A/N: Welp, this was long in coming, but here goes nothing :D
(Disclaimer: refer to Prologue)
Chapter 1
There was once a 14 year-old girl, who dreamt of becoming a famous fashion designer. She lived in Paris, the city of love, and had a massive crush on a model, who was incidentally a classmate of hers. Everyone knew her as the nice – if terribly clumsy – Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and her days were spent quietly.
However, her peace was one day challenged by the appearance of a monster in her city, causing mayhem left and right.
As she'd been watching its progress through the local news, horrified- she had suddenly noticed a little box of unknown origins on her desk.
Despite being unsure of what it was and where it had come from, she had opened it, and-
... everything came rushing back.
She reflexively threw herself to the side – out of the way of a cane that had already hit its mark – even as her wildly beating heart told her that it was too late.
She closed her eyes tightly in anticipation for the pain-
...
-except that it never came.
A beat of silence... Two...
Marinette scrunched up her brow unconsciously, eyes still firmly closed.
Hawkmoth hadn't missed, and she knew that. So why...?
There wasn't a single sound in her immediate vicinity- not even a slight shifting of one's weight.
The quiet soon started to unnerve her.
What had happened? ...Where was Chat Noir?
Had the impact made her partially deaf...?
With baited breath and a frown pulling at her lips, she decided to wait some more...
... distantly noting the absence of wind...
... the muffled (?) sounds of traffic in the distance...
... Yet, nothing happened.
Eventually, she wasn't left with any other choice but to blink her confused blue eyes open, in spite of her wariness at what may occur.
Only, even then, there was no pain.
Just the most unexpected sight of-
"-my- bedroom...?"
Pink walls full of Adrien's pictures, furniture of equally flamboyant colour everywhere, trap doors, a mannequin-
Yup. This was her room for sure.
Looking at the familiar environment perplexedly and still crouched in a defensive position, Marinette couldn't help but wonder what kind of trick Hawkmoth had managed to pull off this time.
The room was the same she'd always known, not a single detail out of place. She could even smell the scent of freshly baked baguettes wafting from downstairs...
Even so, she didn't allow herself to lower her guard quite yet.
As she'd been squinting at her desk, a high-pitched voice suddenly piped up, disrupting the prior deadly silence and her thought process with it.
"Everything's okay," it began, "don't be-"
But Marinette didn't even give her time to finish that sentence:
"Tikki!"
Relief washing over her, she immediately straightened from her position at the sight of the red kwami, floating a bit ways from her.
"I'm so glad you're here! Do you have any idea what's happening?" she asked the small god as she walked towards her, casting wary glances around the room as she got closer – just in case.
(Who knew what kind of tricks Hawkmoth still had up his sleeves, after all...)
As a result, she missed the strange look Tikki sent her way, and added, tone now much lower and holding her chin thoughtfully:
"...I don't even remember de-transforming, for that matter..."
"... Oh, um, well, I understand everything must be a bit strange to you-" Tikki resumed at that, visibly shaking herself out of her daze- until Marinette cut in once again.
"I know right?" she agreed emphatically, brow scrunched up in frustration, "I could have sworn we were fighting just a minute ago, but then- ARGH-"
A sharp pain spiking through the side of her head abruptly interrupted her, prompting Marinette to fall to one knee and Tikki to gasp in surprise.
"Marinette! What's wrong?!"
"-m-my head-"
The brunette grit her teeth and had to bite back tears at the intensity of the pain. She didn't see Tikki frantically coming over to her side, and she barely heard her panicked tweets as she floated around her head, trying to find the origin of the problem.
All Marinette could do was force herself to ignore the pain and focus, because if the wound was as bad as she thought – and felt – it was, she was going to have to go to the closest hospital ASAP; but if it was just a scratch... going to a doctor would only unnecessarily worry her parents, who would then most likely demand answers she wasn't in any state to make up on the spot (pun unintended). So despite the pain... she was going to have to take those facts into account and make an informed decision.
Jaw clenched, she forced herself to uncurl from her protective position on the floor, and began to tentatively prod her skull in the general area she remembered the cane landing, wincing throughout the entire process.
However, after a few minutes spent delicately trying to assess the state of her injury...
... She had to throw in the towel:
"There's... no wound...?" her statement turned into a question halfway as she gently carded her fingers through her hair, trying to convince herself and failing.
This- made no sense.
She could vividly remember the feel of Hawkmoth cane against her skull, the sound it had made as it had connected, and the feel of something giving way-
Without warning, Marinette felt bile rising in her throat and jumped for the waste bin under her desk – just in time for her to painfully dry heave in. Just like always when she was sick, the process was unpleasant, disgusting, and all around exhausting... But on top of everything, this time it also unfortunately went on for a while, since every time she thought she was done, the memory of that cane and everything that came with it sent her back head first into the bin all over again.
