Chapter Text
Running around Gotham and living in abandoned buildings had never really been part of Marinette’s plan. Not that Marinette had much of a plan in the first place, but pretending like she did made her feel slightly better about her situation.
It was her third night in Gotham, trying to find one Alfred Pennyworth.
Master Fu hadn’t known where the former Miraculous holder was, and it had only been because Duusu could sense Alfred slightly that Marinette was even in Gotham in the first place.
She didn’t get to Gotham with a plane like a normal person though, she got there with the help of Kaalki.
It was kind of hard to take a plane somewhere without any type of legal papers.
She had no ID, no passport, no birth certificate.
Marinette had tried different ways to find Alfred, she had even checked to see if he was dead, despite Duusu being able to sense him, just to be safe. It had all been a bust so far, but Marinette wasn’t planning on giving up.
She wasn’t quite sure what she would be doing if she did.
At least she didn’t have any issues with money. Master Fu had left all of his money, which was a surprisingly high amount, for her when he passed away. Marinette didn’t try and bother with sleeping at a hotel though. Most places in Gotham wanted some form of legitimization, and when all she had was money upfront, not many people would be willing to rent her a room.
Her first night in Gotham, Marinette had rented a room in a Motel, and after that, she swiftly made the decision to never do that again. She still got shudders when thinking about it.
It was after a long day of a lot of searching, and a lot of nothing, that Marinette found herself sitting on the roof of a random building at night, looking over the city.
It reminded her of late-night patrols with Chat Noir, resting at the Eiffel tower, teasing and talking to one another.
Marinette hadn’t even registered that she was going to cry until the tears fell down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away, despite no one being around to see her cry. It was in the small things, and it made it hard for her to concentrate on her new mission, but Marinette wouldn’t break. Breaking meant to her that she regretted her decision, and Marinette couldn’t regret her decision. She just couldn’t.
Marinette was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps, and she was quick to get on her feet and look for the source of the sound.
There, on the building next to the one Marinette had been sitting on, was one Nightwing, a Gotham vigilante, if Marinette remembered correctly.
He took a step forward, opening his mouth to say something probably, but Marinette never gave him the chance.
She ran.
Nightwing shouted at her to stop, but Marinette didn’t listen. If he caught her, Marinette didn’t know what she would do or say. The risk was too big.
She reached the edge of the roof, and rather than stopping like Nightwing probably expected her to, Marinette jumped.
For one heart-stopping moment, she didn’t touch the ground, until she landed on the other building in a roll. Marinette didn’t look behind her to see if he followed, focusing instead on just getting away.
It was a regular patrol, the bat family splitting up to cover as much of Gotham as possible, when Dick spotted a girl sitting at the edge of a roof on a tall building. Her shoulders were shaking, as if she was crying, and his mind immediately went to the thought of the girl jumping off.
Dick took a step forward to stop her. She must have heard him when he started approaching her, because her head snapped up to look at him. Her eyes were red and puffy, but Dick couldn’t see much more than that. The lower half of her face was covered by a black surgical mask.
Dick was going to talk to her, but before he even got the chance to, she bolted. He yelled at her to stop, only for her to jump off the building. Dick thought for a moment that it was it, that she was going to fall and he wouldn’t be fast enough to save her.
But then she landed on the other side in a roll and just kept running.
Dick stopped at the edge where she had jumped, just watching as her form became smaller and smaller the farther she went.
He touched the comm in his ear, his brothers’ voices going off, asking him what happened.
“I think I just ran into another street kid.”
He couldn’t see her anymore.
“I thought she was going to jump off the roof, but…” Dick shook his head. “I’ll explain more at home.”
Still, the image of her red puffy eyes stuck with him through the rest of the patrol. Her distant look was familiar to him. Grief. Mourning. Dick didn’t like thinking of the implications of what it could mean.
She didn’t look very old either, probably around Damian’s age if Dick had to make a guess.
His mind ran through the possibilities of who she could possibly be, but he knew that this wasn’t his place of expertise. Tim could probably come up with more answers than he could.
The girl must have been trained in some way though. She shouldn’t have been able to make that jump, couldn’t without some form of training. It was too fluid, clearly something she had done before. She had been fast too.
Maybe he should have chased after her…
Marinette let out a tired sigh as she slipped inside the abandoned apartment she had been sleeping in.
