Summary:
Marinette starts her road to recovery, by finally taking herself out of the place that hurt most, but it turns out that it isn't as simple as she thought it would be. But with new faces, Marinette finds herself surrounded by new potential miraculous candidates.
Chapter: Unravel.
It's been three days since Marinette started to live in a world where Chloé Bourgeois became her rock. Three days of living in a world where she uses the Black Cat miraculous as if it were her permanent miraculous. But where it's been a three days of some more changes in her life, It's been a single day of her living in a world where she was forced to move classes and surround herself with strangers.
Well, mostly strangers.
She knew some of the names that went with some of the faces she was now sitting in a room with, there was Jean Duparc, the popular Aurore Beauréal and Mireille Caquet, the creative writer, Mark Anciel, and the Ice Queen and her sorta friend, Kagami Tsurugi. Students seemed a little surprised to have her join their homeroom, especially Kagami. Marinette wanted to avoid questions, the last thing she wanted was for rumors to start, and for Lila's lies to follow her here. So, she sits through her first day in her new homeroom in silence, luckily the other students weren't curious enough about her sudden presence in their class to ask her why she changed classes a semester in to the school year. At least, that's how it was until the last 15 minutes of the class.
"Marinette?", Kagami comes to her and pulls out the empty seat next to her, she sits in it. "You switched classes?", she asks, her gaze already meeting Marinette's own. For a moment her eyes run over the Dupain-Cheng's facial features, taking in the injuries on the teens face, she wants to ask, but opts to ask about it later.
Marinette is a little startled, she feels anxiousness suddenly start to gnaw at her. She gives Kagami a forced smile, "Uh yeah.", she says. Wanting to leave it at that, hoping that Kagami wouldn't press her more. But...this was Kagami 'I don't hesitate' Tsurugi, so...of course the girl presses for more information.
Kagami knew something was off, she wasn't stupid. Marinette's uncomfortable body language screamed 'off'. The girl was usually all smiles and warmth, but today, the girl was giving off a totally different vibe. Kagami had found herself becoming more friendly with the girl, but with each time they interacted, she found that Marinette was being slightly paranoid at the mentions of Adrien and her classmates. She stopped asking after a while, simply greeting the girl in passing or sharing some texts here and there. That was it. She tried to not press, but she just knew that Marinette was hiding something. "Why? Weren't all your friends in that class?", Kagami asks with an eyebrow sharply going up. She knew how much Marinette valued such things as 'friendship'. So naturally she would wonder why Marinette left her friends.
The Dupain-Cheng falls silent for a moment, her expression jumps between panic, sadness and then it suddenly goes blank. Her lips press into a tight line for a moment, she sighs and shrugs, she forces a smile, "Yeah, just...too many distractions, you know.", the girl fakes a soft chuckle, but it comes out too fake. "All the goofing off, my grades slipped."
Such a bullshit excuse, Kagami can't help but think, it annoys her a bit. The fact that Marinette was lying to her, was irritating. She merely releases a sigh and accepts the excuse. "I See. You always were a tad bit too easily distracted, Marinette.", Kagami says blandly.
Marinette nods stiffly, almost robotically.
"You switched right?", Comes another voice.
Marinette turns her head to find two girls coming their way, Aurore and Mireille. The blonde was carrying her and Mireille's things, she sat them on the table in front of where Kagami and Marinette sat.
"Yeah.", Marinette feels her will to keep responding starting to falter. She keeps her forced smile going.
Before Mireille speaks, her eyes wander over Marinette's face, no doubt wondering what happened to the girls face, she doesn't ask out of respect for privacy. "Well, it's always nice to meet new people officially.", Mireille says as she smiles warmly and welcomingly, "I've seen you in the halls, but I never found a reason to talk to you. I've heard such nice things about you though."
Aurore nods from beside the teen, "Same. You're like, adored by your class.", the blonde says with a soft grin.
