Marinette Dupan-Cheng was rushing towards campus, her feet moving as fast as possible.
It was the first day of a new school year and the raven haired girl went rushing through her morning routine of brushing her teeth and getting dressed in her usual outfit of a white flower printed shirt, semi-long sleeved dark jacket with pale pink polka-dots at the cuffs, pink capris, and pink flats. Once ready the girl ran to school.
She was at the entrance College Francoise Dupont, the secondary school she attended.
"Hey Alya!" Marinette called when her blue-belle eyes spotting her tan-skinned friend dressed in her typical pink, orange, and purple, and white flannel shirt and jeans.
"Hey girl, glad to see you're not tardy." The auburn haired girl replied, looking up form her smart phone.
"Guess this means I'm improving this year" Marinette laughed, pale hands at her hair as she fixed her two low pig-tails, disheveled from running, then ran her fingers through her side bang.
"I'm amazed you somehow managed to be late at all last year considering you live right across the street." Her best friend retorted.
"Yeah well…" Marinette started, not sure what to say. She couldn't exactly tell her the truth that she typically over-slept due to nightly patrols and fighting akumas.
Marinette lived a double-life, one as herself, daughter of bakery owners, and one as Ladybug, half of Paris's famous superhero duo. It all started on the first day of school when she helped an old man in a floral pattern shirt cross the street and later ended up opening an oriental box containing a pair of studded earrings.
That was the day she met her kwami, a red little creature named Tikki who helped her transform into Ladybug. Her life was never the same since that day as now she not only had a huge responsibility trusted to her but she had a keep it a secret for the safety of not only herself but those close to her.
It also didn't help that her best friend also happened to be the biggest fan of her superhero persona and ran a very popular blog about her and her partner, Chat Noir's, exploits. Not only did it increase the chances of Alya finding and Chat's identities but it also put the blogger in serious danger.
Unfortunately there wasn't much Marinette could do, her friend was too head-strong when warned and refused to miss seeing the duo in action.
"Anyway, let's head to class." Alya grinned, putting an arm round her friend's shoulder. "I have some awesome footage of the last akuma attack I want to show you."
"Alright, alright" Marinette chuckled. She didn't need to see the video considering she lived the battle, but if it made her friend happy and avoided suspicion then she doesn't mind humoring her.
The girls walked through the entrance and made their way to class, sitting down at their table slightly higher than the first row. Alya pulled up the video on her smart phone and Marinette scooted closer to her, watching the video with her and commenting and reacting appropriately at the right times.
As the video finished two boys watched in, sitting down in the seats the seats in front of them. One boy was green-eyes with golden blond hair, wearing jeans, orange converse, and a white short sleeve jacket over a black t-shirt with three different colored stripes. The second boy was dark-skinned, wearing a red baseball cap on his head with light blue jeans, and a blue t-shirt with a strange eye design on it.
"Hey." The blond boy greeted the two girls as he and his best friend sat down.
"H-hey Adrien." Marinette said timidly, with a small smile and pink cheeks. "Hey Nino" She then greeted his friend with smile.
"Hey" Alya smiled, greeting the boys, her green eyes lingering on her Nino through her black framed glasses.
"Hey Mari, Hey babe" Nino greeted, his brown eyes staring into Alya's.
Adrien and Marinette both smiled at their friends who were now dating, the glanced at each other before chuckling and shaking their heads in unison.
Marinette was definitely happy for Nino and Alya, they were a good match despite their opposing personalities. It took a while but the two eventually became official. This also worked in Marinette's favor as well. Marinette had had a crush on Nino's best friend Adrien for a while now and with her best friend dating his, the four occasionally got together and hung out, giving Marinette a chance to spend time with Adrien. Initially Marinette could barely form a sentence around the blond due to her crush making her a nervous mess but after she spent a bit of time with him when he helped her out the time her great uncle visited from China, she started getting better at interacting with him. This improved further now that the four of the established a quartet of sorts. Marinette was finally comfortable around Adrien enough to talk to him with minimal stuttering and the two of them got along well.
