Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They had just been getting back from patrol and were changing back when an alert flooded the Batcave.

Red sirens filling the room with the loud amber sounding made them all rush their uniforms back on. As they rushed to the computer to check on the situation, they all noticed but didn’t mention how Jason didn’t bother changing again and just put his jacket and helmet on and called it good. Bruce reached the computer first and clicked on the alert.

Level 10 Emergency:

Baby Starbird Located

…What?

Confused mutters surrounded them and Bruce sighed in exasperation. “Who did this?”

Bruce was the one who had made the alert names on level 10 emergencies, and he was the only one allowed to decide if something was over a 7. This was either an extra “emergency” added on, or someone decided to be funny and change the names.

The others glanced around, all eyes finally landing on Tim when they saw the look on his face.

He had paled considerably, looking absolutely horrified and in shock. But, not at being caught or in trouble. “I- I had m-made it…”

Bruce raised a brow, noticing his third son seemed rather anxious as he said it and approached the computer. “Well? What is the ‘Baby Starbird’ protocol?” The name seemed like a joke in itself, so it better have good reasoning.

It did.

Tim took a seat and turned to face them. He mainly faced Dick though.

“I had made it a few years ago, when you had… when you told us about what had happened to you and Kori’s kid,” he began. The others caught on quickly, all now starting to pick on to the name of the protocol and what it truly stood for.

Grayson froze, his shoulders going tense and his jaw clenching for a moment. But he nodded, wanting to see what this was about.

What this had to do with his and Kori’s daughter.

“We hadn’t known about it before, because you wanted to keep her out of the public eye for a while for her safety, and clearly the rest of us weren’t really around other then Babs. And since Ma- your daughter was so young during the… the incident - I hadn’t known about her until you told us.” he glanced a few times at the computer anxiously, his words coming a bit quick and nervous. “I- I know you guys didn’t find anything from where she… you know, so- so I thought maybe she could, she could have still made it?”

The room grew tense, but no one knew how to properly react. This was crossing a lot of lines to talk about near Dick, but they could see that Tim only meant it for good. They could already tell what the protocol must have been made for.

“I knew you never put her into the system, so it’s not like her DNA could have been matched before- and if she made it, who knows who could have taken her, right? So it was really just wishful thinking, and I kinda forgot about it after a while, but…” He glanced back to the eldest brother, “I made a protocol in the system to match for her DNA, and set it up so that we would get an alert from any hospitals, police stations, anything like that… It would only go off if it found a match.”

A match. Someone had matched for his daughter. They found her.

Or her body.

Dick took in a deep breath, calming when he felt Damian place a hand to his back in comfort. He smiled softly down to the youngest sibling before looking at the nervous Tim. He stepped forward and pulled Drake in for a hug, “Thank you, Tim… No matter what it says; thank you .” He figured Tim must have worried he would be mad, as the man let out a sigh of relief and returned the embrace with a short “No prob, bob.”

Dick pulled back and hesitated as he looked up to the screen. “I think… I’ll call Koriand’r. She’ll want to be here for this, and she’d hate me for eternity if I didn’t tell her immediately.”

He was right. When he told her about it, she told him she was already flying back now and she would punch him across space if he dared find out more without her being present. Not even Tim knew what the alert would tell them. They had no indication if it would give them hope, or closure.

Kori was the one to open the alert.

They opened up a hospital report.

Bichat–Claude Bernard Hospital Patient Form

Patient Name: Marinette Regina Dupain-Cheng

Marinette.

Her name was Marinette . Something so achingly close to their daughters’.

They first looked at the information that would give them the most answers. The answers they needed first and foremost.

Age: 16

She fit the age well enough. Their daughter would be 15, but it would make sense that her age would be lied about or possibly confused all this time.

Nationality: American, Tamaranian

There were only a handful of Tamaranian immigrants on earth, and Koriand’r personally knew all of them. None of them had children that were part human, nor had they even immigrated to earth in time to have had a teenage daughter.

It could only be theirs.

They clicked on her profile image- that was what solidified it all.

Her hair wasn’t really black. It was more of a midnight blue, and the shine of the camera made it seem almost brighter, being held in a pair of pigtails with pink ribbons. She had a dusting of freckles that were almost invisible unless one was actually looking for them. Her cheeks were the same rosy pink they got when she was happy, which she was as she smiled for the photo.

Her eyes. They were the same bright bluebell shade they had been the last they had seen her. The last they had held her. The last they had made her smile and giggle at their funny faces or at them ticking her stomach.

The last time they had little Mar’i.

The report was for a patient, not for a body.

She was alive.

Reason for Check-in: Bruising, broken arm, twisted ankle, grade 1 concussion.

She was hurt .

They should have expected such, seeing as she was in the hospital. But it was still worrying.

They had finally found their daughter, who had gone missing for nearly 14 years now, and she was hospitalized. She had been found because she was injured.

Someone hurt their daughter.

Cause of possible Injury: In the patients’ words, “I[Mlle Dupain-Cheng] may or may not have been told I couldn’t perform a triple double flip on concrete with my eyes closed, and like any other sane and right-minded person, I took this extremely personal and told Kim[friend who submitted Mlle Dupain-Cheng] to hand me a blindfold and I was going to enjoy kicking his butt into the Seine if he lost- which he did! I totally stuck that landing and rubbed it in his face for a good, like, five minutes, before some jerk on his bike decided to speed by me and make me fall down the stairs. I was perfectly fine though, and this is totally unnecessary, and I swear I don’t have a concussion. You guys[Doctor Fioyre and Nurse Hahne] aren’t even that blurry and I don’t even need the wheelchair, really. It’s not like I’m bleeding out or… Oh, whad'ya know. I am bleeding. Whoops.”

Silence erupted in the cave as they all took in that paragraph.

Eventually, Jason found it the correct time to say, “Well, I think it’s safe to say that if it isn’t her, this girl still belongs in the family.”

Chapter Text

Mar’i had only been 7 months old when she was found. She was found by Gina Dupain during one of the women's hiking trips in the Rocky Mountains in Canada. From what Gina noticed, someone had purposefully left a baby out in the middle of the hiking path, leaving her to be eaten by the wildlife.

Needless to say, the woman was a bit pissed off about it.

Having found Mar’i in only a blanket and basket, she had been half tempted to call her Moses. “No no, you would hate me for it and I had found you on a mountain at sunrise, not in a river.” So, looking at the sun as it rose right in front of them both, Gina chose the perfect name.

“Marinette! You are the one who rises like the sun, and you will rise above the likes of those who dared to leave you behind. Won't you Marinette, my little fairy?”

Mar’i, now named Marinette, calmed significantly from her crying at the new company she had received. It was much better than the people who had taken her from her parents a few days ago, moving her out of the country and leaving her abandoned in the mountains. She had been left overnight, but had cried herself to sleep before having woken up not even an hour ago.

It was the pure luck of a certain “fairy” of creation and fortune, smiling down upon her and giving her the chance to be found. It was only one Gina Dupain who was crazy enough to go hiking up the Rocky Mountains before the sun even rose, onto a trail that hadn't been properly used in a few decades due to being considered unsafe. Ridiculous, right? Gina had only encountered one bear and two minor rockfalls- they called this dangerous?

She had been sent that way from her Inuit friend, having been told that they had seen a sign that she needed to be directed down that path. Turns out they were right. She would no longer have her fortune be read by any other living soul.

Gina knew she wasn't the best when it came to raising children. She had been there for her son's childhood of course, having loved him to the moon and even farther; but she wasn't the type to sit still. By the time Tom was in middle school, Rolland had allowed her to continue her travels, and even let her bring Tom on some of them during the summer if he had done well in school.

Gina was loving and caring, but she was also much too free spirited for her own good. So, she was proud of herself for making her next decision.

Having arrived in Paris, somehow sneaking Marinette in without getting caught(the beauties of having met and befriended people with private jets and little planes she could borrow), Gina walked into the bakery her son and her daughter-in-law owned. Not even bothering to gently guide them into this new situation, Gina had held Marinette up under the giggling babies arms and shouted. “I have found a child! Happy anniversary!”

It wasn't their anniversary for another few months, but they looked over that point. It was still the greatest gift they had ever received.

However, this fact was not acknowledged for a few hours after Gina had burst in shouting at them, gaining both their attention as well as the attention of the present customers. One of them being Officer Raincomprix.

After explaining that no, she hadn't stolen a random child from the park, Gina told them and the officer about the situation she had found her in. “It wasn't even four in the morning;; clearly leaving her in the middle of nowhere was no accident! She was tucked in and everything- they left her to die!”

Even Officer Roger had to admit she made a good point in having claimed the child herself. Frankly, they didn't want to know what she had gone through thus far.

They still had to check her out though. So, they took her to the hospital and after a few check-ins as well as a few trips down to the police station, it was concluded that Marinette… didn't exist.

She was born, but she wasn't recognized in the system anywhere. Her blood didn't match for any paternity results either, so her parents weren't out there looking for her or other family. She just appeared in the mountain forests and that was that. She didn't exist.

It didn't take too long for Sabine and Tom to gain custody, only taking a few hours really. The two had already been going through the motions to adopt a child soon as well, as they couldn't have any of their own. So, they took Marinette in with stride- She was their beautiful new baby girl.

She could crawl and walk a few steps on her own, though not far. She was a bit small, but they couldn't tell if it was due to age or her just being shorter. They couldn't tell her age by her bones either though, as for some reason, the x-rays seemed to stop working around her. As did the CT and PET scanners.

They simply took it as a malfunction going on and simply deduced her to be a bit over a year old. They put her at about 15 months, which was honestly more than twice her age, but it didn't matter too much.

They took home a healthy baby girl, promising their mother, themselves, and Marinette, that they would love her to no end.

The first night, Sabine paused in making a baby bottle, having been listening to her mother-in-law explain the encounter once more as Tom held their new daughter while seated on the couch. “Wait a minute… ‘Marinette’?” When she got curious faces, she continued to look at her mother in horror. “D-did you… did you name her before or after you decided to give her to us?”

It took a few moments for Tom to catch on, his grin growing wide in excitement. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Maman, you are a genius !”

When Gina caught on, she smiled shyly to her daughter, who decided it was in her best interest to bang her head on the counter as her husband burst into hysterics. “I am so sorry, Sabine. I swear I hadn't even realized-” She was cut off as Tom laughed even harder, unable to calm his thrill at the situation.

So, Mar’i Grayson was now Marinette Regina Dupain-Cheng(her middle being a strange combination for Rolland and Gina). “The one who rises to make bread! I love it, ahahahahaha-!” He couldn’t stop for about fifteen more minutes.

It was both surprising and hilarious when shortly after her fourth birthday, they discovered she had powers.

While the others were in shock and unable to fathom what was happening for several minutes, Sabine had been the one to quickly assess the situation and figure out what to do. First thing; they put her into her high chair.

She may have been four, but she was also small and hadn’t seemed to be granted any super strength ( yet , they wondered), so all was good in keeping her strapped into the seat.

“She might be a meta,” Sabine said. “Gina found her in Canada, left to die. She could have been left there because she was found to have been a Meta.”

But she hadn’t shown any sins until she was four, so what signs could she have shown before they found her?

Gina shook her head, “Or an alien. There are plenty of those around the world, but especially in North America, due to the Justice League. Though that still doesn’t explain the whole abandoned thing. She had shown no signs of her powers before…”

They didn’t know what to think of it or do, until a few months later. Marinette had gotten upset because the mayor's daughter at la maternelle had gotten to have an extra snack before a nap time, and Sabine had been called down to pick her daughter up immediately.

“Marinette’s eyes began to glow, and she was floating,” one of the daycare workers told her nervously. “If she has powers, she needs to be registered and we have to be told ahead of time, so we have workers prepared.”

Thankfully, another child there was a meta while two others were aliens, so the workers were familiar with certain behaviors and were not allowed to discriminate. Marinette would be allowed to return to school as soon as she was registered.

However- they weren’t sure yet what she was.

Later that day, Mayor Bourgeois arrived alongside his daughter, Chloe. Marinette had hidden behind her father, pouting a bit at the girl as she and her father entered the bakery.

They hadn’t needed to worry.

Andre Bourgeois had of course been made aware of the situation, as it could have possibly been unsafe for his daughter had Marinette not been able to keep control of her emotions and the staff had allowed Marinette to have an extra snack. Being told she was unregistered, he asked Tom and Sabine if they were aware of what her species or Meta powers were.

“We’re not sure,” Tom replied. “She can fly, but only when she's emotional. This is the first we’re hearing of glowing eyes, so that one’s new. And the few times we had a check up, a few machines have started to act up, but not all of them. The doctors suspect she can consume radiation.”

Mayor Andre had told them not to worry, saying he could help them register Marinette. Even if they weren’t sure yet what she was specifically, they could simply change it all later on if or when they learned. So long as they addressed her current known powers, all would be well.

As they spoke, Chloe walked up to Marinette and handed her a small jewelry box, a nervous and shy look on her face. “Here you go. I’m sorry I made you mad earlier.”

Marinette hesitated for a few seconds before gently taking the box, whispering thank-you as she opened it. Inside was a silver bracelet with a blue star on it. Chloe showed that she had one just like it but with a yellow flower. “Can we… maybe be friends? I'm only friends with this other boy Mommy had me play with, but he’s kinda mean.”

Marinette agreed. At first because the blue star was super shiny and her favorite shade of blue, but then because she knew Chloe was being nice and just wanted friends. So, Marinette hugged Chloe and apologized for her eyes glowing and getting mad. “Ill be your best friend ; I promise!”

She kept her promise.

Even when Chloe was a bit bratty or bossy(Marinette could be too at times), or when she had a hard time making friends with other kids Marinette liked to play with(Marinette helped her to find enjoyment with them), or when Chloe's mom left to New York(she wasn’t very good at the ‘mom’ thing anyways), or when her parents realized after nearly two years that the star on their daughters friendship bracelet was a blue zircon and nearly costed 1,000€(they tried to complain to Andre, but he told them Chloe had her mother buy it so it was out of his hands). The two grew up as the best of friends.

Come le collège, Marinette and Chloe were thick as thieves; practically sisters. They had other friends as well- though some closer than others.

Kim was a meta they met in l'école élémentaire, with super agility, strength, and healing. They were common power-ups, but they made him nearly five times as strong and fast as others his age- not to mention the guy liked to do sports and training already as is so he was working it up. He also could breath underwater though, so he had an extra gift that in the end made him fall in love with swimming.

His meta powers had been registered, but he never really showed them except for during a challenge. When Kim was dared or challenged, he put his abilities to the top notch and pushed them to go further. He was a fun friend, and while he could be a slight spaz at times and didn’t care much for academic score; he could read people rather well and was like a big brother to Marinette and Chloe. Always there to protect them.

The common challenger Kim and them had was Alix. She was a fun and energetic person, similar to Kim in almost every way(besides the height). She never could sit still, and while she had Kim beat in the academic skills, she could tend to have more of a hothead, and would jump to being angry rather fast if she felt she or someone she cared for had been hurt or insulted. She had been one of the first friends that Marinette and Chloe made in school outside of each other, and they had welcomed her into their circle quickly. Small as Alix was, she was the one who had no issue with beating up those who upset her friends.

Max was the classic nerd of their group, but he was more than happy to have the title. He had an IQ over 200, and he had tested that when he had gone a week without sleep(so it was most likely higher). Max was the most sane and rational in their group, having to reign them all in when they became too rambunctious and acted without thinking(Kim, Alix, and Marinette). He had been friends with Alix and Kim, meeting Marinette and Chloe last but becoming a close confidant for all of them.

Despite their differences, he was the one Marinette related to the most. They were both workaholics who often replaced sleep with caffeine to get things done, but they would both still make sure to set aside time every day or so to play video games and hang out with their friends, both having experienced the rough sides of burnout.

While Marinette was friendly and kind to everyone, being someone anyone could go to if they wanted to talk or hang out, Marinette's main friend group was made up of these four. That is… until she turned 13 in collège.

Then Hawkmoth showed up on the playing field, and she received a Miraculous.

Chapter Text

“Marinette! Your alarm’s been going off for fifteen minutes! You're going to be late for your first day back at school!”

Marinette groaned, her head poking out from underneath the covers of her blanket. “Got it Mère!” Marinette threw the covers off, not even opening her eyes as she let her body float down to the hatch of her bedroom. She made sure to drop to her feet before going down, recalling one of the rules of the house her mother had set. Rule #4: No power’s in the house unless needed.

This rule had been set in place after one too many incidents with Marinette having broken something.

Walking downstairs, Marinette kissed her mothers cheek as she sat down to eat. Starting to wake up more she grinned towards her, “I bet you anything Chloe will be in my class again!”

Sabine laughed gently, “Knowing Chloe? You can count on it! The two of you are inseparable, and she’ll make sure of it.”

“Lucky me~”

After getting ready for school(after a small accident with her breakfast), she kissed her parents cheeks goodbye as she grabbed her backpack and the box of macaroons from her father, rushing out the door to make it in time. Just as she was waiting to cross the street though, an old man in a Hawaiian shirt was slowly walking in the street, his eyes to the ground as he watched where his cane placed itself.

Seeing a red minivan speed that way, Marinette quickly glanced around to see all the other onlookers were too glued to their phones to notice anything out of the ordinary. Not that she wouldn’t have minded anyways. Using this chance, Marinette used her powers and quickly flew to grab the man, holding him up gently under the arms as she hovered him above the oncoming cars. The two dropped down gently to the sidewalk and she looked him over. “Are you alright, Monsieur?”

The old man nods, “Yes, thank you very much young miss. That was excellent flying you had, and it saved me just in time too. Oh dear, what a disaster.” Following his gaze, Marinette realizes that in her rush to grab the man she had accidentally dropped the box of macaroons. Grabbing them before anyone can step on them, she dusts off the box and opens it, revealing the treats inside to have survived just fine.

“Don’t worry, I’m no stranger to disasters. And they’re all good still, see?” She hands one to him and he moans happily at the taste.

Saying a quick goodbye upon hearing the first school bell, Marinette rushed to get to her class in time. She didn’t notice as the old man smiled wider before heading into the bakery.

Leaping through the front door, no student even batted an eye at her as Marinette flew up to her class; nor did her classmates as she dropped through the door. Mlle Bustier didn't look up from her papers as she sorted through them. “Nino, why don’t you have a seat in the front row this year? And Marinette, no powers in class, please.”

Marinette let her feet land down and walked up to her desk, “Oui, Madame.” She walked up to the second row and smiled enthusiastically towards her best friend. “Hey Chloe!”

The blonde was lost in thought, her head ducked a bit anxiously before snapping out of her daze. “Huh? Oh, hey M.” She scooted over, glancing towards the door a few times in her nervous state. Quickly catching on to her friend's nerves, Marinette put a hand slow and gentle to her shoulder. “Chloe? Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine, it’s just…” The blonde hesitated before leaning towards her, “You remember Adrien?”

Marinette groaned, rolling her eyes at the mere mention of the blonde’s name. “How could I forget? He’s been a thorn in your side and a chain on your leg for years!” Ever since they were babies, Chloe had been forced to spend a day out of every week with the blonde, or else her mother would have a fuss. The boy seemed nice and cheerful on the interviews, and he looked charming in all the magazines- but Marinette had heard and even seen what he was like.

The two had never met in person, Chloe told them about the other. While Chloe sang her praises to Adrien about how amazing Marinette was, all she could tell her best friend was how cruel and fake Adrien could be. “His cousin is bad enough as it is, but Adrien is the worst of the worst! He manipulates everyone to get what he wants, and pretends to be super sweet and innocent when he’s really just a huge bully behind everyone else's backs.” One time Chloe had come to their playmate with her hair cut short to her shoulders- Adrien told the adults they had played hair-dresser, when in reality, Adrien had cut her hair because Chloe had refused to give him her 3DS.

He was a massive douche. And Marinette was not happy when Chloe next told her Adrien might be joining their class today. Great! That's just what Marinette wanted to hear...

The final bell rang just as the last students entered. Lucky them~ Adrien Agreste was among them.

The blonde spotted them both and gave a bright smile, though Marinette could see the sharpness in it and his eyes as he looked at Chloe. Grabbing her best friend's hand beneath the table, she gave it a small comforting squeeze in reassurance before narrowing her eyes at the boy in a clear indication to back off.

The message was sent, but either unreceived or just ignored.

The boy took the seat beside Nino Lahiffe, right in front of Marinette. Across the aisle, the new girl- Alya, right?- sat beside Sabrina and the two of them started to chat excitedly. The others took their usual seats, and Marinette ignored the blonde in front of her as he introduced himself in such a cheerful voice that she wanted to smack him. The guy was a natural born poser, and Marinette didn’t need Chloe's stories of him to tell her that!

Class started and Mlle. Bustier allowed Marinette to pass around the macaroons to everyone before they began. When letting Adrien choose his, she gave him a kind smile but didn’t look him in the eyes despite knowing he was trying to meet hers.

The smile he gave her was even more sickeningly “sweet” then the one she saw him using on the others.

Marinette retook her seat by Chloe, ignoring and playing ignorant whenever the blonde boy passed her a glance. By the time the first hour was up, Marinette grabbed Chloe's hand and whispered, “Library?”

Her friend nodded appreciatively.

They grabbed their things and nearly left before Adrien caught up to them at the door. “Chloe, hey! Aren’t you gonna introduce me to your friend here? You only talk about her, like, all the time.” Something about the way he said it was like he was trying to make a dig at Chloe. What, was he trying to suggest something?

Marinette didn’t risk that not being his intention, grinning towards her BFF. “Aww, really, Chlo? How sweet! Though I’m sure you can’t have spoken of me nearly as highly as I do you ~” Casual friendly banter always helped to make them comfortable. It worked.

Marinette practically ignored Adrien, not even letting him fully introduce himself before she managed to drag Chloe off to the library. They brought along Alya and Sabrina as well, saying they wanted to join them in helping show Alya around a bit.

In the library, things were going just fine and dandy, until-

"KIIIIIIIIM!" The walls rattled and people fell down to the ground. Marinette had yelped and her eyes glowed for a brief moment(she knew it by the heat she felt in her cheeks). Calming her powers, she followed everyone else to the window to find-?!

Okay- what the actual heck was she looking at right now?

Was… was that a rock giant? Monster? A meta, maybe? But-

"That sounded like Ivan?!"

Despite her deep confusion and panic, it was brought to an abrupt halt by Alya's happy squeal. " It's as if he's been transformed into a real-life supervillain! GPS, check. Battery, check. I am so outta here!” She sprinted for the door, rambling on about superheroes or something of the likes.

Chloe startled and reached out to stop the new girl, groaning and chasing after her. "Cesaire, wait! Are you insane?! This is dangerous, we should stay put and wait for the army!"

Beside Marinette, Sabrina was reigning in her panic as she was on the phone with her father. "Dad?! There's a rock giant monster thingy at school! It sounds like its after my classmate!"

Marinette grabbed the girl's shoulder gently and helped her calm down to explain on the phone, seeing that she was near hyperventilating even if she buried it down. "Sabrina, tell your dad it's moving away from the school, okay? It looks like we can get away now, so try to get home." After reassuring her and helping out others in the school, she got a call from her mom.

Marinette answered, "Oui, Mère?... Ah yes, I was just helping people- Wha-?... But people might still need my help, and I can fly around to… Yes, I remember what happened two years ago… Yes, I should have left it to the authorities, but-... Okay, so maybe I should have left it alone when they started throwing pitchforks- but can we just take a moment to appreciate that people actually own pitchforks in the 21st century? No? Just me?… Yes, I'm coming home right away, Mère. I'll see you soon…" Grumbling, the girl made sure no one else was hurt nearby as she rushed back home.

“Cesaire! Come back here!” Chloe groaned and hunched over as she leaned against a bus stop, needing to catch her breath.

There was no use in shouting anyways; Alya was long gone now. In the library, the new girl had mentioned she wanted to be a news reporter like the likes of Lois Lane- but that did not mean she should go running after monsters looking for superheroes! They didn’t even have heroes here in Paris!

She nearly picked back up on running again when her father called her, telling her to come home immediately. Made sense: Giant monster attacks Paris, so the immediate assumed targets or people in danger would be those of the government. She was the daughter of the Mayor, so of course she should be safe at home rather than running after her classmate who decided to track down the rock monster for no reason whatsoever !

Chloe was about to hang up when she spotted an old man seated on the sidewalk, looking a little in pain and trying to grab his can that was just a foot out of his reach. Not even hesitating, Chloe ran across the street(narrowly avoiding oncoming and panicked drivers) and helped the old man to his feet.

“Ah, thank you for your kindness, young lady~” The old man said, in a strangely wise and soothing voice.

She nodded in acknowledgment. “It’s what any decent person would do, monsieur. Do you need help getting somewhere safe?” He shook his head and politely declined, saying his home wasn’t far.

Chloe didn’t notice him heading down a shortcut to her fathers hotel.

Marinette watched the news from the safety of her bedroom, wishing she could be out there helping. A few other aliens and meta's had arrived at the scene to try and help the police and army- but it didn’t matter because it was all ineffective.

The monster was made from magic from what they could tell. Magic that made a barrier blocking any other powers from hurting it. Laser beams, super strength, bullets- none of it was working. If anything, it was counterproductive, only serving to make the being grow larger.

It was clearly Ivan(though he called himself Stoneheart); Kim had texted the group chat saying he had teased the boy earlier for his crush on Mylene, not meaning to have upset him. Her friend was really remorseful about it, but he was being forced to stay in the police station for his safety as Ivan was clearly not going to listen to reason currently.

Marinette grumbled as she watched the computer screen as the police tried(and failed) to get rid of Stoneheart. “I hate first day’s back at school…”

Suddenly, as if it had appeared out of thin air, a small octagonal jewelry box was sitting in front of her on the desk.

Startling briefly, Marinette eyed the box warily. “Huh?”

Chloe huffed, shooing away the last of the security and staff members from her bedroom. “Seriously, this is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! Clearly Stoneheart isn’t after me, he’s after Kim! Tell daddy that I’ll be fine, alright?!” She slammed the door in annoyance before any of them could try to insist on staying with her.

Sometimes, she really hated her father being the mayor.

Sitting down on one of the couches, she lazily turned on the TV and sighed, hoping someone would show up and save them. Alya was right about one thing: Where there's a supervillain, there's always a superhero close behind. None of their cities' resident aliens or meta's had been of any help thus far, and she was glad her friends had been forced into protection(whether by family or police) but she was starting to worry more by the minute.

Her father said he could try to call the Justice League, but he would need to contact the president first. Which was bad , because their current president was a total jerk who had been racist towards non-humans and had managed to get a ban on JL being in France unless there was a zombie apocalypse(his words exactly ).

Just then, she took notice of a small octagonal jewelry box sitting on the coffee table in front of her. Had her father gotten her a new gift for her first day back, or maybe it was a small thing to help her anxiety about her classmate being turned into an apparent supervillain. Oh well.

She picked up the box and opened it, yelping and dropping the box back on the table as there was a bright flash of light.

Marinette startles and sets the box back down, looking away briefly at the bright flash of light.

When the light dims, she looks once more and gasps at the sight of the… of the…

Out of the flash of light came a small thing that seemed to resemble a miniature cat. And a bug. And a mouse. And whAT WAS IT DOING IN HER ROOM?!

Chloe screamed and jumped off the couch, shielding herself with it as she looked towards the black floating ball of whatever as it yawned and stretched. “EEK! It’s a- a bug! A mouse?! A… a cat? Gahh- it’s a giant bug mouse that looks like a cat!”

The small thing blinked its green eyes lazily, shrugging lightly at the title. “Meh. I’ve been called worse. At least you didn’t call me a genie or whatever. Gotta tell ya kitten, I’m way more personable then those guys.”

Marinette's reaction was very different from her friend’s.

The bluenette stared in shock at the red little bug that floated in front of her, opening its bright blue eyes and smiling gently towards her as if it held all the answers she had ever wanted.

“Hello there, Marinette~”

There were so many ways she wanted to react- the main one being to scream in panic at what had become of her life.

But instead, she stared into the bright eyes of the small fairy-like being in front of her, and recalled something she thought of whenever she was scared.

“This is your little protector, my little firefly~” A woman's voice said, sounding gentle and like a soothing melody. “He’ll be here to look after you and keep you safe at night.” Everything was blurred, but she could make out long red hair that had tints of pink in it. Green eyes as she stood beside a man with blue eyes and black hair.

“And we’ll be there too, always here to protect and love you, sweetheart.”

The man lowered something that was tan and white, with pinkish hues, down towards her so she could see it more clearly. It had large blue eyes, a happy smile as it wiggled about, and was as small as a kitten or newborn puppy in the man's calloused hands.

His name is-

“Silkie?” Marinette breathed in shock and confusion.

Chapter Text

The small red being blinked in surprise and titled its head curiously, a kind smile on its face. “Oh no, I’m not a Silkie. I’m afraid I don’t recognize what that is actually. My name is Tikki, and I’m a Kwami!”

Tikki floated upwards more, closer to Marinette and practically sparkling- no, actually, she literally had sparkles around her.

Marinette frowned sadly, finding herself a bit sorrowful that Tikki was not the small being she had dreamt of so many times in her life. She didn’t recognize the name either, so the two things clearly weren’t of the same species. “O-oh, sorry. You just, y-your eyes, I mean- they reminded me of this little creature I recall having a long time ago.”

Tikki waved it off kindly, “It’s quite alright, Marinette~ I’m just glad your immediate reaction wasn’t to scream and start throwing things at me. That’s usually how my previous wielders have reacted upon meeting me.”

Wielders? Marinette finally began to process the situation she was in.

There was a pixie-like floating in front of her face inside of her room, calling itself a Kwami and claiming Marinette was one of her… wielders? “I’m sorry, what is a Kwami? And why- how are you here in my room?”

Tikki flew over to the jewelry box and picked up a pair of earrings from inside of it, flying back to hold them out to the teenager. “Kwami’s are ancient beings of great and magnificent power, able to gift our strength and powers to those who wear our Miraculous. Marinette; you are the chosen one for the Ladybug Miraculous of Creation. With these earrings, I can lend you my powers so that you may fight and defeat Stoneheart!” She finished by pointing towards the computer screen, where Marinette could see the destruction spreading across the city.

Marinette looked at her in shock. “What?! Me?! Look, erm, Tikki, is it? I have superpowers already, but they won’t be effective! Other people with powers have already tried, but no one can even make a scratch on Stoneheart! I want to help, I really do, but how?”

“Stoneheart is still a person, Marinette. A supervillain is currently wielding another Miraculous and is using it to turn innocent civilians into akumas- with my Miraculous, you can not only turn Stoneheart back into his normal self, but reverse and heal all the damage caused in his wake!” Okay, yeah, repairing everything instantly seemed like a pretty rad superpower now that she mentioned it.

Marinette looked towards the screen and frowned, feeling hurt as she watched Stoneheart rampage through Paris. To think that someone was taking advantage of one of her friends…

“What do I do?”

So, Marinette was realizing something, and it might be an issue: While transformed into the Ladybug themed hero, she apparently couldn’t use her biological powers.

Great.

Which meant no light beams and no flying. She still had super strength(though it was a hundred times stronger than before), super speed( not as fast as her flying speed), and she could swing around with a yo-yo.

A yo-yo .

That is what she had traded her flight for. A toy.

A toy… that apparently could connect all the way to the top of the eiffel tower from Marinette's balcony and sent her zipping across Paris in a small tug. Fun.

Marinette screamed in surprise as she was flung across the city. She may be used to the adrenaline of soaring through the sky at high speeds, but she wasn’t used to the feeling without having control over it. So this was a little bit new to her.

She wasn’t sure how to stop, but fate decided to give her an out as she landed with a crash into something- or rather someone . The two were tangled together by the yo-yo as it hung from a long silver pole that was held up by two rooftops. 

The blonde girl she had gotten tangled with was very clearly the one chosen to be her partner- the black cat theme told her that much. Not to mention how she next commented on her own ridiculous Kwami telling her similar. However, Marinette didn’t have much time to think about it before she looked closely at the girls face- unable to help it from how they were literally tangled with one another. When she saw past the cat-like eyes, she saw a familiar blue that she had looked at millions of times before.

“Chloe?”

Chloe startled, “Wha-? How did you figure me out already?! Plagg said no one could figure me out right away because of the glamor, so… who…” She seemed to take a good look at Marinette as well before giving her a bored expression. “Oh, of course it’s you. And of course we’d know each other right off the bat.”

The bluenette laughed in return, sharing the sentiment. The two were sisters in all but blood and species; with how close they were and how much they trusted one another, it was only natural that they would see through even magic to recognize their sole confidants.

Untangling them from the yo-yo, Marinette helped her best friend up to a stand. “Sorry about the crash landing; the magic makes me unable to use my actual powers. So…”

Catching on, Chloe looked a little nervous. “No flying, no light beams, no super strength-”

She shook her head in response. “Not the ones I’m used to. We both have strength, agility, ‘weapons’ that can expand for a long time and are super strong, and our special powers. Mine gives me something that can help us out of any situation, and the ability to fix all the damage. You?”

“I can apparently destroy anything with a touch, no matter the size or what it’s made of. Plagg, my Kwami, said it has differing effects on living things depending on what I want it to do, but I’m not eager to test that out.” Yeah, they’d get back to that one at a later date. “He also mentioned a timer?”

“Five minutes after we use our special power, and then we detransform. Tikki said it’s because we’re minors, so it’s something we’ll have to deal with… Chloe, she said that only we could fight Stoneheart. Ivan is being used by some bad guy and we need to save him.”

Her friend nodded, an anxious but ready look to her face as she smiled. “I know. We’ll save him- together?”

Marinette grinned, happy to see that not only was Chloe willing and ready to face this with her, but she was just as nervous as well. “Always.” The two held the other's hand as they took a large leap up onto the rooftops, running across them to get to the scene. “So, what’s your superhero name?”

Chloe hummed in thought before saying, “How about… Reine Chatton?”

“Kitten Queen?” Marinette couldn’t help but burst into giggles, having to halt their run for a moment. “Well, you are cat themed, and you do act as if you’re a queen, so I suppose it fits! Hmm, guess I’ll be… Marienkäfer.”

"What's that?"

"It means Ladybug in German."

Chloe- Reine Chatton- snorted in response. “Okay, so we're both obvious then? Yours has your nickname at the beginning.”

"Makes it easy to call each other Mari and Queen, right?" Just in case they slipped with their nicknames in front of others.

Their laughter was brought to a stop by a large crash and the sound of Stoneheart screaming out in his anger. Following the sound, Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton raced towards the Parc des Princes.

The villain named himself Hawkmoth- and Marinette absolutely hated the guy.

You had to be seriously messed up in the head to use magic to take advantage of civilians and make them do your dirty work. Like seriously- what the hell dude?!

Marinette had been distracted after the first fight, thus forgetting to go after the akuma. So, once Ivan was turned back into Stoneheart, Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton had chased after him to the eiffel tower, claiming war on Hawkmoth.

The two girls had stood side by side on the monument as they shouted out for the civilians to hear. “People of Paris! Let us make this promise to you: No matter who wants to harm you-”

“-Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton will do everything in our power to keep you safe!”

It took a bit of “hero-worship” from Chloe to convince her father to let the heroes do their work in peace, but the mayor eventually agreed. So, the two girls could continue on the fight against Hawkmoth without worry of the government or local police trying to get in the way, or stop them and reveal their identities. After all, it was pretty clear that they were the only two that actually stood a chance against akuma's.

Walking back to school, Marinette joked to the blonde about it. “It’s kind of a good thing that the president banned the Justice League now, you know? Could you imagine how tough that would be if one of the big leagues was akumatized?” The thought made them both groan in dismay. Stoneheart had been tough enough, but an akumatized superhero? That might be a little difficult…

Then came another thought: Paris had aliens and a few meta's already. Marinette only knew about a few(Juleka and her brother were both aliens, and Kim’s father had passed down his meta abilities he had received from a rough trip in America), and she really hoped she could be there for them if there was ever the risk of an akumatization. Even if they weren’t trained heroes like the justice league, they were still superpowered.

It was terrifying to think about.

She was glad to have her best friend at her side for the ride.

Finishing the school day, Marinette told Chloe to wait for her before they walked to the bakery after school. “I just want to go talk to Damocles about what we mentioned to Mlle Bustier. I don’t like lying, but it gives us a good excuse to go to akuma attacks if they happen during school hours.” Chloe nodded and waved her off.

As she rushed to the principal's office, Marinette tried(and failed) not to swell with pride as she overheard Alya tell Sabrina about her idea for a blog about the two new superheroes. She’d have to check it out later, excited to see what the rising-journalist had to offer.

Knocking on the door, she was let into the office, eager to speak with Monsieur Damocles about her and Chloe's plan.

“The magic that the akuma’s use? It affects my powers strangely, and it makes me really anxious and panic. Chloe and I were far enough from the akuma attack today, but it still acted up pretty badly.” Marinette explained.

“Hmm, I see,” he said thoughtfully. Monsieur Damocles may have a few faults in his outlook, but he was a kind man who cared deeply for his students and what was best for them. Marinette hated to lie to the man about something like this, but she knew it was needed to get herself and Chloe excused. “How would you describe your reaction to the akuma magic?”

Now to sell it. “Can you recall that incident when we used stainless steel silverware in the cafeteria?” She didn’t mean to bring up old nightmares, but the look of fear in his eyes at the memory of her powers going haywire was just what she needed to convince him. “It’s a lot like that.”

A few minutes later, the two of them had worked out a plan. Whenever an akuma attacked during school hours, Marinette would leave for home, where she could lock herself in her room to keep any of her power-flares from injuring others and causing property damage… again. Her bedroom had been reinforced when she was younger to keep her light beams from shooting through the walls when she was emotional or sick.

It was also decided that Chloe would join her for emotional support and to help keep Marinette calm, as well as make sure she arrived home safely without causing damage.

Coming to a nice agreement, Damocles said of preparing some forms for her and Chloe's parents to sign to get the matter situated, telling her he’d have them ready by the next day. Saying her goodbyes, Marinette rushed out front to meet Chloe, grabbing her umbrella from her locker on the way when she heard the rain pick up a bit.

Arriving at the front doors, Marinette froze in place when she spotted Chloe, tears smearing her mascara, with Adrien standing in front of her with a sickeningly sweet smile.

“-on’t understand why you seem to think this time is any different, Chloe? Nothings changed here; so stop acting like a spoiled brat and listen when I tell you to do something. Got it? ”

Oh. Oh hell no!

Storming over, Marinette stepped in between the two blondes, glaring into the startled eyes of the banana-haired jerk before her. “Ex- cuse me?! Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Adrien quickly covered up his look of surprise and replaced the previous annoyance with a cheerful demeanor. “Oh, Marinette! Don’t worry; Chloe and I just had a small disagreement, that’s all!”

Really? He honestly thought that would work on her? He said so himself, Chloe always talks about her, which meant the two of them had been friends for a long time. That meant that Marinette knew her best friend, and she knew when something was more than just a ‘small disagreement’. Did he still think she’d fall for his ridiculous act?

Scoffing, she rolled her eyes and tried to keep her temper from making her eyes glow. “Listen up, Agreste. I hate liars, and you’re the biggest one I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. I know Chloe, and she wouldn’t have gotten her mascara ruined for anything less than a manipulating bully thinking that he can take away those who care about her.” At her words, Chloe practically squawked in indignation and rushed to pull out her compact mirror, interrupting the peaceful sound of the rain with an ear-piercing screech(literally, Marinette's head was ringing due to her advanced hearing).

Thankfully, her words(as well as the ruined makeup) had snapped Chloe out of her state from before, and the girl glared up venomously at the boy who had once tried to ruin her childhood. “That's it, Adrien! I'm not putting up with your crud anymore, and Marinette sure as heck isn’t about to start- so take your fake attitude and go on, get lost! We. Are. Through!”

Seeing that this wasn’t going to be a win for him, Adrien's smile turned rather stale and more plastic than even before. In fact, it gave Marinette the chills(which she rarely felt due to her inability to feel cold). “Fine then. Have it  your way Chloe, but remember: You don’t want to make an enemy of me.” Before turning to walk to his car, he gave Marinette a sick smirk and winked, “See you around, Marinette. Let me know if you change your mind about the company you keep~”

With that, the boy left.

Once he was halfway down the steps, Marinette whispered for Chloe to face her and not pay him any attention. Once she did, and Adrien was opening the door to the car, Marinette collected a small(tiny) burst of energy into her hand and shot it at the back of his head. By the time he yelped and whipped his head around, Marinette had already been facing Chloe as they both tried not to smile.

It became impossible to hold in their fits of laughter when Adrien entered the car, not noticing the large spot of hair missing from the back of his head.

Chloe tried to control her breathing once the car was finally out of sight. “Oh my gosh- First day at school, and he loses a chunk of his hair without realizing it; Gabriel might not send him back!”

Good. Marinette grinned and waved it off, holding out her umbrella for the both of them to share. “All’s well that ends well, right? He cut off your hair once, and made you smear your makeup; it’s well deserved. Besides, his father will probably chalk it up to some overzealous fan who plans to clone him in the future.”

