Marinette had only been awake for half an hour and she already wanted the day to be over.

"Oh, cheer up, cherie," her father nudged her gently. "It's just a few hours, and you'll be right back here-working for next to nothing! Doesn't that sound great?"

"Just great," Marinette mumbled, resisting the urge to rub her eyes. She had just applied concealer, and she didn't want any to get on her hands. Her mother came from behind her and handed her a large thermos of coffee.

"You'll get to show off your latest design," her mother said, smiling at her daughter's outfit. "Won't that be nice?"

"Yeah," Marinette sighed, running her hands through her head. Sabine frowned and shooed Tom back to the kitchen.

"Are you alright, dear?"

"I-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Her mother pursed her lips, clearly not believing her, but she let it be. Marinette was seventeen, now, not seven. If she needed advice, or an ear to listen to her troubles, her daughter knew she was available.

"Well, you'd better head off, then. You don't want to be late for your first day of your last year of high school!"

"Please stop acting so cheerful," Marinette said, her words grumpy, but the smile on her face ruined it. "It's too early for happiness."

"But not too early for croissants," Her father entered the dining room again, kissed Marinette on the head, then practically shoved her to the door. "Now go. I don't want a single call from the administration office this year. You're almost an adult, learn to be punctual."

"Then stop giving me a shift at the bakery in the mornings," Marinette countered. Tom just laughed and waved her off before heading back inside to continue making fresh bread for the day. Marinette sighed and started the twenty minute walk to school.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tikki's voice was small and cute, just like she was. Marinette pursed her lips.

"Do you think I was too harsh when I met Cat Noir?" Tikki didn't say anything, so Marinette continued, not bothering to keep her voice down. No one was on the street to see her talk to herself, so no one was there to think she was crazy. Even if there was someone on the street, Marinette wouldn't know them well enough to care what they thought of her. "It's just...something about him rubbed me the wrong way. He irritated me." The kwami still didn't say anything, and Marinette found herself rushing to explain herself even more. "I was in the middle of a battle, full adrenaline, and then he came out of nowhere and completely ruined my flow! And I've been fighting Makara and Akuma for weeks without him, so what's the big deal about him showing up now? If his power is to destroy the 'weak spot' of the Akuma, can't he wait until the police and I sedate the Akuma, and then trap the butterfly in the hospital, like he's already been doing?" Tikki's silence was beginning to get on Marinette's nerves, and she only had so much patience this early in the morning. "The silence was cute at the beginning, but now it's just aggravating."

"You sure know a lot of words for 'you're bothering me.'"

"That's all you got from what I said?"

"Well, you've said what you were feeling,and I listened. Are you going to apologize when you next see him?"

"I don't know," Marinette muttered. She didn't want to say it out loud, but she doubted she would. Marinette was a blend of her parents-as loyal and protective as her dad, and as feisty and proud as her mother. And her pride wouldn't allow her to apologize easily. "I was doing fine without him. He could have introduced himself earlier. Everyone knows Ladybug makes nearly daily trips to the hospital-why didn't he come then?"

"Maybe he was busy."

"I don't need a partner," Marinette said. "I was doing just fine without him. I'm not going to apologize. I was looking out for him. He hadn't been in any battles before, and he could have gotten hurt."

"Are you sure you don't want to apologize?"

"It's not that I don't want to apologize," Marinette said, slowing on her walk to school. "I just won't. I can't."

"Humans are so silly," Tikki giggled, "You try and act like you can do everything yourself, like you don't need any help. But you do! As the Ladybug, your powers don't work to their fullest capability unless the Black Cat is there. His magical wavelength resonates with ours, and it amplifies whatever we do. You don't have to apologize, Marinette, but you do have to work with him. Besides, he seems nice."

"Yeah," Guilt ate at Marinette. "He does seem nice."