Marinette feels herself starting to feel ill. They had no idea. The rumors seemed to have managed to stay contained after all. She merely nods as she swallows thickly, wanting to rid herself of the growing knot in her throat. She felt her heart starting to race with fear. The last thing she wanted was to get dragged by other people.
While her two classmates began to talk to Marinette and tell her about the good things they've heard, Kagami closely observed the ravenette. She quickly saw Marinette growing more and more uneasy, clearly uncomfortable with the topic of the conversation. She drops her eyes down to Marinette's lap suddenly and finds Marinette nervously playing with a silver ring that was on her finger, she can't help but notice that Marinette is wearing it backwards, she raises an eyebrow for a moment. She suddenly feels like she's seen the ring somewhere. But just as Kagami was thinking, the sound of the teacher speaking silenced any chatter the class was having, while also pulling Kagami out of her thoughts.
"Alright class, be sure to turn in those papers by next Monday.", she says, "Class dismissed.", she then says and promptly walks out of the class.
The sound of students all shuffling about, getting their things together, filled the room.
"Oh snap, we should get going.", Aurore said as she stood up first.
Mireille stood up as well, she gave Marinette one more smile before looking at Kagami, "We should get going, the last time we were late, nearly had our heads."
Kagami sighed and nodded, she shared her next class with Aurore and Mireille. She knew what they said was true. They had to go. "Well, see you tomorrow, Marinette.", she says as she quickly gathers her things, she then gets out of her seat and starts to trail behind the two girls. She quickly slipped into thought, thinking on whether or not she should text the girl to ask more questions, even thinking about visiting the girl.
Marinette sighs in relief and she quickly makes to get out of her seat, she gathers her things and manages to leave before Kagami and the others, she overhears something about Mireille leaving her binder on the floor where she first sat, and Aurore groaning. She's eager to walk past her old class and just get to her next class that just so happened to be a door down from where her old homeroom was. She's nervous. The Dupain-Cheng makes to speed walk, she wants to get by quickly, she's ready to ignore all questions shot her way should her old classmates have any. But just as she makes it by the open door and a figure coming out of the classroom, she finds herself on the floor, her books askew. She hears laughter and Marinette feels her heart drop to her stomach, she feels Ill again, she feels tears starting to burn her eyes.
"Damn, walk much", the same voice with the same phrase echoes among the laughter.
Marinette doesn't have to turn around to see who had tripped her. She feels despair all over again. She slowly gets to her hands and knees, she feels her arms shaking, she grits her teeth, feeling herself wanting to cry out of sheer frustration. The teen sucks in a shaky breath. She was going to start collecting her things from the floor when suddenly she hears other voices.
"What the hell was that!", Kagami's voice suddenly echoes among the laughter, and the laughing suddenly stops.
Marinette feels her heart drop all over again, her eyes grow wide. She slowly turns around and finds an angry looking Kagami and Aurore walking her way.
"You tripped her!", Aurore said as she got in Alix's face suddenly, quite intimidatingly, making Alix step backwards into the door frame.
The entire class all looked like deer caught in headlights.
"Not cool.", Mireille chimes in, her warm expression was now one of anger, the girl was upset at what she just saw. She steps passed Aurore and Kagami, she gets to Marinette, bending down, she kneeled and starts to gather the girls books.
"So what?", Alix says, she returns Aurore's glare, "If you knew her you wouldn't be wasting your time on her."
Kagami raises an eyebrow sharply at this. "I know her and she doesn't deserve to be tripped from nowhere. She could have gotten really hurt!", the girls raises her voice. She starts to think about what reasons may have led to Marinette's sudden switch of classes, and why Marinette had injuries on her face.
The commotion starts to catch the attention of many students.
Marinette feels panic starting to set in as she feels all eyes in their direction.
"Then you must be on her side, huh.", Alya suddenly chimes in, her tone is cold and detached, it was clear that Alya was definitely not on Marinette's side. The sound of distaste in Alya's voice is like a punch to the gut for Marinette. It's overwhelming. The brunette stands by, arms crossed, Nino and Lila both standing on either side of her.
