So I rewatched the first season like the trash I am, and just realized Nino takes his hat off in one of the episodes! Like, WHAT??? CARTOON CHARACTERS CAN DO THAT?!
Aaaanyway, here's some dork-on-dork action, courtesy of me, your local asshole. Enjoy.
Marinette collapsed into her swivel chair as soon as she entered her room, sighing dramatically. "What a day."
Tikki appeared in front of her, looking at her chosen with sympathy. "Tomorrow will be better, Marinette."
On top of Adrien teasing her about Chat, Marinette had to suffer through three tests, turn in two projects, plus present them, and now that she was home, she had a stack of homework to do as tall as the Eiffel Tower (she should know). To top it all off, finals were in two weeks! Marinette groaned, wondering how she could ever deal with all that and save the world whenever an Akuma happened to come along.
"Marinette!"
She sat up, gesturing for Tikki to hide as her mother popped her head through the trap door. Sabine smiled kindly at her daughter, sensing her foul mood. "Are you alright?"
Marinette nodded her head tiredly. "Yeah, just a long day, Maman."
"I know what will cheer you up. Your father made macarons!"
Marinette shook her head, smiling politely. "No thank you. I'm not really in the mood for macarons, Maman, but thanks."
Sabine frowned at this, genuinely concerned. "Not in the mood for macarons? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," said the heroine, wishing her mother would leave her alone.
The older woman frowned at her child a bit longer before closing the trap door without another word, and Tikki reappeared from behind the computer screen. "Come on, Marinette, let's get to work. That stack of homework isn't going to do itself."
Marinette groaned mournfully, opening her bag and reaching for her tablet. She nodded determinedly and picked up her stylus, but before she could write a single word, she was interrupted as her mother called for her again. Marinette's head fell against the table in frustration as Tikki patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Better go see what she wants," the sprite advised.
Letting out what must've been her hundreth groan that day, Marinette dragged herself down to the living room, where she saw her parents waiting with expectant smiles. "We know you're having a rough day, so your father and I decided to give you this a bit early," said Sabine, holding out a small box.
The raven-haired girl took the box from her mother, a questioning look on her face as she opened it, revealing a pair of blush pink, dangly earrings in the shape of tear drops, which sparkled in the light. Marinette gasped as she gazed at them, immediately wondering how her parents could afford such an extravagant gift. "Oh, Maman, they're beautiful!"
Tom and Sabine smiled, exchanging a knowing glance. "They were your grandmother's," Tom explained. "Since she had no daughters, she gave them to me. And, well, pink isn't really my color." His eyes sparkled as he looked down at his little girl. "We were going to give you them for your birthday, but..."
"Go on, try them on, Marinette!" urged Sabine with a grin.
Marinette hesitated. She hadn't taken out her round, black earrings, which were the source of her powers, since she got them, but... She looked up at her parents' hopeful expressions. Well, it couldn't hurt if I take them out for a few minutes, could it? She removed her earrings, handing them to her mother while she put in the new ones. "How do I look?" she asked, smiling.
"Beautiful, my dear. Go look in the mirror!"
Marinette hurried off to the bathroom to admire her new jewelry, hearing Tom turn on the T.V. in the living room behind her. She delighted in the way they complimented her outfit and sparkled in the bathroom light. Plus, they were pink! Marinette giggled, returning to the living room, where her father sat, watching the T.V. with a grim expression. She soon found out why.
"--Ladybug has yet to show up, but Chat Noir is already at the scene, doing his best to slow down our latest villain, who our sources say is called the Scribbler."
Marinette watched in horror as a figure in a white cloak danced across the screen, clutching a purple notebook and pen. She wrote as she walked, immersed in a crowd of people who Marinette didn't recognize. Marinette did a double take as she realized that the cloaked figure was actually creating the people around her, writing descriptions in her notebook that came to life with her words.
Chat Noir appeared suddenly, diving into the crowd of people with his staff in hand. Judging by his fearful expression, he seemed to regret this instantly as, without barely having made a dent in the Scribbler's defences, he was picked up by a giant of a man and hurled into the side of a building. Marinette winced as Chat fell limp on the sidewalk. He did not get back up.
"They're coming this way," said Tom. He looked to his daughter. "Marinette, go hide in your room."
She obliged without resistance, making her way to the attic and then onto her balcony. She could see the Scribbler, just a few blocks away, slowly making her way toward the bakery, her growing army creating a wall around her. She realized with a start that the creations were not mindless soldiers like she had seen so many other Akumas create, but actual individual people, each with their own unique appearances. Maybe that meant they could be reasoned with.
With Chat down for the count, Marinette knew she had to do something. "We have to get over there to help him. Tikki, spots on!"
And nothing happened.
My earrings! the heroine remembered suddenly, cursing her own stupidity. She hurried back inside, stumbling down the stairs to the living room, where her mother and father stood in front of the T.V. Their worried expressions made them appear older than she normally thought they did. She went to stand next to them, watching the screen as a new character appeared, a tall Asian woman with a bow and quiver full of arrows with blood-red fletchings. Marinette wondered what her purpose was, but before she could find out, she was startled by her father's gasp.
