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A few months pass after the defeat of Hawkmoth and Mayura, with their identities being revealed mid-combat on live television; there was nothing that could have been done to prevent this knowledge from getting out, as well as why it was Hawkmoth wanted the Miraculous in the first place as in the middle of the battle Ladybug, and Chat Noir stepped away from the battle and Ladybug returned in a pillar of light with both Miraculous in her possession, the struggle didn't last long after that.

So to prevent his life from being completely ruined by his father moonlighting as a supervillain, Adrien reveals his moonlighting as a superhero. Ladybug, on the other hand, decided to remain anonymous to preserve any sense of normality left in her life.

It took them two years to defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura; halfway through the third year, the justice league released an official statement as to why they didn't interfere in the terrorism and formally invited Ladybug and Chat Noir to join their ranks. Chat agrees, but Ladybug never arrives, and towards the end of 3rd year, Marinette decides she needs a change in environment and decides to move out of Paris to get away from the city she protected for two years after watching those she cares for dying time and time again unable to stop it from happening she couldn't take it anymore and decided to move somewhere else only telling her parents the truth about why.

Using the money she had saved up from her commissions over the last year and a half, Marinette sets her choice deciding to try finding Duusu's old owner in Gotham; it doesn't hurt that Gotham has a unique schooling system that has been improved over the last couple of years, telling only those close to her namely her parents her best friends and a few of her clients such as Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale.

As the year quickly ends, Marinette packs her things and jumps on the plane to Gotham the flight itself takes almost half a day, so Marinette just slept through the flight and only woke up when she landed, and the flight attendant needed to shake her awake.

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Walking around her new home Marinette makes her way down to her basement. Setting up the Miracle Box away from prying eyes and after making sure that Trixx can hide it through the use of Mirage, Marinette heads back upstairs to start unpacking everything before going for a walk.

Walking the streets of Gotham Marinette is shocked to see how broken and dark the city is, through perceiving the magic around her the only conclusion she can reach is that the land itself is sick and needs healing.

Making her way through the city with directions from Duusu Marinette finds herself coming up on a large mansion on the edge of Gotham she slips a small ornate box with a letter attached to it addressed to Alfred Pennyworth into the letterbox (I'm unsure if I worded that properly please correct me if I'm wrong please) before walking away and heading back to her home.

"do you think Duusu will be okay" Marinette seemingly questions the air as she walks home, but  Nooroo flies out of her bag and under her collar "I'm sure Master Duusu and I checked the emotions of the people in that building and from what we could sense the one that was Alfred Pennyworth was content and happy I'm sure Duusu will be fine, and in the worst-case scenario we could just take the miraculous back" Marinette lets out a breath when she hears Nooroo's answer and picks up the pace to get home faster

returning to her home Marinette prepares the food for all the Kwami and then has lunch before making sure her house is secure and safe which isn't a difficult task setting it up with some magical wards "it feels so weird being able to use magic without the assistance of a Miraculous" Marinette looks down at her hands while sitting on her couch "you'll get used to it eventually we still aren't sure what happened when you put on both the ladybug earrings and the black cat ring, what we do know though is that it changed you both physically and magically hopefully this will be for the better" Tikki floats beside Marinette and hugs her cheek trying to reassure her chosen that it will all be okay and it does work a little

She was passing the rest of her day in a surprising silence, half expecting something to go wrong since she did just move to the city with the highest crime rate in the world. Luckily for her, nothing did go wrong.

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Looking out a window on the second floor of Wayne manor a little girl with black hair and green eyes watches as Marinette drops the box and letter into their mailbox. She quickly makes her way through the house as a smile runs across her face and she bounds down the stairs and out the door as any excited child would want to do the task of the grown-ups she races out to get the mail Alfred following behind her with a smile on his face.

Bouncing back into the house, Mar'i hands the letter and box to Alfred. She was waiting for her by the door a little surprised to see that he is the intended recipient as he doesn't receive mail very often, closing the door he walks into the lounge room. He opens the letter to read it with the child following excitedly behind him.

To one Alfred Pennyworth

I hope this letter finds you on a good day. I am giving you this letter on behalf of our mutual friend Duusu she has been in let's say less than savoury hands over the last couple of years and when she told me about a former wielder that she could still sense I decided that I should probably reunite some old friends before its no longer an option you will find the Peacock Miraculous in the box this letter is attached to you are not required to use the miraculous in any way take care of Duusu I hope you will continue to be a good friend to her.

Sincerely Guardian of the Miracle Box

P.S 

please burn the letter after you are done reading it Duusu knows its contents if you want to be reminded of what it said, for one reason or another

stunned at what he read Alfred is still for a few moments before he gets up and throws the letter in the fireplace and moves back to his seat and picks up the ornate box with shaky hands and opening it

As the box has opened a ball of light shoots out startling Mar'i and Alfred with the former falling over the arm of the couch and floating back up with a curious look on her face which is quickly replaced with a look of excitement as she sees Duusu floating in front of Alfred a creature Mar'i could only describe as the cutest thing she has seen but before she can do anything the small creature flies up to Alfred's cheek. It gives him the biggest hug it can.

"ALFIEEE" the small creature cries out tears streaming down its little face "its good to see you again Duusu" Alfred does his best to hold back his tears as he holds the Kwami in his hands. Still, they fall regardless startling the young child who is watching this whole thing happen hearing Alfred's cheerful voice but also sees the tears streaming down his face confusing her, not knowing what to do she flies up and hug Alfred thinking he is sad in and attempts to cheer him up.

This does make Alfred rather happy seeing the closest thing he has to a great-granddaughter trying to make him feel better sniffing in an attempt to stop the tears he looks down to the child "its okay Mar'i I'm not sad I'm just so happy that I couldn't stop the tears from falling now I have a friend I want to introduce you to" Alfred smiles and introduces Mar'i to Duusu

When Dick and Koriand'r return home from their date, they find their daughter playing with a floating blue creature that resembles a Peacock.

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Marinette snaps back to reality, having dozed off for a few minutes. After getting back up and looking at her phone realising that she hadn't turned it on since she arrived in Gotham powering it up, Marinette sits it on the bench as she enters the kitchen and makes herself a snack from the food she grabbed while on her walk and listens as her phone starts to ring from notifications constantly

Smiling after the noise stops after a few minutes Marinette giggles as she picks up her phone and looks at the notifications progressively becoming more panicked as they become more recent she sends a quick response through to everyone who messaged her and made a short post stating that she made it to Gotham in one piece she then starts responding to the near storm of messages that appear while trying to eat her lunch.

Hearing her doorbell ring Marinette gets up from the table and walks to the door pocketing her phone she looks through the glass next to the door and sees it some delivery people and lets them through as they bring in a few boxed items and set them down in the living room before signing off on the products and leaving.

"alright lets do this" picking up the larger of the boxes she moves it to the room she has designated as her bedroom and opens it so that she can set up her bed "as difficult as it is to get used to the magic the super strength is nice" lifting a part of the bed frame and holing it in place the Kwami help by screwing the pieces together "its like you have the suit active even when you don't have the earrings on, though that one time you did activate the Miraculous again" Marinette laughs at Tikki's absent stare "the unrestrained power from the Miraculous of Creation combined with the physical power amp was rather much and the fact we weren't expecting it didn't help" completing the bed frame Marinette heads back out to the living room and opens another box taking a large queen sized mattress out and dragging it down the hall and placing it on her new bed "the new costume design was nice too i finally graduated from the spandex that felt nice" the group let out a laugh at this comment making the house feel more alive.

putting the rest of the furniture together the house feels a little more like a home this includes a small table and a chair for down in the basement for when she needs to do things that involve the Miraculous "its a good thing you agreed to help Adrien with keeping his fathers company afloat by agreeing to send in designs from time to time otherwise you wouldn't be able to do what you're doing by moving here so soon" Marinette smiles at this and remembers when Adrien and his re-awoken mother approached her with a business proposition because Gabriel was in prison and neither of the two knew much about designing "yeah Adrien should be getting back to me tomorrow about the latest batch of designs I sent through" 

heading back upstairs Marinette sets up her bed before realising just how late it has gotten she makes sure the house is secure before crashing for the night ending her fist day in Gotham that night she dreams about the final battle with Hawkmoth, not a good dream but it could have been so much worse

waking up the next morning Marinette goes through her morning routine before checking her phone to see that somebody had completed the conversion had been completed and now her money is in us dollars instead of the french euro's "okay now I can get food and start filling up my cupboards" grabbing her keys Marinette leaves her new home for the second time with a new mission 

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Walking out into the streets of Gotham, Marinette makes her way into an alleyway. And heads up onto the rooftops she runs across the skyline and climbs up the tallest buildings she can find to get a good view of the city and an understanding of where everything is.

