Chapter 4
Marinette
Monday
January 29, 2007
Marinette awoke, finding herself crouched over a notebook she had been drawing in, only to look up and see, not her normal flat screen computer but, an old CRT monitor. She swung herself around in her chair, trying to recall why she wasn't in her bedroom when the events of yesterday came flooding back in as she took in her Kadic Academy dorm room. Feeling slightly disappointed, she turned back to her desk and struggled to remember how to turn on the old computer Alix had given her. She found the tower and clicked on the power button, hearing the fans whirl to life as it woke up. She glanced up at the window, seeing the sun still hadn't risen yet, and reached into her pocket to pull out the flip phone only to see it was three in the morning. She looked up at the monitor only to notice beside where she had been resting her head was a plate of food covered in napkins with a note sitting on top. She picked up the note and read by the light of the CRT's screen, Figured I'd leave this here, hope you wake up to eat it before breakfast. See you then. -Odd
Marinette realized Tikki might be hungry by now and looked around her room for her little friend only to find her snuggled in the bed, turned so she faced the wall. She smiled at the little kwami, happy she was getting a good night's sleep at least, and turned back to the computer now that it had fully woken back up. She picked the napkin off of the food and, guessing Odd couldn't steal anything more than a toothpick to use as silverware, used the small wooden stick to stab a meatball to eat. She left the toothpick in her mouth as she reached for the keyboard and mouse, instinctiously going for Google for her research. The page looked a little different than she had been expecting it to, but chastised herself for forgetting ten years of a company's life means they were going to change their website around some. She asked it for anything it might be able to give her about old Renault factories that had existed around her. Surprisingly quickly she found a Wikipedia article- she was half surprised the website had existed already by this point- about the Seguin Island that had been purchased by the founder of the Renault company. She made her way back to Google and, after struggling a little to find where the maps where, found out she was within walking distance of the island on the Seine. She checked the clock again, remembering breakfast was available at seven and that was still three hours away, she pushed herself to her feet and turned off the screen. Stepping over to the bed, she carefully prodded Tikki in the back as she whispered, "Come on, Tikki, wake up."
Tikki made a sound as she woke up, registering she was needed as she turned over in her small spot on the bed. She looked up at Marinette and smiled. "You've got to stop sleeping on your desk, Marinette," she said in a hushed voice.
"I know, and maybe tonight I will," Marinette promised her friend. "Come on, I think I've found the factory." Marinette straightened her back as she added, "Tikki, spots on." She closed her eyes as the kwami was sucked into her earrings, gripping her hands tight into fists as she felt a plan forming in her mind. She opened her eyes and looked up at the window, glad to see the almost full moon shining through. She jumped up to stand on the desk, careful of her discarded dinner, and pushed open the window. A cool night's breeze blew in, ruffling papers she had in the room, as she pulled off the yo-yo from her waist and flung it towards the tree line just outside the building. She pulled herself out of the window and flung herself past the trees, aiming towards the factory that was just a few minutes travel by air. She flung her yo-yo back towards the dorms and got up to the roof, running along the rooftop as she stole a glance around. It was weird to think of this world being so peaceful, before Hawkmoth and his akumas. Her smile faded as she jumped off the edge of the buildings and headed towards a neighborhood with houses that all had yards enclosed. She corrected her thoughts, that the world still wasn't peaceful. That was the whole reason she was back in time in the first place.
Something that was still bugging her was how come the past changed all of a sudden. She knew that was why she was here, to fix it. The three Bunnyx's said they couldn't even see that part of time. And if the AI Xana has control over time as well, "he could've sent himself help from his own future," Ladybug said aloud as she traveled through the night air.
AN: And this is where this story sits at the moment. I really love this story but I don't know when I'll get time to finish it – or the motivation- while the holidays are happening. That mentioning, I probably won't be publishing anything new until the new year. I have been working on my next Danny Phantom Season 4 episode, so that will get published soon. Until then, have a good winter!