A/N:

The plot is definitely moving along! I'm publishing this around halfway through chapter 10, and things start moving pretty quickly for a bit (but of course we'll go back to some slow fluff and stuff. At least I won't be drawing this story out too long— I hate it when fanfic authors take over 150k words to reach the Sports Festival arc unless there's a VERY good reason for it and it doesn't feel like a drag getting there. I intend to reach sports festival around chapter 14 or 15, though my outline is nonexistent and the story is just writing itself. Either way, Sports Festival should start sometimes around the 100k mark, which I feel is a nice pace for the story.

I also just started my separate akuma planning doc, and Oh Boy™️ do I have plans for some characters ;) There are so many things I want to touch upon or include that would just absolutely bog down this story, so we might be getting some one-shots of side characters in the future that I think need to be expanded upon outside the main fic? I don't know what I'm talking about, expect Shinsou one-shot in a few months whenever he comes up here.

Chapter title is from Amsterdam by Imagine Dragons.

Next chapter May 21st.

Chapter 8:

All Might turned around after defeating the Nomu, soaked in sweat and running low on power, only to find a black leather glove coming at his face, glowing with a dark energy.

"Cataclysm!" Was the only thing he heard, and he cursed and dropped to the ground faster than most people could blink.

He rolled out of the way and sprang up, ready to defend himself from this new villain, when he took in his appearance. He wore a pitch-black leather suit that covered his entire body, matched by gloves and boots made of a similar material. The gloves were tipped with steel-colored claws that looked sharp enough to slice cleanly through someone, not to mention the fact that the right hand was somehow glowing black, giving off particles of the same color. A belt fastened around his waist completed the ensemble, to which a metallic baton was strapped..

A mask covered his eyes, though what with his hair, eye color, and chapped lips, there was no doubt in the hero's mind that this was the same villain as before— only somehow in a different costume.

Wait.

Were those… cat ears?

If All Might's vision wasn't deceiving him, the villain was wearing a set of cat ears on the top of his head, matching the rest of the strange ensemble.

He didn't understand how the villain could change into this costume out in the open in such a short time frame or why he was dressed as a cat of all things, but those types of questions weren't the type of thing that was important to know in the middle of a fight. The energy that infused those hands set off warning bells in his mind, and he wouldn't have become one of the strongest heroes in the world if he didn't trust his instincts.

The villain was relentless, not allowing All Might a moment to breathe as he dodged swipes and slashes. He was faster than some speed-enhancing quirks but with the reflexes and agility to put most of those to shame. Since the hero was hyper-focused on dodging his right hand, a punch with the left landed on his injury, and even though it wasn't quite as strong as the Nomu's hits, it was enough to force him to stumble and almost get hit.

All Might needed some sort of weapon, a buffer between him and the villain, so he uprooted the nearest tree and attempted to use it like a club. Unfortunately, when he swung it, it came into contact with the powered-up glove and turned into dust within a second.

His eyes widened. He wasn't sure what sort of quirk that was, and he didn't think he wanted to know. Quirks that could just outright destroy things were rare— the only real example he could think of being Thirteen's— and even Black Hole couldn't destroy something of that size with that speed. Obviously, there were quirks that could do more damage, but none that could do so with barely a touch.

It seems that despite the destruction of his makeshift weapon, the villain's power was no more— the hand was no longer glowing, and his observation was confirmed a second later when the villain snarled and grabbed the baton, which expanded into a staff within seconds. He charged at him, and it was all All Might could do to jump out of the way. He sent a punch at the villain, careful not to use up too much of his power, but all it seemed to do was knock him over— and irritate him further.

So he has a short temper. I can use that.

The villain screeched as he got up. "How did you defeat Nomu? That was a gift from Sensei! It was made to kill you!"

All Might ducked and countered with an elbow jab to the stomach, putting in more power than before. Even though his opponent was strong and fast, it seemed that he was unaccustomed to using his power.

Does his strength come from the suit? Some sort of black market support gear? Or— no, that can't be. He's gone.

