Maribat - Blog Posts

Awesome!!!! It's really long but an amazing story, pls do an epilogue of them years later as adults and what happened to them...

Hi! I found this Drabble and was curious on how you’d write your own story around it because of how amazing you are! So, if it’s not too much trouble, do you think you could write a Maribat story around this prompt please? Thank you!

“It was gentle moments like this that made her life worth it.  Of course these moments were few and far between, but they were there, and that’s what mattered.  She leaned into the gentle touch, the loving way his fingers ran through her hair.  The rise and fall of his chest.  The warm, beautiful sound of his heartbeat against her ear.  It was wonderful, so wonderful she knew that it wasn’t real.  

She opened her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks as she looked around her cold empty apartment living room.  It had been another dream of something that was impossible.  She had been alone for so long, going outside as little as possible so that her curse of misfortune would not spread.  But she longed to make that dream a reality.

It was strange though, she had similar dreams before, but from what she could tell after studying them was that in every one it was the same boy.  Despite never seeing his face even once, despite never once meeting them, she longed for them.  Longed for the gentle love that they showed her, even if it was only for a moment.”

Hi! So sorry for taking so long! I’m currently in college and it’s killing me slowly, there’s been a lotta ups and downs, and my mental health is realistically not where it should be. Thank you so much for being patient with me, I really should have gotten this done sooner. Also I didn't know which batboi you wanted so I put them all on a wheel and spun it. I also rewrote some of the scenes in Miraculous like Lila's first appearance to make her a bit craftier and such.

I love this prompt! Thank you for suggesting it to me and for your sweet words! I hope you like this super cute Soulmate AU!

Also heads up this is super long and only loosely adheres to canon! The thing is so long because it took so long for me to get this done, one thing led to another and here we are. This thing is pages long and has 23,741 words. P. S, some of this was written on my phone sorry if the formatting is inconsistent! Also, let me know if I miscalculated ticket prices or made mistakes, and I’ll fix it! How I did the math was I googled a Disneyland Paris ticket price, took the highest value, multiplied that by the number of students going (They had a pass for ages 3-17 that I used for the students), and then did adult ticket prices for the two teachers. I multiplied those by seven days and added the results. My result came up to about 9,667 not including tax, so I chucked on a few extra thousand to account for Lila pocketing some of the money. 