As she makes her way to the docks, Marinette feels a magic presence that feels like it doesn't belong, making her way to the location. Entering a large warehouse and starts making her way around the building looking for the source of the foul magic and as she turns a corner, she is greeted by the sight of a combat knife heading her way.

Thinking fast Marinette grabs the hand holding the knife moves around the helmeted figure sweeps his feet out from under him and spins him in the air before pinning him to the ground "please don't struggle" getting a better look at the man she see that the magic is coming from inside his body a vile acid green just looking at it makes her feel sick.

"GET OFF OF ME!" the initial shock of the encounter wears off. Red Hood tries to struggle out of her grasp with less than success "I said stop struggling I've never done this before so it may hurt a little" placing her hand on her struggling captive's back she begins to pull the green magic towards her hand, the process takes a few moments. Still, the magic doesn't resist her pull and quickly gathers beneath her palm pulling up an acid green ball of light lifts out of Red Hoods back much to his surprise shocking him so much he stops struggling, and when he realises what the green light is a bit of fear starts to set in.

When the green ball of light is completely pulled out of Red Hoods back, it pulls out a stream of red and black magic as if holding on for dear life when Marinette sees this she makes a small wall of magic between them and detaches them from each other when the black and red magic reenters Red Hood's body he falls unconscious from what seems to be exhaustion.

looking at the ball of green magic Marinette clenches her hand into a fist compressing the magic into the size of a small bead, getting off Red Hoods back she stands and stretches before she hears footsteps approaching but is too late as Nightwing turns the corner to be faced with the sight of his brother unconscious at the feet of what he can only presume is an enemy "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!" running forwards Nightwing swings his baton to get the individual to move away from Red Hood,

"don't worry he's just unconscious he wakes up after some rest" trying to alleviate Nightwing's worries falls on deaf ears as he continues to glare daggers at her "okay this conversation isn't going to go anywhere is it you can either chase me or tend to your teammate I'm leaving, bye." leaping backwards Marinette jumps up to the rafters a feat outside of typical human ability before exiting through one of the skylights 

Marinette puts the orb of magic in one of her pockets before zipping it up and letting out a sigh "that could have gone infinitely better" Tikki flies up into her hood "there's nothing you could have done about it Marinette it wasn't a very stable situation" looking down to the little God Marinette smiles knowing that Tikki is right "I know that's why I left talking wouldn't have accomplished anything in that situation he just needs to see his partner wake up good as new I'll try talking to the Bat-Family next time I see one" dropping down into an alleyway she takes down her hood and drops the obscuring magic that Tikki was helping with before heading back out to do groceries and heading home.

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entering her home, Marinette looks the door and takes the groceries to the kitchen and promptly puts them away before looking up to see the kwami looking at her with a little concern "what's wrong" Tikki flies into her pocket and comes back out with the small green orb of magic "it's this they're worried about, they can sense it."

"I could feel you were uncomfortable when I sensed it, so I presumed it was something bad that had to be destroyed, but what exactly is it" following Tikki to the living-room Marinette sits on her lounge as the little God lands on the coffee table "its called Lazarus a vile perversion of my magic the healing properties specifically but the one who copied it didn't understand Creation magic, and as a result, it is unstable, and exposure can send the afflicted insane, the Lazarus I'm holding now seems just to be scraps left over after healing, but even this much could still affect the psyche and make someone more unstable, you did the right thing extracting as quickly as possible, though I thought Plagg and I destroyed all the Lazarus Pits years ago" Tikki begins mumbling to herself and drifting off thinking about how there is still any Lazarus in the world

"so should we send this over to Plagg so he can destroy it then" standing back up Marinette closes the curtains before opening a trapdoor and heading down to the basement with the Kwami following suit Tikki follows after her placing the orb of Lazarus on the table in the basement and standing ready.

walking up to the Miracle box Marinette grabs the horse Miraculous putting it on "alright Tikki, Kalki, Unify" the two Kwami are drawn into their respective Miraculous as a red black and grey suit appears over Marinette "alright just gotta do this right" holding her arm out a blue ring appears around it and flies into the wall of her basement creating a wormhole directly to Plagg 

being startled awake by the small portal appearing before him Plagg groans in annoyance before he realises who it is "oh hey Ladybug to what do I owe the pleasure of being startled awake this morning" letting out a yawn Plagg lifts off his mini cat bed and floats before the portal

"This is what" Marinette holds up the Lazarus orb and watches as Plagg's expression turns from sleepy to confused to surprised and finally angry "where did you find that I thought Sugar-cube and I destroyed it all no I'm certain we did." 

"I extracted it from someone's body when I was running around today Tikki told me what it is so I decided to pass it your way so that you can destroy it" Marinette reaches through the portal and gives it to the little Destruction God "make sure you send all of it my way" to her surprise Plagg eats the ball of magic. Still, it quickly makes sense as she feels it fizzle away.

After giving Plagg a bit of cheese for his troubles and saying goodbye Marinette closes the portal and undoes her transformation heads back upstairs and fixes herself and the Kwami lunch before opening her design book and working on her hobby with some newly found inspiration from her run around Gotham's skyline.

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"so you didn't get a good look at the perp" Bruce and Dick sit in the living room of Wayne manor talking about what happened to Jason "no I did I just can't remember the memory is fuzzy its voice sounded young yet ancient there yet not normal yet unfathomably powerful, but my mind just can't hold down what it looked like" Dick sits on the couch trying to remember anything about the individual he can before it completely slips his mind 

"whatever it is your memory seems to have been tampered with to maintain its anonymous status" sitting in silence for a few moments trying to figure anything out the two scrunch up their faces "I checked the camera footage on your masks, nothing, whatever it was its invisible to technology, not even the infrared camera got anything" walking into the room Tim reports all the nothing he got from his effort 

hearing a ding on his phone, Dick looks down to see that its from Barbra opening it its a screenshot of a tweet with a link under it in another message that comes through a moment later

@Jos3ph McGuy

so an unusual thing happened today as I was walking to work 
I say something jumping across Gotham's rooftops now while this
is normal this one was weird I remember not recognising it so it
one of the bat fam or and known criminal but when I tried to snap
a pic didn't show on my phone and as I try to think more about 
it the hazier my memory of it gets as if I'm not allowed to know 
did anyone else see this or am I just going crazy

#helpme #isitreal 

seeing that the tweet already has well over 100 replies Dick opens the link and starts scrolling through them seeing that people are saying they saw it too but can't quite remember it with a few trying to name it with the most prevalent name being 'Ghost of Gotham' Dick frowns a little when he sees this and hands his phone to Bruce who reads it for a few moments before handing it back his expression getting a little darker

"so they think it's a ghost" Bruce has encountered ghosts before, so he knows very well that they are real he has met Deadman and the Spectre as well as multiple 4th-dimensional entities. Hence, a ghost is nothing new, but something just doesn't add up "is it an ally or an enemy, it attacked Jason but didn't finish him when it had the chance and judging by how quickly it took him down Dick shouldn't have been a challenge for it."