The conversation tapered off, and Marinette spent the rest of the walk to school in silence. It wasn't like she didn't realize she had been unfair to the cat-she definitely knew. She just didn't want to have to apologize, because that would signify that she thought she had done something wrong. Sure, she could have been nicer, but she was constantly grumpy, and being nice wasn't the usual for her. Her points, however, had been valid. She was in full-battle mode, blood rushing to her head, muscles acting before she even knew what she was doing, mind void of anything but first the Makara, then the Akuma. She hadn't been able to hear herself think, much less hear Tikki's soft voice. There was no way she would have heard Tikki tell her that the boy in the black spandex suit was her partner. It wasn't her fault that he hadn't thought to introduce himself before an actual fight, almost a month after Marinette had debuted as Ladybug. It wasn't her fault that she had been worried about his safety and wanted him as far away from danger as he could get. It wasn't her fault that the words came out a little more waspish than most people would want.

Marinette sighed as her school came into view. Oh well, no use worrying about it now. She'd just have to see if she apologized when she next met the guy. She grabbed her schedule from the front office and trudged to her class, sipping on her coffee. Her first class was French Literature, not bad. She wouldn't be able to stand it if her day started with math again.

She walked into the room and was faced with a mix of new and old faces. There were her friends: Kim, Alix, Ivan, and Nino. There were her enemies: Chloe and Sabrina. There were the people she'd known for years and didn't necessarily get along with, but didn't necessarily antagonize: Juleka, Max, Mylene, and Nathaniel.

Then there were the new kids. There was a short girl with a blonde bob. Her outfit was cute, if monochromatic-it was completely pink. Marinette admired her guts to wear that in public. Sitting next to her was another girl. Her hair was long and brown, her eyes a beautiful green, and her outfit was something Marinette would wear. A short blue babydoll dress fit the girl perfectly, and she wore a cute red jacket over it. Marinette couldn't see her shoes, but she bet they were sandals. It was still warm enough for sandals, and would completely adhere with the style of the rest of her clothes. On a table to the right of the room was a girl who sat alone, a very familiar girl. Alya Cesaire. Marinette made her way to her side and sat down.

"Hi, I'm Marinette," she said and took another swig of her coffee. Alya looked at her and smiled.

"I'm Alya. Are you new here, too?"

"Nope, I've been stuck with these losers since fifth grade,"

"Hey," Kim complained from somewhere behind her. "Don't forget to tell her that we've been stuck with you, too,"

The door opened, and in walked another boy. To put it simply, he was gorgeous. His jeans were dark and perfectly fit to him, his crewneck was just baggy enough to say he didn't care if people could see his body shape, but just form-fitting enough to say that it was expensive. His white sneakers were simple, yet tied everything together. They were pristine, almost like they were new. His whole outfit screamed 'I'm preppy, but not preppy enough to be a douchebag.' Marinette was very impressed by his styling. His face was nothing to look over, either. His eyes were a pretty green, his lips curved in a gentle smile, and his hair looked soft enough to run her hands through endlessly.

Then he ruined everything by walking straight towards Chloe Bourgeois. All interest in him ruined, she turned back to Alya. They chatted for a few minutes before class began, and school was just as monotonous as Marinette had remembered it. The lunch bell couldn't come fast enough.

"Why don't you join us at lunch?" Alix said, strolling up to Alya and Marinette. Kim ran ahead, saying that he would go grab a table before they were all claimed. Alya happily agreed and the three girls wandered to the cafeteria, keeping an eye out for Kim.

"I see Nino," Marinette pointed. "And where there is Nino, Kim can't be far behind." The group made their way over. Nino sat on one side of the table, Alix next to him. Alya and Marinette sat on the other side. Kim came a few moments later, half-dragging Max behind him. Kim sat on Nino's side of the table, and Max sat next to Alya. He was the first to ask her a question:

"What brought you to Francois-Dupont?"

"My mom got a new job here, so we moved, and I got signed up to the nearest high school. What's it like here?"

"Well," Marinette paused. "It's fine, I guess. You show up, they talk at you for a while, and you go home. You've already made it halfway through the day, the second half isn't much different."

"Yeah, but this is Francois-Dupont High School!"

"And?" Kim voiced the question everyone else at the table was wondering. Nino unwrapped his sandwich at the other end of the table and started eating.