TW: swearing, mentions of bullying, and minor violence, hints of PTSD, mentions of death

~~~~~~~~

Marinette knew the minute she had her first dream about him. She was sitting on a couch in a library working on her designs. A faceless man approached her, holding two mugs, and set one down in front of her, gently kissing her head. Despite her inability to identify this man, she felt safe with him and could feel love and affection swelling in her chest. He set his mug down and sat beside her, chuckling as she snuggled up. In comfortable silence, they worked on their own projects, not a care in the world.

When Marinette woke up that Saturday, she immediately called Alya. "Girl guess what? I just had my first soulmate dream!" She quickly removed the phone from her ear, correctly predicting the excited shriek from Alya. "Oh my gosh, Marinette! This is amazing! Did you see his face? Was it a guy? Was it Adrien?" Marinette jumped out of bed, an extra bit of pep in her step. It was going to be a great day, she knew it! "Yes, it was a guy. I couldn't see his face though... so that rules out Adrien." She hadn't even thought of that. Everyone knew that you wouldn't see your soulmate's face in your dreams until you met them! She would have to face the reality that Adrien was not meant to be hers. Alya heard her tone change, and thought quickly, "That doesn't necessarily mean that! People are reporting that they haven't seen their soulmate's face even though they had already met them in real life because the time wasn't right! Maybe Adrien is your soulmate but now isn't the right time because his supervillain of a father who could make Hawkmoth look like a saint won't let him date. Or girl have you considered that your soulmate could be a superhero? Lois Lane stated that she knew her soulmate before she saw his face in her dreams because he had a secret identity that obscured it! Your soulmate could be Chat Noir," Marinette made a face as she styled her hair, " or one of the vigilantes from Gotham! The way I see it is that you have three options. 1. It is Adrien, it just isn't the right time. 2. You haven't met them yet. 3. It's a superhero." Marinette laughed, "What if they're a supervillain?" "No way girl. You’re too sweet and pure for a villain. Anyways-" An Akuma alarm sounded, cutting their conversation short. "Welp, that's my cue. I gotta go Mari, duty calls!" And with that, Alya hung up to chase down the Akuma, while Marinette shouted out, "Tikki! Spots on!"

There she was, hiking through the woods with her soulmate. She still couldn't see his face, but she immediately knew why they were there. He wanted to show her someplace special, somewhere he'd never taken anyone before. Eventually, they found a stream, and she turned to see her partner rolling up his pant legs and taking off of his boots. "Throw a stick in the water to see how strong the current is. If it's too strong we'll have to turn pack." His voice was slightly garbled so she couldn't identify it, but she could clearly hear what he said. Picking up a stick she tossed it far out into the creek, watching as it lazily floated away. With that, she took off her own hiking boots, and the two made their way into the creek. The water was cold and she almost lost her footing, only to be caught by strong arms and pulled against her soulmate's broad chest. Marinette couldn't help the blush rising to her face as he held her. She could feel his gentle breath by her ear, along with the steady rise and fall of his chest. She could fall asleep listening to his heartbeat. He whispered, "Careful love. I don't want you getting hurt." He helped her stabilize and the two continued to make their way up the creek until-

Marinette woke with a start to the sound of her alarm clock. She cursed the thing, of course, it had to go off when she was getting to the good part. She realized as she rushed to get ready for school that she was able to identify something about her soulmate, they were both adults in this dream. She had been having them for a few months now, but this was the first time she could figure out any detail about when they would meet. It also didn't rule out any of Alya's theories either. She kissed her Maman and Papa and sprinted to school, thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't late. However, she was in for a surprise when she arrived at Mrs. Bustier's classroom. There was a new girl sitting in her seat, while the whole class gathered around her. Alya noticed her and waved her over. "Marinette! This is Lila Rossi! She just transferred here and she's from Italy! Guess what girl? She knows Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale too! She saved Jagged's cat and he wrote a song for her, and she taught Clara some of her most famous dance moves! She also works with Prince Ali on environmental charities!! She's so amazing!" Marinette paused. Jagged Stone doesn't have a cat, he has Fang the alligator, and Prince Ali focuses on charities for children, not the environment. She could also remember Clara doing all of her own choreography, so her suspicions were already raised. She had serious doubts about the girl in front of her, and despite wanting to voice them she held her tongue. "It's very nice to meet you, Lila! I'm Marinette the class president, welcome to Dupont." Lila looked her up and down and gave her a saccharine smile which only raised Marinette's suspicions even more. "Hello, Marinette! I hope we can be good friends! Alya tells me you like fashion, I happen to be a personal friend of Hubert de Givenchy, so maybe I can introduce you to him!" Marinette's eyes narrowed, Hubert de Givenchy had passed away in 2018, and if Lila really knew him she would have known that. Her classmates looked on with bated breath, clearly believing Lila knew these famous people.

"Oh, you knew him?" Lila nodded, "I was so sad to hear when he passed away in 2018. He really was an inspiration of mine," Marinette said, watching as Lila's eyes widened, but was impressed with how quickly she recovered, "Oh I know! I misspoke earlier, I meant his nephew!" Before Marinette could reply, the bell rang. Alya turned to her and said, "Marinette I hope you don't mind. Lila has really bad tinnitus from when she saved Jagged's cat from getting run over by a plane. She struggles to hear so we gave her your seat." Marinette looked around and noticed no one was in their normal seats. If Lila had her seat, it meant the only place left to sit was alone in the back. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I really would have appreciated it if you waited for me to get here. I have no problem with Lila sitting there if she needs it I just wish you would have-" Lila cut her off with fake tears, "Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to cause problems I just wanted to be able to hear the lessons! I can move to the back if that makes things better." Shit, she was good. Marinette looked around at her classmates who were now glaring at her. Did they not hear what she said? She had no problem with Lila sitting there if she needed it, she just wished someone would've let her know! "Don't worry Lila, you can stay there it's not your fault. I guess Marinette has decided to have an attitude today," Alix said, glaring at Marinette. "I just said I wished someone would have let me know!" Marinette shouted. "Girl it's just a seat it's no big deal. Why are you acting like a child about this?" Alya crossed her arms looking at her. "It's not even about the seat," Marinette started, "It's about you making a decision that affects me without talking to me about it!" "Well, we figured that since you're our Everyday Ladybug you'd have no problem with it. Come on Mari, you're supposed to be nice." Adrien scolded, and before she could defend herself the second bell rang, signaling the start of class.

She dreamed of walking down the streets of Paris, her soulmate nowhere in sight. However, she felt happy, it was a good day. She was going to her favorite bulk fabric supply store and texting some friends about the project ideas that danced in her head. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she knew this path by heart. She was planning on buying fabric to make a new spring line when she ran straight into someone, how embarrassing. Looking up, there was her soulmate, with his clouded face. He chuckled and asked where she was going in such a rush, and she stuttered out an apology. He offered to walk with her, making Marinette smile, they must have done this before many times.

The next few months were rough. Later that first day she had gone to talk to Alya and had presented evidence to prove Lila was a liar, but her best friend had simply shaken her head and told Marinette that jealousy was not a good look on her. Marinette had been stunned, she had nothing to be jealous about until Alya told her that everyone could see Lila had a crush on Adrien. Alya's words still burned in her brain, "I can't believe you Marinette. To try and ruin another girl's reputation because of a crush. You need to take a good look in the mirror." Marinette couldn't fathom why her best friend wouldn't listen to her and decided to go for a patrol as Ladybug. Then while she had been passing by the park, she had overheard Lila telling Adrien that she was the fox hero, Volpina. She had to say something, Lila might not realize how much danger she was putting herself in by making those claims. So she swung down, (and tried her best to keep her cool) and explained to Lila that there was no fox hero and that if Hawkmoth had overheard her she could be in danger. Of course, that caused Lila to get akumatized. To make things worse, a couple of days later Lila had cornered her and threatened her! Despite everything, she still believed her classmates would come around and see the truth.

That was exactly five years ago. Marinette really should have had less faith in the people around her. Lila got her expelled, Alya disavowed their friendship, and Adrien betrayed her worst of all. In his endless quest to avoid any confrontation, he pressured her to keep quiet, and when she didn't he turned his back on her. Marinette had quit trying to expose Lila years ago, but the brunette had kept her promise. Adrien just watched as their class left her out of their plans, destroyed her things, and ripped up her work, among other things. When she confronted him about why he was allowing this to happen, he just shook his head and told her it never would have if she had done what he said. Her heart shattered, and she prayed that her soulmate wasn't Adrien. The only people she had in her corner were her parents, Luka, and Kagami (who had quickly seen through Lila's bullshit after she'd tried to lie her way into Marinette's room), Nino, and Kim (they snapped out of it after Lila accused Marinette of pushing her down the stairs), and she had the newfound support of Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose. The last three didn't want to rock the boat or have Lila's wrath directed towards them but had expressed seven months ago that they figured out Lila was lying, but after Marinette was nearly knocked into the path of an oncoming car, they began to be more vocal in their opposition. Chloe had also stepped back from tormenting Marinette, the two girls never talked, but were never hostile. Her friends couldn't do much while they were in school, and since they were busy with their own lives, Marinette truly felt alone. Even under the mask as Ladybug she was alone, witch Chat Noir had gotten so frustrated with her constantly refusing his feelings, that he'd almost completely stopped showing up two years ago. Her only solace was that Paris seemed to be on her side with that one, and whenever Chat Noir did emerge he was met with anger from the citizens he'd broken his oath to. On top of all that, Marinette hadn't had a soulmate dream in years, which terrified her to her core. Did her soulmate die?

"Tikki, I haven't dreamt of him in years! What's wrong with me!?" Marinette sobbed, holding onto a pillow on her bed. Most of her days ended like this, with tears. The Kwami were kind enough to protect her from akumas during these times, after realizing that Marinette was only putting herself at risk by bottling up her emotions. Her room had changed since the Lila Era began. She had taken down all of her photos, save a few, her bright pink walls seemed to lose their hue, and she only ever designed for commissions, simply because she knew she needed a portfolio for college. Tom and Sabine had tried their hardest to get their little girl out of Dupont, but her transfer papers kept getting "lost." They tried to get her into therapy, but with Hawkmoth around every therapist had a waitlist that was beginning to enter into years. Tikki was growing more concerned with each passing day, her Chosen was close to breaking. "Oh baby bug, there's nothing wrong with you! Soulmate dreams are different than regular dreams because they're tied to real people in this world. The interesting thing about them is that they show up when you need them." "But I've needed them! I need to know I'm not alone, that I haven't been abandoned, and that the universe doesn't hate me enough to take away everything," Marinette just sobbed harder before she froze, "What if Adrien really is my soulmate and that's why I'm not having dreams? I'm unlucky as it is, so this would be on par for me," Tikki was horrified that Marinette would even think that, and before she could say anything, a new voice cut her off. "No. That brat is not your soulmate, I won't allow it." There was Plagg, in her room, holding a familiar silver ring in his paws. "Pigtails after what he's done to you, as Adrien and Chat Noir," Marinette and the other Kwami gasped, "I won't let him. I won't let him hurt you anymore! Marinette I am so sorry, I should have done this a long time ago, but I let my gluttony and my pity for the kid cloud my judgment. I let him fail you inside and outside of the mask, Kitten I promise you I will never let a black cat holder hurt you again." Plagg nuzzled against her cheek, gratefully accepting Marinette gently kissing his head letting him know all was forgiven. "Besides! His karma is coming for him, but I have to warn you too. He's going to try and pursue you romantically because he doesn't like who his soulmate is." Marinette perked up at that, "Adrien knows who his soulmate is?" Plagg nodded, "Yep. One Lila Rossi. A liar and an enabler, how fitting. He had rejected her because at the time he was still convinced that Ladybug was his soulmate, but now that that's not true, he's turning his attention toward you. He found out from Alya that you had a crush on him, and so even though he knows you aren't his soulmate he's going to try and pursue you anyways." Marinette's brows furrowed, deep in thought. No wonder Lila was so obsessed with Adrien, and it explained why she wanted to get close to him. What Marinette needed was a plan, so she hopped out of her bed and made her way down to the kitchen where her parents were talking. "Maman, Papa. Would it be alright if I took a mental health day tomorrow?" Her parents seemed to light up at the thought, seeing this as an opportunity to give their child a break from her tormentors. "Of course! In fact, why don't you take the whole week off? You're ahead on your work and haven't missed any school this year. We'll call the school tomorrow and take care of everything." Sabine said, right before she and Tom were tackled by their daughter for a hug. With time to plan, Marinette made her way upstairs to begin her work.

It was gentle moments like this that made her life worth it.  Of course, these moments were few and far between, but they were there, and that’s what mattered.  She leaned into the gentle touch, the loving way his fingers ran through her hair.  The rise and fall of his chest.  The warm, beautiful sound of his heartbeat against her ear.  It was wonderful, so wonderful she knew that it wasn’t real.

She opened her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks as she looked around her cold empty room.  It had been another dream of something impossible.  She had been alone for so long, going outside as little as possible so that her curse of misfortune would not spread.  But she longed to make that dream a reality. It was strange though, she had similar dreams before, but from what she could tell after studying it was that it was the same boy she had dreamed of before.  Despite never seeing his face even once, despite never once meeting them, she longed for them.  Longed for the gentle love that they showed her, even if it was only for a moment. Marinette quickly snapped out of her sorrow when she had a realization: She had dreamt of her soulmate again! She couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. A knocking on her trapdoor snapped her out of her thoughts, and her mother's voice brought her back to reality, "Marinette sweetie? Are you up? I have some news. We couldn't have timed this better, it's your spring break, so we don't need to worry about problems from Damocles or Bustier! Also, your class has left for their trip, so there's no way you'll bump into them! Alright, that's all I've got, go back to sleep." Marinette couldn't sleep, not after hearing that great news! The kwami were already waking up and grabbing their food from the minifridge she kept in her room, while Marinette dashed to her wardrobe. She had made herself an outfit a while ago but was too afraid her classmates would ruin it. It was a short light pink sundress, perfect for today's weather. She was going to spend the day out on the town enjoying her life. She had a considerable chunk of fun money saved up from her commissions and decided that she deserved a self-care day.

She had just left her favorite brunch spot and was making her way to her fabric shop of choice, texting her friends who had gone on the class trip. Marinette was the only one who was purposely excluded from it, and while her friends tried to drop the trip, Mrs. Bustier made them go because if that many people dropped there would be no way the class would hit their fundraising goal. Marinette was pretty sure some of that money was going straight into Lila's pocket, but she wasn't class president and had no way to get her hands on the class's records. Marinette didn't know the average price of sending 13 students plus two teachers to Disneyland Paris, but 12,000 euros seemed like a lot. And the worst part: she was still expected to contribute! Marinette was so wrapped up in the sheer ridiculousness of it all, that she didn't realize where she was going until she ran right into someone! As she began to fall, she felt a strong arm grab her by the waist and suddenly she was standing upright and looking up at the man she had just run into. He was stunning, at least 6'2 with medium-length dark hair he kept neatly styled. His tan skin radiated warmth, and his muscles were clearly defined by the dress shirt he was wearing. As her eyes trailed up from his sharp jawline, she froze when she saw his eyes. They were a rich green, held a deep, almost mysterious gleam, and were as sharp as a panther's. Like the cat, there was something wild about his eyes, hidden just below the surface. The only thought running through her head was a simple, 'He should be Plagg's next holder.' Suddenly the man staring at her let out a deep chuckle that rumbled in his broad chest, "What's the rush little Lily?" His voice was deep, with a sort of sharpness to it, like this kind of conversation was new to him.

"I, I am SO sorry sir! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran into you! I hope I didn't mess up your outfit!" Marinette was in full panic mode, the most attractive man she'd ever seen in her life and she just made a fool of herself. Instead of the rage she expected and was used to, he only smiled, "No harm done. I don't have anywhere I have to be, and besides you only bumped into me, you didn't spill anything on me. Can I ask where you're going? My family has just arrived from the U.S. and I was exploring the city." Marinette blushed, he looked so intimidating, but so far he'd been nothing but kind. Still, she had learned never to drop her guard, but... If he wasn't from here she supposed it wouldn't hurt to be polite. "I'm going to some of my favorite fabric shops in the fashion district... I'm a clothing designer and I was going to pick up some to start working on a spring and summer collection," She decided to take a gamble, "If you have nothing to do I can show you around." He smiled, "I would love that Ms...," "Marinette, and you are?" "Damian." Marinette smiled as the two began to walk toward the fashion district together, "Well it's very nice to meet you, Damian, even if it was in interesting circumstances."

When Damian heard his father talking about going to Paris to investigate the Hawkmoth situation, he quickly volunteered to go along as well. His official pitch was that he was closest in age to the young heroes of Paris, and would have an easier time getting them to talk. He also said it would look good to add a bit of international travel and education abroad to his resume. However, he had a secret reason for wanting to go to Paris: to meet his soulmate. Younger him would have scoffed at the thought, but he was not the same person he was when he first came to his father. Thanks to his brothers and Jon (mostly Jon), he had grown as a person, and now that he was close to graduating high school, he was beginning to think about the rest of his life and how he wanted to spend it. Of course, there were the staples, going to college, starting at least 5 charities for animals, and inheriting the cowl, but a part of him wanted more. A part of him didn't want to be alone. So he started looking back at all the soulmate dreams he'd been having since he was thirteen. Even though he'd dismissed it at that age, he at least had the foresight to write everything down, and using his Batfamily-honed detective skills, he deduced his soulmate was somewhere in Paris. One dream stood out to him, he was standing on a sidewalk in Paris when his soulmate crashed into him. From the way she spoke in the dream, he deduced that this was when they would meet. So there he was, standing on the exact sidewalk in the exact spot. He knew how ridiculous he must've looked as he texted his family, his official story being that he was going to look for clues about the heroes. Right as he was about to reply to a snarky text from Tim, he felt a small mass crash into him with way more force than it should have. He quickly spun around and caught the woman, and as he stabilized her he was able to get a good look at her. The first thing Damian noticed was how small she was, at least compared to him, however, she did have quite a bit of lean muscle. Her skin was pale, with a slight pink undertone to contrast her shoulder-length ebony hair. Her cheeks were lightly dusted pink with small patches of freckles, and her lips were ruby red. She almost resembled a porcelain doll. She was gorgeous, but what really took his breath away was her eyes. Framed in long dark lashes they were a beautiful deep blue. They reminded him of an ocean, deep and rich and sparkling under the sunlight. This had to be his soulmate. He learned her name, Marinette, and she invited him to go with her to the fashion district. Damian was content, while she may not recognize him as her soulmate yet, it was undeniable that she felt the same pull towards him that he felt towards her.

Before she knew it, Marinette had spent her entire spring break with Damian. She couldn't help it, she felt drawn to him, like she needed him to breathe. What surprised her the most, was the dream she had the night after she met him. She was sitting atop a building as Ladybug, watching the sunset, and next to her with the black cat Miraculous, was Damian. They watched the sun sink below the horizon, and suddenly the sky erupted into fireworks of all colors. The show ended with a sentence spelled out in fireworks "Thank you Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit." She knew the moment she opened her eyes that Damian was her soulmate, and from the texts, she'd received, he knew it too. The two of them agreed to take it slow, they were still very young and had just met. However, as the mini vacation went on, the pit of dread in her stomach began to grow, and she would have to return to school. She had told Damian what was happening with Lila, Adrien, everything. Needless to say, Marinette was surprised when he told her he would be in her class, and that he wouldn't let them do anything to her (Little did they know Tom and Sabine heard them, and Damian had just won their approval). So when he arrived to pick her up, he made sure they got to Dupont early. Marinette gave him a tour, and as they were walking he stopped to talk to people. "Don't you normally hate talking to people?" "Normally I do my Lily, but in this case, I do not mind. However, I do have an ulterior motive. By talking to these people, I've created an alibi. Look over there," Marinette looked over and saw Sabrina and Alix watching them and whispering, "Those are two of that liar's sycophants right? Well now that they've seen that you spent your time before class giving me, a new student, a tour, if Lila claims that you did something to her, two of her own followers have seen evidence disproving it. So either they mention that there's no way you could've done it because they saw with their own eyes that you have not even interacted with her, or they say nothing and you know what kind of people they are." It was brilliant. Marinette was a little miffed she hadn't thought of it before. The two walked to class, and Marinette whispered, "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. Adrien will give you the most problems. I heard from a friend that he was interested in me, even though he already knows who his soulmate is." "Is it Lila?" "Yes. I know enough about her to know that she's incredibly selfish, she hated it whenever Adrien gave me any attention, because-" "Because he was her ticket to fame and fortune, and if he had picked you she would be locked out." "Exactly. I do not doubt that the second she hears your last name, she won't give a shit about Adrien and will focus her full attention on breaking us apart." Marinette was shocked when Damian told her his last name, she may be oblivious but even she knew who the Waynes were. Plagg joked that it was the Universe trying to make up for how shitty it had been to her. She was not expecting the wicked grin Damian gave her as they arrived at their classroom. "I would like to see her try."

Before the two could reach their seats in the back of the room, Marinette was yanked away from Damian by Kim and Nino, "We don't know who you are but you don't deserve her!" Kim shouted, holding onto Marinette. "Yeah! Mari's the nicest dudette the world has ever seen, if you hurt her we'll kick your ass!" Nino said as he put himself between Damian and Marinette. There was a small moment of awkward silence before the group laughed. Marinette had warned him that her two best friends would try something like this, especially after she told them that he was her soulmate. Taking their seats at the back of the class, the group chatted about their spring break, until Lila walked in with the rest of the class. She readied a fresh accusation to fling at the ravenette but caught herself just in time. WHO was that gorgeous man sitting with Marinette? He put Adrien, a freaking model, to shame. Everyone else seemed to share that sentiment, and Alya was about to start demanding answers when they were spotted. The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as the man glared at them. Marinette waved to Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel, who quickly took their seats near the group of outcasts while Damian Batglared the rest of the class. "Can I help you?" He asked in an icy tone, one that demanded immediate answers. Alya balked, "We, we were just curious about you, since you're, um, a new student here." Damian pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed, "My name is Damian Wayne, yes, from that family. I came to Paris with my father for a business trip, and to find my soulmate, Marinette," Little mutterings of "no way," "That's impossible," and "I didn't think that bitch would have a soulmate," filled the room. "I plan on staying until graduation, and from there I will be going to college with Marinette. Let me make one thing clear: I will not hesitate to retaliate against anyone who tries to hurt my soulmate in any shape or form." Nathaniel could be heard whispering, "Oooh, I like him," To the rest of their little group, who nodded in agreement. After waiting for a second for anyone to challenge him, Damian turned back to Marinette, and almost like a switch flipped, began showing her pictures of his cat.

Lila couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Damian Wayne was in her class, the richest, most eligible bachelor in the world was in her class... and his soulmate was fucking Dupain-Cheng! She swore this had to be some sick joke. There was no way that THE Damian Wayne (whom she had instantly recognized because she had seen him once at a charity ball her mother had taken her to and committed his face to memory) had someone as pathetic as Marinette as his soulmate. The universe truly was cruel. She'd thought she was lucky when she found out Adrien was her soulmate and was devastated when he told her over the break he was going to pursue Marinette. But now? Now Lila knew she must be the luckiest girl in history! Glancing over at Adrien confirmed her belief, the dumbass pushover glared at his rival, and she knew he wasn't going to back down. This was perfect. All she would have to do is separate Marinette and Damian, use the mountain of evidence against Marinette that she made over the years to convince her future husband that his soulmate was no good, and then bam! In a few short years, her name would be Delilah Wayne! Adrien's persistence would only help her case, especially with Marinette's former crush on the blond it would be so easy to frame her for cheating. She would have to be careful though, just from the look in his eyes she could tell he would be much sharper than the rest of her classmates had been: he would be her greatest challenge yet. For now, she would bide her time, and perfect her plan.

Lila made her first move at lunch. She and Alya were sitting at a table, observing Marinette and her friends talking with Damian. "He's so kind to them, why is he such an asshole to us?" Alya muttered. Ah, an opening. "Well, I don't think it's really his fault. I mean he did say that he had come to Paris to find his soulmate, and well, Marinette IS a pathological liar," Lila said as she picked at her food. Alya nodded, "I just can't understand why they still hang out with her! They know what she does to you, they know she's a bitch!" "I think it's a mix of sunk cost fallacy and denial Alya. Nino and Kim have known her since they were little, so I think the reality of Marinette being a bully just can't compute for them. As for Juleka, Rose, and Nathaniel, I think they feel indebted to her or something," Alya nodded, agreeing with her logic. "Girl you're so in tune with people it's crazy!" 'Yes I am,' Lila thought, 'You have to be able to read people to trick them.' "Alya... Can I tell you something? Something bad happened between Adrien and me over the trip." The reporter's head snapped around to her, "What did that bastard do?" Lila began to channel the sorrow she felt when Adrien confronted her over the break, "He... He told me he didn't want me!" She wailed, just loud enough for Damian to overhear, "He called me a liar and all of these awful names, and he told me he was in love with Marinette and that he knew she felt the same for him! He told me if I told anyone about this he'd ruin me!" She cried. It was amazing that Adrien had just handed her this opportunity, completely unaware that he'd done so. As Alya promised revenge against Adrien and the whore who stole him from Lila, the girl in question carefully glanced over to see Damian looking right at her. Perfect. When Lila had decided on this plan, she decided the initial bonding point would be that they had both been betrayed by their soulmates. If Damian was emotionally vulnerable he would be that much easier to manipulate, it would also be the perfect story to pitch to the media as well, they were both betrayed by their soulmates and fell in love!

Lila was quiet for the rest of the day, waiting eagerly for their classes to end. She had a feeling that Adrien would make a move and wanted to be there to see what she'd have to work with. She made an excuse to leave class early and quickly hid behind the stairs. She had to wait a bit for them to leave and spent the time doing research about Damian on her phone. So he loved animals, was passionate about the arts, and was a master swordsman and martial artist. He also spoke seven languages including Italian!! Lila sighed, he was perfect. Finally, the bell rang, and students began making their way out of the building. Lila knew Marinette usually spent some time helping the art teacher before she left, so she was certain Adrien would wait for the girl. Risking discovery, she poked her head out and saw her plan falling into place. Adrien was standing at the top of the stairs, clearly waiting for Marinette. He was muttering to himself, about how it wasn’t fair, about how he couldn’t understand how Marinette could trust a stranger she’d just met. Lila had to keep herself from letting out an amused snort. Isn’t that rich considering their class’s track record? 

She had to wait for about fifteen minutes before she heard laughter coming towards the entrance of the school, it was Marinette, laughing at something Damian had told her, “Oh my gosh, are all your brothers on crack?” she gasped for air, “Sometimes it feels like it,” Damian chuckled. The two were about to walk down the stairs when Adrien stepped in front of them. “Hi, Mari. Can I talk to you, please? Alone.” Wow. Lila didn’t know Sunshine Boy could have such venom, she figured he must’ve been directing that at Damian. Lila could only imagine the glares between the two boys, not daring to poke her head out now and get caught, however, when she thought she heard footsteps back into the school she took out her phone and pressed record. “Why? So you can pressure me into silence again? If you need to tell me something, say it now because Damian and I have plans.” Lila had known about Adrien’s high road advice, and that Marinette had been so in love that she listened. She doubted the ravenette would fall for that now. Lila waited with bated breath to see what Adrien would do, and could not believe what she heard. “I think you should stay away from him. You only just met him, he’s probably lying about who he is Mari. You saw how he treated our friends-” “He has been nothing but kind to MY friends. That’s so rich coming from you Adrien. Lila comes along and lies about everything and it’s totally fine, I meet my soulmate and now suddenly you care about honesty?” “It’s a different situation and you know it Marinette. Lila’s not hurting anyone and if you expose her she could be akumatized.” “What about me Adrien? What if I’m akumatized because of the lies that have ruined my reputation, my belongings are destroyed, when I’m being excluded from practically everything? Do I not matter to you?” “What- no Marinette you matter to me! Besides it’s not that bad and you’re our Everyday Ladybug so-” “SO WHAT? So I’m supposed to accept being mistreated and abused? What are you even here for Adrien?” Lila could tell that Marinette was losing her patience and for a moment, she genuinely wondered if this would be what got her rival akumatized. Adrien took a deep breath, “Marinette you are an amazing woman, what I wanted to tell you was that I accept your feelings and will be your boyfriend.” Perfect! Adrien had given her just what she needed. Lila kept recording because even if Marinette didn’t respond how she wanted, she might say something Lila could doctor later. And it would seem that Marinette was finally shaking off her shock, “Are you crazy? Adrien, I haven’t loved you since we were thirteen, since you made it clear that not rocking the boat was more important to you than me. Besides, I’ve met my soulmate, and yeah we haven’t known each other long, I want to focus on getting to know him.” Adrien did not back down, “Come on Marinette! I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I know we’re meant for each other. The reason I know he’s not good for you is that you’re MY soulmate!” Wow. Lila wasn’t expecting such a bold lie from the blond, he must have been banking on the fact that Marinette had no way of knowing that Adrien was HER soulmate. Now that she had what she needed, she carefully snuck through the bushes and as soon as she turned a corner, she booked it for home. She wasn’t going to risk slowing down to look behind her, she figured since the two were still arguing that she’d successfully completed her mission. Soon it would be all over the media, ‘Model Adrien Agreste Ditches Soulmate for Useless Nobody: How Lila Rossi Saved the Day and Won Damian Wayne’s Heart.’ Lila knew she had a lot of work to do, and couldn’t wait to get started.  

After a long day, Damian returned to the upscale apartment his father was renting during their time in Paris. Marinette hadn’t been joking, her class was a nightmare! Damian had been skeptical at first, no way people could be that ignorant, but after what he saw today, he realized it ran deeper. They looked at Lila the same way people looked at him: They wanted something. Marinette had told him that Lila lied and faked evidence conveniently showing she knew famous people in their fields of interest, so it was likely they followed her because they wanted her to boost their careers. The Ladyblogger, someone who should have known to fact-check followed Lila like a sycophant, either knew she was lying or was really bad at her job. Then there was the other big problem in the class, Adrien Agreste. He seemed to believe he was entitled to Marinette’s love, despite his soulmate making it clear she wanted nothing to do with the blond. He had texted Nino about the Adrien-Marinette situation, and the DJ had filled him in. Marinette used to have a crush on and did some very crazy things to get his attention (Nino had also admitted the class had pushed her into some of the crazier situations), but Adrien either ignored her or was oblivious. At the time this was going on, he had a massive crush on Ladybug and still had a crush on her until recently. Googling the Parisian hero, he found a few things that made his blood run cold. First,  Ladybug had stated that she would never date a civilian (smart) in an interview. Second, the videos he’d seen from when Chat Noir was acting showed the hero displaying the same entitled behavior Adrien did, along with a couple of the same speech patterns and body language. Finally, Ladybug and Marinette looked very similar. There were some differences, but he couldn’t deny that the two could be sisters. A theory was forming in his head, Adrien had been Chat Noir, and after being rejected constantly by Ladybug, decided to set his sights on someone who looked similar to Ladybug. It was clear he still believed Marinette was a sweet, naive girl who would never say no to him, so he potentially thought he could pressure her into accepting his feelings.

  Damian was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that his father and Tim had returned home, however, they certainly noticed. Bruce decided that this was one of those moments where Damian might need some fatherly advice, and Tim decided he wanted to hear whatever was giving Demon-Spawn trouble. It must be interesting. “How was your day Damian? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you lost in thought,” yes he could. It was right after Damian had been brought back from the dead. He watched his son’s head snap up, “I… I’m fine. My day was fine.” “No, you’re not fine. Something’s been on your mind since B mentioned going to Paris, so you can either tell us what’s up or I’ll hack your phone.” Dammit, Tim not now. Damian sighed, surprising both that he wasn’t putting up more of a fight. “The reason I wanted to come to Paris was that I had figured out my soulmate was here.” 

Tim dropped the coffee mug he was filling, and Bruce stared at his son in shock. “Oh my gosh! Did you meet them yet? What are they like? When will we meet them? How did you meet them-” “Tim.” “Sorry B,” “Start from the beginning Damian.” “I met her last week. She was going to buy fabric and bumped into me. We spent every day of her spring break hanging out and getting to know each other, and I was lucky enough to be in her class at the school you enrolled me in. I also found out she had been having trouble with some of her classmates,” “Is she drama-prone?” “Tim let him talk,” “Not necessarily. She’s being bullied and has been for the past few years. Her classmates are the typical users we encounter at Galas and believed her bully because she promised them she had connections. My main concern isn’t the bully, I can deal with her, but a boy in her class has begun to show some alarming behavior... From what I’ve figured out, he was the hero Chat Noir, and I think he’s become obsessed with Mari- my soulmate because of how similar she looks to Ladybug. From my information, I know that he has never shown any interest in her before and that when they were younger she used to have a crush on him. I also know that for whatever reason he’s no longer active as Chat Noir.” “So your theory is that because he no longer has access to his obsession that he’s shifted targets to someone he thinks he still has power over in order to pressure her into fulfilling his fantasy?” “Yes. However, I don’t think he’s realized that. I think a part of him genuinely believes he has feelings for her. I did some research on him, and he grew up with a very controlling and sheltering father, so he’s still incredibly naive, that or he’s so deep in denial he’s become delusional. He still seems to believe that staying silent about my soulmate’s tormentor purposely lying to ruin her reputation and all the physical torment she’s receiving is the right thing to do.” Bruce raised an eyebrow and Tim clutched at his pearls. “So how do you plan on handling this?” Bruce was worried, they needed to find out why Chat Noir was no longer active, if Damian’s theory was true and the former Hero of Paris got akumatized he could still be a massive threat. However, Damian was his father’s son, “I looked into some of the old posts on the Ladyblog before it… strayed. From some clips, I think my soulmate might actually have a connection to Ladybug.” Tim raised his eyebrow, “Damian it’s not that I don’t want you to be happy, but she sounds a little too good to be true. An amazing talented woman who just happens to know celebrities and heroes? Isn’t that the same thing that girl with the weird hair on the Ladyblog claims?” “Well, my soulmate can actually back up her claims.  Her class has had the most akumatizations minus the pigeon man, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Ladybug noticed, and my soulmate is connected to one of the most popular boulangeries in Paris that Ladybug has been seen stopping by. I was going to go out on patrol, and if I couldn’t meet Ladybug that way I’d find a way to see if my soulmate could get her attention.” Bruce nodded. The spotted heroine had been incredibly elusive, and he was beginning to suspect magic was involved. He gave Damian his blessing, and as his youngest son left to get ready for patrol he and Tim turned their attention to a new mystery: Figuring out who his son’s soulmate was.

Paris was beautiful at night. Damian stood atop the Eiffel Tower, looking out over the city. He could almost run the path between his classmates’ homes by muscle memory alone. While he may not like them for their treatment of Marinette, he knew his soulmate still cared about them to some degree, and if anything happened to them it would kill her. He was debating swinging by Marinette’s home but decided against it. While he felt like he could trust her with his life, their relationship was still too young to bring the baggage of a hero into it. He almost didn’t pick up on the gentle thud behind him, and when he turned to snap at Tim for bothering him, he froze. “Mari? My Lily?” He couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing in front of him was Ladybug… who looked exactly like Marinette. Her costume had changed since her initial debut, but there was no doubt who the woman in front of him was. This whole time his soulmate was also the hero they were trying to contact. “Damian? You’re Robin?!” “And you’re Ladybug.” That seemed to snap Mari out of her stupor, “I can explain! Please don’t be mad!” He would address that last bit later, but for now, he just leaned against the railing and watched as she began pacing back and forth. He’d wait all night if that’s what Mari needed to get her thoughts together. “I became Ladybug when I was thirteen. I was chosen by the Guardian of the Miraculous, and he snuck the Ladybug Miraculous into my bag.” “Forgive me but what’s Miraculous?” “Oh right,” He watched as Marinette took off the red and black earrings, “Miraculous are magical objects that are often worn as jewelry. Each Miraculous is connected to a Kwamii, and each Kwamii is the embodiment of a fundamental force of the universe,” A bright red flash came from the Miraculous, and next to Marinette was a floating Ladybug-like creature. The little Kawaii-thing flew up to him, and he carefully held up a hand to allow it to land. “Hello! Damian Wayne, Robin, Son of Bruce Wayne, Grandson of the Demon, and Heir to the Cowl. I am Tikki, the Kwamii of Creation! I am bound to the Ladybug Miraculous that my Chosen uses, and am the source of her powers! If you’ll excuse me I’m going to refuse with Marinette, it’s awfully chilly up here.” With that Tikki zipped back to Marinette, as soon as the two touched a bright red flash appeared and Ladybug stood before him again. “The previous Guardian, well long before he left and left the title and other Miraculous to me, lost two Miraculi, the peacock and the butterfly.” “Which are being used by Hawkmoth and Mayaura.” “Exactly.” Damian nodded, their theory was correct, magic was involved with the Paris situation. 

“Lily, didn’t you used to have a partner?” He watched his soulmate huddle into herself and immediately got off the railing to comfort her. “I did. Chat Noir wielded the Black Cat Miraculous of Destruction. He was my other half, my balance. Over time he got it into our head that because our Miraculi were complimentary, that meant we were soulmates. He began flirting with me constantly, calling me these embarrassing nicknames even when I asked him to stop, and would needlessly throw himself into danger to try and impress me. Eventually, he got tired of me turning him down, and he started missing battles and patrols. When he did show up he’d just get in the way, saying he’d help me again if I admitted we were soulmates. It got so bad his own Kwamii took the Miraculous back from him and brought it to me. I used to have temporary heroes I could count on, but they’re out of the question because their identities were exposed or they’ve chosen Lila’s side.” Damian hugged her tightly, he wasn’t one for physical affection but she was the exception. “So you’ve been alone this whole time? Oh my, Lily I’m so sorry,” he sighed, “Does Adrien know you’re Ladybug?” Marionette’s eyes widened, amazed he knew who Chat was. “Not that I’m aware of. He thinks we look really similar, but he’s seen Ladybug and I in a room together so I doubt he thinks we’re the same.” Damian nodded, “Mari I promise you I’ll help you through this, I just need you to trust me. My brother Red Robin and my father Batman are here-“ “BATMAN IS HERE?!?!” “- yes love. We’re here to help you take down Hawkmoth. I’ll help you take down Lila and figure out how to deal with Adrien, and then as soon as we graduate I’ll steal you away to Gotham.” He looked into her eyes and watched as a hopeful spark began to reignite. 

It was time for phase two of Lila’s plan. She was going to paint herself as Damian’s ideal woman, not by exactly mirroring his interests, he’d catch on to that. A good idea would be to lean into his love of animals. She had researched some well-known animal charities, and even though she really hated getting dirty, she had gone to a volunteer event the other day. Sure, the puppies were super cute, but Lila would rather spend her time working on her manicure. But now she has photos, timestamped photos. She took extra care to make sure her hair and make-up were absolutely perfect, checking on her secret weapon one last time before she left. She was going to save it until she absolutely had to, it would be either her killing blow or her final saving play. As she walked to school, she mentally mapped out her plan for today. She would brag to her class about her volunteer work, and show them the photos on her phone, then she would spread a rumor about seeing Marinette talking and being affectionate towards some random guy. ‘Lila Rossi!’ she thought, ‘You can do better than that! He would see through that in a heartbeat, they spend all of their time together.’ She decided to settle on making Marinette look bad. She’d have to be sneaky, Damian was clearly aware of her tricks and would be on guard, but Lila still thought she had a window of opportunity to convince him Marinette was the evil one. She went into a coffee shop and ordered an iced coffee, Lila wasn’t going to drink it, it was simply a prop she’d spill on herself as a direct result of Dupain-Cheng. She hated to sacrifice her favorite outfit but consoled herself with the knowledge that this would be rags compared to the luxury she’d wear as the girlfriend of a Wayne. Now she just had to decide how she’d spill the coffee, would she make it look like Marinette shoved her? No… too complicated. How about tripping? That won’t work, the little brat’s gotten too smart and now specifically looks for it. She would make it look like Marinette ran into her, and while it wouldn’t do as much damage as she’d like it to, it would be good to show Damian that his soulmate was WAY too clumsy to represent the Wayne Family. She was excitedly daydreaming about all the galas and events she’d go to, hell maybe she would start an acting career! Lila was so caught up in her fantasies that she almost ran into Alya! “Hey, girl! Don’t you look lovely today!” Lila smiled, “Hey Alya! I think you’ve got me beat today! Have you seen Damian? I’m worried Marinette might have said some things about me… and I wanted to talk to him and show him I’m not the person she says I am.” Alya scowled at Marinette’s name, “Ugh I bet she did! But she’s not here today. Her parents called and said she’d gotten sick over the weekend. Damian called in sick as well, and come to think of it, Adrien isn’t here either! Today should be an easy day for you!” Lila had to force a smile, this screwed up her plan damn it! Oh well, maybe if she got the chance, she could poke around Marinette and Damian’s lockers to see if there was anything she could find, it would also be a good chance to strengthen her hold on the class. If Lila is anything, it’s flexible, and she would never let an opportunity slip by.

Damian was looking around Marinette’s room, marveling at just how much his soulmate had accomplished. It looked less like a bedroom and more like a design studio, with mannequins adorned with projects ranging from just starting to fully complete, the walls papered with designs, and the occasional photo of friends or loved ones. Just underneath the papers, he could see the faint hint of a light pink painted wall. Bolts of fabric were arranged against another wall, organized by color and material, as well as a massive piece of wall art made to conveniently store different yarns. There was a closet filled with cases of embroidery floss and other art supplies. Under Marinette’s loft bed was a table with two sewing machines, a modern one able to do large-scale embroidery and Esme. Esme was Marinette’s pride and joy, a vintage singer sewing machine that was practically indestructible. Esme has been through everything, leather, denim, silk, you name it she’s sewn it. When she wasn’t in use, she was kept on her own table, in a place of honor within the room. Beside Esme was a vase of white lilies he’d given her, and a massive book. This was Marinette’s logbook, in which she kept meticulous records of everything: Who commissioned her, how much they paid, what they wanted, how much of each material she had, where it was, and other expenses. It seemed like wherever Damian looked, he saw something new. She made clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry, accessories, and the evidence of that was in her controlled chaos. Even though it was smaller than the Manor, he loved it, he loved everything about Marinette’s home and her family. They were warm and inviting, and it was reflected in their home, and in the daughter Tom and Sabine had raised. Marinette’s room was like her, bright and full of unique colors and energy. She was currently moving Esme to her spot of honor, and opening a special compartment in her desk. From the compartment, she pulled out a vintage sewing box that looked almost ancient (I’m sorry but they made the Miraculous box an EGG when they could have done something that could blend in). 

As soon as Marinette opened the box, sixteen bright lights shot out of it, flying around the room. “Alright everyone listen up!” Mari clapped her hands together to get the light’s attention. They eventually came to a stop in front of her, and Damian looked at them in shock. There were… SO many Kwamii, and apparently there was supposed to be more his soulmate had to recover from around the world. “This is Damian, my soulmate. He’s-” Marinette was cut off by the excited shriek of some of the Kwamii, “He’s going to help us take down Hawkmoth and Mayaura and rescue Duusu and Nooroo. He and his family are superheroes from Gotham and-” “He’s going to be the next Cat,” Plagg interrupted, the seriousness of his tone taking everyone by surprise. The cat Kwamii flew over to Damian, holding a small ring. “The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are connected. One cannot be active for long without the other.” Damian’s eyes met Plagg’s, “And how do you know I am compatible with the Miraculous? I am Marinette’s soulmate but that doesn’t mean I am a match for you.” Plagg cackled, flying around Damian, who stood with his arms crossed, “You’ll do just fine! Much more serious than my last holder for sure! You are more compatible than Adrien was for the simple reason that you are deeply connected with Destruction itself. You come from a tragedy on both sides, a father driven to fight an endless war to avenge his parents’ murder, a mother who needed a pawn and heir to an empire of assassins. Not to mention, the Lazarus Pit.” Damian froze at the mention of the pits, and for a moment, he could almost feel the blazing fire of twisted life rushing through his veins. “Damian? Are you alright? Plagg? What did you do?” Marinette gently rested a hand on Damian’s cheek, she could tell he was reliving something… Plagg simply flew back towards the box. “I’m doing things differently this time Pigtails. I had some time to think… I need to be more responsible for you and for future cats and bugs. Nothing should be hidden between partners, and I know you love him, I know he loves you, but there are people in his life who will not approve. I think he should be the one to tell you when he’s ready. It’s a conversation that needs to be had for both of you. There can be no more secrets.” And with that, the Kwamii flew back over to Damian and gently placed the ring in his hand. The weight of it seemed to snap him out of his flashback, and he looked down at the ring in his hand. He remembered what he’d seen from the videos, he knew the basics of the Black Cat’s powers, and combined with his training, he would be formidable. “I’ll do it. What do I have to say to transform?” Plagg smirked, “Alright kid, all you’ve gotta say is, Plagg claws out!”

Alya was out with her class, chilling in the park after school. They had stopped and gotten smoothies and were working on their own projects in comfortable silence. Alya was busy chasing two leads: What were the Waynes doing in Paris, and where was Chat Noir? Sure, he didn’t do much in most Akuma fights, but he was still one of the heroes of Paris! Come to think of it, no new heroes had been called up since Hawkmoth discovered their identities. She had to take a little bit of pride in that, they were so good that Ladybug couldn’t find any good replacements. She thought about asking Lila for the inside scoop, but with how stressed her bestie had been lately due to Adrien and Marinette’s actions she decided against it. That was another mystery: Marinette. When had the switch flipped? What caused the switch to flip? Was she always like this and Lila was just the first to uncover it? She was also curious about Damian, why would nobody Marinette have such an impressive soulmate? She figured his bad attitude was Marinette’s fault, although, from the articles on her laptop, he’d never been the most approachable or friendly. ‘An asshole for an asshole,’ she thought. Although she’d noticed Lila had been eying Damian since he arrived, maybe she was giving him the benefit of the doubt? Alya shook her head and went back to her research. Something had happened to Chat Noir and Ladybug has been silent about it. She had her theories, and normally she’d run them by Nino, but since the two had broken up all those years ago… Alya sighed. Marinette split the class in two and nothing has been the same since. The Girl Squad was disbanded, she and Nino broke up, and class events rarely hit their goals because if the bully wasn’t invited, her supporters wouldn’t go either. Alya groaned and shifted positions, she NEEDED to finish her research about Chat Noir's disappearance. It’s been forever since she uploaded  Ladybug and Chat Noir content to the Ladyblog, even Alya would admit her blog had started to shift towards Lila content only. Just as she was beginning to give up, a message popped up on her screen.

Hello Ladyblogger. I have some information you might be interested in.

Alya stared at her screen. Was this a scam? She tried to click off the message, but it stayed. She should close her computer, and ask Max to take a look at it, but… what if this person was an inside source!? Carefully she typed out a reply.

Who is this? Why should I trust you? 

Her elusive new friend was quick to respond.

That’s funny. You were so quick to trust before. What changed?

She didn’t know if she should be freaked out or offended, but her curiosity would get the best of her.

I got betrayed by someone I thought I could trust. Now what do you want?

Oh, you got betrayed alright, or to be more exact, you’re currently being betrayed, you’re just too deep in denial to realize it.

‘What?! What could they possibly mean by that?’ Alya thought as her eyes narrowed and she looked around at her friends.

Look if this is you Marinette I don’t want any of your bullshit.

My name isn’t Marinette. It’s Red, and I happen to know about Chat Noir’s whereabouts or his lack thereof. But, if you want the file, you’re going to have to do me a favor.

Oh shit. There were many things Alya was willing to do for a lead, but she had a couple of lines that she refused to cross.

Oh Yeah? And what kind of favor is this? 

I need you to look into your class’s multiple akumatizations.

The feeling of wielding a Miraculous was exhilarating. Domain’s whole body was practically vibrating with an energy he’d never known. It felt like everything was amplified, he wanted to, no he needed to run, and could feel his senses sharpening and his emotions, or at least how he felt them, intensify. ‘This must be what Starfire feels like,’ He thought as he admired his new suit. It was all black with acid-green accents and made from the same material as his Robin suit. Instead of a belt tail and ears, he wore a long cloak with a hood, and two tiny bits poked up to form the ears. The cloak was lined in gold and the ears were tipped in gold as well. A solid black domino mask hid his identity, and his eyes were a bright shade of acid green to match the accents on his suit. The suit itself was made of a similar material as his Robin suit and was solid black, but if you looked at it in the right light, leopard spots were visible. He’d said to hell with the bell, and holding his cloak on and the sash-belt that doubled as a tail were held in place by a deep green cat’s eye gemstone His boots and gloves were solid black, and fitted with braces for extra support when landing. At the tips of his gloves were retractable claws that glistened in the light, and they were slightly curved so he could use them to grab onto buildings and climb. He still had the baton, but a sword was really more his style, but even still he marveled at the magical weapon. “Before you make your debut, you should come up with a name so you aren’t put on the spot like I was,” Mari said as she looked him up and down in the new suit. Damian thought for a moment, “Panthère de Nuit. Night Panther.” his soulmate let out a pleased hum, “Letting Hawkmoth know he faces a more dangerous apex predator?” “Indeed my Lily,” Marinette smiled, and with a quick, “Spots on,” the two were ready to begin Damian’s first patrol as Paris’s new hero.

The two heroes raced along the rooftops, with Panthère de Nuit easily keeping up, a credit to Damian’s training and time as Robin. The two finally came to a stop on a rooftop near the Eiffel Tower, they could see their class in the park below. “Okay, the second Alya sees us, she’s going to try and flag us down for an interview. Do you want to speak with her?” Damian thought for a moment and shook his head. “No. Since Lila has taken over her blog, I don’t think she is a reliable source of information. I do not trust your local news here as well, they seem to lean into rumors. Is there anyone reliable we can talk to?” Ladybug looked around and spotted a familiar parasol. Aurore. The two had gotten to know each other better since Marinette distanced herself from her classmates, and she found out that the blonde ran her own Ladybug-themed blog called On the Spot. While Aurore didn’t get the close-up Akuma footage that Alya had, she was far more accurate in her reports. She recorded information such as the time of akumatization, rough location, and the direction the akumas had been seen traveling from. She had meant to begin working with Aurore and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to start. “See that girl over there? The blonde one? She runs her own blog, On the Spot, and while it’s less popular than the Ladyblog, it is more accurate. We can talk to her, but we need to make it look natural, so our class doesn’t think we ignored them. 

As luck would have it, an Akuma decided to make an appearance. Frozer was back and seemed to be determined to turn Paris into a winter wonderland. “He has ice powers similar to Mr. Freeze, and the Akuma is in his ice skates,” Marinette said as the two rushed into battle. “The easiest way to get the skates would be to immobilize him. If we could somehow trip him, you could cataclysm the skates and release the Akuma.” Damian nodded, “Not my first time dealing with ice-themed villains. I can distract him, while you try to use your yoyo to catch him off guard. Do you want Batman and Red Robin to help with this?” “No. If Hawkmoth finds out they’re in Paris, he’ll for sure try to target them. Please be careful,” Damian gave her a reassuring smile. “Darling I promise I’m not the type to pick fights I can’t win.” With that, he leaped into action. Frozer had sent a blast of ice towards his classmates, which Panthère de Nuit skillfully blocked with his blade. The world around them seemed to, well, freeze as everyone took a moment to process what just happened. “And who are you?” Frozer asked as Hawkmoth’s signature mask appeared over his face. “Panthère de Nuit, the new black cat.” Frozer laughed, “Oh? So Ladybug’s finally replaced that mangy feline? Well no matter, you’ll be just as easy to defeat!” With that, several more blasts of ice were thrown at Damian, who easily dodged, blocked, and reflected. Frozer seemed to pale, if that was even possible, and began to back up for a hasty retreat. Damian couldn’t help himself, “What’s wrong? Not used to fighting a competent Cat Miraculous holder? Too bad.” His eyes met Ladybug’s and he nodded, the sound of her yoyo zipping through the air, and the thud from Frozer hitting the ground confirmed their plan had worked. Damian simply waltzed up to Frozer, and one Cataclysm later, a dark butterfly made a break for it, only to be caught and purified by Ladybug. “That was amazing! I didn’t even have to use my Lucky Charm! Well, I still have to reverse the damage but, you know!” Ladybug exclaimed as she did just that. Damian looked at his ring to check how much time he had before he transformed back and noticed the little pawprint was still full. Weird, he’ll have to ask about that later. A crowd of people had begun to gather, including their classmates and Aurore, Ladybug noticed her and smiled, which encouraged the blonde to ask her questions. “Hello, Ladybug! Great job with the Akuma, that has to be a record!” “Thank you! Aurore is it? Of On the Spot?” The blonde nodded excitedly, “Although, I can’t take all the credit. My new partner was amazing!” Damian sensed this was his cue, and stepped up to answer Aurore’s next question, “Who are you, and what happened to Chat Noir?” With one last glance at Ladybug, Damian spoke, “My name is Panthère de Nuit, and I am Ladybug’s new partner. Chat Noir, as well as some of the temporary heroes, have been permanently retired. The Black Cat Miraculous was taken from him by his Kwamii, who felt he was no longer worthy to wield it,” This was met with cheers from the surrounding civilians. “I promise to do a better job and be a reliable and competent hero that Ladybug and all of Paris can count on. All I can say to Hawkmoth and Mayaura is that your days are numbered.” And with that, the two heroes left to roaring applause. 

Adrien was watching his TV in horror. Plagg, not Ladybug, not the Guardian, PLAGG had taken his Miraculous. His own kwamii had betrayed him, did Plagg even have the power or right to take the ring from him? And now, he was seriously in a bind. If Plagg took the ring, it was safe to say that Ladybug had no idea who he was, and most likely had no idea who her new partner was so he couldn’t ask her to get it back for him. Not to mention the last time they spoke, they weren’t exactly on good terms. Yeah in retrospect skipping patrol and all those akuma battles wasn’t his best idea, especially because that soured his relationship with the people of Paris. If his dad had taught him anything, it was that public opinion mattered a lot, and now he couldn’t exactly count on the public’s support for Chat Noir. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, his best chance of EVER getting a Miraculous again was to pretend to support this new cat, and hope that gets him Ladybug’s attention. Adrien let out a groan and flopped on his bed, his whole life was a mess. Plagg had taken his ring and hadn’t even given him a chance to fix his mistakes (He’d been given many chances), Lila was his soulmate and causing trouble in the class, and then Marinette shows up one day with Damian Wayne claiming to be her soulmate! He’d looked it up, and it really was Damian Wayne, and not some imposter using his name, but it was still so frustrating! He couldn’t figure out just why Marinette was so smitten with the man when he seemed like such a terrible fit for her! Marinette was kind, compassionate, and warm while Damian was cold, selfish, and quite mean. Adrien had been nursing a small crush on Marinette for a while and had known about her crush on him before Alya told him. He still loved Ladybug but realized after a while that she really might not feel the same way, and he couldn’t help it when a brilliant girl like Marinette was in his class. It didn’t hurt that she and Ladybug could be sisters, but he just figured he had a type. What he couldn’t figure out was why she was so focused on Damian when she’d been in love with him for years! “Calm down Adrien,” he muttered to himself, “Mari’s always been a hopeless romantic, so it’s probably just the fact he’s claiming he’s her soulmate.” He also needed to do something about Lila. Sure, he still believed the high road was the best way to go, but he had never expected things to escalate to the point Lila and their class were physically harming Marinette. Walking over to his closet and pulling out a whiteboard and some markers, he began to work on Operation Win Back Marinette.

Across Paris, another student was working on a plan: Alya. She had been working on her newest lead, and chatting with her new friend, Red. True to his word, Red had given Alya information about Chat Noir and Panthère de Nuit. What she knew so far was that Chat Noir’s behavior had gone on longer than anyone in Paris had realized, and that this was not Panthère de Nuit’s first time as a hero. In return, she had compiled a list of all her class’s akumatizations, and why they were akumatized. She slowly began to notice four outliers in their class: Marinette, Damian, Adrien, and Lila. Damian she could explain away easily, he had just gotten to Paris and hadn’t had the chance to be akumatized yet, but that was where easy ended. Marinette had a few failed akumatizations, in which she was always able to break out of Hawkmoth’s control. Alya chalked it up to Gina teaching her some meditation methods she used, but what was harder to explain was why Marinette was almost akumatized. The first time made sense, she had just been expelled, but the others were a complete mystery. Adrien hasn’t been akumatized (I’m not counting Cat Blanc or Ephemeral), but it almost seemed like the akumas never targeted him. She had seen him express negative emotions before. Then there was Lila Rossi, who had been akumatized into Volpina a scarily high number of times. Drawing from her own experience as Rena Rouge, Alya knew that the Fox Miraculous was all about illusions, and an Akuma based off of a Miraculous will share its powers, but in a weaker state. Come to think of it, there were times Lila was akumatized into Volpina that didn’t fit. She would be crying because Marinette had bullied her, and still turn into Volpina. Alya knew that you would only turn into an akuma twice if you felt the same emotions both times, such as Mr. Pigeon, so something wasn’t adding up. Opening her laptop, she typed out:

Red? Are you on? I have a few Questions.

She waited nervously, tapping her fingers on the desk as she checked her phone.

Yeah. What’s up Ladyblogger?

Alya could’ve kissed her computer, she felt like she was closer than she’d ever been to uncovering something big.

I was going back through the list of my class’ akumatizations and noticed a couple of outliers. Do you have any information on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste, and Lila Rossi?

I never thought you’d ask. Here’s what I have.

Red sent over a bunch of files, with a ton on Adrien and Lila, and very few on Marinette.

Why does Marinette only have like, three things?

She isn’t a public figure like the other two, well at least under that name. Ever heard of MDC? That’s her. You aren’t a true celebrity if you don’t have an MDC original. 

Marinette was MDC?! This was news to Alya, but she guessed it would make sense. Marinette had stopped making them things a few years ago, saying she was too busy. If she was covertly running a fashion empire that would explain it. However, one last thing still haunted Alya, especially as she began to click through the files on Adrien and Lila. She paused for a moment, Red had sent her camera footage from the day Marinette was expelled, but why was it labeled as Lila’s file? As she pressed play and began watching, she began noting some inconsistencies. Before returning to the video, she typed out one last message. 

Red? I’m starting to think I’ve been lied to. 

For the next week or so, all anyone would talk about was Panthère de Nuit, and the hype was justified. He’d been spotted a few more times since Frozer, at Akuma fights and on patrol, and was just as skilled as his first fight. Videos were made speculating about his powers if he had any new ones, and where he could have possibly gotten the skills he used in his fight. The most popular theory came from Aurore, who hypothesized that Panthère de Nuit was not new to being a hero. The public was still a little apprehensive, since they remembered what they’d been through under Chat Noir, but were rapidly warming up to the man. Of course, a certain someone claimed to have more info than she did. Marinette sat in her spot with Damian by her side and rolled her eyes as Lila went on and on, “I’m so happy I was finally able to convince Ladybug to replace Chat Noir! I’ve been telling her for years that he isn’t a good partner, but she’s so sweet and sentimental, so she was hesitant to get rid of the partner she’s had since the beginning. Maybe now that he’s not around to get jealous, I can convince her to give you all your Miraculous again! Well, some people might not be worthy of wielding one, but that’s their own fault.” The class snickered and shot looks at Marinette and her friends, who simply ignored them. Lila had no way of knowing that some of the class would never wield any Miraculous again, their identities had been exposed and it was too much of a risk. Lila went on and on, even when Ms. Bustier came in and tried to start class. However, someone caught Marinette’s attention: Alya. Her former best friend was sitting with her laptop open to the Ladyblog analytics page, and she was watching Lila with narrowed eyes. She would occasionally stop and type something out. Her concentration seemed to stop when Adrien walked into the room, and Marinette quickly looked away to avoid eye contact with either. Damian shot a glare at the blond who was trying to get Mari’s attention, and the ravenette paid him no mind. Nino (Who still had connections in the Adrien fan club) had informed her that the model talks about her at his shoots, and when people ask if they’re dating he never denies it. “He’s trying to create a public narrative,” Damian had explained, “If the media picks up the story and the public catches on, it could spread like wildfire. Remember how everyone thought Ladybug and Chat Noir were in love and destined for each other? That resulted in people pressuring Ladybug to admit feelings she didn’t have.” The group nodded, clearly understanding that Damian was worried the same thing would happen to Marinette.

Adrien made his next move at lunch. Marinette and Damian, along with their friend group were going to spend their lunch at a nearby cafe. The group didn’t want to deal with Lila, and wanted to be able to discuss their topic privately: Reopening an investigation into who Hawkmoth is. Marinette had a theory board about it that she had made with Alya when they were younger, but the two stopped when they had their falling out. As they were leaving, Adrien approached them. “Hey, Mari! So where are we going for lunch?” I know a great place-” “We? Dude, you haven’t been caught dead anywhere near us since middle school,” Nino practically growled and crossed his arms. The ending of their friendship had been… explosive. Nino had gone to Adrien after he figured out Lila was lying, hoping to gather support to expose Lila and save his childhood friend’s reputation, and was horrified to find out that Adrien knew and pressured Mari to keep quiet. The following argument resulted in Nino being akumatized into Maskless, who was determined to “remove the masks” and expose people for who they truly are. It was a difficult fight for Ladybug, and after it was over, Nino disavowed the two boys’ friendship for good, the last thing he’d spoken to Adrien before now was, “I just can’t be friends with someone who would sacrifice a friend to avoid having to deal with a little discomfort. Talk to me when you grow a spine and maybe I’ll forgive you.” And the future director had kept his promise. This was the first time he’d spoken to Adrien in years. The callout seemed to catch the blond off guard, and he stumbled out, “Well uh, my father wanted me to talk to Marinette about an internship, so I was going to do that today at lunch. So Mari where do you want to go eat?” And with that Adrien made a move to grab Mari’s wrist, but was blocked by an angry Kim and pissed Damian. “Didn’t your dad teach you it’s rude to grab someone without consent?” Kim snarked. Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka nodded, with Juleka working up the courage to add, “You’re forgetting that you aren’t the only model in the class anymore. I’m in the same gossip circles you are now, and I know you’re trying to make people think that Adrienette is a thing.” “That’s not true I-,” “Enough,” Marinette cut in, Adrien gave her a hopeful smile, while the others snickered. “Adrien, I already have plans with my friends and it would be rude of me to cancel at the last minute. Plus I seem to remember two very important things you’re conveniently forgetting: First, the conversation in which I very clearly told you I wasn’t interested, and second, the letter I received in the middle of class a year ago from your father telling me I’ve been blacklisted from the company. And from the looks on both your and Lila’s faces I can conclude you both had something to do with that. If Gabriel wants me to work for him, he needs to start by addressing the elephant in the room and the damage he’s done to my career before I could even graduate. Come on guys, we need to actually get something to eat before lunch is over,” and with that, Marinette and her group sidestepped a disappointed Adrien and made their way toward a cafe.

After they’d gotten their food, they got to work on their theory of who Hawkmoth was. “Here’s the list of people I considered before I knew for sure he had a partner,” Marinette set a stack of papers down, “And here’s the list of suspects after I had to start over once Mayura came onto the scene.” That list was twice as long and seemed to radiate an aura of frustration. The others each took papers and began crossing out people that they knew couldn’t be Hawkmoth. “Soooo… I think we can rule out some people based on the fact they don’t have time to be Hawkmoth or Mayura. Like we know they aren’t any of our parents because they’re too busy with work,” Rose chirped as she crossed off names with her sparkly pink Pom Pom pen. “So I hate to be that person but are we sure Mayura is Hawky’s only partner?” Nathaniel asked, playing with a pencil. Damian nodded, “Surely he has to have someone else. He can’t guarantee that someone in Paris is going to feel upset enough to attract an akuma even though Paris is a big city. It would make more sense if he had someone working to actively cause akumas,” the group seemed to be stuck for a moment after the obviously innocent people have been ruled out. The problem with Akumatizations is how little solid evidence is left behind. Hawkmoth can emotionally hijack someone and leave behind no DNA or fingerprints, or really anything. 

Damian had (and none of them except Marinette knew this) checked the databases the Justice League and Batfamily kept on the various super criminals of the world only to have it turn up empty, so the group was stuck… until a new voice cut in, “You’re assuming he’s smarter than he really is. I should know, I’ve helped him before.” Chloe and Sabrina stood in front of their table, with the heiress making a point to sit herself down at the head of the table and continued, “Be honest with yourselves, I’m not the only person with an attitude problem in Paris who didn’t care how many akumas I caused. There are many more who don’t care, and those people are the backbone of Hawkmoth’s operation whether they realize it or not. Unless you and Ladybug have a plan to make everyone in Paris act as sweet as pie, you need to stop acting like Hawkmoth is a genius. He thrives off dumb luck and takes advantage of problems others cause.” Marinette froze at the mention of her alter ego, “Why do you think I know Ladybug?” Chloe snorted and gave Marinette a look, “Dupain-Cheng you got that wannabe reporter an interview with her! Despite your family’s lack of financial wealth, you have connections coming out of your pigtails. If anyone in this hellhole keeps regular contact with Ladybug it would be you. Anyways, Hawkmoth isn’t the brains of the operation, that could be Mayura if she would stop going along with all his ridiculous schemes and grow a backbone. In the few times I’ve willingly helped him, it was clear that his plan was only cobbled together at best and completely on the fly at worst.” “Why did you help him in the first place?” Rose blurted out, and realizing her mistake she quickly covered her mouth. 

Chloe simply sighed, “I guess I do owe you all an explanation since I was responsible for most of your akumatizations. When I agreed to help him, I was at my lowest. He prays on weakness in any form it comes in. I was always taught that I was born lucky, and everyone else was just lucky to be born- yes Kim I know what show I’m referencing- and for the longest time I believed it. I believed I had the right to act the way I did, and my parents encouraged it, but as I started getting older, it became clear that I didn’t inherit my mother’s talent so she started distancing herself from me. My father tried to fill the void by just giving in to everything I wanted. I know he loves me, but he wanted to be my friend instead of my parent, and that whole dynamic messed me up even more. Then I met Marinette fucking Dupain-Cheng, a girl who my parents taught me to consider less than dirt beneath my feet… but she somehow had everything I wanted,” Chloe clutched the smoothie in her hand, and couldn’t meet Marinette’s eyes, “Your parents love you so much, and are so involved. They made it to every event our class had, while mine couldn’t be bothered, they encouraged you when you failed and promised to help you, while my mother would scream at me and tell me I was a waste of her time. They helped you learn how to deal with your problems instead of paying them to go away. I was and still am, so jealous of you Marinette. I’d give anything in a heartbeat to trade places with you, but instead, I did the only thing I knew how to do: I lashed out. I made your life hell for years, long before Lila came around, in fact, I’m surprised that you didn’t dump our class sooner. In all the years I bullied you, not a single one of them helped you, they avoided you, and the second you stood up to me they tried to act like all those years just disappeared,” Damian, who was mainly focusing on how Marinette was reacting, quickly noticed the shame on the faces of their friends. While he wanted to rage at them for what they’d done to his soulmate, he stopped himself, he knew he couldn’t now that he was Panthère de Nuit if Hawkmoth found an opening… He focused back in on Chloe’s story to try and calm down, “Anyways, when Ladybug came onto the scene, I immediately latched onto this idea that if she was my friend, all my problems would be fixed. I would have an amazing friend who would get my parent’s attention and make all my problems go away, but I screwed it up royally. When I found the Bee Miraculous, I thought it was a chance to redeem myself. I should have just returned it to Ladybug instead of causing that train accident, I thought if I showed her that I could be a hero then maybe she’d accept me. She kept giving me chance after chance, and I kept fucking up because I would let my ego get the better of me. When I lost the Bee Miraculous, when I realized Ladybug wanted nothing to do with me, and when I realized it was all my fault, I broke. I was convinced that I was destined to destroy anything good in my life, and that was when Hawkmoth approached me about becoming Miracle Queen. I was so emotional that I forgot who I was talking to, and gave him everything he needed to convince me to join him. After that… I was bitter, bitter at the world, Ladybug, Zoe, you name it I was upset at it because something had occurred to me during that time. I realized that I was never born lucky, that’s you Marinette, I was actually the one lucky to be born- shut up Kim let me have this- even though you were going through hell, you still had people in your corner who support you unconditionally. I know Ladybug hates me, I know you do too, but if she really wants to defeat Hawkmoth all she needs to do is get him at his lowest, and Mayura will follow him down.” With her speech over, Chloe and Sabrina simply got up and left, leaving a stunned table in their wake. “Get him at his lowest…” Marinette murmured to herself, and she kept muttering it all the way back to school. 

As the school day neared the end, Marinette had gone to the restroom, promising to meet Damian by her locker. As the Wayne heir waited, he heard a gentle, ‘ahem,’ and turned, expecting to see his soulmate. Instead, he felt his blood pressure spike as he was face to face with the ravenous wolf that looked at him as if he were a gullible lamb, a.k.a, Lila. She looked a mess with puffy red eyes and mascara streaks down her face reaching her chin, it was clear to anyone she had been crying. Damian narrowed his eyes, this might not be one of her fake crying episodes, but it clearly was still a carefully laid trap. They were alone, with no witnesses to watch what was about to go down. Lila hesitantly held her phone out to Damian, and tears began rolling down her cheeks again, “I… I thought you should know,” she sniffed, pressing the play button. Damian listened with a raised eyebrow to the conversation Lila had supposedly recorded, “Marinette you are an amazing woman, what I wanted to tell you was that I accept your feelings and will be your boyfriend,” Adrien’s voice could be heard loud, and clear through the recording, Damian opened his mouth but Lila cut him off, “There’s more hang on,” Soon after, his Lily’s voice could be heard, “Adrien, I have loved you since we were thirteen-” With that Lila stopped the recording and began to cry, “I know Marinette’s probably told you all these nasty things about me… but it felt wrong to say nothing and let her keep manipulating you like this when I know what I heard.” With that, Lila went back to sobbing and wailing about how her bully ‘stole’ her soulmate and was a filthy cheater. If anyone else was around, they would have caught the Bat Glare Lila herself was too wrapped up in her act to see. Damian wasn’t surprised Lila stooped this low, in fact, he wasn’t surprised she didn’t stoop lower and try to fake a pregnancy or something, but it dawned on him that this was the perfect opportunity to end Marinette’s torment and he decided to take it. “Oh, you were there for that conversation too?” Lila froze, and looked up at him with fresh tears still rolling down her cheeks, “E-excuse me?” A deep laugh that rumbled like thunder cut through the tension. “Do you seriously think I would have let Adrien speak to my Lily alone when I knew he would try to pull something? And do you seriously think I wouldn’t consider the possibility someone could have been listening in,” With that, Damian pulled out his own phone, shooting Lila a vicious smirk. “Let me fill you in on what you conveniently missed,” As he pressed play, the smirk only grew as he watched the color drain from Lila’s face and his voice played from the speaker, “Agreste there is no way you are her soulmate. I saw Marinette in my dreams, and she saw me in hers. Besides, I know your soulmate is Rossi. She was determined to make a scene today at lunch, and it tipped me off that you would try something like this. I suggest you listen well Agreste because this is the only time I will be kind enough to give you some advice. Leave Marinette alone. All you have done is hurt her and allow others to hurt her. You have stood by and watched as a petty ectoparasite burrowed into Marinette’s class and allowed her to spread her manipulative disease. Even if by chance you have somehow seen the light and exposed the truth tomorrow, which we both know you will not do because you are too much of a coward and care more about what other people think of you, it’s too late. You have blown all your chances, and Marinette is far too good for you, someone who will throw her to the wolves to avoid a minor inconvenience. So stay away Adrien, if you know what is best for you.” With that, Damian placed his phone in his pocket and looked back at Lila. 

“You know, I really ought to thank you, Rossi, you tipped me off to Agreste’s plan and allowed me to collect evidence to foil your own. I have that entire conversation recorded from the moment he approached my Lily, and I have already been recording this one too,” Lila’s eyes widened and she looked like she was about to faint, so Damian moved in for the kill, “Do you really think you’re the first one to try and pull a stunt like this? I am from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the world, did you really think you would be the first to lie about my soulmate? How convenient, you happen to have a recording of Marinette supposedly accepting a confession from Adrien, and that you finally worked up the ‘courage’ to tell me the first moment I am alone and Marinette is not here to defend herself. I will give you some credit though, your editing skills could fool someone who is not looking for signs of manipulation, and could have definitely fooled our gullible classmates, which brings me to my next point,” Damian channeled his rage into a calm, icy glare, “You will cease tormenting my soulmate immediately. I am not afraid to expose your lies and underhanded tactics to our class, but let me give you some more incentive. Before, Marinette did not have the… legal resources to handle you properly, but I have my family’s lawyers on speed dial Rossi. Marinette is not my wife yet, but the same protections that cover the Wayne family extend to her. So if you know what is good for you, you will shut your mouth and never speak ill of my soulmate again, or my lawyers will see what other secrets you have been hiding.” Taking that as her queue to leave, Lila booked it toward the exit like the devil was on her heels. Operation: Lila Wayne was clearly dead in the water, and Damian would be sure it stayed that way. Once she was gone he took a deep breath and got his emotions in check, just in time to see the love of his life jogging towards him. “Sorry! I realized while I was in the bathroom that I left some stuff in the art room!” He smiled as the familiar feeling of warmth returned to him. It was wonderful, being in love.

Alya just got finished pacing around her room for what felt like the hundredth time. She stared at her computer, open to the video she had yet to publish, and the one that would be the final nail in the coffin for her career. She knew deep down she had to do this, it was the only way to atone for all she’d done. A chat popped up on the screen from Red:

Are you okay Ladyblogger? I know this is a tough decision, and I’m here for you. 

Alya smiled, over their many late-night conversations, Red had become a good friend and close confidant. She’d never meet up with him in person, that was online safety 101, but he’d helped her come to some difficult conclusions.

Yeah. Just trying to settle my nerves a bit. I know I have to do this, it’s the right thing to do, and lately, I’ve struggled with that.

You’ve got this. I think it will go over better than you think it will. 

With that, Alya closed her eyes, counted to ten, and pressed the upload button. A video titled after one of the worst things she’d ever said was now on the front page of the Ladyblog, a video she could never take back.

Marinette and Damian were in her room, munching on a variety of cookies and discussing their plan to end Hawkmoth’s reign of terror once and for all. Their brainstorming was interrupted when a notification popped up on Marinette’s phone, and a new video had been posted to the Ladyblog. The two shared a look and a shrug, sure, why not? It wouldn’t hurt to see what Lila was saying now, instead, they were met with a thumbnail of Alya sitting at her desk, and a video called ‘A Good Reporter Always Fact Checks’ was staring back at them. Damian pressed play, and the two sat back to see what this was about. 

“Hey everyone, it’s the Ladyblogger. This video is VERY different from what I normally post, and it needs to be because I have a lot I need to say. Many years ago, when I was just starting out I posted a video about a girl named Lila Rossi who claimed that she was Ladybug’s best friend. That video has been removed, but at the time I thought nothing of it. A girl who was my friend confronted me about it, and rightly, called me on the fact I had no evidence to prove anything Lila had said. Instead of fixing my mistake, I told her that a good reporter always fact-checks, but that wasn’t what I did. I am here today to apologize to her and to all of you for failing you. I neglected to do the right thing and gave a liar a platform to spread dangerous misinformation, but I also took that liar’s side and turned against the best friend I’ve ever had. 

I met Lila Rossi when I was thirteen, and I along with most of my classmates naively believed every word that came out of her mouth like it was gospel. She told us that because her mother was a diplomat, she had gotten to meet and work with all these famous people and that she could talk with them and help our careers. We were so excited, there was someone who could help us reach our dreams and she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart. Hindsight really is 20/20, and looking back there was no way any celebrity in their right mind would be that deeply involved working with a teenage girl to the extent Lila claimed. I can’t speak for my classmates but I know a part of me kept believing her because the fear of pissing her off and then it all turning out to be true kept me loyal to her. I was a coward and afraid that if I questioned her I would lose out, and that later turned into fearing what I’d done in her name if it turns out she was lying. This resulted in me interviewing her and publicizing her lies and misinformation, giving her a platform to fuel her own ego. To put it simply: I didn’t fact-check, and now everyone is paying the price. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so, sorry. Taking her videos down doesn’t fix the damage she caused, and just saying I’m sorry won’t either. It sounds cringy but I promise to do better, but I don’t expect you all to stick with me now that I’ve proven not to be a reliable source. For accurate, truthful information, check out Aurore’s blog On the Spot. She’s a great reporter and has done a much better job than I did. I would also like to apologize to Ladybug, and not just for giving Lila Rossi a platform. I want to apologize for all those shitty things I did to try to figure out her identity and push LadyNoir even after she clearly expressed multiple times that she was uncomfortable. Most importantly, I want to apologize to my former friend and ex-boyfriend,” Marinette’s eyebrow raised a bit, “They caught on to Lila’s bullshit years before I did and tried to snap me out of it because they cared about me. But instead, I dug my heels in and participated in icing them out from the class, and stood by while they were harassed. I broke up with my boyfriend over this whole mess because I was appalled he’d take Lila’s “Bully’s” side when the truth was that they were the ones being bullied. All I can say to them is that I’m sorry and that they don’t have to forgive me. My teacher taught us that we always need to forgive and be the bigger person, but forgiveness isn’t something owed, it's earned. I’ve acknowledged my wrongdoings but I haven’t yet begun to work to make things right. So to that girl who was my best friend and one of the best people I’ve met: I should have trusted you. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine, and I am so sorry for what I’ve done.” Marinette sat and stared, stunned at Alya’s admission and watching in awe as the blogger exposed Lila’s lies to the world. Out of all the people to do it, she never thought it would be Alya, Lila’s self-proclaimed BFF. However, it also meant the last variable in her plan was taken care of, so walking over to the Miraculous box, she took what she needed and gave a variety of Miraculous to Damian. Standing on her toes she kissed his cheek and whispered, “Text Red Robin and Batman, tell them to meet us at the Eiffel Tower at Midnight. And if you would be so kind, please take these Miraculous to their most recent holders. I know I said I retired the old heroes, but we’ll need most of them again. I have one errand to run, and I’ll meet you there.” Damian nodded, and kissed Mari’s forehead, “Be careful my Lily.” and She hesitantly broke away from his embrace, transformed, and snuck out through her balcony. 

Alya was scrolling through the comments on her apology/Lila Rossi exposè video, it was a habit she never could break. Yes, there were quite a few harshly criticizing her, and a couple were straight-up name-calling, but the majority of people were happy she’d seen the light and were encouraging her not to give up on her dream. Her phone was blowing up with texts and calls from her classmates (and quite a few angry voicemails from Lila), but she couldn’t bring herself to care. A part of her felt at peace, even though she mourned the loss of her dream. A knock on her door snapped her out of her spiral, it was probably her mom coming to give her a pep talk and reassure her she did the right thing. But as she opened the door to her room, a familiar set of pigtails nearly made her jump out of her skin. “Hi… I came to talk,” Marinette said, and Alya moved back to let her in. This felt so right, but wrong. It called back to the many sleepovers they had, laughing about boys and reading superhero comics, but this time it was like two opposing soldiers laying down their arms in a tentative truce. Marinette decided to break the awkward silence, “So I saw the video. I have to admit, I certainly wasn’t expecting you to expose Lila like that.” Alya gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Neither did she. She’s been blowing up my phone with voicemails calling me every name she can think of and promising to ruin me. Well, she’s too late 'cause I already did that.” Marinette looked over at the comments, skimming through them. “Not necessarily. You apologized, admitted you were wrong, and have already begun working to undo some of her damage,” “But that doesn’t excuse what I did to you, to Nino, and your friends.” “No, it doesn’t, but you’ve owned up to it which is admirable. What snapped you out of it?” Alya smiled softly, “I made a friend who got me to stop and think… and also got me access to the school’s cameras. I don’t know how much of the video you watched but I played the video from the day you got expelled and it showed Lila framing you so Damocles and Bustier are in some hot water right now.” Marinette laughed, genuinely, it felt so strange for Alya to hear, “About time! I can’t help but wonder how many other people they messed up, besides us.” “Oh, a lot. I plan on exposing more, but that’s a problem to take out another day.” Marinette perked up a bit, “Speaking of taking out problems, I need your help with a big one.” Alya nodded eagerly, ready to make up for her years of inaction. “I asked Aurore to post this too, but I need you to post this article,” Marinette handed her a piece of paper to read, as she read, her brow furrowed a bit, “You’re not planning on taking on Hawkmoth, are you? Oh my god, you are. I don’t know what secret weapons stash the Waynes have but-” “Tikki spots on,” Standing there, in her room, was Ladybug, where her former best friend once stood. Before Alya could find her words Maribug, no, Ladynette, no, Ladybug cut her off, “I have a plan but I’m going to need Hawkmoth to panic thinking the Miraculi are slipping out of his grasp. We need this to bait him out.” Alya was stunned, and began to stammer, “Of course! I-” “You said you wanted to work to make things right, so if you’re willing,” Marinette held out an oh-so-familiar fox necklace, “I’ll need Rena Rouge’s help too.”

Chloe was sitting in her room with Sabrina, pretending to be invested in whatever show they were watching. In her mind she kept replaying that day she spotted Marinette and her group in her favorite cafe. The conversation she had… she had never expected to spill her heart out like that. Her mother always told her that she could never be vulnerable, she could never let others see any weakness, and yet there she sat pouring out her heart. Eventually, Sabrina had to leave, they did have school tomorrow, and the heiress was left alone. Alone was something familiar to Chloe, especially since her Icarus Moment, as she called it, was something she dreaded. She knew her parents would leave her out to dry in a heartbeat, she knew Zoe had her own life and that the two sisters would never be close, and she knew all her daddy’s employees would quit the moment they found something better. All she had left was Sabrina, so she clung on for dear life. She’d stopped treating her friend like a servant a long time ago, and even when she was at her worst, Sabrina stuck by her. Initially, it was out of fear, Sabrina knew that if she was going to swim with sharks it was better to be a remora. She had many chances to leave but stuck around time and time again and Chloe realized that maybe Sabrina really did care for her. Then there was the hot mess that was Adrien. He’d tried to give Chloe the “Her lies aren’t hurting anybody” speech a while ago, but the heiress wasn’t having it. This girl had humiliated her and needed to pay. She and Sabrina decided to gather information, and that was how they overheard Adrien making Marinette agree not to do anything and later Lila threatening Marinette. 

Chloe had always felt a little bad for the baker’s daughter, she was madly in love with Adrien but had no idea what he was really like, he could be incredibly manipulative if it meant avoiding an uncomfortable situation. She knew that Marinette wouldn’t trust her to outright accept help from the heiress, so she decided to back off entirely, a cease-fire of sorts. It helped that this coincided with her revelation that she was jealous of Marinette and her family. When Damian Wayne joined the class and declared himself Dupain-Cheng’s soulmate, Chloe thought, ‘About damn time.’ She’d seen how the former class president was treated and knew she most likely had another major stressor (Chloe theorized she was Ladybug’s woman in the chair, working behind the scenes), so she was a bit relieved to see the universe finally being kind to the ravenette. Unfortunately, it also marked the turn for Adrien to go off the deep end. He had confessed to Chloe before that he knew about Marinette’s crush, but that he was pretty sure his soulmate was Ladybug, and he’d also said that she’d be his second pick if that didn’t work out, and she certainly got an earful when he found out his soulmate was Lila. After she and Sabrina returned to school after their run-in with the Mari Squad, Adrien stopped her and asked her to help him win back Marinette. “Agreste,” She remembered snapping, not bothering with any nicknames, “You’ve lost your mind. Dupain-Cheng finally, FINALLY has something positive working out for her and you, one of the main sources of all her anguish think you can just waltz back in? You don’t really love her Adrien, you said it yourself she’d always be your second choice, and when your first choice fell through and your soulmate turned out to be Lila you sought out your consolation prize. Let me give you some advice: Life isn’t a fairytale, you can’t expect Marinette to wait for you forever or to completely throw away her life for you.” She doubted Adrien would get the message, but at least she tried. If she was naïve, Chloe would wonder if this marked the start of the end of their rivalry and the beginning of a new friendship, but the logical part of her knew that the damage she did was too great. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a sound coming from her balcony. She groaned and got up, thinking a pigeon had crashed into the door and was now stunned on the floor. But when she opened the door, she was shocked, there was Ladybug and Rena Rouge on her balcony. Ladybug smiled gently, and in almost a whisper asked, “Is Queen Bee available?”

The three women arrived at the Eiffel Tower just before midnight. Their arrival was acknowledged by a majority of the Miraculous team and Red Robin. Batman stood back, silently observing. Marinette could feel the nerves rising in her stomach. There was Batman, in person, and he was here to help her. Alya seemed to be going through a similar mental process, trying desperately to act professional and not fangirl, until Red Robin greeted her, “Well, well, well. Gotta say I wasn’t expecting to see you here Ladyblogger!” Alya’s jaw dropped, “Red??” Tim threw his head back and laughed, “Yep! I needed some information for our investigation, and figured I’d help you off the sinking ship in the process.” Before Alya could reply, Batman spoke, “Speaking of information, we were able to figure out That Hawkmoth and Mayura are Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur by hacking into various cameras to track the akumas, and from there we monitored his activity through his security system,” “For the record I’ve seen better security from Rogues like Crazy Quilt,” Red Robin interjected, Batman sighed and continued, “We have solid evidence that will hold up in court, so our main objective will be to catch him,” the Dark Knight turned to Ladybug, “So I’m assuming you called us here because you have the plan to do that.” Ladybug nodded and stepped forward to begin to tell the team her plan, “So as most of you know Hawkmoth and Mayura get their powers from the Kwamii within their Miraculous, that’s the same thing that gives us our powers,” She clarified for the Gotham heroes, “All we have to do is remove the Miraculous from them, and their transformation will be dropped and they’ll be powerless. However, the tricky part is actually getting them to come to the fight themselves. The nature of their Miraculous allows them to create minions to fight for them, hence the Akumas and Sentimonsters, so it’s very likely that they’ll try and distract us so they can escape. We have a mostly full Miraculous team, minus the mouse, rabbit, ox, and horse, but those can easily be given to other holders to fill that void,” The group felt a mix of emotions at the realization that some of their classmates had still yet to try and make amends for what they did, but knew that it was for the better until they could fully trust the former team members again. “So in order to get them out, we need to get them to their lowest, a point in which they’ll be so desperate that they’ll feel like they have no choice but to face us themselves, and we’ll do that by making them think that everything is slipping out of their grasp.”

Adrien had just gotten home from school, and turned on the TV in his room, flopping down on his bed. His day was AWFUL because the night before Alya had made a video on the Ladyblog exposing Lila completely out of the blue. Needless to say, the class was furious, and then their fury was directed at him when they found out he’d known the whole time and the things he did to keep Marinette from exposing Lila. He’d tried to argue that yeah he’d made a mistake, but no major damage had been done and that the small stuff could be fixed, so they should all just move on and be friends again. That had only added fuel to the fire, and all of this was before Marinette and Damian walked in. Adrien could practically feel his blood pressure rising at the thought of his rival’s name. He’d changed Marinette, encouraged her to stand up for herself, and in Adrien’s opinion was shaping her into a toxic person, but it seemed like he was the only one who could see it! More and more people gravitated to Mari like moths to a flame, and she was enjoying quite the popularity spike while he and Lila were seemingly deemed the school’s outcasts. If he still had his ring he would go to her as Chat Noir and demand that she stop the bullshit and fix everything, but he couldn’t even do that. Lila had contacted him, screaming that he’d ruined her plan to split up Dupain-Cheng and Wayne, and if he’d just followed her lead, he’d have what he wanted and she’d have what she wanted. For once he wished he listened to Lila, especially when she told him that Damian had a recording of his confrontation with Marinette and her rejection. His lawyers explained that there was nothing he could do,  the Wayne family was a legal juggernaut so even if they did have a valid case, they would simply be able to drag it out until the Agrestes had no choice but to drop it, the same thing Gabriel had done to countless people before. They drilled into his head that any move he made against Damian Wayne would bring the wrath of his lawyers and that for once, Adrien was in a position of weakness. 

He was brainstorming ideas on how to convince Marinette to leave her soulmate when the TV switched over to breaking news. “Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit will be meeting with members of the Justice League and Justice League Dark today in order to transfer over the Miraculous to the hero teams. According to statements from Ladybug posted to the Ladyblog and On the Spot, ‘Hawkmoth’s attacks have become far more brazen, and in order to assure the safety of Paris, I felt it was necessary to entrust the Miraculi, including the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, to people who can properly protect them,’” The screen cut to Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit handing over what was supposedly the Miracle Box to the superheroes Batman, Red Robin, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate, The box was almost in Zatanna’s hands when a loud boom caught the attention of the heroes, and as the camera turned to show what they saw, Adrien gasped. There were Hawkmoth and Mayura on the back of a massive multi-headed dragon Sentimonster, with an army of akumas and amoks floating around them, ready to turn at least half of Paris into their own army. A burst of fire was shot from one of the heads of the dragon, with Ladybug, Panthère de Nuit, Batman, and Red Robin easily dodging. Zatanna and Doctor Fate, along with the Miracle Box disappeared in the familiar smoke of an illusion from the Fox Miraculous breaking, in fact, the whole area seemed to disappear, and when the smoke settled, it showed the heroes and villains trapped in a large Shell-ter. It struck Adrien that this was never a poorly executed plan that Hawkmoth discovered, this was an ambush. Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t get involved, he didn’t have a Miraculous and would be putting himself in great danger. However, he was convinced that if he showed Ladybug that he could still be a hero, she would have to give him a MIraculous, and he could prove to Marinette that he was the best match for her. So he left for the battlefield.

Everything so far was going according to plan. Hawkmoth and Mayura had taken the bait and were now trapped in the Shell-ter with the Heroes. Rena Rouge was working overtime, creating illusion after illusion to confuse the devious duo. Carapace’s Shell-ter was holding strong, preventing anyone from entering and potentially getting akumatized. Vipereon was given the rabbit miraculous as well and was currently hopping between dimensions and using Second Chance to reset the fight and figure out the next moves they should make. King Monkey (with help from the Mouse Miraculous), Pigella, and Caprikid were using their respective powers to work with Batman and Red Robin to try and throw off Hawkmoth and Mayura’s concentration. Meanwhile, Ryuko, Panthère de Nuit, Purple Tigeress (also using the Ox Miraculous), and Rooster Bold were handling the massive dragon Sentimonster. Ladybug herself was along the outskirts of the battle, with Miss Hound and the “new” Bee hero Swarm. Ladybug was using her yo-yo to get her allies out of the way of various attacks, and waiting for the signal from Vipereon to use Lucky Charm. Swarm was waiting for an opportunity to use Venom to stun either Hawkmoth or Mayura, while Miss Hound was using the Horse Miraculous to teleport around to take shots at hitting the villains’ Miraculous. All of the heroes were connected with earpieces so they could communicate and monitor how each other was doing, and so far everything was going smoothly. 

For the first time in forever, Ladybug was beginning to feel hopeful that this nightmare would be over soon, when Miss Hound caught everyone’s attention, “Ummm… Why is Adrien trying to get in? Does he know that Hawkmoth is his dad?” Red Robin dodged an attack from an enraged Mayura, and quickly answered, “Not that we’re aware of. Although we did find out that he was Chat Noir, so maybe he thinks he can help,” Ladybug sighed and declared she would handle it, swinging off to the border. Sure enough, there was Adrien, banging on the Shell-ter, and he perked up as soon as he saw her. The only thing standing between the former partners was a magical green wall. “What are you doing here Adrien? It’s not safe!” Ladybug crossed her arms and glared, she did NOT have time for this! “I’m here to help My Lady! So tell Carapace to drop Shell-ter and let me in,” The blond boy shot her his best Chat Noir smile, while Ladybug simply raised an eyebrow, “I can’t do that Adrien. Lifting the shelter would allow thousands of akumas to escape and terrorize Paris. It would be too much of a risk and put too many people in danger. Besides you don’t have a way to fight, so you wouldn’t be any help.” She hoped that would put an end to it, but she was wrong, “But I can help! If you give me a Miraculous I can help you defeat Hawkmoth. Please Ladybug we’re partners, we’re soulmates! I should be there fighting with you!” Adrien was persistent she’d give him that, but there was no way she’d let him in, potentially ruining everything when they worked so hard. “No Adrien, I will not be giving you a Miraculous! Every single one of them is in use right now and to take one away from someone would put them in danger. Besides, you already blew your chance when you were Chat Noir! You proved that you were never in it to protect people, and you were barely a decent partner! There were several times Hawkmoth almost won because you were goofing off or just didn’t even show up. Finally, you aren’t my soulmate, you never were. Just go home, go home, and sit this one out,” That seemed to cause him to only get more upset, “This is because of the new cat isn’t it?! He’s convinced you I’m some awful person so you’d give him the Cat Miraculous instead of me! It’s mine, not his! Master Fu chose me! I am the real holder of the Cat Miraculous, so you have to do what’s right and give it back if you’re such a ‘real hero’!” Ladybug sighed, “And Plagg, the Kwamii of the Cat Miraculous took it away from you because he felt you were unworthy to wield it. Why would I give it back to you then? Leave Adrien.” With that, she turned away, ready to rejoin the battle, but stopped dead in her tracks, “I should have known all along Ladybug, you aren’t a real hero. You’re just a narcissistic, pathetic, lonely girl pretending to be this great, benevolent hero because, in your real life, nobody loves you. Nobody wants you. I used to think I was your soulmate, and it’s clear I’m not because there’s no way such a vile person like you could ever have one. This is the only way you can get attention, and you strung me along in the process! If anything, you’re just as bad as Hawkmoth!” Adrien spat, before storming off. Ladybug took a deep breath, fighting back tears. It hurt to have someone she cared about, and used to love say such vile things about her, but now was not the time to lose focus, she had a battle to win. 

Diving back into the fray, she quickly tugged Caprikid out of the way as Hawkmoth tried to strike him. “You good,” He asked as the two regained their footing on a building, “You left your earpiece on so we kinda heard all of that. Panthère de Nuit looked ready to kill him at one point, and the rest of us would back him up if you want.” Ladybug chuckled a bit, “Thanks but the Miraculous Team is adopting the Bat’s no-killing rule. I’ll be okay, no, I’ll be amazing once we end this!” “Then I’m happy to inform you that it’s time for Lucky Charm,” Vipereon chimed in, “Swarm! Miss Hound! Take the shot! Lucky Charm!” Panthère de Nuit Cataclysmed the Sentimonster, causing cracks to form, destabilizing Hawkmoth and Mayura, with some help, the Amokized pendant was caught and quickly broken. Swarm hit Mayura with Venom, and her Miraculous was taken with Miss Hound’s fetch, leaving a defeated Nathalie, and Hawkmoth standing alone. Ladybug would have to move quickly so Hawkmoth couldn’t Akumatize Nathalie, and looked down at the Lucky Charm in her hand: A lily. Looking around, she quickly developed a plan, Grabbing a few supplies, she made her way to the tallest point within the Shell-ter, and set a trap for the Akumas. Sure enough, the allure of a flower overpowered Hawkmoth’s control over the butterflies, and as a result, they left the villain powerless. The heroes were quick to surround Hawkmoth, and with no Akuma and nowhere to ruin, it looked like his reign of terror was over. “You’re done Hawkmoth, you lost,” Ladybug declared as she jumped down to meet the villain. His cane, which contained a small blade, was ripped out of his hands by Batman, who did not want to risk the former villain attempting to stab Ladybug out of desperation. Seeing as he had no way out, all Hawkmoth could do was sigh in defeat and remove his Miraculous. Once it was securely in Ladybug’s hand, Carapace let the shelter down, and one Miraculous Ladybug later, the destruction of the battle seemed like a distant memory. 

It was like waking up from a dream. For a moment, no one said anything, what was left to be said? News helicopters were now flying overhead, as people began to gather around. A few stunned police officers made their way to the front of the crowd to arrest Gabriel and Nathalie, and as they were marched away the crowd erupted in a roar of jubilation. The Miraculous heroes were quick to leave the scene, and not a moment too soon, since their transformations dropped shortly after they landed on a distant roof. As the rest of her team celebrated, Marinette turned to look at the Eiffel Tower, where it all started five years ago. It didn’t feel real, Marinette looked down at the celebrating crowd below,  she was happy, but she also felt lost in a way. Being Ladybug had been such a huge part of her life, and she hadn’t really planned what she’d do once Hawkmoth was defeated. She was snapped out of her thoughts when a familiar arm wrapped around her waist, “Hey,” Damian murmured. She could feel a smile growing on her face, “Are you doing okay my Lily? I thought you would’ve been celebrating as well,” Marinette leaned into his side, “I feel like I won the lottery… but I’m not sure where to go from here. I’ve been Ladybug for a good chunk of my life, all the plans I made revolved around being Ladybug and responding to Akumas. Now I don’t really know what to do with myself,” “Come to Gotham,” Tim shouted at the pair, effectively ruining the moment. Damian turned, shooting Tim a glare over his shoulder. “He’s not wrong you know,” Batman started, getting everyone’s attention, “You’ve proven yourself to be incredibly capable, and now that the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous are back in your possession, the threat they pose has been taken care of. We would be honored to have you join us and the rest of the Gotham Knights.” Marinette was stunned, she stammered over her words trying to piece together a sentence, “I, I don’t know what to say-” “How about yes?” Damian asked as he leaned in for a kiss. “Alright then. yes. “ Marinette responded as her eyes fluttered closed. Before their lips could meet, the moment was ruined, “Get a room!” Tim called, resulting in a groan from the couple, and laughter from their friends. 

Marinette took one last look around her bare room, almost everything was gone except for her bed and a change of clothes. This was her last night in Paris for a while, maybe forever unless she came back to visit. In the month since Hawkmoth’s defeat, all of Paris had been in a state of constant celebration, and tonight there was supposed to be the biggest party of all: to wish Ladybug good luck and farewell as she joined the Batfam and by extension the Justice League. She would be the only hero moving up to the big leagues, with the rest of the Miraculous holders involved in the final battle releasing a statement that they would be permanently retired until further notice. They cited that it would be too dangerous to have so many Miraculous out and active on a permanent basis, potentially giving supervillains multiple targets to go after, and the potential danger each Miraculous could pose if they were to fall into the wrong hands. They wished Ladybug well and stated that they’d always be ready if she needed them again. Panthère de Nuit was publicly revealed to be Robin, the vigilante from Gotham, along with a slightly watered-down version of why the Bats were in Paris in the first place. No one really cared about the schematics, Hawkmoth was gone, and people could live their normal lives again. Marinette plopped down on her bed, sighing as she watched the Kwamii fly about the room. There really was nothing left for her in Paris, Hawkmoth and Mayura were gone, the rest of her class finally apologized, Lila was exposed and she’d just graduated high school alongside her soulmate. All she had to do now was go to college in Gotham, build her fashion empire, and help defend the world whenever she was needed. She was excited, who wouldn’t be? That excitement was dampened by a sense of melancholy, Paris was her home and she had so many good memories here, some she could remember vividly, like her soulmate dreams. “Hey Tikki?” The little Kwamii paused, floating over to her champion, “Now that I’ve met Damian, am I going to stop having soulmate dreams? I mean I’ve never had them consistently before… but it would be weird for them to suddenly stop right?” Tikki sat for a moment in Marinette’s hand, pondering her chosen’s question. “Well, it depends. Soulmate dreams work differently for different people, but you primarily seem to get them when you’re in a situation relating to hope. When you’re either full of hope or desperately need it, that’s when your dreams seem to come to you. They act like a promise, a promise that all will be well. So I imagine that you may occasionally have one when you need it most or when you feel particularly hopeful. Anyways, I hope you’re ready, it’s almost time for the party to start!” Tikki cheered as the Kwamii surrounded the two. 

Damian sat atop the Eiffel Tower as Panthère de Nuit, he watched Ladybug (It’s Lady Miracle now, he reminded himself) as she made her way across the rooftops to him. She was followed by cheering from the crowd of people, who all seemed to surge forward towards the celebration. Occasionally she would stop to pull a few people out of the crowd who looked like they were having trouble, but nonetheless, she was making good progress. She landed next to him gracefully, and he stood to meet her. “Hello my Lily,” he whispered as he pulled her into an embrace. “How was your last day in Paris?” She hummed contentedly as she kissed him, pausing a moment to snuggle closer. “It was good. I finally got apologies from the rest of the class, and anyone else who believed Lila. I only had to deal with Adrien for a few minutes, he tried to convince me to stay in Paris and go to college with him instead of leaving for Gotham. Papa showed him the door. And I also finished up the last of my packing! I’ve never seen the room so empty, it’s kinda scary.” Damian sighed, It seemed like Adrien would always be a pain in their sides, he couldn’t do much, but he seemed determined to be a constant presence in their lives. The two decided they wouldn’t focus on it now, they had a celebration to attend to. 

The heroes wove their way through the crowds, talking to people, and occasionally stopping at vendors to purchase some snacks or merch. Eventually, the two made their way to where the old Ladybug and Chat Noir statue stood. There were plans to take it down and replace it. “It should just be a statue of Ladybug, I only came to help defeat Hawkmoth, but she has been fighting him the whole time,” Panthère de Nuit explained to the mayor and various sculptors and architects that were discussing it. Ladybug was munching on a chocolate croissant from her parents’ booth, when someone spoke, “So this is it huh? You won and now you’re just packing up and leaving?” She turned to see Lila standing there, arms crossed and looking a mix between furious and annoyed. ‘Annoyed Hawkmoth didn’t drag me down with him,’ Marinette thought, swallowing the bite of croissant. “Hello, Lila. Yes, I got invited to join the Justice League, so I’ll be spending a few years in Gotham training with Batman. How about you? Got any plans?” It was a bit of an antagonistic question. Since Gabriel Agreste was exposed, the brand Gabriel had been in a perpetual death spiral. Adrien, with the help of the board of directors and some lawyers, was able to stabilize the company, but it was going through a serious rebrand and may have to downsize. So Lila’s future as a model was shaky at best. Lila however, did not show any uncertainty, “Oh I’m probably going to continue modeling, after I finish college that is. Who knows, maybe I’ll leave that behind and branch into acting. Now,” her gaze hardened, “Let’s drop the pleasantries shall we? Hawkmoth is gone, so I expect I won’t be having any more trouble with you-” “Unless you decide to work with a terrorist again. The only reason you haven’t been arrested is because there isn’t enough evidence Lila.” “And it's going to stay that way. You have no reason to go snooping around my life anymore, and besides,” Lila shot her a smirk, “I’m sure the Justice League wouldn’t like it if it got out that their newest member was stalking an innocent model, accusing her of outlandish crimes.” Ladybug laughed, “Considering some recent revelations about you I don’t think I’ll have a problem convincing them you’re anything but trustworthy. So stay out of trouble, because you’ll certainly end up getting in over your head, and someday no one will be around to bail you out.” Lila made a sound similar to an outraged chicken, and placing a hand over her heart she cried, “Is that a threat?” an obvious attempt to make a scene. Ladybug simply shrugged, “Nope. It’s a warning. Do with it what you will,” and with that, she walked over to Panthère de Nuit, and the two swung back up to the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks. The show was amazing, the symbols of all the Parisian heroes lit up the sky, and Marinette contentedly sighed as she leaned into Damian’s side. Life was good. After a couple of minutes, the grand finale began, with the final fireworks spelling out: Thank you Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit.

Revenge never tasted so satisfying... ☀☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁🍃🍃🍃🍃☁☁☁🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃☁🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃☁🍃🐝🍃🍃🍃🍃☁☁☁🍃🍃🍃🍃☁☁☁☁☁🍯🍯☁☁☁☁☁🍎🍯🍯☁☁☁☁💡🙇🍯🍯☁☁☁☁☁☁🍯🍯☁☁☁🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🐣💡I got an idea!

Prompt for you (feel free to adjust this if you like)! Based on Princess Diana’s interview in 1995:

Marinette was interviewed by Lois Lane on live television about her past relationship with her former friends, bullying and harassment as well as abuse from her classmates. With Chloe, Marc, Nathaniel, Sabrina, Kagami and Luka as her only friends. Her mental health struggles including Marinette’s suicidal thoughts because Lila lied and falsely claimed about her, the toxic environment at her school and the reasons for her, Chloe, Marc, Nathaniel, and Sabrina to transfer to another school.

After the interview, it became number 1 trendy on Twitter and a national topic around the world. Bustier and Damocles were immediately fired from their jobs and had their license taken away, the class became pariahs from their peers in school and was excluded from any school activities and events. Their parents lost their jobs because of their kids' actions and nobody wants a bully parents to work for them. Lila and Alya were also sued by multiple celebrities for libel and defamation. Adrien was then stripped from his miraculous ring by Ladybug and his father sent him away to a very strict and harsh boarding school that his cousin Felix attended in London.

Hello! Thank you for the request!! I hope you like it, I tried to stay true to your original prompt, thank you again!!

TW: Swearing, Mentions of Past Abuse, Mentions of Violence, Bullying, Mentions of suicide, heavy angst

If you or someone you might know are struggling, please, please, PLEASE know that there are resources and people willing to help. It doesn't matter who you are, YOU ARE deserving of love and support!

There is a second message for this that was part two of the original request but I have no idea how to link the two.

