Info Dump Alert! We get lots of goodie information in this chapter! On another note I'll probably take off November and December. Teaching is taking a lot out of me mentally and physically and honestly things are getting rocky for my moms health so yeah... I will post part two of this in October though so look forward to it!

(Slow Burn Detective AU!) Marinette is used to working alone on the streets of Paris as she strives to take down the Hawkmoth gang. When the thief Chat Noir comes crashing into her life things are bound to get magical, especially when co-detective Adrien returns to Paris and seems to want to be her new partner. Will their fated partnership end in a capture or a kiss?


Ancient Histories Part I

Marinette did eventually get her shower and Alya showed up to pester her some more about Chat Noir. Alya was very disappointed that Chat's "Lady friend" didn't come to heal Marinette, but before she could start her grilling Adrien managed to change the subject. Alya had been annoyed with him because he hadn't said a word about Chat Noir, even though he'd known of his existence. After berating him and getting all her frustrations out Alya had finally calmed down. Thankfully it wasn't hard to get rid of Alya after that since she could see how Marinette was quickly fading. All Marinette really remembered was eating a bit of the dinner her parents had insisted on them taking home and then nothing. Since she woke up in her bed with Adrien wrapped around her, Marinette assumed she had fallen asleep, probably in her dinner, and Adrien had carried her to bed. Since neither of them had slept well in several nights it was a relief to finally be able to sleep within the warmth of Adrien's arms. She had slept amazingly well, and although Marinette felt rested she didn't want to move at all. For a few moments Marinette couldn't even figure out why she had woken up, but then her phone vibrated alerting her to a text or possibly email. Adrien had been kind enough to plug it in the night before but unfortunately, he had placed it too far away to reach from her position. Yawning Marinette reached for her phone, wiggling a bit since it was just out of reach. It was a very bad idea since the second she did the wounds on her belly pulled making her cringe.

"Why are we moving?" Adrien whined, burying his face into her neck and hair as she settled back with a grimace.

"Stupid phone is vibrating. I can't reach it." Marinette answered, "I kinda wish Gabriel had kept the damn thing."

Adrien grumbled, but he uncurled himself a bit to reach across her body to grab her phone. Handing off the device Adrien slumped back into the mattress and pretended to snore as Marinette opened her phone to see who was trying to reach her.

"Um Adrien… It's 11am…" Marinette whistled, shocked that they had slept for more than 14 hours.

Adrien went stiff beside her, "You're kidding…"

Giggling Marinette held up the phone to show him the time as he rolled to look. "Nope. Fu is wondering where in the heck we are. He's asking if something else came up or if we ended up in trouble. He has no faith in me…"

Adrien groaned as he pushed himself upright, "I mean he does have a point. Considering what I know about you and the stories I have heard, the only reason you are more than five minutes late is A) You have been attacked, B) You have been injured, C) You are doing something you are not supposed to be doing…"

Marinette slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from continuing, "Yeah, yeah I get it Mr Can Do No Wrong. Bite me."

Pulling her hand down to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles Adrien grinned. "With pleasure Princess, but then we might be even later. Any place in par-"

Marinette smacked him with her pillow, startling a laugh out of him even as she winced from jarring her injuries. "Alright! I'm over these stupid wounds. Let's go!"

Adrien laughed again, but he got up and 15 minutes later they were out the door. Since it needed to be returned anyways, they drove the car Fu had lent to Adrien. While Marinette had balked at the idea initially she quickly realized that driving was a compromise Adrien wasn't going to budge on. Since no Whisperers had picked up the car while they had slept, Marinette figured that Fu had probably known she wouldn't be up to making any long distance runs quite yet. Injuries aside, her energy levels, nor her endurance were up to snuff. Apparently almost dying took a lot out of you.

Their destination was the safe house that Marinette had been sleeping at before the whole Roger debacle. It would have been quite the trek had they not had the car and Marinette sheepishly realized that she probably wouldn't have been able to make that walk quite yet. The only thing that confused Marinette at the moment was their destination. She had expected Fu to want to see them in his pseudo studio or somewhere similar, but she couldn't figure out why Fu had felt it necessary to see them in an extra private setting. They never did things without due cause though, so maybe since the safe house was empty at the moment they figured they might as well use it. Unwilling to articulate her curiosity, Marinette remained silent and the ride over held a tense note that no one was willing to address. The moment they pulled into the little garage, Plagg zipped past her not even waiting till the car had stopped. As he disappeared into the house beyond the tenseness seemed to shatter making Adrien and Marinette glance at each other in confusion.