Unfortunately, the elbow jab didn't do much more than knock him back, even though for any other villain it would have meant the end of the battle.

All Might prepared himself for the villain's next attack, but was caught completely off guard when the staff extended further, which was then used as a pole vault (he didn't think most metals were supposed to bend that much) to come crashing down on him claws first.

All Might stepped backwards, thinking that he would be stunned upon landing and could take him out then and there, but was shocked to see the villain roll forward upon landing, raking one of his hands down his left thigh.

He grunted, stifling any shouts of pain, and grabbed the villain by the arms, slamming him on the ground multiple times before throwing him into one of the mountains using his quirk. If he needed to use more force, then he was willing. He just had to be careful to manage his energy.

He leapt towards the impact, arms up and ready to block. "What do you mean, made to kill me? And who's this Sensei you speak of?"

The rubble exploded upwards where the staff pushed its user upwards. "It was the perfect All Might-killing Nomu! It had Super Strength, Super Regeneration, and even Shock Absorption! It was made to counter you!"

It was made to counter me? What is that supposed to mean? And were all those the names of quirks? How—

The villain spun the staff in one hand faster than he thought was possible, blurring until it looked solid, and ran at All Might once more. He heard a little beep coming from somewhere in the villain's direction, but didn't have a chance to think about it before the villain got too close.

"What about your—" All Might grunted as he took the hit from the staff and countered with a headbutt. "Sensei?"

The villain grinned, a despicable thing that seemed to stretch his lips to the breaking point. If they were any more chapped he felt that they would have started bleeding. "Sensei? Only the greatest man alive! He gave me this mission, and you're ruining everything!" He sent out a flurry of punches that All Might sidestepped.

That didn't bode well for him. Of course, it made sense that this wasn't the real leader. He was much too rash— like a man-child— to have orchestrated this. That begged the question, though. Who could have the power to organize this?

It had been minutes of fighting at this point, and though he hated to admit it he needed backup from U.A. now. All of the fighting today had drained him, and if he even tried another powerful attack like he did against the Nomu, he would deflate to his powerless form right then.

Another beep rang out, and this time the villain looked a little worried. All Might tried out a taunt. "What's that? Are you running out of time?"

"Why you little—" He was interrupted by another sound, and this time he paused. He glanced at the plaza where the hero knew the warp villain was trapped (by one of his students, no less!) and cursed. With a hateful glare, he used his staff to launch himself back towards the main plaza. All Might shot after him, only to see him yell "Plagg, claws in!" and return to his previous outfit, hands still attached.

Todoroki had been knocked to the ground, unconscious and with a nasty bruise on his head. He could see Bakugou in a similar predicament, though with an arm that definitely wasn't supposed to bend that way. The villain had disintegrated the ice around his accomplice, which raised many questions.

What is his actual quirk? He was exhibiting incredible durability just a few minutes ago along with inhuman strength and speed, but now he has a disintegration quirk? Why didn't he use this against me? Why does it look completely different than his opening attack?

Unfortunately, he would never get to ask any of those questions, and with a stream of colorful profanity from his opponent, the villains warped away.

The doors at the top of the stairs opened with a crash, and a voice he recognized as Principal Nedzu's yelled out, "Sorry for being late, everyone! I've gathered the teachers as quickly as I could."

All Might relaxed. He could see Cementoss up there with the group, and he would be able to provide cover for his detransformation. He raised an arm towards them, and Cementoss nodded before raising some walls around him.

He allowed One For All to recede and felt himself growing thinner. For whatever reason, his height remained unchanged in his weaker form, and it served only to make him look more gaunt than he would have otherwise.

He waited in the cement box, knowing that he would be freed once the students were out of the way. He hoped that they would do so quickly, because he had much to discuss with Nedzu.

After a few minutes, the walls were lowered, and he was greeted by the Principal himself. They stared at each other for a moment, and the small creature opened up the discussion.

"I see you have used up your power for today, Yagi."

