A/N: Another week-ish another update! The tension and action is starting to rise now and I've attempted to flesh it out a bit more. In the original ABOI it was literally bare bones - dialogue and few paragraphs. Hopefully, I've done a good job of remedying that mistake in this version.

Speaking of, I may go back and edit the first few chapters after I finish the entire thing to make them more... developed. Add some foreshadowing, perhaps allude to certain stuff. I just gotta add in the extra new arcs and stuff that I wanted to add this time round.

Anyway, I'll leave my babbling at that. Till next time lovelies,

D.L.D

Chapter Fourteen: Written in the stars

Marinette

Groaning, Marinette's right hand immediately grasped at her head as she woke up. Throbbing, pounding, her headache was an entire construction crew - jackhammer and all - as it slammed into her tender skull. Before she could even open her eyes, fully wake up, the horrible burning sensation of something foul rose up her throat. Then, wide-eyed, she scurried to the nearest bathroom, dumping the contents of her stomach right into the shiny porcelain bowl of her toilet.

For too long Marinette yakked up last night's mistakes, plopping into it right into the toilet bowl. One. Heave. Two. Try to breathe. Three. Repeat it again. All until she couldn't heave up anything else, her stomach empty and her body weak as she closed her eyes and let the sweat cool on her forehead. Terrible. Being hungover was terrible. Marinette had definitely learned her lesson.

Feeling gritty, she groaned some more as she looked at her reflection. Pale, she was pale. Redness touched her eyes and chunks of unsightly pale green and bright orange were specked around her mouth. Hungover: that's definitely what she was; part of her should have known that it would have been today's inevitable consequence.

Sighing, Marinette turned on the tap and let the cold water run. Wiping the vomit from her mouth with some tissue, she flushed it down with the remaining refuse and turned back to the mirror. All too soon she was brushing her teeth, glaring at her reflection as powerful mint toothpaste overpowered the sickly sour taste of yesterday's cupcakes and Alya's smuggled wines. Not to mention the lingering parts of lunch - not fully digested by the twenty four hour rule.

Shaking her head, Marinette finished up and left her bathroom. Bed - that's right where she was going to go. Sunday being reserved for laziness, a day of late risings and relaxation, she couldn't think of any better way to spend it. Then she remembered.

What was she doing back at her home? Wasn't she at Alya's party not too long ago, laughing with Adrien as they raced Alya and Nino across the gloomy street? Why was she hungover too? Why did she expect to be so... inebriated?

Frowning, Marinette couldn't help but see the missing, faded cutouts in her memory. But, before she could even try to piece it together, her ringtone pierced the air, a sharp and familiar sound as she jumped and went to answer the call.

"Hello?" Her voice was very hoarse. Water would be needed to remedy that. Grumbling, Marinette shuffled toward her trap door, pulling it open to reveal the stairs beneath it.

"Morning my favourite midnight beauty," It was Alya. A bright, chipper and energetic Alya. Even across the phone, Marinette could see the wide grin splayed across her eager best friend's face, "Do you remember anything about last night?"

"I remember racing you and Nino," Marinette admitted, straight off the bat. There was no point in lying. There was no point in hiding it. Plus she was a little too occupied with making it down the stairs in one piece, her vision teetering like a spinning top. "Although, I don't remember much else."

"Well, I remember quite a bit," Alya chuckled. Yep, she was grinning - a hundred percent it was a foxy, smug grin. The sort she wore whenever she confirmed that a theory of hers was correct. "In short, everyone was a mess. At one point I went off with Nino - you and Adrien were busy in the kitchen, talking about something to do with Chloe. Then we had that gigantic race around the block. About an hour later you were puking up a storm. I think Adrien managed to convince you to go home in the end."

"Remind me to thank him for that," Marinette couldn't suppress her millionth groan of the morning. Rolling her eyes, a small smile fought its way onto her face. Really, she couldn't help it. "I'm glad he was there to stop me doing something stupid."