~~~~

Marinette knew this was coming. She knew the second she decided to wear that dress to Fashion Week. She could feel everyone's eyes on the scars that ran up and down her body. She was covered in them, and almost all of them were inflicted by people she once considered friends. "This is a step towards healing," she remembered her therapist saying. "We may not like the past, but the more we try to run from it the faster it chases us," she remembered Luka humming as she ran her idea through him. "Your scars are not a sign of weakness," Kagami told her as they sparred, "A lion who has won many battles has many scars, and no one doubts its strength. Your scars are the mark of your strength." She took a deep breath and continued to walk forward. She could hear the paparazzi's cameras clicking as they took her picture. She would surely end up on the news, but Marinette decided, to let them talk. Let them talk about her scars and wonder where they came from, let them talk about who could have inflicted them on the designer. Let them talk until they finally decided to approach Marinette and ask. Despite her nerves telling her to curl up in a ball and hide, she kept her head high and walked down the red carpet like a queen walking to her throne. As soon as she was inside her phone buzzed, a message from Lois Lane. "Hi, honey. I saw the live feed from Fashion Week, are you going to be okay?" Marinette smiled as she read the message, Lois may be a reporter with a supernatural ability to detect a good story, but she was a mother first and was going to make sure her son's friend was alright. "I'll be okay. It was very scary because I knew everyone was staring," Marinette replied, she watched those little dots appear, and then Lois responded, "Do you want to talk about it? Off the record of course." It gave her a warm feeling to know that one of the greatest journalists was willing to let such a big story go to prioritize her comfort. She thought about it and replied, "Yeah, I would like to talk about it, but I'd like to talk about it on the record. Do you have some time in your schedule?" Lois's reply was almost instant, "Everything else can wait." Marinette typed out, "Perfect. I'll be in Metropolis in a week."

The first thing Marinette saw when she got off the plane was her friend Jon, followed by the airport's ceiling as she was quickly tackled into a hug. The two friends made small talk as she got her luggage and Jon decided to get her lunch. As they ate their conversation eventually turned to the reason for her trip. "Mari if you're uncomfortable at any time just say the word and mom will stop the interview. She's not like that one lady in Paris, she's not gonna push you into sharing anything you're uncomfortable with." Marinette sighed and picked at her food, "I know. That's why I want it to be Lois. She's the only one I can trust to let me tell my truth and not try to put some narrative on it or dig into more... private things," Jon nodded. His mother immediately figured out that Marinette was a hero. He remembered having to help his mom calm down the panicking girl and promising that if anyone could keep a secret identity a secret, it was Superman's wife. "If you don't mind, what made you decide to finally talk about all this?" Marinette's face contorted as she felt rage boiling in her stomach, "Damocles and Bustier still have their jobs," Jon gasped and Marinette continued, "It never would have gotten as bad if it did if they'd stepped in, but they refused! They refused to help me, and I bet they'll refuse to help others. I can't stand by and do nothing! I have proof of everything that was done to me, physical proof not just my word. I need to make sure they can't hurt anyone else," It felt so good to let out her anger without the fear of being akumatized for it. Taking a minute to calm down, Marinette continued, "I've also decided I'll be immigrating to Gotham. As much as I love my parents, I need to get out of Paris. So, this is also kind of one big last 'Fuck you' to the people who hurt me," Jon laughed, happy to see Marinette was still as feisty as ever. "Now what can I say to convince you to ditch Gotham and stay in Metropolis?" Marinette laughed, "Get my fiancé to move here, and then you've got a deal."

Lois really knew how to wrap the media around her finger and make a subconscious narrative, Marinette thought as she sat down on the porch of the Kent Family Farm. Mama and Papa Kent were more than happy to let Lois use it as a set for the interview, and when she asked Lois why the woman explained, "When people talk about something tough, or in our case hear you talk about something tough, they prefer to be in a safe environment. The farm has a very calming atmosphere, there's gentle background noise, and it's warm enough that we can be outside. Plus, it helps make you more sympathetic than an expensive set or a pricey hotel would. Most importantly, if it gets too overwhelming there are plenty of cute animals here to take your mind off things!" Marinette was a little concerned with just how well Lois understood how to paint a narrative but decided to roll with it. The two were in casual clothing as well, instead of the professional attire they were used to. Eventually, they were a couple minutes out from the camera feed going live, so Lois decided to give Marinette a rundown on how the process would work. "Ok honey, here's what's going to happen. I'll start off with an introduction explaining who you are and why we're here, and I'll ask you some basic small talk questions. After that, I'll ask about the scars, and it's your choice how much detail you wanna give. I'll base the rest of my questions off of what you tell me, so it will be like you and I just having a normal conversation. If at any time you need to stop, let me know and we'll cut the feed immediately. We've got a statement ready and everything, hell if you need me to I'll send the Super Boy Scouts to fetch Damian. Speaking of which you owe me an interview explaining how the hell you managed to charm that demon!" The two women laughed as they were told to take their places. The camera's light turned on, letting both women know they were now being broadcasted live to the entire world.

"Hello everyone! Thank you for joining us at such short notice. I'm Lois Lane and this gorgeous woman next to me is the marvelous designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Marinette waved at the camera, trying to ignore the nerves in the pit of her stomach. "Mari started designing at only eight years old, and by the time she was fourteen, she had already started her own company and won multiple design competitions. She's one of those rare people with a special kind of spark. We first met when she attended a business conference that my son and his friend, her fiancé, by the way, happened to be at. I love this girl like a daughter, so Damian Wayne if you're listening, I'll kill you if you hurt her." Marinette laughed, she could practically hear the sound coming from Damian, a mix of indignation and shock that such a thing would ever be suggested. "I really could spend the whole interview just gushing about you Marinette, but then we'd have wasted your time and two plane tickets. As you know dear, the media has been speculating about you particularly intensely since Fashion Week. I'm not going to pull my punches, Mari," Lois said, the tone shifting to a more serious one as the older woman reached over to gently hold her hands, "What happened? Where did those scars come from?" Marinette took a deep breath; it was now or never. "For starters, they did NOT come from Chloe. Ever since she apologized and we worked on becoming friends, she has always been open and honest about how she bullied me in school. That stopped when I was fourteen and even at her worst she never physically hurt me. She's never denied what she did when we were young, and I want to make sure the message is clear." Lois nodded. The businesswoman had always been honest about how bitchy she was as a child, and as a result, created multiple organizations to deal with bullying. "I also want to be clear that these did NOT come from my parents. My Papa wouldn't hurt a fly and my Maman would only ever hurt someone who hurts her family." 'Smart move,' Lois thought. If she didn't clear it up, tabloids would certainly spread rumors that she was abused by her parents, and they didn't want that for Tom and Sabine.

"If I may, who did they come from? Or is it a bit more complicated than that?" "It's a bit more complicated. It was kind of like the perfect storm. I didn't realize it at the time, but my old school was a very toxic environment. My teacher was more concerned about preaching unconditional forgiveness and pushing problems under the rug. For example, I had paint poured on me right before our class photo, and instead of punishing the people who did it, she made me THANK them for "adding their creative touch" because I had designed my dress and obviously this was just them wanting to help." A screen behind them was showing the incident in question. Marinette managed to get the surveillance footage and audio of many examples of her bullying. Many of her tormentors had gone on to be successful, and if she didn't have proof she could be sued for defamation. "Chloe can back me up on this, but the principal wasn't much better. If you had money or power, he was at your beck and call. As a baker's daughter, I didn't have the resources a fashion heir, Mayor's daughter, and Diplomat's daughter did. So even in situations like the paint one, I was always in the wrong because if their children were in trouble, it would upset the money." Lois nodded, "It sounds like a lot of what happened to you was ignored. What about the school board?" "I tried to contact them, but they either never got my messages or ignored them. Either way, I had no adults I could trust, and anything I tried to make it stop only ended up backfiring." Marinette honestly had no idea why the school board never intervened. She called, emailed, and wrote letters, hell she was about to resort to telegraph.

"So, was it one person who bullied you, or was it, multiple people?" Lois asked. Her heart hurt for the young girl across from her. "It was everyone in my class except Chloe, Sabrina, and Nathaniel, my other friends, Kagami, Luka, and Marc weren't in my class. One girl led everything. Lila Rossi transferred to our class right before summer when I was thirteen. She was a liar, she claimed to know all these celebrities, go to all these countries, and do all these charities. Most of my class believed her right away, but I was always suspicious of her because I actually knew some of the people she lied about. I tried to call her out on it, and while a couple of my classmates like Nathaniel put the pieces together and realized she was full of bullshit, one classmate, Adrien Agreste, basically told me to shut up and take it. 'Take the high road,' he kept telling me even as he helped them shove me into lockers, shred my sketchbooks, and steal my stuff. He never physically hurt me, but he would cover for the others when they would. They would shove me down the stairs and I'd break an arm, and he would tell them that 'Typical clumsy Marinette tripped and feel.' They would cut me, cut my hair, and slice me with scissors," Marinette gestured to the many scars on her arm, "And he would tell any teachers that I was just not paying attention. They'd burn me with chemicals in the lab, and he would say I was goofing off. Thankfully Mrs. Mendeleev never believed that, and she had me come to her every time something happened so she could document it. It was all she could do with the principal being less than competent, and thanks to her I actually have a timeline of what happened and when," Marinette turned to face the camera, she had started crying a while ago but was still able to speak clearly, "Love ya, Mrs. M!"

"If you feel comfortable talking about it, how did their abuse, and let's be honest it was more like torture, affect you?" Marinette sighed and rubbed her wrists as she could feel herself sinking back into that feeling of dread she had dealt with each day. "I won't lie, it got to me, it really did. I struggled to sleep and was so scared to go to school that I'd get physically sick in the mornings. I completely shut myself off from the world for a while, it felt like I was on autopilot and just... doing what I had to do to survive." She took a couple of deep breaths and continued, "It didn't take long for me to believe what they were saying about me. My mental health was already screwed up thanks to Bustier, I had a martyr complex the size of Jupiter. I was taught to always be the peacemaker, always do things for others, and always take every burden. I would get in trouble if I asked for help or tried to decline to do something. I would get yelled at for asking to be paid back the thousands of dollars of costs I was taking on trying to please everyone else. So, when Lila, my classmates, and even Adrien began telling me that I was worthless, that they would be happier if I was gone, and that nobody would miss me if I died..." Marinette choked back a sob, but still tried to continue, "I spent many nights contemplating if I should take their advice and end it. I never did, primarily because I didn't want the people I loved to have to deal with the aftermath. Then, and to this day I don't know how she did it, but Lila got me blacklisted from Gabriel. She claimed to anyone who'd listen that I was an awful bully, I stole my designs, and that I only liked Adrien because I was a gold-digging whore. I had a crush on him at one time, but after what he did to me... He's dead to me. They all are. Anyways, it felt like my whole world shattered. I cried for days and stopped eating. Even though I've gotten better, I still struggle with my self-esteem. They told me I would never amount to anything, and I still struggle with trying not to believe them."

"How long were you in this awful situation?" Lois asked. She seriously considered signaling to the person controlling the TV that was set up behind them to cut the feed. Some of the injuries Marinette and Mrs. Mendeleev had taken photos of were truly awful, and the security camera feeds were tough to watch. But the world needed to know what had happened and needed to know that it wasn't okay. "I put up with it for two years, until I just... snapped. I couldn't take it anymore and broke down to my parents. I begged them not to send me there, I didn't care where they sent me to school, as long as it wasn't Dupont. I had kept so much from them because I was so scared they wouldn't believe me, that they'd be disappointed, that they'd tell me it was my fault," Marinette dabbed at her tears. Lois had told her to wear waterproof mascara and she was very grateful for it, "I never should have doubted them, Maman and Papa believed me, and had me switched to Luka and Kagami's school within the week. Marc, Chloe, Sabrina, and Nathaniel joined me shortly afterward. They told me that without the class punching bag infighting began, Lila apparently began a witch hunt of sorts. She began accusing anyone who even looked at her funny of bullying. They left before it could get much worse. It was a bit tough to adjust to my new school, I had my friends there, but I was still pretty quiet and kept to myself. My new classmates were so kind and patient with me, I think they understood that something really bad had happened to me. They never pushed me to tell them what happened, and while there were a couple of meaner students it was NOTHING compared to my old school. Because of them, and because I was in a healthier environment I was able to bounce back!"

Lois couldn't help the rush of pride she felt looking at the young woman. She remembered when she first met Marinette, who seemed rather shy and overwhelmed at that conference. She had offhandedly mentioned having to go get a dress for a press event and watching as a roaring fire was lit within Marinette's eyes. The girl had explained she was an aspiring fashion designer, and seemingly out of thin air she pulled out a sketchbook and pencil and began working. Lois swore the pencil was smoking with how fast the designer was working. She had been handed a sketch (and list of colors and materials) of the most beautiful dress she had seen. At said event, she was dubbed the best dressed and was quick to tell everyone she met about the talented teenager that had designed it. "One last question Mari, it's been a long day and I think you need TLC more than anyone right now. If you could face your tormenters today, what would you say to them?" Marinette took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "Well, I would like to say a few different things to a few people. To Lila, I want to say: I hope you're happy. You got everything you wanted and yet I'm still standing. I won't ask you why because I know why you did it: You could, plain and simple. To my classmates: I feel so sorry for you all, that you were so easily manipulated, that you were so quick to resort to violence on word of mouth alone. I feel sorry because you all were also victims of Mrs. Bustier, but in a different way than I was. You all were taught to expect someone to always carry the brunt of the load, and your bad behavior was encouraged. To Adrien: I know you're going to try and reach out to me and tell me to release a statement saying I made it up for attention. I can practically hear Nathalie typing it out now. I will not stand down, go ahead, and try to sue me, I have the evidence on my side. You were the only one who reached out to me after I changed schools, only to tell me to come back and that the problems the class had after I left were my fault. Leave me alone Adrien. I don't need you in my life and I don't want you in it. Stay the hell away from me." After she said this, a notification from Twitter pinged on everyone's phone. The tweet was from Damian Wayne and was quickly displayed on the screen behind the two women, 'On behalf of my Fiancée, legal action is being taken against her former tormenters, the people, and institutions that allowed this to happen and go on as long as it did. Don't bother harassing Marinette, this is completely out of her hands. If anyone decides to ignore her warnings or mine, a restraining order will be filed.'

The interview set off quite the explosion on the internet. May students of Dupont came out and confirmed Marinette's claims. It was trending for weeks and sparked international conversations about bullying. What shocked everyone was the severity of what Marinette endured, and it posed the question, "If she went through all that, who else could be going through similar things?" Suddenly the schoolboard had finally heard about what had happened to Marinette, and quickly fired Damocles and Bustier, primarily due to the public outrage that the two had flown under the radar. Investigations into their conduct revealed that Dupont did not just have a high akumatization rate, it also had a high suicide rate. Mrs. Mendeleev was revealed to have stayed primarily to try and help students escape such a bad environment and received a lot of praise. The school board finally released its statement, "We were greatly disturbed to hear of the abuse Mrs. Dupain-Cheng suffered at Collège Françoise Dupont and that educators under our employ did nothing to aid her. We were alarmed to hear that Mrs. Dupain-Cheng and her family tried to report her abuse and were unable to reach us. We are currently investigating this along with the many failures that led to Mrs. Dupain-Cheng's suffering. The two educators who were most responsible were let go and will no longer be in teaching positions. We sincerely apologize to Mrs. Dupain-Cheng and any others who have suffered due to oversights by the school board." The statement did not have the effect the school board had hoped for. The public largely found it unacceptable, and while they were happy Bustier and Damocles could no longer cause any damage, they were still infuriated and disturbed by the sheer ignorance (willful or not) of everything that went on within Dupont. An unexpected side effect of Marinette's interview was the scrutiny the parents of her bullies faced. People questioned how they could be so unaware of just what their children were doing and becoming, especially with Marinette making them so many things that obviously required time and money to make. Alya’s parents were criticized more harshly than the rest, primarily due to how many videos of the class's abuse were posted to the Ladyblog. The main question on everyone's mind was, 'How did this not get noticed sooner?'

Marinette's former classmates felt like their lives were imploding. They were served by the Wayne Lawyers, and it was made very clear to them that Damian Wayne was spearheading the fight against them, not Marinette. Adrien talked to his family lawyers about how they could get the suits dropped, and they told him, "Hell will freeze over before a Wayne backs down." Lila and Alya were hit with additional lawsuits from various others as well. Alya had posted Lila's many false claims about various celebrities on the Ladyblog, and their reputations had taken a hit. People began to wonder why so many famous people associated with Lila when all of her actions were revealed, and many PR teams had to work overtime to reassure the public that they had never met the girl in question. An investigation revealed that Lila had charged many of the class's shopping trips and expensive dinners to various celebrities' accounts, so she was also facing criminal charges as well. She had been effectively excommunicated from the class. After her lies came out and their actions were revealed they quickly cut contact. They were at a loss, their excuse for why they teased (They still refused to see it as anything more severe than light teasing) Marinette was because she was bullying Lila. Now that that was proven to be false, they searched for any reason to justify their actions. They can't really say that they were completely oblivious to Lila's lies, Marinette had tried to tell them multiple times and they had brushed her off thinking she was jealous that another girl was close to Adrien. Speaking of the blond, he had arranged a meeting at the Agreste Manor, and he looked like he hadn't slept since the interview. He wished he still had the Cat Miraculous, so he could escape this nightmare. He didn't want to admit it but the evidence of what he did and helped cover up was pretty damning, and it made the last words Ladybug had said to him the night she took his Miraculous all those years ago make sense, "Your actions as a civilian and in costume have proven that you are too irresponsible and immature to wield a Miraculous." He froze, Ladybug knew what he did. Ladybug, the love of his life, knew he helped make Marinette's life hell. His classmates looked at him as he was stuck in his mental turmoil, and they realized this was probably the first seriously negative press the Agreste Heir had ever gotten.

