves in an attempt to freak her out. None of this is real, none of this is real, none of this is real, Marinette kept repeating that phrase to herself over and over again. She could prove to her friends that she wasn't some easily scared whimp. She could do this. None of it was real anyway, so nothing was going to happen.

Juleka cleared her throat and Marinette, Rose and Mylène shrank back nervously. Marinette had to force herself to keep her finger on the planchette. She had to swallow her fear. She couldn't show to the others that she was currently terrified out of her mind. She would never hear the end of it. Especially off Alix.

"Is there anybody there?" Juleka asked.

Marinette held her breath.

Nothing happened.

"How many spirits are in here with us?" Juleka continued.

Again, nothing happened.

Alix sighed and rested the elbow of her free arm on her knee, looking bored. Alya too relaxed slightly, staring at the board with a fed up expression. Marinette found herself growing slightly more comfortable. She had been right. These things were just stupid toys. Ghosts and demons weren't real. This whole thing was stupid. Juleka frowned at the board in frustration, waiting for any form of response.

"Sometimes spirits can be slow." Juleka explained.

"Things that don't exist typically are." Alix chuckled. "I think we've proved our point that we're all brave. I say we go get some snacks and watch another movie."

"Oh, please, not another horror movie!" Rose begged.

"Hang on guys!" Juleka cried out in alarm as everyone was about to take their finger off the planchette and stand back up. "We have to say goodbye first!"

"Does it matter?" Alya asked.

"Saying goodbye closes the session. If you let go before doing so, you invite a spirit or demon to latch onto you. A Ouija board is like a portal and it needs to be closed." Juleka explained gravely.

Marinette looked down at it nervously, allowing Juleka to guide the planchette, with their fingers still in place, all the way to the section of the board that had the word 'goodbye' written on it. Once that was done, Juleka flipped the planchette over and everyone let go. Marinette scooted away as far back as possible before pulling herself up back onto the sofa. Everyone else waited patiently while Alya got up and headed towards her apartment's kitchen and began opening random cupboards.

"Oh well that's just great." Alya growled. "We're out of snacks."

Everyone groaned.

"There's a small store that's open twenty-four hours down the road. Seen as I'm the only one with money, I'll head down now and get some." Alya said, pulling some jeans over her pyjama shorts and putting her coat on.

"Ooh, I'll come too." Alix said, getting up as well. "You don't know what I like."

"Me too."

"And me."

Alya sighed. "We can't all go. The twins are in bed and I can't leave them alone. My parents will kill me and they won't be back until early in the morning."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll stay. You guys go."

"Are you sure?" Alya asked.

"She's sure." Alix answered for her, beginning to push everyone towards the door. "Now come on, I'm hungry!"

"Thanks Marinette!" They all called out over their shoulders as they were all pushed out of the door by a hungry Alix. Marinette rolled her eyes but waved to them anyway. As the front door slammed shut and locked behind them, an ominous feeling rolled over Marinette. It felt weird being virtually alone in a friend's apartment. Alya's younger twin sisters were sleeping soundly in bed and the whole apartment was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

It was incredibly unnerving, but Marinette managed to swallow back her fear as best as she could. There was no such things as ghosts and demons. The lack of response from the Ouija board had proved that. Not to mention, her friends would be back within a few minutes, so it wasn't like Marinette was going to be alone for long. She contemplated turning the lights on, but no doubt her friends would tease her for doing so. The only light in the room came from the glow of the two candles on the coffee table, filling the room with ominous orange light.

The minutes ticked by and her friends still hadn't returned. Marinette was growing bored and impatient. Her eyes found themselves darting over to the Ouija board that Juleka had left on the table. How could Juleka believe that spirits were real and that the board game actually worked? Maybe she should have a try at the game on her own? To prove to herself once and for all that the things that went bump in the night were not the result of ghosts and demons. Marinette would finally be able to have peace of mind. Maybe then she could watch horror movies without flinching. If she could do this, then she could do anything. These thoughts whirled around in Marinette's head as she reached one hand towards the board.

No.

Marinette pulled her hand back. What if something did happen? She was all alone in the living room with nothing but young girls for company who were asleep in their room. But wait, how could something happen? It had been proven earlier that the game didn't work. Ouija boards were just cheap mass marketed toys, so how could anything happen? Nothing could happen. Right? Marinette groaned slightly in confusion.

"I must be out of my mind." Marinette sighed to herself, moving off the couch to sit next to the Ouija board again.

Gulping, she nervously picked up the planchette and placed it in the middle of the board again, keeping her finger softly in place on top. Her heart rate began to rise, almost pounding out of her chest in fear. Her stomach churned, like someone had reached their hand into her body and was twisting her organs around inside her. Surely, there was no need to get frightened? Because nothing was going to happen.

"I-is there anybody there?" Marinette shakily asked like Juleka had done.

