Run faster! This cannot happen, not again! No, no, no...
As always, Marinette was running late for school, and she had just missed the bus... again.
She stood on the curb, slumping her petite shoulders in defeat as she watched the bus drive off into the distance.
Sighing, Marinette began trudging towards school on foot.
"You should have waited to see Master Fu until after school," Tikki popped out of Marinette's little handbag. She hated it when the gentle god scolded her.
"I know! But ever since I returned the book, I've been trying to learn more about Miraculouses and the way they work," Marinette began animatedly. "Like all of these new powers I didn't even know about! I'm going to have to tell Chat Noir all about them when we're suited up again..." she trailed off a moment before her face changed instantaneously, looking as if she had just had a whiff of a particularly smelly wheel of Camembert.
"Well, maybe I won't tell him the one, as I think he'll abuse it more than use it."
Tikki ducked into Marinette's bag so she was out of sight from a passerby, as she had the suspicion that she caught his attention. "That may be so, but you're going to have to tell him anyway. He might need to know this power to save his life one day... or yours!"
"Or he'll use it to scare me half to death... I'm kidding Tikki, of course, I'll tell him," said Marinette quickly when she was given "the look". Sometimes it felt like Tikki was a second mother to her as opposed to a friend, but she found this endearing.
The red Kwami gave a simple nod of the head in approval, before changing the subject.
"Are you finally going to talk to Adrien today?" she asked in an even tone.
Marinette made an exaggerated, panicked face, flailing her arms around her head nervously.
"Me? Go up and talk to Adrien?! Hahaha, you must be joking!" she laughed, the suggestion was absolutely absurd.
The bug sighed in slight frustration, but it was lost to the girl, who was too preoccupied fantasizing about talking to Adrien.
She continued her walk to school in a daydream, which is certainly not a safe thing to do when you're prone to clumsiness.
Marinette, however, made it to school safely and walked into class - late as per usual - drawing the attention of every pair of eyes in the room.
She didn't need an obstacle in her way to lose her footing, her own two feet could do the job just fine. Which is exactly what happened when the poor girl face-planted on the hard, wooden floor; a sound completely sui generis escaped her throat. And of course, the person with a front row seat to witness the incident and all its glory was none other than Adrien himself.
Chloe and Sabrina laughed, a little too hard and loud to be real. The rest of the class sat in silence. Not only was this sort of scene normal for Marinette, but if Chloe was going to laugh at someone's misfortune, the rest of the class automatically did the opposite.
Marinette raised her head and began to get back on her feet.
"Are you okay?" asked a gentle voice coming from her right. The sound made her heart flutter.
A blush crept onto her face, as she grinned just a bit too wide to be natural.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine!" she said loudly as she gazed up at the blond model that was looking down at her from his desk.
Abruptly, she whisked away to her seat behind him, shooting a desperate look at her best friend before she put her head down on her desk in defeat.
Alya chuckled and patted her best friend's shoulder in comfort.
Half an hour after Marinette arrived, the class had a short break between the next hour of lessons, where Alya insisted the girl must be an insomniac to always oversleep and be late for school.
"Speaking of..." Alya said, her attention turning towards the boy that sat in front of her. He rested his head on his desk, clearly zonked out by the sound of his slow, rustling breathing. She crumpled up a piece of paper and chucked it at his head.
Nino jerked awake, disoriented. "Wha?" he mumbled, wiping the drool that was on the corner of his mouth.
"Why are you sleeping in class? I just got done scolding Marinette for not sleeping enough, when it looks like you're the one that really needs it."
He sat up straight, adjusting his cap. "Sorry. I was up super late last night with my little cousin. He's visiting from Marseille, and he and his parents got in kind of late. Then he woke me up a couple of hours earlier than I'm used to, completely full of energy, so I'm pretty much a zombie today."
"How old is he?" she asked.
"Noel's about five, I think. About the same age as the twins, anyway."
Alya grinned deviously. "How about after school, you pick up Noel, I get the twins, and we visit the park. Then after, the two of you can come by my place where you can take a nap while I watch the little angels?"
"Ah, you'd do that?!" he exclaimed happily. "Thanks! I'll take you up on that. I love the little dude and all, but I need my beauty sleep."
She gave an amused "hmm", and turned to Adrien.
"You and Marinette are welcome to join us in the park today if you'd like," hinted Alya, a sly smile playing on her lips.
Adrien glanced back at Marinette, his eyes locked on hers. "Do you want to Marinette? I have a free day today."