Toshinori snorted. That was a bit of an understatement, if anything. "Thank you for arriving, Principal. Unfortunately, I'm afraid we can't spend too much time on pleasantries."

Nedzu nodded and started walking back. Toshinori joined him. "Quite. Allow us to return to my office before you tell me anything, to ensure we will not get overheard."

He sighed. It was expected, of course, and certainly none of what he wished to discuss should be heard by anyone else, but it still grated on his impatience.

He stepped outside, briefly waving to Naomasa, who was speaking to a small group of students and briefly looked up to acknowledge him. Toshinori got into the car that Nedzu led him to, unseen by any of the students, busy as they were with their worries over their friends and teachers.

The vehicle started up, and he looked out of the tinted window, reflecting upon his failures and the implications of what was said.

"It was made to counter you!"

There was only one person that could make such a creature, but that was impossible, seeing as he was dead.

(He ignored the whispering doubt in his head, because he never checked, did he?)

He wondered about Aizawa, who he'd seen in one of Young Lahiffe's bubbles, along with the boy himself. He wondered if they were okay, how severe their injuries must have been. Toshinori had seen the sheer amount of villains that had been knocked out in the plaza, and he realized that the hero must have fought them all himself. That must have been absolutely grueling for the younger man, and even the visible injuries he had sustained looked to have caused him awful pain.

And perhaps most inexcusable was that his students were involved in all of this.

Ignoring for the moment that this attack should not have happened in the first place, it was made even worse by the fact that they had specifically targeted his students once they had learned that All Might was nowhere to be found.

And, really, that was despicable. In all of his decades of heroics, Toshinori had fought met thousands of villains. Among them were those who had nowhere else to turn, pushed to the brink with no other options; those who were ostracized for their quirks and could only find solace and companionship in the underworld; those who needed to provide for their families, aware of what they were doing but unwilling to allow their loved ones to suffer; and those who were mentally unstable, incapable of controlling themselves or thinking clearly.

But worst of all, and most certainly the rarest, were those villains who did it for the pleasure of it. The ones who were so twisted that to cause pain was a pastime of theirs, who decided that they would hurt or even kill someone for no other reason than to make that person feel pain.

Toshinori hardly enjoyed using unnecessary force, but whenever he put one of those types of monsters away he felt a sort of pleasure that was hard to replicate.

And now, through his own failure to not ration his power, he'd inadvertently allowed those people to harm his students and colleagues, and the blame rested squarely on his shoulders. He was ashamed to even think that he could have prevented so much pain just by having been there.

Of course, that was why he needed to talk to Nedzu.

The rest of the ride had been a blur, his train of thought only broken when they arrived at the school. He followed Nedzu in a daze, not paying too much attention to what was going on around him.

They entered the Principal's office, the door automatically locking behind them. He sat down in the leftmost chair, ready for what was likely going to be a difficult conversation.

"So," Nedzu broke the silence, pouring tea for the both of them. Toshinori added a spoonful of sugar as the Principal continued. "Detective Tsukauchi will be joining the rest of the staff in a few hours to share with us whatever he manages to learn. However, I believe that there are things you wish to tell me."

"A few," he admitted. He stared at the steaming tea, wondering what to approach first, and how. He sighed, and lowered his head. "I am… no longer so sure that All For One is dead."

Nedzu's paw froze where he was stirring his tea, and his smile became brittle. "That's something rather serious to be questioning. How about you start from the beginning of your fight, Yagi-san?"

He nodded. "Yes, sir. I had just arrived at the USJ and retrieved every student I could see and got them to safety. The center plaza was the site of the main battle. Dozens of small-time villains were strewn over the floor, which I am sure was Aizawa-san's doing."

Nedzu inclined his head. "Indeed. He performed remarkably. Were you there to witness his injury."

"Regrettably, no," Toshinori admitted. "He, along with Young Lahiffe, were hiding in one of the boy's bubbles from the hand-wearing villain and… the Nomu."

