AN: since mdr's finished, here's another story where i'll try and keep the updates short. i binged a lot of isekai manga and had only three customers at work today, so this was created. don't be surprised that there's a king and princess but no other noble titles because i'm making this all up.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir © Thomas Astruc

"You've been brought here to fight the Demon King."

Marinette clutched her stomach, gagging.

The stone floor felt hard against her bare knees.

"I assure you, we'll offer our help and provide you what you need to survive here," a man stated, his voice rough and low. "We do not wish for more unnecessary deaths."

Her vision was hazy.

It was the feeling of stone that grounded her, the feel of it welcome and familiar unlike the man that was talking.

He wasn't her professor.

The reactions of her class-mates were different—some were crying, others staying quiet, while some were screaming for answers to their questions, or attempting to escape through singular door in the door that had armed guards standing aggressively in front of it.

Tears welled in her eyes.

"I ask for your cooperation while we conduct a brief examination to see whether you're qualified to stay in the castle," the man continued, ignoring the sobbing young adults that were in front of him. "There is no reason to be scared."

There were shouts of protest to that.

Marinette was trying not to throw up.

"Please, be calm," he said. "No harm will come to you."

He had guards in front of him, keeping her and her class-mates on the other side of the room. As soon as anyone tried to move, swords were drawn and pointed at them in threat.

"I apologise for the panic my words may have caused," the old man said, taking a step forward to stand in front of his guards. "The king has promised refuge and a stable life for anyone who doesn't pass."

Marinette threw up.

There was no king where she lived, nor did anyone dress like the strangers did with old-fashioned uniforms adorned with brooches with jewels that caught the light.

"I am Damocles," the man proclaimed, placing a hand over his heart as he bowed. "It is my pleasure to welcome you to the world of Fleur-Ha."

A class-mate of hers screamed, "You can't do this!"

Damocles' expression didn't falter.

Marinette squeezed her eyes shut.

"It was never our intention to make you suffer," he stated, the lines rehearsed and uttered perfectly. "However, the Demon King has become crazed and has devastated our land with his violence. The ritual to summon you all here was a last resort."

There was a knock at the door.

A guard opened it, allowing a group of strangers access. Their clothes were another uniform that didn't include a sword at their waist.

"We ask for your cooperation with this examination to allow you entrance," Damocles requested, another half-bow that would've been entirely out of place back at her home. "Once this is over, you will be escorted either to or from the castle."

There were more protests and crying than before.

Marinette stared, wide-eyed and shaking.

The drawn swords weren't pressed against anyone's neck until her class-mate punched a guard in the face in an attempt to flee.

And as the screaming started as blood oozed from her class-mate's neck—a cut that was barely a scratch in comparison to what it could've been—Marinette sat there on the floor, numbly watching it all happen.

-x-

There was no escaping.

Half of her class-mates had been escorted from the room they'd appeared in, never to return again. Marinette had been told along with the others that they'd been taken to live in a peaceful nearby town to start new lives.

There was no going back.

At least, that's what they'd been told.

They'd all been given separate rooms in one wing of the castle. At every corner, outside every door, there were guards with swords resting on their hips to prevent them from leaving. The windows couldn't be opened far enough to climb out, and the distance to the floor below was certain death.

The view wasn't familiar.

She'd cried until her eyes hurt.

And every time they were escorted to a dining hall for their meals during the first week, her remaining class-mates begged and cried for the guards to tell them more.

Damocles came to visit once to inform them that they wouldn't have to wait for long.

There was no information given.

"Fleur-Ha," Marinette repeated under her breath, tightening the laces of the boots she'd been provided.

Their clothes and personal belongings had been taken from them quickly. There was no need for a phone when there was no service, after all.

There was no one coming to help them.

Marinette seemed to be the one accepting that the quickest.

The worst part of it, she realised as she sat at one side of the table, slowly eating her breakfast, was that she barely knew her class-mates. Marinette had transferred for her second year of university and hadn't even completed a weeks worth of classes before the summoning happened.

Including her, ten of her class remained.

It was the tenth day when someone new came in.

"Greetings," a woman said as she came through the door, guards flanking her. "I hope I didn't make you wait for too long."

No one spoke.

Marinette set her cutlery down, feeling nauseated.

The woman's dress was loose, flowing and tied by a ribbon at the waist to accentuate her figure, and the red hair that was intricately plaited at the top and flowing in long curls down her back set her apart from the uniformed guards that she'd seen day-to-day.

Marinette and her class-mates were dressed in matching clothes; a white shirt and black trousers that ended below their knees, allowing the boots to cover any exposed flesh.

"I am Alya, the princess of Lyss-Ria," the woman said, clasping her hands together with a bright smile. "I am so thankful that you've come in our time of need. Truly, it's a miracle that our prayers have been answered by Panya once more."

She swallowed.

Alya's smile grew, showing her teeth. "You're welcome to ask questions. I volunteered to meet you all and introduce you to our land in place of my father."

Marinette felt like she was going to be sick.

Her class-mates had stopped eating, opting to give the princess their attention instead. Marinette had heard them whispering through the week, attempting to devise plans to escape.