"Do you know how many Akumas have been through this area? What do you guys do when there's a sighting?" Alix went to the bathroom, and Max savored the pudding he had packed for himself, fighting off Kim any time the athletic boy tried to steal it. Marinette, however, was beginning to find this line of conversation very interesting, and ignored her food for the moment.

"Oh, you like to keep up with that sort of news?" she asked.

"Are you kidding? It's, like, my entire life. I've always wanted to be a reporter, so I've spent the last few years trying to get some experience in. I've been going after anyone I possibly could-restaurant owners, politicians, principals, you name it. No one gave me the time of day. Then, I got Akumatized and Ladybug-the Ladybug-purified me! And! She! Let! Me! Interview! Her!"

Marinette bit her lip to keep from smiling. She hadn't known it would mean so much to the girl just to talk to her for a little bit after she had been through such an ordeal. Now she was really glad she had given Alya so much of her time.

"I started a whole blog about her," Alya was rambling, pulling out her phone to show Marinette. She scrolled through everything, showing her the layout. Here's where the written posts are, here's the picture gallery, a separate gallery for any videos, there's a section for public comments, and the Contact Me information. It was a professional blog, very well-kept and nicely organized, and the design of it was great. Marinette told her so, and Alya beamed. "It's about all I've been working on for the past few days. I've reached out to all the news channels around here for any information or images they have. They didn't want to talk to me. So, I promoted myself on social media, and now look! I have 200 views! People have been sending me all sort of stuff-personal accounts, images, blurry videos. It's not much now, but I really think this can be a big thing!"

"That's really cool," Alix shoved her face between Alya and Marinette. Apparently, she was back from the bathroom. "What's it called? I'll open it on my phone so I don't forget about it."

"The Ladyblog," Alya said, turning towards Alix. Alix opened it up, and so did everyone else at the table.

"You know," Max said. "I have a few cameras I could lend you. I'll show you how to set them up and you can set them up around the city. When the next Makara and Akuma attacks occur, you can remotely take high-quality photographs."

"Really?" Alya smiled brightly. "Thanks! Can I come over to your house after school today to check them out?"

"Certainly," Max nodded.

"It might be cool if you had another tab," Alix said. "One just for conspiracies."

"There's already a comment section."

"Yeah, but that's at the bottom of the photo gallery. I mean a separate tab, with buttons for separate conspiracies, you know? Like, one button for Ladybug's identity, another for where the Makara come from, another for the Akuma. Something like that."

"That's a pretty good idea," Alya hummed and made a note on her phone to add that feature on her blog.

They continued to talk for the rest of their lunch break. Alya was surprisingly easy to get along with. She was open, nice, and curious. Nino's jokes made her laugh, Max's geekiness didn't make her roll her eyes, the rivalry between Alix and Kim didn't make her at all uncomfortable, and Marinette's chronic use of dry humor and grumpy tone didn't turn her away.

They all sighed in disappointment as the school bell chimed, indicating the end of lunch. The teens grumped as they stood and started to clear their table, but then stopped all at once. The air grew humid, and the ground rumbled. The principal's voice sounded throughout the school.

"No need to panic," he tried to assure, "Exit the premises in an orderly fashion. The nearest bunker is…" He continued to speak, but the havoc in the school grounds made it impossible to decipher his words. Marinette lost sight of her friends, but she assumed they would keep going towards the bunker. She fought against the crowd of highschoolers, pushing her way back into the school and towards the restrooms where she would have the privacy she needed to transform.

"Spots on," she mumbled, and flash-she once again wore the ladybug suit. She forced open the small window in the restroom and slid out of the building. Her yo-yo spun out of her hands and soon she was zooming through Paris, trying her best to find the Makara, or possibly the Akuma. A black blur zoomed past her.