"Yeah, if he was sober," Alya cackled. Definitely shaking her head now, probably slapping her thigh from the sheer humour of the situation. Ominous grumbling filled Marinette's gut as she approached her kitchen. "I don't know exactly what happened in that hour, but you two need to have a serious talk. Chloe was grumbling about you both stealing not so subtle kisses in the kitchen."

Marinette felt her face redden, "Oh god..."

"Oh yes," Alya responded, sharp as ever. "I don't know what went on but it had to be major. In fact you threw up shortly after I came to see what was going on and Adrien was right in the splash zone."

"Oh god..." Marinette repeated, breathless, burning, bewildered. Shaking her head, she leaned against the kitchen counter for support.

"AND I managed to capture the moment," Alya sang, definitely on her more teasing side. Lighthearted, always the one to pull on Marinette's already loose leg, she always had to extend a good joke. "I mean when we're older we'll laugh our asses off about this," A ping on her phone as Alya sent a video file, "So I wanted to make sure that you had evidence of your teenage shenanigans - especially because I know that Ladybug demands sobriety."

Releasing a sigh, Marinette clicked on the notification and watched as her screen flickered to life with her image. Messy dark hair, eyes that were filled with joy as she waved at the screen, she looked almost jubilant as she clung onto Adrien's arm. Beside her, Adrien himself was smiling at the camera, carefully supporting her unstable gait with a steady arm. Subtle crimson was on both their faces, underlining their eyes and arched over their noses. Then, in a brilliant blur of sickly green, Marinette hunched over and spewed liquid all over the ground.

Oh yeah it was bad. Definitely one of her top ten embarrassing moments caught on Alya's camera - surpassing her first day as Ladybug and her epic fall down the school building's front steps. Looking at the final frame, a high definition image of her face, Marinette knew that Alya would definitely keep this moment logged; a blogger by nature and a blogger by soul, she would always document every aspect of everyone's lives.

"Girl?" Alya's voice echoed in her ears. "Are you ok?"

"Huh...?" Marinette blinked, snapping out of her gaze as she stared at the stone counter top of her kitchen's sides. In her hand, her phone was still alive with light, displaying Alya's name above the paused video, "Yep, I'm fine. Fine as ever. Just shocked, I guess."

"Shocked!" Alya echoed, almost sounding sarcastically disapproving as she clicked her tongue. "I was completely confused. I thought I'd gone mental when I'd seen it all. Then, when I finally put two and two together, you insisted on not making a fuss. Seriously, what were you on last night?"

Honestly, Marinette had no clue. Between the splitting headache and the photographic evidence thankfully sent by Alya, she could only surmise that had drank way too much and Adrien had wisely told her to go home. That was the only logical explanation. Unless, there was something else. Something bad in the food, perhaps too much sugar in the cupcakes she had stowed away behind the counter, divided between herself and Adrien - as well as the two intruders.

But Alya didn't know about the cupcakes. No, she didn't even know about Chloe - why Marinette may have felt sick in the first place.

"Maybe it was sugar?" Sheepishly, Marinette offered the excuse as she smiled a little. Yes, her cheeks were also on fire. But Alya couldn't see said evidence so such evidence did not matter - especially since a rather disappointed Tikki was staring at Marinette with an urgent look upon her face. Another odd thing.

Frowning, Marinette sighed, "I'll call you back later Alya. I have to do something important."

"Oh yeah, of course," Understanding as ever, Marinette could already see her friend behind the screen, nodding away as she typed characters onto her laptop screen or lazily watched as the city passed on by from a seat on the bus or train. "Take all the time you need to recover, Marinette," A deathly pause, filled with the hanging suspense of a threat, "But remember I want details."

Yeah, details. Who could ever forget those?

"Definitely," Nodding, Marinette hummed as she pulled open her fridge door. "See you Monday."

"Monday," Alya confirmed. Then the line was dead and she was face to face with Tikki, tiny blue eyes seeming almost impenetrable as Marinette gloomily pulled the milk from the fridge and began to assemble her bowl of cereal.