Those dazzling eyes made her brain go fuzzy, her thought process and concentration completely shut down. So in reply, she just giggled nervously, a goofy, awkward grin on her face.
Alya rolled her eyes. "That's a yes," she answered for her friend, before lightly punching her on the shoulder.
Marinette didn't notice.
"Okay, cool," Adrien smiled at her before, turning to talk with Nino.
Alya wondered if he was completely unaware of Marinette's strange behavior. Maybe he was used to it considering she reacted strangely during almost every interaction they have had, or maybe he was just being polite not to react.
"Girl, seriously!" she hissed quietly so the boys wouldn't hear her. "I'm going to have to step in and do something about this. It's literally painful to watch at this point."
"Alya!" she hissed back, her eyes screaming a silent warning. She ignored it however, and began to concoct a plan.
Marinette groaned and immediately started to massage her temples as she could feel a headache coming on. Between her embarrassment from earlier, her worry about her afternoon in the park, and the punishment from Mrs. Bustier she was inevitably going to receive at the end of the day, there was a lot weighing on her mind. What she'd give to be back in Master Fu's shop learning more about the Miraculous instead of this classroom.
This had to be a first. She was actually dreading seeing Adrien after school today. She knew that her friend, yet well-intentioned, wouldn't let it go, and certainly would say whatever she thought would bring them together.
By the end of the day, she knew she was either going to be really happy or slip into a depression.
Relieved for the school day to be over, Marinette stretched and yawned after she got out of her seat.
"Why don't you two go to the park, and we'll meet you there after Nino and I pick up the kids?" Alya winked at Marinette before taking Nino's hand and pulling him out the door.
Adrien and Marinette were left standing there awkwardly, watching their friends run off. And without either saying a word, they began to head towards the park.
Every so often, she'd look at him out the corner of her eye, but she would quickly look straight ahead when she caught him doing the same thing.
"So..." Adrien began.
"So..." repeated Marinette nervously.
He cleared his throat as they sat down on the bench in the park. "I remember the last time we were here. Eating your father's spinach and salmon pie. Talking about the game tournament..."
"Until The Gamer showed up," she added, wanting to contribute something to the conversation.
Adrien's mouth stretched into a grin as he remembered that day.
He had had to rescue Marinette from The Gamer, and when he had brought her to safety on a nearby rooftop, she didn't hold back from giving her opinion when he had something to say about the matter.
She always acted so differently around him as Chat Noir than she did when she was with just him. Adrien wondered why, because he particularly liked that side to her and wished he could see it more.
Marinette noticed he seemed highly amused by something.
"What?" she laughed, enthralled by his smile.
"Nothing," he answered, shaking his head. "Just remembering that day is all."
She nodded and sat back to lean against the back of the bench as she recalled her own memories of that day - many of which involved Chat Noir.
Marinette let out a breathy, melodic laugh.
"What?" Adrien asked, chuckling along with her.
She simply shook her head as she stood up. "Let's go over there," she pointed towards the swing set that stood below a canopy of trees.
His eyes trailed over to the direction she was pointing, and as soon as he saw the swings, an idea came to mind. "I'll race you to the swings," he challenged, and before she even had time to open her mouth, he started running towards them.
Marinette's bluebell eyes flashed, her competitive streak taking over.
"You're on!" she shouted, trying to catch up.
He had slowed down for her to catch up, but she was unaware of any foul play.
They reached the same swing at the same time, but Marinette was not about to let him win, so she kept nudging him away with her elbow and hip. He tried fighting back, but she was much stronger than he thought.
Marinette triumphantly took her seat, winning the race.
"Wow Marinette," he said astonished. "I guess you're the winner. But now let's see which one of us can swing the highest."
She shrugged with a pleased expression on her face and began pumping her legs. Back and forth she swung, reaching higher and higher. When she felt satisfied with the height she had accomplished, Marinette turned to look at her crushes progress. Her jaw dropped when she saw that he somehow managed to reach almost parallel to the bar the swings were tied to.
"I think you win," she called to him, their swings out of sync. He was up in the air, swinging forward when she was swinging back.
They stopped trying to gain momentum, letting the swings slow on their own when the two heard voices calling their names.
Nino, Alya, and the three children that were clutching to them came up to greet them.
"Marinette!" cried one of Alya's sisters, who let go of her hand to hold Marinette's.
She brushedher free hand gently through the little girl's hair. "Hey, kiddo! Did you lose that tooth yet?"
"No," she grumbled. "And it's driving me craaazy!"
The teen girls giggled at her exaggeration of the word. "Who's that?" the other twin asked, pointing to Adrien.
