Chapter 2b
At a study table inside the school library, Marinette was taking advantage of her Study Hall hour to ignore her homework and recreate the curious design on the woman's bag, burned clearly into her memory, by copying it out in her sketchbook. Funny I've never seen or heard of it before, though, she mused as she sketched what she would've called a cross between a bizarre-looking bird and a yin-yang symbol. I don't think it's a brand. She said she made it herself and she wasn't a designer anymore, that could mean anything. She paused and glanced at the business card again, tucked away in her hip purse next to the sleeping form of Tikki. The Flying Ladybird? What even is a ladybird? Looks like an English word, I should probably google it later—
"Hi, Marinette."
Okay, in hindsight the outright scream that erupted from her lungs following his approach was not only utterly inappropriate in a library, but probably could have even been avoided entirely. Normally when her crush snuck up on her like that, she was usually able to keep it down to a single limb-flailing leap backward and a shriek of reasonable volume. As the library was filled with dozens of Shushhh!es and Adrien looked mortified, the one thing Marinette could take solace in was that she only fell halfway out of her chair, saving herself an unceremonious crash to the floor.
Worse, now Adrien was apologizing. "Oh goodness, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that, I know you're kinda jumpy..."
Marinette tried to find the words to assure him that it wasn't his fault, but as usual her tongue was tied in Gordian knots.
But by then Adrien had trailed off, his gaze transfixed by the sketchbook lying open on the table. "Is this one of your designs?" he asked, eyes lit up as he picked up the sketchbook for a better look.
"Huh? Oh no, that's—"
She faltered, noticing Adrien's glowing joy had shifted into an odd puzzlement. His brow furrowed as he stared at the quick pencil sketch, and Marinette wasn't sure what to make of this reaction. "I feel like I've seen this somewhere..." he finally murmured, half to himself.
"Oh? R-Really?"
Then he blinked, and the normal glow was back. "Can we make this?" he asked eagerly.
"Huh?" It was Marinette's turn to blink. Of course she wanted to please Adrien as best she could, but...the Flying Ladybird emblem wasn't hers to offer. As a budding young fashion designer, she knew all too well how much a knockoff of an original design could be disdained, if not censored for plagiarization, and she was right to hesitate. "But it's—"
"—too hard?" Adrien finished weakly, his joy dimming again.
The puppy dog eyes reminding her that this was her crush doggonit, Marinette abruptly stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "NO!" she insisted, forgetting her hesitations and ignoring the fresh wave of shushes her outburst prompted. "We can make it!"
Once again, Adrien's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Mustering up some fresh resolve, she squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. "Yes!"
"Great!" Adrien said, and this time it was his turn to be the recipient of a lone shush. "I already told Nathalie I have a project, which is technically not a lie, so I have the week off. I can come to your house after school today to work on it, is that okay?"
Marinette could feel the stars bursting in her eyes. "Yyyessssss..." she breathed.
"Great!" he smiled, turning to leave. "I'll see you then."
She watched him go, a blush tinting her cheeks and a stupid grin on her face.
"Marineeeette..."
Without warning she was tackled out of her chair by a fiery brown blob. "CONGRATULATIONS! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!"
"Sshhhhh!"
Marinette had barely registered her best friend was the inhabitant of the blob and had been spying on her when a shadow fell over them both, and she looked up directly into the beady glittering eyes of Ms. Mendeleev. "If you're not going to be quiet in the library, then leave!" she demanded.
Funnily enough, a lone voice from back in the stacks hissed a "Shh!"
Moments later, Marinette was joined by Alya and Nino as they congregated in the hallway just outside the library. "I'm so happy for you, Marinette!" Alya gushed. "So are you guys dating now or what?"
The girl beamed and clasped her hands bashfully. "Not technically. But he did ask me to make something for him!"
Alya's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"
"With him!" she went on dreamily, reimagining Adrien clasping her hands and swearing it could only be her. "He said he wants to make memories with me!"
"Girl, no way!" Alya shrieked, gripping a giggling Marinette by the shoulders. "He's totally into you!"
"But did you like...ask him why he wants to make this?"
"Huh?" Marinette quelled her giggles, looking at Nino uncomprehendingly.
"I mean, doesn't seem a little weird and sudden?" he asked, concern and apprehension written across his face.
Before Marinette could reply, Alya angrily cut in. "No. He just must've been too shy to ask before. God, Nino, stop being such a buzzkill."