"it did say it wasn't an enemy, but it was standing over an unconscious Jason at the time it said that" 

The day passes with the family trying to figure out what exactly attacked Jason until dinner is ready and they all agree to stop thinking about it for the day Jason woke up the next morning feeling more clear-headed than he has in years.

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Climbing down the staircase of Wayne manor Jason feels unusually light on his feet almost slipping on a few of the steps, trying to remember what happened to him only returns a haze masking the memory placing his hand on his head he tries to recall any information he can get to no avail.

stopping when he reaches the bottom of the staircase Jason smells something sweet coming from the kitchen and begins walking towards it it isn't until he enters the kitchen that he realises just how long he could have been out for as Alfred is cooking breakfast "master Jason you're awake, are you feeling better" noticing Jason enter the room Alfred walks over leaving the food in Duusu's capable hands 

"I'm Fine Alfred, a little lightheaded but I haven't felt better in years" reassuring the worried butler Jason smiles "you should probably focus on the cooking though as much as I trust Duusu as she's your friend not sure I trust her with the families breakfast" letting out a relieved sigh Alfred pats Jason on the shoulder and heads back to cooking "that's good the others are anxious they'll probably get a kick out of how mellow you are right now" it takes a few moments to register what Alfred just said. He begins to laugh a little "that, or it will make them incredibly uncomfortable, it just feels like a massive weight has been taken from my mind." 

"well I think that will make things a little easier on master Bruce" Alfred lets out a little chuckle as he flips the eggs in the frying pan and Jason walks out into the dining room to mentally prepare himself for the bombardment of questions he knows he will get from his brothers and father 

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A few days pass with Marinette getting absorbed in her designing only surviving because the Kwami were working together to make sure she ate and kept warm 

Stepping away from her desk Marinette has forced herself to stop so that she doesn't try to make everything she just designed, the lack of material helped this decision quite a lot.

She slides over the room on her swivel chair and turns her computer on and looks up the locations of stores that sell fabrics and materials while humming a song.

After compiling a list of stores, she gets ready before hearing a shifting and clacking at her back door.

Turning her phone down Marinette calls the police and tells them the location of her home before walking over and opening the back door so that the potential burglars don't break the lock

When she opens the door, the man trying to pick the lock falls through and receives a face full of foot and flies out into the yard, and while surprised for a few moments the other man tries to attack her.

When the police arrive a few minutes later, they carefully make their way around the house to not notify the burglars. Still, when they make it around the back, they see the burglars unconscious with Marinette standing against the wall.

Straightening up the police approach Marinette with a little caution "we were called by a Marinette about two people trying to break into her house could you show us ID please" pulling out her passport as that is the most effective method to prove her validity 

"Thank you for coming these are the two that were trying to break into my house" after confirming her identity the officer's get a brief statement from Marinette so that they know what exactly happened before taking the men away to the station.

With that little interruption ending Marinette makes her way through the streets of Gotham google maps in hand, so she knows the exact location of where she is going.

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"So Marinette how long have you been in Gotham" Marinette is walking down the street after buying her supplies and next to her is Jason Todd who found out pretty quickly that this bite-sized person doesn't need help in a fight as she demolished a group of grown men single-handedly before he and Titas could even reach her "not very long only around half a week, I moved here so that I could attend Gotham Academy their arts courses are amazing." [this last bit Englished me the wrong way]

"you're an artist then" Marinette snickers at his question. He knows what's coming next "what gave it away" Jason rolls his eyes "mostly the bag though the choice in education surely helped piece my entire theory together" Jason makes large gestures exaggerating his tone inciting a laughing-fit out of Marinette which goes on for a little bit before she calms down "well more specifically I'm a Fashion designer" Marinette reaches into her pocket and pulls out a business card "here take a look." 

grabbing the card Jason sees M.D.C on a logo top and centre (i am so going to rub this in Tim's face when I get back) he pockets the card before turning back to Marinette "so you're M.D.C, huh, my brother is a big fan" a look of surprise flashes across Marinette's face "wow I'm amazed you've heard of me I mean I have designed for a few big names, but I'm pretty sure the only time I've almost been name-dropped was when Penny Rolling almost did it on live tv, but she quickly caught herself and used my initials instead" Marinette looks up and lets out a chuckle remembering when her peace was almost lost a year ago "I had a few things happening back then so I didn't want my identity to be public knowledge I still haven't gone public with my work yet but I do design for the Agreste Fashion brand."

"well might I commission a suit for an upcoming Gala, I think ill try making Timmy jealous" Jason lets out a mischievous laugh thinking about his brothers' reaction "sure why not when is the Gala" Jason smiles "two weeks. I'll send you an invite" it takes Marinette a few moments to process what he just said "wait your family is hosting" but before she turns around Jason is already gone "how did he." 

When Marinette returns to her house, she sees a message from Jason on her business phone containing all the information she needs to make him a suit and an invitation arrives in the mail a few days later.

As Marinette puts the finishing touches on her new choice on hero attire taking the name, Gotham has given her in stride the outfit is a mix of some black, white, and Grey with a tattered cloak the falls halfway down her shins in length the mask was the more difficult part making one that she could wear for possibly hours without any discomfort weaving magic into every thread. It has now been over a week since Marinette's encounter with Red Hood. Still, there have been no reports of his presence since the day which is beginning to worry her as he was one of the most active members of the Bat-Family "and, done" Marinette picks the mannequin up and takes the outfit into the basement so that she can get Wayzze to help her place some protective magic on it.

When Marinette looks over the finished product of her costume, she notices that the magic has left a faint hexagonal pattern across the surface most likely because of Wayzze's magic "wonder when ill get to give it a crash course hopefully I won't need it any time soon" she then walks back upstairs and gets started on Jasons Suit.

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After making some progress on Jason's suit, Marinette finds herself in her new attire leaping across the rooftops of Gotham to get some fresh air, with her super strength and Agility combined with her telekinetic magic Marinette can leap distances that almost make it seems like she's sometimes flying "I'm never gonna get over this feeling of freedom that running across rooftops gives" she takes a deep breath relaxing a little before hearing footsteps following behind her. Making one final leap, she lands on a roof and turns around seeing Batman land shortly after her maintaining a certain distance between them.

"Who are you and what are you doing up here" Batman stares at Marinette with extreme focus knowing this individual took down one of his sons in just a few moments. Facing the stare of batman Marinette places her hand on her chin before looking back up "a midnight stroll for some fresh air" batman's gaze becomes a little colder "I mean here as in Gotham not on its rooftops specifically" facing the now cold stare of batman Marinette stops for a moment before her face turns serious "Gotham is sick and I'm here to heal it. Also, I can sense the Lazarus within you I already extracted it from Red Hood and had it destroyed, speaking of who how is he doing? I haven't heard of him appearing over the last couple of days, and I'm a little worried pretty sure I didn't mess up on extracting the Lazarus" as Marinette finishes with her explanation and question a few more people appear in the rooftop.

Marinette quickly identifies the three as Robin, Red Robin, and Nightwing. Still, her expression remains neutral the whole time "three of you have been touched by Lazarus, it doesn't cling to you as tightly as Red Hood, so it doesn't affect your minds quite as much like his, but it is still very much there" Marinette's statement shocks all four of them. However, she then turns to Robin "yours is the most extreme, still not as bad as Red Hood but still pretty abundant. I can remove it" Robin takes a step back knowing it was this person who downed Jason single-handedly "do it to me first" Marinette turns to Nightwing quite surprised that he would volunteer "if you try anything funny the other three can take you down quite easy" Nightwing then turns to Batman knowing what's coming next  "Nightwing don't we have no idea if we can trust her" Nightwing lets out a breath "I'm the one who has used a Lazarus pit the least so therefore whatever she does it will affect me the least" he turns back to find Marinette right in front of him "none of you should fall unconscious like Red Hood as it doesn't cling to your soul as it did him, now hold still."