Lectures from Tikki were nothing new. No, a few years into the game of being a miraculous holder - one of the trusted superheroes of Paris - Marinette had endured multiple lectures from her wise, omnipotent kwami. Days where she had stayed out late, deciding to catch a nice midnight breeze instead of focusing on homework; moments where she had hurt someone's feelings, brash and cold and filled with panic from her role; whatever the action, whatever the moment, Tikki was always there to act as a guide.

This morning, however, she looked a lot more disappointed than Marinette had ever really seen her before. Tiny red limbs fixed to her hips, blue eyes fixed into a scolding stare, Tikki was radiating the aura of a parent ready to tell their child off. Underneath such a stare - especially from Tikki - Marinette couldn't help but wince. Pissing Tikki off was by no means an easy feat. If she had managed to do that, then she had definitely messed up.

"So," Marinette began, a spoon of milk and chocolate cereal raised into the air. "What's wrong Tikki?"

"A lot," Tikki started, not bothering to take her usual seat on the table. No, she was still hovering, agitated and restless as she floated in the air. "But most important of them all is you. I'm very about you Marinette."

"Me?" Eyes wide, the young woman frowned. "Why are you worried about me?"

"The time is coming," Tikki shook her head, going to nestle within the fruit bowl on the table. Bright scarlet she stood out against a large orange, a red blob against a sea of bright tangerine. "It happens to every Ladybug. Holder after holder, hero after hero, until they end up... well, you won't end up like that. No, the last Ladybug didn't fall into the same loop - however she didn't exactly escape the loop's pattern entirely."

"Tikki," Marinette swallowed thickly, forcing her breakfast down her throat. Sour, it nestled in her gut, twisting her insides. "What are you talking about?"

"Something terrible is going to happen," Tikki breathed out, finally drifting closer to her confused holder. Shimmering - almost as if tears were brimming - her bright blue eyes wavered with anxiety and ominous severity. "Something horrible that I can't prevent is going to happen because it is what every holder must go through. Last night I saw it, the beginnings of the end, and I am so scared Marinette. I am so scared of losing you to the loop."

"The loop?" Marinette frowned even more, setting down her spoon. Breakfast definitely wasn't an option anymore. "What did you see last night, Tikki?"

"I cannot say," Shaking her head, the kwami pursed her tiny lips. Nervously, her hands toyed with each other, twisting and turning in odd patterns as she continued, "The laws of our kind stipulate that the terms of the loop cannot be shared. Not even between us both."

Now Marientte was definitely alarmed. Usually, when something couldn't be shared between herself and Tikki, that meant it was grave. Keeping secrets was a safety measure - the last resort used to keep miraculous holders safe from threats that far surpassed their own means. That was why Tikki couldn't tell Marinette who Chat Noir was; that was why Marinette was bound to never reveal her true identity to Chat Noir.

Secrecy was a last resort. Secrecy was used to keep both Ladybug and Chat Noir safe. But when secrecy did happen, when everyone was forced into solemn silence, it was never a good sign. Years of being a hero had taught Marinette that much.

"Why are you telling me this now, Tikki?" Marinette sighed, shaking her head. Both hands came to support her skull, elbows resting on top of the table. There could never be a moment of calm. Things could never sort themselves out to be normal. If it wasn't real life, then it was Hawkmoth; if it wasn't Hawkmoth then it was a new term or condition that came with being Ladybug. There was never time to be normal. There was never time to be... well, human.

So why now, when Marinette was feeling more strained than ever, was Tikki telling her this? Why would Tikki add to the overwhelming bad news?

"Because it is all I can do," Tikki admitted, her voice soft as she regarded Marinette with a sympathetic gaze. "By telling you, I hope that you are careful, Marinette. Great danger is coming to Paris and it will only end with complete calamity."