Nedzu marked a note on a pad of paper. "And tell me, what is this Nomu you speak of? It was mentioned by a few students, but none of them were particularly clear on what it was."

"A monster."

Nedzu paused. "Pardon?"

Toshinori swallowed. "It was a monster. I tried to intimidate the leaders into surrendering, but I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. The Nomu— it hit me with enough force to create a crater in one of the mountain zones."

"That's concerning. You were able to defeat it, I trust?"

He laughed, a watery sort of thing that betrayed his shame. "Eventually, but… this thing was impossibly strong. It matched me blow-for-blow, and until the very end it seemed that none of my hits were able to even affect it. It took well over three hundred punches for me to overwhelm it and launch it out of the ceiling."

He took a sip of the tea, which scalded his tongue. "At that exact moment, the hand-villain from before attacked me, but he was dressed completely different. He wore a black leather skin tight suit, along with cat ears, if you could believe it," he chuckled darkly. "He came at me yelling Cataclysm or something, and he almost managed to touch me with this glowing hand."

The shattering of a teacup drew his attention, and he watched with wide eyes as Nedzu's tea spilled all over his desk, the rat in question completely frozen.

"Nedzu, sir? Are you all right?"

This seemed to shake the principal out of his stupor, and he seemed to look down in surprise at the mess before grabbing a towel and wiping it all away. "Perfectly fine, Yagi-san," he said once that was done. "I was just… shocked at his sudden transformation. Carry on, please."

The beady black eyes of his betrayed nothing, and Toshinori hesitated for a second before nodding and continuing his account.

"Well, my instincts told me to avoid that hand at all costs, and they were proven right a few moments later. His speed was incredible and his strength was no laughing matter either, though his reflexes and agility were what almost caught me. At one point, I tried to use a tree as a club, which forced the energized hand into making contact with it."

He paused for emphasis. "The entire tree disintegrated in merely a second."

Nedzu made no outward reaction, so he finished up the tale. "Shigaraki— I learned his name when the portal villain shouted it later— started using this remarkable extendable staff that caught me off guard a few times. I think what concerned me most were his responses to my questions."

"You were asking him questions?"

"I was trying to taunt him. I noticed earlier that he was quick to anger and prone to being impulsive, so I figured I could rile him up and he'd let slip some information. He… he said that the Nomu was made."

"Made?" It felt like Nedzu was staring into his soul.

"He said that it was a gift from some sort of Sensei, and that it was created to kill me. He— he said that it had multiple quirks. Super strength, super regeneration, and shock absorption. Which would explain how it tanked so many of my hits." Toshinori was curious to see what Nedzu thought of this.

There was silence for a moment, and Nedzu asked, "Is that everything?"

Toshinori cleared his throat. "Almost. At one point, something on his person started beeping like an alarm would, and at that point he ran off. Until that point, the portal villain had been frozen by Young Todoroki. In the few seconds between him running away and me catching up to him, he had somehow reverted back to his original costume, freeing his companion with what I assume was his quirk. During that time, he shouted what sounded like 'plague, claws in' although I cannot be too sure."

He settled back into his seat. "Tell me, Principal, what do you make of this? If the Nomu had multiple quirks, then Shigaraki must have had as well. I cannot see any other explanation for his strength, speed, resilience— because I forgot to mention that he seemed to take zero damage from a full powered strike— and his strange disintegration power. I can come up with no better explanation than All For One having survived."

Nedzu remained silent, not meeting his eyes. After an awkward minute, he nodded. "I agree. I believe that the Nomu was most likely bioengineered— either by All For One himself or one of his subordinates."

"And Shigaraki?" Toshinori asked.

"Of him I am less certain. I do not believe that he has multiple quirks, and it seems like his enhanced physical abilities were a byproduct of the suit he wore. Advanced support gear, made by someone with a specific quirk?" He shrugged. "It's possible. Since he did not exhibit those abilities outside of that form, it's unlikely to me that he himself had multiple quirks."