Plagg and Tikki both poked their heads out from their respective owners' purses. The cat Kwami gave a small whistle as he watched the last of the car disappear from sight. “Dang, Sugarcube. I kinda like this pair this time around. Usually my kittens and your bugs are more of the stick-in-the-mud kind of people, or they’re just idiots. I know you got lucky a few times with a few good ones, but I kind of like these two the most so far. You even got yourself a Tamaranean and everything.”

Marinette and Chloe smiled as they listened to the two ancient beings speak, feeling a bit proud and rather happy to hear their approval.

Tikki giggled in response to her other half, nibbling on a cookie Marinette had given to her earlier. It was a good thing the two liked sweets and cheese; what with Marinette living above a bakery and Chloe being rich enough to buy expensive cheese without being questioned over it. “Oh, Plagg~ Even if Marinette wasn’t Tamaranean, she would still be her amazing self." Yeah- wait, what? “And Chloe works so well with the ring! I haven’t seen one of your wielders manage your energy so well before in such a long time-”

“Woah woah woah, hold up- timeout.” Chloe said, both her and Marinette halting before they crossed the street. “Did… you just call Marinette a- a Tamar-what’s-it? What did you call her?”

Tikki tilted her head curiously, confusion filling her gaze as well. “A Tamaranean? I haven’t been in the presence of one in a few hundred years, but I recognize the energy. Not to mention, your powers align perfectly, and you’re even allergic to metallic chromium!"

Marinette felt her world shatter- but not in a bad way.

No, the world had once had a small barrier of glass around it before, almost like a protection though it worked more to keep her in then keep others out. At the Kwami’s words, it was like the barrier around her world shattered, and suddenly Marinette could see beyond her normal joys of life, finding even more beyond it.

“You know what I am?” A Tamaranean- that’s what she had called it, right?

At her words, Plagg flew over to sit on Chloes shoulder closest to the bluenette, looking a little lost himself. “You didn’t know? Didn’t your parents ever tell you?”

“Marinette is adopted,” Chloe told the two Kwami’s. “Her grandmother found her when she was over a year old and her parents took her in soon after. No one knew what she was.”

But now they did. Now Marinette knew.

“I’m Tamaranean…”

Saying it with so much sureness, she felt her heart swell more than it ever had before. Marinette didn’t know if she was floating or not, but it sure as heck felt like it.

“I’m Tamaranean-” Looking towards her best friend, Marinette laughed and hugged her tightly, causing the blonde to catch her contagious giggling. “I’m Tamaranean!” The two laughed happily in the rain, their Kwami's soon joining in the group hug.

Not far away, an old man watched from under his umbrella, a small turtle Kwami floating at his shoulder.

“Excellent choice, Master,” Wayzz said, watching the happy pair.

Master Fu chuckled, rubbing the hair on his chin thoughtfully, a smile playing on his face. “Those two work well together. I know they will make us all proud.”

Chapter Text

When she woke up that morning, it was with a nauseous feeling that something either good or bad was awaiting her. Marinette wasn't sure what to expect of it, as these feelings had a 50/50 chance of being either. Ignoring it for now, she decided not to dwell on it. If she avoided it, it probably wouldn’t be as big of a deal as it would if she made it out to be larger-than-life, right?

Stepping out of bed with a large yawn, Marinette climbed down the steps and flew around. All the Kwamis in her room went around her as she floated about, lazily getting ready for the day. Wearing her signature colors, she allowed Tikki and Pollen to style her hair before she headed downstairs.

“Morning Mère…”

Sabine smirked as the teen floated down to the couch nearby. “Good morning. No powers in the house, remember, sweetheart?” Marinette hummed in response, still sprawled out on the couch as her mother brought her a plate of croissants. “Who are you picking up this morning?”

“Kagami. She has a fencing tournament coming up at the end of the school year, so she’s going to come to Francois Dupont in the morning until summer break.” The girl had become another member to their squad in recent years. She had been rather awkward and unused to human-interaction before, due to her upbringing, but she had simply needed time to adjust. Now, Kagami was one of Marinette's closest friends, right behind Chloe.

She had been an invaluable asset to their team during Hawkmoths reign of terror.

Marinette hugged her father goodbye in the bakery before going to the small garage area by the back entrance. Her grandmother had needed to do a lot of convincing, but she had finally gotten the rest of the family to agree on letting Marinette keep the motorcycle she had gotten for her (not-even-close)birthday. It took maybe three months before her parents had agreed on letting her ride around without her grandmother's guidance, and now she could take it anywhere in the city.

It was about a ten minute ride to the Tsurugi mansion, and Kagami was already awaiting her arrival by the front gates, helmet in hand. “Hey Gami!”

Kagami nodded her head in acknowledgment, a small smile in place as she sat behind her friend. “Mari-hime. You look a little tired; should you really be driving this morning?” She raised a decent point, but Marinette was never too tired to argue.

“I’m fine. Just have a feeling something's going to happen is all- nothing bad, I think, just… something.”

“Hmm. And you are certain your ankle and arm are up for it though?” Ugh. The faith her friends put in her may be low for good reasons, but it didn’t mean she was happy with it. Besides, her excelled aged healing fixed her right up in a matter of hours! They really hadn't needed to take her to the hospital for the first time in so many years!

“Yes mother , I am perfectly certain.”

“Good~” They both laughed as they rode to school.

Arriving, the two shared a quick la bise before parting ways. While Kagami was in a hurry to change for practice, Marinette was in a hurry to get to class and her scheduled meeting with Mlle Bustier.

Little did she know, halfway across Paris, a couple had just stepped off of a private jet, awaiting the moment both theirs and her lives would change forever.

“Finished!” Marinette and Caline Bustier both shouted joyfully, throwing their arms up in unison at a job well-done. The two had been working hard from before class began to nearly the second hour of school, to work out a decent learning schedule for the next year.

Mlle Bustier may not be as heavily pregnant now, but her baby was expected to be due around their christmas holiday break. The thing is; Mlle Bustier never got substitutes. She hated the idea of leaving her students in the hands of someone who wasn’t used to how she ran her class.

Sure, their class would go to Mendeleiv for science and math, but Caline knew Mendeleiv and could count on her not poisoning her children's minds with backwards teaching. Substitutes? She didn’t want any. It didn’t matter if she felt under the weather, she would just suck it up. If she was contagious, then Damocles would either teach the class in her stead or would suffer from her wrath.

So, the plan was simple; next year, if Caline went into labor before the christmas break, then Marinette and Mendeleiv would collectively take care of the class.

Mendeleiv would have her own class to teach, and would come in for tests, quizzes, and grading, while Marinette would handle the rest. She was not only class president and representative, but she was the honor student of the school and most trusted among the staff. Caline knew she could trust in Marinette to keep the class in order if she needed to leave ahead of time.

“I swear though,” Caline scowled and poked at her stomach, her baby-bump just recently starting to show. “If this little guy or girl comes early, they’re gonna get it in the future.” With that, the early study hall finished and they got on to starting class.

Marinette went through the day trying to listen and take notes, but it was starting to get difficult. While working with Bustier earlier, she had found it hard to concentrate, more out of it then when her mind went on one of its catastrophizing tangents. As the day had droned on though, the feeling kept getting harder and harder to ignore. It felt like she was missing something, or maybe- maybe she had been missing something, and was trying to find it?

“I’m gonna head over to Luka’s during lunch…” She muttered grumpily.

Beside her, Chloe smiled fondly. “Something up, or is it the anxiety?”

“Both, maybe?” Marinette sighed and sat back in her seat as Mlle Bustier passed around a worksheet. “I just have this weird feeling is all. Alix seems rather bored today, which means nothing big came up in the timeline.’

Whenever something big was going to happen involving the Miraculous, either Alix or Luka would know about it. Alix would be the one silently guiding them into situations, while Luka would be the one trying to fix something if things were going to go bad.

Alix was currently seated beside Mylene, not paying any mind to the worksheet placed in front of her. If something big was going on(Miraculous related) Alix would be paying attention to everything and would have sent nearly thirty silent messages towards their group before class had even started.

So, come their lunch hour, Marinette rode her bike down to the houseboat, glad that Luka had graduated the year previous so that she didn’t have to drive across the city to his old school.

Arriving, she found Anarka flying around, holding instruments for Kitty Section to use for their practice after school. Marinette had enjoyed growing up around the Couffaine's, as they were the only other aliens she was close to. She and Juleka had been simple friends from class, but when Luka had become a part of the Miraculous team and their civilian friend group, Marinette had found a nice group of flying-buddies.

While they weren’t of the same species, it was nice to pretend once in a while that they were .

The Couffaine's were from Daxam. Anarka and her parents had moved to earth when she was a young teen. It wasn’t until Superman showed up though that she felt comfortable revealing her powers more in public. By the time her children were both out of diapers, she had refused to walk on the ground unless she was inside a building off-water(after the first twenty complaints that had been reported on her flying around in businesses).

Giving a happy fist bump, Marinette flew inside the houseboat. Anarka had set a very important rule for her home: If you have powers, you had to use them at some point in your stay. It was the complete opposite of the rules everywhere else, and Marinette loved it.

Unfortunately though, her trip there was in vain. Luka didn’t have any forewarnings of the future.

“If you have a feeling of some kind of issue coming up, then it must not be something you need to worry about. If it was a situation that required Alix or I to use our time-powers, then you wouldn’t have any feelings about it until we were already working to change things. If we haven’t then the feeling must be non-miraculous related, and not that bad.” He pat her on the head cheerfully, chuckling at the pout on her face and the puff of her cheeks. “Chin-up, Mari. Whatever it is, I promise to rewind and fix it all if it’s bad. Okay?”

Marinette nodded, still a bit pouty though to have not found any answers.

So, she left for home. She could snatch a few treats for her class and grab a full meal before returning to her lessons. As she rode home though, she had no idea of what was truly awaiting her.

She wouldn’t be returning to school.

Approaching her home, she noticed the “closed” sign on the door and that all the lights were off. Marinette frowned in confusion, not used to seeing the bakery closed so early on a school day. Or… ever, really?

Pulling her motorcycle into the parking garage, she walked up the stairs towards the apartment floors. “Mère? Pere? Why’s the bakery closed so early?” Upon reaching their front door, her mother quickly stepped out, closing the door gently behind her.

Her face was stained with wiped away tears, and Marinette had a strange feeling of apprehension fill her gut.

“Mère?” Marinette stepped closer and brought her mother into a hug, one which the woman nearly choked a sob upon receiving. However, Marinette knew from experience the difference between a happy sob and a sad sob. “What’s going on?”

Sabine pulled away and gave a tight hold to her daughter's shoulders. “S-sweetheart? There- there's some people here to see you. N-now I know you’re going to want to freak out at first, but there's nothing to worry about, okay? They- Tom and I have been speaking with them for a good few hours now, and you need to know they didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”

What was going on? Who was inside their home? “Mère, you’re kinda tap-dancing on my anxiety right now, ya know? Who are they?” Was whoever it was the reason she had been feeling off so much today.

Sabine sucked in a deep breath before uttering an answer Marinette never would have expected. “Marinette; your parents are here to see you.”

.

.

.

“What?”

How was she supposed to react to that? What was she supposed to say- hell, what was she supposed to think ?

“You were kidnapped when you were a baby, and they had been told you were dead- they even had proof. They hadn’t put you as missing or your blood in any system because of it, but they did so recently a few years ago. When you were in the hospital last week, it came as a complete match,” Sabine continued, a bittersweet smile on her face. “Marinette, they’ve missed you so much, and they want to see you so badly…”

Her parents- her actual, biological parents- were just in the other room. They hadn’t abandoned her, they-

Someone had stolen her from them…

All these years she had been disheartened by the idea that she was left for dead by her family, never having actually considered that they were out there looking for or grieving her.

The thought of being abandoned had hurt her for so long- but the thought that you lost your baby daughter? Marinette couldn’t begin to imagine how awful that must have felt.

Her parents, they- Holy shit.

Oh dear sweet Kwami’s of the miracle box- her parents were just inside the other room!

Marinette looked towards Sabine in panic, “I, uhm, h-huh? Wha- They’re i-in there?! How?! Wha- but I, I… How ?!” Yeah, she wasn’t going to manage to speak real words for a good minute here.

Sabine laughed softly, wiping at her new tears and smiling at her adopted daughter's antics. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Take your time- well, I mean, they have been rather eager to see you. They flew here from Gotham City in America, and their plane landed not even an hour before they got here. Oh, actually,” Sabine hummed and looked off to the side in thought. “I’d better call Mayor Bourgeois about setting a room up for them. They were so eager to get here they didn’t even stop at the hotel first.”

Her apparently-a-kidnapping-victim adopted daughter was in the middle of the most anxiety-inducing breakthrough of her entire life thus far, and all this woman could do was think about a hotel room?! Thanks a lot for the help!

Seeming to hear the teens thoughts, Sabine turned her attention back to the panicking girl. “We’ve been talking for a while, Marinette. We- we’ve agreed to wait until you make your decision first, that way we don’t pressure you, but we’ve worked out some ideas for what to do after today. You can live here, or with them in America, or maybe both- They have agreed that even if you were to live with them, they would be alright with you staying for the rest of the school year, and maybe come back for the next year to stay with your friends-” Yeah, she liked that plan.

“Maybe, yeah… They’re inside?” Marinette hesitantly gestured towards the door, nervous of what layed passed the oak.

Sabine nodded, but neither moved yet. After a minute, the woman opened the door a bit and called for her husband.

When Tom came out, he nearly cried at the sight of her. The three hugged one another close, all teary eyed- though they were tears of many emotions.

“It’s going to be alright, ma petite bijou. You’re going to be alright, okay?” She wasn’t sure if the words were encouraging her like they were supposed to, or if they were just making her more anxious than before.

When her adoptive parents made their way downstairs, leaving Marinette to step inside on her own, she breathed in deep, trying to calm from crying. Gosh, how weird would it be for her to start bawling her eyes out before she even entered the same room as them?

A small paw on her hand and she looked down to meet the comforting eyes of her most beloved Kwami. Tikki smiled gently and gave a small tilt of her head towards the door, floating back into the purse to show she would be with her chosen the whole way.

That gave Marinette more courage than anything else had thus far. So, pulling out her most prized sketchbook and flipping to the first page, Marinette steeled her nerves as she prepared for what lay ahead.

Finally being able to calm herself enough to not make Duusu and Nooroo freak out upstairs, she opened the door and stepped in.

Seated on the couch was a man with eyes just as shining blue as her own, and medium length black hair. He wore a semi-casual and yet professional outfit, mostly with black but with hints of color from his shirt beneath the dark suit jacket. He was holding hands with a woman with long red hair that had a hot-pink hue to it, and green eyes that sparkled bright enough to make Plagg jealous. She had a warm tan skin color that looked almost like gold- probably the most realistic version of sun-kissed skin- and cool colored clothes that looked just as casual yet formal as the man beside her.

They reminded her so much of a memory that was more than a decade old. She only had one memory, and they looked so much like it.

Try as she might, Marinette couldn’t hold in the tears as she felt them practically burn her skin. Shakily stepping forward, she hesitantly held out the sketchbook for them to see.

She expected confusion, or maybe even sadness that her immediate reaction wasn’t to trust them. Instead, when their eyes landed on the notebook, they filled with tears more joyous than her own. “Can… can you tell me, his … his name…?”

The man- her dad - choked on a wet laugh, looking up from the book to smile softly, looking just as relieved as her. “...Silkie… His name is Silkie, and- he really wants to see you.”

That was enough.

She didn’t know how they proved it to her parents, but that name alone was enough proof to convince her. 

So, when she broke into a sad smile and heavy sobs, and they stood up to hug her between them- she accepted and returned the embrace. Marinette felt her mothers’ tears hit her hair along with kisses pressed to her forehead. Her dad squeezed the two of them between him as he brought them back to sitting on the couch, knowing they were all too overwhelmed to continue standing.

And her? Marinette cried happily, feeling that old sorrowful hope in her heart shrivel up as it made way for more love.

She was back in her parents arms.

Here's the image of Marinette's new LB outfit! I added some Tamaranean themes to it since Tikki knew what she was from the start. Also, I gave her a hood. Because I think hero costumes with hoods are the bomb:D, and I gave her a short cut cap that has two separations to look like the shells over a Ladybugs' wings. Hope ya'll like it!

Chapter Text

After a good ten minutes of tears and hugging, with Marinette just at one point curling up into a ball in between her parents arms’, they all calmed enough to begin talking.

“I- uhm, well,” Oh gosh now she was making it awkward. After all that crying Marinette just couldn’t handle proper words, could she? “I know you guys probably already learned it and all, but I’d feel rude not saying it still. So; Hi. M-my name’s Marinette. I… I don’t know what it was supposed to be before.” She knew they couldn’t be upset about it(too much); after all, she was named by the people who took her in, not the people who took her away.

Her dad grinned, a small chuckle coming out as he responded. “Mar’i. You were named Mar’i And’r Grayson. We were happy to see your family gave you a close name. We are more than fine with you keeping your name as is, so you don’t need to worry about changing it or feeling pressured to! If we mess up a-at all, maybe just think of it as a nickname or something? O-or maybe just ignore it or tell us to stop even-” He was cut off from his wife putting a hand to his shoulder and giving him a calming gaze.

Well, now Marinette knew where her catastrophizing personality came from.

“My name is Koriand’r Grayson, though family and friends call me Kori. This is Richard Grayson, though most everyone just calls him Dick.” … What?

 Seeing her confused and slightly astonished face, her mother laughed gently. “‘Dick’ is a common English nickname for Richard.” Ah, okay. For a moment she had feared he was maybe a jerk to everyone he met or vice-versa. Well, at least that answered one of her thoughts on their names. “You- You may feel free to call us whatever name or title you wish, Marinette.”

She hesitated briefly. She had always thought the worst about what happened to her with her family, but even still she had held on to some hope… “Sabine and Tom have always been Mère and Père to me: mother and father. Could…” She looked up nervously to meet their gazes, “Would it be alright, i-if I called you… Mom and Dad?”

The teary eyed responses told her it was- more than even the nods and frantic acceptances did.

Her parents lived in Gotham City, New Jersey. Marinette had never been, but Luka had told her a few stories from the time his father took him and Juleka on a tour in America, and Alya spoke about the vigilantes there with Sabrina and Lila. Despite it having the highest crime rate in the world, Juleka had loved the place and had told Marinette in her most enthusiastic voice that she was certain the bluenette would love it too. Lila had actually visited once with her mother, though the girl had grumbled as she explained of having to stay in her hotel the whole week out of her mothers fear of her getting kidnapped.

Marinette’s dads’ adoptive father owned an overly large mansion there and he and his adoptive family all lived together there mostly. A few of the others had branched out a bit but mostly stuck together at the manor.

After having lost Marinette all those years ago, Dick and Kori had lived more in the mansion, wanting to stay close with family.

Marinette gaped when she was told of all of her uncles and aunts. “Wait a minute- you have how many siblings ?!”

Her dad groaned, “You know- there is never a correct answer to that question? Counting myself, there's six of us. One of us is unofficial because Bruce can’t exactly win that court case and is scared to see it through, and the other is biological. Actually,” Dick gave her an awkward smile. “The biological son- Damian? He requested that I never refer to him as your uncle and asks that you do the same. He thinks it’ll be weird since he’s only a year older than you.”

Marinette nodded, seeing how that might feel a bit strange. "Agreed. I have some friends that are older than me, and it would be kinda weird to call someone else my uncle when he's only- wait." She realized then that they had just made her birthday be the day she was found. She knew she had to be maybe a few months younger than suspected, but she didn't know how much. "Umm, when is my real birthdate?"

As it turns out, she was over a year younger than she thought.

She groaned and fell back on the couch- a big contrast to Dick’s laughter. "Great! I'm already shorter than everyone else, and now I'm going to be the youngest as well?! Mylene and Alix both just got growth spurts, so now I'm the baby of my class!”

Her mothers smile was still bright, but a look of curiosity peaked. “Marinette, your adoptive parents told us you were four when your powers emerged? Can you tell us about them?”

Marinette nodded, but hesitated at first.

All of her knowledge about Tamaran, her powers, their language- everything; it all was because of Tikki that she learned it all. She hadn’t even told her parents- erm, Tom and Sabine, about being Ladybug. She would have to use the same excuse for now: a truth in a lie.

‘Well, for the longest time no one knew what exactly I was. My grandmother Gina found me in Canada, so I was suspected as either a Meta or an alien when my powers showed up. At first it was just flying, but then my eyes and hands started to glow one day in my first year of school, not long after. It wasn’t until I met my friend, Tikki, that I learned that I was Tamaranean.”

“Wait a minute-” Dick cut her off, looking towards his wife in confusion. “I thought Tamaraneans couldn’t activate the energy in their eyes until they hit puberty?” Kori shrugged, just as surprised.

Their daughter pointed to her eyes, closing and opening them to show them in their alien-form. “Tikki thinks it’s one of the effects of my being part human. I have a few things different as well, but that was one of them. Tikki is from another Class M planet, and a few Tamaraneans lived there. So, when she met me after her family immigrated here, she recognized my powers.” She smiled fondly as she recalled the hours she and Chloe spent with their two Kwamis, after Stoneheart, learning all they could about Tamaran and Marinette's heritage. Marinette had been energetic and excited about it so much that she had avoided sleep for nearly five nights straight until Chloe finally knocked her out.

Marinette had known of her powers before, but hadn’t ever gotten a good understanding on their limits, or why she had them. She hadn’t even known about one of her abilities, which allowed her to learn any language from another person through physical contact- she had never noticed, so she had never tried it! It only really worked when she put forth the actual effort in the power, but it was easy and rather simple to learn after a brief instruction.

However, it had been a little difficult when Tikki had Marinette touch her to learn her alien language. Being a Kwami; Tikki was fluent in everything. So, to be on the safe side, Marinette had waited until the two weeks of all saints holidays before giving it a try.

As Tikki warned, and Marinette expected; she had immediately passed out unconscious and was left with a high fever for nearly the entire break from school. There were already over seven thousand languages on earth, and she was also learning alien languages as well! Not to mention the different dialects!

That had been a rough time.

‘So what other differences have you noticed?” Her mother asked.

In response, Marinette asked if the both of them could stand up again for her. When they did, she looked them both over before deciding that she absolutely hated her DNA.

Standing up, Marinette looked at them both with slight annoyance. “Well for one; despite how the two of you and most Tamaraneans are freakishly tall in comparison, I am stuck being short for the rest of my life! Since Tamaraneans usually get their height around puberty, my human side didn’t mix so well with it and decided to screw me over. Now, I’m stuck with being 4’11”, and I am not happy about it.”

Despite her grave tone and the glare on her face, her parents merely choked on their laughter and hugged her between them, seeming to be perfectly happy with her long-lasting tiny stature.

Jerks.

She had to lie though on some parts, to make excuses for her Ladybug-abilities.

Despite her Tamaranean side making her mostly-immune to the cold and heat, her Ladybug traits made her powers thrive more in the heat and sunlight, but made her body go into hibernation mode when deemed too cold. Luckily, Tikki assured her that her alien DNA made the risk of hibernation very low, so it would likely never have to be worried about. Instead, Marinette just said she was a bit sensitive to the cold(not by much), and truthfully told her powers to become more profound in heat.

She also had to tell them about her skin being only somewhat impenetrable. While Tamaranean skin is mostly impenetrable(due to the power to melt metal upon contact when using enough radiation), Marinette's Ladybug traits made her powers both weaker, and stronger.

Her Ladybug side gave her a shell-like ability that, along with her Tamaranean side, made her skin almost impenetrable. However, it only made it such against attacks of sorts or to objects harming her. So, she was incapable of getting cut with a knife, but she was still able to break an arm if she fell from a distance and didn’t catch herself in time(last week, for example).

Also, while her Ladybug and Tamaranean features made her heal even faster than normal for injuries, her human side made her capable of becoming sick. Her being able to get sick wasn’t helped when the Ladybug traits made her become more aware of the cold. So yeah, Marinette actually had a higher risk of becoming sick in the winter than even the average human! Great. Of course, it took some pretty good acting skills to pass this off as her half-and-half DNA rather than the Miraculous magic; afterall, two plus three had never equaled one before.

Upon speaking of her language skills though, her father looked even more befuddled. “Wait, I thought you could only learn languages by lip-contact?”

“What?”

Kori smiled and waved her husband off. “Oh no, that’s just me~ We can learn it through skin-to-skin contact normally; I just chose lip-contact as the best way because it seemed more personable.”

“Wha-?! You mean you didn’t have to kiss that guy in Japan when we were teens?! Kori!”

“I was learning languages by the lips that speak them- It was poetic !”

Marinette was going to take some time off for a while.

Tom and Sabine insisted on Marinette staying the week in the hotel with her parents, already calling in to school to excuse her for the week. When they briefly explained the situation, M Damocles and Mlle Bustier insisted as well and put her down as excused, promising to keep quiet on why so that no one would become too nosy.

Marinette thought of telling her friends about the new situation, but decided to wait until she could meet with them all in person. She knew they would understand why when she eventually explained, but for now, she just wanted to try and get to know her parents. So, when her phone blew up with messages the next morning once school started, she simply texted the group chat that she was going to be busy for a few days and would explain everything later.

Her plan backfired by the end of day two, however, when she and her parents were eating dinner in the dining hall of the hotel. Marientte really should have recalled a very large piece of key information: her best-friend lived there, and her father owned the hotel.

So yeah, obviously, Chloe found out she was there. Or rather, Zoe spotted her and told Chloe before Marinette even noticed the blonde's presence a few tables down.

Kori had left to use the restroom a few moments before Chloe arrived on the floor, so it was understandable that she was worried and highly suspicious when she spotted Marinette eating dinner with an unknown man old enough to be her father(she didn’t yet realize how on-point she was). So, it was actually a good best-friend move when Chloe walked over and held Marinette's shoulders, giving Dick the stink-eye as she greeted them.

“Mari, there you are! We were all worried when Mlle Bustier said you would be absent all week. And, this is…?” Marinette thankfully recognized her best friend's suspicious look and knew immediately where her thoughts had taken her.

“Sorry I’m missing class, but I promise it's for a really good reason. Chloe, this is Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson.” She saw a hint of shock pass her friend's face, but simply pushed it aside. ‘His wife , Koriand’r, is just in the restroom. So no, Chloe, I’m not having dinner with a random man who shows chance of being a pedophile.” Her crass words made Dick nearly choke on his drink, but Chloe didn’t seem embarrassed by her idea.

Kori returned just then, taking her seat between the two as she smiled kindly to Chloe. “Oh, hello there~ I’m Kori.”

Chloe still eyed the two adults cautiously. “Chloe Bourgeois, daughter of the mayor, Andre Bourgeois. Daddy owns the hotel, and Marinette and I are best friends.” She looked down to Marinette, clearly wanting to know what was going on, or at least if Marinette was safe.

Knowing she would have to tell eventually, and that she couldn’t just claim she was being commissioned by them for her designs(the lie wouldn’t last long if Chloe found out she was staying there for the week), Marinette knew only the truth would satisfy her enough.

“Chloe, remember how we thought I, uhh… might have been abandoned?” Saying it now squeezed and clenched her heart painfully, and she could see in their eyes that her parents felt the same. “Well… apparently- It was more of a kidnapping kind of thing? They uhm, th-they thought I had died, and now… well …” She gestured towards her parents with an awkward smile, watching the gears turn in her friend's eyes.

Finally, it clicked, and Chloe was left gaping. “Oh. My. Kwami. ”

“Yeah.”

“Your parents?!”

“Yep.”

“L-like- this is your mom and dad, parents?!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Holy Camembert!” While her parents both looked a little confused by her friend's choice words for cursing, Marinette burst into hysterics at the last one. For all Chloe's complaints about Plagg’s choice of food, the cheese was a miracle worker to make the cat shut up.

Chloe rushed forward and shook Dick’s hands excitedly, “Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to meet you! Sorry for suspecting you to be a creeper before, but Mari has like zero self-preservation skills and I needed to make sure she wasn’t getting herself into trouble. Oh my gosh, you have her eyes! Or- she has your eyes ! And…” She looked the couple up and down briefly before snorting. “And Marinette clearly got screwed over with her height.” The three all laughed at this, leaving Marinette to pout.

Chloe offered Kori a hug, which was readily accepted. “I didn’t want to shake your hand- Mari and I learned that that was like a proclamation of bloodshed on Tamaran.”

Kori laughed happily. “Yes! On Tamaran, a handshake is the most violent declaration of war. However, I have spent plenty of time on Earth and realized that such an action was a greeting here. It took time to get used to, and I kept trying to attack one of our friends whenever he kept shaking my hand when we met up. I nearly killed him a hundred times in the first year I lived on earth.”

Chloe turned to Marinette, clearly trying not to cry of joy on her friend's behalf. “Well, I’ll let you guys go for now. Mari, is it okay if I tell the group? I’ll tell them to back off for a bit, but Alix keeps insisting that you got kidnapped, and Gami had to keep Markov from hacking the entire city to find you.” Marinette agreed and the two gave la bise before Chloe walked off, already on her phone to inform their friend group.

She turned to her parents with a small grin. “Sorry about Chloe; she can come off a bit strong when she’s worried about me or one of our friends. We’ve been best friends since we were about four- or she was four, but I guess I was three, really. Wow, the age thing is gonna be hard to remember.”

Dick waved it off. “It’s fine, really. Everyone in the family is like that, so it’s good to see you’re used to it.” Their food arrived and he finished speaking before they dug in. “It’s also nice to know you had so many good people in your life…” It was meant to sound happy, but Marinette had purposefully trained herself to read emotions well. Even after Hawkmoth's defeat, she had practiced reading people and their emotions.

“Yeah, but it still hurts, knowing now how much I missed out on… Everyone in my life is great, but-’ She smiled up to them, trying her hardest not to start crying again. “I’m so happy that I get to be with the both of you now.”

It was a mutual feeling.

Chapter Text

“You were kidnapped?”

“Yeah.”

“And your real parents just now realized you were alive?”

“Yeah.”

“And they want you to live with them in Gotham as well as in Paris?”

“Uh-huh.”

“...”

“...”

“Your life is insane, you know that, right?”

“I have been made aware, yes.”

Max groaned on the other side of the phone, and Marinette tried not to laugh too loud at his clear exhaustion at having to rethink her entire life-story thus far.

“Do you realize , how little of a chance you had for your biological name to be so closely related to your given name? Your grandmother had no clues to what your real name was supposed to be!”

Marinette was seated on her hotel bed in her pajamas, drying her hair from her shower as Tikki laid fast asleep in the portable bed Marinette had made her years ago. It had a small canopy with shade to it, so if anyone walked in and spotted it, then they wouldn’t spot her right away.

Marinette had texted the groupchat earlier, as she would be returning to school the next day. The others had all been mostly informed, but Marinette was planning to save the long-version for their break in between her classes. However, for now, Marinette needed to talk to someone about all of the craziness that was happening. She couldn’t talk to either pair of parents, as they were too closely involved. She had vented to Tikki for a while, and even Plagg and the other Kwamis, but they weren’t much help in the ‘understanding’ area due to not being familiar with the human life and experiences.

She could talk to CHloe about it, but her friend was busy spending bonding time with her sister, and Marinette didn’t want to interrupt nor did she wish for her parents to freak out if they came by and found her absent from her room.

She had chosen Max to talk to, as he was the most rational and sane in her friend group. Not to mention, with how ridiculous her life had gotten, Marinette needed to talk to someone that could help her figure out and organize all the information in a way that made it easier for her to digest.

“Yes, Max, I am aware of how insane my luck is, and I can only blame Tikki for it.” The Kwami in question hummed softly in her sleep at being mentioned, before falling back into her slumber.

“What are their plans for your stay in Paris?”

“Well, we’ll all stay in Paris until summer. I’m going to move back and forth between the bakery and the hotel- which is normal for me since I have a sleepover with Chloe at least once a week… We’re going to go to Gotham during the summer so I can get used to it there and meet the rest of their- my family. Then, we agreed that the three of us could move back to Paris for next year, and we would go back to Gotham during the breaks. We didn’t talk about what we’d do after graduation yet.”

Max hummed in thought. “That seems like a good compromise in schedules. Even if you were the child they had lost, you still have made a life here in Paris. It is good to see they are willing to make changes to their own hopes for you to be happy, Marinette.”

He was right. Marinette would have agreed to stay in Gotham with her parents if they had insisted, wanting to stay with them but not make them upset; but she was happy to learn they had agreed to the compromise before she had even heard of it. It made her feel a little less guilty about having a life outside of them and the rest of the family she had yet to meet.

“So, what do you know of the rest of your new family?”

“Not too much. I know names and faces to match, and for the most part no one is actually related. Other than my dad’s adoptive father and his only biological son, who is about your age.”

“Ah, yes, I almost forgot that you’re over a year younger than us. Guess you really are the baby in the group, huh?” That jerk! He’s just being rude because he stopped being short after last year.

A year ago, almost everyone had finished puberty or their growth spurts. Alix and Mylene were now at a normal and average height, and Rose and Max had become taller than they expected(but not overly so). Marinette? Well, because her mixed DNA was rather hateful, Marinette was left being under five feet tall and it was completely unfair !

“Zip it, Kante. Anyways, other than that, all I know is that the whole family is rich and all live in an oversized mansion in Gotham.”

“Hold up; large and mostly-adopted family, rich, and from Gotham city?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“... Marinette, your life is insane and I am both grateful as well as annoyed to be a part of it… Markov agrees with my statement.”

Was… was that supposed to be a compliment? An insult? Just a fact?

“O- kay , don’t know what that was about, but whatever. Anyways, Anarka insists we hold a party on the boat so we’re inviting the class, and also see if Mlle Bustier can come too. My parents would like to meet everyone as well, and I know Anarka will try to have a race with my mom.”

“That sounds interesting~”

Marinette startled briefly, looking up to find her parents at the door, both smiling fondly as they stood in their own pajamas.

She smiled at the sight of them as well as her mothers comment and said a brief goodbye to Max. “See you there, and tell Markov to stop hacking into my phone to check in on me, alright? I know when someone does it, and I will blast him again.” Max would fix him.

Hanging up just as her parents reached the bed to sit down, Marinette crawled over and curled into her fathers side. “Which friend was that?” Dick asked.

She pulled up a group picture and pointed him out. “Max. He’s the brainiac genius in the group, as well as the most sane. The robot on his shoulder is an AI he made, Markov- who tends to ignore boundaries by hacking into everything to check up on us all. He’s a bit more sentient then Max meant for him to be, but he’s the sweetest thing.” She pointed out Kim, then Alix, followed by Kagami, and Chloe. “Luka is the one with the teal dye in his hair. He and his family live on the houseboat on the seine, and his mom, Anarka, is the one throwing the party.”

Marinette smiled wider at her mom. “Anarka is from Daxam originally, so Luka and his sister Juleka, who’s in my class, are both half-human and half-alien like me. So I at least got to have a few flying-buddies growing up. Though, Anarka is like Kim when it comes to challenging people with her powers for fun, so she’ll probably want to race you first thing. Or a strength competition.”

Kori laughed and nodded, happy to oblige. She was glad to see Marinette had people like Luka’s family to be there for her with her alien side, as well as the Tikki friend she spoke of. Actually… “And what of this Tikki, hmm? You speak of her so much and she’s been so helpful for you learning of your Tamaranean heritage, surely you have some photos of her as well?”

Oh no.

Marinette laughed awkwardly, nervous about lying now. Before, she had lied with the truth to hide her identity with the miraculous, but this would be more difficult. Not to mention, her father had told her on the third day how he was a detective- which was awesome! Except- oh yeah, Marinette had to lie to them to keep the Kwamis secret!

If her family found out about her being the Guardian, then Su Han and the Order of the Guardians would try to reclaim the Miraculous again, and all of her and Chloe's hard work would have been for nothing.

She couldn’t let them find out.

It was nice that she could add enough truth into her lies that her dad didn’t seem to pick up on it, but it still hurt when she had to do it. It was like she was dangling the full truth in front of their faces and could never let them get close enough to grab it. “Oh, her powers are a bit funny. Electricity doesn't respond well to her, so she doesn’t show up in photos, and I can’t even get audio recordings of her. Like this one time, I was trying to grab something one of her siblings was holding when someone was video-chatting me, and they said it looked like I was playing tug-a-war with a ghost. Tikki doesn’t even have a phone or anything!” The story was a nice add-on and also a funny time she had dealt with in her early days of being the Guardian. “She’s currently back with her family on her home planet, since she’s already graduated from school. She’s moved there now, but she visits once in a while still.”

She was asked a few more things about her Kwami friend, but she managed to work her way around them before finally being able to change the topic. “So I know about your adopted family, but, what about both of your biological family’s?”

Both of her parents stilled, their breaths hitching in almost unison. Dick glanced to the side with a nervous smile for a moment while Kori cleared her throat awkwardly and fidgeted with her hands. “Erm, r-right! Them… W-well,” Dick started. “My parents sadly passed away when I was really young, before I was taken in by Bruce. My Parents and I were a part of the circus, mainly being a Trapeze act called The Flying Graysons. I’m probably where you got all your energetic need to move around.” Yeah that fit. It might be why she also felt the need to be put into dangerous high-risk situations.

Kori had been smiling softly at his tale, but once he had finished and their daughter's gaze had gone towards her , she grew a little nervous. “Umm, well … My parents were, erm- nobles , of sorts, back on Tamaran. I was mostly raised by my K'Norfka, Galfore. He was the one set as my guard and nanny of sorts, and was my father figure since my parents had also passed away young. I also have an elder sister, Komand'r, but we aren’t exactly on speaking terms… She may or may not have tried to kill me and sell me into slavery a few times…” Maybe it would have been better not to say that last bit?

Marinette blinked a few times, silently trying to process that last bit of information. While it was sad her biological grandparents were all deceased, it was nice to know she had honorary grandparents that she would eventually meet.

However, that last bit about her aunt was still trying to connect in her head. “She what?”

It took a while for Marinette to get the whole story(without learning about identities), but it was safe to say that she was not going to be having a relationship with her aunt.

The party was great, but that was to be expected when on the Couffaine boat.

The three of them had walked there, with Marinette being rather anxious to see her friends  as well as her adoptive parents again. She knew both her old and new family would love each other, but she still was nervous about their first meeting.

She had nothing to worry about(as she knew), as upon arriving at the houseboat, everyone was already there and they all cheered excitedly upon spotting her.

Chloe had dashed over to her and tackled her for a hug, despite having been the last to have seen her in person. They didn’t even get to exchange words though before Kim had made his way over swiftly and picked both of them up onto his shoulders. “Wooh! Congrats, Mari! It’s a family!” Kim shouted and gestured towards the stage at the end of the boat, where a pink banner with bright bubbly letters was hung up.

It read: IT’S A GIRL! FAMILY!

Marinette and Dick burst into laughter at the sight of it. “I love that,” her dad said.

She introduced them all to everyone, feeling joy fill her in how happy her parents looked to meet all of her friends. Of course, following the introductions, Anarka had successfully gotten Kori to race her to the Eiffel tower and back, but no one was surprised.

Seeing her whole class there, some of their own parents she had grown up knowing and even Mlle Bustier, made Marinette feel so much more at peace with her new transition in life. It made all these new changes seem less drastic and worrisome, and more for what Marinette had hoped them to simply be: something to celebrate and be happy about. So even though she knew there were new parts in her life she needed to work out and identities she had to try even harder to keep secret- Marinette decided to let go for the night and simply enjoy the presence of her family(both biological and found).

Chapter Text

Dick and Kori took their time getting to know everyone at the party. While they were interested in everyone for who they were, they were also elated with the stories they told of their daughter.

Tom and Sabine were literal godsends, and they were beyond grateful and happy to know Marinette had been in such loving and caring hands. When they had done a background and profile check on the two before leaving Gotham, it had already been clear that Marinette was in the greatest and most capable hands other than their own. It had made them honestly a little nervous upon meeting the two upon arriving in Paris.

The jetlag had thankfully decided to sit out for the day(it was probably the adrenaline blocking it out) as the couple had shouted for a cab driver to rush them to the bakery. The cab driver, a guy named Theo whom Dick heavily tipped for having dealt with the two so well on the drive, had joked something about them rushing like they were fleeing an… Akuma? Kori muttered that it was Japanese for Demon, which was strange since the man seemed fully french and said it so easily as if they were to understand.

Upon arriving at the bakery, they had finally let their nerves come out. They had steeled themselves earlier, but now that they were actually here, the anxiety and panic was setting in.

Mar’i most likely didn’t remember them, and they had never put her in the system before or even told anyone outside of their family and friends about the pregnancy or birth. They had no way of proving to these people that they were their daughters biological parents. And thus, with Mar’i having not legally been their child in the system, due to not really existing prior to the kidnapping.

Entering the bakery, the two had waited patiently by the doors as Tom and Sabine dealt with some customers. One of which was a pink haired mother who gave them a check, asking them to give it to Marinette for babysitting(their daughter looked after children aww-). Once it was solely the four of them, Dick stepped up to the counter and cleared his throat. “Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng?”

Tom glanced over and quickly pulled out the sheet of chouquettes from the oven before walking over, seeming to catch that they were here for something other than the heavenly smelling and award winning food.

