Marinette pulled on a grey sweater dress, embroidered with her favourite pink lotuses, and pink ballet flats. She let her hair out, and after much consideration applied a tiny bit of makeup. Yes, Adrien preferred natural, but she wanted to look pretty!

As if she'd read Marinette mind, Tikki jetted over, frowning. "You don't need makeup, Marinette. You have a beautiful face without piling on all that stuff." She cast a scornful look at the tubes and palettes in front of Marinette.

Marinette just rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Tikki. Adrien won't even notice it!" She staggered away, picking up her bag and heading downstairs, where she kissed her parents goodbye and rushed off to school.

As Tikki bounced in time with Marinette's steps inside her purse, she continued to worry about Marinette. She didn't want her to do anything rash, or anything that she might regret later on. Hopefully, Alya would look after her. If not… well, Tikki would step in.

Marinette skidded to a halt in front of Alya, who was waiting for her. "Hey, Alya!" she chirped.

Alya smiled at her friend, hugging her. "Hey, girl. How was your thing with Adrien? I would've called you, but our Wi-Fi dropped out, so I couldn't even update the Ladyblog! It was so embarrassing!"

Marinette stepped back from Alya's embrace and laughed. "Oh, it went fine. Turns out you were right, and Chloe kissed Adrien, not the other way around!"

Alya whooped. "That's great, girl! Anything else?"

"Yep," said Marinette with a nod. "I'm going to ask him to the dance!"

Alya high-fived her. "Slay, girl! Good on you! But… wasn't he going with Chloe?"

Marinette giggled. "He said his father forced him into having Chloe as a partner, but Adrien said he doesn't want to go with her! So I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to go with someone else!"

The pair began to walk inside. "You seem oddly confident about this, M," remarked Alya. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Of course! Silly Alya." Marinette smiled and mussed up Alya's hair, then skipped ahead, leaving Alya open-mouthed and messy-haired.

"Weird," she muttered to herself, as she patted her hair back into place. "Very, very weird."

MLBMLBMLB

If Alya had thought Marinette's behaviour was off before, now she was convinced of it. The girl had acted strangely all day, almost like she was intoxicated. Marinette had stumbled around, beaming and giggling constantly. Alya did her best to keep her away from Adrien, just in case her weird behaviour scared him off. At lunch, Alya had taken her somewhere private and bluntly asked if she had been drinking. Predictably, Marinette had giggled, shook her head, and said, "Silly Alya, of course I haven't been drinking! I'm underage." Then she'd messed up Alya's hair- again. Alya was getting a little sick of Marinette acting like this, but she was mostly concerned. Fortunately, it was the end of the day, and soon Marinette would be safe at home with her parents. They would know what to do with their daughter.

The two girls were standing out the front of the school, chatting.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir haven't replied yet. I really, really wish they would come. I bet no other school in Paris has superheroes at their Valentine's Dance," Alya was saying.

Marinette shrugged. "Well, it is Valentine's. Maybe they have other things to do. You know that they have a life apart from being superheroes."

Alya sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Speaking of the dance, when were you planning on asking Adrien?" she asked curiously.

Marinette laughed. "Right now. Wish me luck!" She spun on her heel and strode over to the blonde model, who was standing alone, checking his phone as he waited to be picked up.

Marinette took a deep breath and steeled herself for the task ahead. She stepped closer to Adrien and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Adrien?"

He spun, saw her, then smiled and slipped his phone into his pocket. "Hey, Marinette. What's up?"

She smiled up at him. "Oh, nothing much."

His eyes slid over her outfit. "That's a cool dress, Marinette," he commented. "Did you make it?" Adrien wasn't his father, but he'd spent enough time at fashion shows to know that it would take some serious skill to make what Marinette was wearing.

She nodded. "Yeah, I did."

He looked impressed. "Wow. What other projects are you working on at the minute?"

Marinette lowered her eyelashes. "Well, I'm sewing my dress for the Valentine's Dance," she said quietly.

Adrien's eyebrows shot up. "Really? You must be very talented, M."

She flushed, both at the compliment and the fact that Adrien had used her nickname. "Thanks, but it's not done yet," she laughed.

He smiled at her warmly. "I'm sure it'll be amazing." Adrien paused. "So, you're going to the dance? Who's your partner?" he asked curiously.

Marinette looked up at him, her blue eyes wide and hopeful. "Well, actually, that's why I came over here," she said, shuffling her feet. "Do you, um...do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Adrien felt his stomach drop. "Oh.. I'm really sorry, Marinette. I..well, I don't want to-"

"Oh, that's fine," said Marinette, her voice strangely high-pitched.

Adrien was worried. "No, Marinette, it's not yo-"

"I understand!" Her voice was still too high, and her smile too bright, to put Adrien at ease. "It doesn't matter, really! Have a nice evening!" She gave that unsettling smile again, turned around, and returned to Alya.

Marinette kept her back to Adrien, determinedly not looking at him. "Is he still there?" she whispered to Alya, who looked over Marinette shoulder.

"Yep," replied Alya. "What happened, what did he say?"

"Not now," Marinette hissed. "When he leaves." She spun around, beamed at Adrien and gave him a wave, then turned around again, hoping that would encourage the concerned boy to leave.

Alya looked again and saw Adrien climbing into his sleek car. She waited until it had gone around the corner and was out of sight before giving Marinette the all clear.

