Hello readers! I've been having lots of fun writing this story and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. That said, I would like to make a another fanfic. This one would be either a Marichat/LadyNoir ship where Marinette has been in love with Chat since they first fought together, while Adrien is in love with Marinette, or it would be a story where Marinette, as Ladybug, is a wanted criminal (still a hero though). It would be nice if you all could tell me whether you want me to do one of these ideas, along with Forever Ladybug, of just focus on the Forever Ladybug story till it's finished. I would also like to thank any feedback I have been given on my writing, I really appreciate it. Finally, mild themes and blood warning. Alright, with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter.

-Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir-

"I'm to far away from the bakery to make it back before I detransform." Ladybug told herself, shooting herself forward with her yo-yo. Even as Ladybug, Marinette couldn't traverse the entirety of Paris in thirty seconds, could she? No, she couldn't. The sky was orange, but darkening with every passing minute, with the disappearance of the sun beyond the horizon. She was going to have to walk home in the dark. Great, just great. The night time breeze blew and the air held the scent of the cold night, refreshing and clean. Her muscles ached with exhaustion from her constant battles and sleepless hours. Her mind raced as she continued grappling to buildings, searching for a safe place to detransform. Twenty seconds left. Landing on a nearby roof, Ladybug kept low, making sure that no one saw her. Cradling against a wall that stood on the roof, Ladybug whispered the detransformation words. "Spots off". A pink light covered the roof as Marinette's power escaped her body, and her civilian clothes returned. When she looked down at her clothes, she was shocked to see pink covering her. Marinette's shock must have been visible because Tikki, regardless of her own exhaustion, flew up to Marinette's face to explain. "I covered you up with pink dust." Tikki explained. "It worked as fabric to keep your identity from Chat." Tikki took in a deep breath and blew out, wiping away the dust in an instant. Tikki then fell, exhaustion winning over her strength. Marinette caught Tikki in her palms and stared kindly and with worry at her Kwami. She slid Tikki into her purse. "Rest up, Tikki." Marinette soothed. "I'm sorry, but we're all out of food. I'll grab you some cookies when we get home to the bakery." Moving to the edge of the roof, Marinette walked down the fire escape, into a two way opened alley way. It was very dark but the light on both ends of the alley provided her with enough light of to not trip over the scattered rubbish. A loud clang sounded from behind Marinette. Zipping around to face what had made the noise, she was surprised to see nothing there but a rolling can. 'My nerves are really kicking up tonight.' She thought to herself, before turning around again to continue her walk out of the alley way. What greeted her this time did surprise her. Two men where running a top speed towards her, both holding a large knife, ready to slash her to bits. Their shoes must be cushioned somewhat because even now Marinette could not hear the rapid tapping of their feet on the ground. Marinette turned around to run to the other escape from the alley, only to see two more men charging at her from that direction, their own knives drawn. Four against one? Hah! Not a problem for Ladybug. Not even a problem for Marinette. Well, normally not a problem for Marinette, but today she was beat. She was exhausted from the akuma battle aswell as incredibly tired from the lack of sleep. She didn't have the energy to properly fight off four, armed, men. Seeing no other option, Marinette jumped back onto the fire escape, her athletic ability allowing her to jump straight up onto it. Adrenaline once again flooded through her body. It was no where near as powerful as the other times today, due to her exhaustion, but it was enough to keep her moving. The four men reached the fire escape and stared up at her with menace. Clambering over each other, one of the men crawled up the ladder of the fire escape, chasing after her, soon followed by the other three men. The echoes of the stamping of the men on the metal echoed up to Marinette as she climbed back onto the roof. Running to the other side of the roof, away from the men, she looked over the edge, searching for someway to get out of this situation. Twirling around, Marinette watched as the four men climbed on to the roof with her. A breeze brushed across her face, bringing with it the nauseating smell of alcohol, ash and hormones. Disgusting. Brandishing their knives, they slowly stepped towards Marinette. A wicked grin spread across all four of their drunken faces. Their eyes stared in a meld of crazed intent, desire and anticipation. Once again, disgusting.