"So, what's up" Nino asked the girls.
"I was just showing Mari here the video I took of Ladybug and Chat Noir defeating the last akuma." Alya said, passing her phone to Nino with the video starting to play.
"Wow, I saw this up on the Ladyblog." Adrien said, watching the video as well beside Nino.
"Awesome right!" Alya exclaimed. "Now if I could only get an interview with both of them at once, it would be amazing."
"Well, the opportunity might come along one day, who knows" Marinette said. Her mind was shifting through ideas of how she could pull this off with Chat Noir without compromising their identities.
"Yeah, you never know." Adrien agreed, his mind going through the same route as Marinette's ironically.
The irony was that Adrien was in fact the cat themed superhero Chat Noir, it was a secret he has never told anyone. Ladybug didn't even know his real identity and he didn't know hers. It was at her insistence that they couldn't tell anyone, not even each other, though Adrien, with the crush he had on his partner, wouldn't mind sharing identities with her, wanting to know who the girl was behind the red, black-spotted mask.
"Yeah, maybe, I'll try and ask them next time they show up." Alya spoke, breaking the two out of their thoughts.
The group continued chatting about the events of the most recent summer break, happy to be in the same class again as other students flocked in, similar conversations filling the room.
It was then that the group noticed a student walk in that they didn't recognize. She had wavy pale blond hair pulled up in a long pony-tail with a braid wrapping around a few times where her hair-tie was, and some strands were left out to frame her face with her side bang. She wore a blue semi-long sleeved crop top that said "DANCE" on it, with a white tank top under it. Black cropped leggings and blue converse low-tops completed the look. Her violet-blue eyes cautiously glanced around the classroom as she entered, followed by a red-haired woman.
"Alright class." The woman, Madam Bustier, spoke, getting the attention of the students she taught.
The class settled down as the teacher went up to the front of the room and the girl walked up the steps to the higher level, taking a seat at the table behind Marinette and Alya next to a red-haired boy who was drawing on his tablet with a stylus.
"Now I know you are all eager to catch up on what you did during break so today's assignment will be easy, just a short essay about an adventure you had over the summer, it can be a trip you took, or something you did with your friends, or a story about something you would've like to happen over break. It's up to you. The assignment is due at the end of this week." The teacher explained as she went and passed out the rubric for the essay to the first row, giving those in front extra sheets with instructions to take one and pass the rest back.
The teacher than began the lesson for the day as the students took down notes in their notebooks and tablets.
Eventually it was time for lunch and the students began filing out of the room to meet up with their friends and enjoy their meals. As everyone was getting up the Marinette and her friends noticed that the girl sitting behind them was still sitting, looking like she felt awkward. The four shared a look and nodded before Marinette turned to her.
"Hey, would you like to join us for lunch" she asked the girl.
"Huh?" the girl looked up in surprise. She averted her eyes for moment, biting her lower lip. She seemed to debate with herself for a moment before looking at Marinette again, "S-sure, I'd like that." She said softly.
"Great." Alya grinned. "Are you coming too Nathaniel?" She asked.
The boy beside the girl looked up and smiled. "Yeah" He replied.
Natheniel was a friend of Marinette's who sometimes joined the group.
"Great!" Marinette smiled, then turned to the girl. "So, What's your name?"
"S-Selene…Selene Blake" she answered.
"Well, nice to meet you Selene, I'm Mainette Dupan-Cheng." Marinette grinned, extending her hand out to the blond who gave a small smile and shook it.
"I'm Alya Cesaire, proud owner of the famous Ladyblog." The Auburn haired teen stated happily, shaking hands with Selene as well.
"O-Oh really, cool, I logged on and checked it out a few times already." Selene replied.
"Really, glad you've heard of it, anyway the model boy over there is Adrien Agreste" Alya said, pointing her thumb at the blond boy standing in the first row of seats.