His image as Paris's Sunshine, a perfect gentleman who could do no wrong was ruined. All of their careers were, but they still held on to hope that they could save it. They didn't want to apologize, they didn't think they should have to, they were deceived by Lila after all. Adrien had hired a PR team to figure out what they should do, he had also asked privately what he should do. They had suggested a public apology and then disappearing from the public eye for a while. Thankfully his aunt and cousin agreed to let him stay with them, although he knew that Felix was never gonna let him live this down. His cousin called the second the interview finished and ripped into him. It had been incredibly hard for him to watch, and his classmates said the same. Seeing all those scars on Marinette, watching her breakdown, seeing the injuries he had helped cause, and watching the security footage of what they did... He had run to the bathroom and thrown up. Were they really that bad? Come to think of it, he remembered Marinette switching to long sleeves after they pushed her down the stairs and broke her... He was going to be sick again. His father was managing his own crisis, with his blacklisting of Marinette without solid evidence being put on blast. People were boycotting Gabriel, and it seemed like everything he did to try and fix the situation made it worse. He was brought back to the present by the cough of the man from the PR company. "Alright, now that I have everyone's attention, this is by far one of the most difficult cases I've seen in my career," Alya cut in, "We weren't that bad! Besides, it was so long ago, and I'd hardly call what we did bullying-" "Mrs. Césaire what you all did to Mrs. Dupain-Cheng is considered torture! Thank your lucky stars the statute of limitations is up, and you were children at the time, people have gone to prison for a long time for doing much less than what you all did!" To emphasize his point, he began playing the parts of the interview that showed the extent of Marinette's injuries. No one could bring themselves to look at the screen, a couple started to cry, and Adrien felt bile rise in his throat. The PR expert continued, "This goes far beyond simple bullying, you all are lucky Mrs. Dupain-Cheng did not make an attempt on her life. You are especially lucky that she said you were victims of Mrs. Bustier's utterly abysmal failings as an educator. But-" He cut Alya off before she could start,"-That does not mean you're completely Scott-free. You all still made the conscious choice to do what you did to Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, and that cannot be excused by being misled or having an enabler for a teacher. The best you can do is apologize and admit what you have done was wrong. You'll have to pray that Mrs. Dupain-Cheng decides to throw you a bone, and you WILL NOT contact her to try and force her to forgive you. That is absolutely the worst thing you can do because it will come off as if you haven't changed at all. The best thing you can do is apologize, admit you were in the wrong, and leave. Her. Alone. I will arrange an interview of our own so you can publicly apologize, a script will be written, and you'd better not deviate from it."

Nadja Chamack was the only journalist willing to interview them. It was decided that they would use the same format Marinette did and that Adrien would do most of the talking. After a brief introduction, their apology interview began. "What brings you all here today, especially after the shocking revelations that have come out," Nadja asked. She hated that she had to stick to a script, if she had it her way she would be asking the REAL questions, 'Why do you think Marinette is speaking about this now? Do you think she has something to gain? Isn't it a little fishy that she has the Wayne legal team suing you all and not her own? Do you think she's hiding something, or is she trying to get revenge?' Her producers stressed that she had to stick to the script because they would not hesitate to fire her if she began making such allegations. Adrien spoke, trying to keep himself composed, "We're here because we saw Marinette's interview, we saw how our actions hurt her, and we wanted to publicly apologize to her. We know what we did was wrong, and we were assholes. We wanted to explain our side, we know it won't fix anything or make things right, but we owe Marinette an explanation." He was doing exactly what his PR team told him to do, sounding sincere and referring to Marinette by her first name to establish a connection. Nadja nodded for him to continue, so he did, "When Lila came to school and began telling us about all the things she did and people she knew, it wasn't that hard to believe. I'm a model, Alya ran the Ladyblog, Rose knew Prince Ali, and Marinette had all these amazing connections. We weren't surprised that a diplomat's daughter knew all these people, and it wasn't exactly out of the norm for a class like ours. Somehow Marinette found out she was lying, and we refused to believe her." It was Alya's turn to speak, and the importance of staying on the script was highlighted to her, "Marinette had a massive crush on Adrien at the time, and she had gotten jealous of other girls before, so we figured this was just another one of those episodes. We also wanted to believe the best in Lila and give her the benefit of the doubt, it was what Mrs. Bustier had taught us."

Nadja couldn't help herself, she had to ask, "Adrien, when did you find out about Marinette's crush on you? How did you feel about it?" "I found out a few weeks before she transferred, and at the time I was shocked. It explained so much, about why she was so shy around me, why she was willing to listen to my awful advice. I was fully wrapped up in Lila's web then, and couldn't see past my massive crush on Ladybug so I tried to convince myself that she was a bully, and her crush was weird, but now? Now I wish I hadn't been such a coward. I wish I had seen that such an amazing girl was in front of me, if I could go back and do it differently I would. I would have stood up for her, I would have had her back for real. My biggest regret is that I didn't help her when she needed me and that I didn't reach out sooner to apologize and fix things. I lost the most amazing woman to Damian Wayne, and I’ll always regret that.” A small part of him hoped that Marinette still held a small flame for him and that he’d have a chance. He did some thinking and realized that Marinette was likely (he wasn’t 100% sure) Ladybug. If he could win her back, then he had a chance to convince his Lady to return his Miraculous, and that they were meant to be. Ladybug had no reason to be active, she defeated Hawkmoth and Mayura by herself, and had gone around the world gathering the remaining Miraculous. Part of his theory that the two were one and the same was that Marinette’s Fiancé and his family are in Gotham and are most likely providing funding for the Bat Family, and a new hero called Lady Miracle had been spotted patrolling with them, and she was reported to have multiple powers. These powers lined up with the Miraculous and her costume changed as she used them, so the two women were either one and the same or working together. Had Adrien developed these logical deduction skills earlier he would have recalled Marinette’s declaration that he was dead to her. Both the producer and PR rep were signaling to get back on the script or else their interview would be cut short. Nadja went on to the next question, “Okay, I can understand falling for someone whose life sounded similar to yours, but what I can’t understand is why you decided to pick on Marinette?”

Adrien took a deep breath, “Well Nadja, just like Marinette said in her interview with Mrs. Lane, it was a really complicated situation. What we believe now is that Marinette never bullied Lila, we know it was the other way around,” Rose cut in, going off script, “Mari didn’t have a mean bone in her body!” She sobbed into her hands, “I don’t know why we believed that, that witch over her.” “She told us what we wanted to hear,” Max sighed, “Lila promised us that she could introduce us to her important friends who could advance our careers and whether we consciously realized it or not we were willing to do almost anything to stay in her good graces.” Adrien shot them a look and continued, “My theory is that Lila gave Marinette an ultimatum, play along or she’d make Mari’s life hell. Not long after Lila began modeling for my father’s company, she began claiming Marinette was doing various things like stealing answer sheets, stealing from her, and pushing her down the stairs. Marinette was expelled without an investigation, and because we were kids, we trusted that the adults in charge were following procedures. She was reinstated, and Lila began claiming Marinette was tormenting her again. Like Max said, we were worried that if Lila didn’t believe we supported her then she would refuse to help us, but it mostly comes down to the fact that Lila lied well, and we were scared. She would claim Marinette beat her up after school and would come into school the next day with bruises. We suspect now that she was using makeup. Lila never outright said to hurt Marinette, but she was great at implying it. She said that she wished Marinette knew what the hurt she caused felt like and that If it happened to Marinette, she might quit being a bully. I think it was a case of falling into groupthink and fear. Everyone else around us seemed to believe Lila so fully, and anyone who didn’t was outcasted and treated terribly. We were afraid to challenge her, afraid to challenge the group, and we genuinely didn’t realize just how far we had escalated. I swear we never intended to hurt Marinette so badly, we sort of mindlessly followed along with what Lila suggested. When she and a couple of our other classmates transferred, Lila’s control snapped, and it was like waking up from a bad dream. She began to see her control slipping and began accusing others of doing the same things she accused Marinette of doing. It got to the point where she accused all of us of bullying her, and we realized she was full of shit. We realized what kind of person she was, and what we had become and decided to go our separate ways.” Nadja frowned. They had literally been spotted hanging out with Lila the week before Marinette was at Fashion Week and this whole thing began. If they had known Lila was a lying sociopath back in school, why the hell were they still hanging out with her? What about Marinette’s evidence? She had phone calls from Adrien demanding she returns to fix Lila’s mess, and evidence that he had known the whole time that Lila was lying. She may not be at Lois Lane’s level of reporting, but she could smell bullshit when it was in front of her, and judging by the look on her producer’s face, he’d caught on as well. Their PR agent nodded along, which told her that this was the narrative they created. They weren’t telling the truth, at least not the full truth, they were trying to slip out of trouble like they always did. Nadja remembered Marinette’s drastic change when she came to babysit Manon and listening to what these young adults were trying to spin confirmed that her earlier questions about Marinette’s interview were unfounded. Then she saw it: The signal from her producer, she could go off the script!

“Now Adrien,” She started in a tone she usually saved for when Manon was being challenging, “I’m not sure we were watching the same interview. I clearly remember some evidence Marinette presented showing that you all had fun tormenting her. I also remember that she had recordings of you demanding she comes back and fixes Lila’s mess. You called her a punching bag and said that the class needed its punching bag back otherwise they would begin ‘taking things out on each other.’ That’s not exactly what you’re telling me here. You all were spotting spending time with Lila before fashion week, and you seemed to be thick as thieves with her. So let me ask you this: Why are you lying to me?”

Adrien looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and so did his PR agent. They hadn’t expected Nadja to question their story, “I… We might have remembered some events differently. Most importantly, we want Marinette to know how sorry we are for everything that happened and what we did. We know that what Mrs. Bustier taught us is wrong, we are not owed her forgiveness, but we hope that she can find it in her heart to forgive us. Hopefully, we can work on rebuilding our friendship, but we understand that wounds like the ones we caused take time to heal. Mari, when you’re ready, please reach out to us. We’d love to apologize in person as well.” Nadja rolled her eyes. Looking at this bunch, it was obvious the sincerity wasn’t there. They acted like children getting caught sneaking an extra cookie when Nadja brought up Marinette’s evidence proving they weren’t as remorseful as they claimed to be. The fact that they only recently cut off Lila proved that they were lying and had planned to use her as a scapegoat. Nadja decided to make one last attack, “When she’s ready? She made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with you all. Why do you all think she owes you her attention and friendship after everything you did? You hurt her, yet here you all are acting like you’re the injured party!” “We are the injured party! Marinette’s little pity party ‘poor me’ attention whore act cost us our careers! She’s being overdramatic like she always is and now WE’RE suffering because she couldn’t take a little teasing,” Alya yelled with her classmates voicing their agreement. Everyone in the studio froze. The PR representative was shaking his head, while everyone else was in shock. The former Dupont students realized their mistake and quickly tried to backtrack only to be cut off by Nadja, “We are done. I will not let you use my coworkers or me to harass that girl anymore! You clearly cannot see the error of your ways and blame her for the misfortune you brought on yourselves. I may not be at Lois Lane’s level of journalism, but I am not a fool, and I will not be a puppet for you to spread your pitiful self-gratifying apology. Let’s be honest, you all clearly don’t care about the hurt you caused Marinette, you just care about the damage the truth did to your reputations. Get out of my studio! Get out of this building!” And with that, the interview was cut.

Their interview was trending, but it wasn’t for the reasons they had hoped. If they had done anything, it was throwing gas onto the fire. People almost couldn’t believe how heartless and totally unaware they were, that was clear from the various social media posts. “WOW. You guys are making grey sweatshirt Influencer apology videos look more sincere.” “Ew. Just. Ew. I used to like Adrien Agreste but now? No way. Watch out Damian Wayne he’s coming to steal his punching bag back.” “Teasing? Teasing doesn’t leave MULTIPLE SCARS.” “That was so self-serving. I gotta admit I feel terrible for whoever they hired for PR. Talk about letting the true colors out.” “I gotta give Nadja Chamack some credit! I was not expecting that level of journalism and take-no-bullshit out of her!” Twitter was having a field day with the live interview, and the statement released by Marinette’s former tormenters apologizing for their behavior during the interview and to Marinette didn’t fair much better. It was safe to say they had lost whatever little goodwill they had with the public. Lila had taken a slightly different approach. She did her own interview claiming that she never wanted Marinette to be hurt physically and that it was their former classmates that took things way too far. She cried that she was so, so sorry and that all she had wanted was to impress her classmates who had much more exciting lives than she did. Lila revealed that she had a crush on Adrien as well and was jealous of Marinette whom she saw as a threat. She explained that she spread rumors about Marinette hoping that Adrien would believe them and think Marinette was a bully, but their classmates took it too far. Lila claimed that she wanted to reveal that she’d made it all up, but she was scared that their classmates would turn on her and hurt her. She expressed shock that her friends would throw her under the bus for their wrongdoings and had her own apology for Marinette. Her interview was met with a bit more sympathy until someone (We all know it was Tim) released the recordings of Lila threatening Marinette and expressing to her victim the delight she took in watching Marinette being hurt by their classmates. Suddenly Lila’s image of the ‘Girl who made a few bad choices trying to impress her classmates and crush’ was shattered, and on top of all the lawsuits her public lies on the Ladyblog brought her, she was shunned as well. Gabriel, trying to cut his losses, fired Lila, and released a statement claiming that she was the one giving him false information on Marinette. However, Lila was determined to go down fighting and revealed her ace: Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth, and his assistant was Mayura. She had somehow collected evidence linking him to it while she worked for him as a model and as an Akuma provider.

The outrage was gigantic, with Ladybug having to return to explain that she had tried to go to the police, but they had not believed her or the proof she had. Ladybug had hung onto that proof, such as the gigantic map she had of where all the Akumatizations happened, and where the purified butterflies returned to. The French Federal Government decided to investigate how the Parisian Government had handled Hawkmoth, and they also decided to investigate Ladybug. They had found a young woman (whose identity they kept anonymous) who had been forced into the role by chance but had thankfully turned out to be incredibly competent. They found that she had worked within the law and had tried on multiple occasions to work with the police, but they had rejected her. Once she had discovered who Hawkmoth was she went to them, only to get laughed out of the police station. Why she wasn’t believed was something that was still unknown to the Investigators, but they had found Ladybug to be a superb hero. She was cleared, and given full permission to operate in France, should she ever choose to return. Chat Noir did not fare as well and was thoroughly raked over the coals by the report that was released. He had started out alright, but as time went on he quickly began to act out. He prioritized flirting and trying to win Ladybug’s affection and would refuse to help or even show up when she didn’t humor him. The report also revealed that he had been harassing civilians, such as one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The designer had to explain that she had met Chat during an Akuma attack, and they’d become friends before his behavior worsened. Then after that, he’d harassed her on behalf of his other friend, Adrien Agreste. Twitter was on fire after this revelation, and #GiveMariABreak was trending.

No one knew who leaked Chat Noir’s identity, but theories were abundant. Some believed one of the investigators had loved ones who had suffered from Akuma attacks and Chat Noir’s behavior, and another group thought that the Waynes were behind it. They said that the Waynes were so enraged by the treatment their youngest’s fiancée had received at the hands of people who would have otherwise escaped punishment, that they decided to completely destroy her former tormentors. Considering Damian brought out the Wayne legal team, and Tim leaked the Lila Files, it was definitely possible that both theories could be true. What everyone did know, is that this outrage would go down in history. Adrien was still catching a lot of heat from the horrendous interview, which certainly did not help his case. It was quickly cleared up that he had no idea his father was Hawkmoth, and while officially on the report it said there was no evidence that he’d helped his father, the public speculation could not be stopped. In the chaos, photos were released of Ladybug landing on Marinette’s balcony and entering her room. These were brushed off as nothing surprising, surely the two women that were constantly harassed by the same man (even if they didn’t realize it) would find each other and start a support group. Adrien made a public plea for Ladybug to back him up and explain that he was a good hero, but it would seem that the Heroine of Paris had disappeared into hiding. It was clear that she had turned her back on him, just like he had turned on her all those years ago. He narrowly escaped getting charged along with Gabriel and Nathalie, but that didn’t stop the barrage of civil lawsuits he got hit with. The year ended with many trials, and the Wayne legal team proved why they were not to be messed with. Shortly after, a documentary was announced, to permanently document the fall of so many powerful people.

The documentary was a hit and contained all of the interviews that had taken place in the saga. The documentary was released at a party hosted by Bruce Wayne to celebrate his new Daughter-in-Law’s success, and it was met with rave reviews. But where was Marinette during the outcome of her interview? The designer had decided to step back from the spotlight until the mess had been resolved and hadn’t been seen in public since the initial interview. She was currently standing in the Wayne Manor with her husband, preparing to walk into the ballroom for her first public appearance as a Wayne. She was nervous. What if people began claiming that she’d only done this to take down a business rival? What if people accused her of making all of it up? She was brought back to reality by her husband, who pulled her into his arms. Damian gently kissed her forehead and whispered, “What’s bothering you, My Love?” Marinette had told him what had happened to her a year after the two became friends, and her bullies were lucky Bruce stopped him from going on a rampage. When he was watching his Darling’s interview with Lois at the Manor with the rest of his family, he could feel that fury reignite. It was also the first time his family learned about the abuse Marinette had endured (and suddenly his protectiveness made sense), so when he asked his father for the contacts for the Wayne legal team, Bruce had happily given them to him. Marinette took a deep breath, “I guess I’m just nervous, this is my first time being in public since everything came out and…” “And you’re worried that you’ll be walking into a den of lions.” Mari nodded, still amazed that he always seemed to know exactly what was wrong.Damian took a small step back and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “My Jewel, you’ll be fine, I promise. The world believed you when you told them, you had strong evidence to support you, it’s illogical for them to turn on you now. Besides,” He gently poked her cheek, “Lila exposed Gabriel Agreste as Hawkmoth in a last-ditch effort to save herself. Think about it this way,” he gently twirled her around, admiring as the crystals she had hand sown into the stunning train on her dress sparkled. It was a tradition for every new member of the Wayne Family to debut in an all-black outfit, and Marinette had designed the most stunning dress in the Family’s history. “We attend the party, which is your debut as my gorgeous wife and I want to brag, and afterward we can go home, order some takeout, and binge-watch whatever you want on the couch with the Kwamii and the cats.” Damian would gladly and proudly admit that his wife brought out a side in him that he didn’t know he had, and Marinette was the only person he was regularly affectionate with. She was his star, and he wanted everyone to know how amazing she was. Marinette laughed, “Well I suppose we could do that; you drive quite the hard bargain Mr. Wayne.” The couple laughed, and all of Marinette’s worries evaporated as they entered the ballroom.

The young couple was met with hushed awe as they walked in, the wind from the open balcony doors catching parts of Marinette’s train. She looked ethereal in her gown, a stunning black dress with a long train that sparkled like stars in the void. The dress was form-fitting, with a galaxy of crystals wrapping around her body, coming to frame the neckline of her dress. It was an off-the-shoulder gown with a low V-neck. Marinette’s hair was done in an elegant bun, and the only jewelry she wore was her Miraculous, disguised as a pair of diamond earrings. The only other color she wore was blood-red lipstick. She looked like a goddess, elegant and regal, and held herself as if she was one. Despite the scars that littered her body, she stood proud, they were a part of her and would always be. The crowd began to murmur as the two youngest Waynes joined the rest of their family, “Is that Marinette? She looks spectacular!” “I heard she based parts of her dress off Princess Diana's Revenge Dress.” “I definitely believe that! She certainly looks like royalty!” “I’m surprised she’s showing her scars.” “Why wouldn’t she? The world should know what happened to her, and there’s no shame in being a survivor.” Kagami was right, no one doubts a victor’s scars. Cameras flashed, capturing her image from every angle as she talked with her parents and in-laws, and soon she was quickly whisked away by Damian to dance and mingle. She had to fight back a laugh, he loved letting everyone know that he had married this fantastic woman, despite the fact that the two bickered like cats and dogs when they were younger. He also knew that her old classmates were watching from their homes and wanted them to see the phoenix that had risen from the ashes. Damian wanted to drive the point home that while they had attempted to break Marinette, she was stronger. As the two danced and talked, the media had already begun crafting tomorrow’s newspapers. By the time the two had said their goodbyes and left the party for the night, the first article was out. ‘The Revenge Dress has a Successor: Marinette Wayne’s Revenge Look.’

The ultimate salt!!!! ⏫⏬⏩◀✨

Big Brother to the Rescue!

This fic was inspired by @justcourttee - A Brother’s Love. I loved her fic and I couldn’t stop thinking….what if this happened?

Jason sighed, rereading the text he had gotten again from Gina.

Nona: Jay, I am unable to get to Paris in the time I wished. My son and his wife are having problems with my Little Fairy. They claim her to be a bully and a brute, but I know this is not my Little Fairy. I am her guardian now and my plan was to bring her with me. Go in my stead and take her to Gotham. She told me she has a date with her boyfriend, Adrien Agreste. Break the news to her gently.

Gina had traveled with him for awhile and was always there for him when he got in a fight with Bruce. They could disappear on the road and travel, forget their worries. Gina had told him about her granddaughter, her ‘Little Fairy’, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was an inspiring fashion designer, who was also her class’ president. She had designed for Jagged Stone and won a contest from Gabriel Agreste. She even had the opportunity to be mentored by Style Queen, herself, in New York, and turned it down. Gina had told him so many things about Marinette, he felt as if she was his little sister. When Gina told him that Pixie was getting bullied again and no one would help or see her side of things, he had gotten upset. Even her boyfriend had told her to make peace with the bully and to let it go. She had never asked him for a favor before and he didn’t want to let her down.

Jason had taken the first flight to Paris to bring his little sister home to Gotham. He watched as she left the bakery and pressed the button to head to the park when her phone rang.

“Adrien? Yeah, I’m just heading-Oh. Ye-Yeah, I can meet you there instead. Sure. Bye.” Marinette spoke and quickly took off in another direction.

'Sounds like a change of plans.’

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Wow... 😦📎📌📍📐📏

the story of love: going back | daminette

summary: marinette returns to college francois dupont.

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Marinette inhaled deeply as she stood in front of College Francois Dupont.

Damian noticed – he was far too observant sometimes – and placed a kiss on her temple. “Everything’s going to be okay, Angel,” he promised.

Marinette believed him.

As she walked into the school with Damian, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare unabashedly at her and Damian.

When she walked by, Marinette could hear people whispering, dating Damian Wayne and our Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Dating him?

But she ignored them.

**

“Ms Dupain-Cheng, please reconsider your transfer-” whimpered Mssr. Damocles.

Marinette interrupted him sweetly. “With all due respect, sir-” which means none at all, you sniveling idiot, “I am not going to change my mind. Now, please, hand me my transfer papers.”

With a trembling hand, Damocles finally gave the papers to her. “You will have to go back to your classroom, to collect your belongings,” he said faintly.

Marinette was well aware that the only reason he wanted her here was to make his school more popular – not because he cared about her. He never did.

As she and Damian walked out of his office, Damian gave her an appreciative smile. “You handled that situation amazingly, Angel. I’m proud of you.”

Several students stopped to gawk at them when he said that.

Marinette giggled softly and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Dami.”

“Are you sure you want to go to your class?” asked Damian worriedly. “I could get your stuff for you, if you want.”

Marinette stroked his cheek fondly. It was nice of him to offer but she had to do this herself. “No, Dami. As much as I would, I can’t. I need closure and so do my classmates.”

Damian scoffed at the mention of her classmates. “Your old-” he emphasized the ‘old’, “-classmates need nothing of the sort. I would like to make the pay for what they did.”

Marinette smirked slyly. “Who said you can’t?”

Lila Rossi had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on.

That morning, while she got ready for school, she expected everyone to welcome her and worship her feet when she walked in.

What she wasn’t expecting was the cold glares and derisive sneers she got from literally everyone in the school.

Like, had Hawkmoth sent another akuma or something? Because otherwise she was going to have a chat with him about it.

When she walked into Mdm. Bustier’s class, Lila hoped at least her sheep would believe her grand tales of Prince Ali’s palace but no one gave her a single glance.

In fact, everyone, including Mdm. Bustier, was glaring at her.

Mdm. Bustier eyed her coldly and asked, “Would you like to explain your lies, Lila?”

Before she could come up with another lie, Lila was interrupted by none other than her worst enemy.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Lila smirked victoriously. No matter if her lies were discovered.

She could pin this on Marinette.

Marinette walked in confidently into her former class.

Seems like everyone was about to gang up on Lie-la, she thought with spiteful amusement.

You could hardly blame Marinette though. Lie-la had made her life a living hell for quite some time now. It was nice to know she would be paying for it.

She was snapped out of her not-so-nice thoughts when Alya yelled, “Marinette!”

The glasses-wearing girl tackled her in a hug – as if they had never stopped being friends, as if she had never ignored her, as if she hadn’t bullied her.

Alya seemed to be oblivious to the fact that her hug was one-sided. Marinette’s arms stayed firmly and stiffly by her side.

When Marinette gave no response to her, Alya finally backed away and looked at her – really looked at her – which meant looking at her stony expression.

“Marinette? What’s wrong?” she faltered, looking at her classmates for help.

And suddenly, they were all clamoring at her yelling about how good it was to have her back and how much they missed her as if they had never broken her heart. As if they weren’t the reason she spent hours wondering why she wasn’t enough for them. As if she they weren’t the reasons she spent innumerable nights crying herself to sleep.

Marinette could feel the anger building inside her body and was currently trying to resist the urge to let it out while simultaneously attempting not to get akumatized.

Hawkmoth was a man without a life and she wasn’t about to show weakness to the likes of him.

Completely ignoring her silence, her classmates and teacher (with the exception of Lila, of course) continued without abandon until finally, finally they shut up and by their fearful expressions – she knew why.

Showing the first semblance of emotions since she got to this hellhole called a class, Marinette flung her arms around her boyfriend and kissed him recklessly – completely ignoring her former-classmates as they had before and had continued to do so for years.

“Miss me?” Damian whispered against her lips.

Marinette nodded fervently. “The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

It finally, occurred to someone named Adrien that Marinette hadn’t said a word since she entered this cursed classroom.

In a voice that would have had her blushing mere months ago, he asked, “Mari, why haven’t you said anything? Aren’t you happy to see us?”

And then suddenly, the rest of the class was asking favors from her: Mari, will you give me a leg up (Literally everyone); An interview (Alya); A business deal (Adrien).

That was what tipped her over the edge, and judging by Damian’s smirk he knew it too.

Alya was shocked to see the anger that blossomed on Marinette’s face when Adrien said that.

“‘Happy to see you’” she snarled, eyes practically radiating pure anger. “You all could go and rot in hell for all I care.”

Rearing back in fear, Alya said, outraged, “What? But we’re your friends, Mari. How could you say something like that?”

Bad move, darling.

Marinette spun towards her, fists clenching. “Friends, huh?” she spat the word out. “Then where were you when I said Lila was lying? Oh, that’s right…you didn’t believe me!”

Using her momentary pause, Alya interrupted. “But you didn’t have any proof-”

“I was your best friend, Alya, you’re supposed to believe things like that without question.” Marinette glared at her. “And even if you didn’t, you were supposed to do some research about it, weren’t you?”

“But you were jealous! Jealous of your crush on Adrien!” Alya didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for what she said. She half expected Marinette to blush then and there.

It only served to make her angrier. “Yeah? Then who was the one to plan Kagami and Adrien’s date, huh? Me, that’s who!” Marinette advanced like a lion, Alya being the prey. “Then, pray tell me, how could I be jealous when I planned his date with another girl?”

Alya had no answer to that.

Marinette poked a finger into her chest, managing to look bigger even with her short stature. “I”ll tell you why. Because you. Were. A. SHIT. Best friend.”

Alya flinched at every word, knowing somewhere deep, deep down that it was true.

Adrien thought it was time to intervene.

Alya one of the most bull-headed girls he knew – though it served to be a flaw in this case, he thought regretfully – looked like she was going to cry.

“Marinette,” he said gently. “I think you need to calm down before you attract an akuma.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because he was her next target and Adrien couldn’t help but feel a little frightened. Especially, when the Wayne was standing there with a cocky smirk.

“Before I attract an akuma?” Marinette mimicked furiously. “Well, guess what, Adrien, ever since you told me to use the ‘high road’ I attracted 26 akumas because of you!”

Adrien flinched at her volume and Wayne’s sudden glare.

“What do you mean?” asked Rose, sweet Rose.

Marinette looked at him with a terrifying smile. Adrien felt his heart sink. He had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well for him.

“Adrien,” she said with an eerie calm. “Knew Lila was lying the whole time.”

The class was only able to stare at him in silent shock.

Marinette smirked at him so coldly, Adrien shivered. “And if you’re so concerned about people getting akumatized, then why the hell didn’t you stop your ‘best friend’ Chloe Bourgeois from causing more than half of the akumatizations in the whole of Paris?”

Adrien had nothing to say.

Because he knew she was right.

Caline Bustier did not like the direction this discussion was going in.

The whole class was hounding on Adrien like a pack of dogs and Marinette – her once role-model – was the cause of it.

What happened to the sweet girl she knew?

She didn’t realize she said it out loud until everyone had descended into silence.

Marinette shot her an icy glare. “The ‘sweet girl you knew’” she encased that in finger quotes. “-was a doormat, Bustier.”

Caline flinched.

Ignoring her discomfort, Marinette continued being brutally honest. “That girl would spend nights awake doing jobs for her friends – which you forced her to do – for free, the only payment being a ‘thank you.’ That girl let you dump all of your responsibilities as a teacher on her.”

Caline tried to protest against that. “I didn’t-”

“-dump all of your responsibilities on me?” finished Marinette. “You did. I was the one to plan all the class trips when it should have been you. I was the one to look after the class though it was your job. So tell me Bustier, how is it not?”

Seeing as she had no response, Marinette continued, the fire blazing brighter than ever. “And that bullshit about being the bigger person. Absolute rubbish. Forgiving and forgetting doesn’t make the bully stop. It encourages them. You’re a shit teacher Bustier and you don’t deserve to be one.”

Caline flinched when she heard Marinette use that profanity.

It didn’t make it any less true.

Marinette felt lighter than she had in years. It felt freeing to let all those feelings out.

“Now,” she said, sweetly as if she would have done before. “To the rest of my former-classmates. I hate you, and I hope I never, ever see you again because you all absolutely suck.”

She felt a spiteful sort of satisfaction when she saw their shocked faces.

As Marinette held her hand out, she asked, “My stuff please?”

Lila’s head was reeling. What the hell was happening?

She expected Marinette to accept those idiot’s apologies, not blow up at them!

Nothing was going her way today.

Except for one thing…

Lila allowed herself a tiny smirk when she saw a purple butterfly floating into the room – straight towards Marinette.

Oh no you don’t.

She launched herself up onto a table and trapped the akuma in between her arms. By then, the entire class had noticed her acrobatics and fallen into silent horror when they saw what she did.

But she didn’t care.

After beating Ladybug, Lila would take both of the miraculous and rule the world! She was astounding, wasn’t she?

As she inserted the akuma into her bracelet, she smirked. “Hello, Hawkmoth,” she purred.

“Mdm. Rossi, do you mind?” he hissed through their connection. “I could finally akumatize my target and you came in between.”

Lila felt her heart stop beating in shock. “What?” she gasped. “You want Maribrat to defeat Ladybug? I am so much better!”

She stamped her foot for emphasis, ignoring the people in the room.

Hawkmoth sighed as if she was a 2-year-old child throwing a tantrum. “Don’t you see Mdm. Rossi?” he said with exasperation. “You were only a pawn and perhaps a slightly useful weapon in my game. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was my ultimate akuma to defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Leaving Lila to drown in her outrage, Hawkmoth swiftly guided the akuma from her bracelet and into Marinette’s purse.

Marinette stiffened as she felt Hawkmoth assert his control on her.

“Princess Justice,” he crooned. “I am Hawkm-”

Through his usual spiel, Marinette heard Damian pleading her not to give in.

“-Angel, you need to fight him.” Damian was saying, ignoring her idiot class’s shock at seeing him speak.

Hawkmoth taking no notice of her thoughts, continued. “I will give you the power to make everyone who has wronged you pay-”

Oh, hell no.

Marinette spoke to him for the first time, interrupting his speech. “Does that ‘everyone’ include you, Hawkmoth?”

Taking his silence as a cue to continue, she said, “Because, honestly? My life was a million times better when you didn’t even exist.”

Regaining his tongue, Hawkmoth smoothly said, “Perhaps, after you have made everyone one else pay and have got me-”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous?” Marinette scoffed. “As if. Unless, of course, you’re willing to let me make you pay first.”

Marinette knew he wouldn’t do that.

“Absolutely not-” Hawkmoth tried to finish and persuade her but she interrupted again.

“Then I don’t give a damn.” Marinette growled into the connection. “I will not get akumatized for nothing.”

She examined her purse lightly. “And, just to be clear, I wouldn’t have accepted your akuma anyway.”

Ignoring Hawkmoth’s protests, she continued. “If you try to akumatize me or anyone else in this room, Hawkmoth, I’ll find you and make sure you pay. Starting with a hunt for your head.”

That was not a threat to take lightly.

With that, Marinette tore a teensy-weensy piece of her purse and smirked victoriously as the akuma hurriedly flew away.

Hawkmoth wouldn’t bother her for a while.

As she walked out of the class, Marinette made a mental note to put a restraining order on Alya and Adrien because she had a feeling they wouldn’t leave her alone.

That night, Adrien felt lonelier than ever. After Marinette had left the class with her boyfriend, his friend – no former-friends – made him an outcast.

Which essentially meant he didn’t have any friends except for Chloe.

Adrien expected some kind of support from Plagg, but the only thing his kwami said was, “I told you what to do, kid. You didn’t listen. You made your own bed – now its time to sleep in it.”

The irony was not lost on him. Adrien had never made his own bed in his life.

He was startled out of his thoughts when the last person he was expecting to come jumped into the room.

Ladybug.

Adrien jumped out of his seat and rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Ladybug!”

Only, there was something wrong with his lady. Her pretty blue eyes were ice cold and she wasn’t smiling at all. “Chat Noir,” she said stonily.

Adrien opened his mouth to respond but he was unable to speak when he realized what she said. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he said nervously.

“Save it.” Ladybug walked closer to him. “I asked Tikki who you are.”

Eyes brightening, Adrien beamed at her. “Does that mean you’ll show me who you are?”

Ladybug hugged him. That was not a response he was expecting.

Nevertheless, Adrien hugged her back, bathing in her scent.

His ears registered her saying, “I’m sorry.”

And the next second, his ring was slipped of his finger and she was smirking at him. “that I’m not sorry, at all.”

Adrien gaped at her. “My Lady! What are you doing? Why are you taking my miraculous away?”

His Lady eyed him critically. “I’ll tell you why. Because you are not fit to be a miraculous-holder. Adrien Agreste, you have misused the miraculous of the Black Cat for your own selfish gain putting the civilians of Paris in danger.”

“But My Lady! We are meant to be!” Adrien whimpered.

“No we are not.” Ladybug said harshly. “This is exactly why your miraculous is being taken from you. You cannot accept the fact that it is not true.”

Adrien was on his knees now, begging. “Please, My Lady. You can’t do this.”

“I can and will.” Ladybug did not look in the least sorry. In fact, she looked relieved? “Because Adrien Agreste you are not worthy of the mantle of a superhero.”

And she launched herself out of the window. With his final friend. With his freedom.

Adrien cried himself to sleep that night, unable to understand why his Lady to his miraculous.

The next day, Marinette felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. Finally.

She didn’t realize how much her former-classmates’ actions were bothering her until she let it all out.

When she walked out of the bakery, she saw Alya and Adrien loitering by.

“Marinette! Will you-” “Marinette! I’m sorr-”

Marinette interrupted them both. “You both are meant to stay 20ft away from me. Didn’t you get the papers of the restraining order?”

They both refused to meet her eyes as they backed away slowly. Alya because her parents would murder her if she did anything else and Adrien because, well, he needed to keep Gabriel’s reputation squeaky clean didn’t he?

**

As she walked out walked on the Parisian sidewalks with her boyfriend’s arm around her waist (whose hand, she might add had a new silver ring on it), Marinette felt that she could take the world on with Damian by her side.

Bring it on Hawkmoth.

Inhaling forever... Then fainted from its pure awesomeness... 🌕🌕🌕🌵🌵🌕🌵🌵

🌕🌕🌕🌵🌵🌕🌵🌵

🌵🌵🌕🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵

🌵🌵🌕🌵🌵🌕🌕🌕

🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌕🌕🌕

🌕🌕🌕🌵🌵🌕🌕🌕

🌕🌕🌕🌵🌵🌕🌕🌕

🌕🌕🌕🌵🌵🌕🌕🌕

Pics or It Didn’t Happen

Mild salt and slight hints of Maribat, but mostly crack. 

I did get some ideas from @unmaskedagain‘s blog. 

