Take My Hand

Chapter 1

"Simple. Just protect the city from evil. Yeah right…what's a kitty in distress to do when there is no one else to save this city except me. What a CATastrophe. I'm getting sick of this…"

The boy sat with a grunt, leaning his head against the brick roof of a house. He pouted and rolled his eyes. Blood dripped down his torn leather covered arms, but he could care less; he was used to it. In fact, it didn't hurt one bit. Okay, maybe it stung a bit, but it didn't matter. His muscles were sore.

Chat Noir was his name. Fans would cheer him on, chanting his name many times as he would battle the many threats attacking his home city of Paris. With his tight leather suit, his groomed blonde hair, and charming smile, he was the talk of the city. He was a celebrity to France or maybe even possibly the world at this point. Chat was featured on magazine covers, gossiped about many times, interviewed by many news stations, and even met the president of France. In all honesty, he enjoyed it a bit even though that was against his duties of being a hero. However, was this fame as Chat Noir worth it? Is it worth to be a hero to France when he can barely leave his house without permission from his father?

Being a superhero was no easy task at hand. Especially to a young teenage boy turning fifteen in a few months. His suit and mask were slowly devouring his image and thoughts. He felt different than the Chat he was before almost a year ago when he discovered his new fate as his new heroic image. It all started with that ring; the ring that gives him his powers.

Behind his cat-themed image was the humble rich boy known as Adrien Agreste. He was different than Chat Noir in some ways. He was miserable, locked away, and constantly controlled by his father's wishes. Adrien was tired of modeling the latest clothes of his father or any other well-known fashion designer based in Paris. He was tired of attending elegant fashion shows and attending parties only the most famous and powerful people could attend. No one would ever believe that the boy wearing expensive clothing on the cover of Vogue would be the same beloved kitty boy saving Paris. The only aspects his two personalities shared was his eye color, his hair, and the same fame. Except he was happier with the attention he was receiving as Chat Noir. He despised the attention he would receive as Adrien. He felt like his civilian life was a lie. Another important aspect they both shared was having a bright warm soul that's willing to help anybody in need. Now that's something that would never change.

"Well, if it isn't the small runt of the litter. Come here and fight me like a man. Show the people of Paris how strong you say you are!" A raspy voice echoed through the empty streets. "I want a second round, kitty boy! I want your miraculous!"

Chat ignored him, but he could feel his blood boil at the sound of the voice. He tightly grasped onto his ring. The akumatized man found his hiding spot for recovery. This akuma's strength was based on finding insecurities of each individual that crossed its path. It was just to Chat's luck as his life was falling apart in his hands. It was impossible to not think about his situation every second he could.

"Come here kitty, kitty. I can give you the life you always wanted."

At last, Chat replied with a groan, his voice shaking a bit. "I don't...I...that's where you're wrong!"

The akumatized man was only a couple of inches away from Chat at this point. His dark red cape covered his entire body and his hood draped over his head, leaving only his white eyes to be noticeable. He grinned to Chat, showing his razor-sharp teeth. It sent shivers down the hero's spine as their eyes met.

"What's the matter? Cat's got your tongue?"

At this point, the teenager's nerves were being struck. He gritted his teeth and let out a hiss. His hands were slowly transforming into fists, releasing black sparks from them.

"I said you're wrong. And I'm the one who does the cat puns around here!"

…

"Marinette! Stop drawing on your journal and continue writing the notes I wrote on the board!"

"Nyaa! Ou-oui, madame!" the addressed dark hair colored girl stuttered. The other students laughed as she gathered her supplies that fell off her desk while she jumped at the sharp sound of her name.

God, how embarrassing…

Her cheeks were burning red as she gave a faint smile to her glaring teacher. She even nervously chuckled, sweat starting to form on her forehead.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the most clumsy one in her class. She was always the shyest and awkward one since she was a little girl, but it didn't alter her positive bubbly attitude. Marinette slowly straightened herself up on her seat and tried to focus on the task on the board.

Physics...ugh...

However, she must pass her classes for her report's sake. The pencil twirled in her tight grasp as she stared at the words on the board, but couldn't make any sense out of it. Marinette sighed. Besides her sat her best friend, Alya who looked at Marinette and gave her a grin.

"What were you doing now, girl?" Alya playfully whispered. "Daydreaming about that cute boy we saw at the café yesterday?"

Marinette instantly shook her head, her cheeks turning red again. "No, no, no...I was working on some designs. I was inspired by this boutique that opened down the street from me."

Shuffling the blank pages to the side, she presented her designs to her friend. Dresses with floral patterns and ruffles were scattered around the page. Tops with pink accents, bottoms with unique patterns, and shoes of flats, heels, boots, and sandals were drawn on the side of each outfit. Marinette was proud of her work.

Alya blinked at her and smiled. "Those are great designs, but this isn't the time to work on them. If you want my notes after class you can copy them."

"I guess, but I might need help cause I-" The clumsy girl began to whisper until she was cut short by her teacher who made her jump once again.

"Marinette, would you gladly explain what Electric Power is to the whole class? I assume you seem to know more than this lesson than I thought."

Why? I don't know…

Marinette stood up from her chair, grabbing Alya's notes and looked down to the writing. She chuckled as she could feel all eyes on her. Especially her enemy, Chloe...oh no.