Marinette held her breath before sighing in relief when once again, nothing happened. Feeling relieved, Marinette was about to take her finger off the planchette when all of a sudden, a tingling sensation ran up her finger and all the way up her arm before sending shivers throughout her body. The temperature of the room suddenly felt like it had dropped exponentially, as if she had just walked into a freezer. A feather light sensation touched her finger and Marinette would have screamed if she hadn't been frozen in fear. Still as a statue, and eyes wide with terror, Marinette watched as the planchette beneath her finger was slowly moved towards the most hauntingly terrifying word that could have been uttered to her in that moment.

Yes.

A small, scared squeak came out of Marinette's mouth as she struggled to think of anything to say. Was she dreaming? Had she fallen asleep during the movie and she was now having some sort of twisted nightmare? This couldn't be possible. There was no such thing as the paranormal! Unless…unless this was all just some elaborate prank. That would make total sense. Her friends make an excuse to go out, allegedly leaving her here all alone and now they were messing with her to try and scare her. She had to admit, this prank was elaborate, even by their standards, especially Alix's. This probably was all Alix's idea. They were probably hiding somewhere and recording her reaction on their phones right now. Marinette was going to get them for this!

Marinette then smirked, looking around the room before back at the board again. Okay. If that's how they wanted to be, then surely there was no harm in Marinette playing along. She could prove to them that she was some scaredy-cat. If they wanted some entertainment, then Marinette was more than happy to provide them with some. It would just be a shame that they wouldn't get the reaction that they were expecting.

"Interesting," Marinette continued to smirk, "How many of you are in here then?"

The planchette began slowly moving again.

1

"One, huh?" Marinette chuckled. "Are you sure it's not five?"

No.

Huh, Marinette had to admit that she was pretty amazed at how her friends had managed to pull this off. It didn't feel like the planchette had any string attached to it. Maybe it was remote control? Marinette wouldn't put it past them to get Max involved in this as well. Perhaps they had gone to him in order to help them control the planchette without them being nearby?

"Are you a ghost?" Marinette laughed.

No.

"Some sort of spirit?"

No.

Marinette frowned. "A demon?"

The planchette slowly moved in a different direction this time.

Yes.

Marinette's heart sank at that answer and she could feel her grip on the planchette loosening and growing slippery under the layer of sweat that had developed on her hands. Calm down Marinette, she reassured herself, this is just some stupid prank remember? You're not really talking to a demon. After those thoughts, Marinette took a deep breath, calming herself once again, but her chuckle still came out as sounding slightly nervous.

"A demon, huh? Do you have a name?"

The planchette moved towards the alphabetised letters on the board and Marinette followed it as best as she could, peering down into the glass of the planchette and making a mental note of all the various letters it pointed towards.

C-H-A-T-N-O-I-R

Chatnoir? What kind of a name is that? Honestly, she was shocked that her friends hadn't decided to go with Satan or Lucifer or the devil or something to that effect. How long had it taken for them to come up with a name like Chatnoir? They must have really planned this whole prank out down to last detail. If Marinette didn't know her friends as well as she did, she would have found this whole situation very believable.

"Are you in this room right now?" Marinette asked.

Yes.

Marinette's head snapped up to look around the room before she could stop herself. There was nothing surrounding her but a dark room that was only slightly lit up by the glow of the candles next to her. Of course there wasn't any demon in here. Because this was all just some stupid prank. With a frustrated sigh at how far they were taking this, Marinette looked down at the board again.

"Do you know who I am?" Marinette asked.

The planchette moved towards the letters again.

L-A-D-Y-B-U-G

"Huh?" Marinette frowned in confusion. That didn't make any sense. Ladybug? Why was the board referring to an insect? Honestly, she thought her friends would actually spell out her name in order to scare her. The more Marinette thought about it, she guessed going for her name would be too easy. If they made it say something nonsensical, then it would likely scare Marinette even more. It was certainly working, despite how much Marinette was trying to hold back her fear. She had a terrible feeling in her gut and her instincts were screaming at her that something was very wrong here, but Marinette refused to listen to them. If she did, then she would start freaking out and she would never hear the end of it off everyone. She needed to keep her cool. She needed to play along and up her game in order to get one over them.

"Okay then demon." Marinette smirked. "Would you like to possess me? That would really scare my friends."

No.

Marinette rolled her eyes in annoyance. Her friends were starting to do a terrible job at pranking her now.

"Then what do you want from me?" Marinette asked, curious to see what stupid thing her friends were going to come up with.

Y-O-U.

"Me?" Marinette asked in confusion. What exactly did that mean? That could mean anything. "My soul?" That was the only thing Marinette could think, getting the idea from the horror movie her friends had just forced her to watch.

Yes.

"Do I get anything in exchange?" Marinette laughed before stopping when the planchette began to move again.

M-E.