“My name is Richard Grayson, and this is my wife, Koriand’r Grayson.” He hesitated briefly, deciding to just let the couple catch on to the news. “Nearly 14 years ago, our daughter was kidnapped from our home by a group of assailants. We had suspected the case to be a ransom exchange, only for us to have been made to believe that she had been killed as some sick act of revenge.” Yeah okay, he wasn’t sure if they caught on yet or were just startled and in shock at what they were hearing from some random couple entering their bakery. “Our daughter wasn’t put into the system at the time due to our family being high profile and often watched by the public, so we had decided to hide her existence until she was a bit older. However, with us having been told she was dead, we never put in a missing persons case… A short while ago, my adoptive brother put her DNA into a system we have back in New Jersey in hopes that she had made it out, and we got an alert last week of someone's DNA having a perfect match.”

They waited patiently, waiting for the realization to click maybe or for the couple to even just look disturbed and confused by the conversation. It took a good minute with Tom looking like he was going through all the stages of grief in a moment's time. Meanwhile, Sabine was frozen, staring between Dick and Kori, looking as if she were trying to imagine Marinette beside them to better grasp the image.

After a moment, Sabine finally spoke. “I think it’s clear what’s going on here… I can seem to understand that a DNA test is probably the only thing that could prove this to us right now, but I will not agree to something like that without Marinette being present, and I do not wish her to have to deal with any of this if it is all merely a hoax. So, we will ask you two questions, and that is all. If we do not like the answers, you will leave immediately and I will call up our friend, the mayor , and have you both banned from this entire city for playing such an insidious prank.”

…Fair.

They both nodded.

Silence erupted as Tom and Sabine observed them both carefully. Tom spoke first. “Are these supposed assailants dealt with?”

Oh. They had expected the first question to be something more along the lines of providing a description or photograph of her, but Dick supposed this was a needed question in the case of their daughter's safety. “Yes. I was and am a detective in the local police force, and we apprehended them rather quickly. We just hadn’t suspected they moved her out of the country due to having what I recently learned was a replacement body. Be rest assured that they were all dealt with accordingly(as well as not so accordingly out of anger and grief).

Tom nodded, seeming pleased by this. Sabine was their issue now; especially with how concentrated she looked. The narrow of her eyes and the downwards tilt in her brows told them both her own question would bring them answers. They had a few photographs of Mar’i as a baby to give proof, but it might not be enough to ful-

“Can you translate these for me?”

They startled as Sabine handed them a piece of paper. A little confused, the two looked over it, only to gape in shock at how the page was covered in differing words in the Tamaranean language. Seeing the language wasn’t too much of a surprise(though they wondered who on earth could have taught their daughter), but they were more so shocked by what words they were.

Koriand’r slowly took a pencil and wrote down the earth-equivalent versions of the words beside her homeworld's versions’. Needless to say, her cheeks tinted at a few parts that seemed a little crass for even her angry outbursts.

When she handed the page back after a minute of translating, Sabine took it and quickly scanned it over with a narrowed gaze. They wondered if maybe she simply wanted to see if they truly spoke Tamaranean, but this was quickly denied when Sabine's eyes widened by the end and she groaned in frustration.

“ I knew it! ” She shoved the page in her husband's face in frustration. “She’s been cursing at customers behind our backs for years! I mean Adrien clearly deserved it, sure, and especially his father during that whole butterfly act of his- but that girl lied to my face ! She told me that Zordmorker meant a beautiful soul! She called so many people that, Tom!”

Ah. That also fit.

As it turned out, their looks alone and the confirmation of one of them being Tamaranean had been enough to convince the two. Sabine later said that she had raised a little girl with Dicks eyes and personality yet Kori’s glow and charm; of course she recognized them as Marinette’s parents. Tom and her had simply wanted confirmation that their daughter was both safe from harm(the main harm that had led to this entire storyline), and if she had told the truth on her Tamaranean “compliments”.

Truth be told, Sabine had questioned the honesty behind the words for years now, especially when one “Karen” of a customer had come in and Marinette had called her a word Sabine recognized her daughter having called Hawkmoth before.

Clearly she had lied about the words true meaning.

Marinette had been at school still, but Tom and Sabine took the time to show the couple several photo books(they had gifted a few saying they had online copies and that the two deserved this more than anything) and tell stories of Marinette growing up. This was cut short when the teen in question returned home earlier than expected, but it was fine.

Tom and Sabine had continued to send more videos and photos, seeming more happy then sad that Marinette was no longer just theirs. Richard and Koriand’r were immensely grateful for how blessed they and Mar’i were for her having come into the parisian couples’ care.

At the party, while Kori finished her flight with Anarka, Dick spoke around with a few of the other parents.

Alim Kubdel was the father of Alix, one of Marinette's childhood friends. He only saw Marinette now and then when dropping Alix off at the bakery in the past for play dates or when Marinette came to their house for a group-sleepover. However, he did tell a few interesting stories when he found(or caught) both of their daughters doing a few pranks.

“I knew Alix had been getting into spray painting, and Marinette has always been the supportive kind of person, especially when dealing with the fine arts- but I nearly had a stroke when I found the two of them putting graffiti on the Equestrian statue of Louis XIV!” Dick nearly choked on his laughter, imagining Marinette floating around the statue with cans of graffiti, alongside her skater friend. Somehow, the mental image made sense. “Marinette claimed only good monarchs deserve statues, and that Louis XIV was too much of a narcissist and an obstinate incendiary to deserve a statue… She was nine and I had no idea where she and Alix learned these words.”

For the most part, his daughter seemed to be commonly described as a happy and cheerful person, always being the favorite among her friends(the whole class willingly and unanimously agreed on this) and the one who they could count on to stay positive and see the good.

Of course, then he spoke to her closer friend group.

Kim snorted on a laugh as Ondine leaned against his side. “Sure, Mari is positive and all, but she can also be a pessimist if something doesn’t feel right. Like that day she met you and her mom? It was like her body knew first thing in the morning something big was gonna happen, and the first thing she did was prepare us all for the Armageddon. Seriously- she told Kagami to get her weapons ready in case a riot broke out.”

When they had approached Alix. She had taken one look at them before smirking and saying in the most casual way possible. “Don’t let her see the clock in the library.”

…

So… yeah, that one terrified them and they immediately looked for the quickest way out of that meet-and-greet. But oh no, Alix wasn’t the only one. The only ones who didn’t scare them half to death were Chloe, Kim, and Luka.

Meeting Luka, he had seen a rather playful side in his daughter as she introduced the two of them to the boy. “Mom, Dad, this is Luka! Aka, the Kryptonian in the group~”

Dick had almost gone to shake his hand when he froze up, trying to rewire his brain to understand what had just been said. The only Kryptonians still alive were all a part of the Justice League and he had seen them all less than a month ago(Jon had been over for a sleepover just a few days before they learned about Mar’i). 

Before he could properly question it though, Luka had scowled and smacked the back of his daughter's head. “Will you stop that ?! Daxam! Not Krypton- Daxam ! Will you stop putting me in the same alien race as a guy who wears underwear on the outside of his pants?!”

“Probably not, no. Especially since it riles you up so much~” Marinette replied back with a cheeky grin. Dick sighed with relief, grateful that she had been joking rather than giving him a case he’d have to report back to the Kent’s. He didn’t know how Clark might react at the idea of the Couffaines having been Kryptonians. Even though Marinette had confirmed they were from Daxam before, he had almost forgotten that both species were almost identical to one another in their powers and strengths.

Max had been polite and kind, seeming to be just what Marinette had advertised: the most sane in their group.

However, it turned out that was a bit of a stretch…

When he introduced them to Markov, Kori and Dick had looked at the two together and immediately thought of Cyborg, and how much fun their friend would have with this kid. That is- until Max said, “I do hope you’ll keep to your end of the deal in allowing Marinette to return to her schooling in Paris next year. Otherwise, Markov and I will have to take our hobby of hacking high-end companies to Wayne Enterprises and rob you all blind as well as humiliate you in the tabloids for the next five years- at least .”

A threat as well as a promise; one Dick and Kori knew not to question.

While Kagami didn’t seem to be aware of their family secret nor did she have the idea to ruin their names for eternity, she reminded them a little too much of Damian when he was “entrusting” them to watch over one or more of his pets for a few days. While the girl smiled and introduced herself politely, her eyes held the clear message that she wouldn’t hesitate to harm anyone who harmed Mari first.

“So, what do you think?”

Kori smiled at their daughter as they ate, taking a small break from the party as they sat on the roof of the boat. “On one hand, your friends are terrifying and will clearly kill us if we even upset you-” further proven when Marinette simply nodded, like that wasn’t a problem, “-on the other hand, we are very happy to see how loved you are. Everyone here cares so much for you my little bumgorf~”

They really did. No matter how terrifying or strange they appeared, they all loved their daughter.

Chapter Text

Leaving Paris was… difficult.

First off; come the morning Marinette was set to leave, Chloe and Kim had been in her bedroom when she awoke and asked her to wait until they finished convincing Max to help them hide her away. While they were mostly joking, there was still a seriousness to it.

“What if something bad happens? What if- if a new supervillain shows up? What if The Order shows up?!” Chloe spoke rapidly, anxiety seeping through her voice. Marinette found it best not to tell her that her bronzer was starting to fade in her panic. “We barely held them off the last time they showed up, so what are we gonna do if you’re gone?!”

Marinette smiled and calmly held her pseudo-sister’s shoulders. “You’ll call me. Don’t worry, okay? Catastrophizing everything is my shtick; go back to your own. You don’t see me pulling the whole ‘my parents are rich’ card, do you?” While she never would do it, Marinette realized that now she actually could .

“No, but it’s a possibility in the future now.” Chloe chuckled softly and patted her on the head. “Mari, tell me; does the name Bruce Wayne ring any bells to you?”

Hmm… “Nope. No bells, gongs, bowls or alarms. Why, who is he?” Perhaps he was the same ‘Bruce’ that had taken in her dad when he was a child? But even as Marinette didn’t like the devious grin the blonde gave her in return, Chloe didn’t follow up on answering her.

She (thankfully) didn’t have a huge goodbye party waiting for her at the airport, but her closest friend group was still present along with Tom and Sabine.

At the terminal, her Parisian parents pulled her aside for a moment. “Now you call us anytime, you hear me?” Sabine said, clearly trying to hold down any tears. Her husband was failing beside her. “And if you feel unsafe, or uncomfortable, or feel like everything is just too much; I want you to fly right back to Paris, alright? Even if it’s not to Tom and I, then go to Chloe's, okay? Just… stay safe?”

Marinette teared up as well, hugging them both as close as possible. “I’ll try.” They all knew that was the most she could promise them(and sometimes not even that much). “I’ll call at least twice a week, and I’ll video every Saturday. Love you Mère and Père!” She waved them goodbye before coming over to the others.

Alix and Luka both assured her of a safe flight, though Alix did seem hesitant when asked if all would go well in Gotham. “Well… I don’t know the finer details, but I know that it will go as good as Gotham can get. Just… do us all a favor?” Marinette nodded, quickly being met with a stern look. “Don’t go to the far right side of the library.”

Far right side. Library. Got it. Because that totally wasn’t cryptic. “Yes or no; is it a torture dungeon?”

The time-traveler snorted at her guess, clearly amused. “No, but it’s something along those lines depending who you ask.” Totally cryptic.

Kagami had once again sent a well received and polite threat towards her parents(so did Max but Marinette was not yet aware of that one), before exchanging la bise with Marinette. “If you need to hide a dead body, or maybe even make one, you know my number.”

She was 100% serious and Marinette really needed to start looking at her words as such. “I’ll call you if someone dares to insult me. And before you ask; yes, I packed my Ōdachi.” It had been a birthday present that Kagami gifted her, along with plentiful lessons on how to properly wield it.

Who knew; maybe someone in her new family would be a good sparring partner?

Max had been the most calm about her departure, reminding her to call him if anything came up or she just needed to talk. “You’re always there for us. Just try to remember we’re there for you too, okay? We’re a team, but we’re also a family, in our own miraculous ways.”

She had bawled her eyes out and the boy had nearly panicked on having said the wrong thing, when in reality it was the opposite.

Chloe and Kim were still relatively reluctant to see her leave, though Kim was more nervous for her while Chloe was having a rather difficult time with the idea of them both being an ocean apart from one another. Ever since they met and became best friends, Chloe and Marinette had never been separated this far from each other. Sure, they both had a few trips to the UK, and Marinette had once gone to Italy to visit her grandmother- but this was not only further, but also longer.

The two had never thought about it in the past; the idea that there would be a time they wouldn’t be joined at the hip. They had never imagined a situation where one of them would leave forever or even just a long time. When they were younger, Chloe and Marinette had planned to be roommates forever when they became adults, and it was just assumed between them both that the plan was still in place even after all these years.

But now Marinette had a whole new/old family, and they were all the way in America. She was going to them, unlike when Chloe’s sister and mother had come to her.

One thing was for certain though; if Koriand’r took Marinette to Tamaran, she was going to bring Chloe with her. No way they would be able to survive the distance.

“Bye everyone!” She waved enthusiastically as she and her parents walked out of the building and towards the plane. Upon stepping out to the airport terminal though, she started to notice some features on it that seemed a little different then what she had seen and pictured.

“Dad.”

“Hmm? What’s up, buttercup?”

“That isn’t a plane; that’s a jet.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Our family has a private jet.”

“Yep.”

“... Why? ”

“I learned early on that it's best not to question the absurdity of being wealthy. We tend to stop looking at price tags.”

The flight was actually nice. She was so used to flying with her powers that she had never thought about flying by something else. Even as Ladybug while using her yo-yo, she wasn’t used to the strange feeling of being out of control of her movements.

It felt like she was still on the ground, but it also felt like when you’re standing up on a train. You could feel that your body was being moved and it felt like a small plummet in your gut being moved back, but you’re still standing still. For her visits to the UK she had simply taken the train, and she had been allowed to fly herself over to Italy for that one visit with her grandmother.

It didn’t feel the best(she’d rather know she was in complete control of her flight), but it did feel more relaxing due to not having to put forth her own strength to move across the border.

“You excited?” Her dad asked, smiling wide and showing that he himself was. She had heard him answer phone calls multiple times to his- their family in Gotham, so she knew that they all must have been antsy for the past month.

Marinette nodded, seated beside her father as her mother slept across from them. They were still a few hours out from Gotham, and despite her body telling her she should, Marinette just couldn’t find it in her to sleep. They had left a bit after dinner, having eaten one last meal with her adoptive family before the flight, and they would be arriving in Gotham at around 8 o’clock.

Marinette wasn’t sure yet, but she had a feeling that jetlag was a possibility for her due to being half-human. So, it was agreed that they would profit by arriving in America close to night, that way they could sleep it off without wasting any daylight.

“Yeah, just a bit anxious though, you know? Never really been this far away from Paris.” Would it be wrong to say she was homesick?

Dick leaned back and pulled out a tablet, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. When we get there, everyone will mostly be out doing their own thing, so we’ll just be showing up to go to sleep really. You will be meeting your honorary grandfather though- Alfred Pennyworth. He’s technically the family butler, but he’s also the one who raised Bruce and all of us, as well as the only sane person in our lives.”

They hadn’t told Marinette too much about the family; just mainly names while showing a photo or two. Marinette didn’t recognize any of them, of course(she was only into celebrities with fashion and music), but she had gotten the idea that they were pretty well known from how Max and Chloe seemed to recognize them by name.

The family-owned private jet attested to that idea.

When they arrived in Gotham, it was dark, the sky was cloudy with a drizzle of rain, and Marinette was so out of it that her dad was carrying her on his back because she had tired herself out. She probably should have followed her parents' examples by sleeping for a bit on the flight.

They were greeted by an elderly gentleman, in a well pressed suit, who smiled warmly upon spotting them exit the jet.

“Welcome home, Master Richard and Miss Koriand’r. And this must be the Young Lady Marinette?” He held out a hand to her as her dad stopped in front of him.

Marinette reached out and tiredly shook his hand, not even having to watch over her super strength due to how tired she was. She would give the guy an earful tomorrow about the whole “Young Lady” thing, but for now, she just wanted to sleep. “Nice to meet you, Monsieur…”

Her mother yawned a bit beside her, though hers was more from having recently woken up. “Is everyone at home, or are they out?”

Alfred led them to the car. “Out, I’m afraid. I insist you all rest for the night, that way they can all greet you in the morning.” Sounded like a plan! She really wanted to fall onto a bed right about now…

As soon as she was buckled into the car though, her mind decided it had been awake for too long to wait until she reached a bed. She could only stay awake for so long when she prepared ahead, and her dad had refused her coffee rights during the flight over.

So, with her head resting against her mothers shoulder, Marinette fell asleep.

Come the next morning… Marinette felt something strange upon consciousness.

It felt like a heavy weight resting on her lower stomach, but it wasn’t particularly large- maybe a cat or a puppy? Or perhaps all of the Kwamis had huddled together on her lap again.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a bedroom, laying on her back in bed. She hadn’t been changed, but her shoes, socks, belt, and hair ribbons had been removed for her before she had been placed down.

The room itself was huge; nearly four times the size she was used to. Her bags had been brought in as well as new looking furniture, so it was safe to assume this room would be hers.

To her shock and utter delight, she found the room painted in a nice pastel pink, similarly to her attic room. There was also a sewing machine with three mannequins nearby on a large desk area. As well as a large computer at a second desk area and a TV across the room from her bed, Marinette was happy to see how kindly they had prepared the room for her. She was sure her parents had called ahead of time to have it all set up perfectly, to not only accommodate her but also help with the homesickness.

Once she sat up, Marinette looked at the weight on her lap and felt every single inch of her, inside and out, freeze over.

The small mutated silkworm in her lap yawned widely, stretching its tiny body similar to a canine as it padded its little paws out. It smacked its lips a bit as it sat up and looked up to her, a joyous smile on its face as it looked up to her. Its eyes were just as she remembered; wide and bright blue, shimmering up at her with nothing but love and adoration. Marinette's mind had been happily plagued by those eyes for nearly her entire life.

He was just as she remembered, though maybe a tad bigger from the years as well as a few more pink stripes on his body. But he was still him.

“Silkie,” she spoke softly, feeling hot tears stream down her face before she even felt them gathered in her eyes.

Silkie gave a small squeak and cuddled into her arms, purring and vibrating as she hugged him close. The Kwamis all flew over, smiling at the sight and even a few of them petting Silkie as well.

Tikki flew up to him and bowed her head respectfully to the creature. “It’s so nice to meet you, Silkie! Marinette has drawn so many pictures about you- but you’re even cuter in person!”

“What is it?” Ziggy asked curiously. “I sense it being a silkworm, but they don’t normally grow this large, do they?”

Long shook his head. “It’s DNA was altered by radiation it seems. It’s rather indestructible, and its appetite might be rather large as well. Understatement…

Suddenly, all the Kwamis fled for hiding, signaling someone approaching the room. Marinette was used to having more warning usually, since being in the attic had allied for her to hear others climbing the ladder or pulling it down to reach her.

There was a small knock on her door, followed by her mother stepping in when Marinette called for her to enter. Kori smiled and walked over, petting Silkie as she spoke. “Good morning, starlight~ Did you sleep well?”

Marinette nodded. “I did, but waking up was better.” Her mother wiped away her tears gently. “Is it time to meet everyone?”

“Yes! Be warned though; when they’re all together, they might act well behaved for about ten minutes at the most. Then, they will be just as chaotic and fun as your friends.” Ooh, now Marinette was excited. “Not everyone is here today, as Stephanie and Cassandra are both gone to China, and Damian is in Metropolis with his friend Jon. The others are here though to meet you during breakfast.”

Her family. Most of them were just in the other room, waiting to meet her after all this time.

She got the same jitters she had when her Mère had told her that Dick and Kori were in the living room, waiting to meet their long-lost daughter. Marinette knew it was different; these people weren’t her biological family and had only learned of her existence in the past few years, but that didn’t matter. They were family, and they were hers .

They had prepared a room for her, and called her Dad nearly every day to ask about her. One of them had been hopeful enough that she was alive, despite having received proof of otherwise, and now they had found her. They had been so eager to meet her, and she was as well.

Her family.

Chapter Text

Finishing getting ready, Marinette tied her hair into low pigtails and dressed in her signature pink color palette. Tikki floated around her in the bathroom connected to her bedroom, giggling joyfully. “I had a look around the house while you were sleeping, Marinette. You have to ask about all the pets here; one of them is a cow!”

Well that would be interesting. After having babysat Fang so often, Marinette wasn’t really surprised by the kinds of animals people would try to turn into pets while living in the city. Other than her own giant silkworm, a crocodile had to be the craziest thing.

Stepping back into her bedroom, she smiled upon seeing Silkie on her bed. He rolled around on the blankets with most of the Kwamis flitting about in the air around him. Daizzi was hugged into his stomach, squealing with delight as they moved.

It was a good thing Marinette had grabbed her larger purse, as now she had enough space in it for Tikki, her sketchbook, and Silkie as well! Even better; it would be easier to sneak Tikki sweats when she had the excuse of also giving some to Silkie. The two seemed to get along a lot, so she knew all would be well with carrying them both around.

“C’mon little guy~” She picked Silkie up, tickling his stomach a bit as she kissed his head and placed him into her purse. “Okay- everyone stay out of sight, and no pulling pranks, got it? Wait at least a week before you start messing with everyone.” Trixx was the only Kwami that didn’t promise, and Marinette knew to look out for her. “I’ll bring up some more snacks, but if you need to sneak any, try to be discreet; okay?”

“Yes Marinette!” “Good luck kid!” “Have a nice time with your family!” “Send us postcards!”

Marinette snorted. “Guys, I’m gonna be back later, and I seriously will just be in the dining room.” As she waved them off and walked out of the room, it wasn’t until she closed the door behind her that she realized something important. “...Where’s the dining room?”

Tikki poked her head out to fit beside Silkie's. “It’s probably on the ground floor. We’re on the second, so I’d try to find a staircase… or a map. This place is huge.”

“I have a better idea.” Marinette smirked and pulled Silkie out again, holding him out in front of her. “Silkie… Sniff out the breakfast!” The silkworm wiggled happily in her grasp, motioning his head forward as he sniffed for food.

This idea actually seemed to work for a while… until Silkie led her away from a staircase they passed by, around a few too many corners, and straight into an unknown man's chest.

Marinette stepped back with a tiny squeak of surprise, looking up to a man slightly taller than her Dad but just a bit shorter than her Père. The man smiled down kindly to her, wearing a navy blue turtleneck and gray slacks. There was an aged fondness in his eyes as he smiled at her.

“Well hello there. You must be Marinette, correct?” She nodded, prompting the man to take her hand in a warm and firm shake. “Bruce Wayne. I’m, well- technically, I suppose you could call me one of your grandfathers; alongside Alfred, that is.”

That explained the clear adoration in his eyes. This man had raised her dad and had been there when she was a baby, before she had been stolen away. It was strange to imagine that the last time the two of them were together, she was just a newborn.

Marinette smiled happily in return. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur! Dad spoke highly of you, as well as everyone else.” Silkie wiggled in her arms a bit more before jumping down and crawling his way into what must be her grandfather's bedroom. “I-i was looking for the dining room, but I was asleep when we arrived, so I’m clueless as to where it is. Silkie was supposed to sniff out the food, but…”

Bruce chuckled fondly and picked up the silkworm, returning it for her to place back into her purse. “Yes, well; Silkie loves food. However, he tends to like the taste of my neckties even more, so he wasn’t going to show you the right way. Follow me.” He gestured forward, the two of them going back down the hall.

As they walked, he told her a bit of history behind the house, even sharing a story of when he was her age and Alfred had to keep him out of trouble. “How are you liking your new room?” He asked as they walked down a flight of stairs.

Her smile grew even more, practically blinding him with how it shined. “Oh, it’s absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for the sewing supplies, and for the pink walls; my bedroom back in Paris was painted the same shade to help me relax as I work.”

“Of course. Painting it was rather an adventure in itself; Alfred had to kick most of us out of the job when four of my other children ended up with paint in their hair or covering their entire fronts. We, err, also had to replace one of the windows, after one of them threw a paint bucket through it…”

She grinned at the tale, glad to hear she would find the same dynamic in her family in Gotham as she did back in Paris. “Sounds like that was party~ I can’t wait to meet everyone!”

She didn’t have to wait long; they entered the dining room after that, finding everyone already seated and eating, talking over one another excitedly. The moment Marinette and Bruce were both spotted, the talking came to an abrupt silence before everyone stood up and practically trampled over one another to reach her. Marinette laughed a bit at the stampede of people; especially as a red haired woman in a wheelchair just about shoved one of the men into his seat again.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mari!” This one was a young man, darker skin and a kind yet playful attitude. “I’m Duke, it’s nice to meet you!” She could feel a power radiating from him, similar to how she felt with Kim. This man must be a Meta. It felt like a soft buzz though, so she knew she could trust him to not misuse his powers.

“Barbara Gordon; you can call me Babs though.” The red haired woman said kindly, shoving the others aside. She was around her Dad’s age. “Steph and Cass aren’t here yet, so I call dibs to earn my way as your favorite girl friend in the house~ I’m more of an honorary family member, unlike everyone else whom Bruce adopted.”

One of the men, as tall as her dad and with a streak of white in his hair, snatched her hand into a shake. His smile was wide and mischievous, and Marinette was given a sudden reminder of Plagg- for more then one reason. “Jason’s the name, pixie! Nice to meet the little niece I plan to be a terrible influence on!” She giggled at the groan her Dad gave at this.

The man Barbara had shoved before stepped forward, a tiredness in his eyes that Marinette only ever saw when she looked in the mirror after pulling all-nighters by working on commissions. But even with his overworked state, he still looked enthusiastic as he stole her hand from Jason’s to give it a shake. “Tim; aka, the one who was given permission to brag about finding you in the first place.”

She blanked for a moment, unsure how to respond to them all. Sure, she knew how to react, but it felt a little nerve wracking now that she was actually supposed to respond.

First impressions, right… How does one go about doing that without ruining it?

“I-it’s nice to meet you all.” Silkie gave out a small mewl from inside her purse, reminding her that her hand rested inside of it alongside him and Tikki for support. Having caught the attention of the family, all the adults “awwed” at the sight.

“You’re carrying him around like a purse dog? Gosh, that is literally the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen,” Babs said.

Marinette blushed slightly, brushing some of her bangs out from over her eyes shyly as her Dad stepped up behind her. “Did you sleep well, Cupcake?” She nodded, and he quickly followed up, “Good, good- Hey, quick question; uhm, why did Alfred show us you had a large sword from Japan’s Edo period hidden among your luggage on the jet?”

“The Nanboku-chō period, actually. Gami-Chan gets overprotective, so she threatened to chain herself to me unless I brought the Ōdachi she had gifted me.” She had also threatened to hunt down the entire family if she didn’t call her, Chloe, or the group chat every other night. “Sure, I could just use one of my starbolts, but Kagami says that would be a dead giveaway and the Ōdachi wouldn’t be as traceable from a crime scene.”

“Okay, and the motorcycle?”

She shrugged, giving the reason why she brought it and even bothered owning a mode of transportation. “It’s pink, it’s fast, and onlookers usually freak out when they see a random teenager flying across the city.” This got nods of agreement, and Marinette knew they would also prefer this. Gotham was known for its villains and a few super-powered criminals; it would be wise to lay low about her powers for the time being.

As they all sat down, Jason asked what model she drove. When she told him, he nearly fell out of his seat. “You drive a y2k?! Damn, Pixie! You and I gotta race soon on our bikes.” She happily agreed.

As they all ate, Marinette took a moment to appraise them all as they continued their introductions. She learned a lot about everyone and shared some of her own fun facts(it was difficult to not speak of any times from being Marienkäfer but she managed). She was eager to spend time with everyone and be fully welcomed into their family. It truly was just like being with her friends and family back in Paris.

But…

Marinette tried to keep her eyes from not moving towards Jason too much, making a point to look at everyone equally as to not give away where her main focus lay. She was sure that if Chloe were here, the blonde wouldn't have been able to keep her cool.

He had magic all over him, but not just any magic- Miraculous Magic .

Marinette had seen this before. When she had met Kagami for the first time, the girl had looked like she had been marinated in it. Of course, the magic had been disposed of quickly when Marinette and Chloe had added her to their team and had replaced it. After all, it wasn’t good to have this kind of magic on you, especially not for so long.

This man was just like Kagami; at least when it came to the magic he wore. Marinette was willing to bet he wasn’t even aware of it. He was the only one here that had it on him, and from the white streak in his hair, Marinette could tell the magic hadn’t been pleasant to him upon doing it’s job, just like she had seen with Kagami.

Jason had died. Most likely murdered and maybe even tortured, as the white in his hair proved that he had gone through his own personal hell to be brought back to life. He probably was older when it happened. That is- old enough to remember and understand true pain.

Kagami had been a baby when it happened. She felt phantom pain all the time before Mairnette and Chloe had properly healed her, but she remembered that much. She was poisoned at less than a year old, so she thankfully didn’t remember the pain and suffering that had befallen her. But, that also meant she didn’t remember the origin of the magic.

Jason might. He probably did, and Marinette would need to find a way to heal and ask him without giving away too much information.

So; that raised her main question:

Where was the last of the Lazarus Pits?

Chapter Text

The first few days in her Gotham home were actually rather easy to get through. Marinette had expected it to be difficult; being in a new home, in a new country, with a whole new family.

However, with the majority of the family having been adopted in, everyone knew how to make her feel welcome and at home without making her feel pressured or suffocated. She was given her own space, and time to do things on her own, but she was also given an open and happy invitation to join them in just about every activity she was made aware of.

On her third day in the manor, Jason had tried to sneak her out of the house on their motorcycles to race across town- only to fail because her Dad insisted that he wanted to be there for her tour of the city

They got the excuse to go out though when Bruce said that Cassandra and Stephanie had arrived at the airport. “Can we go to pick them up?” She asked her Dad excitedly.

“Sure thing, cupcake.” Dick had replied, smiling happily at her enthusiasm. He was beyond relieved how eager she was to be around the family. Dick had grown worried on their flight from Paris that maybe Mari wouldn’t care much for having another family, since she had already grown up with one that was so lovely to her.

His thoughts were proven wrong though- Marinette seemed to be like a sponge for love. She loved to soak in as much as possible and give it all back in return.

So, the two of them accompanied Alfred to the airport(with Mari practically vibrating in her seat). When they arrived and spotted the two girls, Dick looked at their lax forms and suddenly recalled that he may have failed in informing them that he and Kori had come back already… with their daughter.

Whoops.

So, when Alfred pointed them out to her, Marinette wasted zero time in throwing open the door and waving to them with her wide and contagious smile and energy. The image of Cass gaping like a fish and dropping her phone, alongside a screaming Stephanie who kept pointing at Mari as she shouted “OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGO-”, was a memory Dick would look back on during rainy days when he needed a good laugh.

The two older girls ran over and tackled Marinette in hugs, clearly seeing she was excited to meet them as well.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Cassandra said, smiling happier than Dick had seen in a long time. “I’m Cass, and this is Steph. We had no idea you were already in Gotham.” The last one was pointed towards Dick, with an accompanying glare that promised future pain.

“It’s nice to meet you both as well!” Marinette said cheerfully. Her mother and Barbara had promised a girls-night-in once the two of them returned, and Marinette had been eager to have what was once a tradition between her, Chloe, Alix, and Kagami. The other girls in her class would sometimes be invited as well, but it was just the four of them for the most part.

In the car, Dick was practically ignored as the girls talked excitedly among one another. But… he noticed something.

It was probably nothing. Tom and Sabine had said Mari was curious by nature and would try to understand everything that she thought of. She was also just starting to meet everyone for the first time, so it made sense for her to ask a lot of questions. But…

He noticed a weird pattern. An extremely weird pattern. He was sure it was nothing, and he was looking into it too much- but it was still there . Marinette seemed very curious about Jason and Cassandra.

She was interested in everyone, and seemed to take a deep fondness towards Alfred(unsurprising), but she was clearly looking for something with the two of them. When she asked all of them about their childhoods or where they’re from, it wasn’t anything noteworthy to get down. But when she asked Jason and Cass, Dick noticed a hardened concentration in her eyes. The way she seemed to still her body and give them her undivided attention when they spoke- it was like she was trying to overanalyze them for information.

Dick didn’t know what information, but he felt like she was looking for the same thing from both of them.

Of course- Dick was rather certain he was just looking into it too much. After all- this was his daughter . He shouldn’t be looking into his own daughter! She was just eager to get to know everyone, that’s it.

No need to overanalyze.

In times like these; Marinette had every right to overanalyze.

Like- a lot .

She had been wrong in thinking maybe Jason had been the only family member to have died and been brought back to life. But then she met Cassandra, who… frankly reminded Marinette of Kagami a little too much.

And what do you know! As Cass and Steph approached, Marinette had to keep her excitement from dropping low into her stomach and turning into a bundle of nerves; she realized that Cass had also died and been brought back by the Lazarus Pits. It looked like there was some trauma behind it, but not nearly at the level of Jasons.

Two people in this new family of hers had died and were brought back by the Lazarus Pits. That wasn’t just coincidence - it had to be connected.

Things both got more complicated and also more relieving when she met Damian. It was day four, and Damian had simply been there during breakfast.

Marinette wasn’t as surprised as she should have been when she looked at the slightly older boy and recognized that death had once been his close friend. However, unlike Jason and Cass… he didn’t have the Lazarus Pits magic on him.

He did , no doubt about it, but the Pits magic wasn’t what had brought him back to life. It was another magic- one Marinette was actually more grateful to see had been used. A Chaos Shard. Chaos Crystals were nothing compared to the power of a Miraculous, but they still had a hefty amount of magic in them. Tikki had once created them before the Kwamis had become attached to the miraculous, as an apology of sorts when they accidently wiped out a species of aliens.

It was a relief to see he had been revived by a chaos shard, as that meant she didn’t have to worry about healing him from the Pits madness. Though, he did have some lingering effects. He must have been raised around them, which meant; wherever he grew up, was where the last of the Pits were. But, Marinette knew who the Pits might belong to, so she knew it would probably be a topic best spoken of in private.

She got her chance later that evening.

Damian's room was just down the hall from her own. Alfred the cat had been sleeping in her room alongside Silkie, ever since day two, so Marinette wasn’t surprised to hear the scratching at her door after she had changed for bed. She was surprised to find a Great Dane instead- only to recall that Alfred the Cat was already seated on her bed.

Damian stood beside the dog, already changed as well. “Sorry about him- Titus gets whiny without Alfred the cat at night, and he sniffed him out here.” Titus barreled past her and leapt onto her bed, making Alfred growl in faux annoyance before getting up and following him to the door.

Marinette giggled at the clear friendship between the two pets. “He clearly likes a sleeping buddy as well. He hogged Silkie all to himself the last few nights. Dad said you had other pets as well?”

He nodded. “A cow and a turkey. I got BC back when I was 10, and Jerry the Turkey about three years ago. Titus here had been with me when I was visiting my friend in Metropolis, so he’s a little new to you.” He cleared his throat, looking a bit awkward as he tried to have a conversation. They hadn’t spoken much past introductions early that day at breakfast, and Marinette could see he was a lot like Kagami had been when she was first starting to like Marinette and Chloe. “I’m guessing you weren’t allowed to have pets before, what with living above a bakery.”

She snorted, recalling the time she tried to convince her parents to get a chicken- she claimed that all the free eggs would be good for business. Though, of course, the chicken would have only laid an egg once or maybe twice a day, so it would really have just been a waste.

“Yeah. No matter how much I asked, the health regulations were always thrown in my face in the form of a two-inch thick stack of papers.” They chuckled a bit before Marinette decided she might as well get it over with. The sooner she knew, the better.

“Uhm, Damian? I… I have this friend, Kagami? She- she grew up with her mother back in Japan, but her mother always followed a traditional stance with raising her…”

She saw nothing but curious confusion. Understandable- and it was even more so when his face slowly turned to understanding as she continued. “Her mother, Tomoe, grew up in this organization a long time ago. A league , of sorts. She was close with the head of it before she bought her way out, but she still has ties of sorts… She used one of those ties when Kagami was a baby and was hurt really badly, and the head of the League managed to save her life…”

The two were silent, but she now saw Damian observing her- looking at her in the same way Kagami had all those years ago when Marinette had shown to be familiar with the Pits magic. It was a look of suspicion, but also one of trust and understanding. “...I’m familiar with this League… My Grandfather is the head.”

Oh… Oh … That- Marinette wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse. Maybe just easier?

Sighing, Marinette decided to drop all pretenses. “Oh thank Kwami, I honestly thought I might have been wrong there for a moment- Sorry, about all that. I- I just wanted to be sure.”

He nodded, a small smile in place as he watched her lose her nerves. “Understandable. I didn’t know what you were leading into for a moment there. But, how is it you knew I was from the League?”

Other than him being an identical male copy of Kagami? “For one, it was how formal you acted and spoke, plus your obvious need to carry one to about five weapons on you at all times; you currently have a dagger inside of a hidden pocket on the inside of your left pant leg. It’s not too obvious, but I work with clothes on a daily basis, so it’s noticeable to me. You also keep yourself on guard at all times, even in the safety of your home, and have been clearly assessing me from the moment our eyes met.” He looked apologetic on that last bit, but she shrugged it off. “Hey, no big deal. I was kinda doing the same.”

“Well, I see you inherited Grayson’s detective skills.” Damian chuckled and gestured to his pants. “Maybe you could sew in some more properly hidden pockets for me then?”

Marinette grinned, playfully replying, “You say it like you’re offering, but you make the mistake of thinking you had a choice. I’m going to resew all of your hidden pockets and implement some of my own. Heck, you won’t be able to find some of them by the time I’m done.” They laughed together, both of them now feeling more relaxed. “Could… This is asking a lot, but… Kagami really needs to know where it is- that Pits that brought her back to life? She doesn’t wish to use it, but, she needs to know of its whereabouts.”

Damian's brow rose a bit in confusion. “Her mother doesn’t know? I recognize the name Tomoe- Tsurugi, correct? Dark hair, blind, absolutely terrifying when she’s upset? I met her once as a child, and it haunted me for weeks.” He recalled the visit from when he was just about seven years old. He had never seen such fear pass through his grandfather's face before as when Tsurugi had shouted angrily at him in Japanese.

Marinette shook her head. “She was only a part of the league while she was back in Japan. The Demon Head had brought her there a few times before, but he made sure Tomoe never knew the location of the League.”

Tomoe had been close with the man's deceased wife, but not so much with him. Kagami said her mother only ever spoke shit about the man, claiming that his wife had wanted her to take over the league, not her husband.

“What exactly does she have planned for the Lazarus Pits?” It was a fair question. Marinette knew he must feel strongly about them, perhaps a bit protective over their usage. She could start to see that Damian left the ways of the League, much like Tomoe(though more so in Damian's case), so she knew he must not be very approving of his grandfather's usage of the Pits. But hey- the man had yet to take over the world, and it wasn’t like Hitler or Pol Pot were being revived by the League, so they supposed the man was doing… relatively okay with protecting and using the Lazarus Pits.

“We know someone who can destroy them once and for all. They’ve taken care of the other few around the world, but to fully destroy them, you have to drain their magic energy. We know someone who can, but they haven’t been able to locate the last one. They said it’s because it's an ‘Eternal-Usage Pit’. So, the magic is stronger there, thus being able to block itself from being located.” She had learned this from Tikki, who had been smacking Plagg for hours, saying it was his fault the Pits had come to existence in the first place.

Speaking a bit longer, Damian wrote down the coordinates for the area. “I don’t really care for what your friend plans for the League or the Lazarus Pits- so long as she doesn’t plan to hurt you, or anyone else in our family, I’m fine with it.” He handed her the piece of paper, a wry grin growing on his face. “Now; if she wished to, permanently harm my grandfather… I wouldn’t be opposed.”

That sounded like something Kagami would probably like to do. The girl would take any excuse possible to be able to kill someone who deserved it- Adrien had been proof of such.

Before they could say goodnight, Marinette recalled the most important thing she needed to say. “Please… Can- can you not mention any of this to Mom and Dad? Or really, anyone?” He looked a little surprised, but not much. By the solemn look his face took again, she could already tell he would agree. “I-I already kinda figured that Jason and Cass had, had died, and been revived by the Pits. I recognized the signs. I don’t really have anything to do with it all, and I don’t want either of my Parents worrying about it for no reason.”

Much to her relief, and as she suspected, Damian easily agreed. “So long as you aren’t putting yourself into any danger, I won’t say a thing. Grayson would worry immensely, and I know from experience that while at times it is nice, it can also get annoying rather fast. Stay safe, and I’ll stay quiet.” She nodded in agreement, promising him she would before they said their goodnights.

As soon as she closed the door, Marinette felt like crying. She must have already started though, as Silkie had made his way over from the bed and crawled into her lap, looking up to her sadly as he nuzzled against her stomach. The Kwamis followed his example soon after.

Marinette hated liars. It was one of the things she despised most in the world. Lying itself was not the issue though- it was the reason behind it.

People had to lie in life; Marinette knew this better than anyone else. After all, she had to do it all the time to keep others safe.

She couldn’t tell people her identity; especially not her family. But, she still tried to tell as little of a lie as possible.