It was only when she was finally able to suppress the memory to a manageable level, that she regained a semblance of control over her bowels.
Following this unpleasant experience, she tried to assess her physical state one more time-
-and to her utter astonishment, she found that, while her throat was scratchy and her stomach queasy-
...her head didn't hurt anymore.
"Marinette..." said brunette looked up as Tikki advanced towards her, holding a tissue and looking a mixture of terribly worried and something else, "... are you alright?" the little god asked with a small voice.
Thanking her for the tissue and using it to wipe both her teary eyes and mouth, Marinette could only sigh exhaustedly before giving her answer:
"I really don't know, Tikki..."
The both of them fell into uneasy silence after that; one filled with tension and unasked questions.
(Although, unbeknownst to either, they were two very different types of questions.)
Marinette ended up breaking it when she let out a long groan of frustration, brushing a stray tear away and messing her hair up.
She stood up on shaky legs and went to her sink in order to clean up.
Once there, sitting in front of her mirror, her reflection made it all the more apparent that she was perfectly healthy – pale clammy skin aside.
... This- this didn't make any sense; none of it did!
One second, she'd been fighting at the Trocadéro, then the next she was de-transformed and in her bedroom... One second, she had just received a devastating blow, then the next she was already completely healed – but she still had momentarily felt the pain of the impact despite the absence of a wound...
There was no reason for her to end up teleported into her bedroom- nor was there any explanation to her miraculous (pun unintended) recovery...
...Was she going crazy?
Too preoccupied by the utter bizarreness of the situation, Marinette didn't immediately notice that Tikki didn't seem to be... all there, as she floated beside her at eye level. Fortunately, having gotten to know the kwami for many months by now, having laughed and cried with her, and shared pretty much everything... it wasn't long until her reflection in the mirror – so sombre compared to her usually cheerful little face – became all too obvious.
Marinette instantly shelved her troubles aside for the next few moments.
"Tikki...?"
Her soft call seemed to jerk the little god out of some deep contemplation. But even then, her expression only hardened in a way Marinette had never witnessed before: like this, it suddenly became much easier to see that the little kwami was as old as creation itself, as opposed to her usual encouraging and positive self.
"Are you alright...?" the brunette asked tentatively, echoing the kwami's words from earlier.
It took a few tense beats...
... but Tikki eventually replied.
"Marinette..." she began, staring into said girl's eyes unblinkingly in order to show how serious she was, "What I'm about to tell you is something very important- and that you should never repeat to anyone. In fact, the only reason I'm telling you right now, is because I believe in the fact that you were chosen for a good reason..."
Marinette gulped, unconsciously straightening her back at the kwami's tone and anxious to hear what would follow.
"... It should be impossible, but..." Tikki went on with a frown-
-and she was pretty sure suspense like that could kill- and should be illegal-
"... you are a Guardian." the kwami finally revealed, with a great sigh that could have been relief.
...
Marinette blinked rapidly when the words registered.
"... wait-"
"-I thought it was my imagination at first, but, even now, I can feel the fledging bond of a Miraculous Guardian in you, even though it shouldn't be possible-"
The kwami had started to circle around the room by now, high voice serious, and flying so fast that she was no more than a red blur after some time. Marinette followed her frantic flight with her eyes as she tried to understand what she was being told.
...
... What was it with her being a Guardian again?
"...and...fact... also knew... which shouldn't be-" the mutterings went on, flight picking up so much that Marinette almost couldn't see the kwami anymore.
She blinked again.
... Hadn't Tikki seen Master Fu give her the title right before he...?...
"Wait, Tikki- why-"
But the little god seemed too focused on her thoughts, and Marinette could only watch on helplessly, trying to gather her own thoughts.
Did Tikki disagree with her new position? Oh God, she knew she wasn't good enough for it, it was obvious! Master Fu had just done it as a last spur of the moment thing-
A gasp left her: what if Tikki hadn't seen what was happening when she was suited up as Ladybug...? Then the kwami wouldn't know about the change in titles, but also about Master Fu's collapsing... -was this even how the Miraculouses worked?
Marinette was starting to panic at that point, wondering how she was going to break the news to the little god-
Until her eyes ended up on her desk and her computer's screen.
Still screaming internally, she only absentmindedly noticed that it was turned on and showing the news, Nadja Chamack reporting something about a giant made out of rocks crashing its way through the-... streets... of... Paris...
...
.
.
.
And that's when everything clicked.
Her bedroom, being de-transformed, her missing memories of what had happened after she'd been hit, Tikki's strange behaviour-
She didn't know why, or how- but somehow, with neither the help of the Snake Miraculous nor that of Bunnyx...
...Marinette Dupain-Cheng had traveled back into the past.
A/N: There you have it~ Thoughts? I hope you like where this is heading because I have ideas...