A/N: I've never published a fanfic before, been too scared and someone off Reddit encouraged me to do it, so here it is… and I promptly messed up the formatting. Anyway, I haven't written in a long time and decided this would be a good practice exercise to get me back into it. Please excuse any grammar issues, unless it's really bad, then send a polite DM.

Chapter One:

She shivered as a voice ghosted against the shell of her ear "Mari…" her brows showed outward worry and a chill ran up her spine. She tried to scan the area she was in but realized she was paralyzed and could not open her eyes. She heard the voice again as another chill of the air caressed her cheek, finishing her name "...nette."

She could not identify what state of being she was in and attempted to relax, realizing she was struggling with sleep paralysis and was hallucinating. After she was able to relax, she fell into sleep, but abruptly was awoken in her dream. Scanning the area, she was unfamiliar with her surroundings, and the darkness clouding up around her made it difficult for her to find anything which might help her to identify the area. She tilted her head as she heard the same familiar voice again, and became somewhat frightened.

She was aware she was dreaming at this point and floated towards a faint reflection within the dream world, wherein she collided with a solid, yet transparent surface. A mirror? She placed her hands against it and felt the cool surface where a shape of another person was being materialized. At first, she saw a brief image of the love of her life, Adrien, and then the image faded out in several tiny blocks to reveal a reflection of herself. Her face was wrought with worry at what the imagery was attempting to show her. The reflection was not done taking shape and began to mold an image that was originally Marinette, but something was not quite right.

Marinette shut her eyes briefly before opening them abruptly and shouting, "That's not me!" into the darkness where her shout was amplified and echoed.

The mirror image in front of her displayed a crooked smile and asking in a mocking tone, "Can you save them all this time?" before flashing suddenly and the mirror cracked, leaving Marinette staring at a grotesque representation of herself.

She fell to her knees and understood the dream was somewhat conveying her own insecurities she had felt since becoming Ladybug.. She almost began to cry before she felt a hand ghost over her cheek and was met with a person whom she had never met. Her gaze met gentle sapphire eyes which immediately calmed her erratic thoughts and she immediately felt safe. The being opened her mouth and said some words but they were not conveyed with the timing of the movements. Instead, she heard a disembodied voice after the being smiled at her.

"When the time comes for you to choose, I believe in you to make the right one."

Her eyes darted back to the shattered mirror where she saw the fragments of the terrifying version of herself fade and the mirror had recollected back into a solid form. Marinette sat up and cautiously approached it. She saw the palm of a hand pressed against the glass, on the other side. Carefully, she placed her hand against the glass to meet up with the strange one. Colorless, yet haunting eyes pierced her own and the hands in the reflection carefully entwined with hers. "When the time comes, you must choose," it started to fade. "We believe in you.!'

The voice dropped abruptly and the fingers she was touching slipped through her fingers. "Please, you have to-"

At that moment, the puffs of darkness surrounding the floor lifted her up quickly through the air and she was able to regain consciousness where she had fallen asleep after a long night working on new designs. Fresh tears were staining her cheeks and she felt a tiny hand pressed against her cheek. She became frightened for a moment before realizing it was Tikki attempting to gently rouse her from her nightmare.

"What-?" she began and looked at Tikki for a visual confirmation she was listening and to continue her thoughts. "What was that supposed to be? What a weird dream!" she finished as to not give her little friend unnecessary worry. Her vision was starting to blur from the tears she was unaware of until that moment and rubbed her eyes. Tikki flew into her vision, her eyes worried.

"Oh, Tikki, I had the strangest dream and it was so sad, too," she said quietly. "There was a stranger and she was telling me to choose and they believe and me and-"

"Choose what, Marinette?" Tikki questioned with concern in her voice. She settled down on the desk looking at Marinette, her eyes wide with concern.

"I don't remember but it must have been devastating if I'm crying now." She glanced to her alarm clock before scrambling out of bed, and Tikki was able to fly out of the carnage about to occur as Marinette must have been running late. A usual thing for her. "I'm so late!" she shouted. "I'm going to miss Adrien's demo!"

The troubling dream sequence created a panic in which Marinette completely forgot about the student science exhibition Françoise Dupont was hosting Saturday mid-morning. She wanted to be able to support Adrien the best way she knew how and hoped he would notice her efforts. She also hoped she wouldn't be a stuttering mess in his presence. She was meeting Alya and Nino at the event. As class representative, it was strongly suggested to record the event and she convinced her best friend to help her, as Alya was experienced with media coverage from updating the Ladyblog.

As Marinette reached to open the door, it flew open abruptly as someone rushed out of the building and collided into her shoulder, knocking her back. She faltered and panicked as she felt herself falling backwards.