A Life Less Miraculous
by MellyMiraculous
A/N: Hello! I want to thank you all for the love and feedback this story has gotten so far. I really appreciate it! We're still sticking a bit close to Origins in this chapter, but it felt important to do so in order to establish this particular AU. I promise once we really get into the story, that we'll veer away from a simple retelling, so bear with me!
Chapter Two: Surprises
"Are you seeing this?" Adrien exclaimed. The pitchiness which touched his tone wasn't fear or alarm, or anything else that would be normal in the present situation.
"KIIIIIM!" roared the stony behemoth upon the monitor showing the security feed from the front of the school.
"This is so cool!"
Nino gave his best friend a long, measured look, wondering not for the first time whether the blond needed something more to divert his time than helping in the family bakery on the weekends. And Adrien wasn't the only one abnormally excited about what was happening. The new girl – Alya, her name was – was quickly swiping at her phone, murmuring aloud to herself, "GPS, check! Battery, check! And I am no longer here!"
"Where are you going?" Rose called worriedly after her as she dashed towards the library door.
"Where there are supervillains, there are superheroes!" Alya called back over her shoulder.
Was everyone insane?
"Superheroes, Nino!" Adrien slapped his shoulder, grinning broadly. "Paris is gonna have superheroes!"
Oh, yeah. His friend definitely needed some more extracurricular activities.
Once the danger had left the premises, professors came to usher the students home, sternly admonishing them all to not make any detours and to avoid any trouble they might find along the way. Gathering up their belongings quickly, they filed out of the library with the others, Adrien practically vibrating with excitement.
"Did you see how it picked up the car and hurled it at the camera?" he asked, as though Nino hadn't been right beside him watching the entire thing. "And its voice – it sounded like Ivan, didn't it? I wonder how he got turned into that thing... Hey, maybe there's another bigger supervillain turning people evil. Like a super-supervillain."
"Bro," Nino interrupted dryly, patting his friend's shoulder, "do the world a favor and never name anything."
Adrien made a face at him, but his grin didn't stay away for long. "Hey, you want to come to my house? It's closer. We can watch the newscast together – see how it all turns out."
"As tempting as that is, I'd better get home," Nino said a bit regretfully. "My mom will be worried if I don't, even if I called."
"Right. Talk to you later, then?"
"You know it." With a wave, the two boys parted company, Adrien breaking into a jog to get home all the faster. He knew that the police would no-doubt figure out the situation, but he allowed his imagination to soar, anyway. Superheroes. Paris could have superheroes.
0o0
The car had only just passed through the wrought iron gates of the mansion when sirens filled the air, growing louder as several police vehicles sped to take up positions on the road beyond the stone fence. Marinette barely waited for the gorilla to bring the car to a stop before she was opening her door and hurrying towards the gate as it swung shut. Leaning into the sturdy metalwork, the girl craned her head to try to see what the officers were barricading against.
"Get inside!" one of them shouted at her, pointing insistently towards her house.
"But what is-" she broke off as the gate – and the ground, for that matter – shuddered. And then she could see it, a great stone creature approaching along the street, its every footfall causing the ground to shake. Blue eyes flew wide as the hair at the back of her neck stood on end and the girl took a step back.
"KIIIIIM!" the being roared, causing her heart to stutter in alarm.
"Marinette!" Nathalie shouted at her, a note of panic in her usually calm voice.
"I'm going!" Marinette shouted back, whirling away from the scene. She tripped over her feet after a couple of steps, but quickly got them beneath her again, running all the way up the drive and to the mansion's front doors. Only then did she pause again to look over her shoulder, despite Nathalie frantically ushering her inside. She watched as the officers fired upon the stone creature, gasping when it seemed to absorb the impacts and grow in size. Then Nathalie had shoved her inside and slammed the door.
"Marinette," her mother's assistant began.
"I'll be in my room!" the girl interrupted, dashing for the stairs. She didn't even spare a thought to be embarrassed when she tripped halfway up, her grip on the banister the only thing keeping her from falling on her face. Nathalie may have sighed, but her charge hadn't a thought for that, either.
Marinette had to know what was happening and turning on the news was her best bet of finding out.
Slamming the door in her haste, Marinette nearly tripped over her rug and the end of her sofa as she scrambled for the television remote. The mayor appeared on the screen, urging people to stay home. It was one of the more sensible things he'd said, really. He was soon replaced by the news anchor, who reported that the thing outside was a supervillain who was terrorizing Paris.
"Well, that's a bit obvious," Marinette breathed incredulously, wincing as the police captain tried to gesture with his injured arm in the interview clip which followed. "But where did it come from?"
Her gaze dropped down to the coffee table as she belatedly noticed the small hexagonal box sitting there. The girl frowned. What's this? she wondered. Had her mother gotten her something as a peace offering after that morning? That wasn't like her... A gift from her father, perhaps? But there had been no recent occasion to prompt the man to such a thing.
Reaching out a hand, Marinette picked up the box, fingers lightly trailing over the intricate design on its lid before she opened it.
0o0
"No way," Adrien breathed to himself, avidly watching the news on his computer monitor. The boy wondered if there was really anything the policecould do, because it looked like they weren't having much success.
He fidgeted with the little black box that had been on his desk when he arrived. Blinking, the boy looked down at it in surprise, belatedly realizing that he had no idea what it was. He'd been so caught up in learning more about what was happening outside that he'd barely spared it a thought.
It certainly had his attention, now.
"What's this doing here?" he wondered aloud. He turned it over in his hands once more, then opened the lid. A ring? The boy started when a green light bloomed from the center of the box, rising up into the air and blinking out of existence, only to be replaced by a small black creature resembling a cat. It stretched and yawned, as though wakened from a long nap.
Adrien's grin made a reappearance. "No way!" he exclaimed excitedly.
0o0
Marinette dropped the earrings and jumped back with a startled shriek, blue eyes wide in fright as she stared at the strange red creature that had emerged from the jewel box. "What's this? S-some sort of bug? A rodent? A bug-rodent?" she stammered aloud, mind whirling in panic.
"No, calm down – don't be scared!" the creature implored in a sweet little voice.
It talked!
The girl grabbed for anything within reach to throw at this new threat, turning to run for her door. This time, however, she really did trip over her rug, landing hard on the plush carpet. So, she went with Plan B. She shouted for help.
"NATHALIE!"
To be continued...
A/N: Be sure to let me know what you think! Comments give me life and motivation. :D Hugs, Melly