She would try to tell others about soaring above Paris with her friends, but she always made them believe she meant with her powers of flight, rather than with a magical yo-yo during her patrols. She would try to tell people about her 19 extraterrestrial friends who taught her all about her powers and her alien heritage, but she had to lie about why no one could ever meet them and that no, they were not pocket-sized pixies that hid themselves in her backpack and purse. She would try to tell her family and friends why she had PTSD, but she couldn’t even tell Chloe what had really happened…

She was always lying.

So yeah, it hurt. It hurt having to lie to her biological parents, who had missed her for her entire life and wanted nothing more than to love her with all their hearts. It also hurt when she learned she made a new friend in Damian, someone she could trust and talk to without fear of it getting out- only to realize that she was still lying.

Marinette hated liars- but she hated being a hypocrite even more.

Chapter Text

Marinette loved the city for both the sights and her new family- but the sights were definitely a big plus. Juleka had been right; she loved the architecture here. She texted the girl about the idea of them doing a tour here, and was in turn met with the closest thing to a squeal that the goth girl could give her.

“I’ll tell the others…” Juleka said, a small uprise in her voice's pitch and speed to show her excitement. “No- I’ll demand it from them. We are totally taking our tour there next summer…”

Her Mom and Dad showed her around the city with glee, taking her to some of the places they thought she would most enjoy. While they were at the museum, they wandered into an exhibit that was held for Batman and the rest of the vigilantes.

Looking around once they entered the dimly lit hall of straight up hero-worship, Marinette badly hid her snort. “I mean, I get it, kind of. But isn’t it strange to have an exhibit for them when they’re active heroes and not yet considered ‘history’? I mean sure, Batman’s been around for a while now, but it doesn’t really look like he’s going to retire anytime soon or kick the bucket.”

“Correct,” her mother replied. “However, the people of Gotham wish to show their gratitude at times, and this is one of the ways they did it. The exhibit is to show reverence and respect to the vigilantes as they keep everyone safe.”

As they walked through, Marinette tried to keep her opinions to herself. However, when her father asked her who her favorite hero was, wearing a rather telling grin as he asked, Marinette couldn’t help but laugh at his face when she replied without missing a beat. “Well if we’re talking Justice League, then my answer would have to be Green Lantern.”

Kori and Mari both burst into laughter at the look of near horror on her fathers face. “That,” her Dad cleared his throat. “That was not the answer I was expecting. I don’t think that was anywhere even near the ballpark for what I guessed. Seriously though; Green Lantern ?” Marinette wondered if perhaps her Dad had something personal against the man, or if he was simply being pouty due to guessing wrong.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Marinette turned her gaze to some of the suits on display. She admired the detail in a lot of them, but some of the costumes had rather questionable designs… and color schemes.

“Well, the heroes in Paris use magic jewelry all the time to keep everyone safe. It only makes sense really that my favorite Justice League member would share something in common, right?” Best not to mention that she had met the man in person as well…

She spotted one suit- one suit in particular , that made her want to either vomit or strangle someone. Dear Kwami, what on earth was she looking at?

“‘Heroes in Paris’?”

Her mothers voice cut through her thoughts, but Marinette was already gone. She walked up to the display case and let her horror show on her face as she looked it up and down. Her parents had followed right after her, and her Dad was trying to steer her back to what they were saying before, but Marinette cut him off quickly.

“This. This, thing - is practically telling me to commit arson right now. What on earth was Batman thinking , allowing one of his teammates to wear such a thing?!”

Discowing?

As if the suit wasn’t bad enough, they had to give it a hideous name as well?!

Dick stepped up beside her, trying to be discreet as he turned her away from the costume(mistake) design. “Yes, the outfit receives mixed reactions and was really only appreciated for its glory long before you were born- but what had you been saying about heroes in Paris?” He could recall hearing small little bits of conversations back when they were in Paris, but none of it had really made sense.

A butterfly terrorist? Magic superheroes? It wasn’t really like these things sounded impossible to him(he’s a part of JL after all), but It had been the first he had ever heard of it. People had mentioned events like those as if they had been a pinnacle moment of history- surely they would have heard of a situation having occurred before?

Finally giving him her attention, Marinette looked up to her Dad as she pulled out one of her sketchpads. “Paris has a team of heroes protecting it, just like Gotham has Batman and his team. The leaders are Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton. There's about five others, and all of them get their superpowers from the Miraculous; jewelry infused with magic. A few years ago, a terrorist named Hawkmoth had gained two Miraculous and constantly destroyed and terrorized Paris until the heroes tracked him down and put an end to his reign. They stopped him after about a year, but they still patrol the city and keep everyone safe.”

Marinette pulled out a pencil and glanced back and forth between the Discowing suit and her sketchbook. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to fix this eyesore of costume.”

The Miraculous were ancient jewelry that held immense magical power. The Kwami’s attached to them were the beings that represented every single concept in their reality, making them the most powerful beings in all existence. The Miraculous would allow a person wearing it to tap into small amounts of these Kwamis’ magic.

Diana knew the stories from her mother, Hippolyta, due to the queen’s time as Paschalitsa. Her mother was proud of her time wielding the Ladybug Miraculous, and she had good right to be. She had gone down in Miraculous history as the Warrior Queen Ladybug.

After her time as the Ladybug wielder, Hippolyta had still had leftover residues of her magic, and it was with this that she had managed to create Diana from a lump of clay.

So putting it simply; Diana was a direct byproduct of the Miraculous magic.

Which is why she was extremely pissed off to learn that there had been an active Ladybug working in Paris for the last three years, and she hadn’t known about it!

Nightwing had been nearly ballistic about the situation when the Gotham team came into the Watchtower, telling them what they had learned about the situation from his daughter(who had been missing all her life thus far).

“And she insists that this Hawkass guy never controlled her,” Nightwing ranted, Starfire rubbing his back comfortingly. “But I know she’s not telling me something! What if she was targeted still?! Mari never really cared to hide her powers all that much, so he could have learned about her being superpowered and tried to turn her into a minion!”

While the situation was long resolved, Diana could understand why an evil man trying to mind-control Richard's daughter would still be upsetting after all this time. She assumed Hawkmoth must have had the Butterfly Miraculous and another- she wasn’t as familiar with the rest of the Zodiac box outside of the Ladybug and Black Cat, but she remembered a few of them. If Hawkmoth had used the Butterfly Miraculous to mind-control Mari, Diana was sure that it couldn’t have been an easy fight.

That was when Hal Jordan entered the room with a plate of nachos, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Sorry, what were you saying earlier? Magical terrorist?” Richard was giving him an odd look of disdain, or maybe… jealousy? Was it the nachos?

Aquaman, the only other person she knew of to have had some kind of experience or history involving the Miraculous, told him about what Nightwing had said. “It was resolved after a year as far as we know, but the heroes are still active. How did we not know about any of this though?”

Hal sat back in his seat, legs crossed and propped up as he swallowed a chip. “Oh, you mean with Marienkäfer? Sweet girl. Yeah, she didn’t want anyone from JL to come to Paris, what with the chance one of us would turn into a super villain.” he shrugged nonchalantly, as if everything was just fine. “It helped that JL was banned from Paris anyways, but I helped keep anything on the downlow when it was Miraculous related. Like- remember that time there was that giant red and black polka-dotted object about to crash into earth, and I said it was one of my villains being weird? Marienkäfer’s Kwami made a giant gallette because she was being a glutton.”

He ate another chip, not paying any of them mind as they all stared at him.

“What?” Green Martian spoke in deep confusion.

Diana on the other hand? She was livid.

Slamming her hands onto the table, Diana stood up and screamed. “You knew ?! How could you not tell any of us about this situation?!”

Hal startled briefly and sat up. “W-well, she called into the emergency line during the first week of the situation going down. She said she needed JL to stay away and explained the situation. I popped into Paris to check on things and we came to an agreement. I would keep the situation under wraps for her and keep everyone out of Paris, and she would have it contained quickly. The girl tracked down Hawkmoth and took the guy out in under a year, so I didn’t find any reason to bring it up later on. Her team had it handled.”

“How many casualties occurred?” Batman asked coldly.

“None. The Bug’s power let her heal everything and everyone during an Akuma fight, so there was never any damage done. I checked in every now and then, and got the clearance to put Hawkmoth and his horrible kid into the Phantom Zone. Sounds a little overkill when I say his 'kid', but the boy had it coming really. Honestly, The blonde was worse than his Dad, really."

Green Lantern sent a child to the Phantom Zone… Okay , not the strangest decision they’ve ever put into act, but she’d file that one away for a later discussion. “Do you still have contact with her?”

Hal nodded. “Yeah. I gave her an invite to pop into the watchtower, but she’s leavin’ it for now. Probably won’t show her face around here unless she finds she needs our help or we need hers . Kid’s got her thing down pretty tight, and her team can hold their own. Oh,” He pointed towards Diana. “She did say that if you ever asked, to let you know she’s really proud of you, as your honorary aunt or whatever-” Diana beamed, feeling a wave of pride wash through her at the words. But then Hal pointed towards Aquaman and said, “And Reine Chatton, the Black Cat wielder, said to tell you she’s sorry about her Kwami and she’s making sure to not overfeed him.”

Oh right. Atlantis sinking was Plagg’s fault, wasn’t it?

“As for your kid, her Tamaranean powers are pretty open, right?” Hal asked Nightwing. When he got a terse nod, he replied, “There were only four akuma victims that were superpowered, and the Miraculous Team made sure to make the situations handled quickly. Two were aliens from Daxam, one was a meta and an older guy, while the last was a teenage meta with Siren abilities. I have all the previous victims logged down, along with full reports on the incidents, so I can tell you for certain your kid probably wasn’t a victim. What’s her name?”

“Mari. Erm, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

They all saw it. The way Hal paused, blinking a few times as if he was in shock. Maybe he was simply trying to think back on the name in case he had heard it before, but Diana had a feeling there was more to it, especially when the man sighed and shook his head as he replied. “Yeah, no, she wasn’t a victim. Trust me; she was fine.”

Nightwing and Starfire both relaxed deeply at this, deflating from the nerves that had haunted them since they had first learned about the situation their daughter had lived through.

“One of Marinette’s friends is a Daxamite. Luka Couffaine?” Starfire asked curiously. “Was he one of the victims?”

“Couffaine? Nah. It was a mom and daughter who were both akumatized though- at different times. They had that last name, so it’s probably his mom and sister.”

“Anything else you’d like to share, Jordan?” Batman asked, gaze narrowed suspiciously. He must have shared Diana's thoughts on Hal holding something back. However, the Bat Glare™ barely had an effect on the Green Lantern(what with how often he had been on the receiving end of it), and Hal remained silent.

“Nope~ If you wanna go over the files, we got a huge thing on the situation. Though, just a heads up; your daughter is probably aware that you shouldn’t be able to find out too much about the whole thing. So if you want to know about the situation without accidentally spilling to her that you learned from a direct source, you might wanna check out the Miracle-Blog for the civilian story.”

At the mention of this, Clark Kent looked over curiously towards the Gotham team. “Wait- does she not know yet? I’d think you would have told her about your identities.”

Bruce sighed and sat back in his seat, clearly having had this discussion before. “Yes, well, Marinette is still getting accustomed to having another family she didn’t even know about. We agreed we’d wait a while before introducing her to this side of our lives.”

“Not to mention, Kori and Dick want to keep her safe, and the kid already seems to have a negative amount of self-preservation skills,” Jason said. “They wanna keep her away from all this as long as they can. Personally, I have this feeling she’s probably already used to this form of crazy.” Damian seemed extremely interested in counting the ceiling tiles right now.

“We’ll tell her eventually,” Koriand’r said. “For now though, we’re just focusing on spending time with her as parents, rather than as heroes.”

“Yeah,” Duke grinned as he revealed, “And Dick doesn’t want her to learn about the masks until he can make her change her mind on Green Lantern being her favorite hero.” While Richard groaned, Hal burst into loud hysterics.

If only they knew what the man found truly funny about this.

Chapter Text

Talia stared for a moment, trying to process what she was looking at.

The girl in front of her continued to smile kindly, not at all perturbed by the stares from both the older woman as well as the assassins around her. She waited patiently, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Talia had previously, just minutes before, watched the girl fly into the area with a flash of blue light before looking around and calling out for Talia’s father.

She had approached the girl cautiously, seeing clearly that she was of an alien species and yet had familiarity with her father. “My father, Ra’s Al Ghul, is bedridden, paralyzed. The Lazarus Pits have been failing to bring him back to life in full health.” It had been happening more and more often. Whenever her father had used the Pits, they seemed to start doing the bare minimum of their job.

They would bring him back to life if needed, but they would stop healing any other injuries and illnesses. Just starting about four months back, her father had gotten badly injured by an assassin gone rogue(whom Talia dealt with swiftly afterwards), and had thus laid in bed unable to use his legs ever since.

The girl had looked towards her in surprise, frowning a bit and looking a little worried. “Dang, that sucks. I needed his help with two or three things… Are the Pits not working that well in general, or just for him? Either way, I could fix it and bring him back to full health if you could bring me to him?”

It was by this point that the girl had floated down to stand before her and Talia finally observed her for any familiarities. The girl spoke as if she knew her father personally, but she couldn’t have been older than Damian. As she looked at her face though, Talia recognized her for who and what she was.

Those shiny blue eyes were filled with an infinite amount of kindness and love to anyone she looked at them with, and the sweet sincerity of it was enough to make Talia feel like she was going to throw up rainbows and glitter.

She knew those eyes.

“Grayson?”

The girl looked momentarily surprised before her smile turned purely ecstatic. She floated up off the ground again, “You know my Dad?! Oh, that’s right! You’re Damian’s Mother, aren’t you? My name’s Marinette; it’s nice to meet you Ma’am~ Richard Grayson Wayne is my father!”

Oh good lord that man and his cheerful attitude had multiplied .

She recalled that he had been in a relationship with the hero Starfire when she first met him, and he had still been with her last she heard. This girl was the byproduct.

Wonderful.

“And how exactly do you plan to ‘fix’ the Lazarus Pits?”

Marinette smiled even wider(if possible) and brushed back some of her hair, revealing black stud earrings. “Why, with magic of course~ But first things first… If Damian, my Dad, or literally anyone asks; you don’t know me, you never saw me, and don’t even know of my existence. I was never here, got it?”

Well, so long as she somehow actually could fix the Lazarus Pits… Talia was more than happy to work with those conditions..

Damian and Marinette sat in the garden as they drew in peaceful silence.

Damian was on the ground, his back against one of the stone benches. Marinette sat cross-legged in the air, hovering only a foot or two above the bench.

What? She always felt more inspired when she was floating weightlessly.

About an hour ago, Marinette had come to him with her sketchbook, and the two had wordlessly gone out to the garden to draw in their respective art styles. Titus laid asleep curled around his owner, and Silkie was just the same on top of Marinette's head. The two teens had worked in almost complete silence and it was the most comfortable yet relaxed time she's had with her new family in the past three weeks since her arrival in Gotham.

Marinette was doodling in the corners of the pages, thinking up little patterns to hide into the stitching of a pantsuit she planned to start on later, when Damian’s voice spoke up.

"Where did you go the other day?"

To the League of Assassins to bring his genocidal tyrant of a grandfather back to full health.

"I felt a little homesick and went to see Chloe and Kagami." She felt the lie was a little harsh, making it seem she was happier in Paris, but she came to see that Damian was the most understanding about it. He got homesick at times for where he first grew up, even though it had such terrible memories for the most part. "Where were you and everyone else?"

That's right; Marinette hadn’t left to the League until she knew she could sneak out without any of the others looking for her and asking questions. She had been surprised to find the opportunity just shortly after breakfast the other day, but she took her chance and used it. No one had seemed suspicious when she returned through her bedroom window and it seemed they had returned not too long before her.

Her firing the question back towards him was a clear message; 'You don't tell me and I won't tell you'.

"Grayson panicked over learning about the magical terrorist incident and demanded information from a work friend who just happened to have a direct involvement with the situation." Oh. He actually told her. Shit. "I recall Koriand'r mentioning you might wish to fly back to Paris briefly, but she had told you it was alright to do so as long as you mentioned the visit to them beforehand. Seeing as no one else realized you even went anywhere yesterday, it's clear you went elsewhere and are trying to avoid giving me the truth."

"How did you know I even went anywhere at all?"

"When we came back, Silkie was sleeping with Titus in my room again, which he wouldn't have done if you were in your room for him to cuddle into. You clearly hadn't been home for a few hours."

Sweet Miraculous- how many people in this house are detectives?!

"...I didn't get involved, really."

Damian snorted, putting his sketchbook down to give her a rather unimpressed look. "Forgive me for saying, but what you just said was absolute crap . You clearly dislike lying, so it's easy to hear the disgust in your voice towards your own words when you fail to tell the truth. Try again."

Marinette sighed, knowing she could only hide just how involved she really was. "I… I took Kagami to the League." Not a total lie. Once Marinette had confirmed she was in the right place and had made a deal with Talia, she had flown to Paris and arrived back with Chloe and Kagami.

She couldn't tell Damian why she brought Chloe though, so she didn't bother mentioning her in the equation(the less reason he had to suspect the better). Kagami had been there as Marinette and Chloe's protection. She knew better than them how the League worked and would keep them safe as the two were vulnerable while using their magic. Despite making a deal with the seemingly honest Al Ghul, Marinette knew better than to immediately trust an assassin(even if that's what she did with Kagami).

Damian clearly caught onto that before when she had immediately lied about not being involved. "We agreed-"

"It's not like I talked to anyone or even did anything ! I just dropped her off and stood outside while she went in- Gami didn't want me there anymore then you did and wanted to get me out as soon as possible." First half was a lie, but she covered it with the truth of Kagami's discomfort.

Marinette and Chloe were of equal balance. She may be the Grand Guardian of the Zodiac Box, but Chloe and her shared equal amounts of power and responsibility with their Miraculous. One of the situations that showed such was ones like the other day; the Lazarus Pits were a Wish.

Long ago, a man had wished for a way to become immortal. But since he asked for a way , rather than to be immortal in general, he received the Lazarus Pits. And, what with the power of equilibrium saying something must be given to be received, the man would lose what he didn't realize he would have to give up.

For each time he used the Lazarus Pits to remain 'immortal', he would lose the very thing that made someone mortal: humanity. The more someone prolonged their life, the more that the chaos and insanity would take over.

The Lazarus Pits had to honestly be the most glorious wish ever made. They were a perfect combination of Tikki and Plagg’s power; creation for the healing of the body, and destruction for the end of one's mind. To remove the Lazarus Pits, Chloe and Marinette had gone to those left over and removed the magic, absorbing it into both of their Miraculous. The Pit kept at the League was an eternal usage Pit, so the magic there was stronger than any of the others.

Marinette and Chloe had been exhausted in draining the magic from it. Frankly, the process of draining the magic had been so tiring for them that it left the two completely vulnerable. Hence why Kagami came to protect them throughout the process.

“Were you spotted by anyone there?”

She flew down right in front of his mom. “No. I hung out on the roof until Gami gave me the signal for us to leave.”

“Did anyone get hurt?”

Marinette smirked. “Your Grandfather is still alive.”

“Damnit.” He sighed and went back to drawing in his sketchbook. “Well, I suppose it would have been a waste of time either way. What with the Pits, he would just come right back.” Yeah, she was never going to tell him the truth about her visit.

At the end of summer vacation, the Wayne’s all held a party. Some of them would be leaving for Paris until the next school holiday at the end of October, so they all planned to see them out.

It was an unspoken notion that they were mainly throwing this for Marinette, what with having mostly all met her in the recent three months. Stephanie and Jason both complained about future Marinette-Withdrawals and how they would need scheduled video-chats to not die after short periods of time.

Seeing as that was how most of the people she knew in Paris had acted upon her leaving for Gotham, Marinette took it in stride.

Marinette, her parents, Tim, and Damian, would all be going to Paris for the next nine months. Tim had begged to go on account of a vacation from someplace that barely had a blue sky(though Marinette looked the other way when everyone commented how the city had been unnaturally sunny in recent months, even if it was summer), but Marinette found the idea of him being on vacation rather redundant when he said he’d be working at WE’s Parisian division while he was there.

Wasn’t the point of vacation to get away from work? Not that she was any better(the Kwamis had all complained about her workload when Marinette still managed to keep up with her online commissions while getting to know her new family).

While saying goodbye to everyone, Selina introduced Marinette to a nice couple at the party. “Marinette, this is Pamela and her wife, Harleen. They hadn’t gotten the time to meet you, but they wanted to say hello before having to say goodbye.”

Looking at the two ladies, Marinette immediately recognized them. She was sure that no one was really trying to hide it(Pamela’s skin was very clearly green), but no one yet realized what this meeting truly meant.

Pamela- Poison Ivy - glanced her over before smirking softly. “Well hello there, little Marigold. Nice to finally meet you.”

Inside her purse, Silkie whined softly as Tikki practically vibrated. Marinette had the idea that her Kwami had caught the scent of the meta in front of them.

Returning the smile, Marinette shook her hand. “And you as well, Mademoiselle. You and your wife.”

Harley Quinn shook her hand next, smiling wide and bright. Selina had walked off a moment ago, so the blonde found no trouble in asking. “So you’re the chick who carries Creation magic around or whatever, right? Three months ago, Ive’s had been going frantic trying to track you down, but now we can see the reason you bounced all over was cuz’ ya were sightseeing.”

Ivy’s smile turned a little sheepish. “Uhh, would it be alright if, you know, I could see the little one? It’s not offensive or anything to ask, is it? I don’t know the specifics on how that all works, but the plants talked a lot about a little Ladybug and her Chosen One.”

Returning the shy look, Marinette gently opened her bag and glanced down, able to pass it off to any others as her simply checking on her silk worm. “Tikki? You wanna spend some time with Miss Isley?” Her Kwami practically squeaked in reply, poking her head out as she confirmed.

Harley gasped at the sight of the Tikki, her eyes practically sparkling at the sight of what to her was the equivalent of a tiny little fairy. “Oh. My. Batman . You are the cutest thing!” Marinette smiled and giggled, the four of them heading out into the gardens to talk privately.

They only got about fifteen minutes or so before her Dad was calling for her, but it was enough for Marinette. She was glad to have people like Harley, Ivy, and Damian, here in Gotham(even though Damian would be returning with her to Paris). Having people who didn’t know the absolute shit show of her life, but they knew enough to understand that she had been exposed to the ways of the world. It was friends like these that Marinette found herself adoring, but they were also the most difficult to keep.

She liked that she had friends that understood she was keeping them at arms distance, but it gave her the compelling notion that these friendships were also mostly built on lies .

She had lied to Damian nearly from the start. He knew more than the rest of her family, but not enough for it to be considered the truth. Harley and Ivy now knew about her Creation magic and Tikki, but they didn’t know about the hardships she had faced.

It was both a breath of fresh air and a heavy yoke around her neck-

Marinette really hated that she had become a liar.

Chapter Text

On the night before their first day of senior year, Chloe had invited the whole class, as well as Kagami, Ondine, and Luka, over for a sleepover. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Damian to join them, but it had been worth it.

Marinette smiled as she watched the boy who had been anxiously glaring at everyone an hour ago, now speak with a relaxed form to some of her friends. He(of course) got along with Kagami after less than five minutes, and he and Luka found a nice sort of friendship in their more relaxed and matured attitudes.

She eventually managed to sneak away the Katana he had on him and threw it into his room when he was too busy speaking with Juleka and Rose.

Everyone was ecstatic to have Marinette back and all asked for details on her new family(she had to rely on Damian to answer some of them since he had known them longer). It made her feel better after having been gone for so long, which then was followed by a flash of guilt. She had told Damian and TIm this, worried of upsetting her parents in any way about having missed her home in Paris.

“Trust me, they’ll understand.” Tim had told her. “Dick had said he was like that after Bruce took him in, and Kori is still like that here on earth! She goes back to Tamaran once every month at least to get her fill of her first home, just like how they said you could go back and forth too. It makes it a heck of a lot easier though since it only takes you a bit of time to cross the Atlantic, so believe me when I say the two of them are fine with it.”

Feeling convinced, she had spoken to them about it. Although she had been talked up for confidence, she still had to hug Silkie tightly to her chest once she sat down.

As Tim had said; they were understanding. Her Dad especially.

“I didn’t call Bruce my dad right away,” Dick told her, looking up in thought at the memories he had as a child. “It was different, since he wasn’t my biological parent, but that was what he was for me then and now. I gave him the placemat of ‘dad’ but that’s not what I ever really called him. Once in a while, sure, but never just in comfort when it was normal. I had been raised by two different parents. Even if things were more like yours, I would have probably been in the same situation as I had been… When you asked to call us Mom and Dad, that was something I honestly hadn’t expected. I thought you would have been like me and have needed time, but you didn’t.”

Kori took her hand and explained that it was alright. She had accepted them so willingly, despite having had her entire life turned around on her. She had realized she had been kidnapped and yet faced it with bravery, not turning away or wanting to ignore the truth her parents brought with them.

Dick had expected a few scenarios in which she might want them to leave, or refused to believe what they had to say. He expected her to not want to call them her parents for a year or more, if not never at all.

And yet- Marinette had taken them in stride. She learned the truth, and even though she shed some tears, they had all been happy ones. She heard them out and didn’t blame them for being taken. She had asked almost right away to call them Mom and Dad-

Frankly, Dick had somewhat been worried. Marinette had taken it all so easily, as if the weight of the situation and the truth of her life hadn’t affected her much. She acted so happy and collected all the time, and Dick knew firsthand how hard that could be on someone.

But… This was supposed to be good- right?

She was accepting them back into her life with open arms and awaiting smiles. She loved them, truly he could see it, but… It felt… easy…

Wow, okay- that sounded awful , but it was true.

Nothing in their lives had been easy. No situation or problem had an easy solution. Sure, they had lost her for her entire life thus far and had thought her to be dead, but getting her back had been so, so- simple! He and Kori had only gone to her house and told the truth, and BAM! Mar’i was back in their arms again.

When was anything in their lives this easy?!

Again, he could just be acting paranoid, but Dick couldn’t keep passing things off, even if it was for his daughter's sake- especially if it was for his daughter's sake.

He knew she had secrets. Something about the Akumas and Hawkmoth had involved Mari; he could see it when her pupils dilated and her spine straightened, her shoulders tense as she kept extremely careful about what she said. He didn’t know what was so important about her Chinese jewelry box, that she snuck it into her carry-on bag whenever they took the jet and always hid it somewhere in her rooms.

She looked as if she carried the weight of multiple worlds on her shoulder, if not the whole universe, and Dick couldn’t fathom why.

He wanted to be there for her and find out what he had missed in her life, but he also knew he wasn’t in the place to do that.

Even if she understood he hadn’t wanted to miss out on her childhood(she understood almost too well ), he knew it wasn’t his place to push authority and act like he had a right to know everything about her when he had missed so much.

But it scared him sometimes, seeing that dazed look in her eyes. It was a look he saw too often with the rest of his family and one he knew he himself would have when he thought back on any past pain and trauma.

When Mar’i was born, he had sworn to himself that he would protect her, and he would never let that dazed look appear in her eyes.

He had broken both promises…

When Marinette woke up, she did so with a wide smile and shouted out, “GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!”

Needless to say, she effectively woke up everyone else.

Floating over her friends, Marinette clapped her hands together as she woke up all the other grumbling teenagers(and dodged three or four projectiles that were thrown her way). “Come on everybody! Time to get up and get ready for our first day back to school- we’ve got an hour and a half before we see Mlle Bustier again!”

She floated over to the balcony of the oversized hotel suite and threw the doors open, letting the breeze in, and… Okay, actually, it was surprisingly windy today, so that might have been a bad idea. However- it did make her friends all get up, so Marinette would call it a win.

“Oh for Kwami sake-!” Chloe grumbled as she threw off the top of her sleeping bag and stormed over to her best friend, slamming the doors closed as the others all began to come to a stand. The blonde then pointed to the grinning girl and said crossly, “ Never do that again in my hotel.”

“No promises~”

Marinette floated around again, saying good morning to everyone. She only got a few welcoming replies in return, and Damian, Alix, Ivan, and Kagami all threw another pillow at her face.

It was a fun morning. Her favorite part had to be cramming her whole class into Chloe’s limo though.

Damian and Marinette went down to the floor just below as they and their class were heading out. They went to the large living room shared between them and their families private floor to find Tim was passed out on the couch with a laptop open on his chest.

She could see charts and graphs on the screen, as well as what looked like a gold… bat, maybe? Either way, Damian quickly strode past her and slammed the laptop closed on Tim, effectively waking him up as he grumbled at the older boy in Arabic. Something along the lines of calling him a disappointment and an idiot.

Tim hummed in reply, sitting up without even fully opening his eyes. “Hmm, mornin’... G’night.” He quickly fell back and returned to sleeping, soft snores escaping him as Marinette swallowed down a laugh.

Entering from a pair of doors leading to a small kitchen area, Kori walked over, still clad in comfy pajamas. “Off to school already?”

Damian nodded and somewhat returned the hug when she pulled him and Marinette into a tight embrace. He huffed after a second though. “K-kori, one of us doesn’t h-have super strength.”

“Oh!” She let go, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, Damian. You two have a good day, alright? Richard should still be down in the lobby right now, talking to Mayor Bourgeois.” Huh. What were they talking about? “Marinette, please take Silkie out of your purse before you leave.”

Dangit.

While the two teens stood waiting inside of the elevator, Marinette strained her ears to try and focus on Andre or her Dad’s voice. It took her a few seconds before she picked up on Chloe's father.

“-ssure you that there are plenty of security details, Mr. Grayson. Dupont is used to having high profile students, such as my two daughters, and-”

Oh. Nevermind.

Marinette sighed and looked at the boy beside her. “Did Bruce ever make a big deal on security for you at Gotham Academy?”

In response, Damian actually snorted, looking about a second away from full-blown laughter. “Yeah- no . Since I was from the League, he knew I could take care of myself just fine. It was everyone else who needed protection from me . He just asked that they implement more security cameras that way he could be sure I wouldn’t pick any fights.”

“Did you?”

“Of course I did, it changed nothing . I didn’t care if I got caught.” He smiled brightly as he thought back to his first year in school, Marinette giggling beside him.

“Dad is talking to Monsieur Bourgeois about the security at Francois Dupont.” Which they had a lot of, but it was all mostly pointless. Due to having so many high profile students, no one at the school usually posted anything about other students online. Being around rich and famous people had become common. And crime? Pfft- almost nonexistent ever since Hawkmoth, and especially with the Miraculous Team always going out on patrol.

“Is it even needed? Dupont seems to have more rich students than those who fall in middle-class.”

“Exactly- it’s practically pointless by now.”

When they were downstairs, it took Damian about ten minutes to convince Dick to let them go. The man had always been extra affectionate towards Damian, but now that Marinette was in on the mix, Dick had hugged the both of them and quite literally refused to let go.

“We can homeschool you both! Wouldn’t that be more fun?”

Marinette grumbled, “I’ve only met one other kid who was homeschooled by his dad, and he’s currently serving a life sentence due to what he learned. I think I’ll pass.” Both males had so many questions.

Damian jabbed Dick over his gallbladder, knowing he still had a bruise there from the last patrol they had in Gotham. As planned, the man heaved in pain at the hit, loosening his hold enough for both teens to escape and run towards their class. Chloe stood by the limo, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Ugh, hurry up! Mari, Kim and Alix already sped off to school so they could pick their seats out first and you know Alix will steal your spot.”

As they got into the car, Marinette grinned sheepishly as she whispered to her friend, making sure Damian was too far to hear and was too absorbed in a conversation with Luka. “Uhm, actually, Chlo? I was wondering if it would be alright if I sat with Damian? Since he’s new and moved here with us and all, I want him to be more comfortable with everyone, and I’m sure he’d probably feel better sitting with me rather then with the others. He only met them all last night, you know?”

Chloe frowned. She didn’t like it- not one bit. Her and Marinette had been seatmates ever since they became friends. She rarely ever sat beside someone else!

But… She raised a good point.

Chloe didn’t know if Damian had decided to come to Paris or if he had been volunteered along with his other brother, Tim. But, either way, she could see how he might be uncomfortable with all this. He had moved here and was going to school with Marinette for a reason, so it really only made sense that the two stay close, right?

Sighing, the blonde nodded before pointing sternly towards her. “Fine- but you gotta sit with me still in Mendeleiev’s class, ya hear?! I am not pairing with Alix again for that.”

"Why not?"

"Need I remind you what happened when she added soda to our project last year and blew up our entire table?"

"Oh..."

Chapter Text

“Welcome back, students!” Caline Bustier smiled brightly as all of her students stepped into class. She took note of how they all mostly arrived together. Of course, Alix and Kim had shown up just a few minutes before, claiming “dibs'' on the two tables near the front. Alix had also claimed Chloe would be her seatmate, though Caline wasn’t so sure if the blonde was happy with this decision being made for her.

However, if Caline knew Marinette, the girl would probably decide to sit by their new transfer student from Gotham. She knew the two had come together due to familial connections, and the bluenette would want to make Damian feel more comfortable. So, she would most likely ask Chloe to sit by Alix for the year.

As always; Caline was correct.

As Chloe sat beside Alix, feigning annoyance as the pinkette teased her, Marinette linked arms with Damian and pulled him over to Caline. The boy eyed her warily, though not with distrust- a stark contrast to Marinette’s cheery disposition.

“Mlle Bustier, this is Damian!”

Damian held out his hand politely, to which Caline shook and gave her own bright smile. “Welcome to our class, Damian~ I’ll be your main teacher for the year. You’ll get to meet Mlle Mendeleiv when you go to her science class later. I also took note that your previous academics show you enjoy art, so I would recommend you ask Marinette to show you to M Monlataing’s art room during your free periods. His class is open to all forms of art, and he’ll be more than happy to welcome a new student! For now, just take a seat and get comfortable with the school; the first day will all just be catching up and knowing what will be going on for your last year of lycée.”

The boy nodded and went to take his seat, but not before asking if they could look over introducing him to the class once they started. They all seemed to have met him already, so Caline was fine with it.

As everyone took their seats, Caline leaned against her desk and smiled fondly upon her students.

Alix and Chloe sat in the front right, with Marinette and Damian behind them, followed by Nino and Alya, with Nathaniel in the back(he always preferred being seated on his own). To the left, Kim sat beside Max in the front, in front of Ivan and Mylene, followed by Lila and Sabrina, and finally Rose and Juleka.

It took a minute for everyone to quiet down from their eager conversations, but even before they did- Caline could easily say this was one of her favorite sights.

While Damian and Marinette were at school, Tim was busy at work in his hotel room. They had told Marinette he was there to work on keeping check of WE’s Parisian division, but that had merely been a cover-up so the girl wouldn’t be suspicious of what he was doing during their stay.

Of course, they could have said he was there on vacation(as they did), but that wasn’t a really well-thought excuse since the girl would see Tim working.

Tim was gathering research on the Miraculous.

Green Lantern had shown them the files(Tim was admittedly impressed with how thorough the man had been in logging down any and all information) and said he would let the Miraculous Team know the Bats might get in touch. Bruce and Dick both wanted to know more on the issue and learn what had led to Hawkmoth even gaining a Miraculous to begin with. Hal said the Parisian Team were unsure of that last point, as the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous had vanished nearly 300 years previous in Tibet, due to an error of judgment by the previous Grand Guardian of the Zodiac Box.

Apparently , there was this “Order of the Guardians” that had been dead for the 300 years, only to pop up randomly one day and get all possessive of the Miracle Box. Apparently, Marienkäfer had accidently brought them back to life one day, and they were a bunch of Monks whom Hal said pissed him off.

“If you’re gonna look into anything with the Miraculous- do us all a favor and find what you can on the Order of the Guardians,” Hal had said. “They keep acting like they’re the ones in charge despite them doing nothing about Hawkmoth and leaving it to the Miraculous Team.”

From what Tim could understand, the Order were the ones who had looked after the Miracle Box in the past, and they felt they had superiority over Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton’s team. However, from what Hal told him, Tim could see that that was not the case. Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton were more powerful than anyone on earth, and frankly, the Order had nothing . Sure they were trained in fighting and could be considered a tough match in a spar, but they had a strict rule to not use the Miraculous themselves.

So, none of them had any of their own magic. Meaning: they had no right to act as if they were the ones in charge.

It didn’t seem like too much of a big deal; they weren’t actually doing anything, right? Well apparently, they had forced the Miraculous Team to follow strict rules that they had made-up , and threatened to take all of the Zodiac Box Miraculous away if their rules weren’t followed.

Like he had said, the Order didn’t have any powers so they really couldn’t do much to take away the Miraculous…

But then, Hal told them what the Order was really like.

“Marienkäfer is the only one who doesn’t see it. The Cat and Dragon- all the rest of them see it, but the Bug doesn’t!” Hal had ranted, rather angry as he recalled the time he had met the Order while in Paris. “The Order threatened to go to any lengths to take the Miraculous if their rules weren’t followed. One such length-”

It was bad.

“They’ll kill your families.”

…Yeah…

They could see now why Hal was upset.

The Miraculous Team knew that they might come in contact with them at some point, and Tim was actually very interested for the meeting. While he may not be the biggest fan of magic, he did enjoy learning about it. It was like listening to conspiracy theories and crazy people- while he didn’t actually care about the things they were telling him, he still felt the temptation and thrill of learning everything he possibly could about the subject.

It’s not like he had an issue with magic in general- after all, without it, half his family would be dead. Not to mention all of his friends who dealt with it and all the good it did for the world. However, he was with Bruce on disliking its downsides and preferring to just avoid it if he could.

Magic always had a price, and it wasn’t usually an easy one to pay off.

When Hal explained that Hawkmoth had wanted to combine the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous to be granted a wish, so that he could heal his comatose wife- Tim had many issues with this.

First of all; while he would agree to it being sad that the man's wife was stuck in a magical coma, he was wondering if it might have been deserved- magic didn’t just do that without reason. If you needed to go to these far of lengths to be granted a wish for it, then it must have been extremely serious. Secondly; how the heck had the guy gone from mourning his comatose wife, to becoming a genocidal magical terrorist that manipulated the emotions of innocent civillians?!

The guy had transformed a baby . Who the hell does that?!

Third; what would be the price for healing his wife?

It had been Aquaman who told them about the wish. “A perfect balance between Creation and Destruction. You could wish for anything in all of existence, but there will always be a price. It doesn’t matter if you wished for world peace, to rule over all the planets, to bring a child back to health, or save the lives of millions- there will always be a price, and it will always be bad . You get to have whatever wish you desire, and due to the magic process of equivalent exchange, you get to have something worse than what you even started out with.”

There were two things the Miraculous Team suspected would have come from Hawkmoth making his wish. He would have either sent thousands of innocent people into coma’s in which there would be no cure, or- his son would be exchanged for his wife.

They didn’t know if it would be either of those things or possibly something worse, but they were all glad it hadn’t come down to any of that.

To not suspect identities, Bruce told them to only have Red Robin and Nightwing meet with the Miraculous Team. The Justice League still wasn’t exactly permitted in Paris unless there was a zombie apocalypse(the French President’s words exactly ), so they would need to go in by stealth and try to catch the team's attention.

Robin and Starfire couldn’t be spotted- if all four of them were seen, then someone could connect them to the Waynes, since the four of them had publicly arrived in their civilian identities.

About two weeks in, Tim had gotten an idea about the Miraculous Team’s patrols. They always had four members patrolling at night, with one or two of them being spotted on daytime patrols occasionally. They had specific routes, but seemed to assign them to different members in random patterns.

Tim and Dick suited up at about nine o’clock and made their way across the rooftops, hidden from sight by the shadows. It took maybe three minutes in total before they were seen- or maybe until they were at least spoken to.

The one to find them was Bunnyx, the Rabbit Hero. Her powers consisted of Time Travel, and she had an umbrella hooked to her back. She was a bit short, but not by much. She stood in wait, leaned against a chimney on the rooftop they had just landed on, smirking as they turned to face her.

“About time you showed up,” she said. She pulled out a pocket watch that matched her blue and white theme, and opened it up to type on like a flip-phone. “The others will be here soon, but I wanted to say something to you guys first.”

They nodded hesitantly, curious but nervous. Her voice was light and cheerful, but the air around her was thick and heavy of power. It felt like the air around the likes of Constantine and Wonder Woman- people who had so much power that you could barely stand in their presence for long until you eventually get used to it- ignoring it , that is.

Bunnyx stepped forward, hands held behind her back as she hummed playfully. When she stood just in front of the both of them though, she stood to her tip-toes. They watched as her blue eyes glowed, something like Marinette and Kori’s. It held power and danger, a threat yet to be told. Her smile was sharp and wicked.

“Don’t try to learn our identities. Especially , Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton’s. The two of them are the most important out of all of us. The rest of us? We’re replaceable, if it came down to it. The two of them? If you try to learn who they are- They. Lose. Everything. ” Her smile had dropped halfway through, and her eyes held a steely anger in them.

The woman dealt with time travel, and Tim had a feeling she didn’t just go handing a lecture like this to everyone, so he had the feeling that this threat was given for good reason.