Kagami is taken aback by Alya's words, "Side?". She looks between the teens.
"Yeah, she's a bully.", Alix said, "Simple. You reap what you sow.", she adds. "She's been bullying Lila since she got here."
Aurore makes an odd expression, she's struck silent. Mireille freezes in place as well. Lila, the name by itself struck something within both girls.
"I just wanted to be friends with her.", Lila chimes in, all teary eyed. She pouts slightly. "I didn't want things to get like this.", Lila holds her right hand to her chest, "I just wanted all of us to be friends."
The students except for Kagami, Aurore and Mireille, all give Lila sympathetic looks.
Kagami is taken aback, surprised. She turns to Marinette for a moment, she searches those watery blue eyes. Just for a moment. "Bull shit.", she says, she turns back to Alya, narrowing her eyes. "Marinette is not like that.", Kagami says, "Marinette isn't capable of that.", Kagami glares at the brunette heavily. It starts to make sense. She turns to where Aurore and Alix were, she finds Aurore giving her a look, and she nods. Kagami knew Lila was full of it.
Aurore sighs deeply, unimpressed by Lila's acting. The blonde knows, she knows the kind of person Lila is, she saw through her bullshit rather quickly, Mireille being a little naive almost fell into the Rossi girls lies, but thankfully, Aurore proved the girl was lying, stopping Mireille from actually becoming friends with the Liar. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Lila tried to pry Mireille from her, but Mireille and her had something strong, so Aurore eventually won out.
Mireille hardened her expression, she frowns heavily, "Come on, Let me walk you to class.", she says to Marinette. "We'll be late if we stick around. Let Kagami and Aurore deal with them.". She assists the teen to her feet and carries her book for her. Mireille releases a soft shaky breath, she looks away from Marinette and turns to look at Lila, for a moment she swears she sees a smirk on the brunette's face. She feels a little unnerved. For a moment she ponders, wondering why Marinette was being targeted by Lila. She wonders what would have happened if Aurore didn't step in when she did, when Lila first approached her. She turns back to Marinette and tilts her head towards the direction of where Marinette was going and both girls start to leave.
Alix sneered at the what the girl said. "Deal with who-", Alix made to talk to the girl that started to walk away.
"Don't talk to her.", Aurore once again gets in Alix's face. "You're talking to me, not Mirei."
"Don't fight you two. Marinette has caused enough problems already, we don't need another feud.", Lila spoke softly, feigning innocence, she delivered a subtle insult. "Please don't fight.", she says in a tone that sounds as if she were pleading.
Kagami clicks her tongue, she stares at the Rossi girl and Alya, she see Alya starting to comfort Lila. Kagami can't help but feel sick as realization hits her. She looks behind the students and finds four uncomfortable looking students looking back at her. Among them a certain Bourgeois, the finds the blonde giving her a knowing look. "Look, Marinette's out of your class now, you can all leave her alone.", Kagami speaks again, "If I see any of you attacking her again, I will report you, for one, because you're doing exactly what you've accused her of, and second, if she gets hurt, someone is going to have to answer for it."
Alix smirks and shrugs, "You reap what you sow.", she says.
Aurore feels nauseous, she had heard good things about Marinette, but that changed, and she knew damn well it wasn't coincidence that it changed when Lila appeared. "Stay away from her, simple. Unless, you want teachers and the principal getting involved. Cause I know damn well what we saw was you tripping her like some cowered.", Aurore growled. She clicked her tongue, she was disgusted by the class. "At least come at her from where she could see you coming, coward.", her words are shot towards Alix.
Kagami glared at Alix, "Let's go Aurore.", she said. She stepped to the blonde and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling the girl away. She sighed and turned to look over her shoulder, she found Alya staring at her with a hard look. A look she gladly returned.
"Are you okay, Kid?", Plagg asks before Tikki does.