It was useless to try and overpower a trained professional that was armed with a sword.

A class-mate raised his hand. "Panya?"

"The name of our god," Alya patiently responded.

There was a brief silence.

Alya added on, "I am aware that our worlds are very different. It is not mandatory for you to follow all of our traditions, however, we do ask for your respect. I cannot protect you if you offend the wrong people."

It was a lot to take in.

Her breathing was growing heavy, panic setting in as she dug her nails into her palms, trying to ground herself.

"I'm aware you had homes and families," Alya said, taking a step forward and sitting down in a chair that a guard pulled out for her. "And I regret that you had to leave them behind."

Marinette's hands were shaking.

"You must understand, the Demon King has grown too powerful for us to contain any more. This—it was a terrible decision to make," Alya whispered, glumly looking down at her lap as she put her hands on her knees. "I request that you dislike me rather than my people."

There was no response to that.

What could they say?

The guards had their hands on their weapons, ready to strike at any sign of violence.

Her class-mate that had gotten his neck cut had disappeared with the others.

Another class-mate dared to ask, "What do you mean by demon king? Like, is he from a rival country—"

"He is not a king." Alya's smile didn't reach her eyes. "There is no royal family of demons—they're pests, the lot of them."

The world was so different.

"He is not human," Alya stated, brushing a long curl behind her shoulder. "It's the name that we all prefer to him by. It's known that uttering his true name grants him more power. There are no records of it left because of that."

Someone coughed.

There was no laughter or saying it was a joke.

The silence was broken by a whisper of, "Not human?"

"Demons are a different species," was all they got in return to that.

It was a steady voice that asked, "And you're not?"

"I'm human," Alya confirmed, putting a hand over her heart, though there was no bowing as Damocles had done in the past. "From my understanding, Fleur-Ha is an alternate world to yours? Where Earth excels in places, we shine in others. Fleur-Ha is the what could've been, the same as you."

The explanation was lacking.

And from the bewildered expressions around the room, she wasn't the only one that thought that.

Someone asked, "How do you know that?"

A guard took a step forward, agitated.

Alya held her hand up to stop them before saying, "The ritual was completed only one time before, though it wasn't this... successful."

Marinette's gaze dropped down to her plate.

"Sixty years ago, we were able to summon a single hero," Alya informed them. Marinette didn't need to look up to know that the princess was smiling. "It's a miracle that we were able to summon so many of you this time."

"Why?" Her class-mate sounded close to tears. "Why—why do you need us? I can't even drive—"

"You're capable of what we're not," Alya told them. "You can use magic."

Marinette swallowed.

Her reactions was the least outraged of her class. Some shouted, disbelief clear in their voices, while one stood up so abruptly that their chair fell back against the floor, a guard immediately raising their sword at the threat.

"Please," Alya breathed, and that single word was enough to get her guards to calm down. "I am telling you the truth. While your world doesn't allow you to harness your power, Fleur-Ha does."

Someone burst out with, "You—are you mad?"

"I understand you're upset, truly," Alya said, standing up, clutching onto her dress. "It was a terrible thing we did—"

"Terrible?" came an outraged voice. "You—you kidnapped us! I have a family—"

"It cannot be undone!" Alya exclaimed, raising her voice for the first time. "Please, you need to accept your new positions to create a new life! You will not be allowed to wallow in sadness for long."

Wasn't that selfish?

To be ripped away from the life she'd known, taken away from the classroom that she'd hardly gotten used to to shoved into another world where they were told they were needed—

She'd never wanted to be in that position.

There was a sob. "Why is this more important than my life?"

Alya seemed at a loss for words, only managing to get out, "I'm sorry."

And as another burst into tears, a guard leaned down to whisper into Alya's ear.

The princess cleared her throat.

"I know this is hard to come to terms with—"

"You know?" her class-mate questioned, angrily shoving her plate onto the ground. It shattered, food splattering onto her clothing. "You don't know anything! You don't—you don't even know our names, do you? You don't care!"

"I care!" Alya insisted, hands balled into her fists at her side. "This—this is a last resort that Panya granted us! If it wasn't meant to be, it wouldn't have happened."

Another guard raised their sword up to stop any thoughts of violence when one spat back, "Your god wanted to ruin our fucking lives?"

"You can live here," the princess insisted, voice wobbling as she blinked rapidly. "You—the capital peaceful. If you're found to be incapable, you can live freely here."

"Incapable?" was questioned. "You—you've kept us locked up here for a week and you expect us to readily fight for you?"

"I had to do this for my people!" Alya told them, shouting loud enough for her voice to echo. The elegance and calmness she'd entered the room with had disappeared, replaced with an almost frantic expression as she continued on to say, "I had to—this had to be done to protect Lyss-Ria; to stop the suffering everywhere. Panya answered our prayers and brought only those that can fulfil our request here."

A boy slammed his fist on the table. "It doesn't sound like a fucking request."

"This is your fight now," Alya said, trembling hands smoothing out her dress. "You—there's no way back to your Earth. If you don't offer your help, you'll be eliminated with the rest of us eventually."

