Adrien Agreste was the luckiest kid in all of Paris.

As member of of the prestigious Agreste family, blessed with his good looks, holding a promising career in modeling, having all the money he could ever need and the heart of every teenage girl in Paris, Adrien Agreste was the symbol of perfection. But of course, that's only if you asked someone else.

If you asked Adrien Agreste himself, he probably wouldn't tell you that he's actually the unluckiest kid in all of Paris. He doesn't want to tell you, that with his late mother, absent father, and lack of any true friends and connections to speak of; that he's always wished for a bit more luck in his own life.

In hindsight, Adrien probably should have never opened the little box. Of course, it looked safe, and he did think it was a gift from his father, but the strange markings should have been a huge red flag.

The small floating creature that also came from the strange box should have also been a really big, really red, red flag.

"Tikki, you're nice and all, but in all honesty, this is the worst idea I've ever had. I think you're a bad influence." he sighed.

Tikki giggled, "Adrien, being Paris's hero does not always come for free. Just think of the end goal, you will get to be a hero!"

In response, Adrien groaned. This day was by far the weirdest of his life. First he's visited by a small genie, that indeed does not inhabit a lamp but a pair of small earrings (Aladdin did not prepare him enough for this). Then, she tells him that he can be a superhero, and gives him the whole run down of how it works, but all he can think of is how he's going to be a magical girl from Sailor Moon.

The real red flag though should have been the earrings. The earrings for god's sake. How was the unluckiest boy in Paris, granted the lucky miracle earrings? Bad luck, that's how.

Which brings us back to the current situation of his now bleeding ears.

Father's going to kill me, is his only thought.

"Look Adrien, it's stopped bleeding. You should be alright, so long as it doesn't get infected." she said, hovering around his ears. "That being said, I don't think I've ever had a wielder that doesn't already have her ears pierced... You were probably chosen for your kind personality!" Tikki smiled as she bobbled in the air.

Adrien loved Tikki's happy-go-lucky personality. Even though he'd only known the small red and black kwami for a solid half hour, he'd felt as though she was the most honest being he'd ever spoken to. But her last comment had struck a chord in him, and made him feel a bit uneasy about the current situation.

He shot her a quizzical look, "So, you didn't choose me, Tikki?"

"No, the wielders of the Miraculous are chosen by the Guardian. He releases the Miraculous when the world is in danger, and if the user is compatible with the Miraculous, than the kwami will appear. If not, then they are just a useless piece of costume jewelry, I suppose."

The room was silent for a moment, before the television cut back in.

"-Stoneheart is heading towards the Montparnasse tower. The monster seems to be unstoppable." He hadn't even realized it was still on.

"Well Tikki, I guess that's our cue." he smirked at the small kawami.

Realization dawned on Tikki's face, and her eyes widened as she tore her eyes from the TV and swiveled back around towards him, "No! Wait! I haven't finished explaining!"

"Spots On!"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the unluckiest girl in all of Paris.

She was clumsy, came from a family of low status, had confidence issues, and always seemed to get stuck in the same class as Chloe Bourgeois year after year. But of course, that was only if you asked the mayor's daughter herself.

If you asked Marinette, she would probably tell you that she was the luckiest girl in all of Paris. With her loving family, eccentric best friend, and a hopeful career in fashion, Marinette really had it all.

That is, until some form of higher power decided she just had too much.

Marinette didn't really know why the universe gave her an indifferent talking cat, all she knew was that it could fly, and that it also kind of resembled a small kitten. So, she did the only logical thing she could think of and threw the first thing her hand could reach at it.

"Ahh! What on earth are you! A floating cat? A really large bug?!"

The cat seemed very unimpressed by her actions, and merely dodged the onslaught.

"Look, I'm a kwami. And I've already told you...I grant powers. Yours is the power of destruction. Got it?"

Marinette refused to answer as she continued to inch her way closer to a glass cup that sat atop her desk. Now it was talking? She was still pretty unsure and freaked out about the universe and it's kwami prophet, but she decided to give it the benefit of the doubt since he didn't seem to want anything from her.

Suddenly, in a flurry of motion, she made a grab for the glass and brought it down on the catbug (kwami?) creature that was now moving about her room. With the cat now successfully pinned, she was able to get a good, up close look at him.

"Now, got anything to eat? I'm starving…" the kwami said, voice muffled by the glass separating the two.

"Umm.. we have a few things down in the bakery, I guess." She looked at him, head cocked to the side, unsure of what to call the small kwami.