Reaching out Marinette places her hand on Nightwing,s chest as she does this the feeling of water streaming through his body and before long a green light shines from his body as Marinette pulls out a small orb of Lazarus that could barely be considered a bead. He feels lighter before coming back with the feeling like he fell resulting in dizziness passing through his body, making balance difficult for the acrobat making him stumble forwards, and be supported by Marinette's off-hand. 

After regaining his balance Nightwing shakes his head clearing his mind "thank you, I can already feel the difference" Marinette smiles at this "Lazarus is a perversion of Creation focusing on the healing aspect, but it is also highly Parasitic and clings to anyone it heals and slowly sends them insane" she then turns to Batman and Robin "so whos next" Batman looks to her before shifting his attention back to Nightwing "you doing okay?" Nightwing nods at Batmans' question "yeah just a little dizzy. And hungry" Batman maintains eye contact with his eldest for a few moments before turning back to Marinette "I'll go; next, you said Robin had the most so he'll go last" Marinette looks at Batman "okay then" as Marinette repeats the process she had on Nightwing with Batman it takes a little longer. However, the orb of Lazarus she pulls out is several times larger though still smaller than what she pulled from Jason, though batman stands tall even after having the Lazarus extracted from his body.

Turning around Marinette faces Robin "ready?" hearing her question, Robin looks into her eyes and tries to find any ulterior motives she may have. Still, his search is fruitless, and he lets out a sigh "alright but makes it quick if you try anything funny I will destroy you" Marinette chuckles at his warning and walks towards him. Still, when Marinette gets close, she notices something she didn't see earlier a powerful orange energy burns between the Lazarus within him and his soul a power she cant identify and makes her senses scream to raise her guard "if you don't mind my asking what is that orange energy within you" this question shocks the Bat-Family who all immediately know what she is talking about.

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After Marinette asks her question, she hears two grappling hooks connect to the building she is on. Two more members of the Bat-Family arrive Batgirl and Orphan quickly followed by Catwoman resulting in Marinette being almost wholly surrounded "well damn didn't think I'd get to meet you all tonight" she turns around to get a good look at the whole group before turning back to Robin "but seriously what is that Orange energy I cannot comfortably remove the Lazarus unless I know what it's holding down."

"its the power of the Chaos Shard somebody used it to bring me back to life a few years ago" Marinette is shocked to hear that what she is seeing is Chaos. Robin had died, well heroes die and come back all the time so no real surprise there but Chaos energy that's rare "Chaos huh well it seems like the Lazarus is coiling around it trying to hold it down and lock it in place. if I remove the Lazarus and leave the Chaos energy it could have unknown side effects would you like to remove the Chaos or leave it there" the girls who just arrived a few moments ago very quickly put together what's currently happening with a brief explanation from Red Robin 

"So what's your decision" Marinette faces Robin the green of his eyes helping her relax as they remind her of just a friendrien "leave the Chaos there" Marinette nods at his request "theoretically there shouldn't be any problems leaving it there, but as far as I'm aware there had never been a human being with this much Chaos which is why I say there may be side effects because I have no idea what could happen" after her explanation Marinette places her hands on Robins torso and shoulder, however instead of drawing the Lazarus in him to her she reaches in with her magic and begins surrounding the green energy and this is when she notices that the Lazarus has attached itself to the Chaos energy "that's.. not good. The Lazarus has attached itself to the Chaos so to remove it I'll have to perform the equivalent of magic surgery to separate them." Marinette looks up at Robin who nods and says "do it the Chaos energy stays" She shakes her head at this "it'll feel like small blades are cutting into your skin when I do this just a fair warning" Marinette reaches out with her magic to the points where the Lazarus is connected to the Chaos energy and shapes it into multiple small blades and after a few seconds cut all the connection points sending a sharp pain through Robin 

Now, Damian was no stranger to pain. He had felt much worse than being cut open before, but even so, what was happening now felt like his soul was being sliced apart and while it only lasted a moment that didn't make it any easier he had been trained to handle physical and psychological attacks but never did he think that he would face an attack aimed at his very soul the pain is at a tolerable level. Still, the problem is it's everywhere Damian feels it from his mind down to his very bones. He grits his teeth trying to hold the strong image, but his composure collapses when the rooftop is dyed in a green light consuming his whole vision as a bubble of Lazarus is pulled out of his body its size coming up to roughly half his height.

As Marinette pulls the Lazarus out of Robins body, she hears a few of the bat family take a deep breath in at the sight "aaaaaaaaand done." Marinette looks over Robin one last time to make sure she got all of the Lazarus within him. When she confirms this, she then combines the three orbs of Lazarus before compressing it as much as possible until it reaches the size of her head and she no longer can. she then looks over the rest of the bat family "okay that's all the Lazarus now of you have any questions please keep them professional nothing personal please."

Batman thinks for a few moments "only one question, are you on our side?" Marinette looks into Batman's eyes for a few moments "the short answer is yes. Long answer I am on the side of good I'll help out now and then. Still, I'm not going to prioritise the mask over my personal life if something big is happening I'll help, and if I'm nearby, I'll help. Still, I'm not going to go out of my way to run around the city at all times and do the police officer's jobs for them." finishing her answer Marinette leaps off the building jumping over Red Robin and Orphan and quickly races across the buildings for a few moments before disappearing from everyone's perception. the bat family why stayed of the rooftop Catwoman then looks to Batman "is it okay to let her go?" but before her question can be answered Batman and Robin both collapse from what seems like exhaustion and Nightwing shakes his head "why am I not surprised." 

Chapter Text

A collum of light shoots from Paris as Marinette activates the unification and all around the world everyone feels the same thing a phenomenal power washing past them. Still, they can feel an inherent gentleness within it, A presence that makes them feel safe.

In the watchtower, the speedsters that were standing ready in front of the teleporter prepared to burst through at any moment all relax and look towards the monitor displaying the situation in Paris until the hear Dr, Fate sigh "it's over Hawkmoth cannot win, you can come up and watch the end of the battle" when the flash makes it over to the group he sees Ladybug in a pure white suit with three flaps of fabric stretching from the waist one going down each side of her and the last going out behind her walking out of the light "what happened to her and why can I feel that" everyone looks towards Dr, Fate and Wonder woman hoping that they can shed light on the situation but even Diana who knows more than most about the Miraculous is looking equally confused and terrified "she has become a 4th-Dimensional entity or put simply. A God" there is worry in Dr, Fates tone as he explains what happened because he knows there is nothing that can be done to stop the following events unless some of the more powerful 4th-dimensional beings get involved and most of them won't be game to do so leaving the only path as pray and hope for the best.

When hawkmoth takes a swing at Marinette, she grabs his cane, and it turns to ashes in her hand swinging her other arm a burst of energy pushes out and blows Hawkmoth and Mayura away towards the Eiffel tower as they crash into a large metal beam they feel it warp around and bind them in place. Reaching out Marinette telekinetically removes their Miraculous and draws them towards her.

When Gabriel and Natalie's transformations ware off Marinette disappears from view reappearing in the Agreste mansion with Duusu and Nooroo in tow the butterfly Kwami quickly realising why they are here rushes over and opens Gabriels safe and takes out the book of miracles and Master Fus tablet that contains the translated work. Sending the book the tablet and the two miraculous back to her room Marinette then return to the Eiffel tower focusing the magic within her again she sends a wave of power through the city before undoing the damage that was done and returns the black cat Miraculous to Adrien.

"Are you okay LB" Adrien now back in his chat noir form again looks at the exhausted Ladybug "I'm fine just tired I should be back to normal soon" chat places his hand on her shoulder "ill handle the cleanup if you want? you to need to lie down and rest okay?" Marinette thinks about this for a few seconds before letting out a deep breath "just steel yourself it was Gabriel" Adrien's face turns to shock before warping into disappointment then settling on calm "I've got this go get some rest."