"Hi" The boy smiled politely with a nod. Selene smiled and nodded in return, recognizing the teen from the advertisements for Agreste brand clothes she'd seen around the city and in magazines. She didn't need to ask why Alya called him model boy.
"The one with the thick headphones around his neck is my boyfriend Nino Lahiffe." Alya continued.
"What's up" Nino greeted.
"And the artist sitting next to you is Nathaniel Kurtzberg" The blogger finished.
"Nice to meet you" the redhead said with a shy smile, fixing his black leather jacket that he wore over a red t-shirt and purple jeans.
"Well, it's…it's nice to meet all of you." Selene smiled.
Selene didn't expect to have lunch with others, especially not on the first day, but as she thought about what her mother and Warren had said she decided to take a chance. She had to learn to trust people if she were to make friends and not end up alone. She could do this!
"So let's get going, I'm starving!" Nino exclaimed, grabbing some stuff from his backpack.
"Alright, Alright" Adrien said as he and the others did the same. "Always impatient when it comes to food." It reminded the teen model of his own kwami, a tiny black cat looking creature names Plagg who had quite the appetite.
"You know it dude." Nino grinned.
The six teens filed out of the classroom and headed to out to the courtyard near the cafeteria to sit at a table.
"So, you're new here right, where are you from?" Nathaniel asked.
"Um…Canada, actually" Selene replied. "We uh, moved to Paris because my mother got promoted to head of the office here by the company she works for."
"Really, so you speak English then huh, neat." Marinette chimed in.
"What part of Canada are you from?" Adrien asked.
"Quebec." The blond girl answered.
"Your French is pretty good." Alya complimented.
"Well um, most people in Quebec speak French so I was lucky that we happened to move to France." Selene commented.
"Sweet." Nino added in.
The lunch period went on that way with Selene answering the groups questions about herself, what hobbies she had, what was it like in Quebec, what did she think of Paris, what did she miss about Canada, and all sorts of questions. She asked a few questions of her own about the city she was adjusting to and about her new friends in an effort to get to know them.
Selene at one point excused herself to the washroom, grabbing her backpack she had brought with her and throwing out her garbage from her meal as lunch was nearing its end. She went to the nearest washroom and looked in the mirror, a small smile on her face at how the day was going so far. She quickly fixed her hair a little and washed her hands.
The screams reached her ears as she was drying her hands. The teen put her ear to the door as she listened to the sounds coming from panicked students in the hallway, she could hear the word "akuma" come from some of the students and instantly realized what was happening.
Someone was akumatized, Hawkmoth had taken advantage of another emotionally vulnerable person and turned them into a supervillian. This meant that if there was a supervillian, a superhero was needed to save the day.
Selene wasted no time, grabbing her back and entering a stall, she quickly opened up her backpack and Warren flew out of the secret pocket hidden inside.
"Looks like it's time to see if all that practice will pay off." She told Warren as she slipped her backpack over her shoulders.
"Go for it pup, just be careful." Warren said, using the nickname he had taken to calling his chosen.
"I will, WARREN FANGS IN!"
The rush of energy quickly washed over Selene and before long it was no longer Selene standing in that spot but Lycantra.
Making sure the cost was clear Lycantra quickly snuck away from the washroom an headed out to find the akuma. The villian was too difficult to locate, as she just had to follow the sounds of screaming and loud voice shouting for someone named Chloe. The sounds led Lycantra to the courtyard where not too long ago she and her new friends had enjoyed lunch.
The courtyard was mostly abandoned, most students fleeting the area to hide away somewhere, leaving only a few people in a corner, some with their phones out, recording the event from where they were supposedly hiding. Alya was among said group, the one most excited to get in on the action.
"So, you like putting others down don't you Chloe, making of fun of those you deem less pretty than you, well, since you care about your hair so much, allow me to style it for you!" shouted the akuma.
The villain was a girl, her hair styled in a beehive updo and colored pink, her suit colored pink and black. Cowering nearby her was a girl with blond hair in a ponytail, sunglasses on top of her head matching the white pants she wore with a pair of black and white striped flats and tank top, covered by a yellow semi-long sleeve jacket.
