(A/N) Welcome to an unexpected story! I'm putting everything else on a backburner for now thanks to this story idea that popped into my head the night before I started writing this.

This story is partially inspired by a book I read years ago. A book by the author Carrie Vaughn titled Steel. And the other part was inspired by an album I listened to recently by the group Two Steps from Hell. So, to keep it short, it's a pirate story.

Now to explain a few things before we begin. In this story, Marinette is a fencer. We saw her abilities in Riposte, so let's take it one step further, she's still the little designer we know and love only with a new element to her. This is the biggest point with how it will affect the plot. Another point is no superhero stuff, complete AU like a few of my other fics. Slight age jump as well for this, Marinette will be 16 in this story. Final point of this is, this is a fic that Adrien ended up not going to school, and you'll just have to wait and see why.

And now, Disclaimers! I. Own. Nothing. As usual I'm just fandom trash wanting to write a story. Miraculous belongs to its amazing creators who continue to blow me away with each episode. Also, I don't own the original story this story is inspired by. I haven't read it in years so if by the off chance I accidentally do something, all those rights go to Carrie Vaughn respectively.

With that out of the way… *ahem* I hope ye be ready fer an excitin' tales lads and lasses!

*boop*

The match was too close to call…

Too close to call…

Marinette buried her head in her hands as she sat alone in the locker room, suppressing any emotions that were trying to push their way out. All the months of hard work to get to this point, had ended in a frustrating decision. She and her opponent had tapped each other in such a tight margin that the victor was undeterminable, it didn't help that the system that was normally used had decided to break down entirely at that decision-making moment. To figure out why and possibly reprogram the faulty technology, it had been decided that in two weeks' time a deciding match would take place to see who would officially be advancing to The Championship.

Marinette should be relieved…

Her chances of reaching her goal was still in reach…

…but she wasn't…

She played the match over and over in her head, all looping back to the one hesitation that had led to the result she was now facing.

How could she let herself pause like that? Why couldn't she have finished off her opponent right then and there and entirely avoided the pressure that was now on her shoulders?

She sighed, before coming to the decision that a walk might be a good way to clear her head. Sending texts to both her parents and friends to let them know the situation, she packed her fencing gear back into her locker before leaving the building.

The sun was low as she began her walk, just enough so that dark oranges were now spreading their way across the sky. She took a deep breath, before picking a random direction and started making her way. Marinette has lived her entire life in Paris, so there was no worry of losing her way among the many streets that surrounded her.

Even as she walked on, she still couldn't stop thinking about the match. Various possible outcomes were now running through her head. Some of them she won, some she lost, but that lingering tie that she was rewarded with was always there.

Her opponent was a formidable one, that much was certain. It could easily be seen that Kagami had received extensive training before moving to Paris. It had been a surprise to many, including Marinette, that they had been as evenly matched as they were. Knowing this would have been enough for Marinette even if she had lost, she would have taken that defeat proudly and waited for her chance again next year. Only now though, the stress she was now to deal with for two weeks felt like it would be unbearable.

Escaping her thoughts, she looked at her surroundings to find herself walking along the banks of the Seine. She often has come here to relax and sketch, so it only made sense that her feet would have brought her here now.

She looked across the water, appreciating the various colors that were being reflected from the sky. Her fingers twitched as she wished she had brought her sketchbook along, all thanks to the inspiring image in front of her.

As she turned to leave, something caught her eye. In the water, right next to where she was standing was a small box. She knelt to get a better look, before deciding to just grab it from the water entirely.

The box seemed extremely old, contact to the water had made it feel extremely soft as it came to rest in her hand. Whatever this was, it has been in the water for quite a long time, years even. The box appeared to be black, whether from paint or from being in the water for so long. The top was adorned with dark red engravings that seemed almost Chinese in origin, she made a note to ask her mother about it when she got home. Her eyes finally came to rest on the metallic latch that kept this mysterious box shut, the age of this box easily shown through this tiny piece that was completely enveloped in rust. Ignoring the cautious inner voice telling her to leave the box alone, she reached for the latch.

Despite the amount of rust, the latch moved with ease much to her shock. The sound of air depressurizing sharply caused Marinette to slightly jump. Whoever had made this box had somehow made it well enough that the inside had be airtight against the amount of years it had been here. As she opened it, her eyes widened.

Thanks to the airtightness of the box, the insides had remained untouched to the elements. Dark fabric carefully lined the inside, perfectly accenting what this box had been keeping safe for who knows how long.

Twin red gems sparkled in front of her eyes. She was taken aback slightly, wondering who would possibly toss something like this in the water. Then again, it could have been an accident. Whoever lost these must be desperate to get them back. She was coming to a decision to return them to the rightful owner when she noticed one more thing. A small yellow triangle was sticking out of the black fabric closest to her. Pulling at it, it revealed to be a long strip of parchment, clearly old judging by the yellow tint of the paper. One side contained words, a message that she had to bring close to read it's small, cursive writing.

'To whomever finds this, I entrust these to you, please keep them safe and close at all times.'

The last word was smudged, making it illegible to Marinette. She could only assume it was the person's name who had written this message. Looking back at the gems, the words were setting in. The previous owner wanted whoever found these to keep them for who knows why.

Without warning, the remainder of the box disintegrated entirely in her hands, including the black fabric and parchment. The only thing remaining in her hand now was the gems. Amid her shock, she noticed the gems had metallic backs that were now pressing lightly on her palms. Tilting her hand slightly, she discovered quickly that the items she was holding were truly earrings, not just the initial gems she saw.

Wanting to forget the strange occurrence she went through, she started to make her way home. Panic slowly dissipating with each step she took with the sky darkening slowly around her. With the earrings still in her hands, she realized this experience had made her forget about the stressful situation she had been fretting about only moments before. Looking down at them again, she considered the idea that maybe these could be a good luck charm as she prepared for the match in two weeks.

Unbeknownst to her, these earrings would do something more than that, something no one would ever deem possible…

*boop*

I imagine some of you are wondering where the pirate stuff is, well… trust me when I say it is coming very, very soon.

Thoughts? Opinions? Criticism? Please leave them all in a review! I hope you all are ready for what's to come!

Lots of Love to you all!

~Imperial