Not even having them agree(she knew they understood they didn’t have any choice), Bunnyx clasped her hands together joyfully and ginned. “Perfect! Now that we’ve come to an understanding; the others are gathering at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Race you there, Dick-head and Duck-dragon~”

…Oh no.

Dick sighed, letting his head fall back with a groan. “Seriously- what is with everyone learning our identities before we even introduce ourselves to them?!” Tim had a feeling he was missing something there, but whatever.

Arriving at the top level of the Eiffel Tower(with Bunnyx chanting how they were slow and old the whole way there), they found the rest of Team Miraculous already waiting there, with Viperion and King Monkey seeming to be wrestling one another, with Reine Chatton and Pegasus jeering them both on. Ryoku and Marienkäfer paid their teammates no mind, absorbed in a conversation.

As Bunnyx walked over with the adult vigilantes, she waved cheerfully to her team. “Everybody, we stole members from Batman’s flock!”

At her words, the others looked over curiously, though Marienkäfer seemed to trip over herself somehow despite not having even moved from where she stood. Her head whipped around, looking taken aback and rather bewildered. Her teammates seemed surprised, though not as in shock and seemingly in awe like herself and her main partner.

Reine Chatton stood up straight, her shoulders straightened as she gasped. “Oh sweet Miraculous-! You- Glowstick wasn’t screwing with us, you guys actually showed up!”

Tim snorted at the nickname she gave Green Lantern, definitely looking forward to his reaction the next time they spoke and he referred to him as such.

Marienkäfer laughed loud and rather tense, looking them over nervously and seeming to take a somewhat hesitant step back to hide behind Ryoku(the dragon seemed happy to be used as a barrier if her glare was anything to go by). “Oh, wow! Yeah, yep! He- he really wasn’t joking, was he? I- I probably should have expected this actually, now that I think about it.” Seeming to steel her nerves, the Ladybug hero stepped forward and held out her hand politely, a welcoming smile on her face. “Bonjour, Monsieur’s Nightwing and Red Robin.”

Nightwing shook her hand, smiling brightly in return. “It’s nice to meet you, Marienkäfer. Batman wishes he could be here as well, but he and the rest of our team are busy keeping our own city safe."

As the two spoke pleasantly however, Tim noticed… something felt familiar about Marienkäfer’s costume. Not that he had ever seen someone themed after a ladybug before(that was surprisingly new), but the style of the outfit had a familiar feeling to it.

“-and we can look more into his records to get a better look at his travels.” Tim let his mind rejoin the conversation, needing a moment to catch on to what they were talking about again. Ah yes; finding out where Hawkmoth got the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous. “Do any of you have any leads thus far?”

Reinne Chatton pulled out her baton and started typing on it. “Give us an IP address or something and I can send you the location for the Temple of the Order of the Guardians. The previous Grand Guardian had lost the two Miraculous there when he fled, as the Temple and other guardians were demolished and eaten by an Amok.”

That… well, okay then.

“We’ll start by looking into his or his wifes travels to the Himalayas or anywhere in South Asia. His wife was holding the Peacock Miraculous, correct?” Tim asked the blonde.

“Yeah. She didn’t know anything about any of it though, and even if she did, her memories of anything Miraculous related were erased from her mind before Marienkäfer and I could even wake her up. She’s staying with her sister and nephew in London, trying to get her life back now that the world knows she’s alive.”

“She wouldn’t be of any help then?” The team shook their heads. Tim sighed and continued, mentally crossing the woman off his list of resources. “What about her sister?”

King Monkey snorted at the idea, finding it funny for some reason. “The woman is as dense as a rock. Trust me; even if she knew something, she wouldn’t give it up because she’s hellbent on believing everyone is innocent and no one’s done anything wrong.” The rest of his teammates seemed to share the sentiment.

Nightwing handed Marienkäfer a card with the line to reach the Batcave and them, as well as the IP address. He smiled down at the girl and said, “We’ll mainly stay out of sight and find out what we can in our day clothes, but if you ever need help or need an extra hand for patrols, we’ll be in town; okay?”

The girl in red seemed to assess them both for a moment, before a bright smile came back to her face. She gave a nod and thanked them both for their time and help, before she waved and leapt off the tower with the throw of her yo-yo. Her team all followed sweet after they bid the two farewells(with a minor glare of assessment from Ryoku and Bunnyx having flipped them both off with both hands and a cheeky grin).

Once they were both alone on the national monument, Tim put a hand to his earpiece and asked, “You get all that, Baby Bird?”

“Loud and clear,” Damian responded from back at the hotel. “I’ve already started looking into the family's travel history. The man had business all over the place, so it looks like he had a high chance of going to Tibet a lot .”

“Good. We’re headed back now,” Dick said in return. “It’s a good thing you don’t have school tomorrow, Robin. Because we’re gonna be up for most of the night finding everything we can on Gabriel Agreste.”

Chapter Text

Max had started his day like any other. With a large cup of coffee for himself, a handful of sugar cubes for Kaalki, and a city-wide crime scan for Markov.

There was nothing going on this early in the morning(he was glad that that crime had dropped quite a lot ever since the start of Hawkmoth's reign), which was good since it was Monday.

With his two little companions situating themselves into his backpack, Max headed off for school.

Halfway there, Alix seemed to pop out of thin air as she was suddenly rollerblading beside him. She was surprisingly chipper this morning, which usually meant something good would be happening sometime soon- or something she found to be entertaining. If it was the later, then that usually meant something annoying or inconveniencing was going to happen to the rest of them.

That was one of the things Max hadn’t necessarily appreciated, ever since Chloe and Marinette had selected all of them to be their team of heroes. Luka would once in a while come up with these little cryptic messages and notions, or would act jumpy or on edge for a day, and none of them could figure out what was going to happen until it was already coming. Luka could never tell them what was going to happen(oftentimes even he didn’t know, since it was like a secret sixth sense), so they were always sort of left to guess what they were to prepare themselves for.

Alix, on the other hand? She was an absolute little shit. Of course, this fact had been made clear to them ever since they had first met her when they were too young to even properly remember back to, but still.

She always knew what was going to happen when she got like this. It wasn’t necessarily that she had already relived the moment or that she had watched the day happen through one of her burrows; oftentimes she described that it would be like small foreshadowing clips and images flashing before her eyes.

Unlike Luka, who would try to help them in a subtle yet encouraging manner so that things would end up okay, Alix would rather sit back and enjoy the chaos.

She tried to blame it on the difference of their powers. Luka’s powers with Time allowed him to fix or change things that were present or on a smaller scale, while Alix was merely supposed to look on and make sure things went smoothly for their timestream. She claimed(and Fluff unhelpfully backed her up with this) that she was only supposed to intervene or fix things if the impact would take a large toll or drastically change things for the future. If she stepped in when she wasn’t needed, then the timestream would become dependent on her to step in all the time.

Max had been easy to accept this. He understood that she had a responsibility, just as much as the rest of them did, and that it was important she follow the rules her Miraculous and Kwami set for her.

However ; Max was 100% certain that she did not need to be this cryptic and cheeky about it all the time!

She always knew when something was going to happen, and she would always be ready to watch it unfold for real. One time, back when that menace Adrien had still been in their class, Ali had known he and Chloe would start an argument that would last for an hour- and she had brought POPCORN ahead of time!

Though, in all fairness, she also brought a baseball bat. One which she handed to Chloe and watched the girl chase Adrien with for a while before the teachers pulled the two blondes apart.

Now, as Max and her walked to school, he had a very bad feeling about today. The feeling only got worse when they arrived at school and were greeted by Kim. Why was it worse? Because Alix’s smile remained the same upon arrival.

If it was a larger scale or involved their friends, Alix would have only grown more cheeky about the coming situation. No- her smile had been like this since she encountered him, and it remained the same and more pointed towards him when they were at school.

Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen to Max.

Wonderful.

They were just about two weeks into school, so he knew it couldn’t be anything to do with their education practices(at least not something he wouldn’t be prepared for himself). He didn’t recall having anything important coming up any time soon(he double-checked his calendar with Markov). So what? What was going to happen?

Max let his mind wander and haunt him as they entered class, finding Marinette, Damian, and Chloe, already in their seats.

Damian had become a nice breath of fresh air for Max, being down to earth and more calm than any of Max’s close friends in class. While the arab-american boy wasn’t as much of a brainiac as Max, he was clever and witty enough to keep up and follow along with ease if Max went on a tangent. He was a nice friend, and Max found himself to be trustworthy enough to be in their group.

Currently, the boy looked sleep-deprived and close to death. Max watched as Damian slowly chewed a croissant Marinette brought him, before readily accepting a thermos of tea from the girl.

“Isn’t Tim the one who doesn’t sleep?” Marinette questioned, a wry grin spreading on her face as she watched the boy happily take in large gulps of what was most likely a scalding drink.

Damian swallowed and nodded. “Normally, yes. However, Drake had needed assistance with some work over the weekend, and your parents and I were trying to help him get through it all. Long story short; it was a good thing you had stayed at the bakery Friday night.”

Ah yes; Friday night.

Max had been pleasantly surprised to meet Red Robin and Nightwing. Other than Cyborg and Green Lantern, the Bat Team were the ones he most looked up to in the Justice League.

They were a team of self-taught detectives, and Max had heard rumors of the famed Batcave- but most importantly, he had heard of the amazing tech they held inside of it. His current life-goal was to gain access inside, if only just to see the place in person.

Well, he could just teleport there. With the IP address for their cave and all of their tech, Markov could easily locate the Batcave's coordinates, but Max wanted to earn  the right to see it… That, and plus he really wanted to meet the famed Oracle and get her autograph, and he’s rather certain he wouldn’t get it by breaking their trust and boundaries.

While Marinette had been in Gotham, Max and Kim had eagerly asked her about the vigilante team nearly every call they shared with her. She said she had spotted some of them once or twice, but only from afar. She swore to get them autographs if she ran into the vigilantes(even saying she’d beat Batman in a fight to earn it if she had to).

The thing was; ever since learning she would be finding her second home in the city of Gotham, Marinette had been rather nervous- especially at the mention of Batman and his team.

When they met Red Robin and Nightwing on Friday night, the girl had been a jumpy and anxious mess. When asked, she had tried to explain to them, pacing back and forth as they all sat and watched, their team taking refuge on the Arc de Triomphe.

Marienkäfer paced, hood having fallen off as she carded her hands through her hair anxiously. “They’re a team of detectives ! Gotham has crime nearly 24/7, and you all know I can’t stand back and watch if I know I can make a difference by helping- If I’m seen in Gotham as Marienkäfer, then it won’t take long for them to put two and two together. And even if I didn’t transform; Batman could still figure me out somehow!”

This was followed by an hour-long meltdown where Marinette rambled on about an excruciatingly long list of possible outcomes that could end in disaster, simply with Batman knowing they existed . Her fears had good reason to exist- they all knew the true dangers she and Chloe were faced with if either of their identities were to be exposed- but Max simply shot down her fears with a simple sentence.

“Ask Green Lantern to inform Batman’s team to avoid looking into our identities. He already said he would, but maybe just make sure? If he were to tell them how high the stakes are for the two of you, I’d think the Dark Knight would be willing to let it go if he were interested before.”

The others had agreed and managed to calm Marienkäfer down enough for Reine Chatton to lead her home, consoling her honorary sister the whole way.  Chloe said something else had been bothering Marinette, but that she wasn’t sure yet what it could be. Max had offered to look into it, but they knew it would be fruitless since they had no clue about what “it” could be.

Sitting down for class, Max went through the day the same as he always did. He worked hard, took notes, finished his homework within ten minutes of receiving it, and spent his free time enjoying the presence of those whom he felt comfortable with.

At lunch, their group was all seated in the cafeteria. Those of them with kwami’s all snuck them their preferred snacks, but as Max opened his bag, he was in for a surprise. While Kaalki was sleeping away, Markov was missing.

Now, it wasn’t too odd; Markov liked to often keep himself busy helping the school staff. However, the robot never left Max’s side without telling him first- the little bot had written it into his code!

Looking around, Max didn’t spot Markov speaking with anyone in the cafeteria. “Uhm, hey guys?” Max asked. “Has anyone seen Markov?” The others began to look around, but none knew where he could be.

“Does he often wander off on his own?” Damian asked.

“Sometimes, but he’s programmed to tell me first,” he replied. Worry began to seep into his tone, and he glanced warily towards Alix. Was this what she had foreseen?

However, his pinkette friend looked just as confused and worried as the rest of them. Made sense; Alix had shown that an event would soon occur that would amuse her. Alix liked Markov though, and she never would have found something like this as humorous.

Kim volunteered to go check with the teachers. Perhaps Mlle Mendeleiev had bumped into Markov and brought him to Damocles without any of them noticing; this was unlikely though since she had started to grow a kind fondness for the little bot. It was also soon denied when Kim returned a few minutes later and said the teachers all insisted they hadn’t seen him.

He didn’t like doing it, but Max found now a good time to check Markov’s tracker. He disliked having to actually use it(it made his friend seem more like a pet or an object than a friend), but he was starting to get really worried.

This worry increased to the highest degree when the tracker was unable to be located.

HOW?!

Max had made those trackers himself! He had originally made them for when their team went out into the suits, since their natural trackers only tracked their main weapons rather than themselves. When he had suggested adding a tracker to the suits themselves, the kwami’s had no qualms. They had even made the trackers undetectable to anyone outside of their team.

They had tested the distance before, and not only were they able to function underwater, but also in space- Luka had flown all the way to the moon and Max had still been able to track him!

So where the heck was Markov?!

By the time they realized the trackers weren’t functioning, and Max had tried and failed to call and connect with Markov, the bell had rung for the end of lunch and Max was on the verge of a breakdown.

Kim had needed to carry him back to class over his shoulder, saying they could look some more soon. Upon returning to class, Mlle Bustier took one look and immediately went mother hen. “Oh, Max! What’s the matter dear; is everything alright?” She had him sit down and Alix had to answer for him while he tried to breathe.

“Markov is still missing, and none of us can track him.”

“What?” Bustier frowned in concern, looking off to the side in thought. “Hmm… I suppose you already checked with the principal and other teachers? Well… we do have the next hour as a free period, so you’re welcome to take the time to search for him- so long as you stay on school property. Markov is technically registered as a student of this class anyhow, so I can give you permission to search.”

Max shot out of his seat and was soon joined by Marinette in hugging their teacher. “Thank you!” He shouted. He had never been so grateful to have such an amazing teacher. And as he ran out of the room, he soon found the rest of his classmates searching as well, and he was even more grateful to be a part of such a good class.

They didn’t find Markov in the hour. They didn’t find him even when Bustier allowed them to continue searching for the next thirty minutes. By that point, almost everyone was freaking out.

“This isn’t like Markov,” Mylene muttered sadly. “Could someone have taken him?”

Nathaniel denied this and shook his head. “No way; remember? Back during Hawkmoth, Max had given him a weapons system that he could only activate for defense. If someone was trying to take or hurt him or anyone else, Markov could just use his taser or that laser Max gave him.” Technically, Max had given the robot a Graser, which he had only been legally permitted to use on akuma’s(and no longer could legally operate according to Chloe and Sabrina’s fathers).

Looking towards Alix, Max found her looking a little lost and confused. “Alix?” He pulled the girl to the side and whispered worryingly with her. “I saw that look you had earlier today; are you sure it had nothing to do with Markov?”

The girl hesitated and glanced back towards the others. “I- I’m not sure anymore. It was only a few seconds long, but it didn’t look like anything was necessarily wrong at the time. I only got a flash of images, and Markov wasn’t in any of them. But… It might help?”

He nodded, eager for any ideas or clues.

Standing up, Alix sighed and turned back to the rest of the group. “Hey, guys?” She got their classes attention. The pinkette wore a rather deadpan expression as she asked, “Does anyone happen to own a weird looking pink caterpillar that’s the size of a cat and can swallow a person whole?”

The resounding silence bore rather bemused and bewildered looks, and Chloe looked about a minute away from taking Alix to the nurse. Max was beyond confused about what on earth she had just said, when he suddenly heard a groan of annoyance.

Looking towards the noise, they found Damian turning his head to glare at Marinette, whose cheeks were flushed as red as cherries and her head was hung a bit in shame. “Seriously, Marinette?!”

“I couldn’t help it, alright?! He always looks so sad when he sees me go to school and leave him behind,” she whined in return.

Damian rolled his eyes and gestured to her purse. “Grab the little guy and hand him over; I’ll tell Grayson he snuck into my bag, but only this once, understood?” She nodded and opened her purse, pulling out the very thing Alix had described.

“Uhm, everyone? This is Silkie, my family's pet mutated silkworm.”

…Max had no words. He literally could not even begin to understand at the current moment what he was looking at, and he was rather certain Alix’s description for ‘Silkie’ was completely on point.

Alix frowned a bit, eyeing the creature warily as Marinette hugged him to her chest, refusing to hand him to Damian. “I have a pretty good hunch that Silkie here ate Markov. Do you think he could?”

Damian nodded without any hesitation. “Absolutely. I’ve seen him swallow an entire couch before, and manage to spit the thing out whole . His stomach is bottomless and can act like a bag; so long as you manage to get him to hack out whatever he wasn’t meant to swallow within about four hours of him eating it. After that, the acids in his body would have melted it all down…”

There was another long silence before everyone began to freak out once more and Max shook Marinette by her shoulders. “Make him throw up Markov! I don’t know how long it’s been Marinette- what if he could be melted down any minute now?! Hurry!”

It didn’t make anything better when Ali unhelpfully leaned in and whispered, “Buddy, hate to break it to you, but… you need to reach in for him~”

Oh dear Kwamis…

A minute later, Alix grinned as her vision of the future presented itself right before her eyes. Marinette held Silkie tightly by the waist as Max stuck his entire arm into the creature. The next image was also complete when Silkie seemed to believe Max was a snack and began to swallow him as well, and Ivan and Kim were pulling Max out by the feat while the silkworm defiantly held fast to his ‘food’.

In the end, everyone was laughing and sighing with relief when Max and Markov were pulled free of Silkie’s stomach. Well… everyone but the two geniuses themselves.

Markov looked rather disgusted and a bit annoyed with what had happened in the past three hours since Silkie had snuck into Max’s bag and eaten him ! Meanwhile, Max just looked traumatized by what he had not only felt, but what he had seen .

Chapter Text

It all started with a simple thought: “How is she this cute?”

The moment the thought popped into his head, while staring straight at Marinette, Damian realized he was in trouble.

Damian had joined the fencing club during the first month of school, and he and Kagami could never figure out which of them was the superior fighter; it was like they took turns every fight on who would win each time.

During practice one day, Damian had looked off to the side to find Chloe, Marinette, and Kim, all cheering them on. Well; Kim was cheering him on while Chloe cheered for Kagami. Marinette on the other hand was cheering for the both of them, holding up a banner she made(he had no idea when ) that had both of their names on it. She was floating as she shouted at them to do their best, and Damian just found himself… smitten.

It hit him like a truck, making him miss a swipe at his opponent and giving Tsurugi the upper hand. She took it, and won. However, she clearly noticed his distraction.

Lifting up her helmet, the girl raised a curious brow. “Wayne?” She looked over to their friends and found Marinette still cheering them both on.

Damian felt his face heat up beneath the mask as Kagami glanced back and forth between him and Marinette twice. The moment he saw the smirk, he knew he was in danger. “ Ohh -”

“NO!” Damian shot to his feet and nearly lifted his helmet, but decided better of it when he still felt heat in his cheeks. It was best to not let the girl see how flushed he was. “Do not start with me!”

Kagami only grinned wider. “Funny; the fact that you’re already denying it before it was even implied shows that it’s true ~”

Damn it. She got him.

Sighing, Damian shook his head, “It’ll pass. I don’t really get like this, so it should be fine to ignore. It’s… it’s probably just a physical thing.” The moment he said it and Kagami gave him an unimpressed look of disbelief, Damian knew that he was wrong. He didn’t get attracted to someone for such impractical and carnal-minded reasons.

He knew why he was feeling this way, and he really shouldn’t be so surprised. Marinette was someone he was close to and had bonded with rather quickly- sure , it had originally been because she was Dick’s daughter, but that was barely a factor when the two had begun to get closer.

Even though he couldn’t tell her about his vigilantism, he found himself able to open up to Marinette about his childhood, and his feelings with the others. Marinette was understanding about his coldness when he got upset, and calmed him when he got angry with their family or anything else. She was his confidant, and in turn, he had become hers.

Damian knew Marinette had her secrets. While Dick and Kori didn’t mention it to him, he knew they were aware of this fact as well. However, they had all decided to wait before telling Marinette the truth about their night-jobs, so it seemed fair to let her keep some things to herself as well. Besides; even if she couldn’t talk to him about what she was hiding, she always spoke with him about whatever else was bothering her.

She had become open with the family about her worries of having two homes, not wanting them to think she was ungrateful or unhappy or that she didn’t love them. They all understood, but Marinette still had insecurities about it at times.

The thing she didn’t tell the others; she told him. Like how she worried she didn’t meet her parents expectations and wasn’t good enough for them. “I mean, what if they had raised me? I could have been such a different person, and w-what if they would have liked me be-” He had cut her off with a hug(a little awkward on his part but welcomed and returned on hers), reassuring her it wasn’t the case.

The two had become close, but it wasn’t like how it was for her and their friends, or him and Jon.

Damian thought it was because they shared family(legally), but it also didn’t feel like what he shared with Cass and Duke, the two other family members he found himself more closely bonded with as friends. It felt… more .

It felt like a new level of trust; one where he could be open and vulnerable, without fear of judgment or care about discord. He felt instantly calmed in her presence and lighter when she addressed him. But now, he could feel a strange flailing dance happen in his stomach, a nervous heat that pooled in his gut and chest when he laid eyes on her.

Damian may have never felt it before, but he was still a genius, so he knew what it was.

He was in lo- NOPE!

Not gonna happen!

Damian faced away from Marinette and pounded a fist against his chest, angrily grumbling and urging his heart to shut up. Kagami snickered beside him, and he silently willed her to shut up as well. He warned the girl to not say anything about his situation to Marinette, and she agreed.

The next day, Damian regretted not broadening his statement.

“Congrats, dude!” Nino sat in Marinette's seat when she stepped out of class. She and Chloe had left to go meet with the other class presidents for a meeting, and Mlle Bustier was letting them have the hour free for studying while she graded their recently turned in test papers. “Rumor has it that someone has a crush~”

He said it loud enough for everyone in their class to hear. Before Damian could even think to threaten violence however, his classmates soon followed suit in cheers. Alix was the only one to not cheer, merely shaking her head in faux disappointment. “Really, Wayne? I bet money on you!”

Damian startled at that. “You what ?”

Apparently, having a crush on Marinette was a normal occurrence in this class. In fact, it seemed to be expected . Alix had bet Damian would be the first one near Marinette's age to not gain a crush on her, and he failed.

“We call it the Marinette Effect™, and it’s a disease. A horrible, addictive disease that there isn’t exactly a cure for.” Kim explained. “If you become close to Marinette, you will eventually find yourself infatuated with her in no more than a year.”

All but Mylene, Ivan, Rose, and Max, had contracted the disease; however, they all had excuses.

When Rose had transferred to Francois Dupont, she had immediately fallen in love with Juleka, so she hadn’t had time to have a crush on anyone else. Not to mention, Marinette and her were too alike to form an attraction like that. Max was completely aroace and looked to Marinette as a sort of sister, ever since they met as little kids. Mylene and Ivan had sort of always had feelings for one another, ever since they met, so their situation was like Roses’.

Other then that, everyone else had once had a crush on the girl; even Lila(who was 100% certain she was straight) and Nathaniel(who was 100% sure he was gay).

Nino had gained a crush on her back in middle school(it only faded when he found a deeper love with Alya). Sabrina and Juleka had gained small crushes on her when they were younger and the girl had been such a cheerful and kind spirit when she included and played with them. Alix, despite being aromantic, said she was attracted to Marinette but it wasn’t something she would ever care to pursue. Kim had liked her probably from the start, but it was never anything more than friendly flirting(it dimmed down a lot when he started dating Ondine). Alya had more of a playful crush, claiming Marinette was a fallback crush(“Other than that, my other choice is Wonder Woman~”).

“Luka liked her too,” Rose said excitedly. “But he started being more like a brother to her, so it never went anywhere. And she gave Chloe her first kiss back in middle school, but I don’t think it really meant anything more than friendship…”

Alix snorted. “You mean you count that ‘head-butt’ back at our school's winter dance as a kiss? The two of them literally fell over!”

Damian was still left in a stage of shock, realizing that maybe it was a disease. But then… “What of Tsurugi? Surely she didn’t fall prey to it?” There was silence for a moment before he heard badly concealed snickers and was given two or three looks of pity.

“ Everyone plays victim to Marinette's spell. Even those who don’t deserve to love her,” Lila explained, gaining his attention. He looked back to see her smirk. “While some of us may not be that close to the Kagami, we know enough to tell you that she fell for it the worst- besides you and him , that is. If you want to be in a relationship with Marinette, you have to go through her .”

He hadn’t seen this before, especially since it was Kagami who found out first and had told the others, but he could see it happening all the same. But-

“Who is ‘him’?” He asked. The moment he did, everyone's bright mood seemed to dim, if not completely drop.

He didn’t know what had happened, but it had been bad. It was bad enough to make Rose look off and out the window, more angry than sad. It was enough to make Lila stop looking smug and Nathaniel to set his notepad aside to instead look down in distress. Nino looked upset, almost angry but also guilty, and he could see the disgust in Kim and Maxs’ eyes, and in the tense posture Alix suddenly took on.

He only got one word in response, and no one elaborated. It was like a silent agreement among everyone to continue on as if nothing was amiss after it was said, continuing to tease him as if they hadn’t all just remembered a revolting memory.

“Adrien.”

Reinne Chaton had sent everything they had on the Agreste family to the Batcave, and Tim worked out what he could from the hotel. He mainly called in to Bruce and Barbara back in Gotham, seeing what the others could find.

So far, they hadn’t been able to find much…

When they dug into Gabriel Agreste’s files, all that they had found was more proof that the man was Hawkmoth, but nothing more. As far as it went, he didn’t have anything that could prove he had found the Miraculous or had ties to anyone who could.

The closest thing they could find to a connection between the family and Tibet was that Emilie Agreste had once starred in a movie being shot in Mumbai, India. Other than that, Gabriel had never even traveled to Asia until some time after becoming Hawkmoth- and such travels were only to Japan.

They didn’t find much, but Tim had a small idea. He contacted Marienkäfer one night to ask for her help with it. “Could you maybe give me information on the previous guardian, as well as his caretaker?” She had told them about the fate of the previous guardian, and how he had been removed from Paris by an old friend/lover who was now looking after him.

The man lost all of his memories regarding the Miraculous, but that erased literally everything he had ever experienced due to how he was raised in the temples, trained to be a guardian. He was now just a senile old man.

Marienkäfer was understandably hesitant. Only she and Reinne Chaton knew who the previous guardian was- not even Green Lantern or their team. However, the man no longer had any ties to the Miraculous, so she supposed it wasn’t putting him in any more danger.

When Tim looked into Wang Fu, it was like everything had fit right into place. He learned how Gabriel got the miraculous… He learned why Marienkäfer had never learned how.

Why would she have ever suspected her predecessor to have been behind it all?

Setting up a meeting, Red Robin had met with Marienkäfer and Reinne Chaton at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The two walked him to the secret office/apartment and Reinne pulled out a key to unlock it.

Tim startled when she opened the door. “Wait- I thought people weren’t allowed to go in?”

Rolling her eyes, the blonde scoffed lightly. “Yeah, well; that’s a plus to being a superhero who saved the city, you know? The mayor adores us~” She held a secretive rise in her smile, and her partner snickered at it like an inside joke.

Once they were inside and took a seat, Tim hesitantly pulled out his laptop. Marienkäfer eyed it curiously as he showed her a few files. “For a while, we couldn’t find any more than any of you had worked out before on your own. We have more resources and were able to dig deeper into the Agreste and Graham De Vanillys’ past’s, but it didn’t do us any good besides validating innocence up until the point of Hawkmoth. As far as it went, Gabriel and Emilie were innocent up until that point… I can now say with 100% certainty that they were.”

Marienkäfer startled at this, clearly confused. Her partner frowned and said, “What? Like, Gabriel got them just the day before Stoneheart or something? But Emilie-”

“Was in a coma for several months before then, yes,” Tim nodded. He pulled up old hospital records and bills. “They received the Miraculous just about a month before Emilie went down, and Gabriel hired doctors all around the world to find a way to wake her up. None of them worked of course, because none of them knew anything about the magic or how to cure it. Gabriel had been told before time about the wish from the moment they received the Miraculous however, but he understood that it was drastic and left it as a last resort. From your notes, you gathered that his son, Adrien, was the one who convinced him to use the wish?”

Marienkäfer tensed at the name, eyes widening at mention of the boy. Tim would bet she hadn’t had any easy time fighting him in battle.

In the final battle against Hawkmoth, Adrien had used the Peacock Miraculous to become Kujaku. From Hal’s report, the kid deserved getting his ass landed in the Phantom Zone more than even his dad. He didn’t go into details, but apparently, he had badly injured and harmed Marienkäfer. The boy was a menace from all other accounts.

Reinne nodded with a tense jerk, eyes narrowed. “Yeah, he did. But you said he knew about it before he used the Miraculous?”

“Yeah…” Tim didn’t know how to break this next part to them. They favored Wang Fu so much, and the man was innocent now(what with his memory loss), so it seemed almost wrong to cast him in such a bad light. But he had tricked them all this time, and from what Tim could gather, he doesn’t think the Kwami’s were able to tell them. “The previous Guardian, Master Fu? He told you he lost both of those Miraculous after the temple was destroyed by the, uhm- sentimonster?”

The two nodded, clearly confused. He hated the horror that came into their eyes when he revealed the truth behind Hawkmoth- behind everything that they had faced thus far.

“Wang Fu lied. He never lost the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous. He did destroy the temple by accident, but he never lost the Miraculi,” Tim said. “He grew up in the Order of the Guardians, and he followed their beliefs. He thought they were the ones to be in charge of everything, and he wanted to bring them back. Guardians are incapable of wielding the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculi, so he couldn’t have destroyed the amok and restored everything on his own. He needed reason to give out those Miraculous, but they stayed dormant inside the box because they seemed to be unneeded. So he gave out the Peacock and Butterfly. He knew the Peacock was damaged, due to a long-lasting sentimonster, so he gave it to Emilie and Gabriel Agreste as an anniversary present. When Emilie got sick, he knew Gabriel loved her enough to do whatever it would take to get her back…”

There was a resounding silence, but what would you expect?

The two heroes just learned that the mentor they had looked up to and practically held on a pedestal- had sent a woman into a coma and caused a father and son to turn evil and nearly destroy the universe… all so he could bring back a cult of monks who were hell bent on controlling all of existence.

If not with silence and tears, how were they supposed to act?

Chapter Text

It was about mid-December, and about four days before the christmas holiday break. Damian had to admit that he had actually enjoyed his year thus far at Francois Dupont.

Even better; Jon had eagerly been convincing his parents to let him attend the school for the final semester, and had finally been allowed(so long as Connor came to Paris to look after him as well).

Sitting in the front of the class beside Marinette, Damian listened absentmindedly to the idle chattering of the room as he worked on the rough sketch of a portrait he was planning to work on in the art room after class. M Monlataing’s art class was one of Damian’s favorite places in all of Paris, and he and Marinette often went there in the afternoon before heading home.

At the head of the class, Mlle Bustier had been fidgeting in her seat, hand rubbing against her protruded stomach as she took deliberate breaths. The baby was probably kicking upsetly again, since she was just a few weeks off from her pregnancy. Caline really should have started to take leave this last month, but she insisted all would be well since her due date had been decided for next month. She was completely against taking time off from school when she could instead by working with all of them for the rest of this year before break.

Glancing over to the girl beside him, Damian saw her doing much the same as himself. However, as she drew in the shadows and details in the Hawaiian shirt of an old man, he noticed something… sad, in the way she looked at the paper.

There was a fondness in it as she smiled, but her eyes were cloudy and glazed over. She looked lost and hurt inside, like she was pushing herself to not just turn the page and erase a memory. But as Damian looked at the drawing more closely, taking in the lines and wrinkles of the short old man, he found the notion of ‘erasing a memory’ to be a little too close to home.

“Marinette, who is that?”

He knew exactly who it was. After all, it had been about two weeks since he and his brothers started looking into the old man. Just a few nights ago, Tim had needed to tell Team Miraculous the truth behind him, and Damian had lost all of the little respect he had had for the man from the stories the local heroes had told of him. How did Marinette know him? Why did Marinette know him?

Seeming to have been snapped out of her thoughts, Marinette looked over to him curiously before finally taking note of what she was drawing. “Oh, uhm… Sorry, I guess I was a little lost in thought,” she smiled a bit apologetically. Damian waved it off before gesturing to the picture, hiding how eager he was to learn the truth. “This is Monsieur Fu. A few years ago, Chloe wanted to learn Mandarin and Tamaranean, seeing as those and French were the main languages I use to speak. I taught her Tamaranean just fine, but her father hired tutors for her to learn Chinese. Wang Fu was one of her main tutors, but that was only a side job. He was actually a psychiatrist, and gave me therapy back when the whole Hawkmoth situation happened.”

Oh.

Damian had been the one to dig into the man's life when he was in Paris, and he truly was a therapist and gave Chinese lessons on the side. Chloe was fluent in Mandarin last he checked, and Marinette had told them before about how the Akumas’ powers used to affect her, so the story fit.

But why did it feel like a lie?

“He passed away a while ago, and I was just thinking about him recently…” Him being dead was likely the story the heroes had to have used after the man got amnesia.

Marinette was being honest, that much Damian was sure, but she also wasn’t telling him everything. Damian knew she didn’t owe him the truth, but whatever she was hiding was clearly bothering her.

Damian placed a hand to her arm and patted her gently in comfort. The blinding smile he received in turn was enough to distract him from his curiosity, reminding him of the dilemma he had found himself in a while ago. He still felt attracted to her, and he really needed to find a cure. The others hadn’t been kidding about it being a disease; Marinette was just too easy to fall for.

“...Nng…”

The two looked up to their teacher, both having heard her muffled groan.

Caline sat back in her seat, stretching her legs in front of her beneath her desk, looking up and trying to control her breathing. He could hear her feet tapping on the ground quickly, a distraction to keep herself grounded. She was panicking.

She was going into labor.

“Marinette…”

Beside him, the girl had paled considerably, picking up on the same hints as him. Standing up and calling out to the class, Marinette flew over to their teacher swiftly. “Max, call the hospital and tell them we’re on our way. Alix, go get Mlle Mendeleiv and M Damocles. Juleka, help me get her to the hospital.”

Normally, it really wouldn’t have been a good idea to fly a pregnant woman to the hospital while she was in labor. Several of them were clearly going to mention this as they looked at her incredulously, but Marinette answered their unspoken questions when she glared at her teacher and spoke. “Mlle Bustier, while it is undeniably sweet that you wish to continue teaching us until the break, you clearly lied when you said you still had a month to go in this pregnancy.”

“N-no- GAHH!” Caline Bustier cried out in pain before scowling at her stomach. “This bah- baby is not coming right, right now! I di-did lie, but I si… still have ana-another w-w-w-week…”

Cue the pandemonium.

Next thing he knows, Damian is opening the window as Marinette and Juleka carefully pick their wailing teacher up and fly her to the hospital. Murmurs and cheers surround the rest of them as Alix returns with their science teacher and principal.

Damocles looked around wildly. “W-where is Caline?!”

“Hospital. Mari and Jules took her,” Rose piped up, tears rushing down her face as her smile practically stretched her face. “Ooh, I’m so excited~ Mlle Bustier is finally having her baby!” Cheers and applause surrounded them, and Damian found himself smiling once more.

After school, the entire class went to go see Mlle Bustier in the hospital. It had been several hours after Marinette and Juleka had returned, being told they would have to wait a while for the baby to come out, and everyone was anxious.

Felicity Bustier came out with honey blonde hair and bright cyan eyes, and easily won over the hearts of all of the class and hospital staff.

Her mother had calmed exceedingly since her birth, unable to be mad at the little darling for coming too soon and yet on time. “At least she’s punctual,” Caline had joked tiredly.

The week flew by, with Mendeleiv merely having to check in on them every once in a while before leaving Marinette and Chloe in charge. They had taken their finals the week previous, so now they were simply spending their time in class preparing for the next semester, getting in any late work, and spending time with one another before the holiday break.

Damian admired how much trust Marinette had earned in her hard work; the teachers simply took her by her word at this point due to how honest and diligent she was.

On the last day of school, Tom, Sabine, Dick, and Kori, had all arrived alongside Marinette. Damian recalled Dick and Kori having gone to the bakery the previous night and hadn’t returned, and as they entered the school alongside their daughter, he began to understand why. The four parents were carrying towers of boxes, filled with delicious treats and goodies to bring to all of the staff members and students before the break started.

Marinette was cheerfully handing them out to everyone, telling them to all have a wonderful holiday. Both of her mothers were just as cheerful, but Tom and Dick both clearly showed on their faces that neither of them had gotten any sleep the previous night.

Dick looked just about one breeze away from falling over.

The class merely hung around for the day, eating and talking to one another once more before the break. Like Damian and Marinette, several of them were leaving for trips.

Lila was going to visit her father and grandmother in Italy, having missed her home in Venice. Kim was going to join Ondine for a family reunion her family was hosting a few cities over(who looked absolutely terrified for it). Rose had been invited to Achu for the holidays by Prince Ali, and had accepted the invite upon learning her girlfriend wouldn’t be in town anyways. Juleka and Luka were going to Gotham as well with their Dad(much to Anarka’s displeasure), so they could see his performance for the winter holidays, and would even be coming to the Wayne Manor for a gala.

Everyone was excited for the break, but Damian could see Marinette's nerves from a mile away. As did Chloe.

A bit before lunch, Marinette was going to look after half the class who wanted to go to the Art room for a while, and Chloe would remain in class to watch over the others. The blonde knew Damian would go to the Art room as well, and asked him to see what was up. “She’s more chipper today, and it’s not a good thing. When she’s super happy, she squeals and floats. When she acts happier than usual, she’s usually upset and anxious. See what's up?”

He agreed, but he also had a good idea about what it was.

Marinette was more clingy towards everyone, giving longer hugs and looking disheartened if someone walked five feet away from her without looking back. She was probably upset due to it being their senior year, and it was finally hitting her that they only had one semester left before graduating.

Damian wasn’t that sentimental for these kinds of things; he knew that if he cared enough for any of his classmates and wanted to see them again, he could simply call them. After all, they had insistently had him take their phone numbers and invited him everywhere when they found it would peak his interest(it usually did and Damian was honestly a little terrified by how easy his class was able to read everyone like an open book). Damian knew he wouldn’t be saying goodbye forever, but Marinette looked at it as such.

It wasn’t that strange; people get choked up like this often. It wasn’t strange, but… something about how Marinette looked on with fondness towards everyone, as if she knew she wouldn’t see them for a while… It gave him a bad feeling.

He tried speaking with her over it, but Marinette only confirmed his suspicions on her being much too emotional and sentimental towards it all. She waved it off and told him not to worry so much, but Damian lied when he agreed.

He promised their family he would help look after her, and he promised Dick and Kori he would make sure to take care of her when they were at school. Even though the two of them had built a nice foundation of trust, Damian knew Marinette had her secrets and anxieties. Sometimes she opened up, but other times it looked like she was too scared to do so.

So he let her think he believed her, but he really didn’t.

If only he hadn’t let it leave his mind a short while a few minutes later, having had his attention been grabbed by Nathaniel and Mark asking him about an idea they had. If he had still been watching carefully, he would have seen Marinette approach an abnormally sullen Alix, and maybe have heard her ask her about a nearby time to come.

If he had, he would have seen the grief that overtook both of their faces as Alix told her about something she shouldn’t have known anything about yet for at least one more week.

Something big was going to happen, and it was going to be bad .

Chapter Text

Returning to Gotham had felt better than Dick had realized it would. He hadn’t taken into account how much he would miss the infestation of crime- err, well, the excitement it brought more than the actual crime itself.

Not to say Paris was boring; it had its own criminal empire and vigilante team to keep it company.

Nightwing and Red Robin had only joined on a handful of patrols was all, as well as having assisted with two larger issues(not anything big and they had been handled swiftly), and Robin and Starfire hadn’t been revealed to have been in Paris in general, so they were all a bit angsty to stretch their legs for a rooftop run/flight.

When they got home, much to his amusement, everyone forced Damian and Marinette into a hug(Damian was the reason it had to be forced on them). They socialized for maybe half an hour before Bruce pulled him and Tim off and asked for a report on the Paris situation.

Tim told them more about what happened at the Eiffel Tower, feeling an amount of upset similar to that he had seen from Marienkäfer and Reine Chatton. “The guy was their hero, only for them to realize that he had been the whole reason behind everything they had been forced to deal with for the past few years. He can’t even be held accountable for it since his mind was erased completely blank.”

Wang Fu had gotten off scot-free.

He had started an act of magical terrorism all so he could bring back a large cult of monks who were hellbent on controlling the most powerful magic in the universe. In the end, he got what he wanted and left all of his responsibilities and problems on the shoulders of two teenage girls.