Their ml salt and/or crack fics sustain me. 

~~~

Marinette learned pretty quickly that even if you had proof, not everyone will listen. It’s always better to have pictures than words, because more people will believe you that way. 

It was a slow burn, but Lila Rossi had successfully turned Miss Bustier’s class against the girl. It hurt when her once friends called her jealous and a bully. 

Her! Marinette! 

Did they forget that she had been bullied by Chloe for years? Why would she become a bully after being bullied herself?

And jealous? Jealous of what? Marinette’s crush on Adrien had long simmered out into nothing but cinders. The boy was a spineless coward who would rather pretend everything was ok rather than stand up and face the truth.

It hurt that this had happened, but, oddly enough, Marinette got some of her greatest allies through this. 

It started with Chloe. 

One particularly gloomy day, Marinette saw the blonde sitting alone while eating her lunch. Sabrina had long abandoned the blonde for Lila’s fool’s gold and, not for the first time in her life, Chloe felt alone.

Now, despite their long hated history, Marinette wasn’t heartless. The Ladybug in her compelled her to sit next to the blonde and eat. Chloe stared at her, surprised, but said nothing as she continued to eat herself.

That lunch started a truce and led to a friendship. 

Next was Moriah. 

Moriah was an exchange student from America. Marinette was surprised the day she walked into the bakery and saw her parents talking with a shy looking brunette girl with glasses. 

Her parents told her that Moriah was a transfer student from America  that they would be hosting for the next few years if all went well. 

Moriah was very shy around new people, so when they arrived at school the next day, she stayed close to Marinette. Lila saw this and tried to tempt her into her web of lies. 

Moriah was interested in Lila’s tales, but cautious. She looked up any proof of Lila’s stories and found no evidence. She looked up Lila’s name. Nothing. 

When she tried pointing this out to the class, she was shunned. Chloe and Marinette welcomed her with open arms. 

After a month or so, Moriah became much more comfortable. She was witty and funny, and she had no qualms about defending her friends and she always tried to remain to the side of justice. 

This was one of the reasons Marinette decided to give her a miraculous. 

After a week of living together, Moriah found out Marinette was Ladybug. The girls had to share a room and Marinette came back late in the night, still dressed as Ladybug, assuming Moriah was asleep and detransformed in her room. 

Moriah dropped the book she was reading and squeaked behind the Asian girl.

The next few days included Moriah beating herself up about not noticing that her roommate was a superhero.

About a month or two later, was when Marinette began debating whether or not she should give Chloe and Moriah a miraculous. 

Chloe, Marinette knew she wanted to give a miraculous too. The blonde had long ago proved that she was trustworthy and ready to re-wield a miraculous, but she didn’t want to risk anyone knowing that it was Chloe like with Queen Bee.

Moriah was a different story. Marinette was scared about risking something and making a mistake like she did trusting Alya. And the risk was much higher with Moriah since the brunette girl knew Marinette was Ladybug and the Guardian. 

It wasn’t until when Ondine was akumatized again that Marinette made her choice. 

Lila had manipulated Kim and convinced him to dump Ondine, to which she was akumatized into Syren again. 

Ladybug had to fight this one almost alone because recently, Chat Noir had been showing less and less. He blamed it on his other life, but Ladybug couldn’t help but get the feeling that it was because she kept rejecting him. 

It was a long hard battle and by the time it was through, Ladybug knew she needed help. If Chat Noir was going to be a little bitch, fine. But this wasn’t going to happen again. 

That day, Marinette decided to give Chloe the Fox Miraculous and Moriah the Bee Miraculous. They became the heroes; Vixen and Yellow Jacket.

(“This is why I’m a dog person.” Yellow Jacket commented, pointing at Chat Noir as he arrived late to their first fight with disdain.)

Miss Bustier’s class were both excited and confused about the new heroes. What happened to Rena Rouge? 

Alya threw her phone when she saw Ladybug announce that Vixen and Yellow Jacket would be the new, permanent holders of the miraculouses. 

Many mocked Chloe for being replaced, assuming that the girl would throw a tantrum, but she ignored them. 

What Moriah couldn’t understand is how nobody noticed how similar Vixen and Queen Bee looked. 

The next ally was Luka, who turned out to be the most helpful. 

He never knew about the tall-tales that the class had been told until one day when the girls came by to his house boat and was met with a disgruntled Moriah whose hair was cut.

Moriah had pretty magenta peek-a-boo highlights that were hardly noticeable, but Lila decided to complain that Moriah’s colored hair was distracting her. Mr Damocles ordered her to get rid of the colors from her hair or she’d be expelled. 

Moriah, while normally always respectful, especially to adults, looked stunned. She pointed to Alix and Juleka, yelling; “What about Alix and Juleka?! Their hair is more obvious than mine! Why shouldn’t they change their hair?”

She was not allowed back on campus until the color had been removed from her hair. Moriah was furious and called her parents, telling them what had happened, and told Tom and Sabine the same thing with Chloe and Marinette.

Both parties were furious, but there was nothing Moriah’s parents could do since they were in America and Tom and Sabine tried talking to Mr Damocles about the issue, stating that there was nothing in the school rules against dyed hair and why it shouldn’t be more important than the education, but the man refused to budge. 

Eventually, after three days of failing to get Mr Damocles to see reason and missed school, Tom and Sabine emailed the school board about the issue and, with no choice until they responded, Moriah was forced to get rid of her highlights.

She flat out refused to dye her hair because to get all the highlights out, they’d have to dye her whole head, so Moriah was forced to cut her locks short to remove the color. 

Needless to say, she was pissed. 

As was Luka.

The boy had grown to be good friends with the girl and liked her highlights. Seeing the rockin’ pink cut out sucked. When he asked what had happened, the girls told him everything, including Lila’s tabloid tales.

Luka was quick to pull Juleka aside and open her eyes to reason. When the girl found out the truth, the first thing she did was tell Rose. 

The blonde girl’s eyes were opened too, and were quick to fill with tears. Everything was a lie. How could they have been so stupid? Then they remembered that Marinette had tried to warn them and were overcome with guilt. How could they make it up to her?

Marinette, Chloe, and Moriah were watching Heathers (Moriah’s suggestion) in Marinette’s room with their kwamis when Rose and Juleka entered. (Tikki, Pollen, and Trixx hid before the girls could see them)

The movie was paused and the girls stared at each other, waiting for something to happen. There was a beat of silence before Rose burst into tears.

“Marinette, we’re so sorry! We should’ve listened to you!” 

Rose and Juleka told them that Luka had opened their eyes and that they never should have believed Lila’s stories and how they had tried to prove it to Ivan and Mylene too, but they wouldn’t listen. 

They ended their apology by saying; “We know we don’t deserve your forgiveness, but we are sorry and we want to make it up to you. Starting with this.”

Both girls handed Marinette two hundred dollars each. Marinette looked between the girls and the money in shock. 

“It’s payment for everything you’ve done for us. Every dress, outfit, accessory, baked good, everything. We know it isn’t enough, but it’s all we can afford right now. We promise to give you more once we have it.”

There were a few minutes of silence after that. Marinette blinked at the girls before tearing up and smiling.

“No. You don’t have to give me anymore. This will do.” She reassured. 

Rose and Juleka awkwardly nodded, but Marinette could tell they were somewhat relieved. There was an awkward silence before Moriah spoke up. 

“I know you’re lesbians, but do you want to drool over JD with us?”

Rose and Juleka blushed, but nodded their heads happily, rushing over to join the group.

It wasn’t just the girls though. Nathaniel never believed the stories, but was scared about what would happen if he spoke up. Seeing Rose and Juleka of all people step up made him join too. Marinette also had allies in students in other classes too, like Marc, Calude, and Aurore as well as in other schools, like Kagami and Felix. For the first time in a long time, Marinette felt much better. 

She should have known it wouldn’t last. 

That night she and Moriah returned to their room after patrol, she should have noticed that her sketchbook wasn’t where she left it on her desk. 

She should have noticed when she and Moriah got up in the morning, but they were so exhausted from the night before to think of anything more than food and getting ready. 

The girls met up with Chloe at the school gates and they had just walked into the classroom when they saw Alya talking with Miss Bustier, Lila and her sheep herded on one side of the room and the rest on the other side, looking murderous. Marinette almost instantly got a gut feeling that something was wrong.

Boy was she right.

When the girls were noticed, Lila’s sheep gave them smug looks while the girl herself gave them a faux innocent look. 

She did something.

Miss Bustier cleared her throat before turning to face the girls. 

“Girls, because of your behavioral issues, the class decided that it would be best if you three didn’t go on the class trip.”

Oh yeah, the class trip. 

During the third and final year, the seniors of the school were allowed a class trip. It was to be organized by the class, mostly the president, and the entire class had to do fundraisers to pay for it. 

To be completely honest, the last thing the three girls wanted to do was go on a trip with their class. Nathaniel and Marc had gotten an internship at DC Comics (courtesy of MDC) and that was taking place exactly during the class trip and Luka and Juleka’s mom decided that they were going to sail around the world this summer and Rose got permission to tag along. 

It would only be the three girls together with a class who hated them, but Marinette was the class president and had to organize it, and if she had to organize the whole thing then she was going to enjoy the fruits of her labor. And Chole and Moriah weren’t going to let her suffer alone. 

The bluenette had already begun planning the trip. Places to go and fundraising to do. She even decided to go ahead and book reservations. It was unfair!

Marinette opened her mouth to argue when her eye caught something in the trash that made her heart stop. 

Praying she was wrong, she slowly walked to the trash can and pulled out it’s contents. 

There was her sketchbook, tattered and torn.

She couldn’t believe it. Marinette started hyperventilating, looking at the scraps of her work.

Marinette had several sketchbooks, she filled them out rather fast, but that specific sketchbook was one filled with the design ideas she had for Jagged Stone’s tour that was happening this summer. 

Marinette felt the world around her spiralling. She felt dizzy. Distantly she could hear people calling her name, but couldn’t comprehend it. 

She felt sick. 

She was going to be sick! 

That was the last thing she remembered before running home, people calling her name as she left the school.

~~~

Always make friends with people who are loyal. 

A good friend will make you feel better after someone hurt you. 

But a best friend will skip beside you with an old, rusty bat singing “Someone’s gonna get it~”

After Marinette ran out, Chloe, Moriah, Juleka, Rose, and Nathaniel all screamed at their classmates and teacher, telling them how incompetent they were. Moriah, too angry to remember how to speak french, called them scum sucking creeps of the earth that Satan wouldn’t even want in hell. 

It probably would’ve gone farther, but the three competent classmates gave Chloe and Moriah a look and told them to go after Marinette. 

The girls listened with no hesitation. 

They ran all the way to the Dupan-Cheng bakery. They walked in and Tom and Sabine looked at them before glancing upstairs with sad looks. Both girls knew immediately what they meant. They went upstairs to see Marinette doing breathing exercises, trying to keep from crying or even being sad at all. Tikki was patting her wielder’s leg. 

Moriah instantly ran over to Marinette while Chloe was quick to close any windows, doors, and cover any cracks and creases that an akuma could get through before joining them

Fuck Hawkmoth! There was no way the girls were going to let Marinette try and keep this bottled up so that she wouldn’t get akumatized. 

Chloe decided that the best thing for them to do was go to her father’s hotel and have a girls night, which is precisely what they did. What Marinette didn’t know was that there was a double meaning behind it.

The girls and their kwamis spent the night eating junk food and watching chick-flicks like Legally Blonde and Mean Girls. Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel told the others what had happened, and Chloe and Moriah were met with numerous texts, asking if they needed to come over, but the girls reassured everyone that they had it covered.

Finally, Marinette had passed out. It was after midnight and Chloe and Moriah exchanged looks before getting to work. 

Tip-toeing out of the room, closing the door behind them, Moriah unlocked Marinette’s phone and opened her contacts. 

Scrolling down the list, taking note of a few names she wanted to ask the bluenette about later, she found the contact they were looking for. 

Jagged Stone. 

Hitting the face-time button, the girls waited for Jagged to answer. The rock star was currently in America, and should only be mid afternoon over there. Even if it wasn’t, he’d stop in the middle of a live concert if Marinette was calling him.

Sure enough, after two beeps, the screen changed to Jagged’s face.

“Marinette, love! So good to hear from you-” He stopped short when he saw the two girls, neither of which being his honorary niece.

“Moriah? Chloe? What’re you doing calling me on Marinette’s phone?”

That was all it took before the girls told him everything. Lila’s stories, all worthy of a lawsuit, what happened to Marinette’s sketchbook, they even emailed him pictures of the texts that the class had sent to Marinette, most of which encuriged the girl to comitte suicide, and a link to the LadyBlog to prove that everything was true.

About midway during their confession, Penny had appeared on the screen, reading the emails that the girls had sent her. By the time Chloe and Moriah were finished, the pair looked like they wanted to commit murder.

Jagged yelled in fury, wanted to take legal action immediately, but Moriah cut in before he could.

“I agree with you Jagged, but what Marinette needs is a break. She needs a vacation from her class and Paris in general.” 

Chloe nodded in agreement.