"You felt that too?" Adrien asked first.

Marinette nodded, "That felt almost physical… the bond between us?"

Mentally she felt Adrien give their bond a poke and she smiled as she echoed the poke making him grin as well. "Welp, everything seems to be in order… except for Plagg shooting off. Maybe he is excited or something? Fu did threaten to tell me embarrassing stories about Plagg the last time I met up with him. Plagg is probably threatening to destroy something if Fu doesn't keep quiet."

Rolling her eyes, Marinette got out of the car. "Yeah, that would make sense."

They walked into the house and followed their ears to the kitchen where Fu was making tea. To both of their surprise, Gram was present as well.

"Hello children." Gram called, knocking them out of their shock, and they both stumbled a bit trying to get a polite answer out, making Gram smile.

Even still Adrien grumbled "We are not children," causing Marinette to elbow him.

"You are to us, Adrien." Fu said by way of greeting, turning with a kettle of hot water.

Gram lifted the lid and Fu thanked her before allowing the steaming liquid to pour over the leaves within to begin steeping.

"Uh… Right… Did Plagg come in by chance? He zipped inside before I could hardly stop the car." Adrien finally asked.

"Here kit." Plagg called from the counter where he was scarfing down some kind of cheese and obviously loving every second of it.

Marinette and Adrien shared another glance, but before either of them could say anything Fu spoke. "Before you two take a seat would you rather sit here or in the living room? We will be talking for quite a while and I'd rather not have to move the conversation when these old bones get weary."

"The living room is fine." Marinette answered, "I'll bring the tea set if you want."

"You're still injured Marinette. Let me get it." Adrien broke in, moving forward to lift the tea set that was on the table. There were four cups, the tea pot Fu had just filled and some other jars that Adrien had no clue what they were for. Thankfully Marinette didn't argue and they all moved out to the living room where they claimed positions amongst the comfy furniture that was around the room. Even Plagg came, his snack in his paws and he settled on the arm rest closest to Adrien. Marinette leaned comfortably against Adrien while Fu and Gram sat across from them. Slowly Fu poured the tea and offered cups to Marinette and Adrien, who took it to be polite. Gram claimed her own cup and they sat in silence for several minutes as they all blew on their cups and took tentative first sips. Recognizing the taste as the energy tea Marinette sipped at hers a few times before setting it aside.

"Alright… I hate to rush things but uh… Can I heal myself now? All these bandages are itchy and the less that is said about my injuries, the better."

Fu chuckled. "Right to the point as always. Actually before you do that we need to have a bit of a conversation and you two need a history lesson. Things have escalated and I fear if I put this conversation off any further there will be dire consequences."

Marinette pouted, but when she thought about it she realized that she might not be in good enough shape to have a conversation depending on how well the healing went. "Fine…"

The room went silent again for a moment and everyone sipped at their tea again. Gram reached over to pat Fu on the knee and he let a long sigh leave him before placing his cup on the table.

"In order for me to tell this story I first have to give you a bit of history. This history lesson begins in the African country now called Mauritania which is located in the Sahara Desert. Within this country there is an unusual geological structure called the Eye of the Sahara and it has baffled geologists and scientists for many years. Most of them believe it's just a really odd geological formation or even an impact crater but the truth is that it was once the city of Atlantis."

Adrien, who had unfortunately been in the middle of taking a gulp of tea, choked and Marinette had to pound him on the back to help him get to breathing right again. "Atlantis?!" He wheezed the second he could sputter and Marinette cut him off.

"Not that we don't believe you Fu but uh…I actually recognize that name and I know that The Eye of the Sahara is actually in the desert. Like, it's nowhere near water."

Fu nodded, "The world has changed much in 11,000 years and while it is no longer near water now, it used to be. That was before the fall, before someone drunk on Miraculous power destroyed a great nation because of a wish."

"They made... a wish?" Marinette wondered, looking over at Adrien who seemed as confused as she felt.

"Yes, Marinette, the miraculous stones are aptly named. In the right hands, with the right powers, and enough raw strength, they can rewrite this world's truths. To do so there are consequences though, in this case the destruction of Atlantis and her people was the result of this wish."

"What was the wish?" Adrien asked, "I mean, not that anything they asked for would be good enough to wipe a civilization off the map or anything but still… do we know?"

"No we don't. Records were lost when the civilization vanished. The few that survived just knew that someone had foolishly tried to reach for too much power and had destroyed an entire civilization with their hubris." Shaking his head Fu explained, "What we do know is this. They were in possession of a miraculous stone and they had murdered other Miraculous stone users in order to power their stone up further."

