What's My Name?
Tikki gave Marinette a sheepish smile and a wave. "Hi, Marinette," she said, voice meek. She cleared her throat, as if the brief moment it took to do that would provide her enough time to gather her strength. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you outright."
Marinette frowned, looking her kwami over. "Why didn't you?" she asked. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?" Something ached in her chest, deep down beyond what she could ever imagine. She'd felt the sadness of betrayal before, sure; she felt it every time one of her friends was forced to fight against her in the form of akumas, but this was different. This cut through to her soul.
Tikki looked away, tears filling her eyes. "I was going to try to fix it before you had to do anything."
"Fix it?" Marinette parroted. "How? How can you fix this, Tikki?" She shook her head. "You heard Madelaine; it takes a hundred years for kwamis to get enough energy to go back to their miraculous."
"Plagg and I have a... a shortcut, I guess you could say. A cheat that neither of us told anyone about. Not the Guardians, not our past holders, not the other kwamis," Tikki explained. "It only works with the two of us because we were the first and the most powerful."
Marinette nodded slowly, listening to Tikki's words. "So you just... what? Weren't gonna tell me? Let me think I got Madelaine's plague again and was going to die?"
"I tried to get you to stop-"
"By coming up to me in one of the most intimidating ways possible!" Marinette snapped. "I was scared to leave you alone with my parents because I was afraid you might kill them. I thought you were working with Madelaine!"
Tikki leaned back, curling in on herself a bit. "What?" she asked softly. "Oh, Marinette, I'm so sorry. I never thought that would be something you would think of-"
"She poisoned me!" Marinette winced, a hand going to her chest. After a second's recovery, she went on, voice betraying her complete and utter exhaustion. "When my mind went back in time, Madelaine could see me. And she said she'd get her revenge, so she poisoned me. It wasn't some random turn of fate it was a targeted attack. And she did it again that night when she sent those men."
"I'm sorry," Tikki whispered.
"So am I."
Marinette didn't allow herself another second to think on it, removing the earrings and slamming them down on the coffee table. "Good luck getting back in the earrings." She spun on her heel and marched out of the room.
"Marinette, wait!"
She stopped, turning to look at Adrien when she heard his voice. "What is it, Adrien? I'm tired and my lungs hurt and I just want to go home and sleep."
Adrien didn't respond at first, though it could definitely be argued that the pity on his face was response enough. When he finally found his voice, he said, "I'm sorry for everything my mom did to you."
Marinette scoffed and shook her head. "Madelaine isn't your mom, Adrien. Emilie is. And we're gonna get her back."
A small smile formed on Adrien's face. "So we're still a team?" He held up a fist to her.
Despite herself, Marinette lifted her fist as well. "You know, we're supposed to save this for after we win."
Adrien shrugged. "Semantics… Pound it?"
"Pound it." Marinette bumped her knuckles against his. "I'll see you later, Adrien, I just… need some space. Especially from Tikki."
"I understand," Adrien replied with a nod. "I felt the same way after I found out about my dad. But it gets better, okay? I promise."
Marinette nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes, unaware of when they even showed up in the first place. "Thank you, Adrien, for everything. You're the best partner a superheroine could ask for."
"I do my best, milady."
Slowly, reluctantly, Marinette pulled away and left the mansion, headed towards her house.
But she didn't stop there. Instead, she kept walking until she reached a corner store.
A bell rang as she opened the door, but she paid it no mind- not because it was just part of the background of everyday life, but because the blood pounding in her ears made hearing anything else next to impossible.
She meandered about the store, picking up the items on her list one by one. All the while, she felt her heart slamming into her chest. Was this what a heart attack felt like?
When she was done, she set them down on the cashier's counter. "Just these, please."
The cashier looked down at her items, then back up at her. "Um... these?"
Marinette glanced down as well. "Yep," she squeaked. "Just this."
Reluctantly, the cashier rang up the items, putting them in a bag behind the counter after each one. When they were all done, Marinette slid her card across the counter, a meek smile on her face.
"Um... ah..." The cashier slowly handed her back her card and bag. "Don't... do anything stupid, okay, kid?"
"I won't," Marinette promised. And she wasn't. Her plan totally wasn't stupid, it was going to save the day it was-
Horribly, impossibly, monumentally stupid.
When Marinette got to the bridge, she took a cursory glance around to make sure she was alone. No one else was there, undoubtedly all hiding in their homes after Madelaine's latest attacks.
Good. She didn't want any witnesses for this.
Marinette glanced down at the sandbags and rope she'd picked up from the store and let out a shaky breath. Her lungs still burned from all her coughing, and she wasn't sure how this would end. But she had to try.
She tied the bags to her ankles, then her arms, and recited the words from memory.
In aqua,
Ita ut inveniam
A protector est, custos
Ut salvificem mundum ab his
Qui enim nocere potest, ut velit
With that, she dropped into the water.
Marinette wasn't sure when she blacked out. But suddenly she was surrounded by white, standing in a temple. She looked around, searching out any sign of her target.
"Oh lookie here, we have a wannabe guardian."
Marinette spun around to see a man in ancient clothing, the likes of which Marinette had never seen. His imposing figure was at least three times Marinette's size, maybe even four or five. Generally, big guys didn't scare her- she had her father to thank for that- but this... this was different.
"You're the one who gives the test?" she asked.
The man smirked and gave an over-dramatic bow. "At your service," he said.
Marinette nodded. "Okay," she breathed. "How do I begin?"
"Every guardian gets a different test," the man explained. "Each is suited to who they are as a person and who they'll be as a guardian. You get three riddles. Solve them all and you're a guardian. Get even one wrong and you're dead."
"Fun," Marinette sighed. "Let's get started; I know time works differently here, but I don't think I want to be in the water any longer than possible."
The man smirked. "Alright then. You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don't see a single person on the boat. Why?"
Marinette pursed her lips and furrowed her brows together. It was just like being Ladybug, she reasoned. She came up with answers to weird puzzles all the time. This was no different.
The answer came to her. "They're all married."
The man raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Well done. Your second question is this: There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?"
Marinette thought the question over. A house that you enter blind and come out seeing... a hospital? No, this man was ancient. Hospitals wouldn't have had that ability then unless there was magic involved- then again, kwamis were involved. But the riddle seemed familiar.
Maybe a book? Yeah, she'd definitely read it in a book. Or a poster? Or Tikki!
"A school!" the answer popped into Marinette's mind. She grinned, unable to stop the pride in her chest. Or maybe it wasn't pride. The burning in her lungs had increased suddenly, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.
The man smirked at her. "Looks like you may be a guardian yet... but you still have one more. So riddle me this: What I'm saying to you is a lie. Do you trust what I tell you?"
Marinette frowned, a million possible answers running through her mind. She took a deep breath, but her lungs burned again. She coughed, putting a hand on her chest. "Am I getting sick again?"
The man shrugged. "You tell me."
Why was this happening? She was Ladybug, dammit! Solving problems was her thing...
And if this guy knew everything about her, he'd know that. He'd do something a little harder for her test. "What's my name?" she asked, her voice coming out raspy.
"I beg your pardon?"
"What? Is? My name?"
The man rolled his eyes. "Why would that matter?" he asked.
A smirk worked its way onto Marinette's face. "I know the answer to the riddle," she declared. "And I'm outta here."
Marinette woke up under water. She immediately began struggling, fighting her way up, but her found herself held down. She glanced down, spotting the sand bags still tied to her. She swam back down, fighting against the knots to no avail.
Her lungs already burned from being underwater for so long, and it took everything she had not to take a breath. Spots danced in her vision before finally fading to black.