Jagged brought a hand to his chin in thought. The girls had a point, but what to do? 

~~~

It was Penny’s idea. 

The first thing the girls did in the morning was burn all the plans that Marinette had made for the trip. They cancelled the reservations and when they got to school, Marinette walked up to Miss Buster’s desk and said; “I’m resigning as class president. If the class doesn’t want Chloe, Moriah, and I to join them on the class trip, then I won’t plan it.”

And that was it. 

Lila had been chosen as the new class president.

To her credit, she did do a decent job. She had decent fundraising ideas, but she started late in the school year, so the class only raised enough money to go to Disneyland Paris.

Chloe snorted.

The class attended the trip in June. Their social media and camera rolls filled with pictures. Most of the captions read that they were glad to get away from the bullies at school.

It wasn’t till after the trip that they found out what happened with the girls. 

It was Alix who found out first. In the class group chat, save the three ‘bullies,’ Alix texted: “OMG, look at this!”

Underneath was a picture of the three girls at the airport with Jagged Stone, Penny, and Fang. The three were posing like Charlie’s Angels, wearing huge grins, with the caption: “Touring with Jagged Stone All Summer!!”

Penny was a genius. 

Lila looked at her phone in horror. This couldn’t be happening.

Oh, my dear liar, but it is!

The first stop was Gotham. Jagged was performing at a Gala hosted by Bruce Wayne, which the girls would be attending. But first, they got a tour of Wayne industries. 

The first picture in Gotham was taken by Moriah at Wayne industries. She was looking at the phone camera like she was on the Office while very clearly behind her you could see Marinette talking with Damian Wayne, the youngest Wayne son, and Chloe talking with a boy named Jonathan ‘Jon’ Kent, son of famous reporters Lois Lane-Kent and Clark Kent. Alya nearly snapped her phone in half when she recognized the boy. The pairs were obviously flirting. The picture’s captain read: ”First Day in Gotham and I’m already a fifth wheel.”

The next two pictures taken were a surprise to everyone. 

They were taken by Chloe in the late night streets of Gotham. The first one was a picture of Marinette sitting on the driver’s seat of the batmobile looking like all her dreams had come true while Batman stood beside her, arms crossed, looking rather stern.

The second picture was Moriah holding two pistols with starry eyes with Red Hood standing beside her, explaining to her how to shoot them, with an alarmed Marinette and Nightwing running towards them in the background. 

The girls did take a selfie with the entire Batfam, but they decided not to post that one.

The next few days were mainly pictures of the girls sightseeing (with the occasional sneaky picture Moriah took of her friends with Damian and Jon). However, at one point the girls were adopted (kidnapped) by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Chloe and Marinette both agree that the weirdest thing that happened in Gotham was Moriah bonding with a talking plant named Frank.

Eventually, it was the night of the Wayne Gala. None of the girls took pictures of the gala, but the entrance was on tv, which Miss Bustier’s class made a movie night out of. 

Sure enough, walking down the red carpet were the girls. Marinette had made new outfits for all of them, just for the gala, and they were stunning.

Marinette wore a long scarlet dress. It was fashioned like a traditional chinese dress, but more Marinette-y. There were intricate designs stitched in black around the bottom of the dress with a silk sash tied around her waist. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with a fancy stain glass rose pin in it. 

Chloe wore a glamorous gold mermaid dress. It shimmered with every step she took with glittering blue details on the top that matched her makeup. And if you looked down, you could see her wearing gold, literal gold, heels. Her hair was down in beach wave curls with blue strands woven into it.

Lila and Alya screamed when they saw both girls being escorted in by Damian Wayne and Jon Kent respectively. 

Jagged and Penny were linked together. Penny wore a v-neck, sleeveless shimmering silver dress, also made by Marinette, while Jagged wore a dark purple suit. It looked pretty monotone for the man at first, but when lights hit the suit, you could see that there had been music notes embroidered into the suit that turned it into a rainbow of color.

Moriah’s dress came as a bit of a surprise. Marinette knew Moriah was more comfortable in pants than a dress, but she still wanted the girl to wear a dress, so they compromised. Moriah wore a dress that was also crossed with a suit. Kind of like Garnet’s wedding dress from Steven Universe.

She wore a tuxedo jacket over a white, sleeveless dress that draped down longer in the back, shorter in the front. She had a red sash wrapped around her waist and black tights with red shoes to match. Around her neck was a shirt collar and bow-tie that she wore like a choker. Her hair was half up and half down in curls. Moriah wasn’t one to wear make up, but since it was a special occasion, she wore some mascara and a little lipstick.

The biggest surprise was her escort. 

Walking beside her was Fang, dressed in his own original Marinette tux that matched Jagged’s.

For the rest of the night, nobody knew what happened to the girls at the gala. It wasn’t until the next morning that they found out.

Chloe and Marinette spent most of the night hanging out with Jon and Damian, but whenever they weren’t doing that, they talked with the other guests, most of whom asked for the designer of their outfits, which really boosted traffic on Marinette’s website. 

Moriah hung out around the dessert table most of the night, snacking on a bit of everything, while talking with the other Wayne sons. At some point, totally unclear on the how and why, Moriah and the oldest Wayne son, Dick Grayson, got into a dance fight. The gala ended before the fight did, so they had to call a draw.

Their next destination was New York, but they made a slight detour to Metropolis per Jon and Chloe’s request. They got a VIP tour of the Daily Planet and met Jon’s parents: Lois Lane-Kent and Clark Kent. 

Moriah recorded Lois tearing into the LadyBlog with a grin on her face, having no remorse in posting it online.

Alya couldn’t understand it as she watched her idol tearing into her life’s work.

Then the girls’ mentioned BugOut, the blog Aurore ran, and Lois was a lot more pleasant. 

Alya threw her phone when she got a text from Nino that Marinette got Aurore an internship at the Daily Planet for winter and spring break, and possibly summer if she did well.

The next picture posted was the first one Marinette took. It was of her two friends hanging off Superman’s massive muscles as he flexed. Chloe denies ever drooling.

After that, they left for New York. Specifically, the Avengers’ Tower. It was the anniversary of when the Avengers first became a team, and Tony Stark, an old friend of Jagged’s, highered the man to play at the party. 

Before then, they toured the Avengers tower. At one point, they walked in to see Captain America, Bucky Barns, and Thor working out. Shirtless. Moriah let out a quiet but passionate “Hell yes” when they saw them. 

After the three men, regretfully, put on their shirts, they showed off their equipment. Chloe couldn’t help but squeal when Captain America handed her his shield. Marinette grinned as she hung off Bucky’s metal arm as he flexed it. Moriah was once again handed guns, this time by Black Widow, which were once again promptly taken from her.

After all that excitement came the big guns. Per the girls’ request, Penny recorded them trying to lift Thor’s hammer. It was all fun and games until Marinette easily picked it up. It was dead quiet before Thor’s voice thundered across the room.

“She is worthy! I must take her to Asgard with me!” 

Tony took a step forward. “Thor, you can’t take a child.” He stressed.

Thor tilted his head at the millionaire like a puppy. Moriah winced, grabbing her heart. That face was too cute for a grown-ass space god.

“Then what is the spider-kid?”

Tony faceplamed. “He’s my intern and protege. I’m his mentor!”

“Then I shall be this child’s mentor!”

“No!”

“Miss Potts can be Chloe’s mentor, for they are both fit to rule!” Chloe preened at this. 

“Thor, no!”

Moriah raised her hand. “Can the kick-ass, Russian spy be my mentor?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the girl before smirking.

“Yes! Black Widow will become Moriah’s mentor! It all works out! Now, I must take my new protege to Asgard to meet the All-Father.”

“Thor, no!” 

“Don’t you take my niece!” Jagged ran into the phone’s picture, looking ready to fuck-up a god. 

The video ended with Penny dropping the phone and running towards Jagged who was now riding on Thor’s back, pulling his hair.

The video went viral in an hour. 

Lila’s hands trembled as she watched the video, feeling herself paleing. She had become enemies with someone who could lift Thor’s hammer.

This wasn’t posted, but shortly after Penny got Jagged off Thor, Loki appeared. He tried explaining that he felt powerful magic coming from the tower, but was cut short when Moriah tackled him to the ground in an aggressive hug.

While we’re on the subject of proteges, at some point, Peter came over. He heard that Jagged Stone was at the tower and wanted to meet him. He, Ned, and MJ were huge fans and he really needed an autograph. 

Friday told him that Jagged was with the other Avengers in the training room. Promptly saying thanks to the A.I, the spider boy practically ran to the room. What he didn’t expect was to open the door to see a short, brunette girl German suplex the Winter Soldier while wearing heels. (A trick Natasha had taught her. The Black Widow took being a mentor very seriously.)

Tony turned to see who was at the door and was met with a red faced, dazed Peter Parker who was clutching the area over his heart like it was about to beat out of his chest.

“Natasha, your kid broke my minion!”

(Now Marinette and Chloe got their fill of taking sneaky pictures of Moriah and Peter.)

The girls did normal sightseeing stuff around New York. They went to a town called Riverdale and Moriah met a guy named Jughead. They bonded over having friends with love issues that attracted endless people while they just wanted to eat burgers.

At some point they were in another dangerous situation, but this time they met some guy named Deadpool who would make this One-Shot Rated-R if I actually put anything he said in it.

While in New York, they went to two Broadway Musicals. The first one was Phantom of the Opera. (Jagged didn’t really want to see this one, but he was outnumbered one to four. (Five including Fang. The crocodile had a weird love for Opera music.)) They also had a backstage pass where pictures of Marinette conversing with the person in charge of costumes, Chloe complementing the actress who played Christine, and Moriah hugging the actor who played the Phantom were taken.

After that, Jagged took them to see Hamilton. What the girls’ didn’t know, however, was that this was a special show with the original cast. Moriah screamed when she saw Lin Manuel-Miranda on the stage as Alexander Hamilton and when they went backstage, Moriah started crying when the cast greeted her.

Mylene, who admired the man herself, felt her heart break when she saw the picture of a joy-crying Moriah hugging Lin.

After that, they went to Florida for Jagged’s next concert at Universal Studios. They didn’t meet anyone famous there, but the class were still envious of the pictures. 

Moriah was a huge Potter Head, so this was a dream come true. She hissed at Marinette and Chloe when they playfully mocked her Hufflepuff shirt while they sported matching Slytherin shirts. 

They also went to Disney World, which was also a dream come true. The funniest thing that happened there was while Jagged and Moriah were off trying to waste hundreds of dollars on ice cream and other junk food with Penny trying to stop them, one of the park’s managers thought that Chloe and Marinette were supposed to fill-in for two of the disney princesses. Jagged, Penny, and Moriah came back to find Chloe dressed like Elsa and Marinette dressed like Mulan. Moriah laughed hysterically at the two girls until the same park manager pulled her away and she came out dressed like Belle.

Originally, Florida was supposed to be the final place, but there was a last minute change. Turns out that Jagged Stone has a sister who lives in Japan with a daughter named Kyoko Jirou.

While they were on tour, Jirou and her classmates had done a performance for their school’s festival.

Jagged, of course, was inspired and requested Penny to schedule one last performance in Japan where he’d have Jirou and her band open for him. It would be a nonprofit concert since Jagged wanted it within the next two weeks, but that didn’t bother him. 

The girls had to check in with their parents, but they were allowed to go with Jagged to Japan. 

Since it would take every waking moment to plan the concert and write a new song for it, Jagged had the girls join Jirou’s class for the time being despite being a little older.

The first picture taken was Moriah performing the German suplex Natasha taught her on a hot, ash-blonde guy named Katsuki Bakugou who said that the girls looked weak. 

The next thing that was posted was a selfie of the three girls wearing the UA gym uniforms with the caption: “Training at the USJ.” With them in the picture were Momo and Hagakure, both of which were adorning new hero costumes.

Marinette took one look at their old costumes and went on a rampage. In the time span of two days, she managed to make both girls new suits (with the help of the support course). 

Momo kept her red and white color scheme, but it became a two piece outfit that was pretty similar to a female wrestler’s costume, but with knee and elbow pads. To avoid showing too much skin, they used strands of Momos hair as a way to let her creations move past the more intimate areas of her body. Momo kept her heeled boots because if Black Widow and Wonder Woman can kick ass in heels then so could she, but Moriah gave the suggestion of being able to snap the heels off and use them like throwing darts.

Hagakure’s suit was made out of reflective lenses that could turn her completely invisible without having to be naked, but also amplify any light she admitted. She got a chest plate tank top and pants with built in kneepads. Her boots were sound absorbent for stealth and she also got a pair of rocking goggles to keep her from blinding herself.

Needless to say, both girls were satisfied with their new looks.

For the next couple of days, they took pictures of Class 1-A. Marinette was the only one who could get a picture with the Class 1-A homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa. Probably because she made him a new sleeping bag as an apology for their intrusion.

Funny story: When he saw Jagged Stone, he paled, before muttering “Oh dear god, there’s two of them” under his breath repeatedly. The girls didn’t understand this until they met Present Mic.

Moriah and Katsuki somewhat got along after the german suplex incident and she hung out with the Baku-Squad. Chloe took a bit of an interest in a duel-haired boy named Todoroki who hung out with a boy named Izuku Midoryia and the Deku-Squad. Izuku and Marinette got along swimmingly, just don’t look directly at them. It’s harmful to look at the sun, let alone two.

At one point, they met Endeavor. All three girls called him out and chastised him for being a horrible father and human being. Chloe took the lead on this. (Todoroki started looking at her in a new light.)

The next big news that Miss Buister’s class got wasn’t from stalking the girls’ social media. It was the Japanese news. The class couldn’t believe it when they saw that Ladybug, Vixen, and Yellow Jacket were in Japan. 

Originally the girls were only planning on going shopping, but when they saw the villain attack, their hero instincts took over and they transformed and apprehended the perp. To avoid suspicion, Vixen cast an illusion to make it look like Marinette, Chloe, and Moriah were in the background in the crowd.

The girls were interviewed by the press. Well… Ladybug and Vixen conversed with the press while Yellow Jacket was giddily talking in the background with the pro hero Hawks, who the girls had aided, with a vibrant blush on her face.

Non Surprisingly, Izuku was there. Ladybug gave him the most attention out of all the interviewer’s. (Block your eyes from the sunshine rays!)

The next day, things got even crazier. All three girls were kidnapped by the League of Villains. U.A, Jagged, and Penny were in a panic until Moriah posted a selfie, looking so done with the world, with a black haired, scared man with piercings beside her staring at the phone camera like he was on the Office. 

\In the background, Marinette was chastising the villains about how rude it was to kidnap people while Chloe insulted their base’s decor. The caption read: “These idiots didn’t even take our phones.”

They were found two days later by a group of pro-heroes, led by current No. 1 hero, Endeavor, but when the heroes burst in, they stopped short at the sight in front of them.

The heroes found a very smug Marinette demolishing a very pissed Shigaraki at a video game while Chloe, Toga, Magne, and Twice were doing each other’s nails in the corner while gossiping. In another corner of the room, Dabi had decided to give Moriah new, vibrant blue highlights that matched his eyes. 

The entire base was refurbished.

The heroes were stunned long enough for the LoV to escape.

The girls had to use the horse miraculous to return to Paris several times to deal with akumas, but it was worth it. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Jagged’s trip was soon over and the girls returned to Paris. 

The moment they walked into the classroom they were met with glares ranging from weak to pure shade. 

While they were on the trip, Jagged had told every important person they came across every tabloid lie Lila had spun and she was met with a tsunami of lawsuits. As was the LadyBlog. Alya’s eyes were red and puffy, but she still gave a heated glare towards Marinette. 

The rest of the class wasn’t off the hook, either. With all the evidence Moriah and Chloe had shown Jagged, the entire class were sued for harassment. 

After finally getting to the email Tom and Sabine sent, the school board had found out about everything. Mr Damocles and Miss Bustier had been told to hit the road, and were promptly replaced with new, competent teachers. 

The girls gave a bright smile before sitting in the back of the class, high-fiving Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka on the way.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

Standing ovation...o(╥﹏╥)o

Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend

Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend

@ozmav

This came from @thebookwormfairy idea “What if Marinette had a Retired Police Dog as a Pet”

@realrandomposts and I discussed which Miraculous would be used and, while my initial thought was turtle, @realrandomposts was the one who came with the idea for the fox, and just fit better for this fic (And I want to tick Alya off), because Trixx would NEVER miss a chance to cause chaos via having a dog as a holder.

As for Trixx’s gender, the site basically told me it varied from translation to translation, so I flipped a coin; literally.

At a Gotham hotel:

Marinette couldn’t believe Captain snuck himself on to the plane!  Actually, she could, he’s such a smart boy.  But, how did he get past all that security?  Never mind Trixx probably helped with that, he likes to cause chaos like that.

“Trixx, did you have a hand in getting Captain on the plane?” Marinette asked.

“Noooooooooo.” Trixx dragged out, trying and failing to look innocent.

Marinette sighed, running her hands through Captains fur.

“Besides he was going to miss you terribly so.” Trixx continued.

“And you would have missed him as well Marinette.” Tikki added.

“True…” Marinette agreed.

“And I know Captain never wants to leave his partner alone unless he has to.” Trixx said.

Marinette smiled, still petting Captain and him loving it, the Fox Miraculous; hidden by dog tags and a bandana, catching her eye.  Marinette remembered how this came to be.

*Flash back*

Marinette was having an awful week; Lila spread rumors around the school about her, her classmates have shown to be more like sheep than classmates, Adrien wanted her to continue being a doormat, and Chat could NOT take the hint at the last Akuma attack and left her alone to fight so he could throw a tantrum.

Thankfully, Captain has proven to be the best and most loyal friend she could ever hope for. Marinette knows he would never leave her in danger just because he didn’t like what she said, he never believe she was petty and jealous of a person with such FAKE tales, and he would never ask her not to stand just for justice; being a former police dog.

That’s when an idea hit Marinette.

“Tikki, I have an idea.”

Tikki tilted her head in confusion, watching Marinette look over at her dog.

“Come on Captain, I’m going to introduce you to Master Fu.” Marinette said.

The worst the Master could do was say no, right.

 With Master Fu:

“Greetings Marinette, Tikki” Fu welcomed.

“Hello Master Fu.” Tikki greeted.

“Hello Master, I hope you don’t mind but I brought my dog; Captain.” Marinette returned.

“I don’t mind Marinette; animals can be the best of companions and partners.” Fu smiled, holding out his hand for Captain to sniff.

Captain gave a cautious sniff, but accepted Fu; allowing him to give a single head pat.

“Why don’t we sit down, I feel we have much to discuss.” Fu offered.

“Thank you Master.”

Once they were seated at Fu’s low table, Fu began talking.

“What would you like to discuss Marinette?”

“Can a Miraculous be given to an animal?” Marinette asked.

Fu raised an eyebrow.

“May I ask what brought this on?”

Marinette steeled herself.

“First Chat Noir; he’s late or doesn’t show to battles, when he does he’s pretty much out of the fight immediately, he flirts at the worst times even though I’ve told him I’m not interested in him, he throws hissy hits on a regular basis, and he doesn’t see being a hero as a responsibility but as a game.”

“What of the other heroes?”

“The other heroes have proven that they see being a hero as game as well, they don’t look to see the truth went given no evidence, they like pretty words and offers of connections than working for it themselves and are unwilling to listen to reason when it’s something they don’t want to hear.”

Marinette looked Fu in the eye.

“I’m tired of fighting alone Master Fu.”

The last sentence bore a lot of weight behind it; and Fu heard it.

“I understand Marinette.”

Fu got up to retrieve the box, once he sat down again he started talking.

“You wish for Captain to stand beside you.”

“Yes Master.”

“Do you think he will be able to handle it?”

“Yes Master, he’s a former police dog, he probably has more training and experience than I do.” Marinette giggled.

Captain gave a small tail wag; he loved hearing his girl laugh.

Fu smile and nodded.

“Now it is possible for an animal to use a Miraculous, but the process is different.”

“How so Master?”

“Normally the Guardian would choose the hold, but in the case of animals; the Kwamii’s get to choose if they want to work with them or not, so I cannot guaranty anything Marinette.”

“I understand Master.” Marinette nodded.

“Good, first we must…”

Fu was cut off by a box shaking and jumping around until Trixx popped out.  Once he was out he grabbed Marinette’s hand and began to beg.

“Please, please, PLEASE let me team up with you and your dog! This looks like it’s going to cause chaos and so much confusion!  Please let me, I know how to speak canine, so I know when to transform and stuff, I get along really well with Tikki, my Miraculous can hang with his tags, and my charge up food is really easy.  Please, please, PLEASEEEEEEE!”

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh.

“I have no problem working with you Trixx, but let’s see what Captain thinks.”

Marinette turned to her dog, he liked Tikki, but that doesn’t mean he’d like Trixx.

Trixx flew over to Captain; Captain gave him a sniff.

“Hi Captain, do you want to team up with me to protect your girl?” Trixx asked.

Captain was quiet for a moment, but eventually gave a gentle woof in agreement.

“Yes!” Trixx cheered.

Marinette, Fu and Tikki laughed as Marinette clipped the Miraculous on Captain’s collar; behind the tags, but that laughter was cut short by screaming and crashing outside.

“AKUMA!!!!”

Fu turned to Marinette.

“Go.”

Marinette nodded her head.

“Alright Tikki; Spots on!”

Captain gave a stern bark.

Once the transformation light died down Marinette could see what Captain looked like.

Captain wore an orange, black and white vest that was modeled after a normal police dogs vest; it had the fox tail symbol, in white, on the back and a ladybug symbol on the front where a police badge would be.  Captain also had arm guards on his front legs that covered the top of his paws; they faded from orange to white, but Marinette’s favorite part was his mask.  It was just a normal orange, black and white mask, but just looked so cute.

“Well, I can’t call you Captain, no matter how common that name might be.” Marinette said, looking at her dog. “How about…Hunter?”

The newly christened Hunter gave a soft woof in agreement.

“Come on Hunter, we have an Akuma to fight.”

And then they were off.

“Good luck.” Fu said as they left.

 Where the Akuma was:

The fight with the Akuma, which Chat did not show up to, went smoothly. Hunter cast his illusion by howling and apparently, he could also sniff out the akumatized item, this made things so much easier.  Ladybug didn’t even need to cast Lucky charm! They even did a ‘Pound it’ where Hunter bumped his nose against her fist.

But once everything was fixed by the cure, Chat showed up.

“Hey Bug-a-boo.”

“You missed everything Chat.” Her voice was hard, causing Hunter to tense up.

“Aww, don’t be like that Love bug, it couldn’t have been bad.”

Chat reached out to grab Ladybug only to be blocked by a snarling Hunter.

“What the heck is that?!” Chat exclaimed, back away from the costumed dog.

Ladybug smiled sickly sweet smile at Chat.

“This is Hunter the new, and permanent, fox holder and my new partner.”

“But what about Rena Rouge?! And I’M your partner” Chat demanded.

“She has been retired, and don’t worry about the Guardian; he’s already agreed to this.  As for being my partner; tell me Chat when was the last time you showed up on time for a fight, didn’t get turned against me, or thrown a hissy fit and leave just because you didn’t get what you want?” Ladybug asked.

Chat couldn’t answer her, his mouth flapping uselessly.

“That’s what I thought.” Ladybug then turned to Hunter. “Come Hunter we should leave before your time runs out.”

Hunter gave a woof in return and jumped away with his girl, not before giving one last hard look at Chat.

*End flashback*

Trixx had been appalled by Chat’s attitude and was steaming while he ate his marshmallows, Tikki doing the same while eating cookies.  

Marinette smile as she remembered Alya’s outrage at being replaced, and by a dog at that.  But Hunter proved to the people of Paris how good he was and how great of a partner he was for Ladybug; Their ‘Pound it’ was all the rage in the internet and is now the most popular trick to teach your pet.

So here she was in Gotham with her super hero dog, which snuck aboard a plane, and two powerful little gods.

What was her life?

“Well, sulking around this hotel won’t do us any good; how about we go for a walk guys?” Marinette suggested.

Captain, Tikki and Trixx agreed; Tikki flying into Marinette’s bag and Trixx flew under Captain Bandana.

At a nearby Park:

Marinette felt so much freer at the park, the only thing people would see was a girl and her dog.

She was just throwing the ball she got for Captain when another dog, a Great Dane, came up and began sniffing Captain.  Captain held still, ball in mouth, and let the other sniff; eventually Captain seemed to like the other dog and began leading them over to Marinette.

“Did you make a friend Captain?” Marinette asked, petting her dog.

Captain gave a slight wag of his tail and Great Dane’s tail was going so fast in was a blur. Marinette reached out her hand for the Dane, so they could get her scent; she was rewarded with a lick on her hand.

“Well aren’t you a sweet heart!  Let’s find out your name.” Marinette laughed, before reaching for the Dane’s tags. “Titus? Well it’s nice to meet you Titus!”

Titus barked his hello, trying to get closer to Marinette’s hands for petting.

“Alright buddy, you want to play fetch with me and Captain while you wait for your owner?”

Titus barked again, this time jumping around in excitement.

“Okay, okay,” Marinette laughed before winding up the ball. “FETCH!”

Marinette let the ball go and both dogs shot after it; tussling a bit to be the one to bring it back. This went on for a while before Marinette heard a voice shouting.

“TITUS!”

Titus responded to the call and ran over to a boy about her age, a very handsome boy.  Titus circled around the boy a couple times before running back to Marinette.  Marinette could only guess that this was Titus’ owner.  He made his way over to her.

“Hello Miss, I’m sorry if Titus caused you any trouble.” He greeted.

“Titus was no trouble at all; he was a real sweet heart.” Marinette assured. “My name is Marinette, and this is my dog Captain.”

“It’s lovely to meet you Marinette; my name is Damian, you’ve already met Titus.” Damian greeted, gently taking her hand and placing a kiss on the back; Marinette couldn’t help but blush.

Watching his girl blush at the new person caused Captain to step between the two, making both of blink.

“I’m sorry Damian; Captain doesn’t like strangers getting too close to me.”

“It’s fine Marinette; I should have introduced myself to your dog before invading your space. It’s understandable that he takes me as threat.” Damian said, slowly reaching out his hand for Captain.

Captain investigated the offered hand and gave Damian a hard stare.  There was a tense moment before Captain gave a snort and walked to Marinette’s side.

“I think you’ve been approved of Damian.” Marinette said surprised. “He usually doesn’t like a lot of people; really it’s just me and my parents.”

“A high honor then, I will do my best not to waste it.” Damian stated. “I would hate to ruin my chance at talking to a beautiful lady such as you.”

The blush returned to Marinette’s face.

“T-Thank you, but I’m not much.”

Damian just smirked at her, making her blush more.  Damian was going to say something when he noticed Titus sniffing at Captain’s Bandana. Marinette knew he was smelling Trixx.

“That is a very well made, where did you get this Marinette?” Damian asked.

“I made it myself; I couldn’t find anything in the stores that I liked.”

“Really?  Might I commission you to make one for Titus?”

“You can, but I don’t have a lot of my sewing supplies with me in Gotham, so it could take some time.”

“Where are visiting from Marinette?”

“I’m visiting with my class from Paris; we’re here mainly to see Wayne Enterprise.”  Marinette clarified.

“And they let you bring your dog?” Damian asked.

“They didn’t ‘Let me’.” Marinette looked over at Captain with a mock serious look. “Somehow, someone managed to trick the entire airport and sneak himself onto the plane.”

Damian gave a snort in amusement.

“Really?!”

“I know it sounds fake, but…”

Damian cut Marinette off.

“No, I believe you; I’ve seen animals be smarter than people before, but this very impressive.  Your classmates must have thought it funny.”

Marinette wilted a bit when Damian mentioned her classmates; he noticed.

“What’s wrong Marinette?”

“You won’t believe me…”

“I’ve been told I very good at telling who’s lying, so please tell me.”

“There’s a girl in my class who doesn’t like me, and she made it sound like I snuck Captain aboard the plane on purpose just to get attention.  I wouldn’t even know where to start on that!”

“It sounds like she’s done more than that Marinette.”

“She has…” Marinette sighed, she then gave a brief explanation to Damian about what was going on; he was not pleased.

“Your classmates are morons; large ones.”

“Yeah, they are.  Hey Damian, do you know much about Wayne Enterprise?” Marinette asked.

“I know enough.”

“Do you think they let Captain in?  I’d hate to leave him at the hotel tell all day.”

“I’m positive they will Marinette, the Wayne family is a very open-minded family.”

“Thank you, Damian,” Marinette smiled, before asking another question. “Do you know any nearby dog friendly restaurants are?”

“Of course, I’d be happy to show you.  Perhaps you would let me join you as well.”

“I’d like that Damian; it would be nice to talk to someone with common sense that isn’t Captain.”

Damian chuckled and held out his arm; which Marinette took, and began to guide her to the closest café their dogs trotting along with them.

While at the café Damian got Marinette to open up a bit more about her classmates; Marinette didn’t know why she did that, she was just comfortable with him.  And if Damian thought her classmates to be morons before, he though them to be outright imbeciles now.

“These people clearly have no brain cells Marinette.”

Marinette smiled at Damian, it was nice to have someone who can listen to reason.

Eventually Marinette and Captain did have to go back to the hotel, not before they exchanged number though.

“Can we do this again tomorrow; my class won’t be spending all day at Wayne Enterprise.” Marinette asked just before she left; surprising herself at her boldness.

Damian didn’t seem to have an issue with her request though.

“You took the request right out of my mouth Angel.”

“A-Angel?” Marinette stuttered.

“Certainly, you’ve shown your class kindness and patience when they don’t deserve it or you, so yes Angel; unless it makes you uncomfortable Marinette.”

“It’s fine Damian, just please; never call me Princess.” Marinette pleaded.

Damian clearly wanted to ask why but left it alone.

“Of course, Marinette; I will respect your wishes.” Damian nodded his head. “Now will you allow myself and Titus to walk yourself and Captain back to your hotel?”

“Sure Damian.”

The walk was made up of Marinette asking what Damian wanted the Bandana for Titus to look like.  Once they reached the hotel they said their goodbyes.

“It was wonderful meeting Damian, you too Titus.”  Marinette said.

“You as well Marinette, Captain.” Damian waved goodbye.

The next morning:

Marinette, Captain and the class set off for Wayne Enterprise, Lila being Lie-le the entire time on the bus.

“The Wayne family just loves me; they always try and make sure I’m alright.” Lila boasted.

“Wow Lila, do you think you could introduce me?  I’d love to have an interview!” Alya questioned.

“Maybe Alya, they are a very busy family after all; we probably won’t even see them.” Lila redirected.

“Aww, that’s too bad.” Alya was disappointed.

Marinette, keeping a hand on Captain, resisted the urge to roll her eyes.  Last night before going to sleep, Marinette looked up the Wayne family; ignoring all the pictures she didn’t care about those and found many things. Like, if Alya wanted an interview she could just request one, yeah there would be some restrictions but Alya doesn’t care for doing her own research.

Adrien just kept quiet, just as always.

The class reached Wayne Enterprise; Marinette and Captain at the back of the group and were greeted by a surprise in the lobby.

“Hi everyone, I’m Dick Grayson and I’ll be the one giving you the tour around the building.”

The entire air shifted; Alya was ecstatic, Lila could get her an interview right away!  Lila was terrified, because this could go very south on her and she had no back up plans on being called out by one of the people she bragged about.  Marinette was confused, why were people getting excited?

Marinette was never good with icons outside fashion and music, so she didn’t know the Damian she spent time with the day before was the Damian Wayne.   So, when Damian got home he spoke with his family, telling them of a girl in the French tour would likely be using their names for gain.  Nobody liked the idea of being used, so if the topic came up they would shut it down; Damian figured out from Marinette’s descriptions that the topic would come up from one person or another.

Damian theory proved true when Alya; the pushy, rude, ‘always right’, Alya raised her hand.

“Go ahead.” Dick called on her.

“Hi, I’m Alya; I’m friends with your friend Lila Rossi!”

Lila froze at Alya’s exclamation; going very pale.

Dick frowned, now knowing who the liar in the group was; but was inwardly smirking at the chance to call them out.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve NEVER met a ‘Lila Rossi’ in my life; whoever that is lied to you.”

Alya looked like her world shattered with that one phrase.

Marinette realized Dick must be an important person Lila lied about; which one Marinette wasn’t sure they all sound the same after a point. Marinette looked over at Alya and saw the devastation on her face; Marinette really hoped her former friend would learn from this and start fact checking.

Marinette started running one her hands through Captain’s fur, the motion keeping her calm; watching more horror appear on her classmate’s faces as Dick continued.

“I hope she didn’t use our name to take advantage of people and she continues like this she will be hit with a lawsuit.”

Lila blanched, a lawsuit would really be bad, but she didn’t know how to backtrack from this lie; she didn’t think a Wayne would be the one conducting the tour.

“Well, now that that’s cleared up we can begin the tour.” Dick said, clapping his hands together.

But in a desperate attempt to get the negative focus off her Lila tried to get Marinette in trouble.

“Look Marinette brought her dog!  He can’t be here!”

Everyone turned to look at Marinette; Ms. Bustier was quick to say something.

“Marinette why in the world did you bring your dog?!”

“I didn’t want to leave Captain alone in hotel ALL day, what kind of pet owner would I be if I did that Ms. Bustier?  And how did you not see me bring him onto the bus?!”

Ms. Bustier opened her mouth to try and reprimand Marinette more but was cut off by Dick.

“This is perfectly fine Ms. Bustier; we were warned ahead of time that due to some strange events, there would be a dog in the group today.”

Ms. Bustier could only nod, not being able to argue with Dick, But Lila was outraged by this turn of events.

“Who could have possibly warned you about her dog?!”

Marinette; as much as she didn’t like Lila had to admit, that was a good question.

“I did.” Came a voice off from the side.

“Hey, Damian.” Dick greeted.

“Hello Grayson,” Damian nodded, before approaching Marinette; Titus at his side. “Hello again Marinette, Captain.”

“Damian! Titus!  I hadn’t thought you might work here!” Marinette said, “Which is silly looking back now, because you knew if Captain would allowed or not.”

“It’s fine Marinette.” Damian smiled at the sweet girl.

“Oh, hold on!  I was going to give this to you later, but since you’re here now.” Marinette said as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a yellow piece of cloth.  “I managed to find some cloth and made Titus a Bandana, it’s nothing fancy but I wanted to see if he even liked it first.”

The Bandana was yellow with black thread spelling out ‘Titus’ in cursive.

“Its wonderful Marinette.”

“Thank you, Damian, can I put it on Titus now to see if he likes it?”

“Certainly.”

Marinette bent down to carefully tie it to Titus; who was holding still for her.

“There.” Marinette stood up.

Titus was then bouncing around her and Captain, braking and wagging his tail in happiness.  Making Damian and Marinette laugh, as Titus did his best to get Captain to play with him.

While they were in their own little world the people around them watched in awe; Damian Wayne could smile, he could laugh!

Dick was grinning ear to ear, being very thankful the lobby had cameras or else there would be no proof of this happening.  

Alya could decide between being hurt or confused; hurt by Lila’s lies or confused by the fact Marinette knew THE Damian Wayne.

Adrien was concerned; this was just going to cause more problems, why couldn’t Marinette just stay low?

Lila was seething, how is it that when she finally won over the class of idiots and turns them against Marinette, Marinette goes and somehow charms one of the riches and coldest people in the world!  This could not continue.  Lila slipped away; unknowingly catching Dick’s eye.

The rest of the class was just in awe of the sweet atmosphere around the two.

That atmosphere was broken when the sound of screaming and breaking began, a giant form comes busting into the lobby.

“Hello everyone, I am Arachnae and with no Ladybug or Chat Noir around, you all will be nothing but flies in my beautiful web.”

Arachnae was a human torso on a spider’s body, her entire form was covered in bright orange fuzz; head to the tip of each spidery leg.  The form was also very clearly Lila; she had her face and hair and the necklace she always wore, but the one thing different about Lila’s is that she now had 8 eyes.

Dick was the first to react.

“What the %&$@!”

Arachnae let out a hiss and shot webs from her hands; the strands aimed mostly at the class and Marinette.  The people that got hit were turned into little soulless puppets for Arachnae to play with and amuse herself.

Marinette jumped to dodge the web, hitting the ground running; looking for a place to hide, Captain at her side.

“Marinette!”

When Marinette dodged she threw herself away from Damian, causing him to worry, but his yell brought Arachnae’s attention to them.

“Ah yes Marinette, when I catch you I’m going to make you miserable!  And your little dog too!”

Arachnae charged at Marinette.

“Damian run!  She’s focused on me, go get help!” Marinette yelled, before she and Captain took off.

The chase began, with Arachnae destroying anything that got in her path.  As she ran Marinette began looking for a place to transform, counting on Captain to guild her around Arachnae’s attacks.  Eventually Arachnae ends up bringing the ceiling down and blocked herself from Marinette and Captain.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Arachnae screamed in rage. “FINE, I’LL JUST PLAY WITH MY NEW TOYS UNTIL YOU COME BACK! I KNOW YOU WILL YOU USELESS GIRL!”

Marinette looked around for a place without cameras and spotted a closet.

“This will have to do Captain.” Marinette said to Captain, as she closed them both inside. “Tikki? Trixx?”

“Ready!” They chimed together, flying from their hiding spots.

“Alright, now; Tikki Spots On!”

*Bark!*

With a flash of light Ladybug and Hunter were ready.  Looking around she saw some vents she and Hunter could crawl though, so the cameras didn’t see her.

In the Lobby:

Arachnae had gotten most of the people in the lobby, except for three; Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, and Adrien, her biggest targets outside Marinette.

“Just surrender to me, it would make this all so much easier!” Arachnae hissed at the boys, sending more webs and puppet people at them.

Dick and Damian had managed to dodge webs, puppets and Arachnae; Adrien was hiding behind a plant behind Arachnae, but they were also trapped in the lobby and running out of options.  Titus was running around, unable to get to Damian and Dick.

*Bark, Bark, Bark*

“Shut up, you dumb mutt!” Arachnae hissed, raising one spider leg bring it down on Titus.

“Titus!” Damian yelled.

Just as the Arachnae’s leg was about to hit a string from a ceiling vent wrapped around it and pulled. Arachnae was pulled with such force she toppled over, and two figures fell out of the vents.

“I don’t know how you got Akumatized outside of Paris, but that doesn’t mean you’ll win.”

“Ladybug.” Arachnae snarled.

“What?  Not happy to see me?”

Arachnae gave a war cry and launch herself at the duo.  Ladybug and Hunter jumped out of the way, Ladybug in the opposite direction of the people, Hunter grabbing Titus and bring him over to Damian and Dick. After dropping Titus off Hunter went back to Ladybug’s side; who was dodging Arachnae’s webs and people puppets, and bit one of Arachnae’s spider legs.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” Arachnae let loose a scream of pain, she turned to Hunter. “You God awful waste of space!”

While facing Hunter, Arachnae left herself for a hit; but the hit wasn’t from Ladybug.  A small black blur cut Arachnae across the arm.

Arachnae hissed at the contact, as Batman dropped down from another vent in the ceiling.

“Batman?!  What are you doing here!” Arachnae growled.

“Really Lila?!  We’re I Gotham, you’re causing trouble and you expect Batman not to show up?” Ladybug’s exasperated voice came.

“Shut-up! And it’s Arachnae!” Arachnae snarled, clearly humiliated.

Batman threw a few more baterangs that exploded into smoke bombs and ran over to Ladybug and Hunter.

“What’s going on?” Batman asked.

“That is Lila, she has been akumatized,” Ladybug started. “Not sure how outside Paris, but that’s worry for later, but we need to find the akumatized object and break it.  That will make her lose any power she has.”

“What’s the object?”

“The only thing it could be is the necklace, everything else is just orange fuzz, but getting close to her is dangerous.  If you get hit by her web, you’ll become her puppet and I rather not fight you Batman.”

“What are your names?”

“I’m Ladybug and this is my partner Hunter.”

*Woof*

The smoke was beginning to clear from Arachnae’s face.

“We better hurry before she…”

Ladybug was cut off by a voice.

“Don’t worry Milady I’ll help you!” Chat yelled, while trying to jump in, only to get hit by on of Arachnae’s webs.

“Not again Chat!” Ladybug cried.

“Does that happen often?” Batman asked, disappointed.

“More than I’ll ever truly admit to” Muttered Ladybug.

“Oh, this perfect! Or should I say purrfect?” Arachnae jeered, as Chat puppet now dangled at the end of her web.

Batman tried to cut the web by throwing some baterangs at it, but they just bounced off.  Arachnae then sent a swarm of people puppets at them. Ladybug then had an idea.

“Batman, I need you to throw more smoke bombs.”

He did as he was instructed.

“Hunter!” Ladybug called out.

Hunter let loose a howl.

Once Hunter’s howl was done Ladybug grabbed Batman and ran behind a pillar.  Once the smoke was cleared Batman carefully looked around the pillar and was stunned when he saw the figures of himself, Ladybug and hunter were still there; Moving, talking and just outright distracting Arachnae.

“How?” Batman was blunt in his question.

“Hunter can cast an illusion, but he can only cast it once before he’s on a time limit.” Ladybug explained.

“And you?”

“This; Lucky Charm!” Ladybug through her Yo-yo in the air and what came down was a bottle of peppermint extract.

Batman gave Ladybug a confused look.

“Lucky Charm only gives me what I need, not what I want.” Ladybug clarified looking around and spotted the sprinklers in the ceiling. “I have an idea; do you think you can cut the necklace off of her neck?”

“Yes.” Batman replied, catching on to her idea.

Arachnae just managed to destroy the illusion; disappearing in a puff of smoke, when Hunter and Batman dropped in front of her.

“Why won’t you do things MY way!” Arachnae screamed.

“Because your way is wrong.” Batman stated, throwing baterangs at her.

Hunter jumped at her spidery legs, barking and biting at them; because he was under her she couldn’t shoot webs at him, but his biting allowed enough distraction for Batman to try and target the necklace.

As the three battled, Ladybug made her way up to the sprinkler system; carefully hooking up the bottle.  Once it was secured Ladybug dropped to the floor and pulled the nearest fire alarm; causing the sprinkler system to go off.

Since Lila was currently part spider, and spiders don’t like peppermint, she started to scream and curl herself into a ball.

Batman saw the opening and accomplished cutting off the necklace; which Hunter caught and brought over to Ladybug.  

Ladybug broke the necklace and release the akuma, catching it with her Yo-yo and cleansing it.

“Bye, Bye butterfly.”

After she was done cleansing the butterfly, Ladybug turned to Hunter and held out her fist.

“Pound it.”

Hunter bumped his nose against her fist

As Lady was cleansing the akuma, and ‘Pounding it’ with Hunter, Batman turned off the sprinklers a brought back the Luck Charm.

“I’m sorry for the trouble.” Ladybug said taking the charm. “I really don’t understand how she did this.”

“Gotham’s use to damage.”

“It doesn’t make it okay, but don’t worry I have something for it.” Ladybug smiled, “Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug tossed the bottle in the air and it exploded into thousands of little sparkly pink ladybugs.

The ladybugs swarmed over everything, reversing all the damage, turning people back to normal and healing any injuries.

The barricade Dick, Damian and Titus were behind was cleaned up and put away, leaving two stunned people and a very happy dog; Titus bounced over to Hunter to say Hi.

“Holy Sh*t! How!?” Dick asked looking around.

“Magic!” Ladybug chirped.

A groan caught Ladybug’s attention; it was Lila.  Ladybug made her way over to her.

“So, here we are again Lila.” Ladybug said in a scolding tone.

Lila tried desperately to come up with an excuse.

“It wasn’t my Fault Ladybug! Hawkmoth…”

Ladybug cut her off.

“Hawkmoth doesn’t have the power to akumatize someone in another country, let alone one across an ocean, or he would have been doing it from the start.  Now how did you get akumatized Lila.”

“You can’t prove anything!” Lila tried.

“I can.” Batman said, pulling up some security feed on his computer gauntlet, he projected it for all to see.

The video was of Lila slipping into a hallway, clearly trying not to be seen by people, and when she was done double checking her surroundings; she pulled a little glass jar out of her bag.  That jar contained a purple butterfly.  Lila then opened the jar and let the akuma to fuse with her necklace; creating Arachnae.

The people from Paris gasped.

“I-it isn’t what it looks like…” Lila began.

“Really, because to me this looks like you are either helping a known terrorist or wanted the destructive power at your disposal for whenever you felt necessary.” Ladybug was disgusted, turned to Batman. “Gotham, America in general, are not my territory; how do you want to handle this?”

“The young lady is clearly a threat to people and has purposely tried to harm them; she will be facing justice.” Batman said pulling out a pair of hand cuffs.

“What?…No!  YOU CAN’T!  I’M THE DAUGHTER OF A DIPLOMAT! TWO OF THEM!” Lila tried to fight Batman off, but without the power of the akuma she had no chance.

Around this time the GPD showed up, Batman gave them a quick run down about what happened, and they took Lila away; Batman would be dropping by later with the evidence.  A few stayed behind to take statements.

A frantic beeping was heard.

“I’m sorry Batman; Hunter and I have to return to Paris, out time is almost up.”

“Before you go can you tell how you got here?”

“The horse miraculous can teleport,” Even more beeping, “Thank you for your help Batman, come on Hunter.”

*Bark*

With that Ladybug and Hunter were gone through the vent they entered, leaving Batman and a disoriented Chat behind.  Batman made his way over to Chat.

“How did you get here?” Batman asked, Chat clearly hadn’t come with Ladybug, so he needed to know.

“Uhhh…Got to go!” Chat just ran off.

Batman knew he was just going revert to civilian state somewhere in the building, he’ll look at the security feed later.

“Damian!” Marinette busted into the new repaired lobby with Captain right beside her.

“Marinette!” Damian yelled running over to her “Are you alright?”

“I should be asking you that!  You were the one trapped with her!”

Batman was shocked to see Damian be sweet with a girl, with anyone really, and subtlety glance at Dick. Dick smiled and mouthed ‘Future girlfriend’ to him.

As Damian and Marinette were connecting, Batman noticed a blond boy run into the lobby; from the same hallway Chat ran down.

“Marinette, what were you thinking?” the blond asked running over to her and Damian, interrupting them.

Just as Adrien was about to reach her Captain stepped in front of her in a protective stance; Titus joined him, causing him to stop short.

“Adrien, what are you talking about?” Marinatte asked, standing behind her furry guards.  Damian wrapping his arm around her for comfort.

“You caused Lila to be akumatized!”

“What!  No, I/she didn’t!” Marinette and Damian yelled.

“Yes, she did, if Marinette has just stayed low none of this would have happened.” Adrien insisted.

Batman intervened before Damian could break the boys jaw.

“Young man we have proof that Lila Rossi voluntarily did the ‘akumatization’ to herself.  This young lady had nothing to do with it.”

“B-But Batman; if Marinette hadn’t exposed Lila…” Adrien began, only to be cut off by Dick.

“Hey kid, I’m the one who called out that liar and are you insinuating that you KNEW that she was lying to her classmates?”

“W-Well she wasn’t hurting anyone.”

“Kid you need a lesson on toxic people; BADLY.” Dick shook his head at Adrien.

Adrien was about to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned, it was Batman.

“Please return to your class, the police will take your statement.”

“What about Marinette?” Adrien tried, wanting the girl to came back with him and away from Damian and his dog; not that Captain would let him get close.

“I’ll be the one taking her statement, now please return to your class.” Batman stood firm in this.

“I’ll take him back Batman.” Dick offered, grabbing Adrien’s shoulder.

So Adrien shuffled away; being lead by Dick, continuedly glancing over his should at the group.

“Is this normal behaviour for him Angel?” Damian asked.

“When I don’t do what he wants, yes.” Marinette confirmed.

Damian made a face at her answer, but before they could farther into that talk Batman had a question.

“Miss can you tell me more about these ‘Akuma’ and what happened with Ms. Rossi.”

“Sure.” Marinette sighed, “But you’re going to need some back story as well.”

Batman nodded his assent and Marinette gave the entire rundown about what is happening in Paris and the amount of rolls Lila played as an Akuma.  When she was done Marinette was out of breath but looked like the world had been removed from her shoulders.  Damian had pulled her closer as she spoke, and Captain and Titus were trying to cuddle up to her.

There was a beat of silence before Batman spoke.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how the League missed what was happening.”

“It’s fine Batman, I know the League would never let us flounder if they knew what was going on.” Marinette assured, “Honestly I think magic had something to do with that, but I’m not sure WHY the mayor didn’t contact you.”

“It will be investigated, thank you for your time.” Batman then walked off to talk to an officer.

Once he was gone Damian turned to Marinette; who was still in his arms.

“Are you sure you’re alright Angel?”

“I’m fine Damian, I promise, Captain and I hid in a closet.  Thank you for staying with me though, talking about akums and Lila just takes a lot out of me.”

“Consider what you told me yesterday and what you just told Batman, I think it’s a miracle that you were akumatized yourself.”

“I work hard not to be, but I should be allowed to feel bad without Hawkmoth trying to take advantage of me.” Marinette sighed.

A commotion of noise grabbed their attention, it was Marinette’s class; they were arguing amongst themselves.

“I really don’t wat to go back over there; that looks like pure drama.” Marinette groaned.

“Drama that could have been avoided if they had any common sense.” Damian commented, “Since you don’t wish to rejoin your class, and you’ve already given you statement, would you and Captain like to join Titus and I for lunch again?  We’ll still be in the building and I’ll let Grayson know what’s going on.”

“That sounds wonderful Damian.”

Captain gave a small tail wag and Titus was just happy to spend more time with Marinette and Captain.

“Then it is agreed.” Damian said, sending off a text to Dick and then holding out his arm to Marinette. “Shall we?”

Marinette giggled and took the arm.

“We shall.”

Damian began to lead Marinette and the dogs to the cafeteria.

“I hope the Wayne family isn’t too mad at the problems my class caused.” Marinette commented, making Damian freeze in his tracks.

“Damian?”

“Angel I should let you know; because I would hate you to think I lied to you, but I am Damian WAYNE son of Bruce Wayne.”

“Oh.” Marinette blinked, “Well I hope you and your family aren’t too mad at my class.”

Damian’s was stunned, Marinette saw the look.

“Damian, clearly your family is important, but that doesn’t matter to me; what matters is that you are a good person.  I’ve met other kids from important families, but they were terrible, and I wanted nothing to do with them.  You’ve already proven to be a great person and that’s all I need.”

Damian gave a soft smile.

“Thank you, Angel, you truly are treasure.”

“So, your family won’t be mad?” Marinette asked.

“Nope, Gotham sees more damage than any other place in America, so the problems Rossi caused wouldn’t raise any more attention.” Damian explained. “The fact is was repaired by a hero from Paris will actually draw more attention.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed, now shall we continue to lunch Angel?”

“Definitely.”

So, arm in arm Damian and Marinette went to lunch; Captain and Titus trotting along with them.

End.

That was Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend.

Also

Extra:

The Day after the Akuma attack:

Wayne Enterprise Employee - *Crying*

Bruce - *Very concerned* What’s wrong?!

WEE - *Still crying* N-Nothing.

Bruce – But you’re crying.

WEE- *Crying* I’m happy!

Bruce – Happy?

WEE - *Crying* Ladybug fixed everything!

Bruce - *Warry* Yes…

WEE - *Crying harder* We don’t need to redo all the paper work!  Or do the added paper work for the repairs!

Other Employees nearby - *Start crying in happiness as well* No extra paper work!

Bruce - *Has no idea how to respond*…

Extra 2:

Before the trip to Gotham:

Alya – *On her phone* Ooooo a new interview with Ladybug

Alya clicks on the link

Interviewer – So Ladybug who is the new fox?

Alya - *Screaming* NEW FOX!

Ladybug – This is Hunter, he is the new and permanent fox.

Alya – PERMANENT?!

Interviewer – May ask what happen to the old fox?

Ladybug – You can ask, but I won’t give you an answer; I won’t let you take what happened and turn it into a hot topic.

Interviewer – I see…What can you tell us.

Ladybug – Hunter is my trusted partner, don’t be afraid he’s here to help you and me.  Please give him the same respect you would gave me.

Interviewer – Of course!  There has also been a talk about you and Hunter doing a ‘Pound it’ is it true?

Ladybug – This is true, would you like to see?

Interviewer – Yes!

Ladybug – Hunter!

Hunter - *Bark*

Alya – A DOG!!!!! I’VE BEEN REPLACED BY A DOG!!!!!

Ladybug - *Holding out her fist* Pound it!

Hunter - *Bumps nose against Ladybug’s fist*

Interviewer – Awwwwwwwwwww.

Ladybug - *Smiling* I’m sorry, but hunter and I have to go.

Interviewer - *Nodding their head* Thank you for your time Ladybug, Hunter.

Ladybug and Hunter leave.

Interviewer - *Facing the camera* Well there you have folks, we have a new fox!

Alya couldn’t watch the rest of the interview.

Alya – AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Extra 3:

Wayne House hold:

They were sitting down to dinner.

Bruce – So, Damian.

Damian – Yes Father.

Bruce – When will you be bringing Marinette over for dinner?

Damian - *Chokes on food* F-Father?!

Dick – Yeah little D, we need to meet your girlfriend properly!

Damian – Grayson!

Jason/Tim – GIRLFRIEND?????

Damian - *Turning red* She’s not my girlfriend!

Bruce - *Smiling* But you called her ‘Angel’.

Damian – FATHER!!!

Tim – When did this happen?!

Jason – What the h*ll did we miss?!

Extra 4:

Batcave:

Bruce - *Looking at the security footage*

Damian – Father, what are you looking at?

Bruce – Take a look.

Damian sees the blonde boy (Adrien, if he recalled) hiding behind a plant arguing with the air, before he was surrounded by a green light and reappeared as Chat.

Damian - *Not impressed* So he’s a failure on all fronts.