When Chat Noir steps back out into the open and sees his Father and Nathalie in cuffs being escorted towards the police vehicle, he lets out a sigh before walking over to Officer Raincomprix "oh Chat Noir how are you holding up" Officer Raincomprix turns around to face Chat. To his surprise, the officer has a few tears streaming down his face it takes him a moment to realise why but when he does he relaxes a little "its finally over huh" Chat looks up towards the sky then closes his eyes "claws in" hearing this Roger is shocked that Chat is revealing his identity. Still, after he sees who is beneath the mask, he understands why. If Adrien wants any hope in everyday life, he can't be solely identified as Hawkmoths wh., but if people also recognise him as Chat Noir as well, he could at least live his life.

Gabriel, who is being driven off by the police, sees this as well. Learning that he was fighting his son this whole time all remaining will within him crumbles.

Officer Raincomprix sits down with Adrien for a while assuring him that he will be okay and news quickly circulates about Chat Noirs identity as quite a few people saw him undo his transformation including the news van that was nearby.

When Marinette makes it back to her room, she drops her transformation visibly exhausted from al the power she used earlier her breaths become a bit heavy and even sitting up straight becomes a challenge quickly losing out to the exhaustion she falls asleep and the Kwami help her into her bed before Tikki heads downstairs.

Tom and Sabine are watching the Tv with tears streaming down their faces pride begin to well up in the little god seeing just how happy her Wielders accomplishment is making others flying around the couple Tikki makes her presence known while maintaining her distance not to startle them as she did with Marinette when they first met "excuse me Mr Dupain Mrs Cheng my name is Tikki it's a pleasure to meet you properly" the two are somewhat startled by the little god's presence with Tom standing in front of his wife "BUG! MOUSE! BUG-MOUSE!" Tikki giggles at Tom's reaction being identical to Marinette's "Marinette reacted the same way as you when we first met. I am Tikki Kwami of Creation, the spirit of the ladybug Marinette is currently sleeping, but three months ago she asked me to tell you she was ladybug if she was incapable of doing so herself." 

hearing this Sabine runs up the stairs to check up on Marinette almost tripping on the way up but relaxes when she sees her sleeping just as Tikki had said turning around she sees the little god floating in the centre of the room "will she be okay after that fight."

"yes. Marinette will be exhausted, but she will be okay it should take her a day to recover from the exhaustion of using the ladybug and black cat Miraculous at the same time knowing her it'll take two days for her to wake up" this comment draws a chuckle from Tom who is climbing into the room "though it'll take a while for her to recover from using that level of power mortals simply aren't meant to have that type of magic luckily she has a great affinity for the miraculous otherwise she simply wouldn't have survived being exposed to it as long as she was"

After checking up on Marinette Tom Sabine and Tikki head back downstairs to talk more and listen to the news so that they could tell Marinette everything, she missed when she wakes up.

Not even a few hours into his confinement Gabriel gives the names of every one that willingly helped him as hawkmoth including one Lila Rossi who when brought in has some weird pattern around her neck. Before giving his statement and reasoning behind everything the fact that his wife Emily is still alive but in a magical coma due to wielding a damaged miraculous though Adrien quickly explains to him how bad an idea it was and all the ways it could go wrong, as well as the fact that his mother wouldn't want to return in such a way, not to mention the consequences of wishing magic, its never a simple 1-1.

Though what surprises the police is that whenever they ask Lila a question the marking on her neck glows. She seems to be frantically trying to tell everything despite how much it looks like she doesn't want to and everything she tells greatly disturbing everyone even Gabriel.

The next day the Justice league releases a statement stating that they were aware of the situation in Paris but didn't interfere for multiple reasons the risk of one of them being Akumatized and they wanted the miraculous team to handle their first villain themselves so that they wouldn't develop a reliance on the Justice League. However, they did always have a group on standby at all times to help out if the situation hit rock bottom.

A few members of the Justice league come down offering to try helping Emily recover from her magic coma though she has to be taken back to the watchtower as none of the league's magic users wants to enter Paris right now due to the magic saturation left behind by Marinette and how difficult it would be to use their powers under such conditions, Dr Fate did go, however. While he could use his magic, there were large amounts of interference and maintaining a spell became nearly impossible.

The next day just like Tikki had predicted Marinette wakes up mid-afternoon but moving around is still difficult for her. Hence, at the order of her mother, her father and 17 gods, she stays in bed to recover. However, school starts back up on the third day, and her parents have to call the school telling them that Marinette is sick. On the 5th day, the Justice League returns with Emily in tow recovered from her magic coma.

When asked to check the marking around Lila's neck, Dr Fate notifies everyone that she had been cursed to only ever speak the truth and that it is beyond his abilities to unravel (well he could undo it but hearing what Lila had done straight from her mouth made him decide to pass it off as beyond his powers). However, when he returns to the watchtower, he tells the others that while he could undo the curse due to the lack of skill behind its creation the power behind it still would have made it a difficult task.

After the 7th day, Marinette finally feels well enough to head back to school it is after school that day that Tikki tells Marinette that she had an incredible amount of magic inside of her from her use of the ladybug and black cat that Tikki and Nooroo are actively working to keep down as her mortal body cant handle it under normal circumstances. So she starts practising so that she can take some of the burdens off of the Kwami. However, thanks to the now-massive amounts of free time due to Hawkmoth's defeat Marinette decides to take up learning as many new things as she can one of these being a multitude of different language's even music to a lesser extent she even spars with Adrien and Kagami from time to time shocking Kagami with her combat prowess though with Adrien believing she is Multimouse isn't that surprised these far more everyday activities that don't have the fate of the world on the line restore a light that had been dimming within Marinette since the beginning.

After a month Adrien asks Marinette if she would help design for Agreste fashion as without his father it's tough to find designers on that level. Most people don't want to work for a company that was founded by a supervillain even if Emily and Adrien are now the ones running it the company has stayed thanks to Adrien's presence because while working at a company make by a supervillain is one thing working for a superhero is another.

Though after a few months Marinette concludes that she has to get out of Paris and go somewhere else. Hey, Gotham has a pretty lovely education system not to mention she could probably help out a little this comment drawing a laugh out of Tikki because as many things change some things never will.

Chapter Text

--Wayne Manor--

As Damian wakes up he without thought gets up and walks towards his bedroom door, so he can head downstairs and get his breakfast but stops when he grabs the door handle and hears a creaking sound taking his hand off the door he rubs his eyes, looks down sees the deformed bent mess that is the handle he then takes in a deep breath followed by a long sigh "I'm too hungry for this" and carefully opens to door.

As he makes his way into the dining room and takes a seat at the table, he carefully reaches for his spoon and picks it up making sure not to use too much of his strength and starts to steadily down his food "so baby bird. is something wrong you're being careful" Damian places the spoon in his bowl before looking at Dick "I'm fine, it's just that my superpowers have returned and I'm trying not to break the cutlery." "JASON I WIN!" the sound of a grown man running through the house is heard before Jason enters the room "they came back?" as Damian finally managed to regulate his strength properly he quickly finishes his breakfast he stands up "yes they have Todd. now I need to relearn how to use them." 

"Tim is waiting for you in the Batcave says he wants to make sure the chaos energy in you won't cause any problems" Damian raises his left hand as he hears this showing that he acknowledges what Dick said before making his way down to the Batcave "so Drake what do I need to do" Tim points to a chair "sit there" when Damian sits down a red light passes over his body and a silhouette of him appears on the bat computer with swirling orange energy moving inside him a bunch of notes appears around it. After reading them, Tim says "you're fine, the peak of physical health even. That's weird I thought there would be at least a few side effects, I mean Chaos is one of the most ancient forces in the universe" Damian gets back up from the chair "the superpowers I got when I was ten have returned. as for why it isn't affecting my physical health do remember it been in my body since I was a baby with the only time it's been removed was when I was dead."