All the windows were covered and blocked with planks, as were the doors, but Marinette had found a loose plank that she could pull off to get in.
She sat on the cold floor, resting her head against the wall and closing her eyes for a few seconds, trying to calm her hammering heart. She took off her backpack, where the Miraculous box was in, and placed it in her lap.
“That was close.”
Tikki.
Marinette cracked an eye open, looking at her kwami and giving a tired nod.
“We’re still no closer to finding Alfred,” Tikki added, making Marinette sigh tiredly.
“I know Tikki, I… I’ll figure something out, I promise.”
It was quiet for a moment, as Tikki just looked over her chosen.
Bags way too big for a seventeen-year-old were under her eyes, and her hair was a mess from the wind after she had run away. Marinette looked exhausted.
“Don’t worry, Marinette, it’s going to be okay,” Tikki nuzzled her cheek, and Marinette fought hard not to cry again.
“It’s just- it’s so hard.”
Tikki had been Marinette’s rock since the final battle against Hawkmoth. She had been against Marinette’s plan, but she also knew there was nothing she could do to dissuade her chosen from the plan that Marinette had made.
So instead, Tikki supported her chosen through her grieving, not letting her be alone when she was hurting.
Marinette had always put others before herself, and it was painful to see her force herself through this mission. It made Tikki worry.
Would Marinette dedicate her life to the Miraculous and the order? Tikki hoped not.
Marinette didn’t even have a sketchbook with her. She kept saying that it was because she simply didn’t have the time, but Tikki knew better.
Perhaps she could talk Marinette into taking a break tomorrow. Alfred Pennyworth was probably not going anywhere, and if he did, then Duusu would be able to tell.
Tikki just didn’t want to watch her chosen wither away.
“There’s no threat right now, it’s okay.”
Marinette took a few shaky breaths before giving Tikki a watery smile.
“Thank you, Tikki. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for Marinette, you deserve so much more than all of this. After we find Alfred, we’re going to look for a new home.”
The look Tikki gave Marinette left no room for argument, and Marinette found herself agreeing with her Kwami.
She couldn’t continue living the way she was now, staying in abandoned places. It was cold, and Marinette was worried about what she would do once it was winter. She would be going into hibernation mode, and without a proper place to stay, Marinette feared she would freeze to death before she managed to rebuild the order. It just wasn’t that easy when there was no documentation of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
But, she could think about that later. For now, her first priority would be to find Alfred.
"What happened out there?" Asked Bruce, looking at his oldest son.
"I don't really know, if I'm honest," Dick said, looking at the rest of his family with furrowed brows. "She was crying, I’m sure about that, but..." Dick trailed off, shaking his head.
"You thought she was going to jump?" Bruce asked. He had heard what his son had been saying over the comm when it happened, but he wanted to be sure.
"She did jump, over to the other building," Dick said, eyes trying to convey what he was saying. "She took a leap of faith with a three-meter distance."
It was quiet in the Batcave as they all stared at the oldest Robin in disbelief.
"She jumped between the buildings?" Jason asked, just to be sure.
"And all the other buildings after that. She has experience of some kind, but why?"
Dick was mostly confused about the whole thing. He knew that look in her eyes though, for that split second he saw them. She was grieving.
"I think she might be a new street kid," Dick said, and the others looked at him in confusion.
"Why do you think that?" Tim asked from his seat by the computer, trying to find the girl via security cameras around the city.
"She was crying when I spotted her, it was part of the reason that I thought she was going to jump off in the first place. She must be new to the streets," Dick said, shrugging. "Doesn't explain her experience with free-running though."
Tim let out an annoyed sigh by the computer, before turning around to face the others.
"Either way, I can't find her on any cameras. Don't know how that is but..."
It was concerning, and a tense quiet took over the family, as they thought of the possibilities.
"We'll keep a lookout for her. If you spot her running rooftops, you'll report and try to approach her cautiously. She's too much of a mystery for us to not be careful,” Bruce ordered.
It wasn't rare for the members of the bat family to spot street kids. Honestly, they saw them on a daily basis. But one running across the rooftops with expertise was more concerning, and when they didn't know if she could actually pose a threat, they needed to be careful.
Dick just felt bad about it. And he was worried.
He was convinced that she was going to jump off. He didn't know what he would do if he was unable to stop it before it happened.