She glanced at him to see what was wrong, but Tom was standing in the same place, looking at the ground next to him in horror. She was about to ask what was wrong, before she noticed that the space her mother had occupied just a moment ago was now empty, and Sabine was nowhere in sight.
A surge of panic rushed through the heroine as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. The Scribbler wasn't creating people, she was recreating them--plucking citizens from Paris and replacing them with more interesting characters, all of whom would do the villain's bidding. Which meant that until this Akuma was defeated, her mother no longer existed.
And more importantly, neither did Ladybug's Miraculous.
Without a word to her father, Marinette dashed down into the bakery and then out into the street. A few blocks down, she could see the Akuma advancing ever closer to her parents' bakery, but so far, the Scribbler didn't seem to be doing much besides building her army. There didn't seem to be any immediate threat, but Marinette felt anxious anyway as she ran down the street toward the akumatized villain. As she drew closer, she skirted around it, giving the growing crowd of soldiers a wide berth as she made her way toward her partner, who lay face down on the sidewalk.
She knelt at the cat boy's side, rolling him over. "Come on, kitty!" she said, shaking his shoulders.
She felt a lump form in her throat when he didn't respond, and tears sprang to her eyes. She pressed her head against his chest, hearing a heartbeat, thank God, but he still didn't move. "Oh, please don't be broken! Chat!"
After a moment, he seemed to shift a little. She breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes fluttered open, and his gaze settled on hers.
"M-Marinette?" he mumbled, and she was surprised how soft his voice sounded. He squinted, as though he was having trouble seeing her. She could've sworn he was blushing, but it was probably a trick of the light. "What...?"
"You hit the wall pretty hard," she said, genuinely concerned for her partner. "Are you alright?" Then she remembered that she was supposed to be fangirl Marinette, and she added, "Er, I mean, of course you're alright, 'cause you're a superhero! But, like, does your head hurt too bad?"
He sat up, and Marinette scooted back, realizing for the first time how close they were. She watched as he glanced around, seeming disoriented. When his eyes found hers again, he almost looked vulnerable, which was not a state she was comfortable seeing him in. But he quickly recovered his signature swagger, a sly grin overcoming his features as he looked at her. He tried to close the distance between them, and she had to lean away to compensate. "So nice of you to be concerned, princess. But don't worry; I've got a thick skull."
Marinette resisted the urge to roll her eyes, thinking, Yeah, I know. "But still, are you okay? You were out for a good minute or two." Leave it to Chat to take the tension right out of a situation.
"I'll be fine, just as soon as my lady shows up to help me with this Akuma."
The blue-eyed girl felt a pang of guilt, but before she could dwell on it too long, she stood briskly to support Chat as he attempted to stand. He wobbled a bit, still dizzy, and had to lean on the shorter girl for support. Marinette sighed, finding herself suddenly and inconveniently reminded of Adrien's taunting from earlier that day, but she told herself she had bigger things to worry about. "I wouldn't count on Ladybug arriving anytime soon," she mumbled, mostly to herself.
"Why is that?"
Marinette flinched. She hadn't meant for him to hear her, but she supposed lowering her voice wouldn't be enough to deceive his feline senses. "Um, because--"
She never got to finish her sentence.
A few blocks ahead, things with the Scribbler were starting to heat up. The Akuma had long since given up her mission to expand her army, and instead, Marinette found, she was building her fortress. All around the superhero duo, buildings were starting to up and disappear all together, replaced by towers and amphitheaters and other strange structures. On the one hand, it was quite impressive to watch. On the other hand--
"Come on!" Marinette grabbed Chat by his wrist and practically dragged him along with her as she raced to catch up with the Akuma. Desperate, she pulled him to the side and pointed out the Asian woman to the black-clad hero. She wasn't sure how, but she knew that she had to get her Miraculous back. "See that Asian woman with the bow? That's my mom. I need you to sepparate her from the crowd. Please!"
Chat looked at the woman, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "But that's not--"
"Hurry!" She pushed him into the crowd, falling back to watch. She felt bad, but decided she would apologize later.
Chat Noir stumbled into the crowd, bracing himself for impact, but it never came. The characters that surrounded him ignored him completely, apparently not seeing him as a threat anymore. Perhaps they only attacked when someone else made the first move, or when ordered. Chat decided he didn't want to find out. He pushed through the sea of people toward the unfamiliar woman Marinette had pointed out, and sidled up behind her. He wasn't sure how this could possibly be Marinette's mother, because he'd met the woman before, and this lady looked nothing like her, but he decided it better not to argue.
He sighed, taking his staff in one hand and putting his arm around the woman's waist, and before she could even react, he'd extended his staff and they flew above the crowd. The Scribbler instantly took notice, and spun on them like a hound sniffing out a ham, but they were already falling toward Marinette by the time she gave the order to attack. The woman struggled against him as he landed, pushing on the side of his face so hard his neck popped, but he somehow found the strength to hold her steady as he rejoined Marinette, and they took off down the alleyway.
Alrighty, so this is kinda straying from my original idea a bit, but I like it so far, so I might continue. Anyway, I feel like it's been too long since I updated, so even though I should be doing homework, I'll update instead. Anyway, hope you guys liked it. More MariChat to come in the next chapter!