"ugh, like you know anything about doing hair!" The blond retorted towards the pink girl.
"We'll just see about that." The pink girl laughed, making her towards her with a giant pair of scissors.
Lycantra quickly pulled out her crossbow, arrow at the ready.
"Hey, over here" She called, letting the arrow fly past the villain's head, embedding itself into a nearby wall.
"Who are you?" The akuma sneered.
"Well, definitely not strawberry shortcake like you" The blond heroine replied.
"That's Hairdresser to you!" Shouted the villain, face contorted in fury.
"Leave that girl alone!" Lycantra ordered.
The pink haired teen was quiet for moment, a scowl on her lips, only to be replaced with a devilish smirk. "Very well, I'll just groom you instead!"
The villain charged at Lycantra, scissors in hand and breaking the pair in half to create two twin blade swords. Lycantra dodged out of way, landing on a table and aiming her next arrow.
In the meantime the girl called Chloe went and hid as fast as she could.
"Sorry, I forgot to make an grooming appointment, are walk-ins welcome?" teased a voice from beside the heroine.
"Chat Noir!" screamed the akuma. "You and the mutt better give me your miraculous!"
Lycantra glanced over at Chat Noir, taking in the boy's slightly messy blond hair and black skin-tight cat suit, complete with a belt hanging behind him for a tail, a bell at his neck, and cat ears.
Chat did the same, observing the new hero with his cat-like eyes from behind the green lenses of his black mask.
"Sorry, that's not going to happen" Another new voice chimed in.
"Couldn't have said better it better myself my lady" Chat grinned as the newcomer landed on the table he and Lycantra were standing on.
Ladybug rolled her eyes at him, moving a strand of dark hair from her face before eyeing Lycantra who did the same, noting Ladybug's red full body suit and mask, covered in black dots.
"Ladybug, you'll hand over your miraculous along with them!" Hairdresser shouted.
Lycantra quickly brought her attention back to Hairdresser, remembering what Warren had told her about akuma possession, and tried to find the object the evil butterfly could be hiding in.
Ladybug was doing the same thing, noticing that the only possible object was a hairclip in the villain's hair as Lycantra and Chat were doing the same.
"Her hairclip." Ladybug said.
"Pretty obvious" Chat noted. "So bugaboo, shall we try the old one two?" He asked, his voice taking on a flirtatious tone.
"Yeah, you'll distract her and I'll grab the hairclip" she said quickly, choosing to ignore Chat's advances.
The three heroes soon had to jump out of the way as Hairdresser came at them with her swords. Chat grabbed the baton he had on his back and extended it, using his skills he obtained from fencing lessons to fight and distract the villain.
Lycantra got her crossbow ready again, seeing a tree nearby in the courtyard that she might be able to pin the pink haired girl to with her arrow. Watching the fight between Chat and Hairdresser, she saw the moment that they were in perfect position and let her arrow fly, tangling in the villain's hair as it pierced the bark of the tree.
Ladybug, who had been waiting for the chance to run up and take the clip wasted no time, breaking the accessory and letting a dark purple butterfly fly out.
"No more evil doing for you little akuma." The spotted heroine said. She swiped her fingers over her yoyo and it opened up like ladybug wings, revealing a bright white light within. "Time to de-evilize!" she said, letting the object fly and capture the butterfly. The yoyo opened up once again, this time a white butterfly flew out. "Bye-bye- little butterfly."
Lycantra silently watched as Ladybug then tossed her yoyo into the air with a cry of "Miraculous Ladybug!" Whatever damage had been done during the fight was reversed and the courtyard was back in order.
"Bien Joue!" Ladybug and Chat said in unison as they did their victory fist bump.
Lycantra then smiled, which quickly turn into a nervous grimace as Ladybug approached her while Chat went to talk to the victim who was possessed.
"Come with us." Ladybug spoke. "We, uh, can talk in private." She gestured to the crowd of cheering teachers and students who returned to the courtyard once they knew it was safe.