Toshinori hesitated. "There's one more thing, Principal. I would like you to call for a meeting with Young Togata sometime in the next week."

Nedzu's hand stilled. "Is this because of today's events?"

"Yes," he answered. He did not elaborate, and Nedzu seemed perfectly content to draw his own conclusions.

"I see." He made a note somewhere. "I will be canceling school for the next two days. But I shall see to it that you two will meet on Monday."

Toshinori bowed his head. "Thank you, sir."

The rat chuckled. "Oh, don't thank me yet! We still have another meeting to go through! For now, how about you go to Recovery Girl? I'm sure she will be able to treat some of your injuries."

Toshinori winced, just realizing how much pain he was ignoring. "Yes, that seems prudent. Thank you once more, Principal."

Nedzu stared after him, a smile plastered on his face. The moment he was alone, however, he dropped it and cursed. This was bad. Not just the attack, though he was sure that there would be consequences for that as well.

No, what was worse was All For One's possession of a Miraculous.

He hastily entered his sanctum and made his way to the book. There was no time to pull up the pages on his computer. He had a meeting to get to, after all.

He flipped through it until he found what he was looking for. On the page, an illustration of a man appeared— black, skin tight leather suit; claw-tipped gloves; cat ears; and a staff that could extend almost at will.

The Cat.

The power of destruction on an immense scale.

He cursed. The Cat was one of two most powerful Miraculouses. He could fairly safely assume that the villain didn't have access to the Ladybug, because if he did then he'd probably be ruling over Japan. However, that didn't eliminate the possibility of him possessing the other Miraculouses.

It was a tricky situation, because nothing was certain about his resources until Nedzu could figure out where the Guardian was. Unfortunately, the fox-themed illusion hero was the only recent evidence he could find of his existence, and even she was from decades ago. He'd ruled out whole prefectures where he could possibly be hiding, but that still left more area than he was comfortable with searching, especially without any allies in this venture.

His research has mostly led him to believe that the Guardian was in hiding in Musutafu, but even then that was pure conjecture. That was fine with him. He was patient.

Nedzu just wasn't sure they could afford to wait.

Marinette was yawning her way through third period English when the call came in.

Yamada-sensei was lecturing away on some sort of vocabulary, too loud for any of the students to comfortably fall asleep, when his phone pinged. He laughed and picked up the device in case the message was important, when his good mood suddenly died. That was the first clue something was wrong: Present Mic was almost never serious like that.

He ordered everyone to stay seated, and just the tone of his voice when he said it was enough for even the class's rowdiest students to be shaken. What could have gone so wrong that the most upbeat teacher at U.A. became so solemn?

An uneasy silence settled over the class, everyone shaken by their teacher's departure. It was only half an hour later that they found out exactly what happened.

"Attention, students." The loudspeaker crackled to life. "There has been an attack on U.A. facilities." Gasps rang out around the room. "The attackers have all been captured. Students will be going home— more information shall be sent out this afternoon. You are all dismissed."

"Oh, mon dieu. Come on Midoriya-kun, let's go." She grabbed him by the arm once he was packed up and led him through the crowd outside. They certainly weren't going to leave without making sure Adrien, Alya, and Nino were okay.

Midoriya-kun spotted Adrien in the hall, and in her worry she managed to forget to be flustered and dragged him along until they found a relatively empty spot near the front entrance. Alya burst through the door a minute later, and she too was yanked into their group.

They chattered mindlessly, but it didn't take long for them to become a bit impatient when Nino didn't show up after five minutes. They texted him, but received no response.

After ten, they began to worry.

After fifteen, they began to panic.

"Maybe…" Alya gulped. "Maybe the attack was on his class?"

Marinette refused to believe that. "He has to be okay. He's just running late. Here, let's go ask one of the teachers."

They found Cementoss just inside the building, clearly in a hurry. "Excuse me, Ishiyama-sensei?"

"Yes?" The pro hero looked up.

"We were just wondering if the hero class 1-A has been dismissed yet? Our friend is in there and we were waiting for him," Adrien asked politely.