"Names Plagg. And I can't be seen downstairs by anyone. You can't tell people about me." he looked at her, eyes narrowed, challenging. There was nothing Marinette loved more than a challenge (hence, Bourgeois). The demon continued to talk, and now that the spawn of satan himself was contained, she felt more inclined to listen. She sat for a moment, blue eyes gazing into his green, and the reality of the situation soon dawned on her.

"This has to be some kind of mistake. I'm not really cut out to be any kind of superhero. I'm far too clumsy to save people, let alone wield the power of destruction!" She paused. "I know! You should ask my friend Alya, she loves this kind of stuff, and she's a lot more responsible than I... am, and probably wouldn't trip up the stairs..." She trailed off, as she realized Plagg had somehow escaped the glass prison and wasn't listening to her and was instead rummaging through her things.

The kwami must have been actually listening, because he turned around and faced her, and seemed to debate with himself for a moment. "Look kid, you gotta trust me. You're not gonna be alone in this, you'll have Ladybug. She's the one that does all the heavy lifting, you just gotta help her out. But the important thing that you need to know is that she can't do this without you. If not you for this Miraculous, than no one."

That seemed to be a bit more than Plagg was willing to say, as he turned around broodily and continued searching through her things.

Every now and then, Plagg would feed her little tidbits of information and seemed to purposely leave out as many details as possible as he rounded about her room (what was he searching for?) about the ring that lay in the box.

"And you have to say Cataclysm."

"Cataclysm?"

"Yeah that's what I said. This ability can…."

Marinette continued to sit on the floor, unmoving as she continued to look at the ring, thinking. Despite what Plagg was telling her, this superhero business seemed like too much to process way too fast. Ivan, a member of her class, was currently a villain against his will. Now Ivan was rampaging through the streets of Paris and she was supposed to stop him? And with what? Cataclysm? A ring? Marinette didn't trust herself enough to walk down two steps in her house to get down to the kitchen, let alone wield the power to destroy anything she touched.

"Ladybug is your partner. She has the power of luck and the power to-"

"Ladybug?"

"Yeah, kid. Are you even listening? Geez…"

"Well, if Ladybug has the power of luck, why do I have the power of bad luck? How is having bad luck supposed to help anyone in a battle, besides getting them killed?" She asked, looking up, surprised to see Plagg hovering near her face.

She was also surprised when she saw Plagg's expression immediately become unreadable at the mention of her comment.

"That's just the thing, kid. Have you ever heard the saying, too much of a good thing is a bad thing? It's like that. The power of bad luck just may get you killed someday, if you're not careful." He paused for a moment, wrapping his arms around his small body as if to distance himself from the situation. "But you're smart, and I think you should be okay." Plagg finished. Marinette held the cat's gaze for a bit longer, and in his sea green eyes, she could see his inner turmoil; ageless wisdom and knowledge catching her by surprise.

Plagg tore his gaze away and replaced his expression once more with one of indifference.

Back to business, she thought idly.

She looked back down at the ring, that now lay upon her right ring finger. Marinette briefly heard the kwami roll back into his summary of how to properly use the Miraculous in the background, but now she was too distracted to listen. She felt haunted by Plagg's grimm words of advice, for this new power she was bestowed. She didn't feel afraid of the power anymore, but worried. Worried for Plagg, and her family, and the mysterious Ladybug she was supposed to be partnered to.

"-and all you have to say is- claws out."

She looked up from her speculation. "Claws… Out?"

The first action Adrien took as a superhero was checking himself out in the mirror. When he gazed into the reflective pane, he saw a boy, with a stupid grin illuminating his face. But the person in the mirror dressed in a red and black skintight suit soon became the least of his concerns, as a sudden electric energy filled his body. He was suddenly overcome with the pressing desire to run and jump. So that's exactly what he did- straight out the open window.

The second action Adrien took as a ladybug themed superhero was realizing that even though he was a ladybug, he honestly couldn't fly.

The free fall lasted mere moments as he lived only on the second story, and by the time he had remembered to use the magical yo-yo Tikki had told him about, he hit the ground.
Well, that could have gone worse
He stood once the pain dissipated and realized that he was okay. Adrien still felt the surging energy that he felt earlier, despite the two story fall that would usually cause a few broken bones. Perhaps Tikki was a magical genie after all.

Note to self: never do that again

Soon he was back on his feet and soaring above rooftops, kissing the sky and speeding through the city. After the falling fiasco he figured he should rely more on his magical counterpart, and he soon felt his muscles moving on their own accord as if he had done this a thousand times. He let out a shrill laugh. The air whipped violently past him as he cut through it like a sword- not bending to the will of the wind but to his own. The freeing sensation burst from his core as he felt completely elated.

