Disclaimer: I do not own anything, except for whatever the Organisation for Transformative Works says I might own. Thomas Astruc owns Miraculous Ladybug (or, depending on where you are, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat/Chat Noir).
Chapter 1: Strange Beginnings
Marinette Dupain-Cheng groggily reached for her buzzing phone to silence it. Unable to find the snooze button by muscle memory alone, she pulled the device to her face and, noticing the time, immediately shot up and out of bed. She was wide awake when she glanced around the room and looked for her ever-present companion. "Tikki, why didn't you wake me up?"
Silence. It was not like Tikki at all to be the one to sleep in for so long but after a casual search of the room, she couldn't find the red spotted kwami anywhere. She soon heard the muffled voice of her mother from downstairs. "Marinette, are you up yet? You're going to be late for school."
"I'm up, maman!" Marinette continued to search her room but for the life of her, she could not spot her little companion anywhere. Not only was her kwami missing, but her room had changed overnight. The pictures of Adrien Agreste that she knew should have been plastered all over her walls were missing. A sense of dread slowly crept over her when she realised another missing item from her inventory: she wasn't wearing her earrings at all.
She lurched towards her desk like a hungry animal on top of the last bit of remaining food in the world and pulled the drawers open. She began sifting through her belongings, frantically shuffling things around but despite her best effort, she could not find the small, ornate wooden box that housed her Miraculous. She yanked the drawers out from the dresser and hastily emptied the contents onto the floor. She dropped to her knees and went over her scattered personal possessions over and over in a state of panic.
"What is that ruckus up there?" Sabine asked, her voice sounding clearer than the last. Moments later, Marinette heard footsteps going up the stairs leading to her room.
"I-It's nothing, maman. I just dropped something," Marinette said.
"All right and be careful, dear. Please come down as soon as you are ready." Her footsteps died down moments later.
Marinette heaved a sigh. She bent down to scoop her belonging up and deposited them all into the nearest open drawer. She would sort the things out later, but she had more pressing matters at hand. All right, don't panic, she thought. I'm sure there's a pretty good explanation for all this. Think, Marinette. What happened last night?
She shook her head from left to right at the realisation that she couldn't remember what she had done yesterday. There were vague memories of school work and its related activities, but she couldn't even recall what she had for dinner. She pressed her hand to her forehead, feeling for an imaginary bump or even a rise in temperature. Did I get hurt or sick? Why can't I remember?
"Marinette? Are you ready yet? School starts in ten—"
"I'm almost ready, maman!" Marinette packed her things with haste and then rushed to get dressed. She raced down the stairs towards the kitchen and grabbed the sandwich that her mother had left on the table. "Mama, have you see my earrings anywhere?"
"I didn't know you wore earrings," Sabine said.
"But I've always—" Marinette's jaw hung loose when her brain had finally processed exactly what her mother meant. That's impossible. I've always worn my earrings since I became Ladybug. What is going on here?
For a moment, she felt as if time had literally stopped around her. Everything stood at a standstill as her mind processed everything that had transpired in just a single morning alone. Tikki was missing. Her Miraculous was gone, as if it never even existed. And now here she was, rushing off to school without being given any time at all to get to the bottom of it.
"Marinette?"
Her mother's voice snapped her out of her somewhat panicked and confused state. "I-It's nothing, mama. I probably dreamt about earrings, that's all. See you tonight!"
Marinette stuffed the sandwich in her mouth and left the kitchen. As she passed her father at the counter, she gave him a goodbye wave. Once outside, she ran. She didn't understand why she was running so fast. At first she attributed it to her tardiness; school had probably already started, after all. However, she could not explain the sudden yet strangely familiar sense of sadness and guilt that gripped her heart. The pain in her chest was most certainly real, yet when she searched her thoughts for an explanation, she came up empty. A single tear trickled down the side of her cheek as she ran.
Marinette was getting ready cross the road at the nearby park when a car literally fell from the sky and crashed onto the asphalt. She literally jumped as the shock of the impact could be felt from nearly a block away, causing a huge commotion all round. People who felt the crash became worried while those who actually witnessed the incident screamed in panic. It was utter chaos as a terrified crowd dispersed chaotically from the scene.
