Just what the hell was she thinking? She knew better than to do it on her own. She knew she should have waited for Chat noir to show up. And yet… she didn't.
Marinette had made the grave error, of fighting their worst enemy- Alone.
She had accidentally stumbled upon an old observatory, and when she was about to leave, she noticed an Akuma leaving a large window in it. So after fighting the villain it had akumatized, she quickly recharged, and headed back for the observatory.
When she had somehow navigated her way through it, she happened upon a large circular room, where there was nothing but pure darkness. All over the floor, pure white butterflies all laid asleep, waiting for the moment they would be transformed and used. She had tiptoed around them all, and when she reached the center of the room… it was all over.
Hawkmoth must have known she was coming before she had even arrived. He was completely prepared, and trapped her in mere minutes. He had hit her in the back by his staff, and once she stood, he attacked her with no mercy. He never landed a finger on her, yet was able to hit and bang her up pretty bad, while dodging every single one of her moves with ease.
She should have remembered, that good or evil, he was a grown man, and had much more experience with his Miraculous. But realizing this too late, he had pushed her down to the floor hard, and cuffed her down to the ground.
When she had looked up, she had seen all the butterflies shivering in a tight corner. Not afraid of her, but of their own master. And for good reason it seemed. This man would go to far and extreme lengths to get what he wanted… So far and extreme, that it would even cause bloodshed.
Before she could even react, he had grabbed her earings, and had ripped them right out of her ears.
At that moment, she couldn't register anything anymore, as her transformation slowly left her. He didn't see her real form though, as he stalked off silently, feeling nothing for what he had just done. Once he left the room, the butterflies all surrounded her, as the cuffs on her wrists let her go.
She didn't move at first, feeling to numb, weak, and in shock to realize what had just happened. It had happened so fast. Too fast. She slowly sat up, and then it all hit her.
Blood slowly started to drip onto the floor underneath her, coming from her earlobes, that had been ripped unashamedly and wickedly. The pain started to sink in, and she couldn't keep in the shriek that exited her mouth. She heard it not, coming from her mouth, for her ears being to mush in pain to function. She continued to scream from the pain, even though the butterflies were the only ones who could hear her. She continued screaming, but no longer was it of her pain, but of her Kwami.
She stood up quickly, her cries still echoing from the walls, and ran to the door she saw Hawkmoth leave through. She started to pound on the door, crying uncontrollably. But no one answered her. No one cared. And yet, while knowing this, she still continued.
After what felt to be hours, she fell to the ground, and passed out. When she awoke, she was in her bed at home. She sat up quickly, and her hand went slowly to her ears, to check if any of it was real.
Dried Blood.
She then looked to the end of her bed, where a swarm of butterflies sat peacefully. They stared at her silently for a moment, before they one by one, slowly left through her bedroom. She didn't react at first, until she caught on to the fact that they had all worked together to fly her home. Not on hawkmoths orders, but on their own. This still didn't change a very important fact though.
Hawkmoth had stolen her Miraculous.
The next day, her mother opened her trap door and looked in.
"Marinette," she called,"Time to wa- Oh!"
Sabine was surprised to see marinette all dressed and ready to go to school. Never before has Marinette gotten up early, unless for special reasons, but to be fully awake at that! Sabine also took notice that marinette's hair was fully down, and blocking her ears.
"Sweetie, you're awake early. Why did you put your hair down, I thought you didn't like it that way? It looks beautiful."
Marinette looked to her mother, with the most monotone look Sabine had ever seen, and she had met Gabriel Agreste(christmas special)!
"I need to get to class earlier starting today. As for my hair, I decided I'd leave it down from now on."
Even her voice was monotone! Sabine slowly nodded.
"Alright then dear…"
Marinette left the bakery, leaving both of her parents confused, and slightly worried. What had happened to their daughter? Little did they yet know, that marinettes friends would be even more worried. Half an hour later, Alya, Nino, and Adrien were all waiting outside the school, for their Bluenette friend to arrive. When the warning bell rang, they all sighed and headed in.
"Well, I guess it's just one of those days," Alya said,"She'll probably skid into class right as the teacher calls her name for attendance."
They all shared a light laugh, remembering all the times they had seen her do that. When they entered the class room however, they were shocked to see marinette already in her seat, studying. They didn't know which one was more shocking; marinette being early to class, or her Studying in school before it even started. The three walked over to her, and Alya pointed a confused yet accusing finger.
"When did you even get here?! We've been standing out front for the past fifteen minutes!"
Marinette looked up, shocking them by her monotone look and voice,"Half an hour ago. I came to class early to work."
They stared at her in shock for a moment, before they started to panic. Nino started to frantically text Sabine and tom, asking if marinette had a twin sister that was her opposite. Adrien panicked and asked the teacher if what Marinette said was true, while Alya shook Marinette, in hope that maybe she was sleepwalking and sleep talking.
"Marinette!" Alya practically yelled,"What is up with you?! Why are you so monotone?! Why is your hair down?! I mean, it looks cute and all. You should do it more often, but still- What is wrong?!"
Marinette slowly removed Alya's hands, picked up a small stack of papers, and walked up to Mme. Bustier. She set the papers down gently on her teachers desk.
"I'm done."
