How Marinette gained her Chara
As soon as I saw the first episode of Miraculous Ladybug one of my first thoughts was of how much it reminded me of Shugo Chara, and so I eventually made a story idea crossing the two shows over. If anyone is curious about the idea they can go to my 'Story idea give away' which is where I post all of my story ideas, it will be on chapter 124 and be called 'Miraculous Chara'. I wanted to do this story but I already have a few left to finish and I don't want to start another without finishing at least one of them, so I compromised and made a one-shot about how Marinette gained her Chara and what I think the Chara would be like. Normally I'd put this story in my 'Story dump' where the other unfinished stories based around my ideas go but that doesn't get much views.
Anyway, on to the story.
Marinette sat on her dad's shoulders and watched in amazement at the pretty women and men who walked up and down the stage in the most beautiful clothing she had ever seen. Her parents had filled a huge order for a client's wedding and as a way of saying thank you they had been given the family tickets to the debut of Gabriel Agreste's latest clothing line, while fashion wasn't the family's sort of thing they saw no reason not to go, and now Marinette was hooked on all of the pretty clothes.
"They look amazing, papa." Marinette said with her voice full of awe.
"Indeed they do." Tom agreed. "But nowhere near as pretty as you or your mother." He added quickly, not wanting to upset his wife even though he knew she wouldn't get upset over it.
"Not the people, silly. The clothes."
"Oh." Her parents said in understanding.
"I want to be able to make something as pretty as that." Marinette pointed at a shirt one of the models were wearing.
Tom and Sabine sighed good naturedly, knowing that they daughter had found her latest interest.
…
When Marinette got home she started trying to make new clothes for her dolls, using glue and sellotape with bits of stray fabric and bits and bobs to make them, but they quickly fell apart or didn't look good in her eyes. Her parents indulged her latest interest, buying her age appropriate sewing and crafting kits and buying old clothes from charity shops for her to rip up to make clothes with, but Marinette quickly became dissatisfied, she knew the clothes she made for her dolls weren't good and they fell apart easily, and the sewing and craft kits didn't offer her enough of a challenge. From a sewing book from the library she learned that in order to make clothes she had to know how to sew, so she became determined to learn how.
"Maman, will you teach me how to sew properly?" Marinette asked Sabine one day.
Sabine was unsure, she knew from her own experiences in sewing that it led to a lot of needle pricks and required patience, but she knew that Marinette would want to know anyway.
"Sure, Marinette, just let me get my sewing kit." She said with a smile.
As Sabine predicted, their first lesson consisted of Marinette constantly sucking her fingers after accidently pricking them, but Marinette was determined to learn and no matter how many times she hurt her fingers she carried on trying. Slowly but surely, Marinette began to improve all the time, able to sew a pattern on a piece of fabric or sew two pieces of fabric together, proudly showing them off to her parents each time.
Eventually Sabine decided that Marinette could be trusted enough to learn how to use a sewing machine.
"Ok, now gently press your foot down on the pedal." Sabine instructed her daughter as she held a piece of fabric under the needle.
Marinette pressed her foot down on the pedal, causing the machine to start, it went slowly at first before speeding up.
"Gently." Sabine reminded her. "We don't want it going too fast."
Marinette nodded and eased her foot off of the pedal slightly.
Once Sabine was confident that Marinette knew how to work the sewing machine, she showed her how to make juggling bags. It took Marinette a few tries but she eventually managed to make a juggling bag without her mother's help, she then proceeded to make more of them using different materials and tread, only stopping when she ran out of lentils and rice to fill the bags with, much to the relief of her parents who didn't know what to do with all of the juggling bags she had made.
Once she had mastered making a juggling bag Marinette moved on to make more things.
…
Marinette happily skipped into school after saying goodbye to her dad, on her head was a hat she had made all by herself. It was meant to be a bunny hat but the ears were different lengths, the face wasn't straight and uneven, the eyes were different sizes and the stitching had already come apart in some places. But Marinette didn't care, she had made it herself, though it was still under the watchful eye and instructions of her mother, and she was proud of it.
Today the children were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up, one by one their teacher called their names and asked them, they were usual ones like astronaut, actor, famous dancer, etc. Then it was Marinette's turn.
"I wanna be a fashion designer, and make beautiful clothes that everyone will wear. Like Mr Agreste." Marinette excitedly told everyone.
"That's wonderful, Marinette." Said their teacher.
"I've already made this." Marinette proudly showed off her bunny hat. "Maman says I'll be a great fashion designer in no time.
"What's that supposed to be?" A classmate asked snidely.
"A bunny."
"Really? It looks like a mess to me."
Marinette frowned and looked at her bunny hat.
"Settle down." Chastised the teacher. "It looks lovely, Marinette. You can sit down now."
Marinette sat down but didn't put her hat back on her head.
…
At home Marinette sat in her room looking at her bunny hat, she now saw it for the mess it was and was no longer proud of it. With a sigh she threw it away and lay back on her bed, fighting to keep away her tears.
There was a knock at her hatch to her bedroom and her dad entered, at seeing how upset his daughter was he gathered her up in his arms.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"My hat's rubbish." Marinette complained.