Marinette sighs and nods as she sits on the tiled floor of the bathroom, her bathroom. She had left school after that entire shit show, not wanting to stick around to answer questions from the students that intervened.
Tikki wears a soft sympathetic look, "Alya…"
"Yeah, she...really has it in for me now. They all do.", Marinette sighs again, she buries her face into her hands, her hair is slightly disheveled. She felt alone, she felt like she was fighting an uphill battle again, it was wearing her out. She'd been dealing with all this for months, it was eating away at her. She was starting to feel overwhelmed all over again. She ran her hands over her face and ran it through her messy bangs.
Tikki floated down alongside Plagg, both kwamis drew near until they landed on the human teens knees, they both sat on each knee. Tikki saw Marinette making progress, and it hurt her to see Marinette starting to go back to square one. The progress Marinette was making was being thwarted.
Plagg felt a mix of all kinds of things, his understanding of the humans was always a bit shaky, if he could avoid interacting too much with his masters, he would. But it appeared that this new master he had was very hard not to interact with. Maybe he had a soft spot for her because she was Tikki's chosen. He had many masters, granted, most of them were of the male species, he hardly had a female chosen, a male was usually the 'ideal' choice that Guardians went with, similar to how Tikki's chosen were mostly female. He knew there was a difference between the genders. Female masters were always a little softer and warmer, while the Males were usually hardened and cold. Although, in this case, his master was a child when he was chosen, just as Tikki's was. Both of their chosen were chosen so young.
Marinette groaned. She held her head in her hands. Her gaze was on the floor. What did she do to deserve this? Sure, she exposed Lila, once. It wasn't like she tortured the girl or anything, it was a mistake, one mistake she made with Lila, as Ladybug.
"Everything is going to be Okay, Marinette.", Tikki said softly.
Marinette clicked her tongue, Tikki's words were no longer providing comfort to her. The Kwami's words were starting to annoy her. Tikki didn't understand how she felt, what she was going through, Tikki didn't get it. Marinette bit her tongue. She screwed her eyes shut.
Plagg observed the girl, noticing how her shoulders tensed when Tikki spoke. He narrowed his eyes a bit. He turned to Tikki, it seemed she didn't notice the subtle change of her master's body language.
"You don't get it.", Marinette said softly, she swallowed thickly. "You don't understand.", she whispered. Things weren't going to be alright, things have changed, they changed the moment Alya had pushed her to the floor in the locker room, they changed more when Alix began to bully her, and then things changed forever when she had to turn on Chat Noir. Everything changed too much to ever go back to how they were. Her life had been fractured. Nothing would fix it. Things would never be the same again. She lost her friends, her best friends. She lost a boy who she loved like a brother. She released a shaky breath. She felt herself slipping back into that dark place. She wanted to hang on, she wanted to continue to hope. She wrapped her arms around herself and thought about Chloé, thought about how nice it would be to be held by the blonde again.
Tikki looked on for a moment, she wore a glum expression, she wanted to help, but it seemed that the more she tried, the more a wedge seemed to be put in between them, the more Marinette pushed her away, the less Marinette transformed into Ladybug, the more she felt the balance starting to tip in the Black Cat's direction. Marinette and her had a bond, a strong one, Tikki could feel whatever emotions Marinette felt when they were Ladybug, they were in sync, their life energy was in harmony and in balance. But Tikki could feel a change in their dynamic suddenly. Plagg and Marinette were starting to form a bond, it's odd, especially for how quickly it was happening, but Marinette was a special person, so it made sense that Marinette was capable of actually truly wielding the Black Cat Miraculous. The problem with Marinette now building a bond with Plagg was that the balance would have more destruction than creation, where too much creation was bad, too much destruction was far worse. The powers of the Black Cat would magnify, where the powers of the Ladybug would slowly dwindle. The balance was being tipped, but it was being tipped by the same person, so the damages to her well being wouldn't be as destructive as when Adrien was doing it.