"So in exchange for my soul, I get my very own demon?" Marinette laughed. If this was for real, it would be pretty hilarious. She could use her own demon to get her revenge on her friends and to get a more devious form of revenge on her school bully Chloé. A demon could help her with all sorts. It was a shame this was just some stupid prank. Then again, she heard in myths and stories that demons could be tricky. What would giving up her soul mean? Would that demon then have total control over her? Would she die? This whole thing wasn't making any sense the more she thought about it.

None of this was real anyway, Marinette thought as she shook her head slightly. She still needed to give her traitor friends a good show.

"Okay then." Marinette smirked. "You're on. I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, give to you my eternal soul."

Marinette screeched as a sudden breeze blew past her, despite no windows or doors being open. The candles beside her blew out, plunging the room into pitch blackness. Marinette then screamed as a burning sensation suddenly appeared on the back of her hand and without thinking, she let go of the planchette to touch her hand, tears beginning to stream down her face as she clutched her hand in pain. Maybe one of the flames of the candles had touched her hand when it had gotten blown out? Whatever had happened, it hurt a lot!

"Marinette?!" Alya yelled from outside the front door.

Marinette heard the keys turning in the lock before the front door burst open, filling the room with light again from the outside hallway. Alya flicked the main lights on, leaving Marinette feeling completely embarrassed at having just burnt herself and standing in the middle of the room in tears because of it. She still clutched at her hand, the burning sensation still there, but much duller now.

"Very funny guys. I must admit, that was pretty good." Marinette chuckled, quickly wiping away her tears.

"Why did you scream?" Alix laughed.

"We thought an intruder had got in!" Rose gasped worriedly.

"I'm fine, guys, I think I burnt my hand on the candle." Marinette glared over at the candles that had been situated next to her.

"And wait…what did we do that was so funny?" Mylène asked, confused.

"Nice try, but you can't fool me." Marinette glared at them, folding her arms across her chest.

"Girl, what are you talking about?" Alya laughed.

"You guys moving the planchette." Marinette explained. "I'm impressed; I have no idea how you pulled it off."

"Wait, what?" Alya frowned.

Juleka gasped. "You messed with the Ouija board while we were gone and it moved?!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "You can cut the act guys, I'm not falling for it."

Juleka ran over towards the board before freezing when she saw that the planchette had not been flipped over in the goodbye position. She looked back towards Marinette with fear in her eyes which caused Marinette to internally freak out slightly before she reminded herself that it was no big deal; it had all just been a prank after all.

"Did you say goodbye?" Juleka demanded, running over to grab Marinette by her upper arms.

"Whoa, Juleka, chill out." Alix laughed.

"Umm…no?" Marinette squeaked.

Juleka abruptly released Marinette as if she was contaminated. "You've let ghosts and demons into our world. They'll attach themselves onto you."

"Relax Juleka, it's just a cheap board game." Alya sighed as she placed the shopping bags on the kitchen counter before she began rifling through them. Alix soon joined her, picking out her own snacks and leaving Alya to handle the rest of it which made her roll her eyes.

"No it's not!" Juleka snapped. "Marinette has placed herself in great danger!"

"No thanks to you guys." Marinette glowered at all of them. "Why do you have to play such cruel practical jokes on me like that? Had a good laugh at my expense have you?"

"Marinette…we didn't do anything." Alya insisted looking slightly worried.

"I think maybe that horror movie got to her a little too much." Alix laughed and the rest of them chuckled as well apart from Juleka who looked at Marinette worriedly.

Marinette huffed and folded her arms across her chest again, wincing slightly as the fabric of her pyjama top caused the burn on the back of hand to sting even more than it already was. Everyone seemed to forget what had happened within a few seconds as they were busy tucking into their snacks and arguing over which movie to watch next. Marinette sat down on the couch again, watching them with a frown on her face. Where was the bragging? Why weren't they immediately whipping out their phones to show her the footage they had caught of the incident, laughing at Marinette's reactions?

Unless…

No.

That would be impossible.

There was no way the whole thing had been real. There was no way Marinette had communicated with a real demon and sold her soul to it. It was all some stupid prank and her friends were likely leaving her in the dark just to make her even more scared and doubt her own sanity. Maybe she was crazy. No. She was perfectly sane. Ghosts and demons didn't exist. The only logical explanation was that this had all just been an elaborate prank. Some stupid trick to try and scare her. It would be the type of thing for them to do.

The night continued on relatively normally, but somehow, everything suddenly felt very abnormal at the same time. Her friends didn't seem too phased by what had happened, finally settling on a romantic comedy for them all to watch. Marinette barely touched her popcorn, scratching the back of her hand as it continued to weirdly burn. Marinette should have probably ran some cold water over it. Now she was likely going to have a nasty burn and blister on the back of her hand in the morning. Juleka kept staring at her weirdly which made Marinette extremely uncomfortable.

Not to mention, Marinette kept getting a petrifying and chilling feeling, that in the pitch black corners of the room, someone…or something…was watching her.

Oopsie daisy. First chapter done and I hope that it was enjoyable. Thank you so much for reading it and feel free to let me know your thoughts and opinions in a review.