"That's Adrien, he's a friend of ours. And don't point at people, it's rude," Alya scolded as she pushed her sister's arm down.
"Why don't you go play with the twins, Noel?" suggested Nino. "We'll be right over here if you need us."
"Okay!" exclaimed Noel, taking the hands of each of the twin girls as they ran off giggling to play.
Nino sat on a bench in the shade, letting out a sigh of relief. "Finally."
"How are you ever going to be a parent someday if you can't even handle the energy of a five-year-old in your teens?" Alya stood facing him with her hands on her hips.
"I don't know," he answered simply, adjusting his cap as he leaned back with his arm resting behind his head.
Alya just rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"You know what, it's kind of hot out here. Marinette, would you and Adrien mind getting some lemonade for all of us?" her voice sounding a bit too formal to be natural.
"What? It's not hot toda-"
"Sure, I don't mind," he answered with a smile. "If you don't want to Marinette, I can just-"
"No, no. It's okay, I'll go. We'll be right back," she said to Alya and Nino as she and Adrien walked away.
Nino peaked up from under the rim of his cap. "What are you doing, Alya?" he sighed.
"I'm not doing anything," she denied.
"Let them be. It'll happen when it's supposed to happen."
"But they-" she started, until Nino shot her a look. She groaned, and threw herself into the side of the bench he wasn't sitting on, her arms crossed.
"No, don't do that, Noel!" Alya shouted, running out of her seat to go stop him from getting hurt.
.:.:.:.:.:.
"Do you mind if we grab a snack along with the lemonade?" Adrien asked suddenly, his hand on his stomach.
She shook her head. "I could use something to eat, too."
They walked past her bakery - heading for a shop not too far away from the park - when the teens heard them: screams and gasps came from the people walking down the same street they were on.
Adrien and Marinette looked around desperately, trying to find the source of the horror, unable to see anything suspicious on the ground. It was then that the two noticed the people were looking up.
A very large blue-green circle had appeared in the sky, becoming larger and larger with every second. It shimmered and sparkled, its form constantly changing shape.
Then it began to pulse and glow brighter and brighter... and a dark figure immersed from the light.
The people below ran away in fear, trying and hoping to get as much distance between it and them as their feet would allow them.
For a second, Marinette and Adrien worried how they could get away from each other without making the other suspicious, when a crowd of people ran right between them.
Using this to their advantage, they ran in opposite directions, scanning the streets for a safe place to transform.
"Plagg!" Adrien shouted, lifting the side of his jacket away from his body to let the Kwami free.
"Whaaat? I'm tired," the cat Kwami whined. "I haven't even had any cheese since this morning. Can't Ladybug handle it today?"
Adrien gave him a dull look, before snatching him up in his hand. He held his arm out from behind the building he was hiding behind so that it was all that could be seen of him from anyone nearby.
Plagg looked up and caught a glimpse of the giant supervillain.
"Oh... That's not an akuma," he said weakly.
"No, I don't think so, either. Plagg, claws out!"
When his transformation was complete, he scaled the wall of the building and flipped himself up on the roof. A few building's down, he saw Ladybug coming his way.
"Ladybug," he greeted warily, his eyes locked on the villain in the sky.
"Chat," she replied weakly, her eyes too on the dark figure.
"What is that...?"
"I don't know, Chat. Whatever it is, I don't think it's friendly."
"Should we ask it what it's doing here?" his eyes breaking away from the sky to look at her.
She broke away to look at him as well. "Since it hasn't done anything yet, I suppose so."
The heroes watched as the figure descended from the sky, and headed in its direction.
When they were close enough, it stopped what it was doing, and turned around to face them.
"E-Excuse me, but we'd like to know what it is you're doing here," she asked what looked to be a man encased in dark grey armor that had a slight purple hue to it.
His small yellow eyes glowed beneath the facemask. There was no nose, but a black vertical slit where they assumed his real nose hid behind. His mouth and the way the armor emphasized his face shape, made it appear as if his head was that of a robotic skull.
His torso, arms, and legs sported strange, unfamiliar markings in bright shades of red, green, and purple.
He chuckled a very slow and deep sound. It was ominous sounding enough without the slight technological hum that intertwined with his voice.
"Viator doesn't answer to you," he growled, as he lifted his left hand, aiming it at Ladybug.
"NO!" Chat shouted, pushing Ladybug out of the way seconds before Viator shot a green laser out of his hand. The beam had instead hit the roof, having burned a massive hole with a greenish glow around its edge.