Instincts took over and Marinette ducked into a nearby side street. She parted the left side of her hair and began to say the words she was so used to saying. "Tikki, transform—"
She could not finish those words. The shocking truth hit her the second time, striking at her heart much harder than before. Her legs went weak. She sank to the ground while her hands clutched at her chest. She hung her head down and stared at her shaking hands. What is going on? She thought. Why is this happening to me? Tikki, I miss you so much.
A loud stomp snapped Marinette out of her thoughts. A large, armoured figure in red had landed on the street barely a stone's throw away from her, creating a small crater where it stood. Spiky bits and skull motifs were embellished prominently all over the armour. Skulls and crossbones also hung from its oversized shoulder pads. The figure turned and stared at her through the demonic visage that was its helmet. It waved a large, menacing axe in her direction. "Blood for the Blood God!"
"The only blood you're gonna get is coming from that fat ass of yours!" A small, red spotted yo-yo wrapped around the armoured figure's leg. The string became taut, hauling the attached limb upward. The entire figure jerked forward and came crashing down face-first into the pavement, leaving its rear end exposed.
A spotted red figure—Ladybug—dropped down from above, twirling her yo-yo in one hand somewhat smugly. She had shoulder-length reddish-brown wavy hair and a tanned complexion. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at Marinette. "Girl, you had better get a move on before things get messy."
"W-What?" Marinette could only stare at this… different… Ladybug.
"Coming through!" another familiar voice called out. The black, cat-like figure of Chat Noir came racing past with his baton extended and held over his shoulder like a baseball bat. With a mighty swing, he smacked the armoured figure right on its exposed rear end. The force of impact causing it to physically slide several feet forward. "A chaos space marine? Now that's just too Khorne-y."
"Well, he sure had the foresight to keep his eyes on the road," Ladybug replied.
Chat Noir slapped his partner on the back. "Not nearly enough to avoid getting rear-ended, apparently."
A part of Marinette wanted to roll her eyes as the two heroes of Paris giggled at each other's quips, but she was mostly in shock at the scene that had just played out before her very eyes. There was a smart-talking Ladybug that paired seemingly so well with the equally talkative Chat Noir. Not to mention that their takedown of that Akumatised victim seemed a bit too heavy-handed for a person who wasn't really acting as themselves. It was all too much; as the one-sided battle continued, she easily slipped out of the side lane and sprinted towards her school. At least I've got an excuse for being late this time, she thought.
Once inside the front doors, Marinette leaned up against the wall. She was already shaking and gasping for breath. A sudden sensation of dread and guilt overcame her senses. It made her weak in the knees. She had to bend down and clutch at her knees just to keep standing. What is this thing that I am feeling? Where is it coming from?
Marinette stayed at the same spot for several minutes to rest and regain her composure. She was already late for class so just another few minutes probably shouldn't matter. Once she was sure that she could walk again, she gingerly went up the stairs that led to her classroom. She pushed the door open with trepidation and poked her head inside. Their homeroom teacher wasn't in yet. Most of her classmates looked the same as she had remembered, except for the fact that Chloé Bourgeois was sitting at her seat with Sabrina beside her. The front row was mostly empty except for Nino, who perked up upon noticing her entry.
"Morning, Mari." He waved at her and smiled. "We just heard that there was another Akuma attack. Did you know anything about it?"
Marinette stepped into the classroom and made her way towards the empty row towards the right side of class. Nino seemed to be in a chipper mood as he turned his head to follow Marinette's entry. As she walked past the boy, she paused briefly and said, "Yeah, I saw it. It was pretty shocking, actually."
"Really? Thank goodness you're here in one piece." Nino continued to watch her as she took the spot in between the empty seats of Adrien Agreste and Alya Césaire.
"Where are those two?" Marinette looked to her right at Alya's spot, and then turned to the left to check the empty seat beside Nino. She threw a glance behind her shoulder. When her gaze met with Chloé's, the mayor's daughter turned away with an uppity huff while Sabrina simply sneered. Well, at least some things haven't changed.
"Oh, you know them. Late again, as usual." Nino shrugged. "But at least today they can blame it on the Akuma attack."
"Wait, they're always late for class like this?"
Nino raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up. "They've always been late since like, for ever, dude. Are you sure you're fully awake, Mari?"
She shook her head and slumped onto her desk, burying her face in her arms. "Y-yeah, I guess I'm just tired."
