~A note from the author~
Hey!
/So, um, I am not the best at French or the metric system, so if you catch me using them wrong, please say so in a review
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or message me
Thanks, and enjoy!

Dear Bug

Hey. If you couldn't tell when I shoved this into your hands- or maybe, I'll discreetly get Alya to stick it in your bag; I haven't decided yet -this letter is from me, Adrien. Hi.
I'm writing this because you forgot. You forgot that you forgot. So, here it is: an explanation. Cat to the rescue.

I don't know where to start. When I first got that ring? When we first met, at school? Or when you came hurtling through the air, a flash of fantastic red, screaming and leaving us bouncing midair, tied together with your magical yo-yo?
Magical yo-yo. You must think I'm crazy.

Please don't stop reading yet. I promise I'll try to make sense. Anyway, I'll start with crazy stuff, because who doesn't like magic?

It's easier to explain it, and sound like I've got it all figured out when you're only reading words on paper. If I had to say all this face-to-face, I promise I'd be a blushing mess really embarrassed stammering a lot. It's hard enough writing this all down, so no judgmental looks when you're done reading.
Promise?
Thanks.

Before I started coming to school, I was homeschooled. Not the most exciting thing, right? It wouldn't have been so bad, I guess, if I could hang out with other homeschoolers, but my Father wouldn't allow that. The only person my age that I'd ever talked to was Chloe.
So I ran away.

No, not forever, obviously. Just to school. Introducing: Running Away (for only a little while) Part One. Chloe texted me the address of the one she went to, so I waited until no-one was looking before dashing out the front door. Thankfully, it wasn't too far from my house, and in no time, I was on the front steps. But I wasn't the greatest at running away (this was only the first time, you see) and guess who was right behind me? Natalie, (Dad's secretary/my tutor) and my bodyguard.

She called out to me, telling me to come back and apologize. Like that was going to happen. I tried asking her to give me a chance, when I heard a groaning over on my left. An elderly man had fallen over, wincing in pain as he reached out for his cane. People stepped around him, ignoring his feeble pleas for assistance.

What could I do?
So, instead of running inside the school (Natalie wouldn't have followed me- she hated making scenes) I ran down the steps over to him. I lifted him up, snatching the cane from the ground and handing it to him.

"Thank you, son, thank you."
I smiled, but it faded when I turned around. Natalie and my gorilla of a bodyguard stood none-too-subtly in front of the stairs. I sighed, knowing it was hopeless, and climbed inside the car next to her.

Sounds real rebellious, right? Don't worry, Marinette, I'll skip to the good stuff.

Later, I was in my room, enjoying some alone time when a large boomskachhhh made me sit straight up. For a second, I wondered if my Father had decided to come out of his office, and the door was loud from underuse. But of course, that was ridiculous. All the doors were well-oiled.

I grabbed the remote and flipped to the news channel. The television flickered from footage after footage of a huge rock monster stomping around Paris. At first, I thought it was some stupid stunt, but this thing would explain the horrible noise. The pictures switched to police men trying to hold him down, aiming and shooting at the monster.
The thing grew bigger. It flickered, already ten feet tall, and it was growing larger. Stronger. Rockier.

Crazy, right? And, I'll admit it, I was scared. Don't tell anyone. I sat on my couch, wide-eyed, before I saw it.

Here. This is the life-changing moment, the second when I said, "What's this doing here?" and picked up the small, bear-colored wooden box. I lifted it up to my face, studying the little carvings around it.

Sometimes, (and this will sound so cliché) I wonder what my life would have been like if I'd left it on the table. Or maybe, going back a little, if I hadn't helped that man up. Oh! I almost forgot- his name turned out to be Master Fu. Please tell me that rings some bells.

No? (I'm assuming you said no, since I won't be there when you read this.) Fine. Anyway, I'll get on with it.

The box burst open. I gasped, throwing the thing away as green light edged with black flashed. My ears rang. I turned away, blinking until I could see again. Then I blinked some more.
Hovering mid-air was a tiny, grumpy-looking cat.