Thanks.

Reine had been the most grieved from the look of it, saying to have spent the most time with him. He had become like family to her and Marienkäfer, and all this time it had been a lie .

Shifting his thoughts away from it, Tim was brought back from his mind when Bruce asked about Marienkäfer and Viperion. “The snake said the two of them would be in Gotham for a short while. Did they give you any more information as to why?”

“Marienkäfer mentioned something about that some residue magic from the Miraculous is covering the city; apparently it makes things more chaotic here, and she wants to see if she can cure it at all. If she can, then she thinks that it’ll help reduce the chaos energy that makes so many people here resort to crime so quickly. If she can’t, then oh well; nothing really changes more than usual.”

Learning that their city had the largest amount of crime because ancient magic made people more quick to turn evil was a bit of a shock and also not . It explained a lot but was a bit of a surprise twist in the end.

Viperion was coming to Gotham as well as her backup, as her team didn’t want her to go out in suit without any of them there to help her. While the Bats were in Gotham and would happily provide aid if needed or simply asked, the Miraculous Team was just as close-knit as them and it was understandable that they trusted one of their own more.

“However; she and also gave us a warning,” Dick said. “Bunnyx got a vision of a Rogue attack happening. Scarecrow and Joker, but it could be more of them. Wayne Gala; this week.” The one they would be hosting right after christmas.

Bruce didn’t seem all that surprised(though that rarely happened), saying he and Barbara had picked something up about that from a bust they did on some of Joker's goons. All they knew thus far was that it would be big and they planned explosives.

It was too late to cancel the event and it would be suspicious why they canceled last minute when Joker and Scarecrow had no clue that even the Bats knew their plans. They would simply have to wait until the night of the event, be cautious in case any of the hired workers were a part of the heist, and look out for any other signs.

Marienkäfer promised that she and Viperion would be nearby the event as well for support, and Viperion would be at the ready at any sign to use his rewind.

Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad then?

Oh- how wrong they were to hope…

Kori watched her daughter fiddle with her earrings; a simple black pair that she wore religiously and refused to ever take off, even now as her mother did her hair.

They both were in her parents bedroom, sitting at Kori’s vanity and already both dressed for the party. Marinette wore a black sleeveless jumpsuit with a detachable cape skirt overlay, which was a bright ruby red underneath it; an outfit she said to have made a few months prior. She had heels to match and her mother was styling her hair into a fancy updo with little ruby pins decorating it.

She looked beautiful, but it was clearly visible that she wasn’t happy.

Finishing up her hair, Kori knelt behind her daughter and kissed her cheek softly, snapping her daughter out of her deep thoughts. Marinette smiled up to her through the reflection of the mirror, trying to match her mothers cheery mood. The dim glow of her eyes made her expression fall a little flat.

“Are you alright, starlight?”

The small nod she got in reply was not very convincing…

“Knock knock~” They both looked over to find Dick at the door, a bright grin on his face. “How are my two favorite girls doing?”

Marinette stood up and met her dad halfway to his hug. “Fine, dad… Are people arriving already?”

“Mhm. Jagged Stone came on time for once also, and he brought your friends. They just arrived so they might be with Damian and his friend Jon.” Kori watched as the two hugged and pulled back, seeing the small crease in her husband's brow as he looked at their daughter's face more carefully. He must have caught the same look that she had.

Marinette nodded and thanked him, before returning and hugging Kori and thanking her as well for her hair.

Something… something felt really off.

The hug was nice and was sweet, but it had somewhat of a tight and desperate edge to it. Kori didn’t really get the time to overanalyze it much as Marinette quickly pulled away from her grasp, shouting she loved them as she quickly left the room to go join her friends.

Dick walked over silently, the both of them exchanging a worried look. A silent acknowledgement passed over the both of them;

Why did that feel like some kind of goodbye?

Introducing Jon to Marinette was a mistake Damian would regret for the rest of his life- and it hadn’t even happened yet!

Richard had gone to go fetch his wife and daughter a few minutes ago, but Damian was dreading the introduction between his two friends. Jon was sunshine and smiles, and Marinette was cheerful innocence and sweet. The two put together merely had to smile side by side and they could easily take over the world in a heartbeat. Or even worse; they would try(and possibly succeed) in dragging Damian down to their level and make smiling a normal occurrence for him.

Luka and Juleka had arrived early with Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling, with Juleka seeming rather cheerful(at least compared to what her more neutral look was). Beside her, Luka seemed rather anxious, though it could have been wearing the suit he had on(he kept tugging at the part around his neck).

Juleka spotted them first and waved a tiny bit, walking over to him and dragging her older brother alongside her. “Hey Damian… Who’s your friend?” She spoke softly still, but there was a chipper edge to her sentences that told him she was excited. Damian was once again grateful for the small lessons Marinette gave him on how to better read and understand their classmates.

Damian gestured towards Jon, who seemed to be staring curiously at Luka, despite the older boy looking a little lost in thought. “Jonathan Kent. Jon, this is Juleka Couffaine and her older brother Luka Couffaine. Jon is planning to join our class come the spring semester.”

Jon snapped out of his daze and cheerfully shook Juleka's hand, seeming the complete opposite of her more reserved and shy demeanor. “Nice to meet you! Correct me if I’m wrong, but… You’re both from Daxam, right?”

A blush had spread on her cheek shyly, but she shoved the embarrassment aside and nodded. “Y-yeah… Wait a minute,” she peered curiously at him for a moment before gasping softly. “You’re Kryptonian! Luka, look…”

She elbowed her brother, jostling him a bit and having him look back at Jon. When both boys looked at each other though, they froze. Luka's eyes widened in shock before he put on a somewhat tight smile. Holding out his hand for a shake, he said. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Jon stared at him for a moment before giving a rather awkward smile, returning the hand shake with much less cheer than he had towards Juleka. “You too!” He turned just in time to find Marinette pop in between him and Damian, the bluenette hugging herself to the vigilante's arm. “Marinette, right?”

Looking down, Damian felt a slight heat in his cheeks as he smiled at the girl. She seemed in better spirits then she had been in the past week, but it still felt a bit off. Luka also seemed to liven up a bit with her presence, but they both seemed to merely be hiding down their anxiety.

“Marinette, this is Jon,” Damian introduced. Similar to how he had with Luka, Jon seemed to look Marinette up and down with a confused curiosity.

No doubt Marinette noticed the strange glances but she seemed to pay it no mind. She gave one of her bright and charming smiles, letting go of Damian only long enough to give Jon a hug of his own. “It’s so nice to meet you! I guess you already knew these two were from Daxam, right? I usually like to introduce them as Kryptonian's to mess with them since people aren’t as familiar with it as they are with Superman ~”

At the mention of his secret identity, it was like Jon recalled that he should still remain vigilant with his powers; despite them knowing he was Kryptonian, they still didn’t know his family's identities.

However, Damian hadn’t realized until a moment later that Marinette had been hinting towards that.

A few minutes after their introductions, Jon had pulled Damian aside and typed something out on his phone to text him. He must have not wanted to be overheard by the other three with super hearing, so Damian obliged.

When he opened his phone though, he was shocked to say the least when his first message simply stated: “Marinette knows.”

Damian glanced back towards the girl, seeing her smile a bit dimmed as she spoke quietly with Luka. Juleka was distracted by her father for a moment, so the two had stepped aside to speak to themselves. The looks of nervous anxiety were back and showing heavily. They both also kept looking around as if in search of something.

What they were looking for, Damian didn’t know, but it was worrying them a lot.

Damian: “What do you mean she knows? How much?”

Jon: “She was tapping her side in morse code after she mentioned my dad, and I heard her type ‘Hello Superboy’.”

Jon: “Dude she figured me out too quickly.”

Okay, this was bad.

Maybe?

Honestly, Damian didn’t know if it was or not. Actually, Damian was one of the family members that hadn’t really understood why they hid the truth of their nightlife from her to begin with. She was going to have to learn eventually, and Damian would imagine she would be rather upset the longer they waited to tell her.

Damian: “Does she know of my family?”

Jon: “IDK.”

Jon: “Her and Luka are speaking in a weird language right now. Never heard it before.”

Jon: “But I can’t get an x-ray on them either. I can see Juleka, but it’s like my vision won’t let me see through the other two.”

That was… odd.

Jon’s family only ever couldn’t use their x-ray vision though on people with magic. Marinette was Kori and Dick’s daughter, and neither of them or Marinette’s Parisian parents were magic wielders. Luka couldn’t be either though, especially if it worked fine with his younger sister. It would only make sense if the two had gained magic later on in life, but that couldn’t be right?

…Could it?

Just then, Jon whirled around in surprise. “Uhh, where did they go?”

“What?” Damian turned around as well, but Marinette and Luka were already gone. Approaching Juleka, he tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. “Where did your brother and Marinette go?”

However, by how Juleka looked around just as confused, it was clear that she was just as clueless. But the girl smiled and waved it off after a moment of thought. “They probably just went to go call the others. Marinette looked a little down earlier, so she probably went to go call Chloe or Kagami. She and some of the others are always disappearing at random-”

What?

Since when?!

“-especially during Hawkmoth’s reign. Marinette’s Tamaranean side kept on acting up and giving her starbolt issues during akuma attacks because the magic affected her weirdly, so she and Chloe needed to leave all the time.”

Before he could question aloud when on earth that had been a thing and why she hadn’t told any of them, a thought occurred to him.

Magic shouldn’t have an effect like that. Kori hadn’t met the Miraculous team yet, but she had met other magic wielders, and their magic had never affected her in any way.

Had- no . But…

Had Marinette… lied-

CRASH!

Screams poured out into the large ballroom as the front windows shattered. Gas bombs had been thrown in, with terrifying clown faces painted on their sides.

Joker.

Chapter Text

CRASH!

Oh right; the attack.

Honestly, Dick had been so busy worrying over his daughter that he had completely forgotten about the Joker and Scarecrow threat.

He and Kori had returned to the large ballroom just a few moments before the explosion sounded, looking around for Mari. They were both worried sick, and Dick couldn’t understand what it was- but he just knew things were about to take a turn for the worst.

The reminder about the rogue attack only made that gut feeling intensify. He hoped she hadn’t been anywhere near the explosion.

He tried to stay calm; Marinette had gone to join Damian and Jon, so surely she was safe and protected, right? Only then Kori whipped her head around in a frenzy and told him with a look of pure terror, “I can’t hear her- Dick, I can’t hear Mari!”

PANIC.

Kori had purposefully memorized the heartbeats of every single member of their crazy and bizarre family; from Bruce and Alfred, to Batcow and Jerry the Turkey. She did this mostly to ground herself during any panic attacks or sensory overloads, but also so that she could always check that everyone was doing alright. This had come in handy often enough when some of them had unknowingly been ill.

Now though? Now it was like a silent alarm; Kori telling him she couldn’t hear their daughter. If she couldn’t hear her heartbeat, then what did that say?

Dick tried to pass it off, denial creeping in quicker then he had even realized he needed it. Her heartbeat was most likely going at rapid fire and was surrounded by over a hundred more; it could have just been overlooked.

Hopefully.

Getting changed into costume quickly(he and a few others had hidden their uniforms under their outfits), Nightwing joined Black Bat and Red Robin as they rushed to the area the smoke bombs had first came in. Guests rushed past them, screaming in terror as Starfire and Signal led them out a safe exit.

Batman and Spoiler were already at the scene, as Scarecrow stepped into the room. He cackled, two cross holsters on his chest, with smoke bombs strapped all along. His masked smile grew upon finding the team in wait.

“Ooh, looks like we were expected after all~ Gotta say though, I was very sad to see my invitation lost in the mail, ey Joker?”

He was soon followed by the sound of horrific laughter, though it came from behind them. Turning around the five found Joker at the top of a stairwell overlooking the front edge of the ballroom. Somehow, Joker had either snuck in before the explosion, or he had found another way in that they hadn’t covered yet.

At the top of the stairs with his head hung back in mad hysterics, Joker held up a remote control. “So sad indeed~ We aren’t mad though! In fact, we decided to hand out a few christmas presents!”

Nightwing scowled, having suspected something along those lines. However, much to the team's relief, a solution was handed to them as Oracle spoke into the comms, alerting that she and Agent A had already reached the cave.

“We got the bombs,” she said. “Marienkafer and Viperion are on the scene already and already on the hunt.” With Viperions powers, the two would be able to locate all of the bombs and disable them in time. “They could use backup though, Viperion says there’s about six of them. He’s got two; Robin, there's another near you and Superboy; One is by the main entrance garden, so Signal and Starfire can cover it; Red Hood, there’s two in between you and Marienkafer’s location, she might need help with it.”

“On it.”

“You got it.”

“Getting there now.”

Nightwing hesitated before saying, “Has anyone seen Starlight? Starfire can’t hear her?”

“Just before the first explosion,” Robin said. “She and her friend were speaking together when it went off, but they were near the backdoors most of the guests went through. They most likely got carried out with the crowd.”

Oh thank goodness…

Nightwing was beyond relieved, and it helped him focus more on the fight as he and Batman gave chase to Joker. With his mind now more calm at the insistence his daughter was safe, he could actually work to keep it that way- starting with getting Scarecrow and Joker far away from her.

It didn’t take too long; Against the both of them, Joker didn’t stand a chance. While he was admittedly able to hold up well against them at times, fighting the two most experienced members of their team would never be easy for him or any of the rogues.

They had finished tying him up when Black Bat said they had finished taking down Scarecrow. Not too many people in the area had been affected by the fear toxin; most of the theatrics had been saved for the explosion, so it was good they had been able to get to that in time.

That’s when things turned south.

For months, Dick would always remember that this was the moment he would disdain. This was when his life would take a turn, and it would be for the worst.

Red Hood suddenly cursed through the comms. “Shit-”

“Language!”

“Oh don’t even bother, Batsy! The Bug just got sprayed in the face and a needle to the neck-”

“Oh shit,” Signal replied.

“Language,” Batman repeated, though it was lower and moreso a grumble. “Red Hood, can you get to her?”

They heard a grunt in reply. “Not really; I could in a few, but I don’t have any more antidotes on me.”

Nightwing said he’d take care of it, rushing to Red Hood and Marienkafers’ area. There were more goons knocked out there, and a few civilians were still hiding away in the corner of the room. He spotted Red Hood finishing off three more guys and followed his quick gesture in the Parisian's direction.

She was leaned back against the wall, hands coming up to clutch the sides of her face in pain. For someone who had dealt with so much thus far, despite how short of a life she’s yet lived, he could imagine it was rough for her.

Making his way over, Nightwing was careful as he approached her, knowing that a hero under these effects could lash out- he had seen it from his sibling’s too many times before.

“Hey, Marienkafer? Bugsy? It’s just me, okay? Nightwing?” She shuddered, back against the wall as she slowly sunk to the ground.

Honestly, she was doing a lot better than he had even hoped. Kneeling down beside her, Nightwing wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he searched his utility belt for another antidote.

“Okay- everything's going to be alright, okay?” Nightwing spoke soothingly, trying to comfort the fallen ladybug as she clutched at her head, whimpers escaping her.

He knew she had dealt with an akuma that caused nightmares to come to life, but it stuck to more childish fears and phobias- Scarecrow's fear toxin dug deep, and made you relive moments that both had and hadn't occurred before in the past. She was in new territory now, and Nightwing couldn't possibly imagine the literal hell she was going through internally.

Perhaps an old akuma? Maybe her final fight against Hawkmoth? Or perhaps-

“D-dad?”

Like the light of a candle being blown out with a simple movement in the air, that one word was all it took to make his stomach drop and his heart to stop beating.

“Dad…”

No...

Looking down at the girl, now seeing her with an entirely new and terrifying light, Nightwing realized just what he had been missing in the past months, ever since he had first gone to Paris.

“Nightwing?” He heard his fathers voice, but it sounded like he was hearing it underwater, barely getting more than a muffled version of a call of worry. “What’s happening over there?”

“Daddy,” Marienkafer- Marinette whined. “It hurts- it hurts so much, Dad…” She curled up into a tight ball, her hood falling off and better letting him recognize what he should have before.

Damned Miraculous… Ancient magic gets involved and stops him from recognizing his own daughter- that had to be why he hadn’t recognized her before, or else no one in their family had the right to call themselves detectives.

Body shaking, Dick pulled her close into his arms, hand quaking as he reached for an antidote. “It's gonna be okay baby, you’re gonna be fine.”

“It hurts …” She whimpered again, tears falling past her mask as she sobbed into his hold. He made small shushing sounds as he comforted her, trying not to cry himself. He had wanted so badly to keep her safe, and she had been throwing herself into danger more often than he did himself.

“You're okay, you're okay sweetheart… Dad’s here now, you're gonna be fine…”

His words only worked up until that point. Just seconds before he could give her the antidote, he felt her breath hitch harshly and her body go rigid in his grasp. Her eyes had gone wide in pure terror, and he feared perhaps she would start to attack on reflex(he hated that it might be her reflex reaction).

She didn't fight though.

She did something worse .

Whispered soft enough that he could barely even hear it, her head shook back and forth and she gasped softly between her sobs. “Please- please no- Dad… G-get him away, please -!”

She begged.

Her voice was weak and trembled in her soft voice, the sound almost coming off as broken. It hurt him so much to hear her voice sound so weak and hurt.

With so much pain, Dick kissed her forehead gently in comfort. He wished more than anything that he had protected her better; from being kidnapped, being hit with the fear toxin- from needing to be the hero everyone relied on so much.

“Who, sweetheart?”

“H-him… A.. Ad…”

She passed out before he could hear her properly, but he had an idea of who she mentioned.

Adrien.

Chapter Text

When she and Chloe had become superheroes, they had vowed to their city that they would do whatever it took to bring Hawkmoth to justice and keep everyone safe. Not only that, but they had vowed it to Tikki and Plagg as well.

Marinette had promised, swearing on her own life, that she would bring Nooroo back to them.

Hawkmoth was attaching their city to take their Miraculous, but they needed to get back his as well, right? So why just wait around?

By the fifth akuma attack, it was pretty clear that Hawkmoth was using innocent civilians to do his dirty work, and that he wasn’t going to act like the supposed adult he was and fight his own battles. Which meant that the only chance they might ever even see this guy in person was come the make-believe day they lost to him and he showed up to claim their Miraculous.

Yeah. Right. Like that was ever going to happen.

Hawkmoth was coming after them, so they would come after him .

A month after the first akuma attack, Marinette sat Chloe, Plagg, and Tikki, down onto her chaise. She brought down the pull-down chart and started going off. “So; Hawkmoth- what do we know about him thus far?”

Chloe shrugged. “Old guy with a voice that has to be deepened. Seriously, no way his voice is that creepy and he hasn’t been dubbed a pedophile. His face may have been made of butterflies, but it still looked old.”

So, they knew he was a crusty old man; honestly, there wasn’t much to go on. It had only been a month, and even with how few akumas they’d dealt with thus far, none of the akumatized victims really gave them any idea as to who Hawkmoth could be.

Maybe there were similarities in those he controlled, but Marinette couldn’t be sure.

What could they do?

“What if we got help?” Chloe suggested.

The idea bewildered the other three, which was understandable the blonde would admit. The only other heroes they knew of were currently banned from entering the country after all.

“There are other Miraculous, right?” Chloe shrugged. “Hawkmoth uses one of them after all. Couldn’t we find someone else who uses one of them and ask for their help?”

That… That could work.

Having a team or an extra hand was definitely a good idea, as Marinette had the feeling some akumas might not be as easy as they had been for them thus far. 

Looking to their Kwami’s, they saw Plagg looking imploringly towards Tikki. The little ladybug had her eyes fixed on the sofa beneath her, one of them twitching as the cat teased her. “Come on, Sugarcube~ We said we’d tell ‘em if it was an emergency or if they asked.”

Tikki looked at him with a look close to horror, though with a small hint of humiliation to it. “I didn’t think it would happen so soon !” She flew up and gestured between the two teenage girls. “Why in all the realms are the both of you so observant?!” That earned her a choked laugh or two.

Admittedly, Marinette wasn’t sure. She had always been observant as a child, but she also had come to have quite the deductive reasoning. Chloe had often said it was because she utilized critical thinking better then everyone else, but she would also joke on Marinette being a little detective at times. Marinette didn’t really know why she was so observant; it just came so easy and natural for her to figure things out quickly.

It was because of her and Chloe's plan that the two Kwamis brought them to the person who had chosen them- Master Fu.

It took a minute or so for them to remember; but in the end, even after a whole month passing from when they first met him, the two were too fashionable to forget an old man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt.

Marinette's eyes had been burned by the sight.

Master Fu had been a short little man with such a kind and welcoming presence. He was wary at first of having met them so early, but understood when they explained their plan.

He agreed that a team seemed like a good idea, but they needed to be careful.

"I had been searching for a suitable pair to wear your Miraculous for some time, but you were the only ones I could sense with a strong enough presence and bond. There was one other I found that might fit the Black Cat, but his soul was too corrupted and immature; I couldn't risk him falling astray. Besides, Mlle Bourgeois had a stronger sense of balance for Plaggs Miraculous, and the both of you work so fluidly together- I'm glad to see I made the right choice~"

Kwamis- the amount of flattery he gave them and how often he buttered them up with praise… Marinette should have known he was behind it all from the start…

He decided to let the both of them choose their team. “You must choose with extreme caution and wise judgment,” he said, a stern glare on his face as he showed them the Miracle Box. “Decide which Miraculous will aid you best on your team. Just as well, choose which heroes you are certain will never misuse their powers. These are not toys, girls; they are the most ancient magic to have ever been created.”

Yeah- that was kinda implied with Tikki and Plagg’s representations.

Chloe and Marinette had obviously known who they would select for their team, but they needed to be cautious about which Miraculous they could give to them.

Marinette was the one to select the Horse for Max; Max relied on statistics and precise details. He accepted things only when they were to be proven facts, but he was flexible and was still open to change. He had a natural sense of adaptability, and he never made a decision without thinking it over three times carefully.

He was perfect for the Miraculous of Teleportation.

After grabbing the glasses, Chloe pulled out the circlet for the monkey, earning a rather deadpanned expression from Marinette.

“Seriously, Chlo?”

The blonde laughed. “Okay okay, I’m being serious though! This isn’t just because we call him a Monkey on a normal day; he’d be a pretty good match for Derision.”

True. Kim may be competitive, but he was never a hothead. He saw people's weaknesses and flaws, and he used these often to his advantage. Despite often jumping into trouble, he always knew how to get himself out of it- Chloe was onto something.

Now… What about Alix?

They looked over the Miraculous long and hard, trying to find the best fit for their female friend. However, while some seemed like a good match, they also had some faults for her.

While Alix was caring and always willing to stick up for her friends, she was too hypervigilant for the Miraculous of Adoration. As for Determination, Chloe had the idea Alix would work well with it, but her personality was too wild and independent, and she lacked the proper guidance for it.

Subjugation was out of the question- they knew Alix would take full advantage of that one and the chaos that would follow it would backlash horribly.

Actually; all the Miraculous would be used to her own advantage. Kim might have a fun moment or two, but Alix would be the person who would absolutely use her Miraculous simply out of boredom.

They needed to trust her with one that wouldn’t put anyone at risk, but would fit her well also.

Evolution.

After a brief explanation from Master Fu on how the Miraculous worked, they knew they had this one in the bag.

They couldn’t give their friends the Miraculous right away; the two decided they would let the Kwami decide for themselves.

Fluff, Xuppu, and Kaalki all were amazed when Chloe and Marinette said of wanting their input. Apparently, Kwamis were never supposed to give their opinion on who could be a wielder and which Miraculous would fit them well. Guardians were supposed to make that decision on their own judgment, and while that seemed smart on one hand, it was cruel on the other.

“Did Master Fu not take either of you into account when he chose Mari and I?” Chloe asked Plagg.

The cat shrugged, not at all bothered with it. “No, but it’s fine. He chose the right human and alien for us, so I can’t complain. Plus you’re rich, and Pigtails lives in a bakery, so Tikki and I get all the food we could ever want.”

Master Fu still agreed with the old rule on not taking the Kwamis judgment into consideration, but he grit his teeth and pushed his annoyance aside, saying they should take it with a grain of salt and stick to their original choices nonetheless.

His words had thrown Marinette off briefly, but she pushed aside her growing concern as the man smiled and complimented her and Chloe's teamwork once more.

She shouldn’t have ignored her gut…

Hal Jordan sat in front of the monitor in the Watchtower, blinking slowly as he tried to process what on earth he was looking at.

It was his turn to take care of the emergency hotline, and usually, the calls they got in were either severely under their paygrade, or really just fans calling in to speak with them. They almost never got a situation called in that truly needed their attention, as they usually heard about most of them before they even needed to be called in.

They didn’t exactly need people to call and tell them that there was an asteroid showing up all of a sudden or one of their supervillains just blew up a super mall. They knew these things.

A magical terrorist that used other peoples emotions to magically transform them into his minions, and he destroyed the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks during every attack thus far? It was understandable that Hal would first question if this was a prank call, seeing as they hadn’t gotten any news of such.

But then; he learned that they were in Paris- Paris, France .

Yeah, no wonder they hadn’t gotten any other calls about it; the current French President had put a ban on all JL members entering his country and now no one within the French borders were able to call them or their hotline without risking getting a fine. In fact, the media block the country had made it almost impossible to get any news of a villain attack, a terrorist, threats, alien or meta sightings- nothing of this could get out to any other country except by word of mouth.

However, the two girls who called him had managed to bypass the block; magical phones apparently didn’t bother using man-made technology, so they weren’t tracked down by the government for it.

Reine Chatton and Marienkäfer. The two may have had some kind of magical concealment that protected their identities, but the look in their eyes was enough to tell him that not only were they inexperienced, but they were young .

Too young to be fighting a war, and yet really given no choice.

He had expected a plea for help; for him to bring a team of heroes to come help them track down the madman.

Instead; he got two sorrowful girls begging him to keep the Justice League away.

“I know you might not have gotten news about the situation anyways,” Marienkäfer said, “but in case someone managed to get word to you all and asked, I need to make it clear that none of you can come into Paris!”

Hal nearly choked, bewildered by the request. They were teenagers that had gotten their powers only a handful of weeks ago, and neither of them had any fighting experience whatsoever. “But why?! Look, I get that you don’t want to risk fighting off any of us being akumatized, but what if-”

Reine Chatton shook her head. “No matter who you send and how in-control they may appear with their emotions, it won’t be enough. Even if you hide it on the outside, Hawkmoth will go after what you feel on the inside. Besides, the main reason isn’t that; none of you would be able to do anything anyways.”

What?

Marienkäfer revealed that she was half alien while a civilian. “I have super strength, laser eyes, and can fly; but none of that matters in the fight. The akumas are immune to all attacks not caused by a Miraculous wielder. Superman wouldn’t even be able to push one of them a few feet more than a normal human would- it just has no effect.”

Well shit.

The Justice League really would be useless. If anything, they would only cause more trouble by risking akumatization.

Nodding, Hal agreed with their request. “Still though; do you have a team? Others to rely on for backup?”

Reine Chatton glanced at her own super-ring and muttered a strange, “Told you so…”.

Her partner nodded cheerfully, “We’re working on it. We have a small group selected, but we’re just checking a few things to be sure for now.”

“And are you planning to search for this Hawkass guy when you aren’t busy fighting his minions?”

“You mean Hawk moth ?”

“The guy uses butterflies to attack children- I know what I called him.”

“We are starting a profile on him to try and track him down, but there are a few things holding us back. The magic of the Miraculous cloaks our identities, so it makes it harder to track down a wielder when they’re wearing a Miraculous. However, we do have a bit more of a resistance to it since we ourselves are True Chosens for our Miraculous,” Reine Chatton said, looking a little prideful as she said the last part. He didn’t know what being a True Chosen meant, but he guessed it must be pretty important to them. “However, since he never shows his face and sends others to do his dirty work, we have to wait until we have enough akuma attacks to track. Without that, we don’t have enough to profile him with.”

Damn.

Hal had toyed with the idea of telling Batman about the situation and having him try to track Hawkass from Gotham, but the magic interfering would make it nearly impossible. Not to mention, the attacks hadn’t happened enough for them to see any patterns. There was nothing to go on yet, and he knew Bruce would probably just want to go to Paris in person to get a better look at the issue.

Yeah- no .

An akumatized Batman sounded worse then even an akumatized Superman. At least with Clark they could use kryptonite, but Bruce had no weaknesses whatsoever- there would be no stopping him.

Hmm, but then again; Marienkäfer was young, and had dark hair and blue eyes, so she might be able to get away with distracting him.

They really had no choice but to wait out Hawkass for a while until they had enough to better understand.

Sighing, Hal tried to think about the small amount of options he had. He couldn’t send them help and honestly it would do them all good if he just kept the situation from the others; if anyone else in JL asked before the situation was dealt with, he could claim he looked into it and found it to be a prank gone too far.

“For the life of me,” Hal said hopefully, “ please tell me either one of you or one of your teammates have any combat training?”

The two remained quiet, glancing at one another and seeming to have a silent conversation. He saw Reine Chatton shrug a little to her partner and he knew the answer was most likely a big fat NO .

Hal groaned, willing himself to not be upset- it wasn’t their fault they had been sent to fight in a magical war that no one else could handle. They were just a pair of kids, and yet they had been given the burden of an entire city onto their shoulders.

Hal offered to train them.

Marienkäfer immediately turned the offer down, looking terrified by the idea. “Monsieur, we cannot risk leaving our city-”

“I’m not suggesting you leave Paris, Bugsy.”

“-and you cannot enter it!”

“But what if I could?” Hal suggested. “I could find a place there to train you and your team to better fight, and I could help you all track down Hawkass. No one else will know that Green Lantern is in town, and I could be there and gone when we’re done for the day.” They had a zeta tube in Paris, hidden underground beneath the Eiffel Tower. They hadn’t used it in years, but it existed.

The teens were still wary, but after enough thought, they relented.

They explained how they were certain none of their future team had any training in combat, and that they would need help to better handle the situation as well. Hal would have to teach them how to better handle the public as well- civilians, patrols, journalists and news stations, as well as the local police. The two were clueless about how to handle everything in the place of a hero, and Hal knew it would soon exhaust them just as much as the actual battles.

He gave them his own work number and said to contact him in two weeks(they would have the rest of their team up and ready for training by then).

It was time to start saving Paris.

Recruiting their friends had been probably the easiest part of the entire situation.

When they gathered the three and told them they were the new heroes, Kim had immediately gotten confused and thought they were pulling a weird prank. After Tikki and Plagg flew out from their hiding spots, it only took about two minutes to get them on board.

(Alix would joke about Kim being an actual monkey for months to come).

They dealt with only one akuma between that and the meeting with Green Lantern, and it was… it was a hassle.

It was already hard enough with Chloe and Marinette being new to the hero business, but now they had three others there to help out. You would think it would be easier- had they all been trained beforehand on how to operate their powers and how to fight together instead of getting in each other's way.

Reine Chatton was rather certain the akuma had been laughing at them the whole time…

When they met Green Lantern at the meeting spot, he… he was pretty annoyed.

“First off,” he said, tapping his foot impatiently. “Tell me who the hell gave you guys your Miraculous and why they thought it best to have teenagers fight against an old guy that clearly must have better experience?”

They couldn’t give him the Guardian’s information- Master Fu said he trusted them to make the right decisions, but that they could under no circumstance tell Alix, Kim, Max, or Green Lantern, who he was.

They could, however, give him the reason for why Fu had selected them.

As it so happened; children were the only trustworthy people to wield a Miraculous.

“Adults already have a set-in-stone idea over what is considered good and evil. They are more immovable than the stone we float on through space,” Marienkäfer explained, using the very same explanation that she and Reine Chatton had been given about a month before. “Children can still change, and are more recognizable to the laws of balance. The Miraculous can either be used for good, or for evil; it cannot be both. Adults can’t be trusted as well, but children can. Children are still impressionable, and they can learn to be better- so the Miraculous feel safer in their hands.”

Reine nodded and continued. “Of course, that’s not to say that children aren’t capable of being evil- but they are more capable of being good. The only adults marked in history to have used a Miraculous wisely and upright have been those who owned them as children.”

“Did they all fight Miraculous-wielding terrorists without adult supervision or guidance?” Green Lantern deadpanned. They shrugged in return, though they had a high suspicion the answer was ‘No’. “Okay, fine- whatever. Tell me what we’re working with here, okay?”

Training was rough .

As the next few months rolled by, things began to look up more and more for the Miraculous Team.

Training sessions with Green Lantern happened about once a week, and Marinette and Chloe met with Master Fu just as often for lessons as well.

Chloe had asked her father to hire Fu as her tutor to better learn Mandarin(not telling that Marinette had taught her such a few years prior), and Marinette met with him under the guise of seeing a therapist. After having needed to lie about the akuma’s affects on her to be able to get to the fights without issue, her parents had been extremely understanding about her seeing a psychologist.

It hurt her to lie, but she knew that this was one of the things that she simply needed to do in order to keep her loved ones safe.

Akuma attacks became more frequent, but this worked more in their favor. As more attacks occurred, Marinette and Max began to gather more information.

Hawkmoth didn’t care about who he akumatized; race, gender, age, social ranking, and influence, never mattered. He went from akumatizing a mayoral candidate to an infant wanting a lollipop- it never mattered to him who his victims were, and neither was whatever their goal was. All he cared for was that they obeyed him and tried to retrieve the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous.

No specific landmarks or areas in Paris seemed to be preferred. While certain places would have repeat akumatizations, it didn’t seem like he was trying to purposefully attack and destroy certain areas.

He attacked at all times of the day and night. He had a fully open schedule; so, he was either self-employed, retired, or without a job. They mostly believed it to be the first two, but maybe the second; he never sent an akuma out to steal money or rob any place for himself, so he never searched for material value.

Which led to their main question; why did Hawkmoth want their Miraculous?

Master Fu told them that when the two Miraculous are combined, they gave the wielder ultimate power. The person using the unified Miraculous would be able to have a wish granted to them- any wish at all. But it came with a price- as magic often did.

Magic worked with equilibrium. All the Miraculous worked in groups or pairs, to help balance each other out. Creation and Destruction went hand in hand- thus why she and Chloe were both needed together. When someone gained ultimate power, it didn’t matter if their wish was for good or evil- it would always have unforeseen consequences.

Hawkmoth already had two Miraculous, but he clearly wasn’t after power for the heck of it. He may have instilled fear in the city, but he wasn’t wreaking chaotic havoc left and right. He wasn’t planning to use the wish to have extreme power and control the world.

The wish was for something personal, but what on earth could be worth all this ?

Family.

It was the only thing they could think of. After all, with the loss of a loved one, many people had gone crazed and done terrible things. Truly, it was the only option that made sense.

Hawkmoth may not have specific targets or ideas and plans for taking their Miraculous, but he was still organized. He was smart- he had to be to use the butterfly Miraculous so well and manipulate his victims. So he was smart enough to be doing this for a reason that at least some might deem understandable.

They may not have known much, but they knew just as much as they didn’t. They were close, and they weren’t going to give up.

Something they had realized over time was that some of the akumatizations happened often at their school.

Like… really , often.

Most of the victims were a part of their school, and a lot were even in their class! It was honestly kind of ridiculous- utterly ridiculous.

So, Marinette decided she would search around.

She had the feeling that Hawkmoth was targeting her class for a reason, but it couldn’t have been because of her and her team. Even if they were all in the same class, Hawkmoth hadn’t come after them or their families personally, and hadn’t shown to have realized any of their identities. So, he was targeting them all for a different reason.

Marinette had asked around, trying to find the reason behind some of the akumatizations. She had mostly learned about them as Marienkäfer, right after healing all the damage dealt by the victims. However, as Marinette, she had begun to ask her classmates more personally. She truly did care to know their issues, but she also said of worrying about how small and large of issues Hawkmoth would take advantage of.

There was a small pattern she began to notice. It didn’t show up all the time, but for most of her classmates… Adrien seemed to play a role in the situation leading up to the akumatization.

It was seemingly dumb luck; him being nearby and playing witness, or him having tried to help the victim not long before they ran into a problem that caused their akumatization.

It wasn’t really noticeable, and Marinette honestly hadn’t thought much of it- but her face couldn’t help but scrunch up in disgust at the boy's name, and it hit her later on how almost everyone she had spoken to had mentioned him at some point.

It was… It wasn’t a big deal, but it was a little bit of an odd coincidence.

The idea weighed on her mind now of all times only because Adrien just so happened to be her opponent as she tried out for the school's fencing team.

Green Lantern had wanted them all to practice more with their weapons in the past month, but after the second time she had gotten some strangely large sword as a lucky charm during an akuma battle, he had wanted her to begin practicing with weapons of all kinds. “Not all of them, of course, but at least one from every area, so that you’re familiar enough to wield it properly in battle,” he explained, trying not to laugh as he gave an example. “We don’t want a repeat of when you accidentally chopped off the top half of the Louvre.”

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up, Glowstick…”

M D'Argencourt paced in front of her and a good handful of students trying out; all with their masks down already. “As I'm sure you're aware, we have only one open spot on the team this year. So! In order to select the best possible candidate, I will observe the beginners performing a number of attacks on each other, before I test you against the more experienced students.”

Marinette had been going over the rules of the sport for a good week now, but even if she had memorized stances and all the phrases, she really hadn’t been practicing for long. In actuality, she was only here because not only was the most prestigious fencing team in Paris a part of their own school, but they also had free tryouts and entry. She wasn’t about to pay for fencing lessons she could get for free, thank you very much.

When she stepped up to her opponent, she knew exactly who it was the moment she heard his sleazy voice. “You look good like this, little lady~ The outfit fits you nicely.”

Great, so he was admitting that he was ogling her? What, was that supposed to make her feel flattered?

She showed no mercy .

It especially didn’t help Adrien’s case when after losing the fight, he pulled up his mask and scoffed in annoyance. “Don’t get cocky, Mari; I’m too much of a gentleman to hurt a woman.”

While some might find that charming, it was still extremely sexist. Thankfully, Marinette wasn’t the only one to notice.

Over in their direction walked a fencer on the team, wearing a bright blood-red uniform. The fencer walked up to Adrien from behind and swept him out from beneath his legs. “Hey!” The blonde shouted, glaring up at the person. “You got a problem, man?!”

The fencer looked back towards M D'Argencourt and jerked their thumb to him. The man strutted over and smirked towards Adrien. “How lucky of you, Monsieur Agreste! Our team's captain has volunteered to be the one to test you for the team~” Was it Marinette, or did the man seem oddly pleased with the situation?

The duel continued on for quite some time; the two fought fiercely, though it didn’t matter much. The captain won every round, and was really only continuing to hand Adrien his rear end seemingly for the fun of it. He held up decently, she would admit, but he didn’t have enough of the fluid grace and skill she could find in the red suited fencer.

Honestly, Marinette became mesmerized.

Even if she won against Adrien, she had no doubt she had nothing against the team captain. Adrien held up well enough that Marinette was sure he would be a shoo-in.

But it was fine; because one way or another, she was certain that she was going to be trained by the fencer in red.

After nearly 13 rounds, M D'Argencourt finally called them both to a stop. He turned to Adrien and said, “You fight well enough, and you have determination. That is good, but your attitude needs quite the fine-tuning. If you are to join our team, you must understand that I do not tolerate discrimination of any sort- not for race, age, or gender .” He spoke the last words as he gestured towards his team's captain.

The fencer removed their mask and shook out their hair, revealing a beautiful girl with a cold and icy stare. She glared straight at Adrien and spoke with a frigid tone. “How does it feel, knowing that a woman just kicked your derriere even without you being a gentleman?”

Marinette just found her girl crush.

Surprisingly enough, Chloe and Kagami got along amazingly, almost right off the bat.

It took a bit of time, but the trust the two of them and the others found to have in Kagami became strong rather quickly. Thus; Ryuko joined the Miraculous Team.

Viperion had originally been only a temporary hero at first- a last ditch call when her team had been extremely desperate.

Hawkmoth had never akumatized an alien or meta before, and they weren’t so sure if it was working in his favor anymore. Reflekta had flown around the city at a top speed that made it almost impossible to tell if she was merely just teleporting. You never knew when she was going to akumatize someone, as the beams came from what once had been her heat-vision.

One moment she saw you, and the next she was looking at a mere reflection of her excellency.

Bunnyx had needed to stay in her burrow for most of the fight, a backup plan in case they truly failed to not get caught. Well- all of them , that is. King Monkey and Reine Chatton had already been shot and were waiting for backup.

Bunnyx told Marienkäfer that they needed the Snake Miraculous for this fight. “It needs to be someone who can figure her out well enough. They need to be able to map out her attacks before she inflicts them, and need to be prepared to turn back the clock at any given moment.”

She knew who the pinkette was referring to.

She had met Luka plenty of times before, growing up. He was a year older than her and his sister, but he helped teach her and Juleka how to better control their flying when they were young. He was like that older brother that she never had- it fit even more, what with him and Juleka also being part alien.

They weren’t the absolute closest before, not ever since she started to get more busy with school, but she still went over to their place for flight a few times a month. She had always found a calming space near Luka, and she could easily trust him with anything at all.