"Power their stone up further? How does that work?" Marinette demanded, looking appalled at the very thought.

"The how doesn't matter as much as the fact that it happened." Fu stated, his tone offering no way to argue.

"But it does Fu." Gram interrupted. "You know it does in this case since it might have to be a last resort depending on how badly corrupted Hawkmoth's stone has become."

Fu glowered at Gram but instead of trying to contradict her his shoulders slumped. "I know that you two will never do such a thing unless the situation is grave, but even the knowledge is dangerous. Miraculous stones at their base are neither good nor evil; it's the intentions of the wielder and host specifically that affect them. The inactivated miraculous stones are alive in a sense. In a way they are like an egg and they absorb the energies around them, including the intents of their host that will become the soul bonded to the stone. Initially this host gives the stone purpose. After the activation when the host becomes bonded to the stone it becomes a kwami like Plagg. Unfortunately, while the kwami has its own mind, feelings, and abilities to use within limitations as they please, the wielder has total control over them. Once transformed the wielder even controls all the power that kwami holds and the kwami cannot resist the transformation phrase. So active Miraculous can be abused if someone is capable of wielding their powers."

"But I can heal…" Marinette broke in not liking how this conversation was going. "How am I able to do that if it's just the kwami who holds power?"

Gram smiled indulgently at Marinette, "Don't worry about that dear. That's normal. Your stone is in its activation phase. If Tiki were here with us still she would probably be showing signs of similar abilities or a subclass of what you can already do. The stone has accepted you and the abilities you are showing are proof of that acceptance. Once you become a full Miraculous user your base abilities will be amplified when transformed, but you will always be able to use some abilities even untransformed. It's just something that the miraculous does for their wielder as a sort of protective measure. It's good to use your abilities though and find their limitations, so the power that flows through you when transformed doesn't eat away at you."

"Wait what?!" Adrien yelped, "What the hell does that mean?!"

Fu looked grave as he answered. "The Miraculous are dangerous Adrien, you of all people know that. When you use your powers too many times while transformed, you are exhausted when the transformation finally drops. That's normal, the energy has to come from somewhere after all. However, you can usually recuperate fairly quickly after the fact. If a person who isn't compatible with a miraculous stone tries to use it and is drained of their energies a bit at a time, they usually die. This is because the cost accumulates to more than what their body can handle. There are signs of course. Weight loss, sleeping far more than normal, injuries that don't seem to heal…if they stop using the stone they can get better but most don't. The draw and the feel of the power almost becomes addicting to some so they just… wither away. Even if an incompatible person doesn't use the miraculous powers directly the transformations alone can drain them. There is a reason why it takes so long to activate the stones and it's for the wielder's safety more than anything else as far as we know. On a good note it's pretty easy to figure out if you are not compatible with a stone because it will literally make you feel like garbage if you try to use it. Bad things only really happen to those people when they don't listen to their bodies or the kwami that lives within the stone. If you are the person activating the stone it's not something you have to worry about and your partner's stone is also almost always safe to use since an established bond will already exist between you two. However, you probably won't be as efficient with that miraculous. There is always a small selection of people who can use an activated stone no matter the power, but if a stone gets corrupted as it activates it will cause havoc even with the person who activated it."

"Do I want to know how that is possible? Like can it happen to miraculous that are already active?" Adrien asked, looking concerned. "It can't be done by accident right?"

"Fortunately, it can't happen by accident, but that also means that if a corrupted miraculous exists it was purposefully done. It can happen to an active miraculous but it has to be damaged on a fundamental level for it to become corrupted once it's already activated. As for corrupting it before… Unfortunately it can be done by taking people's lives and essentially feeding them to the stone. It can also be corrupted or tainted by an essentially evil soul when they begin to activate. These people cause the stone to become toxic and the corrupted power corrupts all it touches. That means that no one is safe and the power of that stone will eat away at the user until they die or become corrupted as well. When the Akuma first appeared in this city I thought that someone had succumbed to a corrupted Miraculous stone and I went to make sure the stone wasn't taken by anyone. Instead I just found corruption which makes me think that Hawkmoth's stone hasn't fully activated. I can't imagine how they have reached this kind of corruption and power use without activating the stone, but I fear for this city if they do manage to activate it properly. At some point we need to find that stone and you may have to be the one to heal it or purify it depending on how bad the corruption is Marinette."

