Chapter Text
And the journey down the river.
Marinette tried to paddle the shield towards the snowy shore, she really did try, she tried paddling with her arm in the ice cold water (giving up that after a couple minutes) and screamed into the woods for her friends (only giving up once her throat gave up). But there was something about the current that refuses to let her leave the center of the river, and the forest stayed silent, making Marinette more and more frustrated and having her question whether or not she actually has the gift of good luck. Chloe was also no help with her large, yellow dress taking up the majority of the shield and her, herself clinging to Ladybug in dramatism at all times.
Eventually, as the night fell and a chill settled in, Marinette gave up and laid back against the pile of fabric.
It was then that something heavy landed on her chest. Striking her firmly and knocking the wind out of her.
This set off another large set of shrill screams from Chloe, as Marinette looked to what had fallen on her and where it had come from. She was now looking up to a small black cat with bored, green eyes. And an abnormally large spotted beetle hovered above them. The beetle buzzed for a few seconds before it finally rested on the cat's head, the cat itself not flinching at the landing and continued to stare lazily at Marinette. In the cat's mouth was a velvet pouch, Red with spots. Chloe continued to scream, and Marinette decided to address that problem before addressing the cat and bug.
“Chloe!” She elbowed Chloe in the gut, stopping the screaming but not her hysterics. “Calm down.”
“BUT IT’S A GIANT BUG!” Chloe yelled, trying to bat it way. Marinette shifted to keep the cat and bug away from her.
“You just spent the last six months hiding from a giant goo monster, this shouldn’t be that bad.”
“But… BUG!”
Marinette rolled her eyes and chose to look towards the two creatures, “And who are you suppose to be?”
The cat slowly blinked at her without a care in the world. The beetle, however, began to move its front arms and fluttered its wings in a little dance. Chloe started to squeal in disgust at it and Marinette elbowed her again.
“Alright no talking, can I assume since you're a bug and you're a cat you're sent by Tikki and Plagg?”
No reaction from the cat; the beetle made a weird chirping noise and danced more enthusiastically. Marinette nodded, glad that her fairy godmother is still trying to help her. She then addressed the bag in the cat's mouth.
“Is that for me?“
The cat moved the bag away from her hand and went to sniff her, stuffing their nose in her side bag.
“Hey!” Marinette pushed the cat away from the bag and tried to get the pouch from them. The cat once again dodged her; with the beetle wobbling to keep its balance on their head, before the cat went back in to poke its nose at the bag.
“Ug!” Chloe said, “what a mangy, awful thing.”
“Chloe stop,” Marinette said before talking to the cat again, “Listen There is nothing in here that cats eat.” she showed him the bag, pulling out a few crust pieces of bread and cookies and whatever food she took from Chloe. The cat sniffed at them and bristled, turning away from her and flicking their tail in her face. The beetle rotated itself on the cat's head to face Marinette, lightly smacking the cat with its tiny black bug arms.
“So I don't get what's in the bag unless I give you food? What's with that?” Marinette pouted and looked at the beetle. “what about you? Will you help me or do you want this bread?”
The beetle chirped loudly and crawled down the cat's back to instead grab the cookies in it two front arms, doing a little dance before fluttering its wings and flying off.
“Okay! Leave me abandoned here with an emotionless, unhelpful cat...and Chloe! I'm fine with this!” Marinette yelled at the disappearing beetle. She groaned and tried to pull her legs in closer to herself. And just let the river float her farther and farther away from home. Her hands went up to scratch the cats ear absentmindedly as she thought of home. Images of Sabrina running away across the palace roof and into the night, of Ivan and Mylene turned to stone, of Chat and Alya disappearing into the snow. Were they okay? Was Chat, Alya, or even Sabrina okay? Is there some way to return Ivan and Mylene back to their normal selves once more?
“Ahem.” She heard Chloe clear her throat. And looked up at her.
Chloe’s back was straightened and she was looking down at Marinette with a small frown, “I don’t know what’s happening right now. I don’t know who you are, and I definitely don’t know what that was just then with the bug. But if you promise no more bugs…” she paused, “then I'll hire you.”
.
.
.
“Wait, what?”