Nino cringed. "I'm not trying to, I just don't think it's a good idea to get your hopes up."
But Alya was having none of it. "Shut up, Nino. You just can't see it the way we do," she said dismissively, ushering Marinette away from him. When he was out of earshot, she whispered, "Keep me posted, girl. I want a text every night telling me what happened, okay?"
Marinette shook her head and laughed. "Okay."
As she walked off, she didn't catch the worried look Nino watched her with.
After school, Marinette was up in her bedroom putting away her backpack when she heard a tinkling yawn. Smiling at the hip purse set carefully on her sewing table, she watched Tikki crawl out and rub her eyes. Wow, she must've slept all day. "I'm sorry for exhausting you so late last night," she apologized, once again regretting her cavort with Chat Noir.
"It's okay," the kwami chuckled blearily.
Satisfied, Marinette went on. "But hey, guess what? I have a design Adrien really likes!"
At that, Tikki perked up. "Really? Let me see."
The girl was already reaching for her sketchbook. Flipping it open to the right page, she held it up proudly. "It's this!"
But instead of saying something like the "Ooh, how nice!" Marinette was expecting, the kwami was silent. Peering over her sketchbook, she saw her frowning at the pencil sketch. "Did...did you design that?" Tikki asked after awhile, voice thick with skepticism and...something else.
Marinette cocked her head. "Umm...no. I just saw it and—"
"You shouldn't steal someone else's design, Marinette," Tikki admonished her, rather curtly.
That took her aback. "I know, but...well, he really wants to make it," she tried to protest. "Why, do you know this design from somewhere?"
Tikki's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to reply, but a shout from downstairs interrupted her. "Marinette!" her mom called. "Your friend is here!"
As Marinette glanced behind her, Tikki dutifully dove back into the hip purse still lying on the table. "Uh, great!" she called back. "Tell him to come on up!" She looked back at the purse questioningly, wishing she had time to ask Tikki about the design, not to mention the eccentric woman she'd met this morning. Guess it'll have to wait for later, she told herself.
But all thoughts of "later" were forgotten as the trap door opened and up popped Adrien. "Hey, Marinette!" he greeted her cheerfully. "I really can't thank you enough for doing this."
"I-It's fine!" she insisted, managing a wide smile. Adrien Agreste is in my house. Adrien Agreste is IN my HOUSE. ADRIEN AGRESTE IS IN MY HOUSE!
"Um, where would you like me to sit?"
That snapped her out of her paralyzed thoughts. "Oh! Um, here!" she hurriedly said, motioning to the chair beside her and mentally berating herself for not acting like a normal human being for once around her crush.
Adrien, meanwhile, was looking at the pencil sketch again. "So I guess we'll put it onto something?" he asked, looking up at her. "Like embroidery?"
"What? Oh no no no, let's make it!" she said, hoping that didn't sound too pushy. Remember, it's gotta be something he can help me make, she reminded herself. "Like a pendant, or a...or a brooch."
"Sure! And that wouldn't be too hard?"
Marinette shrugged. "I don't know! But I never will if I don't try." She sat up straighter as a hint of pride crept into her explanation. "And if I find out that I can do it after thinking it was too hard, I'll just feel that much more proud of myself. It's how I approach all my projects."
Adrien blinked and nodded slightly, an odd look in his eyes.
Crap, I just ramble-boasted! In front of Adrien! "S-Sorry!" she cut herself off, holding up her hands in an apology gesture. "I didn't mean to start bragging."
He smiled, the odd look still there. "No, not at all. I think that's very admirable."
Marinette blushed and wrung her hands. Of course. The odd look was admiration, she'd just never seen Adrien direct it at her before.
She could get used to this.
But for the time being, she was in danger of melting into a puddle of bliss if she and Adrien didn't start this project soon. "U-Umm...let's, uh, let's start, hehe!"
From that afternoon on, the next week passed in a blur. Adrien came over every weekday after school and for a couple hours on the weekend to help her out, the two spending almost as much time laughing and chatting over their many mistakes in the creative process as they spent actually being productive. (By far the most eventful episode was when they borrowed Mr. Dupain's culinary blow torch and accidentally put in too much butane, and their classmates could only wonder why they showed up to school with soot marks and scratches all over their faces and hair.) And as each day went by, Marinette grew more visibly relaxed and less nervous around Adrien, and as she texted Alya each night, the two girls planned her confession speech for when the brooch was finished. Meanwhile, with no akumas during that time, Ladybug and Chat Noir enjoyed plenty of citywide games of tag or hide-and-seek or both on their nightly patrols, accompanied by the usual pun-filled banter. One night they sat on a building overlooking the Eiffel Tower and drank hot chocolate (Ladybug made sure to bring the lactose-free variety for her feline partner), and a lovesick Chat couldn't wait to bring the gift he was working on for His Lady.