Adrien

Eyes feeling heavy, Adrien groaned as he woke up - unfortunately by his alarm. Rather obviously, the jarring beeps his alarm didn't help his headache much - and, as if to make it worse, he was penciled in to do a shoot that day. Hence the stupid alarm and all the other undesirable things that he had to do today despite not entirely wanting to. Like most human beings, Adrien did like to take a break. It was unfortunate that his father didn't know what such a thing was.

"Looks like someone finally woke up," Plagg stated in his usual sarcastic tone. A smile playing on his feline features, the kwami peered at Adrien as he shuffled toward his bathroom, lifting his pajama top over his shoulders. "If I didn't know any better, I would've guessed that all the real fun from yesterday overloaded your system."

"Ha ha, very funny Plagg," Adrien rolled his eyes, not phased much by Plagg's comments. After a while, he just got used to them. With Plagg there always some sort of snarky remark to make about a situation - no matter how dire it was. "But I think I'll live."

"I don't doubt that," Plagg agreed, taking a seat at the sink while Adrien turned the shower on. Laying on his back, the kwami stared at the ceiling as he continued, listening to the uninterrupted pattern of falling water. "But you need to be more careful in the future."

"I'm always careful," Adrien responded, his voice an echo. No doubt in the shower now, messing up the soothing gushing noise of water pouring from the shower head. That always was Plagg's least favourite thing in the world: Adrien interrupting his soothing simulation of real life rainfall - only present in thunderstorms and heavy showers. These days heavy rainfall was rare, so were thunderstorms and other rainy weather phenomena.

"You're always reckless, you mean," Plagg corrected, not sharp but definitely not gentle either. Just a nice snarky in between. Hands behind his head, the kwami sighed, "But what I mean is that something's going to happen. I'm not allowed to tell you what - the stupid magician and the order of guardians made sure of that - but I can warn you. Stay sharp because there's gonna be a big storm of trouble coming your way."

"Trouble?" Adrien echoed. For a moment it felt as if the blonde had completely frozen. "You mean something bad?"

"Can't say," Plagg responded, shrugging. "It's against the rules."

"But something's going to happen?" Adrien asked once more.

"Definitely."

Now there was definitely a pause. No more water running, a rush of warm air as steam filled the once chilled bathroom. Plagg turned toward his holder, now poking his head out of the glass shower door, water droplets dripping from his golden hair and half-gone soap suds specked across his shoulders. Wide green eyes looked into his own and Plagg knew that the question within them was eating Adrien alive.

"A-are you sure?" He dared to ask, looking Plagg dead in the eye.

No words could bring themselves to form in his throat. Instead Plagg nodded, turning away from the blonde, and Adrien knew that he was telling the truth. Although he could be a catty, sardonic pain in the ass, Plagg was never a liar. Not about the serious things. With all he had experienced in his lifetime, all of the unsightly experiences and painful goodbyes he had endured, Plagg would never joke about something like this. Not after going through all of the previous Chat Noirs' pains and sorrows.

"Adrien," The blonde couldn't help but sigh as Nathalie knocked on the bathroom door. Just when he was about to say something. "It's time for your breakfast and then you'll be off for your shoot."

"One second," He called back, closing the shower door once more. Mostly likely to finish washing the soap off himself.

Still lounging on the sink, Plagg simply closed his eyes and resumed listening to the soothing pitter-patter of shower. Unfortunately, this was only the temporary calm before the storm.

Lila

Last night she hadn't slept a wink. Out on the streets, making all the calls she had to make, Lila didn't have time for sleep last night. Too much energy was thrumming through her veins; too much angry frustration and simmering ire kept her cells and muscles working as she sped through Paris, trying to gather every resource that she could. Going to that party had only made her feel worse. Going to that party had resulted in nothing but seeing more of the truth. But Lila didn't want the truth.

So she hit the streets instead.