Well, not really. I didn't know it then, but the cat was a Kwami. A Kwami is this fairy-like thing, and they come bearing magic, powers, and jewelry. I know, Marinette, I'm horrible at explaining this for you, but I'd like to see you try.
Actually, no, I wouldn't. I would prefer not to fight crime with someone, not knowing anything about them, then, just when we become friends, this total lunatic of a supervillain- Ugh, sorry. I'm spoiling the story for you.

So, I don't know what it was like for you, and I guess I'll never know, since you don't know, but this is how it went for me.
Finally, I said: "No way… Like the genie in the lamp!"
"I met him once. So, he grants wishes, big deal. I'm way more personable! Plagg. Nice to meet you. Ooh-"

My Kwami pretty much said hi and flew away looking for something to eat. I shook off my initial shock and raced after him, swatting him away from the arcade, and whatever else the weirdo thought looked like food.
"No! Don't touch that! Come back here!"
"Ooh, so shiny! Can you eat this? No, you can't. Ooh, what about this?"

I won't get into the rest of the details. Plagg was this tiny cat, and he might've been cute if he wasn't always whining and smelling like cheese. He said something about how my power was destruction, which, I dunno, didn't sound like the typical superhero power. Oh, and I got a ring! I still wear it, so maybe after you're done reading, I can show it to you. It's usually silver, unless I say the summoning words.

"Plagg, claws out!"
Hey, I know it sounds stupid, but you do what you've gotta do, right? (Man, I should stop asking/writing questions when I know you're not gonna answer.) Plagg shouted, his image swirling, black and electric green, zipping around in a circle before disappearing into my ring. My cat was sucked inside of my ring.

That's not all that happened.
The energy from my Kwami was stored in my ring, for a Special Move that I'll explain in a minute. His energy was dead black, the shade of black that you stumble through when your basement light burns out and you can't find a flashlight. It zipped through my veins, making me gasp and hold my hands out to watch as my white sleeve transformed into black, stretching all the way to my fingertips, then shrinking so it fit my hand like a glove. My hair buzzed, and I reached upwards, breathing faster as my hand grabbed ears.

No, not my ears. Cat ears. On my head.
My face tingled, and my hands swept out to the sides of it, brushing the edges of a mask. I blinked, and my vision blurred for a second. For a minute, I panicked. Cats are nearsighted. That would be great, wouldn't it? Powers, but I can't see anything farther away than 20 feet clearly.
But then it sharpened, not quite as strong as it was before Plagg, but at least I wasn't blind.

The colors were fainted, and my vision was like a bad cellphone camera. I didn't know it then, but later I found out a nice perk: I can see in the dark.

I stared at my new outfit in wonder and noticed a cat tail swishing between my feet. Oh, I remember thinking, hope that doesn't slow me down. My suit has two pockets, symmetrical. I have a silver pole that elongates, or acts as a phone, so I could smack a villain in the face while taking a selfie. Also, my eyes turn green. I know they're already green, but the whites turn green.
Am I making sense?
Probably not.

So, there I was, fully decked out in my hero-outfit, ready to go. Introducing: Running Away (for only a little while) Part Two.

What did I do first? Check out my powers, test my limits, look in the mirror to see if my secret identity was obvious, all in the safety of my room? No. I opened a window and jumped, using my pole to land on the house across the street, eyeing my house to make sure no-one saw me.
Well, nobody came running out screaming, so I figured I was good to go.

I made sure to jump a few more roofs- I know. Roofs. -before seriously trying things out for myself. I landed on my feet, my ears twitching, only stumbling once. Cats have good balance. Wow. I was a cat. Well, a weird cat-human-hybrid-superhero. I decided not to think about it.

I held the baton in front of me, balancing and weighing it in my hand. I know you want me to explain if it was top-heavy or if the metal was cool or warm in my hand, and all those specifics, what was I thinking, why was I on a roof, but I only remember thinking how perfect everything seemed.