Bruce – So it seems.

Extra 5:

Adrien Hiding behind the plant when the Attack was going on:

Adrien – *Whispering* Plagg we need to do something!

Plagg – How do you plain on explaining how ‘Chat’ got here?

Adrien – No ones going to ask that.

Plagg – Yes, they will!

Adrien – No, they won’t.

Plagg – Your class may not, but there are others here that have more than one brain cell!

Adrien – Plagg! That was rude!

Ladybug and Hunter show up.

Adrien – *Dreamy sigh* Ladybug…

Plagg – And her PARTNER Hunter.

Adrien - *Not paying attention* Plagg I need to transform.

Plagg – Are you nuts! You can’t transform here!  People will see!

Adrien - *Still paying more attention to Ladybug* Alright Plagg let’s do this…

Plagg - *Beyond frustrated* Kid!

Adrien – Plagg; Claws out!

Plagg - *Is done and wants a new holder*

Two common Maribat tropes are:

Our favourite sassy butler is Marinette's godgrandfather.

Hawkbitch wins and the Batfam step in to help Mari stop him.

Thus, I propose this:

(TW for implied physical & domestic abuse)

Adribat AU where Gabriel succeeds in reviving Emilie & erases all memory of the Miraculous events from Parisians. Emilie is the only one who remembers his misdeeds and despite his memory loss, Adrien retains Chat Noir's instincts & defiance, much to Gabriel's displeasure. He forces them to play house with him and violently lashes out whenever they disobey.

One thing Gabriel couldn't erase was the friendship between the Graham de Vanilys and the Pennyworths. Thus, when Gabriel's abuse goes too far, she contacts Alfred & together, they smuggle Adrien to Gotham.

Alfred and Bruce are no longer young & the cowl is ready for Cassandra. Seeing Adrien's potential, Alfred personally trains him to take over his responsibilities so he can watch over the Batkids.

Between an enraged father, evil butterflies & the homo-magi community's unease, Adrien will find working for the Batfamily to be the least bizarre aspect of his life.

Mariette: And, in the end we're all human beans.

Tim: And together we will rice.

Jason: Lettuce pray.

Marinette: Ramen.

Dick: *wiping away his tears while clapping* That was beautiful!

Damian: What did I just witness?

THE COTTAGECORE MARI AU PROMPT THAT NOBODY ASKED FOR

Pairing: Daminette (edit: they’re like 19/20 in this, post high-school)

Rating: It has mature themes, you have been warned. But it’s pretty tame at the same time. Violence + Sexual Themes

________________

Mari is diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety disorder after she quite literally removed her beloved city’s supervillain (and her dear partner’s parent) from the plane of existence. Like she removes the suffering from the mind all of Paris and has Gabriel written off in a car accident a year after his wife’s disappears. Only the her Court (Adrien, Kagami, Zoe, Alix, Max) and the Order remembers - her and Adrien decide not to pursue a relationship. They’re both healing and better off friends - siblings in everything but blood.

Lila, who was not punished due to her not really being a miraculous holder and upsetting the balance, continues to slander Mari. Her class isn’t hostile but has no desire to interact with the “new and mean Marinette” Lila was painting her to be. It’s still a huge betrayal given the fact that Mari was supportive and very generous to these people.

So here’s how her new housing arrangement works: have you ever wondered how Gina can afford to travel around the world without a job? Yeah, I think she came from money. Like, old money - real estate old money to be precise. Passive income and such. Hearing about her Fairy’s situation, she offers an unused property at the countryside of Metropolis.

Marinette’s therapist and parents approve of her vacationing there for the summer when they realize that her stressors and triggers where all environmental. So off our girl goes!

Note: She does not have the mother box with her anymore, just Tikki, Plagg, and Kaalki. (She does have unrestricted access to it as the Grand Guardian though - she trains with the Order once a week in Tibet until she doesn’t)

Mari is aware of the Supers and was relieved that the Kwamis don’t show up in x-ray visions and with the fear of them eavesdropping she learns FSL to communicate with them.

The townhouse and the verdure around the property inspires Mari to start a garden. The quiet oddly soothes her and when she feels lonely she goes into town or the nearby farmer’s market where she charms the locals. She meets the Kents - they love her! Martha enjoys baking with her. Lois uncovers her identity as Jagged and Clara Nightingale’s exclusive (and reclusive) designer - they bond over fashion trends and the gossip surrounding the industry. Clark and Jon were another story.

She figures them out having sensed the same soul in Superman and Superboy in this father-and-son duo. They x-ray her as a precaution and finds the mysterious cracks and evidence of past injuries that should have killed her. There’s a very anti-climatic reveal that Martha and Lois are not privy to with respect to Marinette’s wishes.

At least one Kent would be in her home during the day. The Kwamis are free to roam around when it was Clark and/or Jon visiting. She ends up bonding with Jon who also grew up too fast (metaphorically and literally).

She ends up extending her stay in Metropolis indefinitely. Her parents also decided to open a branch of their patisserie there which Mari managed. They visit her as often as they could.

Mari was dismayed to find that no, Metropolis had no schools with both a fashion and business degree - that’s how she ends up in Gotham University.

Jon tells Mari about a Damian - a friend of his.

J: He’s…. uh… he has a big heart.

M: …

J: He’s a bit of an asshole(?)

M: Ah.

Mari meets Damian who reminds her of Kagami - antisocial and proper. They share a few business classes and are both members of the art club.

Mari is still this ball of anxiousness and has only allowed Mia “Maps” Mizoguchi and Katherine Karlo into her life, the former she learned was close to Damian - she didn’t mind when she and the girls met up with Damian, he was quiet, honest, and minded his own business. Through their hangouts Damian finds out about the friendship between Jon and Mari.

He’s hesitant to befriend her at first due to the conflicting rumors about her: due to her timid personality she had a split reputation. One side called her sweet, shy, and kind. While the other calling her arrogant, high-maintenance, and rude. He soon finds out that the latter half were spread by cliques who’s offer of friendship she declined and men she rejected. He was glad that he relented to Maps’ insistent invitations - she was a decent person to hang out with and it didn’t hurt that she was pleasing to the eye. (She also enjoyed sharing her vegetarian salads with him - he starts appreciating it more when he learns that she picks the vegetables straight from the garden she grows.)

As her luck would have it, a robbery unfolds at one of their favorite coffee spots. Mari and Damian - who were both pretending to be civ - try to find a way to protect their friends. The robbers recognizes Damian as a Wayne and takes him and another GU(a school for rich and affluent people’s children) kid and takes Marinette too who had stood in front of her friends.

They’re gagged, blindfolded, and carted off to who knows where. Damian discreetly activates a distress signal and the bats spur into action. Mari, aware that she was sturdier than Damian, draws the men’s attention to her (she purposely pisses them off and gets beaten up when they start to pester Damian).

M: [removes her gag somehow] Really? A ski mask? And in black? How boring can you get?

*Damian shaking his head furiously in the background*

Kidnapper(KN): Shut up, girlie!

M: You know I always wondered how Kidnappers could have a secret a warehouse as a hideout. It’s not like you can afford the rent—

KN: Are you trying to get yourself killed?

M: You’re backed up by some politician aren’t you?

KN: H-How the fuck did this bitch know?

M: There’s literally a stack of campaign papers behind you.

KN: Wha—

M: That’s some shit graphic design by the way. I’ve seen grade schoolers that can do better.

KN: [points a gun at her] Shut up or I’ll blow your brains out.

M: You wouldn’t.

KN: The fuck do you know—

M: You need me alive to get ransom from my parents.

KN: …Nobody said you had to be in one piece though.

M: Touché—[get slapped hard]

*Damian basically starts convulsing in the background*

M: …Damn. You punch like a cunt—[And the kidnappers basically start to rough her up]

The bats arrive in five minutes and it’s Red Hood that finds them first. He sees these mf’s beating up a woman and goes ballistic(pun intended). Red Robin and Spoiler has to forcibly restrain him when he starts to use his fist instead of his guns.

M: [bleeding and bruised] And that’s how you deck someone, you amateurs.

D: [who was released by Black Bat is confused, mad at himself, and in awe] You blithering idiot! Why the fuck would you aggravate our captors like that?

M: [delirious] It was either you or me Damian. Can’t have your pretty face damaged now, can we?

D: [Is floored and very concerned] And what of yours?

M: … dun worry—my assets are…elsewhere… [passes out from the pain]

D: …

Later, his family would tease him about the flirting when he isn’t all sensitive about the incident.

Winter break comes, most of the Batfam visits the Kents(they have a penthouse/some ridiculous property in Metropolis) as a tradition. The Kents went to visit Gotham and stayed at the manor last year.

(Batfam who went: Bruce, Dick, Jason, Steph, Cass, and Damian)

They visit Mari too. Dick and Steph are absolutely thrilled about her cottagecore lifestyle. So much so that they match her aesthetic and begin helping out in the garden - they send pictures to Alfred who request they bring back fresh produce.

Jon and Jason plot to get Damian and Mari together. Unbeknownst to them that Damian was already resolute on courting Mari like the decorous man that he was - he didn’t know what he was doing but Mari’s flush when he initiates flirting tells him he’s doing okay.

Because of his childhood, Damian was never the type to be touchy but imagine his shock when he finds out that one of his more prominent love languages was physical touch. He realizes he’s touch-starved almost immediately when Mari starts giving him small touches like a hand against his bicep, she had a fondness for touching his hair which never failed to deliver a shiver down his spine, and hugs from her are comforting - she felt like home.

Meanwhile Mari does not have any idea how she survive the early stages of Damian’s advances. He was blunt and did not pull his words with insults but it apparently translated to him being verbally open with his affections.

M: I always wanted to be the Knitting Fairy while growing up.

D: Does it not please you that you became a garden fairy instead?

M: Huh, that doesn’t sound so bad.

D: Well, you certainly look the part.

M: [turns into the same shade as the poppy beside her]

And then when the tension between them became more prominent he wasn’t shy with dropping innuendos too.

M: [open’s the door for Damian, haggard from lifting sacks of garden soil] Oh, I didn’t know you were coming so early. I’m a bit of a mess. Sorry.

D: [Tilts his head] You say that as if I wouldn’t appreciate you sweaty and tousled after a rigorous activity.

M: [self-combusts]

And when the touching began?

M: Damian, what color do you think looks better with this shade of blue?

D: [places a hand on her side while looking over her shoulder] I think the a more neutral cream would do.

M: [stops functioning]

Their first kiss?

Pulled straight out of a book that Marinette only read in the privacy of her bedroom.

They’re teasing each other, it evolves to a game of cat and mouse with Damian skillfully evading her. She corners him by turning on some of her sprinkles. He gets wet, growls in the way he would in Mari’s dreams, and pulls of his shirt. She’s too distracted by the hard planes of his stomach to notice him prowling towards her like a beast moving to claim his prey. He picks her off the ground with ease - he’s a foot taller than her - and takes her to the sprinklers.

(I’m going to write this part out properly, maybe to inspire myself or a potential adopter of this prompt)

“Nononono!” Marinette shrieks as the first round of water splashes her. She writhes but Damian had her arms held down her sides.

“All is fair in love and war, Ya Amar.” She ignores the endearment in favor of closing her eyes as the sprinkles rotate in their direction again. But she knows what it means. Ya Amar. My moon. His moon. The water had nothing on the chill that ran down her spine

The water stars seeping into her intimates and she’s soberly aware that the light fabric of her dress would betray her. It doesn’t take long for Damian to discover that fact, he releases a strangle sound. She opens her eyes, he snaps his eyes from where he was clearly looking at her chest. He scrambles to drop her.

“Shit— I’m sorry. This was not my intention—“ he starts but she’s faster. Her now free arms grasps his shoulders and without a second thought, she drops her lips to meet his. Damian inhales sharply and he tilts his head, temporarily breaking the kiss before raising her higher and pulling her by the back of neck - he kisses her with hunger and passion that has Marinette melting further against his chest.

She wraps her legs around his back and he moves to tightly grasp both the back of her thighs. She would worry about bruises later when she didn’t have Damian’s tongue caressing her own. He drops them to the ground and Marinette does not release her hold over his waist. She whines against his lips when she feels the consequences of their activity.

His hands start wandering as he greedily collects and files the sounds that leaves her lips. He begins to trail kisses down her neck to the neckline of her dress that now clung to her body like a second skin giving him his first peek at the maddening shape of her body. And just when he trails a finger against the underside of her breast a loud noise pulls them apart.

Jason finds them and the sight in Mari’s garden has him dropping the shovel he was asked to bring over.

J: Fuck! No, don’t stop! Hell—I’ll leave—I didn’t see shit!

D: [moving to cover Marinette who covered her face in embarrassment] Fuck off, Todd!

J: I’m sorry! [slams the door shot]

D: Tt.

J: [shouts from inside the house] Use protection!

D: Todd!

They started officially dating that day and Jason had no reservations in sharing that he definitely cockblocked his little brother much to Mari and Damian’s horror.

Both keeps the PDA to minimum in school but it was very clear how amorous they where in “private”. There is a table in the art hall that Mari can’t quite look at without blushing to her roots.

She finds out he’s Robin after her first encounter with his alter-ego. He confesses his past when she confronts him. There’s fear of abandonment in his eyes when he gazes at her after his spiel but she kisses his worries and doubts away. She even goes to show her appreciation for his years of service to Gotham.

Her reveal happens when she unceremoniously drops a vial in Jason’s hand claiming that it would remedy the effects of the Lazarus pits with continuous use - it was completed after a year in the making.

Cardinal joins the Batfam occasionally as part of Batman’s contingency plans. They respect her choice as a retired super-soldier and try to keep her out of the business which she appreciates. She is officially initiated as a member of Justice League Dark as an informant/magic specialist and a wildcard.

Years later, she legally inherits the property from Gina when she and Damian get engaged. Damian moves in with her and she lives her cottage life all while being a reclusive designer that comes out once in a while for fashion week.

FIN

AN:

Maybe there’s a Lila take down somewhere but I don’t have the energy to write her at all. We all know its Damian and Tim that makes sure she never sets a foot in high society ever again.

Ig add some details about learning to healthily cope with her anxiety disorder under the guidance and love of her found family? (I have a similar illness but me and my therapist are still figuring it out so I have little idea how to write this) Her PTSD does not need further discussion (miss ma’am had to kill someone) but her anxiety disorder stems from the fact the she’s a person who’s in charge of world-ending powers - everyone and even yourself can become untrustworthy. She starts to get nervous from misreading body languages and everyone is suddenly out to get her.

Red Robin: -and that’s that losers.

Chat: [walks in] hey batfam! what’s poppin’?

Spoiler: hey chat! red robin was just bragging about his body count.

Chat: [pauses] like partners or…?

Spoiler: murder

Chat: [oddly brightens up and addresses red robin] oh! so what’s your number?

Red Robin: [shrugs] a few hundreds

Chat: like in one go?

Red Robin: …uh yeah- why are you being so casual about this???

Chat: well with the miraculous cure and all that, almost everyone in the court has ended a life somehow.

Red Hood: well, don’t hold back on my account. spill.

Chat: i know viperion had to remove certain variables to succeed in time loops. maybe a few hundreds for him too?

Signal: it’s always the quiet ones, huh?

Chat: oh yeah! the dragon miraculous is our aoe damage dealer. i don’t think most of the victims recovered after being hit by a bolt of lightning. huh, i always wondered why she always used that one.

Signal: …well, there’s no way my dude carapace could have done damage- he’s like your tank or something, right?

Chat: …

Signal: …. right?

Chat: his shield can shrink….

Signal: ….

Chat: … people inside don’t shrink with it

Signal: jesus

Nightwing: oh, do you! do you!

Chat: [suddenly sheepish] well…

Nightwing: ?? well???

Chat: there was this deleted timeline where i became akumatized and drowned all of paris.

Nightwing: holy shit- that’s like what? millions?

Red Robin: 2 million. damn, are you okay?

Chat: mhmm! ladybug made us all go to therapy.

Robin: … what about her?

Chat: oh! oh. oh….

Red Hood: ???? don’t tell me that tiny thing did more damage than you did! isn’t she like creation and shit??

Chat: no! actually when you think about it, ladybug would be on the same estimate as viperion.

Red Hood: oh, thank fuck!

Chat: multimouse has me beat though.

Red Hood: who??? and how???

Red Robin: [pulls out computer from who knows where] marinette dupain-cheng. temporary hero. was outed in battle-

Spoiler: -oooh pretty-

Red Robin: -powers: dividing into smaller copies, retains original strength. what did she do?????

Chat: it’s not in there but each copy can merge with another miraculous. i think the story goes is that she wore all the miraculous in the mother box and destroyed 3 galaxies including ours.

Everyone: …….

Ladybug: [walks in] hello, everyone! [realizes the tension] errm, what’s wrong?

Robin: [without skipping a beat] is it wise to keep marinette dupain-cheng alive?

Ladybug: [is marinette but they don’t know that] ?????????!!!!!!!!

thought of this after reading that tim freaked out after bruce “died” and blew up a lot of people

Damian, to himself as he paces around his room, trying to put his feelings into words: Marinette is a work of art. Specifically, a stained glass work of art. Because when the sun hits her she lights up a room in all of her beauty and I fall in love all over again.

Dick, Jason, and Tim eavesdropping on him: Holy. Shit.

Incorrect Daminette Quotes

Ladybug: (vaulting behind a crate while an explosion occurs) Okay time for plan G.

Red Hood: Don’t you mean plan B?

Ladybug: We are well past plan B, we skipped over plan C due to Nightwing getting knocked unconscious.

Red Robin: What about plan D?

Ladybug: Plan D was that desperate disguise attempt half an hour ago where Robin and I make out as a distraction.

Robin: (still sitting stunned in the corner muttering) She kissed me? She- she actually kissed…

Ladybug: And I’m not doing plan E, because that involves a level of property damage that I’m not okay with.

Red Hood: (readies an explosive) I’m prepared to make that sacrifice!

Damian the Dog

Inspired by Grumpy Cat, written by @adrestar

------

So what if Marinette moved to Gotham Academy, probably because of Lila bullshit or Guardian Duties.

She is mostly alone so she get a dog who she named Damian.

I actually look up on what type of dog she would have because I don't have a lot of knowledge on dogs. I wanted a small cute black dog. I am going with a Pomeranian or a Scottish Terrier.

It's all fine and going dandy. When one day, Damian overhears the new girl talking about him.

Marinette of course has zero interest in celebrities so she has no clue she is in the same class as Damian Wayne. Her classmates asked if she had any pets so she starts talking about her cute little Dami and showing off pictures of him.

"Look at my Dami. Isn't he adorable?" Marinette cooed, "I just love running my hands through those thick black luscious hair."

Damian gets the idea that Marinette is a stalker or a fangirl who is deluded herself into thinking she is dating him but brushes her off as mostly harmless. He can correct her at any time she steps out of the line.

Let the misunderstandings commence!

Fast forward the next few days, where Marinette keeps talking about her dog and no one has clued her in on the fact that there is a human with the same name as her dog going to classes with her.

Human Damian thinks she has very active imagination, going as far as to fake bite marks on her arms after a supposed passionate embrace.

(Damian the Dog is still being trained. Idk abt raising dogs so I hope I am right.)

The weekend arrive and Damian is at the dog park with Titus. Then he heard the insufferable voice calling out for him,

"Damian. Where are you? Come out. Damian. Dami."

He hid himself for a while, hoping she will give up sooner or later. But no, she keeps coming closer to the spot where he was hiding and calling out his name. Then, Titus blew his cover by coming back with the ball he was sent to fetch.

Thinking he had no choice but to reveal himself, he burst out of the bushes, scaring Marinette.

Meanwhile, Marinette was at the dog park to let Damian out of the apartment and get some exercise. She was kept an eye on him as he ran around but after a phone call from Jagged Stone for a new jacket, she had lost sight of her dog.

Then, while she looked for Damian the dog, someone jumped out of the bushes, giving her a scarce.

She realised that he was a boy from her classes and before she could ask if he had seen her dog, he began yelling at her.

"Listen up, harlot. Get out of your delusional fantasies of dating me and leave me alone." He yelled at a very confused Marinette. Human Damian continued to threaten her with lawsuits on the grounds of stalking, defamation and false claims.

Marinette gets fucking pissed at what the rude guy was yelling at her for no reasons but before she could retort, he stomped away with his dog trailing behind him.

"Come on, Titus. We don't have spend more time with this waste of space."

Marinette is so furious that if she was in Paris, she would have been akumatised for sure. She decided to calm down and go look for Damian, not the human. Arriving at home, she found a lawyer waiting for her and they handed her a thick files of all the charges she was being sued for. It was official she had met someone worse than the Chloe Bourgeosis.

So Marinette decides to stress bake about the problem. Ultimately, she made too much and decided to give away some to her next door neighbour, Jason.

Marinette had been living in Gotham for about a month and Jason knows about her habit to stress bake. They first met when Jason accidentally snuck up on her and she judo-flipped him who was 3 times bigger than her. Jason is impressed and Marinette is mortified. They became friends. Jason cooks her meals sometimes and she bake him desserts. It was a fair trade.

Anyway, Jason asks about her problem and Marinette starts a rant about this rich entitled dick she met who was from her class and she had coincidentally met him at the dog park while looking for Damian. Then, he called her a bunch of insults and names, accused her of stalking him and he had sent lawsuits to her address. Which was bad because she had her business as MDC to consider and this will affect her income.

While ranting, Marinette saw Jason's law degree which he had displayed, partially for his cover as a normal civi but mostly to brag to his siblings about being the only one who graduated from college and law school and rub it in Bruce's face. (We all seen the Jason became a lawyer to get Joker a death sentence post right? So Joker is dead here.)

"Can you be my lawyer? Or can you recommend me one? I promise I can pay you."

Jason patted her head, "Pixie, I will do this for free. I don't know which prick decided to mess with you but I will make him pay. Besides, I can't stand guys like that. You are actually doing me a bit of a favor to knock someone like that down a few pegs. Legally."

Marinette insisted to pay him but Jason compromised to get a cake for an entire month instead for taking the job.

When Jason looked through the papers, he noticed it was from the Wayne Family Lawyers so he decided to go to the Manor to get to the bottom of it. Jason arrived in the middle of Damian on a warpath.

He asked Tim who was the closest and furiously typing on his laptop about what is going on with Damian.

Tim answered, "Apparently there's this girl who is stalking Damian. She claimed to be dating him at school and she showed up while he was out with Titus, looking for him. Right now, I am just checking if she is just delusional and harmless or someone dangerous."

Jason connects the dots between Dog Damian and Human Damian and he tried not to burst out laughing right then and there. "That's good to hear. Anyways, I came here because I forgot something. I am going to see Alfred before I go. Have fun with the lawsuits."

Jason spent the rest of the way home, cackling and the funniest way to win the case.

On the day of the court date,

The rest of the Waynes are surprised to see Jason there in a suit. Dick was understandable, Tim was just there to make sure it goes smoothly, Bruce is also reasonable, Damian is the 'victim'.

"Todd, why are you here?"

"You'll see."

Then, they started telling people to enter before they could get more answers. They soon found out that Jason was the lawyer for the other side.

"Todd, you traitor. How dare you work for the opposition!"

Marinette had arrived with a pet carrier with a dog which Damian claimed was to appeal to his animal lover side.

blah blah blah. Legal procession. I don't know how it goes.

Anyways, it is time for Marinette's defense.

"Your honor, I would like to present evidence which proved that my cilent is innocent in all the charges the plaintiff has accused her of."

"Proceed."

Jason brought out the pet carrier and took out Dog Damian.

"Your honor, this is my client's dog. She was gifted this dog before she moved here to Gotham. I have the receipts to prove this."

"What is the point of this?"

Jason dramatically held up the adorable fluffy black dog which looked like a doll in his hands, "Your honor, the dog's name is Damian." Jason claimed while staring straight at Human Damian.

Dog Damian woofed at the sound of his name. There was a shocked silence that followed.

Jason proceed to give more evidence that yes, the dog name is actually Damian like giving commands using his name and adoption certificate to get rid of any doubt.

"He claimed to have heard her talking about her dating but what were the actual words you heard her say?"

"That I am adorable and she likes running her fingers through my soft dark hair."

"Your honor, my cilent was actually bragging about how cute her dog is and how she likes petting Damian the dog's obviously black fur. And you also claimed that she stalked you to the dog park and called out your name several time. She was there by coincidence because the park is the closest to her apartment and she was calling his name because she had lost sight of Damian. Dog Damian I mean. It was Human Damian's fault for assuming she was calling out for him."

Jason continued to explained how each claim was Damian's own misunderstanding of the situation and there are statements from his classmates who confirmed that Marinette was talking about her pet dog. They didn't told her about Human Damian because they found it funny that her dog had the same name.

"In addition, my cilent had no idea who Damian Wayne was. Only knowing him as her classmate. "

Tim is right now filming and having the best time of his life as he watched Damian wished that the ground would swallow him whole. Dick is trying so hard not to laugh while Bruce's lips were twitching.

Jason decides to make a counter-law suit for the emotional damage and potential financial damage Human Damian had caused Marinette by suing her for millions when she was just a struggling student, getting by on her own income in a foreign country.

Marinette stopped him, "Jason, this is enough. I am fine with a hand-written apology."

"The amount I am asking for is just a drop of water of an ocean for them. They are that filthy rich. Besides, you can get that motorcycle side-car for Damian you had been eyeing a while ago. You can also use the money to buy dog stuff that you couldn't before because of your budget."

Marinette hesitated and agreed. The case ended with it in Marinette's favor.

Tim approached them as they exited with Marinette hugging Damian (the dog) and Jason grinning in glee over his victory and simultaneously humiliated Damian (the human) in the process. Tim high-fived Jason.

Tim offered a job to Marinette because he had done a background check on her due to the potential threat she posed and found out about MDC. He does it because he liked her talent and it would look great to have Wayne Enterprise on her resume. Also the best dirt on Damian.

Marinette told him that she would think about it and he gave her a card.

Damian wrote the apology letter, very embarrassed by the entire trial. His pride wouldn't recover for a while and he took it out on Jason who knew about it the entire time and didn't tried to stop and clear up the misunderstanding.

The next day at school, Marinette went to Damian's seat and said, "Good morning, Human Damian."

"Why are you calling me like that?"

"I am sorry. I thought you would appreciate the clarification of which Damian I am referring to. I wouldn't want to end up in court again after being branded as a delusional fangirl of yours because I was just talking about my adorable Dami. I meant to say My adorable dog, Dami. Human Damian."

For the next few months, everyone keeps referring to Damian as Human Damian.

Jason: Have you ever thought about what it'd be like to look God in the face and call them a bitch?

Plagg, sitting up from where he was laying: Marinette says it to me every day.

Marinette: It's true. Plagg, you're a bitch.

Jason: Pft.

Roadside Inspiration

“Eyes on the road!” Adrien’s voice boomed throughout the car; voice distorted through the car speakers.

Marinette squeaked, eyes snapping back to the road as the car swerved slightly, which on the backroad she was on, was particularly dangerous.  The roads were narrow with no shoulders.  There was barely enough room for two cars and no room for error.  “Don’t do that!” she screeched back, one hand flying to her chest to calm her now racing heart.  “And I am keeping my eyes on the road.  I know how to drive a car, Adrien!” she growled, fully ignoring the fact that at the time, her eyes were not, in fact, on the road.

“You’re seriously going to tell me you aren’t allowing yourself to get distracted looking for the perfect view in all the lavender?” he scoffed.

Marinette opened her mouth and snapped it shut.  “Yes,” she answered resolutely, with a curt nod to emphasize the point despite knowing full well that he couldn’t see it.

Adrien snorted at the baldfaced lie.  “Sure, Maribug.  We’re just leaving Marseilles now.  How far from the venue are you?”

“Prat,” she grumbled.  She may get easily distracted and she may not be used to driving a car, it wasn’t like she had many opportunities in Paris, but she was an excellent scooter driver and really, how different was it?  And she was keeping her eyes on the road!  It was just the occasional glance to the side to look at the stretching fields of lavender.  It was a positive thing really.  They encourage you to be aware of your surroundings when you drive!

Keep reading

First Fic: Thank You for the Topic of My Next Therapy Session

Crossposted on ao3 Leave a comment if ya like it or have ideas!

Inspiration: BioDad!BruceWayne

Chapter 1 of 4

Marinette has not been having the best few weeks lately. Akuma Attacks are becoming more frequent and violent, Luka has just been turned into an Akuma (again), and she is having to deal with a life-changing revelation (also again!?) that she should have been ignorant of for the next few years! But no. Her Ladybug luck just had to be with her as she opened her mother’s important documents drawer while in search of something significantly less important than what she did find! Her Maman only asked her to find her pearls, but what Marinette found were lies and significant emotional damage.  

That happened weeks ago. She refuses to acknowledge it, so Sabine has no idea that Marinette knows, and honestly? Marinette would like to keep it that way. For as long as possible. Which might not be very long at all with the way this day is shaping up.  

Luka Couffaine, an amazing boy who Marinette genuinely cares about and trusts as a friend and permanent member of Team Miraculous, has been akumatized into Truth (AGAIN! Can Hawkmoth be original? For once?) because she refuses to admit to being stressed and yes she was fine, Luka. There is no need to be worried. Now, he is gunning to expose her secrets. Starting with her classmates who are with them on the Liberty.  

“What is Marinette’s biggest secret?” Truth demands, enforced by the magic eye-thing strapped to his back. Hawkmoth’s really pushing it with these Akuma designs lately. Like, the black with the blue assented suit is nice and the glowing three eyes are a cool touch. What Marinette draws the line at is the frEAKING HUGE HUMAN EYE THAT IS HANGING JUST BEHIND HIS HEAD. Safe to say, she is not impressed.  

“Marinette has a crush on Adrien!” Each student yelled when hit by a beam of white-colored light. Right, the Akuma is trying to find her secrets and should be taken down without getting hit. She can do that. Also, this is exactly why she will not be sharing Ladybug's identity with you, Alya. Just because you are part of the Underground does not mean you are privy to all of the secrets. 

“Everybody knows that! That’s not a secret!” Wow. Like... ow. Truth is just being mean at this point. Marinette can keep a secret! She has been Ladybug, Multimouse, and the Guardian for years with nobody finding out her civilian identity unless given permission. ALSO! She can confidently say that she has gotten over her crush on Adrien Agreste. Was it hard? Yes. Will Marinette always have a soft spot for the boy who was also her partner in cri- heroism? Absolutely. Did she realistically have time between being Ladybug, running the Underground as Multimouse, going to school, completing commissions as MDC, and helping her parents in the pâtisserie for a crush? No, she did not. The stress of doing so was actually the main motivator to let the crush go (unknowingly advised by said crush before the reveal).  

Though it is a bit freeing to know that she now blushes, not from the reveal of her once crush on Adrien, but because everyone still believes she hasn't worked past it. Which... wow, that really says something. Something that Marinette will put on her "deal with later" list. 

Oh no, Truth is looking at her. He must have heard her sigh. Fuck 

“Ladybug, tell me your biggest secret!” he demands. If she was just a bit faster in hitting the deck, she wouldn’t have been hit on her right foot. was touched by the compelling laser. Double Fuck.  

The distinct purple moth mask appears over the face of Truth. Hawkmoth was watching, the psychotic bastard. Marinette has run out of fucks to give. Three is too many.  

“M’lady!” yells her partner, Chat Noir. He must have seen her get hit because he began to run at her, unbuckling his belt. Thank all that is good, for she had the same thought as Chat to use the belt as a gage. The problem with that idea is that it is assuming that he can get it to her before she spills any secrets. You know what they say, assume makes an ass out of u-and me.  

Marinette could tell from the sudden tension on the boat that everyone on that boat, Hawkmoth, and the thousands of people watching on the live stream Alya's blog was hosting were waiting for the admission of her civilian identity. It was what made Chat Noir run faster. What made the students (and Hawkmoth) hold their breath. It was not, however, what was causing Marinette to go through three panic attacks at the same time. No, that went to the knowledge that written on her birth certificate, in the space that was for the name of the birth father, was Bruce FREAKING Wayne. Also, the adoption papers claim her as Tom Dupain’s daughter.  

Her birth father wasn't the man who raised her! The man that she has grown up loving and hugging and bonding over video games with wasn’t her blood. The man who was her blood didn’t want her. And she knows this because she found no divorce or marriage certificates between her mother and Bruce Wayne: meaning he got her mother pregnant in a one-night stand or broke up with her as soon as he found out she was pregnant!  

Then he went and adopted Richard Greyson only a few months after she was born, making her self-confidence dive off the Eiffel Tower! The emotional weight just got heavier as she researched, and Instagram/Twitter stocked her would-be-siblings in the weeks since she found out. They looked so happy and comfortable! Happiness she could have been a part of if she had reached some type of criteria her father had that the others did. Marinette is sure that she would get along super well with them, yet she couldn't be claimed as their sister when Bruce had so easily thrown her away. 

Under no circumstances can she say all that as Ladybug, though. It could lead anyone curious enough to look to find out her identity. Good thing she knew Bruce Wayne was Batman. A startling realization at the time, but ultimately made sense. Didn’t make the feeling of inadequacy any better. Against her will, she opens her mouth and just barely finds the mental strength to switch the names Bruce Wayne and Batman before speaking.  

“My father isn’t my father! My bio dad is Batman, and he abandoned me, and my mother doesn’t know that I know now... FUCK.”  

Silence. Pure silence. Able-to-hear-a-pin-drop silence.  

“...what?” The silence is broken. Chat stands stunned staring incredulously at Ladybug like everyone else on the boat, but with the added layer of actually knowing her civilian identity. If Marinette could see Hawkmoth right then, she would have seen the same state of shock as her classmates. The would-have-been-helpful belt lays limp in Chat’s hand as they all try to reboot their brains. Truth rebooted faster than the others.  

“Why did he abandon you?” Ladybug, mentally screaming, couldn't move before the laser hit.  

“The hell if I know, he left as soon as he found out my mom was pregnant!” An assumption on her part, but pitying and sympathetic looks come from her classmates anyway. Chat is still stunned. The chat on the live stream Marinette had forgotten about stops for a second before rapidly whizzing by with many expletives and shocked face emojis. This will hopefully be a moment to laugh at in a few days... oh Kwami, please. 

“Do you resent him for it?” Ladybug tried to dodge, but her section of the boat was small and open. She got hit.  

“Yeah, a little. He abandons me and my mom and then a few months after I was born, the first Robin comes into the picture. So, it kind of hurts.” At this point, the students are too invested to move, and it is safe to assume that Chat will not be of any help during this fight as he is too far gone.  

“Are you jealous of the first robin?” Ladybug has no choice but to charge head-on and take the laser.  

“I don’t think so. I’m more hurt by the fact that he continued to adopt more kids, but never came back for me. And STOP ASKING INVASIVE QUESTIONS!” He engages her in hand-to-hand combat that has her performing awe-inspiring acrobatics to get around the eye. She lands a solid punch to his liver that has him doubling over just as the next question is asked.  

“Would you want a relationship with your siblings?”  

“I have always wanted siblings, but I don’t know if I can even call them that since Batman didn’t choose me but chooSE THE OTHERS!” Her last words were yelled in exertion as she judo-flips Truth over her shoulder with impressive agility and core strength. She is quick to snatch the akumatized necklace and break it. Purifying the Akuma and Amok, Marinette looks to the sky and heaves a long-suffering sigh. “Holy FUCK Batman. Thank you for giving me the next topic of my therapy sessions.”  

The French Government issued a blackout of all things Akuma-related at the beginning of this whole fiasco to keep from attracting the Justice League and their million-dollar guarantee solutions. It did not, however, withstand France's 64.6 million citizens working towards the same goal.  

They loved Ladybug. Like they loved her. She is the hero that created the team they can always depend on to save the day anywhere in France! Much more than the Justice League who had ignored her repeated calls that were sent outside of France and the blackout (It was a busy week for reporters when their beloved heroin had gone public with the ignored request for help. Fuck you Green Lantern).  

They loved her so much that to not only find out that Ladybug is the daughter of the American vigilante, detective extraordinaire, Batman, but that he also abandoned her, their displeasure will not go unheard. Every one of the thousands of people tuned into the Ladyblog’s live stream had saved it, cut it to manageable bits, and then sent it to everyone they knew on every internet platform they were on. 26 hours later, the rest of the world was calling for an explanation for the viral video that kept changing titles to not get deleted.  

The French government had no choice but to lift the blackout.   

As a result, the Ladyblog skyrocketed in viewership and recognition for its consistency in recording the Akuma fights (much to Alya’s delight and her friend's bemusement). Many viewers would just watch the saved live stream. More would watch the rest of the videos. News articles are read, websites visited, and people watched the Duo of Paris and, later, their Miracle Team take down villain after villain, day after day, battle after gruesome battle. With the Parisian public singing their praises, it wasn’t long before the rest of the world adored the Parisian Heros just as much as the locals - if not more so.  

All that the world was waiting for at this point was the inevitable reunion of the "Batfamily" and the Justice League's response to the Heroes of Paris. 

imagine vigilante!Marinette in gotham wielding the fox and/or cat but instead of messing with the bats she keeps saving their asses because they cannot last one night without a near death experience

she has to pull batman's cape back to keep him from falling off the roof

picks up nightwing's escrima sticks so he doesn't trip over them again

purposely trips or shoves red hood so he misses a bullet. or multiple bullets.

shakes tim awake because he keep dozing off mid-battle

takes out goons about to sneak up on damian

and they never notice

bonus: it's biodad bw and the whole batfam thinks they're successfully hiding their nightly activities from marinette

Daminette Headcanon #??

Meet cute/meet disaster opportunity in Gotham. So Marinette is new to the city, and her stash of fabric and notions is completely depleted because she had to downsize when moving across the Atlantic (she had way too much stuff to ship with her.) So she's trying to find Gotham's fabric district which does exist... but it's frequented mainly by villains or henchpeople who need fabric for their costumes. Otherwise, everyone just buys online. Marnette though needs to see her stuff in person, needs to feel the fabric and test stretch and shit. So she's struggling down the street burdened by like five bags and a whole bolt of fabric and Damian (overachiever that he is) is doing an early evening patrol as Robin, and sees this little slip-of-nothing girl walking out of a fabric store that is definitely only frequented by villains and is a front for a local gang, and thinks 'oh, this is a new villain and/or she's being blackmailed to create new outfits' and so he prepares to swing down and interrogate her. Now Marinette, total badass that she is, can handle herself (yes, all her friends and family told her she shouldn't move to Gotham, but she's a hero too and Gotham ain't got shit on Hawkmoth) and she knows this isn't the best part of town, but it's the only place that has fabric stores, and the prices are really good so of course, she's gonna stock up. She knows she looks like an easy target but she is not. But bad guys don't know that, so a pair of idiots come up to her on the street and start harassing her and trying to rob her. One goes to hit her, and she totally backhands them and then knocks them both out flat in under 30 seconds. Not a hair out of place and all of her purchases are still safe and sound. And Robin is shocked up above (and kinda turned on) and is now definitely thinking that this girl is the newest up-and-coming supervillain, and he hears her mutter, "these fools have nothing on Paris." And so he swings down, intrigued, and wanting to know who this new danger is. He doesn't want to be too sus at first though and asks if she's fine (Richard would be proud of how far he's come at interpersonal skills) Of course, Marinette knows who the local heroes are (she doesn't want to step on anyone's toes after all) and so is very friendly at first, and basically says, "I'm okay and don't need any help, after all, you don't survive long in Paris if you can't handle yourself, but it's nice to know Gotham's heroes are looking out." And Robin doesn't know if that's meant to be a threat or sincere. And so he offers to walk her home because that's what a hero would do with a normal civilian right?? Not one that he was trying to gauge what their notorious schemes are, right?? But Marinette easily agrees, and in her mind, is just happy to get a read on the local heroes, and just chats with Robin the whole way home about Gotham and what amazing styles she can get from its local design and architecture. And Damian is so?? confused??? Is this girl an artist? IS she a villain artist?? What kind of schemes are going to happen here. And so he obviously has to know more about this amazi- he means potentially dangerous woman, and so when he sees her safely home asks to maybe, visit? Again? And Marinette is all like 😁😁 Sure, happy to help Gotham's heroes however she can. Damian is like 'perfect, I have managed to open a line of inquiry into a potential threat, now I just need to visit often- I mean monitor her carefully to figure out her plans' and Marinette is just like, 'The Gotham heroes are much more welcoming than I thought they would be. I got fabric, beat up some baddies, and made a new friend all in one evening!'

Their falling in love is kinda inevitable.

A drawing of Mari for another AU of mine!

I’m still deciding on a name, but I think it’s going to be called the Imbalance AU.

There’s a lot there, but the name is because there’s an imbalance between creative and destructive energy, which has all sorts of different effects — one of which being that there is no true black cat due to the major excess of destructive energy already in the world.

Mari gets the butterfly in this, by the way :)

K E V I N ✨

Also y’all PLEASE read this because it’s so amazing!!!!!

(Part 1)

My brain is crazy and has spawned another fic. . . Enjoy.

Chapter 1: How It all Started

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Ra's al Ghul, otherwise known as The Demon's Head, was a crual man, believing in the old ways of the League: That Man shall rule over their people through force and through fear.

And Ra's did just that, striking fear into those who dare try and threaten him. He gained his right as the Demon's Head threw a vicious tournament, and gave his clan power which was taken from The Order long ago. Though he only managed to claim two, he chose ones that would strengthen himself and his clan. They were gods that would grant power to whomever wielded their jewels. The ones he claimed were:

The Ox: Symbolizing Strength, confidence, power, stability, determination, and stubbornness.

The Tiger: Symbolizing Inner Strength, bravery, power and Balance

Ra's used these two gods to vanquish his enemies. The only thing Ra's was missing after years of his rule, was an heir. He tasked one of his daughters – Talia al Ghul – to birth him an heir, and she did. She found her old lover Bruce Wayne and drugged him. 9 Months later, Damian al Ghul was born and praised by his Grandfather. 2 years passed and slowly, a sharp increase in attempts on Damian's life couldn't be ignored so easily. Ra's then tasked Talia to birth another child, and train them to be loyal to Damian. Although Talia strongly disliked dealing with having another child, she did as she was told and once more, managed to trick Bruce Wayne and drug him for round two. And a year later, Damian now 3 years old, had a younger sister – Marinette al Ghul. Ra's was displeased that it was a female, but thought it better than a future rival for the right of being the next Demon's Head, and reluctantly accepted Marinette al Ghul as Damian al Ghul's sister, and protecter.

Damian and Marinette didn't see each other all that much during their younger years, but each had equally hard training in many different things. Later when Damian was 7 and Marinette 4, they began to interact upon Ra's wishes. Damian knew Marinette was his younger sister and future protector, but he didn't like that she would be forced to give her life for him one day. The though of it irked him greatly. He had never realized how close his baby sister was from him – Just down the hall from his quarters. He often visited Marinette, though she didn't speak much to him. She would just sit there and listen to him, analysing him with her deep ocean blue eyes. She was almost always calm whenever they were together, never once did he see her with any expression other than her normal blank analysing gaze.

Whenever he came back from training, or a mission, he always spent time with her, ranting about random things that had bothered him. Marinette would always place her hand on his head, though her expression never changed, her eyes would become comforting towards him. Often times they would sleep next to each other and share bits of their food when one was being punished. Damian truly loved his baby sister, he wanted her to smile, to show emotions other than through her eyes, he wanted to hear her call him brother, just like he called her sister.

The night after one of Damian's missions, they were hugging each other for warmth during the winter, Damian telling stories he heard from his past missions.

"You know, they say that if you ever see a shooting star, to make a wish on it. If you ever saw one, what would you wish for 'ukhti?" - Damian looked to Marinette under the blanket next to him with a smile, hoping his wish to hear her voice would happen someday

". . ." - Marinette looked to the ceiling for a moment as she thought about it.

She turned her head to her him, her eyes filled with warmth and love for her brother.

"For 'akhi to be happy." - Marinette saw the look of shock that went over her brother's face, and had a brief small smile light up her features

Damian could only smile back as they soon fell asleep.

A year later Damian was 8 and Marinette 5. Ra's had decided to have the gods choose them as their wielders now that they refused to grant their power to one whose soul was far too stained. The two gods were positive that they would refuse the two Ra's chose, but to their surprise, both were true holders. Damian a true Ox and Marinette a true Tiger. The two gods floated to their chosen and deemed them worthy. Not long after, their traing was increased, both normal and the training with the powers bestowed upon them by their chosen gods.

Then, another year later Damian was 9 and Marinette was turning 6. Damian decided to make a Rapier with Marinette before their training later that day. After a few hours they managed to make a beautiful dark metal Rapier with a complex hand guard with accents of gold on it.

". . . How am I supposed to hide this?" - Marinette held her Rapier easily as she looked to her brother

"I- . . . Did not think about that." - Damian

"Just store it in your Pocket Dimension My Shebbel." - Roaar had flown out of Marinette's bracelet and to her Rapier as she spoke

"I have a Pocket Dimension?" - Marinette

"Yes. You have almost an infinite amount of room in it, so you can hide your Rapier, or anything that isn't breathing in it." - Roaar

"How do I do that?" - Marinette looked at Roaar with slight excitement in her eyes

"Just imagine yourself absorbing it." - Roaar

Marinette took Roaar's advice, and focused on absorbing it before she saw it glow and fade away into a dark blue-ish purple glowing mist

"Just as expected of My Shebbel, you got it first try!" - Roaar flew around Marinette's head happily at her Chosen's accomplishment

". . . Stompp?" - Damian looked to his god with hope in his eyes

"Yes My Batta, you also have a Pocket Dimension." - Stompp

"*smiles mischievously* Now I can finally hide all the weapons I want." - Damian

"Don't overdo it 'akhi." - Marinette spoke to Damian with a knowing look

"I understand 'ukhti, I'll only steal 5 weapons a day." - Damian

"... 2." - Marinette

"4." - Damian

"3." - Marinette

"Deal." - Damian shook hands with his sister as she let out a slight snort

The rest of the day was more enjoyable, especially now that they knew they could hide their dumb instructors weapons. Then, a few days later, Marinette was to go on her first mission with her god Roaar. Most of it went smoothly, and although she completed her mission, she had hesitated a brief moment before killing the target. Something Ra's had her punished for once she got back. He had her whiped multipe times before she was allowed to go back to her room. She didn't show any emotions during her punishment or as she walked back to her room, but when she closed her room door and saw her brother, all she did was shed silent tears as her brother and the two gods hugged her while seething with anger. Neither really liked killing, but sadly, they knew that was the only way for them to survive in the cruel world of the League, if they didn't, they would be beaten for a few hours or worse and then let go with the promise of harder training from then on. Roaar hated seeing her chosen having no choice in the matter, and Stompp downright despised the hell they put their chosen through on the daily. But they couldn't do anything without risking their chosen in the process, so all they could do was comfort them when they needed it.

He soon realized after that day that they're souls had a bond, one that was described as a platonic music bond. He could feel what she felt based on her melody, and she could do the same. Thanks to that bond, they could see if the other was okay no matter where they were, and he realized that her Melody becomes louder and quicker when she's in danger or scared whenever she's near Ra's.

After that, Damian made sure to protect Marinette whenever he could, making it clear to the other children that trained near her were dead if she ever needed the pits because of them. Although he knew she could be healed or revived, the last thing he wanted was for her to go in the Lazurus Pit. Near the middle of that Year, Damian kept running into the same girl over and over. He never cared to remember her name as she was an annoyance to him. And the girl seemed to stop after a month of annoying him, but then he saw the same girl trying to cozy up to 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 and he came pretty close to tearing her apart. He obviously scared the girl enough for her to run off, and he felt proud to have gotten the nuisance away from his sister... at least he did until Marinette gave him a disproving look. Neither saw the girl after that, and soon, another year past.

Damian was now 10, Marinette 7, and Ra's had decided it was time to show them their kingdom of which Damian would rule, and Marinette protect. All was going well, Marinette stayed close to her brother's side, both wearing their special armour and weapons on them. Damian had his beloved katana sheathed on his back, while Marinette had her dual swords sheathed at her waist. And everything was fine, but as they entered the courtyard, the League was ambushed. Damian and Marinette fought off the assassins that tried to kill them without much problem, and when they turned back, they saw Slade kill Ra's. Though they didn't love their grandfather, they fought Slade for betraying his leader and managed a few good hits before he somehow escaped. When they went to find Ra's, they saw him a mere foot away from the Lazurus Pits, his hand outstretched towards its waters. Talia soon found them and urged them to follow her, and they did. They ran, following their mother into a building with a hidden passage to the docks where a boat was waiting. They ran past all the chaos and death around them. The fire the attackers set consuming the building they were in rapidly. They were almost out when they came across more assassins, they were easily taken out and they made their way to the secret tunnels. Talia and Damian made it down first, and just as Damian looked up waiting for Marinette, a burning wooden beam fell onto the tunnel's entrence, sealing it in a blazing wall of fire. Damian wanted to get Marinette, but Talia draggen him all the way to the boat by force before getting away.

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Marinette couldn't waste any time, so she ran to the nearest exist and started running into the mountains. Between her heavy heart beats she could just hear the faint clanging and scraping of metal far behind her, causing her to run even faster. She ran to the entrance of the second cave that could grant her a way out, but found the entrance blocked by rubble, most likely blown up. So, she unsheathed her dual swords and ask Roaar to grant her strength as she saw the assassins getting closer.

Roaar noded and fused with Marinette's swords, making them a darker metal and giving them and her eyes, a faint yellow glow. She steadied her breathing and attacked once they were closer. 10 assassins were tring to kill her, so she fought without hesitation. She easily took out the first 3, leaving 7 left. They scored a few cuts, some shallow, some a little deep, but none were life threatening compared to her current situation. She took out the next 4, and the 3 remaining showed slight hesitation at the sight of Marinette covered in many cuts while still standing as if they never hit her... which was their mistake as Marinette took that moment to take them down, once she was sure no more were coming she went deeper into the mountains.

—–—–—–—–—

Although Marinette was trained in extreme cold since birth, the large loss of blood didn't help. She felt her legs giving out and decided to stop and sit by a rock where she took the moment to store her dual swords away in her Pocket Dimension. Her body soon had her lying down as more blood slowly started to seep into the layer of snow beneath her. She watched the sky, slightly tinted by all the smoke from below the mountains, and saw two shooting stars falling togther and burning bright. She felt a stray tear roll down her cheek as she closed her eyes, wishing her brother was safe. When she opened her eyes again, one of the falling stars seemed to glow a bit brighter before fading away, leaving the other to fall by itself. She was starting to lose feel in her hands when she barely felt something small and fuzzy rub up against her left arm, groggily, she turned her head to see a Black Panther Cub, whether it was actually trying to warm her or get warmth itself Marinette didn't know. The cub curled up next to her and purred... and it felt soothing to her. She didn't know how long she and the cub layed there before she barely heard the crunch of footsteps in the snow, and as much as she wanted to see who it was, she was unable to move her head. The person seemed to bend down enough over her head for her to know it was a man, probably 6'1, but she could distinguish his features.