Nothing could stop him…

Well, until something actually did stop him.

Something black and fast rammed into him from above, forcing his forward inertia to send him spiraling back to the ground. Again.

He briefly heard a scream, but he was too busy falling to decipher if it was his own or the black ball of destruction or both.

To top it off, the black projectile also decided to land on him. In this moment, all Adrien could think of was that his bad luck had somehow broken his lucky Miraculous, and now the world's wrath had been unleashed upon him.

He heard a groan above him. He cracked his eyes open, and looked up to see blue sky. He probably had a double concussion now, and his swirling eye sight focused in on the strangly luminescent sky that stared back. Eyes, he thought. At a loss for words, Adrien lay there completely speechless as he stared into the newcomer's eyes.

A few awkward moments passed, and then the girl hastily pushed herself up off the ground and back up onto her feet. Her sky blue eyes seemed to glow as they darted around the street, steadily avoiding his own. The girl took on a nervous posture, as if she herself could also not believe these odds. He watched as a hand went to push a stray curl out of her eyes, as she seemed to give up avoiding his gaze to finally meet his own.

Her dark blue hair was all pushed to one side in a wild and unruly fashion. The wavy locks had framed her face and a few rebellious strands fell into her face. Her pale skin was contrasted by black leather and…. Was that a catsuit?

Tentatively, a clawed hand was offered to him, and he stood.

"Ahh.. umm.. I-I'm so sorry, err… I wasn't really paying attention…" she said as she shrank under his gaze. The cat ears that adorned her head pinned back and her tail swished back and forth anxiously.

This was the partner that Tikki informed him of. That much was obvious. He didn't want to make her nervous, especially if they were going to work together.

Quick, say something smooth

Without thinking, he leaned forward, "Don't worry kitty, I think we're both just winging it."

The awkwardness immediately dissipated from her face, as she deadpanned. "Was that supposed to be a bug pun?"

He ignored her remark as he continued on, "I'm…. hmm. Well, I didn't think this through. I'm Ladybug. Nice of you to drop in."

She started laughing, and he was proud of his impressive pun. But his mood quickly dampered as he realized the true source of the amusement.

"You're Ladybug? Lady-bug? I'm sorry my lady, but you're not a lady…."

Despite his mild annoyance and embarrassment, be was drawn back to her glowing eyes, full of mirth.

He couldn't help but smile as she twirled her tail, her earlier nervousness completely gone. "Ladybug, huh? Hmmmm…. Chat Noir, at your service, my lady." She dramatized with a bow.

Adrien shot her a glare, aghast. He should have known it would come to this. "I resent that. Anyways, Paris isn't going to save itself, Sir Bigglesworth. Let's go."

Before he could do something to make her nervous again, he swung away toward the sounds of destruction. He spared a short glance behind him to make sure Chat Noir would follow. He saw the cat themed superheroine making her way behind him awkwardly via extendable baton.

He quickly sourced the villain to be in the parisian stadium a few blocks away from the school. Without hesitation, he swung straight into the battleground, and hooked the yo-yo wire around Stoneheart's fist, seconds before it could be brought down on a nearby civilian.

He retracted the weapon as soon as he had the rocky monster's attention. "Man, you really need to work on that rocky attitude of yours. You need to calm down, you're starting to look like schist." he smirked.

"Shut up, or I'll crush you like a little bug." the villain replied, finding no humor in Adrien's remarks.

A purple butterfly-esque mask appeared on the adversary's face.

Strange, he thought. He took the villain's distracted moment to desperately search for his less lucky partner, to find only a lone civilian recording the fight.

Really? At a time like this.

The mask quickly dissipated, and Stoneheart was back in control. Stoneheart reached for the futbol goal behind him, and chucked it at the new offender. Ladybug took up a defensive stance and stealthily dodged.

"Heh, missed m-" he cut off, as he remembered the innocent girl who was recording behind him. Time felt like it slowed down as he released the yo-yo and hooked it onto the goal, giving the cord a mighty yank. The tumbling post stopped in its tracks and clattered to the ground, and Adrien's arm ached from the sudden strain.

He turned back around to the stoney monster, only to find a rocky fist as big as himself clenched around his midsection. He looked around desperately for an escape, but with his hands pinned to his sides he was without his primary weapon.

Not like it would help anyway. His arm felt good as broken.

"What are you waiting for super black cat?! The world is watching you!"

The source of the voice came from the girl who literally almost got crushed (why won't she just get out of here?). He followed her gaze to the top of the stadium where he found his cat-partner looking extremely indecisive and nervous once again. He desperately wanted to yell at her to come save him because Stoneheart's grip on him seemed to be getting tighter and tighter by the moment, but he knew that anything he said would just make her even more nervous than she already was.

