Chapter Text
I want to be a superhero, I want to have powers too!
13-year-old Sabine Cheng stood outside of the closed door, knowing perfectly well that her mother and younger sister were on the other side, talking. They had informed her not to listen in on their conversation and Sabine had promised she wouldn't, but she couldn't help herself. She had a bad feeling about what they were talking about; about what was going to happen. Everyday, she would talk to her parents and tell them what she wanted; “I want to be a superhero, I want to have powers too!” Although, she wasn't sure whether her mother listened to her at all. Her father, Luis Cheng, always paid attention to her whenever she wanted, always made sure she was never sad or feeling negative. Caroline Cheng, her mother on the other hand, paid more attention to her younger sister, Madelyn Cheng. The two of them would always do all kinds of stuff together, and most of the time Caroline would always forget that Sabine even existed, due to the lack of interaction between the two.
Sabine had been so sure her mother was going to transfer her power to her younger sister, but she hadn't been bothered by that because she believed her father was going to hand down his power to her.
Everything about her wish shattered to pieces when she found out her father was actually powerless.
In the world of Miraculous, lucky people were born with special abilities; powers. Every human being with powers was able to transfer their power over to someone else of their wish, both parties had to actually agree before it could happen.
If both of your parents had powers, whether they be transferred or not, there was an insanely high possibility that you were going to get your own. If only one of your parents had their own power, there was a low chance of getting your own, and if none of your parents had any powers, it was impossible for you to be born with your own. The only way to get your powers was if someone in the world died and their power had to be passed down, or if someone agreed to give you theirs. In this situation, only the mother was born with her own power, while the father was powerless, so as the result, both sisters, Sabine and Madelyn ended up with no powers at all.
If you had your own powers and passed away, your power wouldn't pass away with you. Instead, your power would leave your body and go to another powerless human being. Usually, your power would go over to any one of the powerless human beings of your family that you are mostly close with, but if every member of your family had powers, yours will go to a random powerless person.
Sabine presses her ear against the door, glad it wasn't sound-proofed. She could hear the voices of her mother and sister speaking, and just like she had expected, she overheard her mother talking about how she was going to transfer her powers over to her younger sister. She ran her arm over her eyes, wiping them of her tears before they could fall down. When she heard footsteps nearing her, she immediately withdrew from the door and pretended to be doing something else. The door opened and both Caroline and Madelyn walked out of the room.
“Sabine.” Caroline folded her arms as she looked over at her daughter with a stern look on her face. “I've already decided that I will be passing my power down to Madelyn. I have a feeling that she would use it much more wisely than you could , after all she is much responsible than you are.” Beside her, Madelyn was staring at Sabine with a cocky look on her face. Caroline unfolded her arms as she began to walk away from her. “You can get your own power from someone else.”
“W-whatever!” Sabine stood up from her knees and tried to look tough, forcing her tears to not come flowing down. “Besides, it's not like your power could help me out with anything. It's useless!”
Madelyn looked over at her, her very own glare situated on her face. “At least it's better than not going at all!”
Caroline Cheng!
Power | Age: She can change her age, making herself look much younger or older whenever she wishes. She can extend her real age up to 200; her fake age doesn't last forever though. She can pick how long she would like to use it, between one second to one year. Whenever she uses a fake age, it doesn't cancel out her real age, so for example, she can pretend to be seven years old but that doesn't change the fact that she is actually thirty-three years old. Of course, every power comes with a weakness. She would have to wait a week before reusing an age number, the time limit (a year), drops down to two days. Whenever the power is passed, the time limit goes back to being a year.
Sabine whirled around and took off away from them, making her way to the front door. She swung the door open and ran away from the house, disappointment and anger overtaking her. Maybe she should have tried to get closer to her mother, maybe she should have tried becoming her mother's favourite.
Whatever.
Things were decided now; whenever her mother made a decision, there was no convincing her out of it. It wasn't like she could go back in time and repair every single mistake she made.
She stopped walking when she felt drops of rain falling on her face. Looking up, she realized that it was starting to rain. She hadn't even noticed how dark the sky had seemed when she ran out of the house, and looking back, she noticed how far away from the house she was already.
Whatever! It's not like they would care if I'm gone.
With that thought in her head, Sabine continued her walk, not knowing where she was heading.
Suddenly, she heard voices coming from not too far away from her, making her to stop for a moment. The voices sounded like a bunch of children her age, so she started heading over to where she thought they might be. Soon she found herself in front of three kids that looked like they were about to fight. Two of them were on one side while the third one on the other side. The two kids looked to be making fun of the other kid, and when Sabine saw one pick up a rock to throw at the third kid, she lost it.
“Hey! Stop that!” she quickly ran forward to the third kid and stood in front of him, spreading her hands as if in a form of wings. The two other kids laughed and pointed at her, before yelling for her to get out of the way, but Sabine did not move. Instead, she stood in the way, face growing more determined to chase these bullies away.