Giving him a Miraculous had been an easier decision then it had anyone else on her and Chloe's team.

While Luka hadn’t been originally thought of as a permanent holder; it didn’t take long to convince Master Fu to add him to the roster.

Their team was complete, and things were making good headway!

Their training had been coming along great- and Green Lantern had even been able to make a public appearance! Granted it wasn’t the most exciting thing to have her favorite teacher in the whole world become akumatized because of a situation started when Adrien had “accidentally” ruined the gift Chloe had planned to gift the woman… But it was still a bit of a blast!

The Zombizou attack was technically a Zombie Apocalypse, as the Mayor pointed out when he got an angry call from the President- and Green Lantern hadn’t even touched the ground of Paris even once! He was floating the entire time!

So really, they hadn’t broken a single rule with that one~

Things had been great, and Marinette knew they were getting closer and closer to finding out Hawkmoth's identity!

Until…

Master Fu somehow got found out by an akuma, and his identity was exposed. He gave up all of his memories to protect the Miracle Box-

And gave the Guardianship over to Marienkäfer.

Hoh boy…

Chapter Text

A few months had passed since Master Fu had passed on his Guardianship, and last month had marked the first-year anniversary of her and Chloe becoming superheroes. It had been a little rough at times, especially after becoming the Guardian, but it had also been enlightening.

After Master Fu lost his memories, Marinette had started off a little rocky as the new Guardian.

She had lost nights upon nights of sleep, fortifying her home with magical charms, to ensure Hawkmoth wouldn’t be able to track her or break in without her knowledge. It took a lot of time and drained a large amount of her energy, but it had been worth it to better protect the Miracle Box and all of the Kwamis.

By the second week of her new title, Chloe staged an intervention. She sat Marinette down on her balcony and demanded she give her answers. “Mari, tell me what’s happening. We can trust each other with anything, but you need to tell me the truth here- I’m really worried.”

Oh yeah, did she forget to mention that none of her team knew she was the new Guardian?

Yeah- it sucked.

When Master Fu had given her Guardianship, he told her to never tell anyone, before he relinquished his memories. Now, normally telling Chloe would always be the exception to such a rule, but Marinette had been too busy having a mental breakdown to really think about her own moral rules.

So when Chloe confronted her about whatever must have been stressing her out, it took Marinette a good few minutes to recall that she had actually listened to Fu and not told her best-friend/honorary-sister.

You’d think she’d be proud that she had listened but instead Marinette was only even more grieved by it.

Marinette ended up breaking down in her friend's arms, sobbing and apologizing for not having told her before. Chloe had understood, but she had been… upset.

She wasn’t upset at Marinette(at least that’s what she said), but more so with the situation. “It’s just…” Chloe hesitated, looking over all the Kwamis that floated around them once they had reentered the pink bedroom. “I get that he trusts us so much and didn’t want to risk things, but… Why is it that he didn’t know any adults he could trust?”

It had made sense when he said that not many adults could be trusted to wield a Miraculous, but to give a child the responsibility of protecting all of the Miraculous- the most ancient and powerful forms of magic known to the universe?

For a long time, Marinette was the only one to not see that something was wrong there.

Telling Chloe the truth had helped Marinette almost immediately after the words left her mouth. It had relieved her already of so much pain to just be able to talk to someone(should she think about actual therapy?). They didn’t tell the others though.

If Alix knew, then it not only made sense, but it didn’t even matter if they did tell her. If she was meant to know, then she would already know from the future. The others though- Marinette and Chloe had turned to the Kwami for advice, and they had all advised to keep it quiet.

“Maybe tell someone ,” Tikki said worryingly, “But not someone wearing a Miraculous. If something were to happen to all the Miraculous, it would be best if someone not connected to us all were to know the situation. But you shouldn’t tell the others for a while…”

“Well why not?” Chloe asked suspiciously. All of the Kwamis had been acting strangely about the issue, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Plagg tried to play it off. He did it well, but they could still tell it was bothering him as well. “It’s no big deal, Kit. Don’t worry about it! We’re just lookin’ out for you both, that’s all. Now; where’s that new cheesecake you said your dad made?”

Looking back on it, Marinette would have appreciated getting a heads-up sooner about what was worrying them so much, but it made sense that they had overlooked it. After all; The Order hadn’t shown their faces for a few hundred years…

Marinette floated into school with a happy humm, flying a bit above Kagami’s head as the two girls entered the school.

Ever since Adrien got the spot on the fencing team, and Kagami had begun training Marinette in sword-play, the two girls had started a schedule on fighting practice. They would practice for an hour before school started on Mondays and Fridays, and today was the day Kagami had promised to teach Marinette a new move she had learned when she was younger.

Marinette was pretty excited for it; the move was technically not allowed in tournaments due to being considered too lethal- why would she not want to learn it?!

As they entered, they saw most of the students all hanging around in the courtyard. They all seemed super excited about something.

“Can you believe Lila knows Prince Ali? She even flew in his private jet with him,” Rose squealed.

“I heard that Jagged Stone wrote a song about her and everything!” Ivan said.

“Lila knows all of the Hollywood directors! She promised she'd mention me to Steven Basielberg himself,” Nino chimed in.

Marinette and Kagami exchanged a glance, both a little curious and confused as to what was going on.

Did- didn’t Rose know Prince Ali as well? And last Marinette checked, Jagged had only written a song about Penny, as well as a tribute to her and Chloe’s hero persona’s. And… Steven Basielberg? Did they mean Spielberg ?

Who the heck is Lila ?

“Mari!” Both the girls looked over to find Sabrina and Alya rushing over. Marinette dropped to her feet just as Alya whipped out her phone and excitedly began to ramble. “Have you seen my blog yet?! Isn’t this awesome?! I just got a ton of views thanks to Lila giving me an interview!”

“Who?” Marinette asked.

“Lila Rossi,” Sabrina piped up, eyes practically sparkling as she said the name. Or… well, actually- they kind of were sparkling? “She just transferred here from Italy, and she has the most amazing life! She gave Alya an exclusive about how Marienkäfer saved her life!”

Alya then played them the interview, where Lila commented on her and Marienkäfer being the best of friends.

O- kay ?

A little strange, really, but whatever.

Marinette had heard about these kinds of people; lying about knowing celebrities to try and become popular. She had seen it plenty of times before and had even believed a few before thinking twice. However, this felt… strange?

First of all, why would someone claim to be best friends with a superhero… in a city being terrorized by a supervillain who was out to get said superhero you just tied your name to? Was Lila suicidal or something, or just that desperate? Also, why did Alya even post this?

Even if the lie had been believable(which it hadn’t ), why post it online for the world to see?

Beside her, Kagami looked just as bewildered as Marinette felt. “Who on earth does this girl think she is?!” Oh, nope, she was mad- nevermind.

“CESAIRE!”

Everyone around them all startled, looking towards Chloe as she stormed over to the reporter. Chloe was livid, and she had an equally upset Kim, Max, and Alix on her heels.

“What on earth is this rubbish?!” Chloe shoved her phone into Alya’s face, showing it to be the very video Alya had just shown them. “Claiming to be Marienkäfer’s BFF- Ugh! It’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! I demand that you take down this wretched waste of time and tell me where I can find this two-bit lying harpy!”

Alya continued to smile, not at all seeming perturbed by Chloe’s rude accusations. Instead, she simply pointed up to the second floor.

Looking up, they all saw the new girl, Lila, standing beside Adrien. She was twirling her hair around her finger as Adrien appeared to be… flirting with her?

Marinette deadpanned at the sight. “Wow. Honestly, I have no words. I think I somehow managed to care even less than I did a few minutes ago.” And that was saying something, since she was really just planning to brush the whole situation off. Marinette turned to Kagami, despite the girl glaring up at the pair upstairs. “Gami, let's get ready for practice.”

Kagami snapped out of her scowl, blinking towards her in surprise. “Huh? O-oh, yeah. Uhm… You go ahead, alright? I’ll catch up with you here in a few moments.”

Huh. Well, alright.

Marinette waved goodbye to the others and headed off to the changing room. AS she started to change, she took note of the emptiness of the room and began to talk to Tikki.

“That was strange, right? I get that people don’t often expect people to lie to them all the time, but this Lila girl just claimed to know a lot of people. She even said she’s my best friend, and Alya posted it on the Miracle Blog. I mean has this Lila girl hypnotized everyone or something?”

She meant that last part as a joke, but Tikki was quick to let her know it was the truth .

Her Kwami floated about, flying to sit up on a shelf inside of the locker. “Oh, that? I think I might have an idea about it. I sensed a new breed when we entered your school, and since Lila is a new student and is clearly lying through her teeth, I’m absolutely certain she’s a Siren.”

“A what?” Marinette asked, a little bewildered by the claim.

“A Siren. Not the kind you’ve learned about in Greek mythology, but they are closely related. Sirens nowadays that live on land are still mostly human, but they have powers. Human Sirens have the ability to use their voice and make others believe everything they ever tell them.”

Ugh- no wonder everyone was acting so stupidly gullible! They were literally hypnotized!

Marinette groaned, annoyed at the prospect that she would now have a new problem to deal with. “I’m gonna have to do something about this, aren’t I?”

Thankfully, Tikki shook her head. “Not necessarily. Sirens hold the power to make others believe them, but not the power to force them to do things. She might have told Alya that Hawkmoth wouldn’t come after her for being your best friend, thus letting it be Alya’s decision if she posted it or not. People believe Sirens, but they no longer follow them.” Oh, well in that case it wasn’t such a big issue.

But then again, the lying could easily get out of hand overtime. If she said the wrong thing, people might get upset with one another from time to time and akuma’s might begin to sprout all around them. Not that that wasn’t already an issue, but it was still something they could try to prevent.

Marinette huffed another sigh, deciding she would deal with the issue later. It could wait until later, but for now, she just wanted to get into practicing before Kagami had to leave.

But first… “How come me and none of the others bought into it? Is it because she didn’t say it directly to us yet?”

Tikki shook her head. “No; the Miraculous makes its owners immune to such charms. Anyone wearing one will see right through it, but even if you weren’t wearing one, you and your friends are still immune since you were granted your Miraculous by a Grand Guardian. People are also immune once they realize that the person is a Siren.”

Walking out, Marinette was surprised Kagami hadn’t caught up. The girl didn’t really need to get changed(she fought just as well in her normal clothes and usually didn’t get hit ever), but she hadn’t stopped by the changing room yet and was still nowhere in sight.

Actually, none of her friends were.

Her class was still out and about, but her main friend group, Lila, and Adrien, were all gone. Marinette didn’t really care as much about the last two, but it was still concerning.

Walking over to Alya, she asked where the others went. “They wanted to go meet Lila. She went to talk with Adrien in the library, I think.”

Ugh. Yeah, no, she wasn’t about to go chasing everyone around all day. Instead, she texted Kagami and asked about practice. A moment later, the girl replied that something came up and she couldn’t make it.

It was fine; Marinette would just have to find another opponent.

“Does anyone want to be my sparring partner for the day?” She shouted out into the courtyard. She got a few curious glances from those not too familiar with her. However, from those who did know her, she got immediate looks of terror .

By the time it was close to class starting, Marinette had given several people bruises and trauma to look back on if there was ever another Sandboy akuma. Whoops.

Entering her classroom, she frowned as she noted all of her teams’ seats were still empty, as well as Adrien’s.

“Oh, Marinette!” She looked over to see Mlle Bustier smiling kindly at her from her desk. “Have you happened to meet our new student yet; Lila? She was supposed to drop by so I could arrange a school tour, but I haven’t seen her. The others have… been talking a lot, however.” She said the last part hesitantly, and Marinette realized she must have known already about Lila’s powers.

Made sense; all staff were to be informed over which student had an enhancement or something of the likes, so Mlle Bustier was probably worried Lila had been spinning one too many tall tales. She most likely wanted to have Lila tell everyone the truth when they did her proper introduction soon.

“I’ll go find her,” Marinette offered. “She went off with Adrien, I heard. I’ll give her a tour and have the others come back to class; no need to worry~”

Her teacher immediately relaxed from her nervous state. “Oh, thank you Marinette! I’ll let you and Lila have a free period so you can show her around; just stay out of trouble, alright? Oh, I should probably warn you, but Li-”

“Lila is part Siren and I shouldn’t believe everything she says?” Marinette replied with a smile. “Don’t worry, I already overheard it from a few teachers earlier.”

“Oh good. But, remember not to be too upset with her for it,” her teacher said. “Lila is in a new school, and a new country. She might be worried about making friends, and is in a class with a lot of accomplished and high-profile students; she might feel overwhelmed and just wants to be found interesting too.”

That was true. In a class with a famous model, a rising journalist known across the whole city, a popular band group, the mayor's daughter- Okay, that wasn’t even the half of it and Marinette could still see a bit of reason to want to tell a tall tale or two.

Oh well; no harm could have been dealt thus far, so it was probably fine, right? A few simple white lies to gain popularity, and Marinette was sure it would all be cleared up when Lila was introduced to the class properly. It was a rule mandated by the school board that all meta/enhanced/alien students be disclosed to the staff and other students, that way everyone felt safe. Of course there were other options if students felt uncomfortable with this, but it was for good reasons such as these.

However, just as Marinette was about to step out of the classroom-

“Is that a meteor?!”

What?

Marinette rushed back into the room, looking out the window to find a meteor coming down from the sky. It was headed straight for the school.

What the fu-

Almost as soon as it had appeared and began to crash down, a figure leaped out from beyond a few rooftops, crashing into the meteor and causing it to explode. The figure landed on top of a nearby building, waving down to the students gathered at the windows and outside of the building.

Beside Marinette, Alya was recording the entire event, eyes practically sparkling like stars. “OMGOMGOMG- It’s a new superhero! Marienkäfer must have added a new member!”

Uhh- No? No, Marinette was rather certain she hadn’t .

The orange figure held out their hands and called out to the citizens. “I am Volpina! As one of the greatest superheroes, I promise to help Marienkäfer to protect you all!”

As cheers sounded out and people chanted her hero name, Marinette escaped out the door. Rushing to the nearest bathroom, she checked in with Tikki.

“I didn’t give out another Miraculous and forget about it, did I Tikki?”

The little Ladybug giggled and shook her head. “No~ I’m not sure if Volpina is a Miraculous wielder, but we should still go and find out!” With that, Marinette transformed and leaped out the window.

She wasn’t sure at first where Volpina had gone, but she spotted some of her team all headed in the same direction. Huh- perhaps they had also seen the event and were catching up to Volpina at that moment?

Following after them, she found them and Volpina all at the Arc de Triomphe. From the looks of it, Reine was pointing at Volpina and shouting something. Hoh boy…

Landing down beside her partner, Marienkäfer smiled brightly towards her team and their new friend. However, she got hesitant looks in return, though a charming smile from the new girl. She had large fox ears, a fox-tail pendant necklace, long brown hair with dyed ends, and a large flute in her hand.

Turning towards her partner, she asked what seemed to be the problem. Reine Chatton pointed towards Volpina accusingly. “Her- she’s the problem here! All of a sudden a meteor just appears out of thin air and a new superhero alongside it?!”

Volpina smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I was passing through town is all and happened to learn of the meteor.” She looked at Marienkäfer and smiled vibrantly, “One of my powers is premonition; it’s what led me here to Paris! I’m Volpina; it’s so nice to finally meet you Marienkäfer!” She held out her hand with an air of excitement, and Mari couldn’t help but feel a small amount of pride.

A superhero from another country who not only came to help, but even looked up to her? Is this how Green Lantern felt whenever they praised him or gave him their full attention whenever he spoke?

It made sense why he found it so enjoyable to be looked up to.

Before she could shake the offered hand, Bunnyx stepped forward and grabbed Marienkäfer’s wrist, eyeing Volpina carefully. There was a bit of suspicion to her look, but it looked hesitant.

Bunnyx knew a lot- maybe not everything, but still a lot.

They had once asked about Hawkmoth's defeat, and she had told as much as she could: she didn’t know Hawkmoths identity, but she knew when they would finally defeat him. She also knew what the place looked like- not the exact location, but she would recognize the area. Hawkmoth wouldn’t be fighting alone, but with someone wearing the Peacock Miraculous. Green Lantern would be there to aid them in the fight.

This was all Bunnyx knew, and all she could admit. Even if the final fight were to be tomorrow, she wasn’t allowed to give them the singlest clue of it.

Now; none of her visions were ever concrete. Unless Bunnyx physically went into another timeline and fooled around in it, then there was no way for her to know the more important details. So, at times like these where she looked hesitant and confused, it was clear that she wasn’t certain about what this all meant.

She must have had a vision of Volpina and wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Well… no better time to find out, right? They might as well take the chance- and if all else failed, then Alix would simply have to go back and fix it all.

Pulling her wrist back, Marienkäfer smiled comfortingly to her friend before taking Volpina’s hand in a firm shake. She smiled in return to the fox themed girl. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Volpina. I was in the neighborhood and saw you stop the meteor- suspicious or otherwise, thank you for your help keeping Paris safe.”

The vixen grew a small tint of pink in her cheeks before smiling brighter and nodding. “That wasn’t the only thing though~ My premonition led me here because of something else: Hawkmoth is out somewhere.”

The others gasped, all looking to her and Bunnyx for answers. Marienkäfer looked at the rabbit themed hero, seeing her eyes concentrate on Volpina for a moment. Eventually, the pinkette nodded in agreement. “I saw it… It wasn’t near the Eiffel, but I think I recall seeing the Louvre close.”

The others trusted Bunnyx at least, so with that, they all paired off to go searching. While Reine Chatton would usually pair up with Marienkäfer, Volpina was quick to step up beside the blonde, giving her a cheerful smile. “Hey, Reine? Could you and I pair up for this? I think I know a good plan for your Cataclysm incase we bump into him before the others~”

Before Reine could argue(because Mari knew she would), Bunnyx took Marienkäfer’s hand and nodded to them all, showing it was needed. Reine huffed before turning and leaping off, not even waiting or looking back to make sure Volpina followed after her.

With everyone paired up, they all left to their own way. It was about five minutes into their search when Marinette saw that Alix was barely even looking.

Ah- she knew where to actually find Hawkmoth, but they needed to wait was all.

Stopping on a roof near her home, Marienkäfer turned to face her teammate. “So where is he?”

There was a short silence before Bunnyx sighed and confessed. “He isn’t … We don’t take down Hawkmoth today, he doesn’t even show up. It’s an illusion.”

A what?

But… Wait a minute-

Volpina. Fox Necklace. Illusion-

“Oh you have got to be kidding me…” Marienkäfer groaned in annoyance. Well, at least Reine could say she was in the right to be suspicious. “She’s trying to act like she has the Fox Miraculous.”

“I’m guessing you haven’t handed that one out?”

“No. Volpina must be an akuma.”

At this, Bunnyx seemed to wince, looking properly ashamed and guilty. “Erm, yeah. So… I have a confession to make? I think I know who Volpina is, and if she’s akumatize, then… I think it might be me and the others’ faults?”

…

”What did you do,” Marienkäfer stated a bit harshly, already annoyed. From how guilty Bunnyx looked, it must have been bad . Alix almost never felt guilty for her actions, especially since becoming Bunnyx, so it showed that she and the others had to have severely screwed up on this one.

Just as she asked though, their compacts both chimed for a call. They opened their yo-yo and watched to find a video from Reine. Her hair looked frazzled and her face was pinched with annoyance. “WELL! Guess who just turned out to be an akuma and has me surrounded by an army of missiles?!” They could see the floating weapons around her.

Volpina must have threatened her to stay put for now. “Reine, her powers are based on that of the Fox Miraculous. None of the things she creates are real! Now- mind telling me why Bunnyx says you and the others all caused this one?”

As it turned out; Volpina was really Lila Rossi.

The others had earlier gotten annoyed with her lies(mainly her claiming to be Marienkäfer’s best friend), and followed after her and Adrien to confront her. They overheard her continuing to lie to Adrien about how close she was with Marienkäfer and convinced him to meet her at the park later. They had all tried to confront her but Adrien had spotted them and distracted them. When they caught up before class, they found Lila showing off a necklace and claiming to be the descendant of a superheroine.

Apparently, they all had lost their cool when Lila started saying how Marienkäfer wanted her to be her partner instead of Reine Chatton and the rest of the Miraculous Team.

Next thing they knew, they were all transformed and effectively humiliated her in front of Adrien(honestly though, who even cared?). They left the scene, and about five minutes later, a meteor was hurling down at them.

Great- so Volpina hated her team with a passion(nothing new for akumas), and she had the power of a Miraculous wielder. Okay, they could work with this- after all, seeing as she left Reine alone, she probably didn’t realize that she could communicate back with the rest of them without leaving.

With this in mind, Marinette got an idea.

Despite being an akuma, Volpina still seemed to like Marienkäfer. Perhaps it was a hero crush, or it could have been the fact that she was the only one in the Miraculous Team who hadn’t humiliated her- either way, she still liked her enough.

“Reine, don’t touch the illusions yet; she might know when you destroy them, thus letting her know you figured her power out. The rest of you; try to not draw too much attention if she returns to you, and send her my way. Viperion and King Monkey will keep watch near me in case anything goes wrong. Pegasus and Bunnyx, you two will go to Adrien and keep an eye on him; she might try to find him to prove she wasn’t lying, and Bunnyx can go back as a last resort incase things go south.”

She would try to be smooth about it all- they had gotten better over time at minimizing damage, and she’d like to keep their streak running.

Like usual, everything fell into place and went exactly according to her plan. She hadn’t even needed to call on her lucky charm, which was fine since all of the ‘damage’ dealt had been illusions.

When Lila detransformed, she looked around in surprise, clearly having not expected to find herself on top of the Eiffel Tower. She looked around in surprise before gasping at the sight of the heroine in front of her. “M-M-Marienkäfer?!”

Mari waved, wearing a gentle smile. “In the flesh- well; in a magical suit. Lila, was it? I heard about what happened, and I wanted to talk.”

She sat down beside the nervous girl. It made sense she would be anxious; she had lied online about knowing her and then got akumatized after being yelled at by the girls team. But-

“I’m sorry.”

Lila balked. “W-what?”

“For my team,” Marienkäfer said. “While it wasn’t okay for you to lie about knowing me, the others overreacted and never should have spoken to you like that. Honestly, I wasn’t even upset after hearing about it. I know you’re part Siren, and people who wear Miraculous aren’t affected by your powers. Luckily, this means Hawkmoth wouldn’t have believed your lie and won’t come after you. However; you should still be careful from now on, alright? I know living in a new city can be hard, but you don’t have to worry about being seen as amazing in front of others to fit in. Good people will like you simply for you~”

When the rest of her team arrived, she lowered Lila to the ground. The others all apologized(most were grumbled and Reine Chatton all but huffed her apology while looking like she sucked a lemon), and Marienkäfer gave Lila a hug before sending her on her way. “I heard from one of your classmates that she was planning to give you a school tour, so you might want to hurry back.”

Lila nodded and waved them goodbye as she left for school, a brighter and kinder smile on her face than Marinette had seen on her earlier that morning.

The moment she was out of hearing range, Marienkäfer scowled at her team. “ Seriously? You guys, you know you can’t lose your cool like that- especially while transformed.” She got a few nods and more apologies, but they all knew she had already forgiven them. She was too caring and forgiving by nature- well, to everyone but Adrien, that is.

And it was a good thing too, since he wouldn’t deserve it…

Marinette waited at the steps of the school, seated at the top as she waited for Lila to arrive.

“Maybe I should have offered to swing her back,” Marinette muttered, realizing the unfair advantage she had in getting back earlier than the Italian girl.

“But then she would have seen that Marinette wasn’t really waiting for her,” Tikki reminded.

Still though, she felt a little sorry about having made Lila run all this way.

As the girl approached, Marinette stood up and made her way over, putting on her most brightest and welcoming smile. “Hi there; you’re Lila, right? I’m Marinette, the class president. It’s so nice to meet you, and welcome to Francois Dupont!”

Lila seemed hesitant before returning the smile. “It’s nice to meet you too… Uhm, Marinette? C-can… can you tell me… Are there any meta’s or aliens in this school?”

Oh.

That must have been another reason she had lied so much; she didn’t know that she would be accepted for who she really was. Giving a rather cheeky grin, Marinette lightly kicked her heels off the ground, floating up a few feet as she spoke. “Yep~ I’m part Tamaranean, and there are two others in our class. Juleka is part Daxamite, and Kim is a meta. Mlle Bustier told me that you’re part Siren, right?”

Lila stilled at the callout, nodding hesitantly. “I’m sorry… I used my powers a lot earlier. I didn't know there were others here with powers, so I panicked and started telling stories so people would like me before they learned the truth…”

Dropping down to her feet, Marinette placed a comforting hand on Lila's shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. I understand perfectly, and the others will forgive you in a heartbeat. Francois Dupont has to be the greatest school in all existence anyways- we have the largest number of enhanced students in all of Europe, you know? There’s at least two meta’s or aliens in every class, and one of our teachers is part alien as well.”

Showing Lila around had been a nice upturn for Marinette’s day. After the fiasco of this morning and the akuma attack that followed, she had really needed this time to relax and do something simple. When you looked past her power of manipulation, Lila was actually a friendly and helpful girl.

What with her fangirling on Marienkäfer it seemed, Marinette could see her getting along well with Alya and Sabrina.

Just as they were approaching the end of their tour, Lila asked Marinette about the rest of their classmates. When she heard Adrien was in their class, she froze up.

“Honestly, he’s super annoying,” Marinette complained, not realizing right away how the Siren paled. “He’s got this sickeningly saccharine smile that makes you want to curl up and hide, and I swear to X’Hal he’s being obnoxious all the time on purpose -”

“About Adrien…” Lila cut in, looking a little pale now that Marinette thought about it. The Siren fiddled with her hair anxiously. “I- When we were in the park, I… Do you know if someone told him I was part Siren earlier?”

Uhh, not that she could think of? “Mlle Bustier told me she hadn’t told anyone yet. Why? Did he already know?”

Lila nodded. “He must have, otherwise I don’t know why my powers hadn’t affected him. I mean I hadn’t realized it at first, but he was only pretending to believe me. It was honestly kinda weird.” Then, she pulled out a book from her bag- a book with a very recognizable symbol on it. “He showed me this book in the library, about a bunch of superheroes. It even has ones that look like the Miraculous Team, and… I tried to lie to him about having a necklace like one of them which was passed down in my family, and the superheroes showed up to tell the truth. The moment they left though, Adrien- h-he…”

Lila looked on the verge of tears, looking panicked and scared. Marinette may not like Adrien on the best of days- okay, no, she absolutely detested him- but there was no excuse for whatever he had done to make Lila this upset. It was one thing for Chloe, whom Adrien had been bullying for years and had learned the deepest weak spots; but Lila had been a new student and just wanted to make friends.

He was going to fight to get out of the hell Marinette had in store for him.

Putting a comforting hand to Lila’s shoulder, Marinette smiled encouragingly. “It’s okay Lila; he won’t be able to do anything to you.”

The girl still hesitated, but she finally told her what happened after her team had left them alone. As it turns out- it wasn’t her team who had gotten Lila akumatized.

It was Adrien .

“I tried to apologize to him, but he said he already knew. He told me he just wanted to see if Marienkäfer would show up to deny it all due to Alya’s video, but she was the only hero who hadn’t shown up. He called me a worthless hack and told me I might as well leave the city now since everybody will know the truth and hate me…”

…That son of a-

“He lied. Frankly, he lied worse than you ever could even think to lie,” Marinette said, a dark and dangerous look to her face. “I’m going to have a long chat with Adrien after class, and I can assure you that he shouldn’t ever bother you again. The class won’t be happy that you lied, but they’ll understand Lila. You were nervous and scared, and your powers did what they were supposed to do . No one will hate you.”

She meant it- and it was true.

While no one was really happy about being lied to, they weren’t all that upset. Alya may have been a little downcast as she took down the interview from her blog, but she was quick to forgive Lila and become friends.

Adrien didn’t even try to hide his glare as he scowled at Lila. Marinette returned the glare on her behalf- but she didn’t return the book.

The book was clearly meant for a Guardian of the Miracle Box, and Marinette wasn’t about to return it to Adrien.

She had felt something bad about him whenever she was transformed; he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he was starting to show up a little too often in the stories she heard from before others were akumatized. He was almost always there…

After class, seeing Adrien head up the steps towards Lila’s desk, Marinette stepped in front of his path. She pasted on a tight smile, swallowing down the bile that threatened to come out as she pretended to act nice to him. “Hey, Adrien? Could you and I talk in private for a sec? Please~” She batted her eyes a bit afterwards, knowing he wouldn’t ever turn down an opportunity.

Like always, Marinette was right.

Adrien followed her to an empty classroom nearby, seeming rather excited that she had told Chloe and the others to go on ahead of her. Chloe had looked extremely reluctant, but she recognized by Marinette's face that this was a situation she had to wait for to step in between.

When they were alone, she tried to ignore how Adrien locked the door behind them, not that it mattered in the end, what with her powers. At times she wonders if Adrien ever even realized she was part alien.

“So, what did you want to talk about~” Adrien stepped a little too close a little too soon.

Marinette pulled out the book. When Lila had gone to the bathroom before they entered their class, Tikki had told her that the book was the missing Grimoire that Master Fu had lost long ago.

The same Grimoire he said that should be found with whoever had the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous.

She saw the way his eyes widened and smile dropped, shock and confusion written all over his face as he watched her flip through the pages. Marinette kept her expression neutral as she spoke. “You know, Lila really was sorry about lying. She was even sorry about taking your book, but I have to say that I’m glad she did. So tell me Adrien-” she glared up at him, never breaking eye contact. “Why were you manipulating Lila to get Marienkäfer to show up?”

Adrien remained silent, his gaze narrowed dangerously. In fact, for once, it looked less like he wanted to strip her and more like he wanted to stab her.

She isn’t sure she preferred either option.

Silence surrounded them for a good while, before Marinette felt the pressure and temperature in the air drop so low she shivered, even though her heritage made it hard for her to feel such. It felt suffocating, and it was enough to be called extremely unpleasant.

“...You really can’t help but get in the way, can you?”

Her gaze had drifted before, what with her trying to focus enough she could breath. Now, just as she looked up to meet his gaze, she felt him grab her wrist.

This was the first moment in which Marinette would look back on in her nightmares. She would in the future recall this moment as the very second in which a part of her died inside.

She met his gaze just as she felt him grab her arm, followed by something smooth and cold clasp onto her wrist.

Looking down slowly, feeling rather sluggish all of a sudden, Marinette was met with the sight of a thick, rose gold cuff, locked tightly to her wrist. It sat heavy above her hand, and the image of it would haunt her for years to come.

Something about it… it felt off. Like there was more to it and it was hiding something from her.

“A-adrien, wha-?”

“Shut your mouth and listen closely, or else I might have no choice but to kill you right here and now. You wouldn’t want that, now would you, little Tamaran?” Adrien had a wicked and sickening grin on his face, and a horrifying look in his eyes.

Marinette felt all the blood inside of her stop flowing, and her heart beat out of rhythm before coming to a deafening halt. Her body and mind were like a record player scratching to a sudden stop.

Did- did he just threaten to kill her?

Okay, so he did remember that she was part alien. But if he did, and he even knew what her species was, then… that threat…

Her eyes darted back down to the cuff he had snapped onto her wrist, terror creeping up her spine as she wiled her body to move upwards. She tried all she could, but it was no use- she couldn’t fly.

She tried her super strength and starbolts to break off the cuff, but it was no use. Marinette nearly screamed, tears rolling her cheeks in deep waves as she hyperventilated.

She felt empty inside, like a large part of her had just packed up its bags and left. It wasn’t even the absence of her powers- it was the absence of everything . She felt cold inside; alone and helpless. Kwamis- how could she survive such a terrible feeling?

Adrien pulled out a tiny remote control, smile somehow growing wider. He took pleasure in her fear. “See this little green button here? Piss me off like that again, and I press it. Wanna know what happens then?” No, she really didn’t. “The liquified metallic chromium inside of that bracelet will be inserted into your bloodstream. The casing of the bracelet works well enough to keep you grounded, but not to harm you. At the push of this button, however; it will be enough to send you into sudden cardiac arrest. So if I were you, I’d start to listen and do as you’re told~”

Oh dear Kwamis…

Chapter Text

Marinette felt herself wobble a bit, not used to the actual feeling of her body's true weight. Her powers made her feel lighter and more airborne, even when on the ground- but she didn’t have that anymore.

Because of him .

“Now then,” Adrien smiled darkly, holding her bare wrist in a tight grip, leaving a pale imprint that might actually bruise now that she no longer had her usual strength. “I hope we won’t have any more problems, hmm? I would hate to have to harm you, little Tamaran~”

He kept calling her that- why did he keep calling her that?

Never before had Marinette felt anything but complete joy when she was reminded of the origin of her alien blood. She had spent most of her life in the dark about it and now knowing what she was had been one of her greatest joys.

Hearing Adrien call her that name was the first thing to ever make her dread her heritage.

Adrien slipped his hand from her wrist to instead lace their fingers together. He lifted it and kissed her knuckles, making her hand feel like it was burned by acid. Never before had she ever wanted to scrub her skin raw to the point it would come off of her bones.

“Please be good for me, Princess~” He said, using that same sickeningly sweet voice that she had grown to hate before she ever even heard it herself. “We’re going to go out front and you’re going to come back to the mansion with me, got it? Father will want to hear about this… predicament.”

Father?

Gabriel was in on this?

Oh…

Oh dear Kwamis…

Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth.

Feeling herself shake like a leaf, Marinette tried not to make any sudden movements, knowing the slightest thing could put her even more at risk.

Adrien held her hand(the one without the bracelet), having linked their fingers together harshly as he walked her out of the room. She was to remain silent and smiling until he gave her permission. His smile was the same cheerful and disgusting thing as she was used to, and it revolted her to know he had worn such a smile for the past year and might have done things just as terrible as this without anyone being the wiser.

A man that could do such acts and smile so carefree among his peers, was a man who could sleep peacefully at night as the world burned down around him- he was the one who had lit the spark.

Everyone else around them were continuing on to their next classes or were already waiting and seated. It wasn’t even a quarter through the school day and yet Adrien still walked her out to the front. His usual car was waiting out front, reminding Marinette how he had texted someone shortly after locking the bracelet onto her wrist.

The bracelet…

It felt heavy on her skin, like it was ready to sink her to the depths of the ocean should she ever present it with the chance. It was cold and rough, not the feeling in which you could eventually get used to but the kind which promised to increase your uncomfortability.

It was a new and foreign pressure, having to walk while actually holding her own weight. She was used to being light as air, but for once she now felt the sting of pressure on her bones and the pull of her muscles as she operated her limbs.

She did not like this feeling.

Knowing she needed to act quick but without being noticed, Marinette used her free hand to slip her earrings off. The act of simply lifting her hand up to her face felt strenuous enough, but it felt even worse as she glanced down to the horrified look in her Kwamis eyes.

Tikki had tears pooling in her eyes as she slightly shook her head, not wanting to leave her precious chosen. But they both knew they had no choice.

Adrien and his Father had the Grimoire, which meant they must have had the lost Miraculous- this was further proven by Adrien's current response and actions. If Gabriel was Hawkmoth, then Marinette could not risk her Miraculous or the Miracle Box falling into his hands.

She doubted Adrien knew her identity- he wouldn’t have been as careless with Lila if he did, and he would have known she could just transform now as Marienkäfer(thus getting rid of her Tamaranean powers useless). But he didn’t know- which meant Marinette couldn’t risk revealing her identity now by transforming.

She didn’t know what he wanted from her now, but she couldn’t put Tikki at risk.

Why did he even want her though?

As Marie she would know that the current owner of the Grimoire would be Hawkmoth, but as Marinette, she shouldn’t have a single clue. So Adrien couldn’t know that she suspected him and his father… So why was he trying to take her to his home?

Hah…

How naïve she had been, to think her Miraculous was the only thing he wished to take from her…

Where was Marinette?!

Chloe had worried about her best friend's whereabouts from the very moment she saw her walk off with Adrien. Even if Marinette motioned for them all to wait until later, almost all of them had been on edge.

Something felt extremely wrong , and the anxious and jittery movements of a certain pink haired rabbit was only proving it more and more by the second.

The break was almost over though, and Marinette and Adrien were nowhere to be found. Chloe saw the direction they went, but couldn’t find her now even thirty minutes later.

Where had she gone?

Looking in the locker room for probably the fifth time, Chloe and Max glanced about the students occupying it 

Lila! Ugh, it must have had something to do with her!

Adrien clearly had been heading in her direction(not looking too happy at that), and Lila had clearly sent Marinette a silent thanks when Marinette led him away and out of class. The Italian must know about what was going on.

“ROSSI!”

Lila jumped a bit in her seat, whipping her head around to look at the blonde as she stormed her way over. “Uhm, yes? It’s Chloe, right?”

Chloe huffed in indignation, offended by the idea the Italian Siren had to even ask. “Yes- Chloe Bourgeois; daughter of the Mayor as well as the BFF to one Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Now-”

“Oh!” Lila smiled vibrantly, now looking rather pleased, but there was a bit of a nervous edge to it as she spoke. “Is she alright? Did she tell you if everything went alright when she gave Adrien back his book?”

His- wait, what?

Adrien?

“What are you talking about?” Alix asked, worry seeping through her tone.

The Siren hesitated looking a little embarrassed as she recounted her story to them. To say they were shocked was an understatement, but it was led to quick confusion and worry when she told them how she had given the book to Marinette on the promise that she would return it and talk to the model for her. “He made me really uncomfortable, and not just for the fact he tried to manipulate me.”

“Wait- what?!” Nino shouted, looking bewildered by the accusation. He had been close friends with Adrien ever since he had joined their class. Sure, he had noticed how overly sweet and charming Adrien could be, and how quick he was to guide people to do certain things… but honestly, didn’t everyone? “What… what do you mean he tried to manipulate you?”

Lila frowned, looking over all the worried and confused looks. Sighing, she tried to break it down for those not already in the know. “Look, I know I lied to you all before, but I only did it because I was nervous and I already knew Mlle Bustier would tell you all the truth anyways soon. Agreste? He is a completely different story. I’m a Siren- we know when someone lies in order to manipulate others, and he does it with everyone in this school.”

Chloe knew how bad Adrien was- she had suffered at his hand for years .

But to hear it from the mouth of someone who had manipulation as a superpower from birth?

It made it slightly more terrifying.

“Did anyone see where he and Marinette went? They left a while ago to talk and-” Suddenly, Chloe cut herself off by nearly choking on her own tongue. Floating about above her classmates, just out of sight but still visible enough if you were to look close, Tikki zipped about near the rafters, gesturing towards the bathroom. “-Uhh, nevermind! Actually, now that I think about it I think Mari just sent me a text. ALIX- BATHROOM!”

Before anyone else could even react, Chloe dragged the pinkette after the Ladybug Kwami, locking the bathroom door shut behind them after checking the stalls were all empty.

The moment the two turned to Tikki, they knew something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The small little Kwami had tears pooled in her eyes, hiccupping and breathing in sharp and heavy. She looked not even a moment away from passing out from how she hyperventilated, and Chloe wondered if the little creature could even recall at the moment that she didn’t actually need to breathe.

“M-m-marin-nette!” Tikki finally managed out, Plagg and Fluff flanking her as they tried to help ease her terror. Tikki pushed through it though, sniffling as she held out the earrings for the other two humans to see.

The earrings Marinette had swore on her life to never take off.

“H-he took her~ He t-t-took Mar- Marinette!”

Just like that, Chloe felt her entire world nearly fall apart, crashing and shattering like a glass ball being thrown from the roof to the street.

She didn’t know if Tikki meant either Hawkmoth, or Adrien, but it didn’t really matter- Chloe was about to commit a murder and she was 100% certain that the rest of her team would back her up.

Surprisingly enough though- it was both men who took her best friend.

That… made things a bit more complicated.

Hal rarely came out to Paris for anything other than training the Miraculous Team. Other than that time Zombizou attacked(truly his favorite akuma to exist simply for being able to be present), Green lantern made sure to never publicly be seen in the City of Love.

Marienkäfer being kidnapped as a civilian by Hawkmoth?

Yeah… that was definitely something that made him ignore his own set-upon rule

He got a call from Reine, having quickly done the math and known that she should both be in school and that there wasn't an akuma attack currently(it had ended earlier that morning right?). If Reine was calling him now, then it was either for a joke, or for something really serious.

“Hawkmoth and his disgusting hellspawn kidnapped my Mari!”

It was the latter.

“ What? ” Hal sat up from his couch, nearly tripping over the coffee table as he rushed to leave. “Reine, tell me what’s happening!”

The girl began to blabber, not really making actual words come out. He heard sobbing and panic in her voice and knew he couldn’t fault her for her anguish. From what he got in the first sentence; her partner was just kidnapped by their mortal enemy and…

His son ?

Just then, Viperions voice came through the phone, the whining farther out to give Hal the notion that Reine had gotten her phone taken away. The boy told him that Tikki had come to them with the earrings, saying Marienkäfer had gotten kidnapped by Adrien Agreste. Adrien, apparently, was Hawkmoth's son.