The costume fit me perfectly- I seemed to go well with it too, blond hair, green eyes. That might sound a little vain, so, uh, sorry, but when you're a model, you pick up on some fashion sense, I guess.

I decided to see what I could do with the baton. Since there wasn't exactly anybody lining up to be target practice, I did the next best thing. I extended the pole and laid it, so it balanced, each end on a roof, like a tightrope over the street.
How did I know how to extend the pole? Well, I'll tell you: I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if maybe Plagg can put an idea into my head while he's in the ring, but I've never asked. That would be an awkward conversation. Buddy, are you telepathic? Maybe it was destiny- but wow, does that sound cheesy, so probably not. I'll go with the Plagg thing.

I guess since I was thinking about Cat's balancing skills is why I started walking across the baton. I'll admit, it was probably a stupid thing to do. But at that point, nothing interesting had happened to me, ever. Better jump head first instead of toeing the water, right? (Since I have this whole cat thing going on, is water a bad analogy?)

There I was, hands out to the sides, balancing as I walked, maybe two hundred centimeters above the ground.
"Hey, I think I'm starting to get the hang of-" You couldn't even let me finish my sentence. That's right, Marinette- this is where you come in.

You were screaming, this red blur in the sky, and then I was shouting, too, as you tumbled towards me. Instinct made me reach out, like I could grab you, but you were falling too fast, and I was standing on a slippery pole, so we fell, even with the added friction of cat feet.

I blinked, and we were swinging underneath my pole. Your weapon- a yo-yo -had us all tangled up, and I smiled nervously, unused, I guess, to being this close to a girl, let alone anyone. Even though they were hidden by the mask, I could see your eyebrows all scrunched up, this mix of worry and panic pasted across your face.

"Well hey," I said, noting your mask and hero costume. "Nice of you to drop in." We untangled ourselves, and my baton shrunk and fell, landing nicely in my palm- or, paws.
"I'm sorry," you stammered. "I didn't do it on purpose."
I smiled.

This is so weird, having to describe you to you. Your costume was like mine, in a way, but it was red with black spots. That's why they called you Ladybug. Yep, Marinette, that's right. You were the Ladybug. Your hair was still in those pigtails you used to wear. I wish you did your hair like that more often, red scrunchies standing out in the middle of your fantastic blue hair. Your eyes were bluebell, too, and-
Sorry. I sound like I'm gushing. You probably think I'm some strange creep or something now.

"I bet your that partner my Kwami told me about. I'm…" Who was I? Plagg had said that my identity had to be a secret- though now especially I wish I had told you my real name and skipped a bunch of drama I won't go into. I glanced at my hands. Black. I was a cat. "… Cat Noir. Yeah, Cat Noir." An obvious name, now that I think of it, but what else did I have to go with? "And you?"

"I'm ma… ma-" and then your yo-yo fell from the sky, smacking me on the head. "Madly Clumsy. I'm so clumsy."

Let me get this straight. That yo-yo was a weapon. I've seen it take down akumas three times your size. It hurt. I rubbed my head. Tears pricked in my eyes, but I managed a grin. "No sweat, Clumsy Girl. I'm learning the ropes, too."

A rumbling in the distance. A skyscraper started crumbling. I'd forgotten about the rock monster! I grinned again to cover my panic and used my pole to thrust me into the air, landing on a roof.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
I glanced down. You were still on the street. Sure, this was out first day out, but that didn't mean we should hesitate to stop the villain.
"To save Paris, right?"

I might be wrong, but I think that's the first time I heard you groan at me. I jumped the roofs, following the screaming and breaking noises. Yeah, this is the part where you say how stupid I was for not figuring out what my power did, or how much the suit protected me, but you know what?
I was tired of being safe. I'd spent my whole life followed around by a bodyguard, doing (mostly) what my Father wanted me to do, and never really getting to anything that normal people got to do. Not that I'm normal now, just because I go to school. I wanted to do something helpful, on my own.
Or, with you.

So, there it is, Marinette. The day I first met you.