Chloe proceeded to explain, “Clearly you know who I am. And therefore you know how important I am. My father was an important friend to the old king and I was betrothed to the prince,” Marinette rolled her eyes and tried to not zone out from listening to this spiel. “So I can assume that you rescuing me could mean either three things. One: You are desperately in love with me,”
“NOPE.”
“In which I'll have to politely turn down your advances because, once again, I'm engaged. Or two, my daddy has no doubt put out a reward for my rescue that you wish to gain. Or three, you plan on using me to blackmail my daddy for even more money. And that's a bad idea because my daddy is brave and smart and won't bow to anyone.
So if it’s the money you are after, I can give you a better deal, and will be able to pay you handsomely afterward.”
“I’m kinda already busy Chloe.” Marinette interrupted, but Chloe either chose to ignore or just didn’t hear her at all.
“Hawkmoth has taken from me both my father and my fiancee, and I would like to hire you as my bodyguard to help me locate them. So that I can properly reunite with my one true love.”
“And your dad.”
“ And my daddy. Of course. Once this is done, both the prince and my father will pay you with more money than you would ever see in your life normally.”
“I'm not doing this for the money.”
Chloe didn’t listen to Marinette, “I’ll give you time to think about it. Now that that has been settled, you need to figure out how to get me out of this river. And a way to keep me warm.”
Marinette groaned and prepared to tell Chloe off. But she noticed how Chloe was shivering and understood that the fabric of her dress wasn't made to withstand a cold winter night. Marinette sighed and pulled off her cloak and tossed it at Chloe's face. The fabric of the top Tikki made for her still keeping her generally warm.
The river slowly drifted them down to wherever it was going. Once in awhile, Marinette would try to talk to the cat, sometimes nudging him with her foot, sometimes trying to play I spy with it (since Chloe had no interest in such a trivial game). Most of the time she was trying to ignore Chloe’s yammering as Chloe told her life story. Her mind would drift off, from her parents trapped in Hawkmoth’s dungeon, to Adrien who was missing, and to Alya and Chat Noir.
She worried greatly for Alya, with so much happening Marinette can’t help it. Alya was someone who loved to take control of situations and Marinette wouldn’t doubt Alya taking on saving the kingdom herself, walking straight up to where Hawkmoth was hiding and punching him in his face.
She then thought of Chat. They had met, less than 24 hours ago. And then they were suddenly ripped apart without having any time to figure out what they were supposed to be to each other. From what she could tell she liked Chat. He was funny, skilled, and seemingly smart. He was exactly what she needed right now….
To rescue Adrien of course.
Nothing really changing about their surroundings for a long time. When things did change the sun was starting to rise, painting the morning sky with bright oranges and pinks. Chloe had finished her story she had been rambling about something and ended up drifting off to sleep. a breeze blew in a thick morning fog, Blanketing the river and making it difficult to see far distances.
What the fog did do, of course, was cause Marinette to Jolt in surprise when a large silhouette emerged in front of them. A large stone arc that stretched across the river loomed ahead and cast a large shadow over everything around them. As they neared it Marinette recognized it as a large Bridge, extravagantly large. Unnecessarily, extravagantly large and arching in a perfect semi-circle. And clearly falling into disrepair.
“You know,” Marinette commented to the cat, “I'm one to appreciate the beauty of fine architecture, but I'm starting to think there are way too many beautiful ruins in this kingdom.”
The cat just yawned and flicked its tail.
They floated under the bridge and Marinette discovered the underside to be decoratively painted. While the paint was chipping off, she could make out a large battle scene, with what seemed to be humans, fairies, and animals all mixed together. Among the crowds, there was clear focus of what would be Fairies’ champions. Marinette made out an orange one, a yellow one, and a green one. In the center of the mural was a red one and a black one, together. Marinette guessed that must of been one of Tikki’s previous champions.
“Cat. Do you know why Tikki chose me as her champion?” Marinette asked as she went to absently scratch behind the Cats ear, “Because I don't, In school we learned that Champions are a thing of the past. That fairies don't do that anymore, not even Nooroo, who use to make every king his champion. Champions are always suppose to be these great warriors that saved the entire kingdom from the most terrifying monsters, they were strong and smart and fearless. But I'm just a seamstress, what can I do?”