"your powers are back? we need to test their limits see if you've become stronger than last time."

"already on it" Tim looks over to see Damian on his phone with the dialling tone already running and after around 20 seconds "hey Jon I need your help with something can you ask your mother if I can borrow you for a bit my superpowers have returned and I need someone who can fight me in that state" the phone goes silent for a moment before both Damian and Tim hear a Muuuuuuuuuuuuuum followed by a whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! and then after a few more moments "ill be there in a few minutes just gotta deliver dad's lunch to him he forgot to take it to work" "alright see you in a bit" Damian then hangs up and puts his phone away then in a few minutes Jon arrives.

Their sparing starts off rather tame exchanging blows a little above what a human being should be capable of. Still, they quickly start increasing their power to where Tim has to raise the walls around the sparing area so that they don't break anything too valuable he also has the computer scanning him and calculating the amount of force behind his punches. "okay your physical might is around 20% the level of superman not as strong as before but still rather impressive" when Tim is going over the results with Damian and Jon the alarm on the bat computer goes off.

When the three of them look towards the screen, they see that a wave of energy has spread across Gotham and the surrounding area. Tim quickly moves to the keyboard, and a few cameras feed to show up on the main screen where an invisible enemy beats down a few criminals in different areas of the city in quick succession. Moving away from the computer Tim scratches his head and sighs "damn, she's getting to work ain't she Demon spawn" Damian doesn't respond just watching the central point of the magic moving around the map of Gotham before Jon drags him out of his focus "Damian what's going on" realising that Jon has no idea whats happened in Gotham over the last week begins explaining what happened with the ghost up to now.

When Damian finishes with his explanation, the wave of magic across the city begins to retract as the central signature begins to rise into the sky, the cameras automatically following it. When it stops, and the magic starts to gather on its location, it becomes so dense that it is faintly visible as a swirling mass of transparent energy with the form of the Ghost of Gotham at its centre faintly discernable as a silhouette. However, only the Bat computer can get a clear enough shot from this distance to make out that she is there.

As Marinette floats in the sky, she recalls her magic back to herself as Tikki and Nooroo use all the Magic Marinette forced out of her body to create a new seal on her powers that will release a slightly larger amount than before. "so you can fly now" Marinette flinches at the sudden voice behind her and turns around to see Robin "if you want to start a conversation with someone don't sneak up behind them. also yes I can I now have access to more of my power, so flying is a simple matter". Silence fills the air showing just how unprepared for a conversation they both are "a massive wave of magic swept over the city I'm here to find out what happened. also sorry for startling you" Marinette stops and thinks for a moment "well to put it I have soo much magic in my body that I cannot physically handle it and so a seal is set in place that restricts how much I have access too. I just removed and replaced the seal with a slightly weaker one, so I now have access to around 5% of my magic reserves, it was 1% before."

Damian goes silent for a minute thinking about what he just heard before realising she said she had been operating with 1% of her power "and so that wave of magic was you pushing it out of your body so that it wouldn't destroy you, right?" Marinette smiles glad she doesn't need to explain everything to Robin as he can figure some of it out himself "yes ill end up doing it a few more times, but that won't be for a while" "why didn't you just loosen the seal then" "simply loosening a seal will make it more fragile better just to replace it, so I don't run any risk of exploding" after a few more questions the two of them go their separate ways

After Damian makes it back to the bat cave, he tells Tim what he had found out which is added to the surprisingly small folder on the Ghost of Gotham.

Chapter Text

Reaching for a black ear cover on her desk, she places the second one on then moves over to the full body mirror. And spins checking her dress an A-line Qipao its primary colour is black with red accents grey leggings and a pair of three-inch black heels she then realises that she missed something heads back to the desk and picks up a necklace that contains the butterfly miraculous and puts it on.

[please don't ask for more of a description I don't know fashion, in writing these two and a half lines I have learned more about it than I have through my whole 22 years of life]

"okay time to stop otherwise I never will and then I won't make it on time" walking out of her room Marinette heads out to the loungeroom a makes sure she has everything she needs in her purse her phone some extra makeup for emergencies the invitation letter and some snacks for Tikki and Nooroo, "so how do I look" spinning around to face all of the Kwami most of which tilt their head not knowing much about fashion Tikki is the first to fly up to Marinette "you look great Marinette, just remember you have saved the world whats a party compared to that" cupping the little god in her hands Marinette smiles "thank you Tikki" a few minutes pass and Marinette hears the doorbell ring.

"Hello, you must be Alfred Pennyworth" Marinette opens the door with a smile like she always wears "indeed Miss Marinette, At Master Jason's request I am to escort you to the Gala, though now that I get a good look at you I should probably give you a few warnings, one about Master Bruce, and another about Gotham, you see they may jump to conclusions based on your appearance that Bruce has adopted you and let us just say there is a reason he has the nickname, serial adopter" Alfred has a complicated expression on his face as he remembers all the children bruce has taken in as he drives Marinette to the Gala making small talk along the way.

Despite Alfred's attempts to help her relax with light conversation as they approach the venue of the Gala Marinette's confidence begins to crumble away before completely disappearing "Miss Marinette if I may, I understand that you are nervous, but I think I should tell you that everyone else is too they're just good at hiding it, wearing a mask so to speak" Marinette stops for a minute after hearing what Alfred said before moving her hands over her eyes and when she moves them back her confidence is back. However, to Alfred, she seems like an entirely different person "thank you, Mr Pennyworth."

When Marinette arrives at the Gala, she takes a mask out of her bag, puts it on, and steps out of the car. The flashing of cameras when she steps out of the car (well it was one of the Wayne family cars so I guess it makes sense that they would take pictures) causes Marinette to cover her eyes and look around not used to this much attention in her civilian form. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees Jason walking down the stairs, looking rather good in the suit she made him. 

Three-piece suit. Jason dislike this design on most occasions, too many layers of fancy for his taste. Still, he'd be a liar if he said the suit Marinette made him was uncomfortable the collar is designed to pop up like that of his leather jackets. The vest doesn't feel like it restrains his movement in any way the inside of the coat being red didn't hurt either he knew he rocked that colour.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Jason realises just how nervous Marinette is and holds out his hand to escort her inside "hello M,D,C, I'm glad you could make it now if you'd allow me to escort you inside there are a few people who would like to meet you, namely everyone with a fashion sense" Marinette accepts Jasons offer and the two of them head inside.

Chapter Text

When Marinette enters the venue, she is almost bawled down by a crocodile barely managing to catch it on time "Fang. I'm surprised they let you inside" putting the crocodile down Marinette pats him before looking up to greet her uncle Jagged.

"Hello, little rockstar. I'm so happy this day has finally arrived, and I can brag about you while you're here" Jagged hugs Marinette and Penny steps forwards after that and also hugs her.

"It's so good to see you both of you. Also, please don't brag too much otherwise ill crawl into a ball and die" Marinette is beaming when she receives their hugs, she hadn't seen Jagged or Penny for almost a year.

"So Neti there are multiple people here that I want to introduce you too, namely the Wayne's" Jagged gently pulls Fang back and escorts Marinette to one side of the room with Jason already having gone ahead to warn his family.

As they approach, Tim is panicking, but when he sees Marinette coming, he takes a deep breath and composes himself before asking for her autograph. Where he is promptly slapped upside the head by Dick "introduce yourself then ask for the autograph Timmy." 

Recollecting himself, Tim takes a deep breath "hello I am Timothy Drake Wayne Co-Ceo of Wayne Enterprises. Can you please sign this" he then holds out the first album Marinette designed the cover for. Marinette giggles and takes the album, signing it and handing it back.

Bruce then steps forwards "Miss MDC it is a pleasure to meet you. I wanted to thank you for the work you did for My wedding Last year" shaking Marinette's hand bruce then steps back and gestures to Selena ", and this is my lovely wife Selena, who you made look like a Goddess on that day."

