Chapter Text
All things considered, Marinette couldn’t see how her day could have gone any worse.
Chloé had outed the heroes of Paris, Master Fu had been mindwiped, and oh yeah, she was now apparently the Guardian of the miraculous.
Marinette flopped on her bed and stared at the red and black jewelry case. “This is all so much,” she mumbled into her comforter.
Beside her, Tikki patted her head. “It’ll all be okay. Master Fu knew what he was doing.”
Marinette looked up long enough to shoot the kwami a withering glare. “Then why did he leave a kid in charge? I can’t do this. Tikki, I cannot do this!”
“Of course you can,” Tikki said reassuringly. “Master Fu started a lot younger than you, and with a lot less guidance.”
Marinette snorted. “Yeah, and he burned the temple down in the process. Not a high bar for comparison.”
Tikki shrugged. “Look, I’m working with what I’ve got.”
Marinette looked over the case and inspected the drawers. There were the two empty ones for the Peacock and Butterfly, of course. Spots for Tikki and Plagg…
“Hey Tikki,” Marinette asked. “Um, what’s this drawer for?”
Tikki floated over, her eyes wide. “Oh no.”
Marinette looked at the empty drawer and went pale. “Why would there be an empty drawer? Why… Oh, my God. Did I… I didn’t. I did not!”
Tikki shook her head. “This is bad,” she murmured.
Marinette buried her face in her pillow and screamed and she punched her bed. “I did not! Just! Lose! a miraculous! ON MY FIRST DAY!”
“Calm down,” Tikki said, her voice bordering on panic. “First, let’s figure out who is missing.”
“Right,” Marinette said as she opened the drawers. Thankfully, the turtle, bee, and fox were still there. “Okay,” she said as she started to dig. “Let’s see… Oh. Oh no.”
“Who is it?” Tikki asked. She paled. “It wasn’t Fluff, was it?”
Marinette shook her head. “No, no it’s worse than losing Fluff.”
“Then who?” Tikki shook Marinette by the arm, which was just the cutest thing to see. “Marinette, snap out of it! Whoever it is, I’m sure they’ll be okay. The kwamis are smart, and careful, and…”
Tikki looked at the growing group of floating kwamis in front of her and quickly realized who was missing.
“Oh no,” she said in a small voice. “Not him.”
***
Chat Noir hurried as fast as he could. The text messages from his Lady were worrisome, to say the least. The last time he had seen her, they had won the day, but honestly? It hadn’t really felt like a victory.
She was sitting on their favorite beam of the Eiffel Tower. She did her best to wipe the tears from her face as he dropped down beside her, but it was obvious that she had been crying.
“Is everything alright?” Chat barely got the words out before Ladybug wrapped her arms around him and sobbed.
“I messed up, kitty. I messed up big time.”
Chat pulled back a bit and wiped a tear from Ladybug’s cheek. “Hey now,” he said in his best it’ll-be-okay voice. “It’ll be okay. What happened?”
Ladybug sniffed and shook her head. “I… I’m such an idiot! I just…” She took a shaky breath. “I lost a miraculous.”
Chat’s eyes went wide. “You lost a…? Are you sure?”
Ladybug hit him lightly on the chest. “Yes, dummy! The other kwamis confirmed it. I must have missed it when the battle was over and… What if Hawkmoth gets ahold of it?”
Chat shook his head. “Hey, let’s not jump to conclusions, alright? He booked it out of there pretty fast, you know.”
“So did we,” Ladybug reminded him. “I mean, what if he came back? What if he saw where it landed and then picked it up?”
Chat thought about that and frowned. “That wouldn’t be the best news. So, um, which miraculous was it?”
Ladybug bit her lip. “About that. So, a while back, Master Fu let me interact with all of them, you know? Kind of as a way to learn the ropes in case something happened, or if I needed to hand one out on the fly. You know, training stuff?”
Chat nodded. “Go on.”
“Well,” Ladybug said in an unsure tone. “Some of them were strong, some were confident, some were wise, some were even arrogant, but there was one that was, um…”
Chat’s brow furled. “One that was what?”
Ladybug grimaced. “I’m… Trying to find the culturally appropriate phrase.”
***
Hawkmoth stood in his excessively large observatory room and grinned. Around him, butterflies fluttered about as ominously as butterflies can in the darkness. “I can’t believe my luck!” He cried out. Behind him, Nathalie stood, smiling.
“It was quite fortunate for you that Ladybug didn’t notice she missed a miraculous. Perhaps it has powers that can help us?”
"Of course it can," Hawkmoth said, his voice now almost a purr. "Kwamis have the ability to control men's minds, to alter time and space, to bend reality to their will! Whoever this is, they will serve us well in our crusade!"
Nathalie smiled in agreement. "Then maybe you should let them out and let them introduce themselves."
Hawkmoth held the jewelry in his gloved hand as he examined it in the dim beam of light that was coming through the pinhole of his window shade. “Such power," he cooed. "The Guardian was a fool. She’s just a child, after all. Reckless, careless, and weak. If this is any indication, getting the remaining miraculous should be a breeze.”
Hawkmoth clutched a set of barrettes in his hand and yelled, “Come forth! I command you!”
A bright light swirled around him several times before settling in front of him at eye level. Hawkmoth looked upon the black and white kwami and chuckled. “Extraordinary. Simply extraordinary. Kwami! I am Hawkmoth, your new master!”
The kwami blinked at him, and then grinned.
“Howdy, partner! My name’s Ziggy, and I’m a kwami!”