"Electric Power is the power of electricity and…uhh..."

"If you paid any attention to what I said then you wouldn't have to take a look at your friend's notes. Meet me after class, mademoiselle." The teacher spat with annoyance as she turned her back to Marinette, erasing material on the board.

In the front row of the room, she could hear Chloe and her henchman Sabrina laugh to themselves in a quiet tone. Marinette growled under her breath and flopped down to her seat. She knew this moment was going to haunt her as her enemy will be taunting about it for the days to come.

That brat...why does she have to be around at the worst time possible? Why couldn't she skip class today like she always does nowadays…?

"I can help you with this class, Mari. After school let's meet up at your place, alright?" Alya said with courage, taking her notes back and then patted Marinette's back in comfort.

Marinette's bright blue eyes beamed with hope as she smiled at her faithful trusting friend. How lucky was she to have a great friend like Alya. "And I also think you want some of my dad's bakery cookies for free, right?"

Alya laughed. "You know me so well. Or if you want we can go back to that café to see that cute boy again, huh…what if he makes a move on you."

"Oh no…"

Marinette was red again.

…

Paris was a beautiful city at night. With all the sounds of people talking and laughing, the glistening lights of the streets, the sound of music echoing through the walls of venues, and the delicious smell of Parisian food being cooked was only part of the beauty in it.

Marinette slowly walked through the streets, her school bag swinging on her back and her phone in hand, scanning through her feeds. She would occasionally giggle to herself as she looked through the photos of her and her friends. She twirled her pigtails through her fingers, occasionally looking at the small shops she would pass by.

Life was good for her at the moment. However, she was a bit concerned about her talk with her teacher. Several minutes of promising to improve herself won her teacher over, giving her another chance. This time she couldn't slack off. Her friends had other plans. They all went to the café which had the attention-grabbing boy. After about an hour of the girls trying to woo the attention of the cute barista and Marinette screaming inside her mind, she decided it was time to go home before her parents started to worry about her. Alya and the rest of the girls didn't even go over the notes they promised to Marinette, but it didn't matter as it was Friday night. They had plenty of time before their next class.

New message:

Alya - I'm home! My parents were expecting me to bring home some pastries from your dad's bakery, but oh well…my sisters were so disappointed. :/

Marinette smirked.

Me - I didn't even want to go to the café. I was going to treat you all with some delicious croissants, but I guess that will have to wait. LOL. There is always next time. :)

After sending the message, she quickly put her phone away and resumed to look at the passing shops. Some of the shops were closing for the night as employees were cleaning up the area and were locking the doors. Other shops were packed with shoppers wasting their money on overpriced items. Tourists were paying too much for clothing with illustrations of the Eiffel Tower on them, but it didn't seem to matter as they all were ecstatic about their new treasured memories from France. Marinette smiled, feeling a bit envious as she longed to vacation and to discover a new place. Maybe someday...

"Bonsoir, mademoiselle! You seem like you had a long stressful day."

The dark haired girl stopped in her track and turned to the voice that greeted her. Standing in front of a small oriental shop was an older Asian man as he smiled at her. Marinette gave a sheepish grin and waved back. She was confused and a bit alarmed.

"Oh, bonsoir! I'm ok. Don't worry. Hehe…" Her eyes were caught by the items in the shop. This man must be the owner of the shop, she thought.

Behind the other side of the glass, separating the shop from the outside, she could see multiple unique clothing and items. It seemed to be clothing coming from China, Africa, Japan, Mexico, Peru and other countries. There were even instruments and small figurines on display. What made this shop interesting was the fact that she never saw this shop before. It just appeared out of nowhere. Marinette raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

The door rang as it opened when the girl decided to step inside and take a closer look at the items. Two other customers were already in the shop as well, already gathering some items for them to purchase. This gave Marinette a bit feeling of security as she wasn't the only one in the shop. Her blue eyes scattered towards the many tiny little unique items from around the world. Walking over to the glass counters, she picked up a small geisha figurine. Little glassy brown eyes, small plump red lips, and black hair picked up in a bun made the doll beautiful, but it's silky pink dress was the main feature of it. The shining colors of light pink, creamy white, and tints of gold was such a magnificent combination for the kimono. The colors brought together the patterns of flower petals and birds. Marinette was astonished. However, her gaze was cut short when she noticed something out of the ordinary for this small shop; a comic book. The cover had a heroic young teenager in a black leather suit standing in front of the silhouette of the city. His green eyes stared back at her, yet they seemed to realistic to be a drawing. The comic was titled:

Les Aventures du Chat Noir

"I never heard about this comic series...what is this?" Marinette questioned, putting the geisha doll down and picking up the comic.

As she picked it up, she could've sworn she saw the expression of the hero change into a smug look. It sent shivers down her spine, but she couldn't resist looking into it.

"Who is Chat Noir?"

Hey Miraculous Ladybug fandom! Why am I obsessed with this show? Why do I love a teenage boy in a cat costume so much? The world may never know...

I used to write for the Steven Universe fandom, but I left for 2 years because of personal issues. I started to get back into writing when I started to read ML fics and I just had the feeling that I had to write. Well, here I am. I am going to finish this story because this story idea, which I hope no one did, popped into my head for a couple of months. SOME of my SU fics will be finished. Give me some time to get back into writing fics.

Peace,

-Crystal Gem Goddess.