The cat replied by letting out deep purrs and flopping onto its back, causing Marinette to sigh and move her hand to scratch his stomach instead. “Of course you don't care. Shouldn't you be out there finding Chat? Doesn't he need your help?”
The cat Just Purred more, clearly not caring about a thing, since he is a cat.
As they passed under the bridge, Marinette heard what she thought was the sound of a flute, confusing her. Once out from under, she turned to look behind her to see what that sound was. She was met with the sight of two figures. one was a large silhouette she couldn't make out, though the two glowing purple specks that could be eyes unnerved her. The other figure was clearly a person clad in orange, with the flute in their hands.
The person played a soft melody, and suddenly Marinette's ears were drawn to the sound of rushing water. She turned to look ahead of them to see large rocks rising out of the water, forming deadly rapids.
“Oh no!” Marinette exclaimed, grabbing hold of the sleeping Chloe and shaking her roughly. “Chloe! Chloe wake up! Were in trouble!”
Chloe was drowsy at first, beginning to tell Marinette of for waking her, but once she realized what situation they were in clung to Marinette and let out shrill screams.
“Ladybug do something!” Chloe screamed into Marinette’s ear.
Marinette opened her bag, trying to figure out what to do. She pulled out the rope she had stuffed in there, and then grabbed the cat and stuffed him in the bag.
“We are far enough away from the rapids that maybe I can swim pull us away. Hopefully.” Marinette explained as she took her cloak away from Chloe to wrap around herself and tied one end of the rope to her waist.
“In this freezing water?” Chloe asked. “You going to die! And then I'm going to die!!!!! Oh GOD!!!!!! I'm to pretty to die like this!!!!”
Before jumping into the ice-cold water, Marinette was relieved when she heard the familiar sound of buzzing. She scoured the sky and saw about five large beetles flying towards them.
“Thank goodness you came back!” Marinette said excitedly as the beetles took hold of the other end of the rope and began to tug on it “Let's get out of here, please. Hold on to me Chloe!”
“What is happening?” Chloe exclaimed while wrapping her arms around Marinette’s waist.
All five beetles took hold of the rope and pulled hard, the force of the pulling causing Marinette and the shield to surge forward. They sped across the water, serving a couple times to test how the shield would turn.
And then directed the shield towards the rapids.
“No no no no no no no no no no no no!” Marinette yelled into the air as the shield hit the rapids. The beetles swerved hard lefts and rights to avoid the larger rocks, and the speed caused the shield to bounce on the water. The rough journey was painful, from the bruise forming on her back to the blood being drawn from a terrified Chloe and her nails; all Marinette wanted was for it to be over.
But the last part was the worse, Marinette saw ahead a wall of giant rock, with no proper time to stop or swerve around them. The beetles didn't swerve this time, instead speeding forward to the wall of rock.
The girls screamed as the shield hit the rock, and kept screaming through the surprise as they traveling through the stone as if it wasn't there. The shock of it finally causes Marinette to lose balance, tipping over the shield and making both girls and cat fall into the water and under the surface.
Pulling herself up from the water as fast as she could with coughs and a sputter, She quickly grabbed hold of her flipped shield and clung to it. immediately she was attacked by a wet cat who escaped from the bag and climbed up her face to the top of her head; miraculously the pouch still in their mouth.
“Chloe!” Marinette shouted, coughing up more water; thinking once again she needs to start avoiding water and cliffs for the rest of her life. From behind her, Chloe appeared from under the surface, sputtering, flailing, and Attempting to scream.
“Help! Ladybug!”
“I'm right her Chloe,” Marinette reached out and grabbed Chloe's arm, pulling her towards her.
Above them floated the five beetles, the largest chirping at her happily. The cat just growled.
“I'm with you cat, grrrrr” Marinette glared at the bugs. But they continued to chirp away, grabbing the rope once more and quickly pulling them down the river to what Marinette made out to be a brown wall.
She looked behind her at the river. The water was calmer now, and the fog had cleared, revealing a clear river. There were no signs that the rapids and rocks they just went through even existed, and in the distance the silhouette of the bridge had no figures standing atop it.