"Hey, little girl." One of the men slurred as he stepped forward, ahead of the other three, instinctively causing Marinette to step back, making her almost fall off the edge of the roof. "Why don't you hang around with us for a little?" Marinette stayed quiet. "Come on," he continued, now standing directly in front of her, "give us something. Have a little fun." Marinette still remained quiet. The man's eyes, who's she could now see was murky, dirt, brown, now contained a growing agitation. She now realised that staying quiet was a mistake. The man's body tensed and he raised his knife and slashed Marinette's cheek, causing Marinette to fall to the ground at his feet. This caused a wicked laugh to erupt from all four men and an exchange of pats on the back, as Marinette raised her hand to feel her cheek. Blood was running from the cut, down her cheek and her neck, then soaking into her white shirt and shirt jacket. The lead man stared down again at Marinette, his grin even more menacing. "Alright, enough playing. Time for some fun." The man crouched down and grabbed her shoulder. Instantly, Marinette reflexed and puched him in the head, knocking him out cold. He fell backwards and the three remaining men took a step back. "Bitch! Holy shit!" One of the men called. All three men gave each other a questioning look, then stared back at her, who was getting up. All three men charged at Marinette. Marinette charged at the man on the left of the trio, jumping and lifting her leg, only to then bring it down on his head. Pain shot up her leg from the impact. While Marinette's skills as a fighter where incredible, her body was more used to fighting with magic infused muscles. It wasn't that she wasn't strong, because she was, stronger than any athlete, it was just unusual to battle without her protection. The man collapsed under her leg, landing face first on the ground. Two down, two to go. The other two men threw a fist, each, at Marinette. She was able to slide sluggishly out of the way of the first blow, but could not avoid the second. She took the full impact of the man's fist into her stomach. A celebratory grin spread across his face as she was lauched across the roof, landing on her back. Marinette shook her head and lifted herself to see her attacker. He was once again charging at her. Lifting his knife in the air, ready to bring it down, into Marinette. As the blow came down she was able to roll out of the way. The blade snapped as it impacted with the solid roof and the blade shot into Marinette's arm. The other man ran at her on the ground. Marinette lifted her legs and kicked forward. She couldn't see where the hit landed, but from the agonising wail that emitted from the man, Marinette concluded that she had got him in the groin. Lucky. Not for him, though. He fell to the ground and vomited, before crawling away and into a ball. Must have hit him really hard. Marinette stood up, pushing through the pain of the snapped knife in her arm, the pain from the impact of the punch to the stomach and the impact of falling on her back. The final man ran towards her with a not broken knife. Must have swapped it for someone else's. Marinette pulled out the knife blade from her arm. She gripped it into her palm, causing her hand to drip blood. The man was mere feet away from her, so she lauched herself to try and get behind him. The man slashed at her leaping figure and slashed all down her leg. Pain once again shot through Marinette and she instinctively moved her hand to feel the cut. On the bringing down of her hand, the blade she held, made contact. A loud snap sounded as the final man cried out in agonising pain. Marinette had cut through the man's ankle tendon. Immense pain shot through the man, flooding his brain, consuming every part of his attention. The man continued to yell. He fell over, no longer being able to use one of his legs. Then the yells silenced as the final man fell unconscious. It was over.

Marinette looked at what she had done. It was now dark, properly into the night, so she could only see the outlines of four figures lying on the ground. All she could now hear was her own heavy breathing. She took in a great inhalation of breath, soaking in the cool night time air. Marinette pulled out her phone to check for the time. "9:30! My parents are gonna kill me. I need to go!" Marinette whispered to herself. She took one last look at the men who attached her. What disgusting people. She moved to take a step forward on her left leg and fell to the ground. She had forgotten about the gash all down it the final man had left. Marinette looked towards the fire escape. Pushing herself to stand again, she limped over to the fire escape, dragging her hurt leg behind her. Clambering over the edge of the roof, Marinette carefully climbed down the escape, completely unaware of the tall figure watching her on the opposite roof.

-End Chapter 9-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though it was a bit shorter (wanted to leave it on a cliff hanger), and look forward to the next one. This chapter was really just some more bad things happening to Marinette. It's really pileing on now, huh. We're getting very close to the main plot point of this fanfic. I can't wait.