"Marinette-", Tikki starts, but does not get the chance to continue.
"Quiet!", Marinette raises her head and suddenly barks. Her gaze is hard and cold for a moment.
And just like that, Tikki's voice is taken. Her voice is taken from her as her master's will suddenly washes over her.
The bathroom falls into an eerie silence. Plagg is wide eyed, Tikki is also taken aback, silenced and surprised. Marinette had just forced her will onto her kwami. Plagg is unsure of how to react, if he even should, or could, Marinette was technically his master too. Marinette may shut him down as well.
Marinette's eyes widened for a moment, realizing what she just did, she had forgotten that she could forcefully make Tikki do things, she forgot that, that was a power a miraculous holder had over their Kwamis. "Speak.", she says shakily. "I…", she breathes unevenly. "I-I'm so sorry. I forgot I could do that, I didn't mean to force my will onto you like that, Tikki-"
Plagg growled at the teen as he got in between Tikki and Marinette, "Enough, you are just as unworthy as he was!", Plagg says with a glare. "I refuse to be wielded by you any longer, return me- no, us, to Fu!", the Kwami yells. He knows that being in the hands of a human that was spiraling downwards, was never a good idea, he knew that humans unfolded new sides to themselves when they got desperate.
Marinette is taken aback for a moment, processing what Plagg just told her. She doesn't argue, she nods. "Okay-", she agrees. She isn't one to make off with the jewels, no, that isn't her.
"No!", Tikki cuts in. "Plagg, she made a mistake.", Tikki says as she flew passed Plagg to be between Plagg and Marinette. "She's never done this before!"
Plagg growls again, shaking his head, he's had enough, "Your love for her will cost you in the end! It may even cost me! I cannot remain with her like this! How long before she starts to force her will onto you more? How long before she'll start doing it with me!"
Those were the real questions. Questions Tikki did not want to acknowledge were ones that she would have about Marinette. Tikki frowns heavily, "Marinette made a mistake.", she says again, "I trust Marinette."
"I don't.", Plagg says, cutting in suddenly. "I don't trust her, the only reason why I didn't fight Fu on his decision was because I trust you and your judgement, you've never fallen into a bad wielders hands-'
"Neither have you!", Tikki scoffed, feeling a little defensive, she knew Marinette was spiraling, but the girl wasn't a complete lost cause. Marinette was human and humans made mistakes. "Yet...here you are, Plagg, it was your boy that nearly threw the entire balance off. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be in this position right now.", The Kwami of creation stressed, taking out all the facts. It was Adrien that had betrayed Marinette, not once, but twice. Adrien had told Marinette that they would stick together until Lila got caught, but what did he end up doing? He ended up leaving Marinette alone, he ended up hiding the fact that he knew what Lila was. Then Adrien betrayed Marinette as Chat Noir, trying to force her to return his feelings. No, none of this was her master's fault, it was the stupid boys fault. "He stranded you here and forced us to strip him.", Tikki continued. "Everything was okay until he started acting like a child and a coward."
Plagg was struck silent. He knew Adrien was at fault here as well, he knew that the boy had stranded Marinette in both her civilian and hero life. He knew these things.
Marinette sucked in a shaky breath, she felt her chest ache, she felt it was her fault the kwamis were fighting. "Stop, fighting.", She speaks softly. "Don't fight."
Tikki's eyes are watery, she turns to her master. "Marinette, you need to keep it together, you're all we have left in this fight against Hawk Moth. I know it's been hard, I know you've been struggling, and I know that maybe it's a little harsh coming from me, but you have to let Alya and everyone else at school go. You have to move forwards. You aren't just living for you, anymore...you're the protector of the people of Paris, and the world. You are the last line of defense against Hawk Moth, Marinette.", Tikki couldn't stress it anymore, she had to get through to Marinette, it pained her to say it, to tell the teen that she wasn't just some ordinary girl. Marinette was Ladybug, she was a Miraculous Wielder, she was a Warrior, protector of all things good , like the Ladybugs before her. Marinette was literally the only thing that stood between Hawk Moth and whatever world altering wish he had, the stakes were far too high and it was starting to frighten Tikki. The pressure was all on Marinette, at least until they found more allies.