The cement man grimaced. "That's… tricky. You'll have to check out front. I regret to inform you that it was in fact class 1-A that was involved in the villain attack."

Alya gasped. "What?"

"Yes, it was truly horrifying to hear. Luckily, almost none of the students were seriously injured. Your friend may just be occupied with the police investigation," Cementoss continued.

Marinette took over. "Thank you, Sensei." He nodded and hurried back to wherever he'd been going, and the group turned back to go look for him.

"I-I hope he's okay," Izuku stuttered. "M-maybe he was one of the students that weren't seriously injured?"

"We can only hope," was Marinette's response. "If they hurt him, the villains are going to regret ever doing so." None of them disagreed.

Out front, they found a line of police cars. If there were any ambulances, they departed long before they got there. They could see a few students that they recognized from Nino's stories, including Kaminari.

"Kaminari-san!" Alya got his attention. "Have you seen Nino anywhere? Was he hurt?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I think he just went in to talk to the detective? I don't think he was hurt too badly, but some of the teachers told us that they might cancel school for the rest of the week."

"Thanks, Kaminari-san. We'll talk to you later!" She thanked him and ran off in the direction of a short line of students that Kaminari had gestured towards.

Nino was just leaving his interview with the police when he spotted his friends. He waved and sent a bright smile their way, but he didn't have a chance to brace himself as he was tackled to the ground in a group hug.

"Hey guys," he laughed. "What's with the violent welcome?"

"Idiot," was Marinette's response. "We were worried about you! We hear that there's an attack on U.A. and then you don't show up or respond to our texts?"

"What were we supposed to think?" Alya interjected. "We thought you were hurt!"

"I'm fine," he said. "I'm actually not hurt at all. Spent most of the attack in a bubble or two."

"At least his quirk protects him when he can't do it himself," Alya muttered.

"Hey!"

They got off of him so that he could get up, and Nino noticed Midoriya-kun standing a few feet away, looking terribly awkward about the whole thing.

"Hey," Nino reached out a hand towards the boy. "Thanks for coming to check on me."

Midoriya-kun took the hand reluctantly, as if he thought he was being given a handshake, but then Nino pulled him into a quick hug.

His eyes widened, and even when he was released it seemed he didn't know what to say. He just sputtered as his blush grew, and Nino laughed before turning to the rest of the group.

"So! What'd I miss?"

As it turned out, uite a lot happened during the attack.

While listening to Nino's explanation, Marinette found herself increasingly scared for her friend's safety. The leaders managed to escape— what if they attacked his class again?

Marinette didn't think she could bear to lose any one of her close friends— including Midoriya-kun, as new of an addition as he was.

Because of these intrusive thoughts, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and was quite surprised to trip over a stray cat and fall flat onto the sidewalk. She groaned, not liking the direction this day was going.

The contents of her bag had also spilled onto the sidewalk, and her friends weren't there to help her— Nino still needed to stay with the class to be checked over by medics, Alya and Midoriya-kun were waiting with him, and Adrien was summoned by his father for one reason or another.

She grumbled and started shoveling her possessions in the bag, accepting that this was just another setback for her day, when she looked up and noticed an old man picking up some of her pencils— the same old man, in fact, who she had bumped into the previous day.

"Thank you, sir, but you don't have to!" She tried to tell him, but all she got back was a smile and a shaking of the head.

"Nonsense. It is always worth doing good deeds," he said with a grandfatherly tone. She held her bag open and he put in some books and supplies.

"Thank you for the help, sir," she thanked him.

"You are quite welcome. Have a wonderful day."

Master Fu watched as the girl— Marinette, he learned earlier, turned around and hurried away. His seemingly carefree smile dropped as soon as she left his sight, and he turned around to go to his own home.

Of course he was interested when he saw the police cars and ambulances enter U.A. grounds— who wouldn't be? Thanks to the abilities he learned from the Order, however, he was able to act on these curiosities unnoticed.