Mme. bustier quickly read through them, before smiling up to Marinette happily,"I'll file them all in immediately. With all this, your grades will probably be the highest in the class. But," Mme Bustier smiled reassuringly,"Are you really sure about your choice? It's awfully far away, and on such short notice as well…"
Marinette nodded,"I'm sure. I've actually put a lot of thought into it, and I'm positively happy with my decision."
Mme. bustier smiled wider,"Alright then."
She unlocked a drawer in her desk and pulled out a large packet. The rest of the class had already started to pile in, and they were all watching in confusion as to what was going on. Mme. bustier signed a few pages of the packet, and handed it to marinette.
"I'm going to write a short note to Mr. Damocles. You can take the note and the packet to him after this session. After your parents sign it, I'll help you send it all through."
Marinette nodded,thanked her, and went back to her seat. Alya leaned over to look at the packet.
"What's that?"
Marinette put it into her backpack,"Nothing you need to worry about."
Alya frowned, before noticing that Marinette wasn't wearing her normal pink purse. The purse that Marinette wore, literally, everywhere. Even when they went to the pool, she still wore it. Something was definitely up. She was about to question her more, when Mme. Bustier started her lesson. She would just have to wait until after class. Sadly enough though, the second class was over, Marinette grabbed the note from Mme. Bustier, and fast walked to Mr. Damocles office. She didn't return until the start of the end of the next class. During lunch, she had headed back home, and returned just as their next class started. When school was finally over, the three friends tried to talk to her, but she just went to Mr. Damocles office again, before heading straight to the Library, and stayed there for about 2 whole hours.
The next day, it was all the same. It continued for at least a month. She would avoid any and all confrontation, and would answer bluntly in a monotone voice whenever they could talk to her. She always wore her hair down, and she never even touched her old purse. When they had gone to the bakery, her parents said that it happened overnight, and that they had no idea what had happened. It wasn't just her though- it was also Ladybug.
Alya and Chat Noir had both spoken about it before, and after telling him that she was Rena Rouge, they both went to Master Fu, who said he didn't know anything. It was the honest truth though. Neither Master Fu, nor any of the Kwamis, knew what had happened to Ladybug. She had missed the last 4 akuma's, and they had to take them to Master Fu, who was able to use his and Wayzz's healing magic to purify them. He was luckily able to also do the Miraculous Cure as well. But they still didn't know what had happened to Ladybug.
Alya would keep hold of the Fox Miraculous until ladybug could show up, and then everything would go back to normal.
What they didn't know though, was that things would never again be the same…
As for Marinette, they never expected what next would become of her.
Alya, Adrien, and Nino all walked into the bakery early, trying to catch Marinette before she left. When they entered the shop however, they were surprised to see tom and Sabine frowning sadly. The two most happy and loving people they had ever met, looked like they were just told their entire family had just been killed by the Plague. Alya came over to Sabine.
"Sabine? What's wrong? Is Marinette still here, or did she already leave?"
They were shocked to see Sabine break down at this and start bawling out tears. They looked to Tom who started to comfort his wife sadly. He looked to them sadly.
"She left last night… She's probably half way there as we speak."
The three blinked in shock. "What?"
Tom noticed their confused looks, and sighed upsetedly. "Of course she didn't say anything. Why would she, with the way she is now?"
Tom took them all up to the living room, and they all sat down on the couches. Sabine was calming down, but she still had tears coming from her eyes. Tom was silent for a moment before he looked to them solemnly.
"Marinette left to America last night."
Silence was his answer, until Alya screamed at the top of her lungs.
"WHAT?!"
They couldn't believe this. What?! Why did she leave? How could she leave? Why were her parents not freaking out more than being upset?!
"That, packet? That was a transcript to accept an out of the country scholarships. She had received 2 of them a while ago, and she decided to accept them. Somehow, in the past month, she was able to raise her grades, GPA, and credit points high enough to graduate 2 years early. She went through all the paperwork on her own, and was able to find a loophole that allowed her to graduate yesterday. She didn't even hesitate on leaving last night."
They looked in shock at Tom. What was happening?
Sabine had calmed down,"She'll be staying with Tom's sister, who lives near the college she'll be attending. She's already planned her whole future out… and she made it very clear that she won't miss it here…"
Tom nodded sadly, and a single tear came to his eye,"She said that she couldn't stand being in Paris anymore, and that if she stayed any longer, she'd go insane from all the terrible memories of what had happened. We don't know what had happened last month, but whatever happened, that's the reason why she left…"
Alya hiccuped through her own tears, that had suddenly started to fall,"Why… why didn't she tell us?"
Adrien looked out the window, towards the airport.
'Why?' he thought,'Why did it have to happen again… First his dad… now Marinette…'
He clenched his fist and glared, as a single tear left his eye,'Why did every designer become emotionless, and unable to see others pain?'
Halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, Marinette was sitting alone in a corner of First Class on a plane. She looked out the window, out towards the sea, and regretted every decision she had made up till that point. She wished she didn't leave Paris. She wished she had at least told her friends. She wished that she had never gone into hawkmoth's lair alone… She wished that she had someone like Tikki, to help her make up for it…
But she didn't. Not anymore. She was all alone. She would never get her Kwami back…
But as she curled herself into a little ball in her seat, slowly crying herself to sleep, she didn't know of what would happen in the future.
She didn't know that she would get Tikki back, and that in the process of such, she would get them all.