"It took the whole week, but it's finally done," Marinette told Tikki on her walk to school one week later, examining the brooch's shimmering green, red and gold. "All that's left is to put this pin on it, which Adrien can do himself." She took a deep breath. "Tikki, what are the odds I might finally be able to go through with asking him out when I give this to him?"
Tikki, however, was only half-listening. All that week she'd watched Marinette occupied with Adrien, the two hadn't since spoken about the original Flying Ladybird emblem. It truly had been a long time since Tikki last saw that emblem, but even so she'd recognize it anywhere. Is it possible, then? Could she...could she really be back?
She felt a tap on the hip purse. "Are you okay, Tikki? You've been rather quiet lately."
The kwami looked up into the girl's concerned eyes and sighed. "It's nothing..." she said, extremely unconvincingly. To her relief Marinette didn't press the issue.
I wish I could explain it, but I don't want to get my own hopes up, she thought, as if apologizing for not explaining her behavior better. She wasn't supposed to ever come back. I wasn't supposed to be able to see her ever again, no one was. But if that's true, then where else could Marinette have seen that design? Oh, I wish I hadn't been asleep that entire day—
She started. At that precise moment, she...sensed something. Like a stream of color in a grayscale world, a ripple of magic wafted her way, signalling a presence. No, two presences. Ones she hadn't felt in a very long time…
The next moment, she darted out of the purse and zoomed after it.
"TIKKI!" Marinette called after her in alarm. "You can't fly out in the open like that!"
But Tikki wasn't listening. Paying no heed to her surroundings, she focused on the magic and followed its trail back down the way they'd come, then around the corner into a tiny alleyway—
—and stopped cold.
Marinette skidded to a halt behind her, almost slamming into the far wall of the alley. "Seriously, Tikki, I really don't wanna be late for school this t—"
She too stopped cold.
Standing a few paces in front of them was a small, elderly man with his eyes closed, dressed in a jade green shirt with black slacks and a simple pair of sandals. His right hand clutched a sturdy wooden cane, while his left hand was folded behind his back. Hovering beside his head was a tiny green figure, its shape reminiscent of a cross between a sea turtle and Dipsy the Teletubby.
The latter was Wayzz, a fellow kwami she hadn't seen in decades. And neither he nor his Miraculous holder looked too pleased.
"Master Fu! It's been so long, I'm happy to see you again," she uneasily greeted the man she'd known for centuries, afraid she knew exactly what he had traveled halfway across the globe to do. "But why are you...here? In Paris..." I thought you weren't supposed to leave China?
The man, Master Fu, opened his eyes. They were brown, but right now they glinted with a cold, unsettling orange hue. Slowly he withdrew his left arm out from behind his back and opened his hand, revealing a small octagonal black box with red calligraphy. "I think you know why," he said in a low, menacing voice.
Tikki gulped. She stared at him, unable, unwilling to comprehend. Not yet, she could only think, please not yet.
Wayzz floated forward. "It's time to end this madness," he stated matter-of-factly.
"But—"
"It's over, Tikki. This world does not need us anymore. Our job was finished a long time ago."
"But...Nooroo..." Surely they hadn't forgotten why Ladybug and Chat Noir were fighting Hawkmoth in the first place? How the butterfly kwami was trapped, held against his will?
"We'll take care of Nooroo," Master Fu assured her.
Tikki, however, wasn't reassured in the slightest. Not yet, please not yet. She shook her head and hugged herself, scrabbling for some scrap of logic that might make them see sense. "It's our job to keep the humans safe from—"
"FROM WHO?!"
She flinched at Wayzz's outburst.
"From who, Tikki?" he went on, exasperated. "From—from us?! We're the only ones left! Without a purpose, our powers are only being abused, you know that! It's happening now. It's...it's happened before."
Tikki bit her lip. The nuance in his last phrase wasn't lost on her, and she wished he wasn't so damned right.
Not yet...please not yet…
She heard Marinette step closer to her. "Tikki…? What's going on?"