"Ladybug!" He called. "It's me, Cat-"

"I know, I know," she mumbled. "Cat Noir. Listen, if you take care of the Akuma, I'll take care of the Makara." She didn't hear a response, so she assumed he had given his assent. The Makara was odd today. Half of it was purple, the other half a vivid orange. It stood on two feet, each columnar, like an elephant. The top half vaguely resembled an alligator, and it snapped at anything or anyone which was too close to its mouth. Where a tail easily could have been located, was a distinctly fish-like tail. It lumbered through a residential area of Paris, the police struggling to catch up to it.

She landed next to them and ran to keep pace with their horses. As much as the design of the suit offended her, Marinette couldn't say that the magical effects of it bothered her at all.

"Have you weakened it in any way?" She questioned the officer nearest to her.

"No, we can't even get near the thing without it trying to eat us," she said, urging her horse to move faster. Marinette nodded, understanding perfectly.

"Stand ready!" She ordered. Her yo-yo was now like an extension of her own body. She could wield it as effectively and easily as she could use her own two fists, but it was much more versatile. It wrapped around a building on the opposite side of the Makara, and it stumbled to a confused halt. The officers around her tried to draw nearer to the monster, but its jaws snapped at them. If they missed an officer, an entire chunk of the street would wind up in its jaws, crushed to small pieces which rained down on Paris. Marinette needed to shut that thing's mouth, and the sooner the better.

She jumped up to the top of a building, readied herself, and swung her yo-yo around the Makara's mouth. Three, four times the magical yo-yo circled the Makara's jaw, and then Marinette pulled. Its jaws snapped shut, but it was not happy. The officers below did nothing, and Marinette assumed they were either waiting for her to subdue the Makara further, or they were assisting Cat Noir with an Akuma.

The Makara swung her around, but she didn't release her grip on the yo-yo. She needed that mouth to remain closed, no matter what, but she did not want to be swung from side to side like a ragdoll. It was giving her motion sickness. Inch by inch, she slowly started climbing up the yo-yo string, trying to eventually stand on the Makara's head.

Shots fired from below her, and she couldn't risk opening her mouth or she might bite her tongue off.

"Don't shoot," she wanted to say. "What if a Makara is just a possessed human?" She knew she couldn't. Akuma could be subdued, they could be stored, and they could even be purified. Makara were too big, too dangerous. The entire city of Paris was too big of a cost to save one human-if the Makara even were humans.

"Ladybug!" Cat Noir's voice sounded strangely close. She looked to the right, and there he was, perched atop his staff. "We've got the Akuma subdued for now, but we need you to purify it before it gets loose again!"

"Can't you see I'm a little busy right now?" She grit out. Cat Noir lunged forward and landed on the Makara's head. He started reeling her in, but in doing so, he loosened the hold the yo-yo had on the Makara's mouth.

"No, stop!" Ladybug called, but it was too late. The Makara was loose, and Marinette was furious. Cat Noir was tossed off the newly freed Makara's head, but he used his staff to soften his landing on the ground. Ladybug swung off of a lamppost and landed next to some police officers. The Makara, now able to walk since it was no longer concerned about its captive head, lifted one foot to step forward. Ladybug lassoed an officer out of the way, and was about to try and save two more in the monster's way, when Cat Noir beat her to it. He was out of her sight for a few moments, and she used the opportunity to jump onto another roof. The Makara, now seeing her as a definite threat, snapped at her. She flipped out of the way, but it was no use. It kept snapping after her, and whatever surface she was on soon found itself in the creature's mouth.

An arm wrapped around her waist, and Marinette shrieked as she was lifted in the air. She fought to be let down, to turn around and face her attacker, but the arm held firm.

"It's just me," Cat Noir tried to calm her.

"You're dead!" She kicked. "Let me go, let me go, let me go!" He dropped her on a building a block away from the Makara. She wanted to start yelling immediately, but first she needed a second to compose herself. Her heart thudded, and she felt light-headed. In, out, in out. She steadied her breathing, steadied her heartbeat, and calmed herself. She turned to him, but her attention was caught by a white butterfly. She purified it, then turned to her 'partner.'

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" She demanded. "Your job was to subdue the Akuma. I was going to take care of the Makara-the Makara which is eating buildings right now," She couldn't wait for a reply before she turned and jumped back towards the monster still lumbering through Paris.