What was that?
The brown wall they were being pulled towards happened to be a damn, created by a large family of beavers that skittered away once they arrived. They pulled themselves out of the water, the two girls shivering in the cold. Marinette pulling her hair out of its pigtails to run her fingers through it and attempt to shake it dry.
from the top of the dam, they were able to see that the dam itself was huge. A giant wall of sticks that looked down on a small valley, the water flow being controlled by a series of aqueducts created out of halved trees, flowing down to a smaller river that cut straight through the valley in a straight line.
“These are some extremely talented beavers,” Marinette said out loud.
The sound of beavers chattering to their left drew their attention, and they looked to see a large family of beavers skittering about and hiding behind a large orange fox. It was bigger than any fox she had seen and against the white, snowy background almost seemed to glow. The fox seemed to stare her over and Marinette felt as though she was being inspected. It then looke at the Cat and Beetles. Her animal companions all dipped low into bows, prompting Marinette herself to bow towards the fox. Chloe, instead just looked onwards.
“What on earth are you doing! It's a fox.”
“It’s clearly not a normal fox,” Marinette replied, “Show some respect.”
“You will never catch me bowing to some wild, overgrown ra-”
before Chloe could finish her sentence, Marinette grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into a bow. The fox in return bowed back to them. I then barked at the beavers who scattered, some traveling away down the damn and some leaping forward to inspect and sniff Marinette. Marinette giggled and reached out her hands to allow them to sniff her, while a couple of the braver young ones went behind her and tried nibbling on her bag, her cloak, her shield.
Marinette just smile at them, pulling out the rest of the cookies that the beetles had not taken and breaking them up to pass around to the beavers.
Chloe, had taken large steps back and complained at a distance.
“You know that's our only food right?”
“We'll find more,”
Chloe huffed, and the small beavers continued to snack on Marinette's old cookies. The fox seemed to bark again, drawing Marinette’s attention to it. It looked out to the valley as if pointing to something and Marinette followed it's gaze. The valley was large and split in half by the river, with each half mirroring each other. Two large buildings were settled in the centre of the valley across the river from each other, with large colourful clouds being emitted from both. Surrounding them were large hedge mazes that were grown to the size of trees. But past the hedges there was nothing, the valley stripped barren. Snow covered what looked to be multiple fields designed for farming once the weather gets warmer. Scattered among them seemed to be torn down rubble that could of old farmhouses at one point.
Marinette looked down at the fox, who was still focused on the buildings at the centre of the valley. “What's down there?”
The fox just growled.
“Does it have something to do with Hawkmoth?”
An even deeper growl
“Okay, you know who I am right? And you want me to go down there and see what's up?”
The fox this time turned to Marinette and nodded.
Marinette groaned. “I'm taking orders from a fox,” she paused to think about what to do, but realized she didn't exactly have a choice, “Alright! Let's go.”
Around her the beavers chattered and squeal in celebration, the beetles chirped and buzzed with energy, and it almost looked like the fox smiled; The cat did nothing.
“Come on Chloe,” Marinette said, “I'm guessing we'll have to climb down.”
“In this dress!?” Chloe shrilled, “the fabric will be ruined and there is no way I can climb that!”
Chloe was right, but it was a easy fix. Though what Marinette was about to say made her sick.
“Then get rid of the dress.”
“What?”
“I’ll carry you down, but you're going to have to get rid of the dress.”
“I am NOT climbing down a wall of sticks in my underwear in winter!”
“Then you can stay up here with the beavers.”
She watched as Chloe's face scrunched up and turned three shades of red before giving in.
“Fine! Help me untie it!”
And after a “quick” removal of the top, and top skirts, and almost all the petticoats, and finally the hoop skirt, leaving chloe in her chemise, drawers and a single petticoat. Marinette once again wrapped her in her cloak to stop her from shivering.
Getting ready to leave, Marinette once again bows to the fox, gives the rest of her cookies to the beavers, and searches for the Cat and Beetles who has now disappeared.
“I guess we're on our own.”
And with that they were off, Marinette allowing Chloe to cling to her back as she began to climb down the large damn.