Three am was when she finally trampled into her home, wobbling on tired ankles as she took off her heels and let down her hair. There was no-one there to greet her - only empty shadows and still silence. Not even the trace amount of a person, the tell-tale signs of a late return home, were left in the vacant house. Just the furniture and gloomy shadows remained; just the bare bones of a home and nothing else remained.

'Why can't anything ever go my way!' Was Lila's fleeting angry thought as she tossed a pillow into the corner of her room. 'Why am I only noticed in a negative light - in a way that depicts me as nothing other than a vindictive, selfish witch.'

In that moment there was no true answer for her to take. Instead Lila simply wiped off the runny makeup, took off her dress and slipped on the soft material of her dressing gown. Existing by herself was all she'd ever known. Existing to steal the spotlight was all she'd ever existed for.

But Marinette - damned Marinette Dupain-Cheng - kept stealing her spotlight. First with the class, next with Ladybug - finally, with Adrien Agreste. Everything that Lila had been working towards, everything that she had been hoping to gain, was robbed from her. None other by Marinette, the beloved sweetheart of the class and Paris' famed Ladybug. All of the spotlight was going toward her; none of it was going Lila's way anymore.

But would she let that truly happen? Over her dead body.

When morning hit, after a night of wandering about her room like a lost phantom, Lila finally decided to head downstairs. Box of pancake mix open, bowl on the table, she was about to make some breakfast when she heard the familiar beep of the house phone playing a message left by her mother: "Good morning, Lila! I hope you slept well last night. Sorry I wasn't in, there was an emergency conference for this morning in Normandy so I had to prepare. But I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Another beep and the recording was over. Lila's eye roll couldn't be hidden - nor the soft scoff - as she turned on the stove and began heating her frying pan. There always was an excuse. There was always a reason why her mother couldn't be there. No matter what she did. Maybe that was why she had three of them.

Mixing her pancake batter and then frying up a stack, Lila tried to remain calm. Only once the stack was done and she was in the living room did she feel her resolve crumble. Especially once she'd turned on the TV.

"Is it really true that Ladybug and Chat Noir are dating?" Cheery as ever, Alec Cataldi - one of the many presenters for the TVi network - announced the headline with a huge grin. Behind him bright and bold images of the two heroes were flagged up on the screen: one from the Oblivio incident years ago and another from the Dark Cupid incident even further back. Not the first time the subject had been broached on live TV. No definitely not. Yet Lila felt her jaw tense.

"According to a credible source," Alec continued, reading off his tablet as he addressed the audience. That grin was still there. "The superhero duo may have finally decided to make it official."

Instantly, the screen flickered to black, Alec's image removed into a lasting blank blackness. Following it was the TV remote, Lila letting out an agitated huff as she glared at the now blank TV screen.

"Seriously!" Lila cried out, standing up from the sofa and discarding her plate of pancakes. "Ugh! She's everywhere!"

Now no longer hungry, Lila stomped upstairs, ready to kick start her plan. Now it was certain: she was definitely going to get rid of the annoyance known as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette

Hours passed in a jittery crawl for Marinette. All day she attempted to distract herself, pins pricking her fingers as she buried herself within finishing Nino's costumes, half-focused on her stitching and half-focused on something else entirely. When sewing failed, she had turned to trying to help out her parents. One hour spent in the bakery told Marinette that she was better off with homework, something that would demand her attention. Only, once she cracked open her math textbook and tried to focus on quadratics, she could get nowhere.

Now she was snacking on a plate of sugared almonds her father had left her - leftover from an order for a wedding. Textbook left open, Tikki concerned as she sat on her shelf, Marinette knew that she was not soothing the kwami's nerves at all. If anything she was amplifying them, her distraction and agitation as obvious as a red flag in a field of white snow.

"I have news!" Alya, loud and boisterous, burst through the trap door with an urgency Marinette had never known her to have. Phone clutched in hand and duffel bag slung over her shoulder, she looked as if she'd rushed over her, her ombre curls a fluffy mess in their singular ponytail. "Marinette, we need to talk."