It was a pain to subdue the Makara for a second time. It was much more wary of her now, but with the help of the police fire, and with time wearing the monster down, She eventually shut its mouth again. Instead of trying to climb up to its head, she leaped down to street level and created a complex web with the never-ending string of the yo-yo. She ran around buildings, in front of the Makara, behind the beast, anywhere she could to tangle the creatures enormous legs. Then, she pulled. It was difficult-the creature must have weighed at least two tons. Even with the added strength of the supersuit, Marinette almost thought she wouldn't be able to pull the creature down. Almost. She held it in place as the police closed in on it and shot it. It disappeared in a haze, leaving the air smelling like old seawater.

She rewound her yo-yo and turned to the officers, ready to accept their praise and make a hasty excuse about needing to leave to see to her family's safety. Her expectations could not have been any different from what actually occurred.

"What the hell do you think you and your little partner are doing?" one of the officers demanded. He stepped forward, and Ladybug scowled at him, tensing.

"We're helping you solve a problem you can't handle on your own," she growled. "Isn't that obvious?" she glanced around for Cat Noir, but he was gone.

"If you're looking for your worthless partner," a different officer stepped forward, on the other side of the previous officer. "He left as soon as he concussed Officer Perot!"

"Oh, and don't forget about the buildings he's ruined-along with you! If you had held onto the Makara's mouth instead of getting distracted by the boy, we could have saved dozens of peoples' homes!"

"I've said it from the beginning," someone called from the back. "Children have no place fighting crime."

"Next time you and your little boyfriend decide to dress up and play hero, try to at least not get anyone hurt, if you refuse to be helpful!"

Marinette erupted. "Are you serious?" She let loose a string of curses at them. "You think you could be even half as successful without me? You couldn't even get within a block of the Makara until I showed up! And if you think it's so easy to hold onto a string while being whipped around by a Makara, next time you do it! Do it all on your own next time for all I care-I'm the girl with magic, and you're in no shape to protect Paris without me. A block of ruined apartment buildings? Let's see what you can save without me here to save your asses! My powers are the ones which have saved over a dozen Parisian citizens from permanently being Akumatized! My powers are the ones which help you stop the Akuma before they harm anyone. My powers are the ones you rely on every time the Makara alarm goes off. And you," Marinette spun towards Officer Perot. "Don't you lie to me. I was there-I saw my partner save you. Cat Noir might be new, but he's trying his best to save this city, just like I was, just like you are. Don't you dare disrespect his efforts by lying to everyone about what he did, and completely overlooking all the work he did tonight!" Ladybug turned and swung away, anger boiling in her muscles until late that night.

She couldn't fathom the gall of those officers. How dare they insinuate that the damage was her fault? She was there to stop the Makara, to save people. She hadn't summoned the creature-the destruction of Paris was not her doing. She had been responsible for was the purification of the Akuma, and the relative safety the Parisian police had had for the last month. Well, if this was how they were going to treat her, she might just not show up for a while. That would show them, wouldn't it?

Marinette stepped out of her room, onto her balcony. The cool air of the Paris night brushed against her cheeks, and her ragged breaths evened out. She opened her eyes and studied the street below her. Broken up, crumbled, destroyed. An Akuma had done that, but Akuma only show up after Makara. The destruction of Paris could be blamed on the Makara-Marinette certainly blamed them. She looked up at the stars. As angry as she was, as many times as she angrily told Tikki she would quit and let the police officers take care of Paris on their own, she knew she was lying. Paris was her home, and she had the power to protect it, even a little. Marinette stayed there for a long time, simply staring at the ruined streets of her childhood.


(The confrontation between Ladybug and the police was recorded on a bodycam of an officer. The recording was anonymously sent to Alya Cesaire. A certain blonde boy saw the footage, heard the words, and understood their meaning. Ladybug had not been kind to him since he had met her, but her words in the altercation showed him one thing: she viewed him as her partner. He didn't need an apology as long as he had that knowledge)