"Um…sure…" Lycantra replied, unsure of what else to say and feeling nervous all over.
"Roof, of the nearby café?" Chat asked, coming back from consoling the poor girl, now back to normal and no longer Hairdresser.
"Yeah, meet me there" she said before heading off and zipping away with her yoyo.
"Well, don't want to keep my lady waiting." Chat said, eyeing the new hero.
"R-right." She said.
Chat grabbed the girl around the her waist with one arm before she had a chance to ready her bow or protest. He extended his baton and vaulted away from the school, Lycrantra in tow. She felt anxious as they made their way to meet Ladybug, Chat observing her the whole way as though he was analyzing her, as if being in the boy's arms like this wasn't awkward enough. Fortunately they arrived to their destination pretty quickly and he soon released her.
Ladybug turned to the two and eyes lingered on Lycantra.
"Uh, thanks for helping today. That akuma was one of the easiest." Ladybug began.
"Oh it's nothing..just…uh…yeah d-don't worry about it." The blond replied.
"What's your name?" Ladybug asked.
"Lycantra, that's uh, the superhero name I chose…" The girl answered.
"So you're the new miraculous holder huh, what's your miraculous" Chat asked, arms folded across his chest.
"O-oh, it's my anklet" Lycantra replied, pointed to her right boot.
"How did you get it?" Ladybug asked.
"It just…sort of was there in my room, I came home after helping a man named Fu out and went I looked around it was there in this fancy looking box." Lycantra answered.
The other two heroes looked at each other, their stories quite similar to the wolf-girl's.
"What's your special power?" Chat questioned.
"Alpha Heal, it uh… let's me heal myself and people around me in case of injury." The blond explained, watching the two analyze her words.
"Sorry, for the interrogation." Ladybug began with a sheepish smile "It's just that…."
"The last time we supposedly had a new team member, she turned out to be an akumatized person" Chat finished for her.
"Oh, I see" Lycantra nodded, understanding why they would be wary. "I get it, you're just trying to be careful."
The two nodded, glad to see they didn't offend or scare the girl off.
"So I guess you'll be working with us from now on?" Ladybug asked.
"Yeah, I'll help in anyway I can" Lycantra answered confidently.
"Well, great." Chat grinned. "The three of us working together will be a howl lot of fun" He looked at lycantra with a smirk as he punned.
Lycantra giggled, covering her mouth with a hand.
"He does this all the time" ladybug explained with a good natured eye roll.
"What, I'm just PAWleased to make a new FURiend My Lady" Chat retorted, a cheshire cat grin on his face. Lycantra was amused by this exchange.
"Yeah, yeah, anyway, I got to go, I'll see you two around. It was nice meeting you Lycantra" Ladybug commented, grabbing her yoyo and swinging away on it.
"I have to go too, I'll see you around then" Chat grinned, placed two fingers near his head and giving her a salute before vaulting away with his baton. "By the way, there's patrol tonight at eight o' clock if you can make it, we meet up at the Effiel Tower." He called out as he left.
"Okay, see you later" Lycantra shouted back loudly as he left. She readied her bow, letting a tied arrow fly through the air and attach to a nearby building. She grabbed the bow with both hands and swung down , retracting the arrow then repeating the process, making her way back to school.
Lycantra was able to sneak back into the bathroom un-noticed and hide in the stall, releasing her transformation and becoming Selene once more.
"Not bad for your first battle" Warren commented flying back into Selene's backpack and grabbing a piece of jerky to eat.
"Thanks!" The girl beamed, making sure her kwami was hidden before exited the washroom.
She headed back to the classroom. The excitement of the day gave Selene extra time to get to class without having to worry about getting in trouble for being late.
"Hey Selene, are you alright where were you?" asked Nathaniel, concern lacing his voice.
"Yeah, We couldn't find you, Adrien and Marinette split up to search for you and warn you." Nino added in.