"Fu, darling, we are getting off topic." Gram interrupted before a stunned Marinette could ask any questions of her own.

Fu grimaced and cleared his throat. "Ah...Right, in my defense he asked… Where was I?"

Adrien held his hand up, "Uh… somewhere between the destruction of Atlantis, activating stones and powering up other stones somehow?"

"Ah…yes." Fu murmured, clearly working through some facts in his head. "So powers and corruption aside, Atlantis was destroyed by a man who had killed other wielders and used their stones to increase his own power in an attempt to make his wish come true. A Miraculous stone's power is usually finite, once activated there isn't much change in the amount of power available to the wielder. A wielder can unlock further abilities at times, train, or work on their already existing powers but the base line and their limits have been pretty well set already. They just have to find them, which usually takes a while. However, their powers can be increased or changed if other active stones are absorbed by an active wielder."

"Um… Absorbed?!" Marinette yelped, looking even more alarmed as Fu continued.

"The man who 'sank' Atlantis had learned from somewhere that he could gain more power by forcing his kwami to absorb other active stones. Doing so however, changes both the power level and the base abilities of a stone. Before Atlantis, Miraculous stones were far more common than people these days could imagine. The gods, or children of gods in many ancient myths were actually wielders of the miraculous, or the children who inherited the stones from their parents. The stones are all capable of incredible things but human greed has made us push the limits of even the miraculous stones. Somewhere along the way someone discovered that when put under pressure, a Miraculous stone can absorb another." Fu rubbed at his eyes but held up two fingers, "It can be done willingly between two users. Those people tend to have a strong bond from the get go and at the end of their wielder's lives they choose to meld together and create a stronger version of themselves. I suspect that this is how the whole idea was discovered in the first place and while the idea is lovely in sentiment it-"

"Fu…" Gram snapped, bringing him back to the present and he coughed a bit to hide his embarrassment.

"Yes dear… As I was saying. The other way is forced and is more a battle of strength between the two miraculous users. The loser gets eaten or absorbed I suppose. This is the path the Atantean chose for who knows what reason. Either way the stones become stronger and the base abilities alter depending on what the stones were tied to in the first place. For instance, combining a fire and water ability based stones might result in something totally different like super speed. It is the conflict between the souls being absorbed that changes the abilities. I only warn you of this because all remaining stones have at some point absorbed another stone. No stones that exist today are what you could call pure."

"But wait! How are their pairs then?! Like was Adrien and I's stone just a lucky pair?" Marinette asked before Adrien could wrap his mind around what was being said.

"No, connections change within the miraculous but the stones themselves tend to have a failsafe… If a single stone absorbs too much power, or if the conflict within the souls are too great, it splits. Once a stone absorbs another the energies merge and change before the split. Usually with the force of a bomb." Fu answered, "Thus pairs are born, over and over again. This splitting also usually severs the original souls tied to the miraculous stones so the new pair also becomes inert. However, some stones have had their partners absorbed and are therefore left without their match. Unfortunately, when this happens it can result in an imbalance within their partner's stone. The soul bonded to the stone loses cohesion with the loss of its partner and any wielder who uses them after tends to suffer for it."

"Suffer how?" Marinette questioned, her voice soft in a way that made Fu's hair stand up on the back of his neck.

"Depending on the stone, its power, and the wielder itself I have heard of several outcomes. A common fate was that the stones literally suck the life out of the wielder as they try to balance themselves out again. The person doesn't necessarily die but they will eventually be unable to wake up. I've seen it happen before and oftentimes these stones seek out others and try to absorb them so that they can be more… whole. Sometimes it works and they are able to survive again as a single unmatched stone but oftentimes they will continue to absorb stones until they themselves split in two again."

The room was quiet for several moments as everyone digested this new information before Adrien spoke up. "So is that what happened with Atlantis? That guy absorbed lots of stones right? Was it because he had lost his pair and was trying to find his balance again? How was he stopped?"

Fu shook his head, "The Atlantean just wanted more power and the wish. It took them killing numerous people for the other wielders to become aware of the issue, and then the other wielders had to band together to stop them. They failed. The wish, whatever it was, was made and Atantis was wiped off the map. In the aftermath it's not certain whether the other wielders made the decision to seal the miraculous back to an inert state or if it was the wish that did it. Either way at the time of the wish a large majority of the Miraculous stones simply vanished off the face of the planet and those that remained were for the most part inactive."