Shaking her head Selena steps forwards "it is nice to meet you dear that dress truly is wonderful I thank you for hard work on it."

"It was no problem, Mrs Wayne, I had a lot of fun making the dress. It remains one of my greatest creations even now." 

After the lengthy introductions with the Waynes where she is introduced to Tim, Bruce, Selena, Dick, Cass, and Damian Marinette is then shown around the room by Jason for a bit.

Later during the party, Marinette has had a few people who have heard her artist name before talking to her and now finds herself wandering around the food tables. Bruce notices this and turns to his family "so she hasn't danced yet tonight."

Everyone turns their heads as they come to the realisation Marinette hasn't danced yet. This is her first official attendance at a party as MDC, and she hasn't danced yet. They all discuss amongst themselves for a moment before calling Damian over.

"Hahahaha, no" Damian looks unimpressed at their request.

"Please little d if Jason goes it'll be a little weird, and the press would have a field day. Tim has Steph I have Kor'i and Bruce, Selena. That leaves you."

"The answers still no" staying steadfast in his choice Damian crosses his arms as if asking someone to challenge him.

Dick pulls Damian aside "okay hows this. If you do this next time Kori and I go on a date, you can babysit Mar'i" Dick grimaces when he offers this deal.

"Are you bribing me?" Seeing Dick nod Damian smirks "okay deal, but it has to be a proper date, not just a coffee run" Damian then walks off towards Marinette.

Jason and Tim are shocked to see Damian go so willingly that they become a little scared "Dick what did you offer him" Tim is the one who breaks the silence.

"Next time I go on a proper date with Kori he gets to babysit Mar'i" Dick looks positively crestfallen when he tells them.

Jason looks positively horrified at what he just heard "What have you done."

Dick puts his hand of Jason's shoulder "sometimes the whole team must fall to achieve victory, Brother."

Damian's in a good mood, Like an excellent mood. Why you might ask because he gets to babysit his favourite/only niece, he hasn't been offered to do that for half a year since last time he taught Mar'i how to go unnoticed while pranking others. She learned relatively fast, and in the span of a few days, Wayne manor was in chaos.

While thinking about what to teach the young prankster next, he reaches Marinette. "Excuse me miss M.D.C I would like to ask you to dance if you don't mind."

Marinette is surprised to hear this she had seen him walking over, but she never thought he would ask her to dance "On no, I'm not a very good dancer." 

"Please. My brothers have bribed me to do this. I get to babysit my niece I haven't been allowed to for the last half a year" Damian quickly explains why he asked, and this shocks Marinette even making her laugh a little.

Marinette takes Damian's hand "Alright, but you need to tell me the story behind why you haven't been allowed to babysit your niece" he then escorts her to the dancefloor.

"So you see the thing is. Last time I was allowed to babysit Mar'i I took it upon myself to teach her how to move around the mansion unnoticed for her pranks no one knew what was happening for a week after that until father finally caught her in the act" Damian wears satisfied smirk when recounting what happened "she immediately ratted me out for teaching her, however. I got the brunt of the punishment as well as them never trusting me with babysitting again." 

The two are now slowly dancing while Marinette isn't bad at dancing, she isn't a formal dancer. Damian thankfully is a rather competent lead, and so she doesn't falter much.

"So M.D.C tell me a little about yourself" Damian spins Marinette around allowing her to show her dress correctly to those who are watching.

"Well, besides fashion design, I like to cook. I was raised in a bakery, and so for my early years, baking was my life until I started doing ballet. I didn't last long there the competition was too serious. I mostly just liked the costumes and when I tried making my own that was when I discovered my passion for design" Marinette explains how she reached her passion with a smile on her face rather enjoying the memories.

"What about you Damian, what do you enjoy" she then turns the question back on Damian.

Damian takes a moment to think about this question he has a few hobbies. Beating up criminals. Training. And although he'll never admit it he does enjoy acrobatics Dick would never shut up if he found out. Oh, he could talk about that "I paint actually, from landscapes to people even my pets it is entirely a hobby though I don't intend to make anything from it."

"Youhavepets" Marinette cuts him off "sorry. I got excited, can you tell me about your pets I love animals" Marinette's happiness is borderline infectious catching Damian a little off guard.

They then spend the next ten minutes talking about Damian's pets and how to Marinette they all sound like sweethearts that she wants to cuddle and snuggle. The two stop dancing and talk after a bit. When Marinette leaves, she gives Damian her number scribbled on the back of one of her MDC cards so they can speak again.

Chapter Text

When Marinette makes it back home having said goodbye to the Waynes and her Uncle Jagged before disappearing into the crowd using magic to vanish completely, she makes her way to her room slumping onto her bed before pulling out her phone.

D - It's Damian. The dance tonight was excellent. Message back when you can so we know you got home safe.

Marinette smiles when she sees the message before typing a reply.

M - I got home safe Damian thank you for your concern 

Feeling the exhaustion kicking in she almost falls asleep before Tikki flies up in front of her "soooo Marinette. How was the dance" the biggest grin on her little face.

"Not now Tikki" Marinette lazily raises her arm before it just falls.

Tikki flies up to Marinette trying to push her "Now now Marinette as much as you need sleep you should get out of your dress first." 

Groaning Marinette gets back up and gets changed into the pyjamas that the other Kwami had been kind enough to get out for her. Before falling back into the comfort of her mattress and falls asleep, barely managing to get the covers over herself.

When Marinette makes it to the kitchen the next morning, the Kwami are surprisingly quiet until she finishes her coffee, as they start asking her about her dance with Damian as they start dancing with each other around the house.

Opening her phone Marinette sees a message from her best Friendrian.

A - thank you for your hard work the designs are brilliant as usual Also I saw the news on the party you went to seems like you had a lot of fun on that dance

M - I did he was a great lead. I didn't make many mistakes

A - he was nice on the eyes too from what I could see

M - oh yeah he was built it seemed to be hidden under the suit but he was muscular like perfect physique it was so hard to focus on our conversations until he brought up his pets

A - Aah yes animals your one weakness among many others

M - adrien please dont its too early for this also I think he's an okay guy. at least if animals love him

A - whatever you say princess if he turns out to be a bad one tell me and ill beat him up for ya

M - yeah yeah Friendrian have a nice evening and give Kags a hug for me

A - have a nice day Mari

Putting her phone down Marinette heads back to her room and gets changed into a pair of jean's boots a black shirt and jacket before beading back out of the house ready to explore Gotham purifying the misfortune the covers the place.

As Marinette makes her way through the city, she moves around the places where the misfortune is at its most concentrated. Though she quickly finds that's a lot of places eventually placing powerful runes on each location with Tikki's help. A few hours in she feels her phone buzz.

D - I'm taking a walk with Titus want to join us.

M - where should I meet you

D - we're heading to Gotham park right now. I'll see you there.

M - thank you

Closing the messages Marinette opens google maps and immediately heading towards Gotham park getting there before Damian does.

When Damian arrives at Gotham park, he can't find Marinette until she calls to him and Titus as if something was clouding his vision before Damian can stop him the Great Dane breaks from his hold and runs up to Marinette almost knocking her over in his excitement "oh Titus I missed you."

Catching the Great Dane Marinette starts showering the big dog with attention "hey Damian" Marinette looks up to the boy with a conflicted expression on his face.

Damian crouches next to his dog "I've never seen him so open with someone who isn't family, I'm impressed. But at the same time, it seems I'm not the favourite anymore. I don't know how to feel about this" Marinette laughs at his statement "well. At least someone's getting some enjoyment out of my suffering." 

"Don't take it personally Animals just seem to like me" Marinette stops patting Titus, and he moves right back to Damian's side "see, he still loves you the most" Marinette takes a seat on a nearby bench, and Damian lets Titus run around before joining her "so hows your day going"

Marinette thinks for a moment before responding "I was doing something before you contacted me, but I needed the break. So thank you" Marinette leans back and stretches.