As soon as Alya had whispered that Adrien was gone, Marinette threw her arms around the blogger's shoulders and buried her face into the girl's flannel shirt. A surprised Alya had comforted her, whispering kind words as her best friend let out her tears. Had Adrien still been around, she would have marched over to him and given him a good kick in the shins- Nino's best friend or not. He'd hurt Marinette, and there was no way in hell that Alya was going to let him get away with it.

As Alya fumed and Marinette cried, Tikki shivered in the bluenette's purse, her powers steadily draining away.

MLBMLBMLB

Before, Marinette had known that her heart was broken.

Now she didn't even know how to describe it.

It was like millions of pieces of shattered glass, impossible to put back together, sharp and painful to touch. That was as close as she could get, and that barely covered half of it.

Tikki hadn't spoken, but Marinette hardly noticed. Alya had walked her home, seen her safely inside, made sure she was okay. Marinette had wiped away her tears, thanked Alya, and assured the girl that she would be fine. Alya had left, still worried but aware that she had an important doctor's appointment that afternoon, and her mother would be beside herself if ALya was late.

Once Marinette heard the door click shut, she'd broken down again, her sobs causing the sofa to tremble and the pillow she was clutching to become soaked in warm, salty tears. Tikki had flown out of her purse so she could be more comfortable, but hadn't talked to her chosen, hadn't offered her usual helpful advice. She'd sat on the bookshelf, rigid and unusually pale, silent and hardly blinking, like she'd been turned to marble.

After five minutes of weeping, Marinette sat up on the sofa, holding a pillow tightly to her chest, the way a young child might hold a teddy bear. Tikki still hadn't moved, and Marinette had no idea where she was. She needed her kwami for love, advice, and comfort. Without Tikki, she didn't know how to cope.

The bluenette quickly searched her purse but came up empty-handed. Fearing for her kwami's safety, she cried out. "Tikki!"

A small movement caught Marinette's eye, and she turned towards it, breaking out into a tear-stained smile when she saw the little red creature. "Tikki!" She staggered to her feet and lurched unsteadily towards her.

Her smile dropped as she got closer and saw how pale and still the kwami was. In trembling hands, Marinette scooped up her little friend, and brought her to her chest, cradling her.

Tikki barely reacted to the touch of her chosen. The kwami's eyes fluttered, but nothing else. Marinette grew very, very concerned, shoving her pain aside, and filling the space with worry for her kwami. "Oh, no, no." Dropping her cushion, Marinette ran for the kitchen and began to search frantically for a choc-chip cookie, pressing Tikki close to her. At last, Marinette found what she wanted and offered her kwami the treat, eyes wide and fearful.

To her immense joy, Tikki opened her eyes and reached for the biscuit. Marinette was shocked by how faded the colour of Tikki's eyes was. It was almost like something was leeching her brightness out of her.

Marinette let the kwami eat her cookie with painstakingly slow bites. When the last mouthful had disappeared, Marinette pressed a kiss to her kwami's cold forehead. "Tikki! You're okay!"

The kwami shook her head, the movement to tiny that Marinette almost didn't see it. "Marinette…" she croaked. "I'm..not...okay. I-I.."

"Hold on, Tikki. I'm going to take you to Master Fu," said Marinette soothingly. She grabbed her purse from the living room, placed another cookie and some tissues for comfort inside, and rushed out the door, running as quickly as she could to Master Fu's.

MLBMLBMLB

Marinette waited breathlessly, leaning against the wall for support. She'd crashed into Master Fu's room, screaming his name. He'd dropped a teacup and rushed over to her. Marinette had held out Tikki, babbling incoherently. Master Fu had taken one look at the pale kwami and ordered Marinette to wait outside, which she was now doing. It was agonizing, not knowing what was going on, not knowing if Tikki was going to be okay. The distraught superheroine put her hands to her face and was surprised when they came away streaked with something black. Marinette pulled her phone out of her purse and checked her reflection in the camera app. With a groan, she put her phone away. No wonder she'd gotten some odd looks as she'd been coming here. Her crying had caused the makeup she'd applied this morning to smear all over her face, so she now looked like an extra from a cheap horror film. But her frightening appearance didn't matter now. The only thing Marinette cared about was her kwami's wellbeing.

Because Tikki wasn't just a kwami to her. She was so much more. One of Marinette's best friends, someone who gave great advice and was always there for her. It wasn't just that act that if she lost Tikki, she would lose Ladybug. It was the fact that if she lost Tikki, she would lose one of her best friends.

Marinette slumped down onto the floor, hugging her knees as trying to breathe deeply as the realization struck her; that one of her best friends was possibly dying. Never before had Marinette felt so utterly helpless. She knew nothing about magic healing, or even what was the matter with her friend. There was nothing she could do for Tikki, and it hurt.

Just when Marinette thought that her day had hit rock-bottom, the universe decided to prove her wrong. There was an enormous crash from outside, and screams began to swirl.

Using some very colourful vocabulary that would have earned her a grounding from her parents, Marinette hurled open the door and peered outside. Bright red things were flying everywhere, crashing into buildings, trees, cars, and sometimes even people. They seemed to be coming from something a few blocks away, hidden by tall buildings. It was absolute chaos, people screaming and running for their lives as the red things continued to rain down.

Marinette gave the wall a furious kick and ignored the pain in her throbbing foot.

What the hell was she meant to do?

Hi! Sorry for the little cliffhanger...but not really, because I love to be annoying. Thanks for reading!