“Hey,” the boy standing right behind her spoke up. Sabine turned around to look at him. “You better move!” he said harshly. Sabine bit her lip but moved out of the way. She then watched as the boy she had been protecting started walking towards the bullies.
“Huh? What are you doing?” One of the bullies said with a smirk, holding onto a stone firmly. “You're not afraid I'm going to throw this stone at you?” When the boy didn't say anything, the bully continued. “Alright then, you idiot!” he took a step back before raising his arm and throwing the stone right at the boy. Sabine yelled for the boy to get out of the way, and he did just in time, dodging the stone.
Then the big picked up the stone and looked at the bully that had thrown it right in the eyes. After two seconds, the bully was down on his knees, scratching his head. “Huh?” he spoke, looking around everywhere. “What am I doing here? Where am I?”
Sabine gasped, realizing that the boy had powers of his own. The boy looked over at the second bully , threatening him with just the look on his face. The bully soon gave up, grabbed his friend and the both of them scurried away from him. After that was done, the boy turned over to Sabine, and after a while of staring at her, cracked a smile.
“I'm sorry if I seemed harsh earlier, I just didn't want you to get hurt,” he said walking over to her. “I knew he was going to throw that stone, and I would have felt guilty if he had hit you. Anyway…” he took out his hand for Sabine to shake. “I'm Tom.”
Tom Dupain!
Power | Wipe-out - Whenever he touches an item that his target had touched last and looked them in the eye for two seconds, he can choose to wipe any part of their memory for as long as he wants; the memory wipe-out doesn't last forever though , as the time limit is a year. He can even choose to wipe out all of their memories. Another way of wiping their memories is by touching them physically . Although, if he chooses to wipe out the same person's memory, the time limit (a year) goes down to two days. Whenever he passes his power down to another person, the time limit goes down to being a year. He can also choose to bring back a person's memory whenever he wants, and he can make it temporary or a lifetime.
“H-hi,” Sabine took the boy's hand and shook it firmly, not knowing if she was nervous or impressed by what the boy had done. She couldn't help but be jealous that the boy was the same age as her and had his own powers. It made her remember about her mother's decision and how she couldn't change what happened. “What you did here was amazing!”
“Thanks, it was nothing.” Tom chuckled as he looked away. Although, I can't exactly control my power yet. One time, I touched my mother, and without even meaning too, I wiped away all of her memories. It's a good thing I'm skilled at bringing people's memories back or else that would have been a disaster. Also, I got grounded for it.” He laughed a bit and Sabine could only laugh along with him. When their laughter died down, Tom got serious. “Anyway, what are you doing here? It's raining.”
“Uh, I…” Sabine didn't exactly want to tell him that she ran away from home due to an get and jealousy, so all she could do was return the question to him. “What are 'you're doing out here in the rain?”
“I was just walking back home when those two bullies showed up and started testing my patience. I tried not to use my power, but I couldn't hold it in. Don't worry though, the memory I erased from the bully will be back in two hours.” Tom smirked. “Come on, follow me back to my place. It's not very far from here. We're already soaked as it is, and any more of this, we'll catch a cold.”
Sabine followed him without thinking about it first. She had to admit that she was indeed getting cold in this weather, so there was no point in denying such a nice offer. “Um…” a question formed in her head, though she wasn't quite sure if she should ask. The whole thing made her feel worse about herself, and before she knew it, the question was being blurted out of her mouth. “Are both of your parents with powers?”
“Yes, they are. I did inherit my power from my grandfather after he died, so I was about two years old when I got my power. I remember how I had been when I heard the news, and from then on I tried to make the most of it, practicing every time I could. I eventually learned how to bring back memories when I was eight, but removing them whenever I wanted was a bit hard.” Tom's face changed after those words. “I remember how everyone would always stay away from me, afraid of losing their memories and never getting them back, so the only close people j had were my parents. They were so supportive as well, and their beliefs in me is why I continue trying day after day.”
“You're so lucky.”
“Yeah,” Tom scratched his head, “I do consider myself as lucky.” he then looked up with a smile. “We're here.” Sabine noticed that they were now standing in front of a house. Tom opened the door, letting her in first, and he closed it after he got inside. “Hmm, I never got to ask; what's your ability?”
Sabine looked down. “I do kind of wish you never asked.” she started getting embarrassed all over again as Tom stated at her with widening eyes, realizing that she meant what she had just said.
“Oh, I… I'm sorry I asked, I'll get us towels to dry off with.” He cleared his throat before he started walking away, entering another room. He soon came back, holding two towels. He handed Sabine one and she took it with a grateful smile. “You know,” Tom continued as he used the other one on himself. “You don't need to have powers to be considered a hero.”
Sabine looked at him with a surprised look before she relaxed and smiled at him. “Thank you.”