Master Fu's eyes narrowed to slits. "Wayzz?"
"Yes, Master."
The turtle kwami raised his arms to the single antenna protruding from his forehead, and an ominous green light swirled at its tip. "Forget..." he intoned, aiming it straight for the flesh between Marinette's eyes.
Tikki felt her heart turn to ice.
No.
No.
No!
"NO!" she screamed, and dove forward.
A green laser beamed out of Wayzz.
Deflected off of Tikki.
And shot straight into—
Schhhttiiinnng!
"Augh!" Marinette cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground.
"Marinette!"
At once Tikki flew to her side anxiously. The magic, it was splashed all over her face and hair, its aura radiant against the mundane backdrop of the nonmagical world. But perceiving it on a human being other than Master Fu or a transformed Miraculous holder felt so...so...wrong.
"What did you do?" Master Fu gasped.
"I—I...I don't know!" Wayzz spluttered. "That wasn't—it was supposed to—I missed. I don't know what I did."
"Nnnaaaggggh..." Moaning and wincing, Marinette rolled over on her side, hands clutching her left eye.
Tikki reached out a paw to comfort her, then stopped. It's my fault, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut. No way around it, I shouldn't have interfered. Wayzz is right, our purpose is long gone. And as much as I hate it, maybe...maybe Master Fu is right, too. He is the Great Guardian, after all.
The thought had a sour tone to it, even unspoken. Heaving a sigh, Tikki left her holder and hovered up to face the old man, shoulders slumped. "Okay...I'll go," she mumbled, with one last sad look at the girl curled up on the ground below her. "Without a purpose, we only cause harm."
She closed her eyes and prepared for what was to come next.
Marinette cracked one eye open.
If she'd cared to look in a mirror at that moment, she would've noticed a mysterious scarlet ring around her left pupil, blocking part of the iris's normal bluebell color.
But her thoughts were far from any mirror at the moment. Far from herself. Even the initial pain was fading, replaced by one thought.
I don't know who these people are, but NOBODY takes away my kwami.
Master Fu bowed his head and closed his eyes. "I'm glad you understand," he said, clearly about to drift into a monologue. (Under any other circumstances, Wayzz might've been tempted to roll his eyes.) "A long time ago, you and the other kwamis entrusted me to look after the Miraculous and make sure they were being used for their intended purposes by people pure of heart."
Suddenly a hand shot up and snatched Tikki out of the air. Wayzz watched in growing alarm as the human girl dragged the squirming, wide-eyed kwami out of the alley and around the corner. "Master?" he said, his voice rising an octave.
"But times have changed," Fu continued on, oblivious to the escape. "This world is not what it used to be..."
"Master."
"...and people are not who they used to be..."
"Master."
"...and it's time to realize that—"
"Master."
"—we are not meant to—"
"Master!"
"WHAT IS IT, WAYZZ?!" he roared, whirling on the kwami. "Can't you see I'm monologuing?"
This time Wayzz actually did roll his eyes. "They're gone," he said simply.
Master Fu opened his eyes. His face turned purple.
The cane clattered to the ground, forgotten.
"WHAT?!"
Clutched inside Marinette's sweating palms, Tikki felt the girl run for what felt like several long minutes, only stopping once they had rounded some kind of corner. Several more seconds passed while Marinette audibly tried to catch her breath before the hands reopened, and Tikki noted their position on the far side of the main staircase entrance to the Collège Françoise Dupont.
Then she looked at her holder, a mix of awe and confusion at the girl's actions warming her heart. "Why...why would you do that?"
Marinette looked close to tears. "Because you were going to leave with them! Why would you do that?"
She had a point. If nothing else, Marinette was loyal to people, and it was only fair for her to expect the same of Tikki. The kwami felt a rush of pride as she remembered sensing that loyalty upon encountering the teenager for the first time, watching her selflessly shield little Manon from an oncoming car while everyone else was distracted on their smartphones, and she'd decided then and there, This one. She will be my next Miraculous holder. I won't lose her like I lost...the others.
And now that loyalty was in question, for reasons beyond her control. More than anything, Tikki wished she could explain it. There was so much she hadn't told Marinette, convincing herself it was for the girl's own safety, but now…
No. Better to stick with the unsatisfying but safe explanation, rather than letting her know too much. "It's...it's a long story, spanning eons ago..."
She looked up, scanning Marinette's face for any lingering traces of magic. "More importantly, are you okay?" she asked, noting the initial splash had shrunk down to only a tiny residue in her left eye.