He listened to the accounts the students gave to the police and the stories they told their friends, putting together what he now knew to be an attack on U.A.— something that would be foolish for anyone to attempt, but apparently the leaders of this attack made it out unscathed.

He noticed the girl that he had been considering as a potential holder, so he paid more attention to the conversation she was having with her friends. It was then that he heard the green-costumed boy say something that made him stop in his tracks.

"The hand-guy just kinda… transformed? Into this sorta black-cat theme. He had this black leather suit and the cat ears even."

That sounded eerily similar to what the holder of the holder of the Cat used to look like— he got closer so that he wouldn't miss anything. It was most likely just circumstantial, but he had to be sure.

"He just shouted 'cataclysm' or something and ran straight for All Might with this weirdly glowing hand! He barely dodged…"

He slipped away here. He had heard all that he needed to hear. The Miraculous of Destruction, the Cat, was back in play after being missing for over a century.

There was no time to waste. He got to his home as fast as he could, grabbed a box and the earrings, and explained everything he knew to Tikki. This would not be a good time to reveal himself— he'd have to trust that Tikki would be able to guide her holder until a time such that the Ladybug wouldn't be needed.

She wasn't a hero student, if her conversations were any indication. That was good, because it meant she would be under less scrutiny than if she were going into heroics.

At least, he trusted Tikki to know what to say and judge the girl herself.

Marinette yawned.

It was late evening, and after the stress of the day, she was glad to have the rest of the week off from school so she could get some extra sleep. Maybe she would invite her friends to a café or an arcade or something.

She dumped her still disorganized backpack all over her bed, preparing herself for the task of sorting it the way it was before. At least, that's what she was planning on doing until something popped out of her bag that hadn't been there before.

A small, hexagonal jewelry box rolled out of her bag, and she just stared at it. She was positive she didn't own anything like this. It was all black with a fairly interesting red design on top, and she was positive she didn't own anything like that.

She racked her brain as to when it could have gotten in there, and the best she could do is that someone put it in during school— she considered the fact that the old man may have done it, but she saw everything he gave her, and it was only a few notebooks and some pencils.

She swept the rest of her stuff off of the bed, too interested in this new mystery to care about organization or sleep. There was no latch on the box, just a hinge, so she opened it up. Out of nowhere there was a blinding flash of light so bright she was forced to cover her eyes. Once she was sure she could see regularly, she uncovered her eyes and looked towards the box only to find something looking back at her.

"Ahh!" She screamed and backed into the wall. There was this red and black… mouse? Bug? Bug-mouse? There was this red and black thing floating in front of the box, staring at her with wide eyes.

"What the hell?" She whispered to herself. Maybe the whole day had just been a bad dream? She could only hope.

"Hello, Marinette!"

Marinette blinked. Certainly, she was dreaming. The bug just spoke, and it knew her name.

"Hello?" It flew a bit closer in curiosity, and Marinette let out a little shriek. Well, if this was a dream, she might as well indulge it.

"What are you? How do you know my name? Am I dreaming?" The questions just poured out of her mouth.

The thing smiled (and oh how cute it looked as it did so). "You don't need to be scared! You're definitely not dreaming. I'm a kwami, and my name is Tikki! And I can explain everything if you just take a deep breath and calm down."

Hesitant as she was to follow advice from a floating bug-mouse, she had to admit that calming down was sounding pretty good right about then. She took a breath and settled in on her bed.

"That's better!" Tikki exclaimed. "Let me explain. I'm a kwami, and kwamis can grant you superpowers!"

"You mean quirks?" Marinette asked with confusion.

The kwami rolled her eyes. "No, not quirks. Our powers are much more powerful than almost any quirk you'll ever see."

"Mmm-hmm. Suppose I believe you," Marinette said. "What powers do you grant?"

"As the Ladybug kwami, I grant the power of Creation!" her eyes shined for a second.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Tikki asked.

Marinette took a second to put her question into words. "Why are you here, talking to me about this? And why me specifically? I mean, I'm quirkless." She said the last part with a small voice, as if afraid of the kwami's reaction.