"So you've heard," Marinette swallowed, blinking as she pushed away from her desk. Lasting, a bitter glance was given to her textbook before she turned to Alya, raising a brow, "Did Trixx tell you about the unavoidable catastrophe?"

"Yes," Alya nodded, taking a seat beside Marinette on the chaise lounge. Beside her the duffel bag was discarded, tossed onto the wooden floorboards with a soft thud. "And it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. There must be a way to cheat fate - there's always a way to cheat fate."

"But we don't even know what's going to happen, Alya," Shaking her head, Marinette tried to calm her friend down. No doubt she was entering full theorizer mode, thinking of all the different possibilities and realities in which certain events could occur. With all the extra knowledge stored from Majestia comics and other superhero stories, Marinette knew that Alya would try her best to overcome a grave prophecy from the kwamis. But it was pointless.

Over the years, over the course of knowing so much about the miraculous, Marinette knew that there was no way to beat their system. There was no way for her to give up being Ladybug - that was established from the start. There was no way to avoid what came with being a chosen holder. All you could do, all you could hope for, was that it worked in your favour and you didn't make a big irreversible mistake.

"There isn't a way to cheat fate," Marinette sighed, her voice a solemn murmur. "Even in the stories, it always comes true. Look at Oedipus Rex. In his quest to stop fate, Oedipus' father himself made fate happen."

"But this is different!"

"How is it different, Alya?" Marinette questioned, for once being the one to push. Raising a brow she regarded her friend, a hand resting on her hip as she stood up from her seat. "How exactly is this different from us being given the future by mystical, magical goddesses?"

"It's not," Alya admitted, shrinking beneath Marinette's gaze. Releasing her own sigh, the blogger frowned as she looked away from her friend. "But we can't stop now all because it seems like the odds are against us. We have to keep going."

"I know," Marinette agreed, taking a seat beside Alya. Careful, gentle, a hand rested on her friend's shoulder. "And we'll all be fine."

"Yes."

Silence settled within the room. Usually, when it was silent, it would be comfortable. Safety, comfort and peace always used to hang about in Marinette's room, the baby pink walls and menagerie of cute and girly items always being a soothing sight to anyone who visited. Oftentimes, Alya would be glad to escape to Marinette's home - finally away from the noise and drama of her multiple child household. Today, though, Marinette could sense the agitation within her friend. Today wasn't a day of comfort; today was a day of anxiety.

"Marinette," Alya finally broke the stillness, her voice owning a strange tinge of vulnerability within it as she picked up her bag. Unzipping it, she produced two tickets, passing them over to her friend. "I know it may be asking a lot, but I wanted to know if we could go to the movies later."

"Of course we can," Nodding, Marinette accepted the tickets. Beneath her rib cage, she could feel her heart thumping with worry. This behaviour certainly wasn't a trademark of her friend. "Why would it be a lot?"

"Because I don't know if it will be our last time hanging out together," Alya admitted, her shoulders deflating as she zipped her bag back up. Heavily, this time, it landed on the floor. "Trixx says that it will happen soon, you know."

Yeah. There wasn't much time left. At all.

"So does Tikki," Marinette murmured, her grasp tightening around the tickets. Usually Alya would just send the e-tickets. Most of the time they wouldn't even bother to keep the paper receipts. "I just hope that no-one is harmed."

"That's a very optimistic take," Alya chuckled, shaking her head. Nudging Marinette, she grinned dryly, "But then, you always were the optimist, right Mari?"

"Yep," Marinette smiled, nudging her friend back. "One of us had to be the dreamer."

Suddenly, Alya wrapped her into a hug: tight, firm, grasping onto her shoulders as if their very lives depended on it. If Marinette didn't know any better, she'd suspect that her spectacle-wearing friend was crying. Often she avoided showing her face whenever she did. Alya always was insistent in remaining strong and assured in a moment of intense pressure and challenge.

"Don't ever change Marinette," Alya murmured, her voice a soft whisper. "No matter what happens. Don't ever change."