Marinette wasn't close to being sick any more.

The shock of the situation had settled down, that numb feeling of acceptance spreading through her, and the anger that she felt as she watched the desperate princess didn't come out explosively as it did for everyone else. For people she hardly knew, she was glad that their reactions were rational.

"You are the only ones in this land that are capable of defeating him," Alya informed them, placing her shaking hands on the table to stabilise herself. "There's texts that can help you harness your powers, records left behind by scholars that can guide you—"

There was no point fighting, was there?

Guards were stationed at every exit, were around every corner to keep them in the castle, and the students that had been ushered away at the beginning had been the lucky ones. Their fate was unknown, sure, but they weren't being drafted into some fantastical war that wasn't their responsibility.

Marinette had no want to solve someone else's problems.

She stood up, chair scraping across the floor.

The eyes in the room looked her way.

She didn't feel anything.

Marinette looked directly at the princess and calmly asked, "May I be excused?"

There was silence.

She didn't look away.

"Yes," Alya said, standing upright with a sigh. "You may. I suppose telling you all of this at once is too overwhelming."

Marinette didn't say anything in return to that.

She approached the door, stopping in front of the sword that was in her way. And when she met the guard's gaze without flinching, the blade was slowly retracted, allowing her to push the door open and wander into the hall.

She walked without looking back.

-x-

There was a knock at her door that evening.

Marinette cracked the door open to see who it was, stepping back in time to avoid the wood slamming into her face.

It was the girl that had smashed her plate on the floor.

"You!" was the greeting she got.

Marinette frowned. "What's your name again?"

"Alix," she responded, slamming the door shut and closing the distance between them. "What the fuck was that this morning? I can't believe you'd be so—so—"

They almost looked like friends; both with their hair dyed pink and matching outfits that surely singled them out compared to the others.

Marinette interrupted with, "Are you here to shout at me?"

"You left!" Alix accused, jabbing her in the chest with a finger. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"There's no point fighting," she responded, sitting on the edge of the single bed she'd been provided. While Alix was fuming and needed to get her anger out somehow, Marinette was resigned and tired. "I'd rather fade into the background than stand out because of my temper."

Alix's face was getting red. "Are you fucking forgetting we've been kidnapped?"

"We're surrounded by guards that are willingly to stab us if we misbehave," she pointed out. "How would arguing with the princess solve anything?"

Alix's wise decision was to kick her chair over.

The thick boots prevented her from getting hurt.

"The others told me not to bother with you," Alix spat out, hands clenched into fists. "You—I thought you were just unfriendly, but you're not even talking to us at a time like this."

Marinette frowned. "None of you have tried to talk to me."

"That's not—" Alix pursed her lips.

"I get it," she said, resting her hands on the bed and leaning back. "You're friends and I'm the new kid, even now. Why would you stick to me in a scary situation?"

Alix snorted. "Scary is an understatement."

"There'll be a chance to escape in the future," Marinette told her, looking up at the ceiling. "Until then, I'm not going to risk my life."

"What?" Alix's face twisted in disgust. "You're going to play along and be a good dog?"

"Are you forgetting they have actual swords?" she questioned, glancing at her with raised eyebrows. "This isn't our home. There's no one protecting us, and from how they're keeping us locked up here, I'm willing to bet that no one knows of our existence. If we can't prove to be useful, they'll probably kill us."

"You don't—"

Marinette fell back on her mattress. "Think the worst and you won't be disappointed, Alix."

There was a quiet laugh. "If I knew you were so fucking depressing, I wouldn't have come in here."

"I'd like to think I'm smart," she mused. "Tell the others, if you want. The sooner that we're trusted, the closer we'll be to leaving."

Alix was incredulous as she asked, "You really think that'll work?"

"What other choice have we got?" Marinette questioned. "It's useless teaming up to take out one guard when there's countless others throughout the castle. We'll only get so far before we're caught."

"Kim has a black belt."

"Good for them?" Marinette laughed. "Is that against weapons? Otherwise we're doomed."

There was no response to that.

"Being mad at me won't help," she told Alix.

"I'm not mad, I'm disappointed," Alix responded without missing a beat.

She smiled. "Okay, mother."

"For real, I pity you," Alix replied, footsteps audible before she came to stand at the edge of the bed to be visible. "You're too willing to lick their boots."

With a laugh, Marinette asked, "When did I say I'd do that?"

Alix frowned. "You—"

"You've seen crime shows, haven't you?" Marinette sat up, tilting her head to click her neck. "Think about what you're supposed to do if you're kidnapped by a murderer. That's the situation we're in, isn't it?"

Alix shifted her feet.

"Think the worst," she reminded her. "And leave me alone, please."

Alix bristled. "What? We're not fucking good enough for you?"

She plainly said, "I'm pretty sure you don't even remember my name."

With her hand clenched in a fist, Alix looked close to punching her before she turned on her heel and promptly left the room, slamming the door shut loudly behind her.

That was the answer she needed.

Marinette ran her fingers through her hair, admiring the pink dye that had stained the strands that looked to be less vibrant than Alix's.

It was a good choice.