Marinette blinked. "Huh?"
"That blast..." Tikki began, floating up to eye level with her. "...he was trying to make you forget about me. About being Ladybug. But he has to hit you in a specific spot on your forehead." She winced. "He missed because of me, but it still hit you… How do you feel?"
She rubbed her temples. "A little anxious, I guess...and...I can't seem to remember what we learned in math class yesterday..."
Tikki breathed a sigh of relief. Good, there seem to've been no side effects. "But that's normal for you, Marinette!" she giggled.
"I guess so," Marinette chuckled back. Then her eyes grew worried again. "They won't follow us, will they?"
"I don't know..." Tikki admitted, glancing over her shoulder instinctively. "But if they come back, I'll handle it. So don't worry about it."
Marinette gave her a long look, not quite convinced. "Only if you promise not to go away with them."
"I won't," Tikki promised, gazing down at her paws. For all she had to keep hidden, she owed the girl at least a vague explanation. "No matter what he says, Wayzz is wrong. I do still have a purpose. There's something I need to finish."
And I won't leave Marinette until I do.
Marinette had so many questions about everything from the past five minutes.
But life had other ideas.
Rrriiiinnggg!
Marinette jumped as she realized that was the nine o' clock bell. "Ahh! I'm late!" she exclaimed, galvanizing herself into action as Tikki hid in her purse. So much for getting any of her questions answered.
She couldn't decide whether she was happy or not that this would mean she wouldn't get to confess to Adrien until they got out for lunch.
Thankful she'd brought her textbooks home and already had them in her backpack, Marinette skipped the trip to the locker room and beelined straight for her first period. As she slid into her seat behind Ms. Bustier's back, she noticed Alya still wasn't here yet. That's strange, Alya's almost never late. She didn't tell me she'd be missing school today. Surreptitiously, she slipped her phone out of her pocket and checked for any text messages.
Sure enough, there was one. "Girls r sick. Not gonna be in til after lunch. Good luck!"
Marinette gulped.
The first few classes passed without much fanfare, and pretty soon it was time to be dismissed for the lunch period. Brooch clutched in hand and her nerves acting out of control, Marinette practically quivered as she walked down to the locker room, where she'd already told Adrien she'd meet him to give him the finished product.
Luckily, she had a backup wingman hiding in her hip purse. "Don't lose courage now, Marinette," Tikki cheered softly. "You've been planning this all week, you can do it!"
Marinette smiled down at her.
"Hi, Marinette."
"NGGggg—!" she stifled a scream. Oh gosh, this is really happening… Wordlessly she turned around to face him and held out the brooch, wishing her face would stop flushing already.
Adrien took it and gazed awestruck at the breathtaking red and gold shimmer, the tiny emerald glinting in the light. "Wow, it looks amazing!"
Marinette looked down at her feet. "I'm glad you like it," she smiled, "it was a lot of fun to make."
"Yeah, I think so, too." He stepped closer to her. "You know, I always felt like we didn't know each other as much as we should. I'm really glad we were able to do this together. I wasn't really sure before if we were friends, but now that we know each other a little better—"
She looked up and caught her breath.
"—I'm glad you're my friend, Marinette."
If there was any hope of suppressing her flush, it was tossed out the window as she felt her face grow very, very warm. "Mmmmmee tooooo..."
He tucked the brooch in his bookbag. "And I still owe you one for this. Anytime you need a favor, just let me know."
"It'sss fiiiine..."
"Anyhow, I think my ride is here. I'll see you back in class."
He walked past her.
Adrien was walking past her.
Something hit Marinette like an ice-cold shower, and she came back to her senses. Oh no, he's leaving! Don't let him leave nooooo I can't do this I can't do this I can't do this I can't
"Ah—wait!"
He paused. "Yeah?"
Her heart pounded. Shocked that actually worked, Marinette wrung her hands and looked away. Alya's voice filled her mind: "Girl, what are you doing? Just spit it out, for heaven's sake!"
She squeezed her eyes shut. Her face was so red she felt it might explode.
Adrien was waiting.
Marinette grit her teeth. "I...ah...w—w-will you… …"
…
A/N Sorry for the cliffhanger, but that's how SleepySundae ended Chapter 2 in the comic (which you should really go check out on DeviantArt if you haven't already!). Also, just a reminder that Master Fu is super OOC in this story, for reasons that will become clearer later on.