"O-Oh, I was in the washroom and I heard all the commotion outside and people shouting 'akuma' so I decided to stay where I was and hide until I was sure it was safe." Selene quickly explained,. She didn't like that she was partially lying to her new friends, but it's not like she had much of a choice.
"Good thinking." Nathaniel stated, relief washing over his features.
"Speaking of Marinette and Adrien, where are they?" Alya asked.
"Here, sorry, we were looking for Selene and couldn't find her." Adrien said, walking into the room with Marinette at his side.
"Is everyone okay?" Marinette asked. "Where were you Selene?"
"H-Hiding in a stall." The blond girl answered.
"Glad everyone's alright" Alya said. "It seemed like Chloe caused another akuma."
"Chloe?" Selene asked. She recalled Hairdresser terrorizing another blond haired girl and calling her by that name.
"Chloe Bourgeois, the mayor's daughter and terror of the school."Alya explained. "She thinks that just because her dad's the mayor and runs a luxury hotel, that she can do whatever she wants. Some of the people who have been akumatized were those she picked on, last year most of the class had been akumatized."
A serious tone suddenly filled the air surrounding the six teens.
"She's right, I can attest to that." Nathaniel stated, looking uncomfortable. His time as the villain Evillustrator wasn't a happy one. He recalled the guilt he felt afterward, hardly believing he behaved the way he did.
"Same here" Alya said, a similar expression on her face. Lady Wifi was an alter ego that Alya never wanted to exist again.
"I see, was everyone okay afterward, once Ladybug and Chat Noir saved the day?" Selene asked, feeling empathetic to the two teens.
"Yeah, I mean, Nathaniel and I felt really bad about the trouble we caused as supervillains, and felt guilty for the longest time…but" Alya started.
"It wasn't your fault you two, Chloe was the one who upset you and Hawkmoth was the one taking advantage of that." Marinette argued. "He turned you into something you're not."
"She's right, please don't let it bother you guys so much." Adrien agreed.
"I-I may not have been in Paris long but…" Selene spoke up "From what I've heard and seen online and in the media I know for a fact you aren't to blame."
"Thanks" Nathaniel and Alya said in unison.
"Anyway, point is, avoid Chloe as much as possible, she's just not that pleasant to be around." Alya said. "Sorry Adrien, I know you and her are friends…"
"Were" Adrien cut her off. "I mean, we used to see each other when are parents had some business together or there was some sort of function but, we haven't really been close in a long time, especially after I've seen how mean she can be."
The others familiar with the rich daddy's girl nodded their heads in agreement. It was at that moment that the teacher walked in.
"Alright, let's settle down, I know we've a bit of excitement today but now it's time to continue as normal…"
The rest of the school day went by smoothly and it wasn't too long before it was time to go home. Selene smiled as she said good-bye to Nathaniel, with a promise of checking out the comic book he would bring in tomorrow that he was heading out to buy.
Alya, Nino, Marinette, And Adrien all said their goodbyes to her as Adrien got in his limo, Nino and Alya went to a nearby café and Marinette was heading home to help her parents out at the bakery after she finished her homework.
Selene made her way home as well, heading upstairs to her room and opening her backpack, letting Warren out.
"So, today went pretty well huh?" he grinned wolfishly.
"Yeah I'd say so, maybe I can do this socializing thing after all, as well as help save the day." The girl grinned, violet eyes shining with new found courage and hope.
She sat down and began working on her assignments for the day, finishing the small ones that were due tomorrow before starting on her essay, deciding to write about the move her family made over the summer and how although she missed Canada she felt she was going to be happy living her. She got most of it already done when she was called down to dinner.
"So sweetheart how was your first day at school?" Her father asked her as he brought food over to the table.
"You know…" Selene began, a wolfish grin on her lips that her parents hadn't seen in the longest time. "I think I'm going to like it here….."
Welp…that concludes this first episode. As always leave a comment or review letting know what you think. You shall receive internet hugs then. And as always, a disclaimer that I own nothing but Selene, her family, Warren, and made up akumas in this book.