As she hesitantly assessed the situation, their eyes found each other. He guessed she saw the blatant desperation in his eyes, or maybe it was the small pained smile he gave her, but soon her face morphed into determination and the resolve hardened in her eyes as she lept into action.

She was so fast his eyes could hardly track her. She flew underneath Stoneheart and used her baton as a lever to knock him off balance and eventually release Ladybug. He regrouped with her on the other side of the field.

"Er.. Sorry it took so long for me to get here." She looked at him apologetically.

He gave her a reassuring smile, "It's alright Kitty, let's just take care of this guy."

He took up a stance to leap away, but was quickly stopped by Chat Noir. Adrien looked at the gloved hand encased around his forearm, and then at the girl. He looked back to her eyes and saw a different person from the one that had met him in a head on collision earlier. He quickly decided, that he liked this new, more confident version of Chat Noir much better.

"I think it's time we use our special abilities, 'bug."she said, steadily.

"Oh, thats right. I forgot." he chuckled. Grabbing his yo-yo, he threw it up in the air as Tikki had instructed earlier.

With a quick Lucky Charm, he was given a…. Wetsuit? Was this some kind of joke?

He looked at Chat and laughed, handing it to her. "Here you go kitty, I heard cats don't like to get wet."

The cat carefully took the suit, and he could see the gears turning in her head. She looked back to him, a crafty smirk adorning her face.

Adrien Agreste was suddenly overcome with the powerful sensation that he was completely fucked.

"I have an idea, but you're not going to like it." was all she said. Why was he ever worried about her not warming up to him.

I'm so screwed.

Without asking for his consent, or even giving him the slightest warning, Chat Noir swiftly picked his small bug self up and through him at Stoneheart. Wasn't Ladybug supposed to be the non sacrificial goat? He gave his black-clad traitor partner a murderous glance as he was once again in the hands of Stoneheart.

"One down and one to go, cat!" Stoneheart yelled. Since Stoneheart's hand was currently occupied by Ladybug, Stoneheart uncurled his right hand as he went to grab the other futbol goal and throw it at Chat. From Stoneheart's left hand, dropped a smaller, rounded rock.

The akuma, he thought.

He looked up, and saw the goal, hurling towards Chat. Suddenly, panic overwhelmed his senses. "Chat! Look out!" He yelled helplessly. He squirmed in Stoneheart's grip, desperate to get away and do something.

Chat didn't even move a muscle. Ladybug watched in horror, as the solid bar on the goal continued to twist dangerously towards the girl, and that girl stood her ground.

"CHAT! MOVE!" he screamed horsely, but it seemed like his voice fell on deaf ears. She wasn't even looking at him, her eyes were steadily trained on the incoming flying mess. Was she afraid? Could she not move because she felt overwhelmed?

Just before the projectile could meet its target, the entire object disintegrated before his eyes. Chat stood amidst the flying debris and dust, completely unharmed. I guess that's her power?, he thought. He was deftly torn between crying in relief and punching someone.

"Why…. don't you just keep getting boulder? Alya! Hit the tap!" Chat Noir said over her shoulder, to the civilian who was still here (jesus christ).

It took Adrien a moment to realize that the wetsuit was also here with him in Stoneheart's mighty fist. He didn't have time to ponder about how he didn't notice the suit right next to him, because in the next moment, water exploded all around him.

Yeah, maybe he was free now, but that still made no part of this situation okay. Even if Chat's plan was completely brilliant, no amount of oscar-worthy five second devised plan could make him feel any bit better as he was drowned in a sea of raging water.

Now that he was on the ground, he made haste of breaking the akumatized object and releasing the butterfly. Both heros stood side by side as they watched the black butterfly flutter off into the distance.

Ladybug turned and looked at his partner. "Chat, please. Don't ever do that again."

Chat Noir turned to look curiously up at her partner, "Do what?"

"The cataclysm. You threw me. We're supposed to be a team and you just… When you didn't move, and I couldn't even… I…" Adrien trailed off, unsure of how to fully express how worried he was for her. And all around useless. So many thoughts about what had just happened were flashing through his head, and he was having trouble still putting them together. So, he decided to just give up on what he was saying.

"Kitty, just promise me you'll never do that again."

Chat stared at him for a moment, taking in what he said, face full of wonder. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, unsure what to say, "Ladybug, I-"

"Hey! Are you two going to be Paris's new superheros? Are you a manbug? How did you both get your powers? Were you bitten by a rabid cat? Radioactive ladybug? Oh, this is so unreal! I have so many questions to ask you… mr...mrs…?" Alya trailed off, phone camera held up expectantly at the duo.