Marinette grimaced slightly, she sighed deeply, "I'm trying. It's not that simple, Tikki.…", her eyes watered up as well. "I moved classes…", she tries to counter. She tries to make it seem as a good solution.
Tikki sucked in a breath, she knew that what she was going to say next, was going to hurt Marinette, but it was better than constantly getting hurt at the hands of people that she cared about despite being cast aside by them. "Maybe that isn't enough, Marinette. Maybe...you need to leave. Leave all of them behind at once."
"What are you...are you…", Marinette frowns sadly.
"Leave the school.", Plagg cautiously piped up. "Go to another one, move on, on a completely clean slate. Go somewhere where no one knows you, start fresh.", Plagg would have never seen any of this coming two years ago or even a year ago. He never would have foreseen himself sharing a master with Tikki and losing Adrien. It was unexpected, he expected Adrien to grow up, to get over Ladybug and get with Kagami, but clearly none of that happened. Here they were. Adrien stripped, Master Fu and Marinette the only other two involved in this war against the Akumas and their master. Plagg knew how difficult this all must be, especially for Marinette, but what he had trouble understanding was why Fu continued to allow Marinette to be as involved as she still was. He felt bad for her. Plagg frowned and made to speak again. but just as he was about to talk, two knocks came at the bathroom door, causing him and Tikki to fall silent.
Marinette turned to the door, "Yes?", she merely said.
"Uh, Honey, a friend of yours is here.", Sabine's voice spoke, muffled.
Marinette rose an eyebrow and turned back to the two Kwamis. "I'll be right out.", she said. She heard footsteps leaving.
"Friend?", Plagg said skeptically.
Tikki hummed, "Chloé?", the kwami guessed.
Marinette shrugged and shuffled about, getting up to her feet, she huffed a bit and got to the sink, she washed her hands and then dried them on a towel. "Look, you two go hide somewhere-"
"We're coming with you.", Tikki said sternly.
The teen raises her eyebrows.
Plagg merely nodded in reluctant agreement to Tikki's suggestion.
"Okay.", Marinette said, not wanting to fight the kwamis and as she agreed, both kwamis flew into her jacket pockets. She sighed again and finally walked to the door, she reached out and grabbed the door knob, she felt her heart starting to race in her chest. "Here goes.", she whispers to herself nervously. She slowly turns the knob and opens the door, she steps out of the bathroom and looks around and fairly quickly finds a certain Tsurugi leaning against the stairs to her room, arms crossed, a firm stony expression on her face.
Chocolate brown eyes look up and meet Ocean blue. "Marinette.", she says firmly.
Marinette tenses and she swallows thickly. "Kagami.
I'm pretty sure I haven't established how old the characters are and timeline and what not, so I'll do that now (while also explaining it in the fic itself), for plot sake, Marinette is 15 turning 16 by the time we get to chapter 10. The fight against Hawkmoth has been going on for almost three years.Also I've laid out how this fic is going to go, and well...it will get very angsty, a little dark and also bloody? I mean, there will be character injuries (Not yet). Chapter wise, we're looking anywhere from 15 to 25 chapters, depending on word count. Also as I was planning this all out, I must warn you guys, there will be a sex scene or two to come in a few chapters from now, I won't say which one.
Here's another update.
Feel free to drop comments/critiques/questions.
Replies to Comments:
Guest: This was all written a while ago, its cross posted, I have this fic on Ao3. Anyways tho, hey, if this fic isn't to your liking, sorry, not sorry for writing something other people may actually be entertained by. If you don't like a fic, hop off, simple. Although, to get to this chapter, you must have been snooping through some other chapters no? Why didn't you stop reading then? XD
I think the summary makes it clear where this fic is going.