Reaching into her waistband pocket Marinette pulled out her stone. It glittered in the light of the room and Fu leaned a little closer, even though Marinette was on the other side of the room. "So my stone right now is activating but it's not truly active like Plagg. If something were to happen to Adrien would Plagg turn back into a stone?"

"Nope!" Plagg answered, lifting up into the air. "In order for me to turn back into a rock my soul would have to be severed from the stone itself. That's why the whole Atlantis story is so crazy. Whatever wish that guy made caused not only the city to be flattened it also severed all the souls connected to the active Miraculous stones at the time. Not to mention that three quarters of the stones disappeared outright. No one knows why but the tale of Atlantis is why the world doesn't know about the stones and why they shouldn't ever become common knowledge again. Humans don't tend to make good decisions when they get too much power. Just look at Pompeii or the black death. Both of those were also caused by idiots reaching for powers they weren't meant to have."

"Wait, those disasters were miraculous caused?" Adrien wondered, looking horrified.

"By wishes made with Miraculous. Or to be specific the attempt at making a wish through the Miraculous." Fu clarified. "To be fair The Black Death was caused by a corrupted Miraculous stone, but they were trying to make a wish with the stone and ended up causing a plague instead. Either way both resulted in catastrophe for the civilizations nearby."

As Marinette processed this information Adrien spoke again, "Fu… how do you know all this? Are you part of a group who has studied these things or have you just found all this out on your own?"

Fu and Gram shared a look and Gram patted Fu on the leg before speaking. "Adrien, Marinette, how old do you think Fu and I are?"

Adrien blinked and scratched at the back of his neck nervously, "Uh… 60 maybe?"

He glanced over at Marinette who shrugged but she had an oddly shrewd look in her eyes as she gave her answer, "No matter what number we pick within a normal human lifetime, we won't be correct will we?"

Gram gave her a satisfied look. "You are correct in your assumption. Fu is over 600 years old and I am in my late 500's"

Both Marinette and Adriens jaws dropped.

"Awe hell, don't tell me I've accidentally made Adrien here immortal. It's already hard enough to hide his weirdness." Plagg groaned from the sofa arm.

Fu chuckled, "We are not immortal Plagg. We have aged, just… very slowly. Now that we don't use the miraculous we will probably age a little faster to be honest."

"We both also spent years transformed because we were being hunted, it was the only way to remain safe." Gram admitted, "Even though transforming uses your own energy, it also bolsters the body. There is a reason why people who held miraculous were thought to be the children of gods; if not gods themselves. A few of the ancient kings were wielders and they outlived generations to the point that their lineages confuse the hell out of archeologists these days."

"So if I were to transform and stay transformed I could live forever?" Marinette asked skeptically, "What's the catch to that? Other than the fact that I know I don't want to live more than 500 years."

Gram had a complicated look on her face as she slowly answered, "Watching the world change from everything we ever knew has been one of the most difficult processes. In the past 100 years we have watched the human race go from discovering flight for the first time to landing on the moon. It's disorienting at times to see something change so fast. We are not immortal. If you shot me through the heart or head I would die the same as a normal person. If Fu and I relinquished our stones completely our aging would revert to a normal pace as well, we think. As for other downsides… Fu and I have both witnessed several generations of our children grow and die without ever being able to tell them who we really are. Stormy is actually a great- several times over- grandchild of ours. Besides, everyone is different and so are the powers they wield. Some Miraculous do grant a longer life naturally. Fu's miraculous is one of them and since my miraculous is bound to his as a partner, I have enjoyed the benefits."

Silence echoed at the end of her statement for a long minute as Marinette and Adrien processed, then rebooted. "How?" Adrien finally breathed as Marinette asked rather shrewdly, "Who are you really? You never did answer Adrien as to how you know about Atlantis or the miraculous."

Fu's head bowed, "That is because my knowledge of the miraculous has its roots deeply entwined within my childhood and that story is one that is 600 years in the making."

Marinette opened her mouth again but paused, glancing over at Adrien who, like her, seemed to be somewhere between concerned, curious, and a little impatient, if not a touch annoyed. Fu had known what the Akuma were, had known about the miraculous, had known who Chat Noir really was and what that had meant. Marinette couldn't quite figure out why he had waited so long to talk to them. While the whole fall of Atlantis told her just what kinds of ancient forces she was really playing with, the story so far didn't tell her why Fu suddenly found it important to reveal all this information. She sincerely hoped that when Fu finished his story of his childhood - she honestly couldn't believe that he was 600 years old - that some of these puzzle pieces before her would begin to properly fit together.


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