Adrien stepped forward, with a model smile and a friendly wave, "Ladybug, and this is my partner, Chat Noir. We'll be protecting Paris from now on."

As the two Miraculouses beat in warning, the pair shared a nod and headed off in opposite directions.

"Kid, you worry too much. Now, pass me that cheese."

"Plagg, you're no help at all." Marinette said to the cat kwami as she lay atop her loft bed, staring at the ceiling.

"See, this is why I like cheese so much. Cheese doesn't cause any drama. It listens to you when you talk, and it always has the best comfort food when you're sad. The perfect middle man." He said, shoving the entire cheese wedge into his mouth. While the miraculous ring was truly a magical item to be marvelled, the real miracle was Plagg's digestive system, and how he fit food twice his size into his mouth.

Marinette ignored Plagg as he landed on her stomach and proceeded to stretch out like a cat and fall asleep. "You don't understand Plagg, I really messed up today. I mean, just when I started acting normal around Ladybug, I went and screwed up. Again." She let out a long sigh, upset she couldn't move now with him on top of her. "Now he's upset with me, and now our dynamics going to be messed up- all because of me. He'll never trust me again."

She was answered with silence. Plagg was probably tired with all of her ranting.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the glare of the ring upon her finger. She lifted her hand up to get a better look at it, holding the appendage above her head. She looked at the blank plane of the silver ring, and she felt it looking back at her. This object, why was it given to her? By whom? Marinette was never really a firm believer in god, but she did believe in fate and destiny. Was she truly destined to receive this object? Perhaps some kind of cosmic fluke had made a mistake. Plagg had said she was the only one who could wield this power. That she needed it to save Paris, and to help Ladybug.

But to help Ladybug- she never really felt like she was of any help to the Lucky hero. Today, maybe she did come up with the plan to retrieve the akuma, but she also made Ladybug upset. It was Ladybug's Lucky Charm that had saved them both, and it was Marinette's Cataclysm that had caused him so much grief.

"We're supposed to be a team"

Ladybug's parting words echoed throughout her head. No part of her plan involved herself working with the spotted hero directly. In fact, Marinette used Ladybug.

Oh god, she used her partner? What must he think of her? He probably hated her, and at the very least, he probably didn't want to work with her anymore.

What a mess.

Marinette sighed and rolled over- waking up Plagg.

"Hey," he yawned, "I'm hungry. Can we get something to eat?"

Far too exhausted with herself to mention that he ate exactly 2 minutes ago, she stood and made the long trek down to the kitchen, where her parents sat, watching the television. She made to open the fridge, only to be cut off by the sound of the news reporter on the TV.

"-just as Paris is about to celebrate the appearance of our two new superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir, a new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital, as dozens of people are mysteriously transformed into stone monsters!"

Marinette's eyes widened that the news, sharing a brief look with Plagg before grabbing a new round of cheese and rushing back up to her room.

She hastily closed the trapdoor, "Why are people still turning back into akumas? I thought we got rid of Stoneheart!" She looked at Plagg, fuming.

"Did Ladybug purify the akuma?"

"Er- no… He only released it by breaking the inhabited object?"

Plagg sighed, and looked at her, thoughtfully. "Only Ladybug can capture and purify the akuma. If the akuma is not captured after its release, it can return to Hawkmoth and multiply."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with the new stone beings?"

"If Ivan experiences negative emotions again, he can turn back into Stoneheart, and he will be able to control all the other Stone beings."

Marinette sat on her desk chair, spinning it around slowly in thought. This whole situation was her fault. Again. If she hadn't-

"C'mon kid. We've been over this. It wasn't even your fault this time-."

"Plagg! I was the reason Ladybug forgot though. If I hadn't…. If I…." tears began to well up in Marinette's eyes, as she trailed off.

She felt so weak. Useless. She wasn't good enough to be Ladybug's partner, she wasn't strong enough to be Paris's savior. If she had worked with Ladybug, they wouldn't even be in this situation. She wasn't strong enough to be anyone's hero, because there was nothing special about her.

She was sobbing. Marinette could feel the tears flowing down her face, and her vision blur. She didn't even attempt to wipe them away. Paris doesn't need a hero that bawls her eyes out. Because if she hadn't done what she did… if she hadn't…

"Plagg… I told you, I'm just not cut out to be Chat Noir." she sniffed.

"Wait, Marinette…"

But she was met with a deafening silence.