"Okay, definitely NOT friendly!" he shook as he hovered over her, his eyes wide with terror. He had to examine her face a moment to make sure she was in fact alright.
Her eyes mirrored his exactly for a moment before he rolled over on his side so they were free to get up and run in an instant.
But Viator paid them no more attention. They weren't his target.
After a bit of running away from him, they realized he had lost interest, and used the time to work out a plan.
"What do we do?" Chat asked, still trying to catch his breath and calm himself down after what almost took place.
Ladybug looked up at what she could only call a portal that hovered in the sky.
"Easy. We get him to go back through the portal."
"And how do we do that?"
"That's the hard part," she sighed. "Neither of us can reach it, and it won't do us any good to convince him to leave... OH!" she cried abruptly, startling her partner. He made a strange noise in the back of his throat.
"Sorry Kitty," she apologized. "I just can't believe I didn't think of it before, considering I just learned about it this morning."
"I don't understand," he sounded completely lost.
She rubbed his shoulders comfortingly for a moment. "Don't worry, it will make sense in a moment."
She took a couple of steps away from Chat. Ladybug removed her trusty yo-yo from her hip and drew a pattern on it that he had never seen before.
The yo-yo began to glow an orange-yellow, and with it, so did Ladybug.
He watched her transform, her color changing from red to a glorious shade of light orange. Her hair was let out from her pigtails, flowing down in a small curtain around her neck.
But the most amazing part of all was the magnificent wings that came out of her back. The translucent part of her wings glistened in the vibrant sunlight.
Chat Noir stared at her, absolutely stupefied.
His mouth popped open, his eyes fixated on her. He tried to speak, but no sound came out.
"Now to test my wings," she said, focusing her concentration on them. Ladybug managed to get them to move after about a minute, and even hovered a few feet above the roof. When she was comfortable with hovering, she flew up higher and higher, and further and further out while Chat Noir stood there, watching her from below in amazement.
"I think I'm ready to fully fly," she said as she flew back down towards him. "I'm going to try to lure him back -"
"What? No!" Chat cut her off, grasping her wrist. "No," he repeated, his voice calmer but shakier. "I can't let you do this alone, it's too dangerous. He almost vaporized you! Please, I can help you."
"But you can't fly, Chat," she insisted, clear from her tone of voice that she was set to do this alone.
"Please," he pleaded, his eyes looking up at her. "Carry me up there with you. I have an idea."
Thinking it over a moment, she sighed.
"Do you trust me?" Chat asked softly.
"Of course."
The desperate look he gave her was the deciding factor. Ladybug flew over, and in one swoop, picked him up from under his arms, and headed towards Viator.
On their way, she saw him shooting purple lazers at things. Her mind trailed off into a different direction for a moment as she contemplated what his purpose could be, and why he was shooting purple lasers at things.
"Ladybug?" she heard a voice ask. She shook her head to clear it.
"What?"
"Drop me off over there, and lure him to me. When he gets here, pick me up and we'll make sure he gets back through the portal."
"Got it."
Ladybug set Chat down where he had asked. Now it was her turn to be the distraction.
How weird, she thought, before scolding herself about now not being the time to let her mind wander.
She knew she was going to have to get him angry. Really angry if he was going to shift his focus on her.
She flew quickly at him, making sure to pass by his line of sight to grab his attention.
At first, he simply tried to bat her away, throwing a laser or two in her direction. But when she persisted, he grew angry.
"Pesky insect! I shall rid you from this world!" the armored villain bellowed, lunging for her.
Ladybug flew as quickly as her new pair of wings could carry her, and lucky for her, it was enough. She reached Chat, picking him up in an instant.
Vialor hovered in the air in front of them. "Any last words before I wipe away your existence?"
"Just one: fantastick!" Chat's baton extended outwards, smacking Vialor right in the chest with enough force that he plunged backward.
Ladybug with Chat, flew closer and closer to the portal until he vanished within.
Letting out a breath of relief, Chat began bringing the baton back to him. But before it could find its way out of the portal, a force started yanking them closer and closer to it until they too vanished into the luminescent ring.
AN:I really hope you enjoyed this first chapter. This idea came to mind the other day, and I just had to start working on it. That being said, I'll update it once every week or two. Probably. Since this fic requires a lot more planning and detail, I'll be writing several chapters in advance. I'd appreciate it very much if you guys let me know your thoughts!
I'd appreciate it very much if you guys let me know your thoughts!
Also, for my readers of Betrayal, From Where You Are, and All Mixed Up, I'm going to be working on chapters for those as well, don't worry. c:
~ToujoursMiraculous