Tikki's smile softened. "Marinette, it doesn't matter if you have a quirk or not. You were chosen because you are naturally kind and caring. The other question… that's a bit more difficult. Before I start, I need to say that there are more kwamis than just me, and we grant our powers through the Miraculouses— like the earrings in the box." Marinette looked over to the forgotten box to see a pair of ladybug-patterned earrings.

"As the kwami of Creation, my holders are usually some of the strongest. My counterpart, Plagg, is the kwami of destruction. His Miraculous is the Cat, and he's been missing for over a century," she said, melancholy evident in her voice.

"Oh," was Marinette's only response. Even if this was a dream, it was awful that Tikki's friend (probably) had been missing for so long. "I-I'm sorry."

"Thank you," a soft smile graced Tikki's mouth. "But he was recently spotted in the hands of a villain. Plagg in the wrong hands could be catastrophically dangerous." She turned more serious than before, a new intensity present in her voice. "Marinette, you've been chosen to retrieve the Cat Miraculous and prevent it from being used for harm."

A moment of silence, and Marinette burst into laughter so strong that she couldn't manage to speak for a moment. After calming down slightly, she said, "I mean, I knew this was a dream, but wow. That's even funnier than my brain could have come up with."

Tikki sighed. "Marinette, this isn't a dream. Here, I'll prove it. Put on the earrings."

Marinette humored her, seeing as she didn't have much better to do, and put on the earrings.

"Okay, now say the transformation phrase: 'Tikki, spots on!' Once you're done, the detransformation phrase is 'Tikki, spots off!'"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told— "Tikki, spots on!"— and suddenly felt herself caught up in an inferno of light and sound. It probably lasted barely more than a second, but it felt more like thirty seconds as her body became covered in something skintight and a feeling of power rushed through her veins.

When it was over, it took a moment to recognize what she was feeling. She moved with incredible ease, with a flexibility and confidence she had never felt before, and there was a new sensation of strength that coursed through her veins, so much that she was sure she could match any hero student at U.A..

She rushed to the mirror, wanting to see what she looked like, and was only slightly surprised to see herself in a ladybug-patterned jumpsuit— red with black spots all over, and she was slightly surprised to feel that it was a fabric with a texture unlike any she'd felt before.

"What is this," she whispered to herself as she took everything in. She noticed a yo-yo attached to her hip. Was that supposed to be a weapon? A yo-yo? She would have thought it absurd had she not built something eerily similar for her entrance exam.

She wanted to do more and find out what she could do, but she figured that it was more important to talk to Tikki. She detransformed, and collapsed onto her bed.

"This isn't a dream, huh," she muttered.

"Yep!" Tikki giggled.

"You said something about granting powers of creation— how would I do that?" She asked.

Tikki flew around her head like a bee on a sugar high. "You just need to say 'Lucky Charm' and let your powers do the rest! It'll create an item that would be useful to you, and you'll usually know how to use it when you see it."

"Huh."

And so Marinette lived through a sleepless night of revelations as she asked question after question about what her role was going to be. When she finally fell asleep well past midnight, her mind was buzzing with possibilities for the future.

End Notes:

I'm just over halfway through chapter 11, and things are definitely starting to pick up! Let's see if y'all can guess what happens next chapter.

All Might is very confused and Nedzu is not telling him everything, poor Toshinori. But hey, at least All Might is getting that successor! Mirio might be a bit of a cop-out just because I couldn't decide who else deserved OfA, but I will attempt to do him justice in the arc he stars (if ya know what I mean)

Shiggy's Miraculous form is fairly similar to Adrien's, but one thing I did forget to add (and likely will edit in sometime this week) is that his is a bit more tattered. While canonical Chat Noir has this pristine costume jumpsuit thing, Tomura is like the post-apocalyptic version of that. Kinda.

I think that's everything important?

Next chapter comes out May 28th!

Chapter title is from Hoping by X Ambassadors.