"Well, you two cubs aren't supposed to be here.  This is not the time nor place for either of you to parish." - The man seemed to pick both Marinette and the cub up before walking

"Whoo'rrr yyyou...?" - Marinette's speech was slurred and slow, but somehow she started to feel a little better, and started feeling warmth as if she was under the sun instead of a cloudy winter sky.

"Well, you could say you already know me, just not here? But I'm Kevin, pleasure to meet you Marinette al Ghul of this Verse." - Kevin

Marinette tensed as much as her tired body allowed her to when she heard him say her name, but just as she was going to try and say something, her world seemed to slowly fade to black.

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Damian was angry and worried, he didn't know if his baby sister was alive, he knew she was strong, and that she had Roaar, but he couldn't hear her melody no matter how hard he listened for it.

"Why are you agitated my son?" - Talia didn't even have an ounce of guilt or sadness in her eyes, she didn't care that she could've just left his sister to be killed off.

". . ." - Damian just wanted to hold his sister, know that she was safe, he wanted to know that she was okay, he just needed to hear her melody

"If this is about your sister, you should just forget about her. She was always weak, why that god ever chose her will be beyond our understanding. We will be at our destination later tonight, so get some rest." - Talia then went into one of the cabins to rest, leaving Damian alone.

Damian went to his cabin a minute later, when he closed the door behing him, he made sure it was locked, and that there were no bugs. After he was done, Stompp floated out of Damian's Katana as he sat on the bed hugging himself trying to stay calm and reassure himself Marinette is alive. Stompp went up to offer some comfort when Damian saw a single falling star from the boat's window, watching as it fell, he mumbled words that only he and Stompp could hear

"Please be safe 'ukhti." - Damian watched the star burn brighter before fading completely, he soon fell asleep with Stompp next to him in the silence and crashing of the waves that filled his room.

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Marinette could hear crowds of people talking and faint horns in the distance as her eyes slowly squinted open. She jolted up into a defensive stance, quickly looking around. The first thing she saw, was that she was now in an alley, and Roaar was charging in her bracelet. She saw that her cuts weren't bleeding anymore, and seemed to have started to heal, though they were still a bit painful. She took another careful look at the alley when she heard someone speak.

"Hey, can you pwease feed me?" - Small voice of a boy

Marinette looked around, but didn't see anyone

"Down here pwease." - Cub

". . ." - Marinette

". . ." - Cub

". . . what the f-" - Marinette

"Looks like you're able to understand cats now." - Roaar now floating to the cub

"What?" - Marinette looked to Roaar who was next to the cub

"It's because you're a true Tiger, same goes for most true olders. If they're exposed to their chosen Kwami at a young age, they'll be able to understand most animals under their Kwamis' respective family tree. So, since a tiger is a ‘big cat’, you can understand most to all big cats since we're all similar language wise in some ways." - Roaar

"Oh. . . 'akhi would be so jealous." - Marinette smiled to herself at the thought of her brother pouting.

"May I pwease have some food?" - Cub

"Same here, using my powers always makes me hungry." - Roaar

"Alright, what do you two want to eat?" - Marinette looked at them fondly as they smiled

"MEAT!" - Both Roaar and the cub answered in sync with happy eyes and excited voices

"Alright, Roaar, please watch the cub while I get us food." - Marinette

"Sure thing My Shebbel!" - Roaar then sat protectively on the cubs head as Marinette made her way out of the alley

She easily memorized everything around her and grabbed a shawl before spotting a street vendor selling kabobs and headed for it.

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

"Dese Kabobs are tuh die fawh Ives!" - Harley, Ivy, and Selina were all sitting a little ways away from where they just got their beef kabobs

"To bad you don't like meat." - Selina

"... To bad I can't yet live off of sunlight yet." - Ivy drinking some wine

"... Hey Ives?" - Harley

"Yes Harls?" - Ivy

"Two questions, one, if you drink wine, are you basically eating an old lady smoothy?" - Harley

"PFFFFFFFFF! WHAT?!" - Ivy had spat her wine out so hard some came out her nose - "Shit it burns!"

"HAHAHAHA!" - Selina was cackling and almost choked on her food in the process

"Two, is dat kid stealin' beef kabob man's kabobs?" - Harley pointed to a small girl who was covered in a shawl swipe 3 kabobs and walk away without the vendor noticing

"I think she did... Honestly, great form." - Selina was impressed by how smooth the kid pulled it off

"God why does it burn so much???" - Ivy was tearing up while she held a napkin to her nose

"Come on Ives, lets teach de kid a lesson about stealin' delicious food." - Harley then got up and started following the kid, Ivy and Selina following close behind

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Marinette was really looking forward to eating the meat on a stick, and rounded the corner to the alley meeting back up with Roaar and the cub behind a wooden crate. She set the shawl she grabed earlier down on the floor and sat on it before handing Roaar and the cub their food.

"Be careful, it's a little hot." - Marinette

"Thank you!" - The cub ate the meat happily once it cooled off a bit

"Thank you My Shebbel, now eat up, you need your strength." - Roaar sat on Marinette's leg as she started eating her kabob

. . . . . . . . .

"That was so good~" - The cub had finished his food quite quickly and was very happy

"Indeed." - Roaar had also finished hers

Marinette handed them each another piece knowing they still wanted more before finishing hers

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

"Where'd dat little kid go off tuh?" - Harley

"Probably down that alley." - Selina pointed to an alley just ahead of them

"Why do you think that?" - Ivy

"A vegetable from the kabob is at the opening of the alley." - Selina

"Nice one Cat." - Harley continued the charge to the alley where they all stopped at the entrance as they heard a girls voice making cat sounds followed by actual meowing

"Wait, can she talk to cats... Harley." - Selina put on her kitten eyes as she looked to Harley

"No, we're not adoptin' anudder you." - Harley

They then proceeded to enter the Alley

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Marinette had Roarr and the Cub on her lap, both full from their meal, when Roaar and the cub turned their heads to the alley entrance

"Someones' are coming!" - Cub

"What?" - Marinette froze when she heard someone speak up

"We know you're in dere, come out wit' your hands up and we'll go easy on yuh." - A Brooklyn sounding women spoke

As Roaar hid back in Marinette's bracelet, Marinette got up and into view of the intruders, putting her right hand behind her back as she took out a throwig knife. Marinette noticed their eyes widen and she took that moment to strike

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

They were shocked, they weren't expecting to see the kid covered with clearly 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 recent cuts and bruses along her arms and legs. Harley could see the kid was on edge so she tried to approach her calmly.

"Hey kid, are yuh alright? Look, we just wanna help y-" - Harley was cut off by Ivy pulling a vine in front of her face just in time to catch a very pointy throwing knife. Before any of them could say anything, they saw the kid pick up a cat and bolt as the throwing knife disappeared from the vine

"Shit." - Harley/Selina/Ivy

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Marinette didn't think they would be meta, but then again, this isn't her best day. She was running down the streets getting odd and concerned looks as she ran threw the crowds of people, they were close on her tail, so she decided to make a little chaos to lose them.

She saw cages with livestock and opened it, causing a stampede of cattle and chickens to be let loose, and it seemed to distract her pursuers. She continued running threw the alleys and streets, stopping only after she was sure she lost them.

"Are you okay?" - Cub

"Yeah, you?" - Marinette

"I'm okay– look out!" - The cub was dropped from Marinette's arms as she was suddenly lifted upsidedown from her feet by a vine

She frantically tried to cut threw with another knife, but it just kept regrowing before she could get all the way threw it. She saw the three women approach her, they were about to say something when she decided to throw her knife at them as a last attempt, but was knocked out by some puff of something from the vine, causing her to go limp. The vine gently put her unconscious body on the floor.

"Now what?" - Selina went to approach Marinette, but the little Panther Cub they thought was a normal cat, stood protectively infront of the girl

"SHE HAS A BABY PANTHER???. . . THAT'S IT, I'm adopting her and this cub." - Selina easily picked both Marinette and the cub up before walking back up to Harley and Ivy

"Did you not see her try to kill Harls with a THROWING KNIFE? I mean, whose kid has a THROWING KNIFE???" - Ivy (*Ahchooo!*- Talia)

"A deranged maniac most likely." - Harley (*Ahchooo!*- Talia)

—–—–—–—–—

They took Marinette and the cub to their hotel where Ivy treated Marinette's more serious injuries (which was basically all of them) before letting her rest with the cub on their couch.

About two hours later Marinette woke up to the sound of a tv, it was on  a news report about all the livestock that got loose earlier that day. That's when she realized they were speaking Italian. Well, now she knows a general area of where the heck she might be. She let out a slight snort when it showed a few of the livestock owners trying to catch a chicken, only to trip into a pile of manure. Marinette looked around the living room she was in, but didn't see anyone other than the little cub that sat next to her.

"So, do you know where we might be?" - Marinette stroked the cub's head as he stretched his front paws forward

"No, but the females didn't have a hostile smell, and they cleaned your boo-boos." - Cub

Marinette looked at her arms and saw most of her cuts were bandage, and then she remembered she never got the cubs' name - "Um, I'm sorry but, do you have a name?"

The cub shook his head before looking down - "I don't have one."

"But, everyone has a name." - Marinette

"Mama never came back with my name." - The cub seemed to curl himself closer to Marinette as he spoke

"... Although I'm not your mom, would you like me to give you a name?" - Marinette

"You'd do that?" - The cubs' eyes seemed to light up at Marinette's words

"Of course, um..." - Marinette looked at the cub thoughtfully, and remembered one of her favorite characters' name from a book she found during a mission - "How does the name Bagheera sound?"

"I love it!" - Bagheera seemed to light up at his new name and curled up in Marinette's lap purring, causing her to smile

"I, Bagheera, promise to always protect you!" - Bagheera looked up to Marinette, his eyes filled with happiness and admiration

"You don't have to do that..." - Marinette scratched the back of her neck in slight embarrassment

"But I want to." - Bagheera

"Why?" - Marinette

"Because I like you." - Bagheera

"Alright..." - Marinette had stood up and realized she had a vine covered in bark around her ankle - "Roaar?"

"Yes My Shebbel?" - Roaar flew out of Marinette's bracelet and was now floating in front of her

"Could you please undo this vine?" - Marinette gestured to her ankle

"Of course, just give me a moment." - Roaar quickly got to work on removing the vine when Bagheera pointed out that they were coming back

Once the vine was off, Marinette could hear the jingle of keys. She picked Bagheera up and went to hide behind the kitchen island. She held her breath as she heard them open and close the door, followed by one of them placing a heavy bag on the opposite end of the kitchen island. Not long after she heard someone say "fuck" and assumed they found the broken vine. Marinette set Bagheera down and whispered for him to follow her, both making their way out of the kitchen as quietly as possible before reaching the door. It was when she was just about to open the front door that it started beeping at an obnoxious volume, and she was quickly yanked by her waist back to the living room with another vine.

The three women looked at her with mild shock and concern as they spoke.

"Why were yuh tryin' tuh leave? We just wanna help yuh kid." - The concerningly pale women had her gazed fixed on Marinette, trying to look for something

"..." - Marinette only looked back, her expression blank and her eyes cold as she was still being held about 5 inches from the ground

"Can you at least tell us your name?" - The slightly greenish woman that was holding Marinette in place spoke as Bagheera walked up to her meowing

"..." - Marinette just kept the same poker face as they looked at her and as she looked at them

"Can you at least tell us if you're alright or need help at home?" - The only normal looking woman out of the three was concerned, her eyes going between Marinette's own and her bandaged cuts

And they saw her visibly tense up before she scoffed at them and turned her head away. Ivy placed her back on the couch while Harley brought more chairs for them to sit on.

"Alright, let's start wit' names, I'm Harleen, butcha can call be Harley." - Harley seemed to pull out a clipboard as she clicked the back of her pen - "Tuh my right is my dear sweet Ivy, and tuh my left is Selina. So, what's yuh name kid?"

". . . Tt." - Marinette once again turned her head away, but still heard Harley writing things down, most likely her reactions

"Alrighty, so 'Tt' where do yuh live?" - Harley seemed to smile a bit when Marinette whiped her head back toward her at break neck speeds with an icy cold glare

". . . *hiss*" - Marinette literally hissed at them with a unhappy look on her face when Harley wrote that down as well, she also heard Bagheera gasp at her not so cub friendly word

The questions continued on for about another hour, and by the end of it, Bagheera had learned a whole new bucket of words, and all Harley had on her clipboard were noises. This continued for the next 5 days, and because of Harley, both Selina and Ivy had started calling her 'Tt', and soon enough, Marinette finally had enough.

It was a Wednesday, 10am, and everone was gathered at the dinning table, Bagheera next to Marinette's vined ankle.

"'Tt,' would you like some salt?" - Selina

"'Tt,' would yuh like some juice?" - Harley

"'Tt,' would you like anything for dessert?" - Ivy

". . ." - Marinette was losing it, never before had she been so annoyed by something so small, she didn't want to crack, she wouldn't crack, but if she heard them say 'Tt' one more time-

"Oh, 'Tt,' would you like to watch a mov-" - Selina

"OKAY! IT'S MARINETTE! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, PLEASE STOP CALLING ME SOUNDS!" - Marinette banged her head once on the table in defeat, they had won, they made her crack

"See? Dat wasn't so hard now was it? Now, lets watch dat movie." - Harley got up and lead them to the living room couch, where Marinette grumpily sat until she fell asleep from exhaustion with Bagheera right next to her.

The next few days were almost the same, but now they called her Marinette or some nickname of it. They wouldn't let her  e̶s̶c̶a̶p̶e̶ go outside because they didn't want her getting hurt. And she probably would have said that was torture if her mother or anyone from the League could hear her, but she actually enjoyed their company. She didn't mind not going out, because they were there, and if they weren't with her for the hour or two they were out, Marinette had Bagheera and Roaar.

Though she would never say that to their faces, if she did, she would be openly admitting defeat, and she wasn't ready to wave the white flagg just yet.

•–—–—–—· One Week Later ·—–—–—–•

Marinette was sitting upsidedown on the couch watching TV while Harley, Ivy and Selina were out grabbing some food.

"You seem to be happier the longer we're here." - Roaar

"It's... okay. Definitely better than 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 place." - Marinette had since started referring to the League as 'that place' after she started liking Harley, Ivy and Selina's company

"Indeed. They are extremely nice, and they seem to actually care for you." - Roaar floated in front of Marinette

"They are nice." - Marinette went back into a normal sitting position and put her hand out for Roaar to sit on

Roaar's ears twithced for a split second before she sighed and continued talking with Marinette - "What do you think of them?"

". . . I guess they're rubbing off on me. *dramatic gasp*" - Marinette whiped her head around ready to fight whatever intruders had entered the apartment, only to be caught in a bone crushing hug

"OH MY GOD, Nette I knew yuh liked us!" - Harley

"CAN'T... BREATHE!.!.!-" - Marinette tried desperately to wiggle her way out of Harley's death hug, but couldn't

"She just wants to hug you, not suffocate you My Shebbel." - Roaar floating in clear view of everyone in the room, giving Marinette a chance to escape the hug

". . ." - Everyone else

"I guess it's time I officially introduce myslef and my chosen. I am Roaar, and this is Marinette a-" - Roaar was cut off by Marinette snatching her out of the air

"YOU SAW NOTHING!" - Marinette hid Roaar behind her back as she nervously looked at their faces

". . . You know, we've seen wierder." - Selina

"Mind telling us anything little flower?" - Ivy

"IT WAS SO CUTE!" - Harley

So Marinette and Roaar explained why they were together and half-truthed about how they met. They of course left out all the stuff about the League and her last name when Roaar suddenly stopped talking and zipped to the windows looking around frantically which caused Marinette to tense up knowing something was about to happen

"What's wrong Kitten?" - Selina walked up to Marinette putting her hand on her should.

They all saw Marinette reel her arm back for a punch when she whiped her head towards Selina, stopping halfway when she realized it wasn't an attacker that grabbed her.

"Harls I think we need to move-" - But before Ivy could finish one of the windows shattered onto the living room floor, prompting everyone to get into a fighting stance.

They watched as 11 people covered in black jumped threw the broken window holding all storts of stabby weapons

"Are those Assassins?!" - Harley looked in a mix of awe and shock at the intruders

One of them in a Black outfit with gold accents stepped forward raising his weapon as he spoke in a deep raspy voice - "Give us the girl and we shall spare your pitiful lives."

Of course they were about to refuse when they saw Marinette dash forward and disarm the assassin in one kick, grabbed his swords and decapitated him on the spot without hesitation. The other assassin instantly charged Marinette, ignoring Harley, Ivy and Selina. Ivy stopped 4 of them in their tracks while Harley and Selina each took out 2. When they looked back up they saw Marinette swinging her sword down on an assassin, watching as they went limp. Marinette lifted her sword from the man's head and jerked it so the blood would come off. She now had her eyes on the last living assassin, he had gripped his swords' handle tightly as he charged Marinette. He saw her wide open and lifted his sword high, ready to swing it down on her. But she moved at inhuman speeds as her sword and eyes seemed to glow a faint golden yellow, he saw her swing her sword up, and heard the sound of his sword hitting the floor. As the man stumbled back, he realized his severed hands were still holding his sword. Panic and fear engulfed assassin as he tried to make a run for it, only for him to watch the world spin before it faded away as Marinette had decapitated him as well.

Silence fell upon the room as they looked at a blood covered Marinette with golden yellow glowing cat-like eyes.

"..." - Harley, Ivy, and Selina didn't know what to say as they looked at Marinette who was looking back at them

It took Marinette a minute to process things as she looked at them, the very bloody room, and then to the faintly glowing sword stained with blood she was holding. She dropped it when she realized she was probably scaring them a bit. They saw her eyes stop glowing the moment Roaar flew out of the sword. Marinette looked back to them after a moment of them not saying anything

"I- um... sorry about the mess, I can clean it all up- I know how to- and I can hide the evidence- I- that makes it sound worse doesn't it?" - Marinette had tears running down her face as she took a few steps back while hugging herself to try and calm down as she kept rambling - "I'm sorry- I- please don't make me go back." - Marinette had started hyperventilating the more she spoke as the panic of them leaving and hating her grew more and more, the memories of being punished flashed threw her mind as her knees buckled and now had her sitting on the floor shaking slightly.

Harley had went to hug her as she realized Marinette was going into a panic attack, she was concerned for Marinette, especially when she visibly flinched when she hugged her - "It's okay, you're okay, no one's sendin' yuh anywhere, okay? We're here fawh yuh Nette, just try and breathe wit' me."

"Marinette, it's okay, Roaar and I are here with you too, pwease just try to breathe with us." - Bagheera had put his paws on Marinette's legs while he tried to calm her down by rubbing his head against her wet cheek.

They were all hugging and talking to her softly, and after a minute, Marinette slowly steadied her breathing as she began to sob in Harley, Ivy and Selina's arms.

When Marinette spoke in different languages, they could tell her voice was hoarse, it sounded broken and strained, they only understood one thing she kept repeating to them - "Where's 'akhi?" - between her broken sobs. She soon began hugging Harley back in an attempt to keep herself awake.

They spent the next 10 minutes like that, not knowing what to do as Marinette hugged them before passing out.

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Damain had met his Father about 15 days ago, he didn't have the best first impression with his adopted brothers, and Slade had escaped him again. The only decent ones in the Mansion were Alfred and Alfred the cat. Stompp had advised Damian not to tell any of them except Alfred about his existence, and Damian agreed. No one but Alfred knew about Stompp, and Damian was thankful that Alfred was a truly wise and kind man. Damian saw Alfred more as a father than his actual biological father. It didn't help that Bruce and his siblings were always distant with him, but he didn't care. He had Stompp and both Alfreds to listen to how he felt, and they were the first ones to here about Damian's younger sister.

It was a relatively normal day at the Mansion, Todd was being a nuisance throwing his peas at Damian again, and he ignored it. For the most part it was quiet, and almost peaceful. Damian hadn't felt his sister's melody since they were separated, and it bothered him every day, but this day was different, he felt his sister's musicbox melody faintly during dinner, and was initially happy, until dread filled him as it quickened in tempo and changed from a peaceful song to one of pain and fear. He had abruptly stopped eating, staring blankly at his plate, frozen and worried about his sister. Everyone at the table saw this and asked what was going on, but none got a response from him. The tune changed again moments later to a heartbreaking fearful one, he could tell she needed him by the way her Melody sounded, it was strained and broken like she was crying. He felt anger rising in him before he felt Stompp tap his leg to bring him back to reality.

"-We asked, what the fuck is wrong with you Demon Spawn." - Jason

Damian breathed in before he spoke, visibly agitated - "Nothing of concern to any of you. Now if you'll please excuse me." - Damian gave no more room for any of them to ask further questions as he walked out of the dinning room

"WAIT DID HE JUST SAY PLEASE?!" - Jason

Damian kept walking till he reached his room. Pausing as Marinette's Melody calmed to a slighty peaceful tone. He continued into his room once he heard Jason's yelling and stomping coming up the stairs, and locked the 10 different locks on his door just in time to hear Jason banging violently on his door

"ARE YOU POSSESSED!? ARE YOU SICK!? YOU NEVER SHOW ANY MANNERS!" - Jason's voice was barley audible over his obnoxious banging

". . ." - Damian just went to lay on his bed while Stompp looked between the door and Damian

"OPEN UP AND GIVE ME ANSWERS DEMON SPAWN!" - Jason still banging without a care for the poor door

". . ." - Damian looked to Stompp and spoke - "Can I kill him with your power boost?"

"I SAID OPEN THE FUCK UP!" - Jason

". . . I'm not completely against that idea in this moment, but maybe just a 'mild' concussion if nothing else." - Stompp looking concerningly at the door - "Beside, he's trespassing if he enters the door through force."

*CRACK* - the poor door breaking

"Make it look an accident?" - Damian with a devilish smirk

*CRACK* - the poor door hanging a thread on the door's hinges

"Make it look like an accident." - Stompp with almost the same devilish smirk as Damian pulled out his Brass Knuckle with an 'Idiot' imprint on it. Just as Stompp fused with Damian's weapon and granted him Strength of The Ox, Jason finally broke the poor door to see Damian with slightly glowing redish green eyes

"WHAT THE F-" - Jason was instantly hit on his forehead with the Brass Knuckle, leaving a nice big red 'Idiot' on it as he fell onto his back disoriented

". . . Have a nice trip." - Damian picked Jason up with ease as Jason slowly realised what was happening, but Damian didn't give him a moment to recover as he tossed him down the stairs, definitely hearing 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 break - "Fall is the best season."

"Agreed." - Stompp had flown out of the brass knuckle to fist bump Damian as they walked back into his room, ignoring the shock from the rest of the family as Tim poked Jason with a stick to see if he was still alive, which he was.

—–—–One new door later–—–—

Damian was listening to Marinette's Melody, happy it was still there and peaceful.

"Stompp." - Damian looked to his God that was eating some cornbread on his nightstand

"Yes My Batta?" - Stompp turned his attention to Damian as his chosen spoke

"Will I be able to find 'ukhti?" - Damian was still listening to her Melody to make sure it wouldn't fade away

". . . I believe you and her shall meet again one day, when that day might be, I do not know." - Stompp flew to Damian to pat his head smiling - "But I know she is safe with Roaar."

"Thank you Stompp." - Damian closed his eyes soon after drifting to sleep with Stompp beside him on his pillow

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Things changed after Damian temporarily branded Jason with 'Idiot.' He somehow gained Tim, Stephanie and Cass's approval. They still didn't talk much, but they seemed to be more open when near him, and though he wouldn't tell them, it did make him a little happy. Bruce –upon some scolding from Alfred, Tim, Steph and Cass– had also started trying to bond with him. And soon enough, Damian took up the mantle as the new Robin. He definitely loved scaring the shit out of villains ... literally. Didn't help that Damain's eyes glowed a redish green when Stompp helped him, which made the white eye cover of his mask look like a dark glowing blood red color at all times. He even made it on the Teen Titans Team as Captain.

•—·–·—·–·—–·•·–—·–·—·–·—•

Marinette had opened up more to them after she had woken up, considering she couldn't really think of any excuse as the why she asked them not to send her back. She didn't give the full details, but had told them that she grew up in a kill or be killed environment where the slightest hesitation meant torture or worse. This information of course made them want to kill whoever hurt Marinette, but ten times worse than anything they could imagine. After a few more weeks they learned she had an older brother, but they had been separated due to unfortunate events. Not long after, Marinette admitted that she actually saw them as family, which of course meant she was stuck in a death loving hug for at least 20 minutes.

During all this Marinette had finally heard her brother's Melody some time around 12 am one night, and she could tell he felt her's too by the sudden joyous tone his Melody took. They would check in on each other and make one anothers' day better by doing so. They were both happy, and relieved the other was okay and happy. Damian could tell that Marinette was happy by the way her Melody played as if telling him a story in a way only they could ever understand, it told of her little panther Friend Bagheera, who was quickly growing before her eyes, it told of Harley, Ivy, and Selina who showed her how to express her feelings more and see the world just a bit brighter than before.

Damian's Melody told of their new siblings, Dick, who was the oldest and most tolerable of their other brothers, Jason, who was hell bent on proving he was –and still is according to him– possessed, Tim who is very much addicted to coffee and was a genius with technology, and he even talked about his sisters. The eldest sister being Barbara, who was even better with technology, Stephanie, who loved to play pranks and lurk in the shadows, and Cassandra, who had escaped the League and was now a proud member of their family. He spoke about Alfred, who knew about their gods, and was incredible at cooking. Alfred The Cat, who took a liking to him and Stompp, and finally, his Melody told of their Father. Bruce, he told her everything, that he was now Robin and had a Team he could actually trust without worry, how the rest of their family was also the infamous Batfam.

They both shared everything about their days, and how they were, but they could never quite tell the other where they were directly, as their Melody seemed to blank whenever they tried, so they made it into a game, dropping hints about where they were, with things specific to that place. Marinette loved when she guessed right about where Damian was as Robin for a mission, and Damian was happy that Marinette got to see many places around Europe throughout the year. And before they knew it, 1 year and 4 months had flown by in an instant, Damian was now 11, and Marinette would be 8 in 3½ months. Then, 3 days later, Marinette was told that they would be moving to Paris, France, where they would spend most of the Year, they also planed on going to Gotham for a few months after that and alternate holidays between Paris and Gotham every other Year. And Marinette was excited, so she didn't hesitate to drop hints about where she was going next later that night, they were set to leave in a week, and Damian gave her hints about a mission he and a younger super close to her age would be going on in a few months, dropping hints about where this mission would be.

Little did they know, that by the time of her birthday, both would have the best surprised either could ever ask for...

════◈❤︎◈════

. . . So,,, new fic... forgive me for I have sinned by creating a new WIP instead of continuing the ones I already have, and I have only one thing to say - "It is what it is~"

Hope you're all having a MIRACULOUS, FANTABULOUS, INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL day :3, stay safe, and rock those positive vibes !BUG-OUT! 🐞💮🐞

꧁᪥𑁍~═══◈T͟a͟g͟❤︎L͟i͟s͟t͟◈═══~𑁍᪥꧂

𝕄𝕚𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕝𝕪 𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕: @buginetye

Asksjfjdjjdksl PLEASE don’t leave this in the tags

Alright, while brainstorming future plot ideas with my friend, @buginetye, we found something that I need answers to.

Can some please tell me WHY Miss Bustier looks like Pamela Isley?????

LIKE LOOK, THEY'RE LIKE COPIES OF EACHOTHER... well Pamela Isley looks better in my opinion BUT STILL!

I NEED AN EXPLANATION!

Anyway, hope you're all having a wonderful day !BUG-OUT! 🐞💮🐞

No need to thank me; I really enjoy talking with you and hearing about your AUs! :D

And also this is amazing!!!!!

Tᕼᗴ ᑕᕼᗩOTIᑕ ᗩᑎᘜᗴᒪ

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7)

[I would once again like to thank my wonderful Miraculous friend, @buginetye, for helping me in creating more wonderful ideas for this fic, hope you're having an absolutely wonderful day]

Chapter 7: Greetings Mighty Mushu

·•·–—–·•†•·–—–·•·

Marinette enjoyed her day at Titan Tower, she definitely enjoyed the magic summoning. She had spent almost half the day there and was now walking back home with Mushu hiding in the hoodie of her winter jacket.

Walking down the empty alley not far from her home, Mushu poped his head out to look around.

"... Damn, the world looks like shit now, what did you humans do to it?" - Mushu

"Well, this is an alley, normally they look a bit nicer, but we're in Gotham, so it has its own unique charm to it." - Marinette walking down the alley

"... Ah yes, the sight of garbage, and old puddles of blood are very ‘Charming’" - Mushu pointing out the garbage and one old blood puddle

"It's Gotham, it only gets better sight wise in the center of the city, and worse crime wise all over." - Marinette now back on the sidewalk and heading towards a heavily overgrown parking lot

"... How have humans not gone extinct yet?" - Mushu

"Don't know, it's honestly a miracle." - Marinette walking through the heavily overgrown parking lot

"I'll never understand you humans... Anyway, why does it feel like we're in a jungle?" - Mushu

"It's a saftey measure." - Marinette continued walking as the thick brush seemed to part for her to pass.

"... Am I seeing things, or did those plants just move out of the way for you?" - Mushu rubbed his eyes before seeing more of the plants open up, showing a clear path - "It's like fucking Narnia all over again!"

"Wait, you've seen the movie Narnia?" - Marinette paused for a moment to get a better look at Mushu

"No, there is no ‘The Movie Narnia’, I'm talking about Narnia, it's a mystical world where I once had a holder that lived there... The talking Lion was a bit weird, even for me." - Mushu

"... It actually exists?" - Marinette

"Of course! There were even three human children from this dimension that went to Narnia, though I'm not sure how many years ago that may have been." - Mushu

"I-... I don't know how to respond to that." - Marinette stood on the open path, now wondering if every movie/book that was fantasy related, was actually based on real things

Only one way to find out

"... Um... Do you know what lightsabers are?" - Marinette

"You mean those glowy sticks that come in a lot of colors?" - Mushu

"Yes." - Marinette

"... Is this another one of those ‘movies’ of yours or something?" - Mushu

"Maybe..." - Marinette

"... Let me guess, you want to know if ‘The Force Is Strong Within You’, and try to find a way to get a glowy stick too? Is that it?" - Mushu crossed his t̶i̶n̶y̶ travel size arms as he spoke

"... Possibly." - Marinette slowly continued down the path

"... That ain't gonna happen." - Mushu hid himself back in Marinette's hoodie, cutting off their conversation. And Marinette got the message and kept walking... for about a minute

"... So, are you the ‘Kwami’ of Sass or?" - Marinette almost at the end of the path

"What the hell makes you think that?" - Mushu popped back out to look at Marinette

"You just seem a bit sassy to me." - Marinette

"Oh no you didn't!" - Mushu moved his head side to side and snapped his claws while moving his paw infront of his face

"Or Drama? Which is it?" - Marinette walking up to a gate

"Neither! I'll have you know, 𝐈 am the Kwami of Perfection!" - Mushu

"That's kinda vague don't you think?" - Marinette walking through the gate and closing it behind her

"...No, I'm perfect in every way, how can that be vague?" - Mushu

"Well, it's perfectly vague, you could make the world or a tiny useless object perfectly useless, or perfectly useful. So, I see it as a vague thing." - Marinette walking towards a buildings' garden with many, many different kinds of plants

"Okay, I see your point, but... It's perfection." - Mushu's words made Marinette laugh - "What is it now?"

"It's just, with you, someone could draw the shittiest drawing in history, and if you ‘perfected’ it, it would become the perfect shitty masterpiece!" - Marinette had to stop walking from all the laughter

"... That's not funny." - Mushu

"Yes it is! ... WAIT! Has it actually happened?!" - Marinette tried to sound serious, but still had a few giggles as she spoke

"... You people enjoyed those cave paintings didn't you?" - Mushu

"... Holy shit you're old." - Marinette finally stopped laughing when it sunk in Mushu was ancient

"... I'm gonna sleep now, m'kay?" - Mushu stared at Marinette for a moment, before making sure to whip his tail at Marinette's cheek as he went back to the warmth of her hoodie

Marinette ignored the tail whip and entered the garden when she was completely done laughing. She continued over to the front door, and opened it. As soon as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, she was instantly jumped my Bud and Lou, causing her to laugh as she was covered in slobber.

"Hello Marigold, how was your day?" - Ivy coming out of the kitchen to greet Marinette

"It was great, I had a lot of fun." - Marinette said as she hugged Bud and Lou one more time before getting back up

"I'm glad to hear that, dinner will be ready soon." - Ivy walked over to Marinette to give her a kiss on her forehead

"Okay... um, where is everyone else?" - Marinette couldn't sense their energy anywhere within the building

"Well, Harley is out... doing some business, Ed is running from Batman again, and Selina... I think is robbing another high-end place." - Ivy walking back to the kitchen with Marinette behind her

"Oh, well, I was hoping to show everyone something I found." - Marinette taking off her coat only to see Mushu giving her a VERY disapproving look before heading into the kitchen with Mushu on her shoulder

"And what might that be-" - Ivy froze the moment she saw this tiny thing on Marinette's shoulder.

"Marinette Isley-Quinzel, what is that?" - Ivy with a very concerned look on her face

"Before you say or do anything, this is Mushu, and I'm stuck with him?" - Marinette wasn't really sure how to tell her mom she bound her soul to a t̶i̶n̶y̶ travel size Dragon God

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I'm- ACK!" - Mushu was instantly grabbed by a carnivorous plant

"IT CAN TALK?!" - Ivy had the plant try and swallow Mushu

"WAIT MOM, NO! He's fine I summoned him!" - Marinette had the plant spit Mushu out, only for him to go face first on the kitchen door and stick to it, in an almost cartoon like fashion, he very slowly slid down the door

"You- what?" - Ivy was very confused

"I summoned him with magic...?" - Marinette suddenly sensed her other mom

"What'd I miss, and who summoned what?" - Harley slammed the door open with a serious look on her face... causing Mushu to get smooshed between the door and the wall, everyone heard a tiny crack of something

"What was dat sound just now?" - Harley looked at a shocked Ivy and a pale Marinette before looking behind the door and seeing a living... something smashed like a cartoon

"... Ives, have yuh been growin' your ‘special’ plants again? Cawze I tink I'm seein' tings… mawh than usual."

"No, what you're seeing is real." - Ivy walked over to Mushu, and carefully grabbed him (well more like peeled him) off the wall

"Den what am I lookin' at exactly?" - Harley poked Mushu, and saw his eye twitch - "Dat's not right."

"M-Mushu? Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?!" - Marinette held up 3 fingers

". . . 3?" - Mushu spoke meekly

"Are yuh okay?" - Harley asked Mushu with slight concern

"What does it look like?" - Mushu glowed faintly before returning to his normal look

"Was dat Magic?!" - Harley asked excitedly

"No, it was a trick of the light, OF COURSE IT WAS MAGIC!" - Mushu crossed his arms as he hopped onto Marinette's shoulder

"You don't have to be rude about it, besides, you're a god, you can't exactly die... right?" Marinette didn't notice the growing shock on both her mom's faces

"Of course not. Like I've said, 𝑰 am Perfection, and as such, I can't die in such an imperfect way, obviously." - Mushu lifted his head high with his chest out as he spoke in a proud manner

"Geeze, you and Chloé would love eachother." - Marinette looked at Mushu, who was ignoring her gaze

"Hold Up did I just squish a GOD?!" - Harley was both in awe and shock... mostly very concerned shock

"...Why yes you did, now *ehem*, Bow Down Before Me Foolish Mortal, Before 𝐈 Smight Thee Imperfect Self." - Mushu had such a smug look on his face, before Marinette held him upsidedown - "Hey! Blueberry, what the heck?! Put me Down this instant!" - Mushu went quite after realizing his voice cracked

"Apologize please." - Marinette holding Mushu from his tale

"For what?" - Mushu

"For freaking out my mom, she believes in that stuff, so if you please." - Marinette

"... *sigh* Because Blueberry insists, 𝑰, the Mighty Mushu, Kwami of Perfection: Apologize for what I said that may or may not have scared you." - Mushu spoke reluctantly, but sounded somewhat sincere

"... So where d'ja get de tawhkin' lizard?" - Harley asked as she went to grab some coffee

"Magic summon." - Marinette replied with a smile

"... That's it! All of Yall LISTEN UP, I am NOT a Lizard, for the last time I AM A DRAGON! D.R.A.G.O.N!" - Mushu fed up with being called a lizard

"Then why are you so tiny?" - Ivy asked innocently

"Tiny? Tiny!? I AM NOT TINY! I AM TRAVEL SIZE FOR CONVENIENCE!" - Mushu was really fed up, he hopped off of Marinette's shoulder and started walking to the door

"Mushu, where are you going?" - Marinette watching Mushu walk closer to the door

"I need some fresh air, so I'll just be outside thank you very much." - Mushu continued walking and phased through the door that lead to the Gardens

"Wait, if he could phase through stuff... Why de fuck was he flattened like a pancake on de wall?" - Harley sipping her coffee

"He's just a little dramatic." - Marinette

"I'd say mawh than ‘just a little’ Cupcake, he needs therapy... do Gods even go tuh therapy sessions?" - Harley looking outside the window to see Mushu yelling his head off

"And he's yelling infront of the Common and Green Figwort, my poor babies..." - Ivy was just about ready to have another plants silence Mushu, but Marinette had gone out to Mushu, looked at him for a second, said something that shocked Mushu, and Ivy (Ivy was listening through her babies) before Marinette came back in with a smile. Both adults looked back to the Garden, only to see Mushu standing there like he was just slapped in the face.

"What on earth d'ja say tuh make him look like yuh offended his very existence?" - Harley, who has no clue what Marinette said

"Nothing really." - Marinette acting like she didn't

"Marigold, who taught you that kind of threat, it left him speachless!" - Ivy

"Ummm, Aunt Selina?" - Marinette now looking a bit guilty

"What d'ja say?" - Harley

"I only said that ‘I would refuse to help him find his broach if he keeps acting like a child.’ Did I go to far?" - Marinette looking a bit worried

"My Cupcake's learnin' how tuh threaten people, and dis was huh first threat... I'm SO PROUD!" - Harley gave Marinette a big hug - "Dey grow up so fast!"

"What-!" Marinette was soon getting a bone crushing hug from both her moms

"We're so proud of you, but don't do that to everyone, only bad guys, okay?" - Ivy

"Ok... but... I... can't... BREATHE-!!"

·•——–·Now lets back up a bit·–——•·

Starfire was in the living room watching Nightstar beat everyone in UMS3, she didn't expect to see Beastboy being strangled while Raven recorded it infront of the Zeta-Tube, but soon realized it was Beastboy and Raven's friend that was to visit the Tower today. Everything seemed somewhat normal about the girl, though she was quite strong if she got Beastboy in a headlock. The next thing that came as a surprise, was Marinette beating everyone in UMS3, she had never seen anyone beat someone so fast before, and then, Robin challenged her to a duel with real swords! Had he lost his mind? She was a civilian!

But Starfire knew there was no way to change his mind, so she gave them wooden swords instead, and hoped that he wouldn't hurt Marinette to much.

... But then she saw that not one of his attacks affected her, she had a perfect defensive position, and was easily dodging all of Robins strikes. Then she saw Robin back off, thinking about something. She was about to call it a tie, but was cut off by Robin throwing instutls at Marinette, it shocked Starfire, Robin had never thrown insults in a simple duel. She looked to Marinette, she thought the girl might cry, but that's when Starfire saw it, something was VERY different about Marinette, while through the whole match she was calm and overall happy, she suddenly had a weired energy to her, she didn't change her expression, she just stood there. When Marinette spoke, it sent shivers down Starfire's spine, the icy tone in her voice wasn't something normal for any civilian. Marinette quickly defeated Robin after that, and Starfire went to make sure he was alright. She continued to watch Marinette more closely, both during the hack off and the magic summoning. Starfire was concerned that Marinette may be a villain, or working for one, so she went to the Watchtower for their daily reports. Starfire was first to arrive, she sat at the table, wondering why Marinette seemed so... destructive...

It took about 30 minutesfor everyone to arrive, each JL member listing off their findings for the day, then it was Diana's turn to report in.

"Everything is as it should be with the Amazons, and Themyscira. Though one of our artifacts acted strangely, it stoped quickly, and is nothing that should be of concern, that is all." - Diana sat back down once she was done, and then it was Zatanna's turn

"And do you have anything to report in today?" - Batman spoke from his spot at the table

"Well, I do not know if it is to be of any concern at the moment, but at around 5:32pm EST time, I felt a... disturbance, it was faint, but also very strong, it alsmost seemed like some kind of Ancient Magic was activated for a short time." - Zatanna seemed to be lost in thought with a worried expression as she spoke

"Were you able to determine it's origins and how long it lasted?" - Batman

"Yes, though it lasted for less than 10 seconds, I was able to find the general area it was in, if you'll please look to the screen." - Zatanna brought up a before and after image Magic Map of Jump City

"As you can see before the time of the anomaly, everything was normal, then withing the 10 seconds it lasted, half of Jump City was covered in a chaotic, and destructive Ancient Magic. This Magic wasn't strong enough to do any damage thankfully, so whoever or whatever caused it, either didn't know how to use this type of Magic, or showed a point of weakness or extreme anger in their core. The only spot that was heavily covered with it was the general area of Titan Tower. As of now we don't know what exactly caused this, but I will see to it that it's checked out thoroughly, I would like to request Dr. Fate, and John Constantine's help in order to make the search quicker." - Zatanna sat back down after Batman gave a nod of approval.

"Starfire, did you sense anything different today while you where in the Tower?" - Batman

Starfire stood up and answered a but nervously

"Yes, infact, I may know who caused it." - Starfire

"Then tell us." - Batman

"I think it was the friend Beastboy and Raven brought to the Tower today." - Starfire

"How old were they, and what was their name?" - Batman

"She is the same age as Beastboy and Raven, and I only know her first name: Marinette." - Starfire

"Well, was their any instance when this Marinette seemed different or angry?" - Zatanna

"Yes... it was during her and Robin's duel..." - Starfire

"What?" - Batman

"Why the hell would Demon Spawn duel a civi?" - Red Hood

"She beat him and everyone else at UMS3. I am unable to change his mind when it is made up, so I kept a close eye on them during their match." - Starfire

"So then she lost to Robin and got mad?" - Nightwing

"No... Robin, couldn't land a hit on her so he threw insults at her to get her mad... and it worked, though probably not how he planned." - Starfire

"Was there any noticable change about her?" - Zatanna

"She had a strange feeling to her afterwars, it felt almost curse like, or... more like looking at death? She asked for Robin to apologize, yet he didn't. Her movements were quick and precise, and she took Robin down." - Starfire

Everyone was in silence at the table... except

"She took down Demon SPAWN OH MY GOD!" - Red Hood was soon laughing his ass of, and fell out of his chair

As Red Hood laughed at the not so funny situation, they all looked to Batman for their next move

"Did she, or anyone mention who her parents where, and where she might live?" - Batman

"No, oddly enough, not once did she or her friends say anything about how she or her family were, nothing about where she lived or names of family members." - Starfire

"Then we'll assign two individuals to keep an eye on her." - Batman

"But who should we send?" - Superman

Red Hood just kept laughing, until Batman spoke up

"We'll send Red Hood." - Batman

"Hahaha- WAIT WHAT?! Why do I have to Babysit?!" - Red Hood

"Becuase you haven't had a mission in a while." - Batman

"Bullshit, I have done a lot of missions lately!" - Red Hood

"Name one mission within the last month you had." - Batman

". . . Fine I'll babysit." - Red Hood grumpily sat back down in his chair

"Was anyone from the Tower somewhat close to her, other than Beastboy and Raven?" - Batman

"Nightstar seemed to be forming a possible good friendship." - Starfire

"Then Nightstar will accompany Red Hood in watching them." - Batman

"Why did you make it sound like she's incharnge of me?! I'm the adult!" - Red Hood was offended, but Batman ignored him and stood up from his seat to finish the meeting.

·•————· The next day ·————•·

Marinette introduce Mushu to her Aunt the next morning, and they got along quite well from the start. Apparently, Mushu likes shiny things, and has agreed to help perfect Catwoman's heists if he gets at least one shiny gem or metal object...

Her Uncle wasn't able to meet Mushu, since he was caught by a Batbird and was sent to Arkham. Which might be a good thing for once, her Uncle never liked small talking creatures.

Marinette couldn't go out, since Raven and Beastboy told her that she was gonna be under surveillance again, and since her moms were out ‘working’ she was left with her Aunt, Mushu, Bud and Lou. Marinette tried to find ways not to be board, but she failed, and was hanging upsidedown from the railing of the metal spral staircase, while blowing bubblegum when her Aunt walked in.

"What are you doing?" - Selina was confused why Marinette was blowing bubblegum upsidedown... again

"*pop*Trying to think of something fun to do." - Marinette

"... Upsidedown?" - Selina walked closer till she was below her Neice, and looking up at her

"Yup *pop*." - Marinette looking at her Aunt

Selina didn't want Marinette to be like that all day, she could get a headache if Marinette stayed like that, and then she thought of something that might be good for Marinette to learn...

"How about we come up with a game?"- Selina smiled as she spoke

"*pop* Okay." - Marinette untangled her legs from the railing and gracefully landed infront of her Aunt

"*pop* What are the rules for this game?" - Marinette looked up at her Aunt with a smile, wondering if the game would be fun

"The rules are simple, no use of weapons, no outside help, at elast for now, no magic or help from Mushu, and no pat downs." - Selina

"Okay, and what is the objective for this game?" - Marinette

"Pickpocket me. It is a useful skill, and we'll make it fun, and if you get good at it, I'll let you join me on a robbing spree or two." - Selina

"Okay, easier said than done, do I have to be in your line of sight, or can I try and do it sneakily?" - Marinette

"Either is fine." - Selina

"Am I allowed to swap the items out with random objects?" - Marinette

"Of course, anything within the rules is allowed, as long as you get the objects." - Selina

"Okay, I'm ready then." - Marinette smiled at her Aunt, happy that this would be fun and useful

And she did remarkably well for her first time. Although Selina put the objects in slightly hard spots in her jackets, Marinette was able to get them, and swap them with other objects similar in size, even when she didn't know what the target item was. They kept on going, and Marinette kept getting better and better with each game. So Selina stepped it up a notch, and started grabbing bigger items, yet Marinette still did well. They took a break around noon for lunch.

"So how are you able to know what kind of item I have, and where, if you didn't see it?" - Selina was wondering how her Kitten managed to make such quick progress in such little time.

"Its' energy." - Marinette replied simply

"What do you mean?" - Selina looked at Marinette, did she have other meta-abilities?

"Everything has its own kind of energy, this table, the silverware, your hidden tazer in your watch." - Marinette listing off different items

"So, you can differentiate the different energies, and know what they are right off the bat?" - Selina

"More or less, I have to know what object the energy is related to, so I would have to at least see it once, and then I can tell what and where it is by the energy, though I can't have a very wide search range, the bigger the object the easier it is to sense it from far away, and the smaller it is, the harder it is to sense from a distance." - Marinette

"Does this also apply to people?" - Selina

"Yes, though the energy of people is unique to only them, I have yet to see two people with the same energy." - Marinette got up from the table to continue their game

"I'm so proud of you!" - Selina gave Marinette a big hug before continuing the game

By the end of the day Marinette was a master at slight of hand. A useful skill for what she had planned. Sometime around 8pm Marinette decided to go out as Wonder Quinn, though her suit had the same color designs, it was altered to fit the cold weather. She also made a special pocket for Mushu within her hoodie, so he could stay in it whether she had it on her head or not. She was running along the rooftops, heading to a special spot where she met up with Beastboy and Raven, they stopped a few crimes as they mostly had fun on the rooftops. They got some snacks and were sitting on some gargoyles...

"... I think I want to steal the Batmobile." - Marinette proclaimed nonchalantly

"*PFFFFF* WHAT?!" - Raven/Beastboy spat there drinks out in shock

"I said I want to steal the Batmobile, I promise I'll return it afterwards." - Marinette smiled sweetly at her friends, they were in for a long, and fast ride.

·•·—–·★·–—·•·

Chapter 7... it took a bit to long, but here it is! Hope you're all staying safe and having an absolutely marvelous day !BUG-OUT! 🐞💮🐞

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜Tag List〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

1st Place★: @jumpingjoy82

2nd Place★: @myazael

3rd Place★: @solangelo252

@fandom-trapped-03, @zorua-adorable, @blueblossombliss, @thefangirlwholiterallydies, @woe-is-me0, @lady-bee-fechin, @jayjayspixiepop, @kashlyn, @toodaloo-kangaroo, @buginetye, @our-preciousss, @vroomtaka, @alessialeone6997, @doll246, @aestheticnpoetic, @moon5608, @moonlightstar64, @kking13, @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog, @laurcad123, @fandomsuniteatonce, @yokomisaki

Maribat? Yknow I think we are focusing on the wrong crossover ship

Introducing

ALFU (alfred x master fu)

@buginetye

Damian, after Marinette silently hands him the mouse miraculous: Mullo, get squeaky!

Jason: ...Why are you wearing a mouse outfit, Damian...?

Tim: Oh my God, he became a furry!

Damian: *simply doesn’t care because he’s too busy cuddling all the Kwami except Mullo*

Marinette, concerned *sees Damian trying to pet all the kwami with tears in his eyes*: What's wrong Dami?

Damian *ready to start openly sobbing in despair*: I don't have enough hands!

Rest of the Batfam: What the actual fu-

*Nothing* before this managed to get him akumatized, but this? This is what pushes him over the edge. And you know what’s even worse? Due to the nature of the akuma...

...the costume is bee-themed.

Random things the bat kids are afraid of:

Dick: chocking on the grape when he tries to catch them with his mouth.

Jason: bees

Tim: slipping in the shower

Damian: Santa clause

Duke: cutting himself while shaving

Cass: hula hooping

Steph: that she forgot to remove her fork from her leftovers and that the microwave will explode

Barbra: sending a text to the wrong person and then forgetting about it

Bruce: Bats

Alfred: nothing??? Have y’all seen this man??? God herself could go for the neck and Alfred would probably just high-five her

Okay alright so @moonlitceleste bee movie AU where the only change from the normal bee movie AUs is that Jason is VERY scared of bees.

He jumps 3 feet in the air, hits his head, and passes out for 12 hours the first time he meets Pollen.

He wouldn’t leave the covers of Mari’s bed for 3 days after he first met Chloé, aka Queen Bee. He is very scared of her.

Random things the bat kids are afraid of:

Dick: chocking on the grape when he tries to catch them with his mouth.

Jason: bees

Tim: slipping in the shower

Damian: Santa clause

Duke: cutting himself while shaving

Cass: hula hooping

Steph: that she forgot to remove her fork from her leftovers and that the microwave will explode

Barbra: sending a text to the wrong person and then forgetting about it

Bruce: Bats

Alfred: nothing??? Have y’all seen this man??? God herself could go for the neck and Alfred would probably just high-five her

Yes!!! And every time Jason asks why there were so many bees she has a different excuse because duh, he wouldn’t keep asking if he believed her, right?

The excuses get weirder and weirder. They include, but are not limited to:

I had a bunch of flowers in my bag (“Marinette, you were cuddling the bees. Your bag was 3 feet away, on the ground.”)

I’m a beekeeper (“You live in Gotham. Where would you keep them, and would they be here?”)

I had some very strong perfume (“You absolutely did NOT.”)

I’m using them for research, as part of an experiment (“You’re a fashion designer, not a scientist.”)

I was cursed (“How would you get cursed with bees? And why?”)

I’m part of a bee cult (“Can I join?”)

Pssst @moonlitceleste I have an idea

So since I think Ra canonically exists in Miraculous, imagine this:

Through some weird Ladybug and/or Guardian stuff, Marinette gets more powers related to previous holders or other gods (since kwamis are pretty much gods) (if Guardian than possibly of other Miraculous because I don’t think Ra was Ladybug).

Anyway she was just crying and she stopped but now she’s kinda just. Hanging out with all these bees

Jason finds her and is like. Damn. Cute girl!!!

He wants to flirt with her but his brain short-circuits, he sees the bees, and he says

“Ya like jazz?”

Pssst @moonlitceleste I have an idea

After Hawkmoth is defeated she heals Duusu and makes a sentimonster and gives it free will. The sentimonster?

A KWAMI SIZED VERSION OF HER

She jokes that the mini Marinette is like her child

Barry B. Benson: *somehow making out with mini Marinette*

Jason: hey Mari what the fuck

Marinette: they grow up so fast :,)

AU where instead of the bee kwami being pollen its Barry B. Benson

League!Marinette for my Daminette as twins AU!