"I thought Titus would like to see you again and vice versa and since I was taking him on a walk, I thought why not contact you" Damian finds himself talking quite readily as if Marinette's mere presence calms him.

Marinette looks a Damian for a moment before taking a deep breath "I know you're Robin. I figured it out yesterday during our dance, the power of Chaos may have been absorbed into your soul. However, I can still feel it" Damian is shocked when he hears this, he knew it would only be a matter of time before the Ghost of Gotham figured out who the bat family was but for it to be so soon. And for her to out her identity instantly.

"Why out yourself to me" Damian has completely hidden his shock behind a mask of calmness.

"I know who you are and from your identity, I can guess everyone else. So its only fair I tell you who I am" Marinette looks up at the clouds "I didn't know how to bring this up, so I just decided to tell you." 

"And so you just out your own identity to me. you can't just trust others so easily."

"It's not about trusting you all individually. More like I trust your record" Marinette smiles, and Titus runs back up and rests his head on Marinette's lap. She starts giving him pats again "the bat family has been around since the beginning there's a lot of information for anyone willing to search for it" she stops for a moment to give Titus a scratch behind his ears "my main reason for being in Gotham right now is to purify the misfortune that swamps the city. That's what I was getting started on earlier. The effect won't be immediate, but in time the city will start to heal. so long as the people want it to."

The last part was a whisper without much confidence behind it something that Damian can understand Gothamites are stubborn and wouldn't accept help from others if they were given a choice "that'll probably be the most difficult part of all. convincing Gotham to let itself heal."

Marinette laughs, hearing his statement "oh yeah, convincing someone to let themselves heal most of the battle."

looking around the park, Damian realises that no one seems to be noticing them "so I'm a Wayne, and no one is making a big deal I'm out here like they normally would are you using your magic."

"yes, I placed a small spell that'll divert their attention away from us. It's not perfect those with stronger attention spans will be able to resist it. but most will not care" Marinette stands back up "would you want to join me in the little mission I could use the company."

Damian thinks for a few moments before standing back up "sure id like to see what it is you're doing anyway" putting Titus back on his leash they begin walking around the city.

Damian is amazed when he sees Marinette actively using her magic. While he can't sense magic, he can feel the air change becoming a little lighter, breathing becoming easier.

When Marinette pulls out a map and crosses off another area "well that's another spot done. Just a few dozen left" putting the map away she then looks to Damian "so yeah that's what I'm doing. It's a process that'll take a bit to get up and running and then even longer to complete its task, a few years at least."

Damian looks at the magic circle on the ground it is rather faint and in a mostly inconspicuous spot. Hence, most won't find it unless they are actively looking for it "I could feel the air become lighter" he then turns back to Marinette "how does your magic work exactly. I know a few spellcasters, but none of them seem to be as free with their magic as you do."

"Think a video game mana bar" Marinette smiles then continues to the next location.

"Is there any reason why you're trying to get this done so quickly" Damian following behind her decides to start his semi interrogation.

"I want it to be all set up by the time school starts back up. That way I don't have to worry about it later" Marinette knows she has no reason to hide this from him Gotham is his city after all.

Thinking about how she had behaved as the Ghost Damian thinks of a few more questions "You seem to have been at the hero gig for a few years now, can I know who you were beforehand."

"I'd prefer to keep that a secret, for now at least. I had to retire my old identity for reasons I rather not talk about" Marinette stops talking using a tone that offers no room to ask.

Damian has to stop himself from asking why instead just moving to the next question "What type of magic can you use" 

Marinette looks up and answers pretty quickly "I haven't learned much yet. But I know telekinesis, and I have started learning how to heal. And as you've seen, I have learned how to purify."

Damian stops for a moment if what she said was true everything she had done was her just abusing the flexibility of Telekinesis "One last question. What did you do with the Lazarus you extracted from us."

Marinette stops to think about this one and how to explain it without telling too much "I sent it to a friend to make sure it was destroyed properly." 

The two continue walking around Gotham for another hour with Marinette placing more of the Purification circles before Damian heads his way. 

Chapter Text

Feeling his phone buzz in his pocket Damian takes it out and looks at the message.

M - don't tell your family I know their secret I want to tell them myself and I have a way I want to do it

D - may I know this plan

M - I shall make them all an article of clothing or something with the design of their respective secret identity

D - they will freak the fuck out. I like it.

M - okay I've figured out most of them but q few are hard to place liek the current batgirl 

Placing the phone against his chin, Damian imagines his super paranoid family receiving such gifts and laughs to himself. Before looking back to his phone and giving brief explanations on each member of the family. Not revealing too much but just enough that Marinette can make high-quality custom clothing.

When he makes his way back to Wayne Manor, he has a somewhat satisfied smile on his face, a look that his brothers and sisters have learned to fear, and for a very good reason. 

After taking Titus to the backyard Damian makes his way down to the Bat cave, his patrols having been shifted to the afternoon in preparation of his return to schooling, each of his brothers avoiding getting too close.

When Marinette gets home, she looks over her map again "I got one-tenth of them today. A few runs as the ghost should be enough to get them all" switching to more homey clothing Marinette relaxes for a few hours before moving on to the designing of her 'gift' for the Wayne's.

When night eventually makes its way around Marinette heads back out as the Ghost of Gotham. Flying over the streets, she takes in the sounds of the city, making her way to the next location on the map.

Passing through destroyed buildings and abandoned warehouses, Marinette places purification circles where the darkness is most abundant, avoiding one building where it is most concentrated saving that location for last. 

Jason is jumping across the roofs of Gotham again his family finally letting him run around by himself. Taking a deep breath he notes how the air tastes a little sweeter than before, but he keeps Looking for something to do; eventually, he sees a glow coming from one of the warehouses that criminals like to frequent. Moving closer for a better look he sees the Ghost of Gotham standing at the centre of the warehouse a collection of magic circles floating around her body.

Grappling into the warehouse Red hood watches as the magic circles merge into a small mark the floats above her hand, that she then places on a metal beam where an average person wouldn't be able to reach without tools. 

Floating back down the Ghost turns back to Red hood "hello. Sorry for not greeting you sooner, as you saw I was a little preoccupied."

"Do you mind if I ask what that is" Red hood gestures to the mark she left on the beam?

"Its a purification mark. Gotham is clouded by dense negative energy, which makes the already angry people of Gotham even angrier. These marks will over time take this, negative energy and purify it" the Ghost of Gotham turns back to Red hood "then if they want the Gothamites can heal" 

"So it's like what you did with me but for a city" Red hoods tone is a little confused.

"Hm. No, not really. What I did for you was energy extraction, what I'm doing here is purification" she then looks back to mark "restoring balance to the energies of the world if you would" she then places her hand on her chin "though I guess it does all fall under the spectrum of healing."

The two stand in silence for a few moments before The Ghost starts to fly away "well, I have a few more places I want to get to tonight before I turn in. See you around Hood."

"See you around Ghost" Red Hood waves the Ghost off before looking back to the magic circle on the beam having to focus so that he can see it. Shaking his head, Jason leaves the warehouse.

Passing by a few more hot-spots before Flying back to her home Marinette places a few more marks, before deciding she had done enough of them for the night.

Walking into her room, Marinette changes back to her pyjamas and lays down "I hope this will be done soon" closing her eyes Marinette drifts off to sleep.

When Marinette comes to, she sees a grassy plain spread out before her with a figure in the distance, too far to see properly. Focusing, the world between them shortens, and Marinette sees herself.

As the other Marinette turns around her clothing changes to that of the white bodysuit with three tails of fabric rolling down the side and behind her, When Marinette makes eye contact with 'herself' the world around them begins to tremble and fall apart, and swiftly reaches the point where nothing remains.

Quickly waking from her dream, Marinette makes herself a coffee and decides it'll be easier just to stay awake she then looks at the clock and sees 3:17 "today's gonna be a long day, isn't it?"