Hawkmoth- a guy who made supervillains dressed a thousand times worse than Superman- was the Fashion King of Europe, Gabriel Agreste.

It both did and didn’t make sense.

The thing that really didn’t make sense though, was why Hawkmoth and his son decided to kidnap Marienkäfer… as a civilian?

According to Tikki, it didn’t seem like they knew the girl's identity? When Hal arrived at the house he had rented and they had been training in, he got a few answers.

The team stood amongst each other, all of them detransformed. They had all agreed that the situation needed him knowing of their identities. It also didn’t matter too much since the Hawkmoth situation would soon be dealt with…

It was just a question of how it would all end.

Marienkäfer’s real name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a Human-Tamaranean hybrid, who Adrien Agreste seemed to have a delusional obsession with.

Tikki told them all what happened, not omitting a single detail.

Marinette had figured out Adrien’s father was Hawkmoth and he must be working for him because they had the Miraculous Grimoire. Master Fu had assured them(rather strongly) that the book was with the ones who had the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous, and they had finally located it. When Marinette confronted Adrien, believing it to be safe so long as it had been in the school with enough witnesses around, the boy had put a cuff around her wrist that had binded her powers.

The last Tikki saw her, Marinette had given her the earrings and told her to flee.

That was about four hours ago.

The Agreste Manor was empty and practically void of all life, but they had tracked her there. Max had made trackers for all of them and their Kwamis a few months prior, after an akuma had created labyrinths and they had been separated from their main weapons.

The tracker on Marinette led her back to the Agreste manor, right in the dead center of Gabriel's office, and yet they had found nothing.

Arriving back at the manor, Hal eyed the room, feeling a little… off put. “Bunnyx, you got any visions? Even surrounding details would help.”

She had known they would be having the final fight soon; that was why she had been so off-put about Volpina when she mentioned Hawkmoth appearing. Alix had known that Volpina would lead to the final fight of Hawkmoth, but she hadn’t known how .

She had two visions for their final fight: the first was inside of a dark room, with light shining down and butterflies swarming the area. A person laid unconscious amongst the butterflies, and Alix now feared that the person was Marinette. The second vision was of another room, with an eerie green glow, looking like a sewer. But at the end of the room, following a ramp, a small garden surrounded what looked to be a tank or casket.

Bunnyx told him this, describing the scenery to the best of her ability. The man was silent before he looked down to the ground. “Have you checked the basement?”

“There isn’t one,” Reine Chatton said. “Mommy forced me to come over and play with Adrien since we were in diapers- never in my life have I seen or heard of a basement.”

“Besides, they never even came home,” Pegasus stated. “Markov tracked the car and it disappeared in a tunnel. The security cameras aren’t looping; they just never came back here.”

“So why would her tracker be leading us here, if she couldn’t have been here to even lose it?”

That… How?

Green Lantern pointed around the room. “Look for anything- any parts of the wall of furniture that can move out of place strangely. Agreste is not only a supervillain, but he’s also a rich bastard from hell. Rich assholes who deal with superheroes and villains always have a secret underground lair- I learned that from Batman.”

King Monkey found it when he was inspecting the portrait of Emile Agreste. He had originally found the safe hiding behind her portrait(filled with valuables that did not help them at that time), but then he had noticed the odd heaviness to the painting. It wasn’t simply a door that slid away to reveal a safe- there were wires connected to it, showing that there was a need for an electrical grid in it.

They felt along the painting until they found three buttons in the painting- then revealing a panel below that nearly dropped them. The team all jumped down the hole, using their collective powers to fall slowly and better observe their surroundings.

They went down for a bit, surrounded by darkness, until they eventually came to the scene of Alix’s second vision. But it was different now; Adrien and Gabriel could be found present, arguing near the small chamber in the garden area.

Hiding behind the railing near the elevator, Green Lantern turned and whispered to the team. “We’ll split up; Reine, you and Ryuko need to search for Marienkäfer. Bring her Tikki and help her. The rest of us will handle Hawkmoth and his hellchild.” He purposefully sent those two in search of the girl, knowing they would be the hardest to talk down from killing the pair of Agrestes.

This decision would later prove to be a mistake.

Later on knowing what would happen when they found Marinette, Hal was certain any of her teammates would have gone to kill the two villains- though mainly Adrien. However, the cat and dragon were the two who Hal knew would prolong a series of acts of torture before leaving the blonde model to die.

It was a good thing he would be here to prevent it- not that he wouldn’t be wanting to do such himself.

He isn’t sure what happened when they found Marinette- okay, no, that was a lie. He knew every last detail because Chloe would later rant about it in a panicked daze.

They found her in a dark room, surrounded by pearl white butterflies, all waiting to be turned into akuma’s. Marinette would be in the center of the room, unconscious and with a long chain holding her to the ground by her wrists. Tear tracks having puffed her eyes and made her cheeks red and stinging, and wrists rubbed raw from how often she had tried to pull away.

She had cried herself to sleep- a small puddle of tears below her cheek where she laid.

When Reine Chatton and Ryuko found her, the two heroes dropped to their knees and shook her awake. They hadn’t even thought to uncuff her yet, and it was unclear if doing such before waking her would have been a good idea or not.

When Marinette woke up, she immediately screamed.

She didn’t even recognize them .

Reine would continue to cry for several minutes, seeing the pure terror in her best friend's eyes as the girl screamed and begged to be let go, yet pleading at the same time for them to stay away from her. She had been so hurt that she was begging them for such things, rather than shouting and demanding it from defiance.

It took Marinette nearly ten minutes to finally piece together that she was being saved, and when she did, it only made it hurt more for all of them. She would go on apologizing, and Reine and Ryuko would hug her close and look to the other with the unspoken resolve to murder a blonde model on sight.

The one thing none of them would learn: what exactly Adrien had done to her.

It was clear it was the kid rather than his father- not only did Marinette refer to her friends as Adrien when he confusedly pleaded to be released, but Gabriel was clearly not happy she had been brought there to begin with.

The fight against Hawkmoth and his son had frankly taken less time and effort then they had all expected.

Adrien used the Peacock Miraculous to gain the strength and agility he required to even last a few seconds, but it proved worthless even when he became Kujaku. The boy had clearly never transformed before, most likely from his father not wanting him to fall ill like his wife did. This proved to work in their favor though, as the boy ended up just getting in Hawkmoth's way and (for some reason) thinking that he could create an Amok from the most powerful emotion nearby.

The issue? The moment he did such was as Reine Chatton and Ryuko found Marinette- so the most overbearing emotion nearby was the painstaking fear Marinette felt when she mistook her best friends for them by himself.

The Amok took on the form of a monstrous beast. It looked like a ginormous praying mantis, but with black skin and the ladybug shells. The creature screeched out in its frenzy, immediately lunging to attack its creator.

Kujaku screamed, dodging the creature and getting himself caught by the Miraculous Team. The sentimonster didn’t calm from its anger, not even when King Monkey punched the blonde in the face to knock him out and took back his Miraculous. Hawkmoth had to destroy the sentimonster himself, as it soon turned its attack against him .

Frankly, Adrien's involvement just made their win easier, but it didn’t make it less painful as Marinette was brought to them, finally transformed as Marienkäfer. She couldn’t even look towards the two villains, shakily retrieving the once lost Miraculi from Green Lanterns outstretched hand. 

She took them both and offered the man a small smile. “Thank you… For everything.”

Hal chuckled softly, relieved to see her safe. He pat her on the head teasingly and replied, “Anytime, bug. Just- try not to get kidnapped again; please?”

“ I promise. ”

What they had yet to learn was that her promise was more out of hope for herself.

It wouldn’t be until a week later, after the seventh night in a row that Marinette woke up at night screaming in a cold sweat, that they would learn about what Adrien had done to her. About how he had touched her . About how he had hurt her.

Marinette would only tell them so much though…

She was never one to use her authority over the Kwamis, but she gave them one single command: “Never tell another soul about what happened…”

Nooroo and Dusuu didn’t like it, but they had understood well enough. They understood why it hurt her so much to think on- to even acknowledge as a truth or even a simple idea.

Marinette would admit to the harassment, and tell her friends how horribly he had treated her. But they would never learn just how far it went.

As she watched from a distance as Hal sent Adrien and Gabriel into the Phantom Zone, Marinette promised herself to never burden anyone with the true knowledge of just how badly Adrien had broken her…

Chapter Text

Marinette woke up and immediately wished she had remained unconscious.

You know how something bad will happen, and then the person it happens to will pass out cold, only to wake up later on and forget about the situation for a while until someone else just lays it all out bare in front of them?

Yeah, that didn't happen here.

Marinette could remember everything .

Such as having overlooked one of Scarecrow’s goons and having not noticed how lucky of a shot he had gotten on her, injecting her with a needle right behind her ear- one of the very few miniscule spaces one her that was not covered by her magical suit of armor.

How the hell was she supposed to know that the needles were made of stainless steel- able to pierce her Human/Tamaranean skin?!

But no- that was just the beginning of it all. She then had to relive her worst nightmare all over again. Putting it simply; seeing Gabriel’s face had been a nightmare, but seeing Adrien's face had made her nearly want to kill herself.

Instead, she fainted in the arms of Nightwing…

Whom she called her Dad…

Speaking of which-

“How did you sleep?”

Marinette didn’t even bother looking away from that one extremely interesting spot on the ceiling. She already knew he was sitting there, but hearing his voice confirmed him too much for her current liking.

So actually looking at her Dad was out of the question.

“You know how we slept?” Her fathers voice came out slipped and a little too chipper. It sounded sarcastic and annoyed, close to the edge of him nearly snapping. He was livid . “Trick question; we haven’t . Because apparently, our daughter failed to mention that she was a superhero !”

He shouted that last bit.

Marinette hadn’t even realized her mother was also in the room until she heard her gently whisper for her husband to calm down. Knowing her mom was there, Marinette spared a small glance in their direction.

Dick sat on the chaise near the window, with Kori beside him(looking much less frazzled yet just as tired). He was looking towards his wife when Marinette looked at them, and she quickly rolled away when he turned his attention back to her. Tears filled her eyes and she felt Silkie and Tikki both cuddle into her chest beneath the covers. Tikki was hidden in the sheets, not letting light shine on her- a sign that her parents had yet to meet her.

Probably for the best- Marinette wasn’t sure they wouldn’t have taken their anger out earlier by shouting at the poor Kwami instead.

Hugging both of the small creatures closer to her, Marinette curled into her blankets even more, hiding herself as much as she could- physically and emotionally.

“What were you thinking?!” Dick was clearly trying to keep himself from shouting, but his voice still raised and in a rather scornful tone. Marinette really disliked that tone. “You go around as a- a hero; and you didn’t even think to tell your own parents? Your family?! What if you had gotten killed- how would we have even known?!”

Kor’i placed a hand to her husband's arm, urging him to retake his seat which he had stood from in his rising temper. “Do Sabine and Tom know of this?” Kor’i asked their daughter.

Marinette continued to remain silent, waiting a few moments before shaking her head well enough for them to see.

At her answer, her mother sighed as her father bit out a rather tight and sarcastic laugh. “Of course they don’t! Let me guess though- does Chloe know? How about Kagami? Oh, I’m sure Luka knows, doesn’t he? He’s Viperion, right?” Marinette shifted under her blanket, her shoulders hunching upwards more as she shook slightly under her blanket.

She was getting visibly upset, and it was very clear.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?” Dick started, scowl still deeply marring his face. “You should have told us! You go swinging around with a- a- a fucking yo-yo ! I’ve seen the footage of your fights on the Miracle Blog. Why the hell aren’t you using your powers?! You have invulnerability and yet you get injured so often, nearly getting yourself killed all the time!” The shaking got worse, and Marinette curled into herself even more. “Hawkmoth is gone, so there’s no reason you should have lied to us! Why didn’t you tell your own family ?!”

He waited for a reply, but he supposed he still wouldn’t get one. Dick still wasn’t finished, still rather upset with his daughter having hid such a thing from them all- but Marinette beat him to it. Just as he was about to continue in his rant, Marinette slowly sat up and spoke, voice cold and rough, showing she herself had also begun to cry.

Her words shattered his entire argument.

“Funny of you to say I was lying, Nightwing …”

Marinette heard them still. She heard them inhale sharply, muscles slackening from being tightly wrung in their emotional states.

Turning to only face them halfway, Marinette glanced at her parents from the side, eyes narrowed into slits. Tikki remained hidden, now curled in between her Chosen and Silkie, who sat in Marinette's lap.

“What, you think I wouldn’t have noticed? Frankly, it’s so obvious that not only am I surprised the whole world doesn’t realize, but I am also offended that you thought I wouldn’t learn the truth before you told me. But I wonder now, father , the way you are chastising me so harshly about lying and keeping secrets- did you ever even plan to tell me the truth to begin with?” Marinette glared back at her father just as harshly as she spoke.

She had known. She had known for a while .

How long, you might ask? Oh don’t worry if you hadn’t noticed- she had made sure not to hint at it too often.

But the moment her parents had introduced themselves, Marinette had already translated her mothers Tamaranean name of Koriand'r to Starfire. Hey! Isn't that the same name of that one Tamaranean superhero, whom the whole world knows is married to Nightwing- a vigilante from the very city her parents live in?

Marinette rarely ever believed in coincidences. Besides, her father was a detective; she was bound to have inherited his skills and figured it out on her own.

“For how long?” Her father asked, voice now a bit more hesitant. A sliver of regret now graced his features as he realized just how hypocritical he had been. Marinette wondered if he still would have made everyone keep it a secret even after her own identity had been revealed.

“Whole time.”

“So why hadn’t you said anything?”

“Because; it was not only your secret to tell, but I knew I had no place to even reference it. I have my reasons for keeping my identity a secret from you, and I knew you deserved the same respect.” Now she didn’t want to give him any .

She saw her mother glance between her family anxiously. Dick now looked away, still upset but knowing to hold his tongue, and Marinette scowled down at her blanketed lap as she tried to control herself as well.

Eventually, Kori made up her mind on how to start. “Sweetie… We wanted to keep you safe. We thought we could keep you away from all of that business if we didn’t tell you. We’re sorry for lying, but you must know that you’re in a different position here.”

“Yeah, I do,” Marinette scoffed, rolling her eyes. So that was their excuse for having not told her. “Unlike the rest of you, I actually have a reason, while you all just wanted to keep me in the dark!” Her voice raised out of anger.

Dick bristled, cutting off his wife as her eyes widened and she tried to correct the situation she had unintentionally made worse. “Do not raise your voice at your mother!”

“Then listen to me !” Marinette stood up on her bed, Silkie and Tikki having to maneuver out of the way and now looking at her in worry and increasing panic. Things were getting bad quickly, but Marinette couldn’t think of it in her rage. “You won’t even listen to me when I’m trying to tell you why I did it! It’s fine when you lie about being heroes, but it isn’t when it’s me?! Do you even hear how hypocritical and stupid that is?!”

Was she going too far? Maybe.

But he’s the one who started the trend.

Her father stood up, stepping forward and crossing his arms, eyes narrowed just like her own. Behind him, Kori shrunk into her seat, decidingly staying out of the argument so that way she could mediate it once they were both finished.

“Lower your voice, Mar’i. You’re already in hot water as is and you’re only making it worse for yourself.” Dick pointed downwards, “Now sit down, Mar’i!”

“That isn’t my name!” She finally met his eyes, having not been of the proper height on the bed. Now, she was practically in his face, both of them equally seething in anger. “You can’t just suddenly show up in my life and start acting like you’ve always been there! You weren’t there when I was growing up, and you certainly weren’t there when I got my Miraculous! You weren’t there when I had to fight Hawkmoth, or when Master Fu tricked me and Chloe, or when Adrien kidnapped me, or when The Order showed up and forced me to lie to all of you!”

There was a short silence as she had to catch her breath. Her father didn’t even flinch.

“Young lady, you will lower yourself to the ground, immediately . We are your parents and you will treat us with that respect.”

Oh.

That was why she could finally meet her fathers eyes.

Marinette hadn’t realized she had been floating to better look him in the eyes, but that added with her rage-filled voice having risen at her father… Marinette knew she was only digging herself a deeper grave, but she couldn’t find it in her to stop. It was like her body was urging her to continue and fight her father on this, even though a part of her whispered for her to stop.

The small little whisper in her head could barely be heard over the thumping of her heart pounding in her ear. It screamed at her to finish, and Marinette screamed right alongside of it. “You aren’t my parents! ”

.

.

.

.

.

Oh no…

Marinette slowly lowered to the ground, eyes wide in horror at her own words. Tears began to pool, but they didn’t dare fall down.

In front of her, her father had yet to show any reaction to her words, eyes still narrowed as they followed her movements. The anger was gone now, and it was now replaced with regret- for why was a mystery Marinette wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“I… I-i…” She didn’t know what to say.

She wanted to apologize, but the words wouldn’t leave her. She wanted to take it back, but she couldn’t open her throat enough to form any more sounds. Marinette choked on her words, shaking her head the tiniest bit in shame.

Dick didn’t say a word.

Turning to the door, he walked out silently, opening the door and closing it behind him gently. It didn’t slam behind him, but Marinette wished for a moment that it had- that way she could know what he was feeling from her words.

She now looked to her mother, who didn’t hide the heartbroken feelings in her eyes. Standing up, Kori walked to her daughter and embraced her, kissing her hair as Marinette finally sobbed. “I- I didn’t mean it-! M-mom, I sw-swear, I didn’t-”

“I know,” Her mother whispered gently, kissing her daughter on the top of her head. “I know, sweetheart. I know you didn’t mean it, and your father knows that too… I’ll go talk to him, okay? You both just need some time to calm down, alright?”

Marinette sniffled, tears not letting up as she nodded and stepped back, falling back into her bed as she silently cried into her pillow.

She didn’t hear her mom as she left the room, but she knew it happened when Tikki and the other Kwami’s all flew out of hiding to nuzzle against her and comfort her.

Marinette wished more than anything that she could take back her words.

Little did she know, she wouldn’t get the chance to properly apologize for a while…

Damian waited along with the others in the living room, probably the least shocked out of everyone from the events of the gala.

It made too much sense.

Marinette being a superhero made too much sense .

Not only was it their family(reason enough for something so incredible to be true), but Marinette had already shown to be connected to several “interesting” groups. She was a part of the akuma class, had been affiliated and harassed by the son of Hawkmoth, was friends with a family connected to the League of Assassins(and then went to visit the place with said friend), and could easily recognize those who had died and been brought back to life.

Damian would have been more surprised if she hadn’t had some connection with superheroes before their family showed up in her life.

What was surprising was Koriand’r telling them that Marinette knew all of their identities from the very start.

“Seriously?” Tim exclaimed as Dick passed through the room silently, not sparring anyone a glance as he walked on. “Didn’t she rant to all of us about our uniforms though. Like. three times? You mean she was bashing all of us straight to our faces and knew it ?!”

The idea made previous interactions and conversations with her over their nighttime hobbies all that much funnier. However, Kori and Dick seemed nowhere near pleased or amused.

“Is she still tired?” Cass asked, concerned as she walked over to the mother and gently guided her to sit down, seeing her rather frazzled state. “What's wrong?”

“I-” Kori glanced in the direction her husband left. She groaned and hid her face into her hands, small sobs beginning to break out.

Oh dear…

Barbara and Cass quickly began to comfort the woman as she broke down. “I-it’s no one's fault… The two of them started arguing an- and Marinette got so upset , and everyone started to- to say things they didn’t mean… Richard j-just needs a moment, but I’m so worried for Marinette…”

Damian hesitated at this, watching as most of the others soon joined the women on the couch to comfort her. Bruce said of checking on Richard, and Damian knew he himself would probably be the most suited of them all to go see to Marinette.

He offered this nervously. “Do you want me to go check on her? See if she’s ready to talk?”

Kori looked up to him and smiled wetly. “Oh, would you? Thank you Little D…” He was relieved the offer was well received.

Heading towards the bedroom, Damian thought about the situation from both perspectives.

Now considering the fact that Marinette knew their identities the whole time, it was understandable why she might have had some grounds to be upset. Dick had been clearly upset over the situation while she had been unconscious, fear and terror soon having led to building upset. Damian was sure the man had said a few things that had come back to bite him quickly.

Knocking on her door, Damian waited only a few seconds before the handle slowly turned and the wood opened for him. However, it wasn’t Marinette who opened the door.

Damian wasn’t sure who opened it, as no one else seemed present, but Marinette remained still in her bed hugging Silkie to her chest. Her back was towards him, and the light was off. Silkie peaked at him from over her shoulder, making a small mewl sound before going back to cuddling his owner.

Walking to the bed, Damian sat on the side, regarding Marinette silently for a moment. She had to have known it was him, most likely recognizing a sound or presence he gave off unknowingly to anyone without superpowered senses.

“I didn’t agree with it really; hiding our identities from you.” Was he trying to suck up and look better in her sight? Absolutely, but that wasn’t to say he was lying here. “I knew you would learn eventually at least, or that you would probably become involved. I didn’t really see the appeal in not telling you, but it’s a group secret, so I couldn’t.”

She understood this. He knew she did, even if she didn’t say it.

She was Marienkäfer, which was to say she was one of the two leaders of the Miraculous team. She knew the importance of protecting her team for their identities, so he knew she must understand his place in the agreement to wait to tell her. It wasn’t really his choice.

“I don’t know what you said, but you should know that Richard isn’t mad,” he said. He wasn’t entirely certain, of course, but he had seen the disheartened look on his eldest brother's face and recognized it from times he had fought with the man himself in his younger years. “He’s sad, no doubt about it, but he isn’t mad.”

He heard a sarcastic snort, and her voice came out broken and wobbly. “How does that make it any better?”

“Because it makes it easier to make things right.”

“I hurt them .”

That… Damian had to remember how different things were between their situations.

For Damian, he had learned self-control for responsibility, being taught to restrain his emotions and his actions at the correct times to be able to perform to his mother and grandfather's standards. He had gone about doing such with pride, believing he was doing the very thing he was born to accomplish. He thought that his self-control and loyalty to his family was the very center reason of his own existence.

For Marinette though, self-control and personal-restraint… those had been implemented out of fear.

Originally it was out of control for her own powers. She simply tried to keep herself calm and kept from emotional outbursts to better avoid harming others. She knew her own strength and feared she might harm others with her abilities.

Come the reign of Hawkmoth, and that fear had multiplied itself nearly tenfold.

Damian had known already about her fear from the time- reigning in any negative emotions to prevent further harming people by becoming akumatized. Being an alien, she would have caused extreme damage under Hawkmoth's control and she had wished to prevent it. But now- knowing that she was Marienkäfer? It made things all the more scary yet understandable.

She couldn’t afford to have any outbursts, or even show emotions. Not only did becoming an akuma mean mass destruction, but it also meant the very end of the world itself. Without her power to reverse all the damage, Paris would have lost, and Hawkmoth would have succeeded. He would have gotten the wish, and the world would have been rewritten.

Marinette wasn’t allowed to feel anything- and just as well, she had feared causing emotional harm as well.

Making someone upset hurt Marinette inside, and it only made it feel worse for her when it was someone she cared for.

Her parents.

Reaching out a hand, Damian gently rested it on her higher shoulder; a soothing pressure to help reassure her. “We all hurt people we care for. You hurt your parents, but they also hurt you . We all did, Marinette. You need Richard’s forgiveness, and we all need yours… We’re still going to be here for you when you’re ready.”

The silence stretched for a while, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Damian sat beside Marinette as the girl continued to have her back to him, with Silkie clenched against her chest. He would stay at her side until she was ready, or until she got fed up with him and told him to go away(whichever came first).

After some time, a shifting sound came up and the blanket under him pulled a bit in her direction. Marinette slowly sat up and sniffled, wiping away any stray tears and the tracks they had left behind. Silkie crawled off of her and sat between them both, smiling brightly now at the calmed state of his owner.

Marinette offered Damian a short smile, still clearly upset but doing much better than before. “Thanks, Dami~” Reaching over, the bluenette closed the small gap between them, placing a small peck of her lips against his cheek.

The moment only lasted about two seconds, not nearly long enough for Damian to fully finish going through all the stages of grief as he remained frozen in shock, as Silkie gave out a small grumble of annoyance beneath them. In moving towards him, Marinette had accidentally squished Silkie between them.

The girl pulled back with a small laugh, picking up the mutated silkworm and tickling his stomach, unaware of how bright red Damian’s face became and just how hot his cheeks ran as his mouth opened and closed like a fish. Dear lord, he had not prepared for this outcome!

He thought their classmates said Marinette never showed interest in others?!

“Thanks for checking in on me…” Marinette hesitated briefly before shaking her head, seeming to come to a decision. “I want to go talk to him now. I need to apologize. I want to make things right, and I know if I put it off it will only become harder for me to get the words out.”

Damian nodded awkwardly, unsure how to speak properly without just spouting out whatever nonsense his mind was spewing inside of his head. It was all mainly gibberish and screaming, but Damian could make out the word “hamster” somewhere along the lines.

The two stood up, but that was as far as they had gotten before Marinette's phone rang loudly on her nightstand. That one song sang by the Monkey king in Jungle Book began to play, and Marinette smiled warmly at the contact image that popped up. She looked up to him and waved him off.

“I’ll be down soon to talk, okay? I just need to take this call.”

He nodded and managed a small smile before finally escaping the room. The moment he did, Damian leaned back against the door and groaned in relief, finally able to think straight after that small moment . God he felt pathetic- why was he so worked up over it?!

“So how’d it go?” He startled, looking up to see Duke and Cass, both siblings grinning all too knowingly at him.

“Oh good lord…” Damian moved to walk past them, but paused when Cass caught him by the arm, her smirk soon turning to a grim expression.

“We have a situation.”

When Bruce finally found his eldest son, he was honestly surprised with how well kept the parlor looked. He would have expected a temper tantrum to have rung out, and yet instead, he had found something much worse.

The room was still as finely kept as it was when Alfred had cleaned it, but with the addition of his oldest child sitting down, curled up into as tiny of a ball as he could manage, with his back pressed into a corner in the far end of the room.

It was a scene Bruce had familiarized himself with too often. He had been on the receiving end of this quite often for years after his parents passed away, with Alfred coming to his aid. He had seen every single one of his children(even the one he hadn’t adopted) in this state, and he had always tried his damned hardest to be the best anchor for them.

He had seen Dick like this a handful of times before in the past- each time relating to the disappearance of Mar’i.

Making his way over, Bruce wasted no time in sitting down and bringing the man close into his arms. As grown as Dick may be, he and the others would always still be children in Bruce's view.

They would always be his children.

“...It’s not gonna get any easier, is it?” Dick mumbled softly, leaning into the comforting touch.

Bruce hesitated before shaking his head. In reality, the answer varied depending on the kid. But with their family?

“Easy” was never a part of the equation.

In fact, things only seemed to get worse here on out.

The door burst open several minutes later, with Tim running in with a panicked expression, several others joined behind him frantically. “We got a problem!”

“Daddy, it hurts- it hurts so much, Dad…” Marienkäfer whines and is seen curling up into a ball in Nightwing’s arms, her hood falling just the slightest bit from the angle of the camera.

Nightwing is seen pulling the girl closer, reaching for something but stopping to further comfort her as she cries.

“It hurts…”

Nightwing rocks her in his arms in comfort. “You're okay, you're okay sweetheart… Dad’s here now, you're gonna be fine…”

The video ended there, thankfully only being a few seconds long.

It was enough though.

“Shit.” Dick muttered, his hands running through his hair as he groaned, knowing this situation would not work in their favor for the near future.

This came with many liabilities.

Damian, who oddly enough seemed to be trying extremely hard to avoid looking at either Kori or Dick(mainly the latter), sighed and pulled up the most frequented news article that spoke on the video. “Good news; the Mayor of Paris is already claiming legal action. Marienkäfer and her team are considered legal heroes and citizens of Paris and Mayor Bourgeois is already sending lawsuits out left and right due to the video being posted clearly without her consent- which is illegal in France- as well as the risks it’s put over her and her identity. Several articles were pulled down after the announcement, but the Bad News is that this isn’t going to just be forgotten.”

He was right.

Their team had made a point to not reveal to the world that they were actually family, as the personal relationship would make them more easily used against one another. People would hear them bluffing loud and clear if they knew how closely connected they all were.

Not to mention, not only did this immediately expose Marienkäfer’s identity to anyone who knew Nightwings- but if her team knew her identity(most likely with Luka being Viperion) then that also exposed them all to the Miraculous Team in Paris.

Then again, Bunnyx clearly had figured them all out before even meeting them.

But Marinette had broken down simply with the rest of them(her family whom she was familiar with) having learned her identity, so having it now exposed to the Justice League and many others… That was probably not gonna go over well with-

“MARINETTE!”

The cave went silent in a heartbeat, everyone turning to the elevator as Koriand’r ran out, tears streaming down her face as fear covered her features. She was gasping for air, hiccuping and falling to her feet as she tried to float, incapable of the emotions that allowed her flight to show.

“She- she’s gone!” Kori ran to her husband, clutching his shirt with pure terror. “Richard, she left! Our baby ran away!”

Yeah- “easy” was never an option in this family…

Chapter Text

She was gone.

She ran away.

Marinette left .

Dick collapsed.

Marinette vanished out of nowhere. One moment Damian had left her to a phone call, and then the next- POOF! She just left!

One of the issues? She didn’t actually leave . She literally vanished. There was no footage of her having left the property, not even by flight, and Kori had heard her heartbeat in her bedroom before it had suddenly just disappeared.

She was here, and then she was gone.

They tried not to panic, but it was understandable when they all mostly failed. Dick and Kori got the free passes to panic, both hyperventilating and remaining unconscious as the rest of the family began a search.

Tim started by checking her phone records, to see who it was that had called her.

Kim Le Chien.

“He’s our classmate, and one of Marinette's closer friends,” Damian supplied, a look of slight unease crossing his features. “I have reason to believe he is also King Monkey of the Miraculous Team. With the size of her group, I would suspect her closest friends to be all of the team.”

Next thing they knew, Tim already had a chart on the screen, with one side having a photo of every Miraculous Team member, and the other side having the faces of Marinette's best friends.

The magical veil lifted, and Bruce had never wanted to facepalm so badly before in his life.

Tim tried to get the phone records, but it was no good. Her phone had been wiped and then destroyed, last being located in her room. They soon found the remains of her device under the bed, destroyed by a starbolt. Other than a bag, Silkie, and the Chinese jewelry box, Marinette had left with nothing else. Bruce wasn’t even sure if she brought any extra clothes with her.

“Call her entire team, as well as the Dupain-Chengs. She might have returned to her Paris home, but we can’t know for certain what this is all about.” Though he had some ideas…

Calling Tom and Sabine was a bust. The two had every right to know of the situation and it was best to inform them as soon as possible in case of something drastic happening. Surprisingly, while they had been rightfully worried, the two didn’t seem too overly concerned.

“Marinette will be like this sometimes,” Sabine said with an anxious smile. “She will disappear at times seemingly at random; though usually we get a heads up in advance… We’ll call around as well; if she’s with a friend, then you’ll have a better chance checking with their parents rather than the ones who would easily lie for her at the drop of the hat.”

Bruce would have preferred it if one of her friends had lied. Instead? They just never picked up.

When calling their families, most remarked on their own children acting a bit distant or quiet, but having received no sign of them knowing where Marinette was. If anything, it seemed all of the team was rather worried.

Even when calling Alix(who they now realized had been messing with them this entire time), the girl had ignored them entirely. Her father had said she had yet to get up from bed, practically dissociated from the world.

Some of their reactions told Bruce that they knew something , but he wasn’t so sure that what they knew would benefit the search for Marinette.

Not yet at least.

After the first 24 hours, Dick finally remembered something.

“Silkie- she took Silkie!” He smiled wide and ecstatic. “We put a tracker on Silkie years ago ! I mean sure he ate it, but we used a metal that wouldn’t be able to dissolve from his stomach acid- it worked not even three months ago!”

Bringing up the tracker, they all found it leading to an apartment in New York- an apartment that was owned under Jagged Stone’s name.

They actually found her!

Richard, Koriand’r, Bruce, and Cassandra, all left for the apartment.

The ride was mostly silent, with nerves high and strung by the thinnest strings. Kori hadn’t even tried to fly once after alerting them her daughter was missing, and no one could blame her.

Things only got worse when they reached the apartment.

Extremely worse.

The apartment was the penthouse floor in a luxury building, and there seemed to be a commotion going on near the entrance. Police were taking statements, and the four knew that this had to involve Marinette in some way.

Suiting up, they made their way to the front. Batman quickly spoke to the police to get permission to check on the penthouse floor, which they soon learned was the suspected area of disturbance.

The doorman looked nervous as the four surrounded him to listen, gulping loudly as he let the paramedic finish looking at his arm. It was bruised and strained, and he was rather shaken from the situation.

“A-a group of men came in and went up in the elevator. They didn’t stop for anything, and I tried to ignore it, but… About thirty minutes later, they came back down looking rather disturbed. One of them began shouting at me, demanding where a young girl went. I don’t know her name, but I know she was allowed to stay at Mr. Stone’s penthouse. I think he said she was his niece or something? Sh-she came in some time yesterday and never left, but they clearly didn’t find her.”

Marinette.

“What did the men look like?” Black Bat questioned.

The man huffed, not needing any time to recall details. “ Strange . They were all of Asian descent, and they were all bald. Different heights, but they were all rather tall with medium builds. They dressed in those kind of old robes looking like monks or something, but they didn’t act like it . This one guy had really thick eyebrows, and he twisted my arm when I didn’t know where the girl went. He started shouting in another language and then they all stormed out…”

“Probably the Triads,” they heard some older lady mutter farther away. “They looked like they were the mob, or something dangerous like that. Hunting down a poor little girl.”

While Batman doubted it was the mob or mafia, he couldn’t come up with any other ideas of what it could be.

When they got into the penthouse, it was made 100% clear that the men had been after Marinette. The entire floor was destroyed and left in shambles, with furniture overturned and ripped apart. It wasn’t a fight- the men hadn’t found her here- so they had been searching for something specifically.

But what?

Silkies tracker was still present, and when Nightwing followed the signal, he found it leading to a wall near the pantry.

It took him a moment, but he managed to find a hidden button on the inside wall of the pantry, hidden behind a shelf. When pressed, it opened a small hidden door near the ground by the pantry. It gave him the memory of the movie Coraline(which scared him shitless despite being an adult when it came out), but opening the door revealed a more loveable crawling sentient creature.

Silkie mewled excitedly upon seeing Dick, hopping up and down and running in a circle amongst various snacks and pillows that had been left behind for him. He hopped into the mans awaiting arms- a small note attached to a string tied around his neck.

Nightwing stood back up and handed the silkworm to his wife, opening the note hesitantly, already knowing that it was from Marinette and most likely addressed to them.

Mom and Dad,

I’m sorry for what I said. More than anything else, know that I love you and am grateful for everything you’ve done. I didn’t mean what I said…

I’m also sorry that I left. Really. I didn’t want to, but you must know that being a hero is never easy, and it will always get in the way of our lives. I had to leave, and I only hope that I can someday soon come back home.

Please don’t be upset with my team, or with Mr. Jordan- they never wanted this to happen, but they understand why it needs to. I’m sorry for everything.

Love,

Mari

Nightwing stared at the letter silently, tears threatening to fall down even with his mask in place. However, there was something in the letter that caught him off guard, throwing his sorrow out the window and repressing it with unbridled rage.

Despite what Marinette asked, Dick didn't think that he could control the anger in him.

“JORDAN!”

When Hal sneezed harshly in the middle of nowhere, despite having had no feeling of allergies or the like, that should have been his first clue that he needed to get to safety.

Instead, he had overlooked the sign sent to him by the Heavens, and was now paying the consequences.

Hal ran around the table in fright, pleading for Nightwing to tell him what the hell he did wrong as he was chased and used as target practice for a multitude of Batarangs. Seriously, what the heck?

The rest of the Justice League just watched(like the jerks they were) and did nothing to help.

“You knew !” Dick shouted, glare venomous enough that it could rival his fathers. He and Hal stood at opposite ends of the conference table, with Hal using Diana and Clark as human-shields.

“Knew what ?!” He yelped as he dodged a Batarang headed his way, only for Diana to un-amusedly catch it before it passed her.

His exclamation only seemed to fuel the young man's anger. “About Marienkäfer! You knew who she was and said nothing !” Wait, what?

Hal blinked a few times in surprise, before looking deeply confused. “Uhh… yeah?” What was the point here? Was this something to do with the video?

“So you knew and yet didn’t tell any of us! Neither Kori nor I- anything !”

Hal didn’t bother hiding anymore, still rather confused on what the issue was here. “Well duh, I couldn’t. Secret identities and all that?” His answer made the entire batclan glare harshly at him, and even the Bat himself seemed to inch his hand closer to a Batarang.

Seriously though, what was so wrong that he had done? Hadn’t he already… told… Oh .

Sighing, Hal rephrased his response. “Sorry, let me say that again: Magical secret identities. I literally couldn’t tell you anything, even if I tried.”

Clark frowned and glanced between Green Lantern and Nightwing, looking just as confused as the former was mere moments ago. “Wait, what are you mad at him for? Who is Marienkäfer?”

Before anyone else could respond, Hal looked the Super straight in the eye and opened his mouth, responding-

With… bubbles…

Sorry- why the hell were bubbles coming out of his mouth?!

Hal gestured to his face with the most nonchalant look, as if he didn’t look like he had swallowed soapy water, and looked back to the rest of the League members(all of which looked bewildered). “As I said- I literally couldn’t tell you. When I found out the Miraculous Teams identities, their Kwamis had to put a spell on me since I wasn’t a Guardian or Miraculous Wielder. In case someone ever mind-controlled me or forced me to tell them their identities, I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone who didn’t already know before. Sorry- did I not say this when I told you I knew their identities?”

Diana huffed and shook her head in response. “No, but it was mentioned in the files somewhere. I didn’t know you meant it like it physically stopped you, but I suppose that makes enough sense. I recall my mother mentioning such a spell; the Kwamis all have it as well.”

Knowing this, Dick had to admit that the man had a good excuse. But still ; he could have tried something . He could have pointed to a picture of her or something, or written it down maybe(though he suspected the spell prevented such ways). Dick just wished he had known.

“Where is she, anyways?”

Oh, right.

The video hadn’t gotten far out enough yet that people outside of Paris or Gotham knew of the issue, though Hal might have learned about it by keeping himself updated about the team. Looking out amongst the other Justice League members, Dick mentioned his wife forward.

“Marienkäfer, is actually Marinette… Our daughter…” Kori said. Everyone looked at them in shock, with Diana’s head whipping straight up as she gaped at the pair of parents. “A-and, and she…” The Tamaranean choked on a soft cry. “Sh-she’s mi- missing…”

There was a small resound of gasps, and Hal looked to them in bewilderment. “Wait- what?!”

“She ran away from home, shortly after we got news of the video.” Bruce reiterated. “We tracked Silkie, who was with her, to a penthouse in New York that was being loaned to her by her friend's family. We found the floor destroyed and Silkie locked away in a hidden compartment, with this note attached to him.” He handed the note over to Green Lantern, who took it quickly and scanned its contents.

“A group of men trashed the place looking for her, and assaulted the doorman when he didn’t know where she had escaped to.”

Hal paled suddenly, the note dropping from his hands to the table. He looked up to them, fear lacing his gaze. That look told them that he knew . He knew something, and it wasn’t good.

“D-d-description? Of, of the men?”

“All bald, tall and strong, and wearing red and brown monk suits. We have a few photos from the security cameras but-”

“The Order.”

What? “Who?”

“The Order of the Guardians,” Hal supplied, looking now rather downhearted and sad. He picked the note back up and handed it to them. “I’m sorry… I should have known they would come for her once the video got out… The video might tell the world that Marienkäfer is Nightwing's daughter, but it tells the likes of The Order that you know Marinette’s identity… They can’t allow that to happen.”

“Why not?” Kori asked, sounding a bit offended by the idea. What was it the business of to some stuck-up cult of old men if she knew her daughter's identity? Wouldn’t that be better ? Especially with them already being heroes to help her! “Why do they even care?”

Shaking his head, Hal turned to the computer and brought up the files he had made thus far on the Order. “They don’t care- that’s the point. The Order is trained to be able to fight those wielding a Miraculous. They’re practically immune to some of their powers even. Marinette held them up with too much respect before due to Master Fu- though now that’s all gone- so she followed their rules. The rest of her team followed them too, but now it’s more serious. We now know that the Order can actually take out the team with ease, but that’s not the only issue here.” He glanced back at them anxiously. “Remember what I told you, about what the Order would do to those who don’t listen to them?”

“They’ll kill your families.”

Oh.

Oh.

Was that… was that why she had run?

“They’re not to be underestimated,” Hal said sadly. “The Kwamis confirmed that they’ve gone to such lengths before in the past. They’re efficient, and they’re practically immortal. While I’m sure the Miraculous Team could take them out if they needed to, Marienkäfer would hear nothing of it. She respected them all too much before, and I have no doubt that now she’s just too scared to put you all at risk. Her running away keeps you all safe, since the Order knows she isn’t with any of you. But, they’ll still try to take the Miraculous away from her.”

This was bad- this was very bad.