"You know if you're feeling under the weather, I've got just the place we can go after school."
Marinette raised her head and blinked. She wasn't quite sure how to handle this overly-casual Nino. Did he think that he and I were… a thing? She quickly shut the thought out of her mind and returned to her face-burying ritual. "Sorry Nino, but not today. I'm just—just really not myself." Literally, she thought, but she made sure not to accidentally say it out loud.
Moments later the door swung open. Adrien and Alya shuffled into the class and headed straight for their seats. Alya placed a hand on Marinette's shoulder as she took her seat beside her. "Are you okay, girl? You look like something a mother bird regurgitated."
Marinette lifted her head to greet her best friend. "It's nothing, Alya. I'm—"
Her jaw dropped when her gaze fell upon Alya's exposed ear. Her friend was wearing a most familiar-looking black and round earring. She blinked as the recognition sank in. It was most definitely a Miraculous. Alya was wearing her earrings. Her best friend was Ladybug.
"What's the matter, girl? Cat got your tongue?"
Marinette couldn't focus on lessons for the entire school day. While she would have liked to attribute it to her fatigue, but her mind was in fact fully active, trying to put sense into things that simply did not—and should not—have made any sense.
Alya was Ladybug. Marinette wasn't. Alya had Tikki whom Marinette thought she had lost. She kept repeating those thoughts over and over, each time trying to process and accept the information at fact but failing rather horribly at that regard. Occasionally she would snap out of her daze to the witty banter between Alya and Adrien. In the end, she was so out of it that she didn't even realise that class had already been dismissed.
"Snap out of it, girl," Alya said while she gave Marinette a light shove to the shoulder. "What's gotten into you today? Did you get bumped in the head or something?" She made a completely convincing display of covering her mouth with her hands and gasped. "Don't tell me you got into trouble after this morning's Akuma attack?"
Marinette heaved a sigh but she avoided her friend's gaze. What could she have said, what with all the strangeness that she had gone through? She hadn't a single clue about what was going on. She knew that something had to be done though – whatever that something was. If there was any sort of conspiracy to get to the bottom of, I'll bet that a supervillain and Hawk Moth is involved, she thought. There can't be any other reason why all this was happening.
"It's nothing, Alya. Don't worry about it. I'm just not feeling well today." She casually threw a glance over to her left; Adrien was in the middle putting his things away while Nino, on the other hand, gazed at her with such an obviously concerned look on his face. "I just want to go home and get some rest," she said with a louder tone to let Nino overhear.
"Okay, whatever you say girl, but a piece of advice, if I may?"
Marinette turned back to Alya. "Huh?"
"You've been giving Adrien those looks again. What happened to Nino, girl?" Alya leaned forward and spoke in a hushed tone. "Don't get me wrong here, you may be a good friend and all, but you know better than to try and get between us."
Marinette could only stare back at her friend. Her jaw hung loose as she struggled to get to grips with this new information. "What are you talking about, Alya? You know I would never do anything like that to you."
"Okay girl. I trust you." She gave Marinette a hefty pat to the back. "Now go get a good rest or you'll be facing the Wrath of Alya tomorrow."
Marinette offered a whimpered smile before she picked up her belongings and shuffled out of class. She threw Nino a silent "sorry" look as she walked past the boy. Once she was out through the door, she stepped up her pace and left in a hurry. When she had finally reached home, she threw herself onto her bed and buried herself under the sheets.
Later that evening, she had finally found the will to crawl out of bed and turn on her computer. She began trawling the Internet for reports on Ladybug and Chat Noir. She followed their exploits as they took down villains like Stormy Weather, the Bubbler, The Pharoah and Timebreaker—all familiar names to her—but noticeably missing was Lady Wifi. Most of the general details of the stories somewhat matched her own recollection of the events. However, based on what limited footage that she saw, this new Ladybug often took a more direct approach at problem-solving. She noticed that they had an easier time handling direct, physical opponents like The Mime and Kung Food, but supervillains with a more subversive power set such as The Puppeteer and Princess Fragrance gave them a harder time.
She also found the Ladyblog—once a thriving web log that she had often visited to catch up on what people wrote and thought about her—but it looked like the website had been abandoned shortly after the first post. Whatever links to captured footage that she found on that blog have already been removed.