"But I thought you were very happy about that hat."
"I was, but then I realised how ugly it is. I don't understand, I followed the instructions but it turned out wrong."
"You know, somethings take time to master. When I started out baking I was terrible, the loafs were uneven, the cookies were either too hard or not cooked through enough, I burned quite a few things, and I could never imagine being able to make some of the things I make now. But no matter how many times I failed, I kept at it because I wanted to open my own bakery one day, and now here we are. Somethings just take time to be able to do, as long as you keep at it you'll be able to make whatever you want one day."
Marinette smiled up at her dad.
"Thanks, Papa." She said.
Tom smiled and handed her the plate of cookies he had brought up with him. He then left, closing the hatch being him.
Her determination renewed, Marinette leapt to her feet and snatched her hat from where she'd thrown it.
"Papa's right!" She said. "I'm not going to give up! I'm going to keep on trying until I get it right!"
Marinette looked at the many pictures of clothes created by fashion designers she'd stuck on one of her walls, as well as the many drawings of clothes she had drawn herself.
"I'm going to be a fashion designer." She said passionately.
'Is that all?' A small voice came from inside her.
"No." Marinette corrected herself. "Not just any fashion designer. The greatest fashion designer in the world!"
"That's more like it." The voice said again, but it was no longer from inside her.
Marinette watched in shock and amazement as a light came out of her chest and floated in front of her, the light died down to reveal a large egg, it began floating downwards and Marinette instinctively reached out for it to land in her hands, dropping the hat in the process. The egg had a pattern on it, it was a wide blue lace wrapped around a light pink background, with a pair of red-handled scissors, a measuring tape and a sewing needle on the front.
The egg then suddenly cracked all the way around and then it popped open, from inside the egg emerged a tiny person, the egg disappearing as they settled down in Marinette's hand. The tiny person had big blue eyes, straight red hair down to their chin, and they wore a beret, dress and shawl all in blue that matched the lace on the egg.
"Bonjour, Marinette." The tiny girl said, her voice matching that on the one that had just spoken. "I'm Madeline, your Chara."
"Chara?" Marinette questioned, not quite registering what was going on.
"Your Guardian Character, your would-be self."
"Would-be self?"
"Yeah, who you want to be and who you really are inside."
"Why are you here?"
"To help you become the greatest fashion designer in the word, of course!"
"Huh?"
"That's what you said. 'Not just any fashion designer. The greatest fashion designer in the world'.
"I'm confused."
Madeline sighed and flew out of her hand, looking around the room.
"Why don't you sit down so I can explain?"
Marinette sat down on her bed while Madeline floated in front of her and began her explanation. She explained that all children had a Heart Egg inside of them, it represented their dreams, wishes and true selves, and that sometimes a child's Heart Egg can hatch into a Guardian Character, or Charas for short, like Madeline with Marinette who is there to help the child achieve their dreams and become their true self.
"Are there other children with Guardian Characters?" Marinette asked, handing Madeline a cookie.
"Of course there are. But if you're asking if I know any, I don't, I only just hatched." Madeline answered, taking a bite of the cookie.
Marinette looked away from her Chara and to where her hat fell when she dropped it, she picked it up and looked at it.
"So with you, you'll help be become a fashion designer?"
Madeline dropped her cookie and floated over so she was in front of Marinette's face.
"Not just 'a' fashion designer, the greatest fashion designer in the world! Remember?" She corrected passionately.
"You really think I can do it?"
"Of course you can!"
"Then let's start by fixing this hat." Marinette said, grinning.
"Right! Character Change!"
A beret similar to Madeline's appeared on Marinette's head and a pin cushion with pins and needles sticking out of it appeared on her wrist. Inside, Marinette felt herself fill with determination, she felt like she could do anything.
Marinette sat down at her desk and took out the small sewing kit she's been given by her mum and set about pulling apart the thread of the hat and resewing it so that it was more even and had better stitching
…
The next day Marinette walked into school wearing her bunny hat again, it did look better than her previous attempt, the face was straight and looked like a bunny face, the ears were even and the stitching wasn't coming apart anywhere. Madeline sat on her shoulder, it had taken a few reassurances that no one other than other children with Charas would be able to see her.
"Oh look, Marinette still has that ugly hat." It was the same kid from yesterday.
"Hey, I improved it." Marinette defended herself.
"I suppose you can identify what it's meant to be now, but it's still ugly. I can't believe that you think you could be a fashion designer."
Madeline's eyes lit up with fury.
"Character Change!" She announced.
The same magic that kept others from seeing Madeline thankfully also kept them from seeing Marinette's bunny hat change into a beret.
"I'm not just going to be a fashion designer, I'm going to be the best fashion designer in the world!" Marinette said. "I may not be very good now, but I will get better. And if you don't like it, well then it's your problem."
With that Marinette marched towards her classroom. After her hat changed back to her bunny hat, Madeline went back inside her egg and Marinette stored the egg in her hat, it somehow comfortably sitting there without bothering Marinette or showing through the hat.
'That's right.' Marinette thought as lesson began. 'I will get better. With Madeline nothing will be impossible.'