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A giant rock monster. Why did it have to be a giant rock monster? Marinette could see it was across the street, heading away from her school, but she still couldn't move from her crouch under the desk.
Chloe had other plans. "GPS, check. Battery, check. Move it, losers. I smell an exceptional scoop!" Then she bolted for the classroom door.
"Chloe," Marinette said from under the desk, "what are you doing?!"
The blonde's body was already out the door. Only her hand on the doorframe anchored her to the class and safety. "It's a real-life supervillain," she said, looking at Marinette like she was the crazy one, "and where there's a supervillain, there's always a superhero close behind! No way I'm missing this!" Then she was gone.
"Chloe!" Marinette cried, facepalming at her bestie's recklessness. She spared a look at where she last saw the monster, and instead sighted Chloe leaving school grounds. "Ugh!" She dashed out of the class and school, stopping only to make sure she was running in the right direction before sprinting off again. "Chloe, wait! You can't go running after a rock monster."
Marinette stopped at the corner, leaning heavily on the park gate as she panted. Chloe was quickly widening the gap between- wait, where did she get that bicycle? She pushed off the gate. "Chlo, wait up!" She didn't bother sticking to the sidewalks anymore as the road was empty because everyone else knew to run away from a rampaging monster. Her foot caught on a bump on the road and she tumbled into a ditch with a cry.
Sitting up, she hugged her elbows to cushion the bruises. Thankfully, the ditch was small. As she climbed out, she realised it wasn't a ditch, but the monster's footprint. She gasped. Was it getting bigger?
Marinette gritted her teeth. Her best friend was gone and the monster was growing. Then she realised she could just follow the trail of destruction, like Chloe most likely was doing, and she'd find her friend. She was about to start running again when she saw the limo.
No.
She had to hide.
She couldn't jump the park fence to hide in there, and the boutique across the street was closed so that wasn't an option either. Aha! There was an alley. It would be close, and all Nathalie would have to do is look right to catch her, but it could work. So she ran.
"Marinette!"
Then she skidded to a stop. She bit her lip, then turned with hunched shoulders. The car came closer and she had to curl her toes to stave off the urge to ditch them, just run and find Chloe. But she couldn't outrun a car. She sighed.
The front passenger door slid open and Nathalie stepped out, then folded her hands behind her back as usual. "It's not safe to be out when there's a stone creature on the loose," Nathalie said- tell that to Chloe- "Your mother sent us to take you home."
The young girl's shoulders hunched even more. "Oh… fine," she said, before climbing into the car. She said nothing throughout the trip to the Dupain-Cheng mansion.
Upon arrival, she thought she would be going to the kitchens but was escorted to her room instead. As if reading her thoughts, Nathalie said, "Your mother will come see you soon." Soon could mean tomorrow. Marinette sighed again and headed for her couch, switching on the TV on the way. The stone monster was all any station would talk about. She settled for TVi news and flopped on the couch.
That's when she saw it. A little black box with a familiar red symbol on it. The symbol of the Order of the Guardians. Marinette swallowed hard. She wasn't ready, she couldn't do this. She grabbed her phone to call Mme Wang when she saw a recent message from the elderly lady. The message wasn't up to an hour old:
Marianne Library Assistant:
Your assignment is due earlier than expected, so I'm lending you the book now. Please return it to me once you've finished.
No. No, no, no, no, no. She can't superhero. She can't save anyone. She couldn't even save Chloe.
Omigosh! Chloe! Was she still biking after that thing? Marinette dialled her friend. As the call rang, she looked up, purely by chance, and saw her childhood friend, on TV, still on that bike, hot on the monster's tail, a police blockade not far ahead.
The phone slipped from her grasp. She stared at the box. Then she lifted the lid.
There was a burst of light that made her drop it and pull back. When the green light disappeared, there was a cat-mouse- kwami, if she remembered Mme Wang correctly- in its place. She seen drawings of the kwami before but it was still much smaller than she imagined. She bets she could enclose it in her hand.
It yawned and stretched in a very cat-like arch. If she didn't feel so much like throwing up she would have cooed. Its huge green eyes settled on her.
"Got anything to eat? I'm starving."
Plagg hated leaving the ring. Being passed from holder to holder was exhausting, even if he barely spent fractions of a cycle with each one. Though, at least his previous holders had been willing to go out- some were even overeager- but this one just made zero sense.
At first, she- Marin-something (he couldn't remember what the guardian said her name was)- was apprehensive but she had wanted to go face the peacock. Then something had happened on that moving picture box, and she'd- Marianna? No, that wasn't it- let out a relieved sigh and slumped on the couch.
Plagg had been happy to be left alone; it gave him time to get acquainted with wherever they kept the cheese. But 5 minutes later, when he'd double-checked that the room was cheese-less (didn't the guardian tell her that she had to feed him?), he turned a disapproving eye to his temporary holder who was glancing between the ring and the box, her fingers trembling.
"What gives? Where's my cheese? And aren't you gonna put that on?" he said, waving a paw at his ring. His holder- Marina? Eh, he'd just call her Pigtails- squeaked, actually squeaked, and looked at him like she'd never seen him before.
Hmm, he'd gotten a panicky holder this time. That was… annoying, but it made her less likely to be power‑hungry.
"Are you getting my cheese, or what? You have your orange juice," he said after a huge sniff, "so where's my food?"
"Ch-cheese?" she said, like he hadn't been saying the word over and over again the past 5 minutes.
"Yeah, the finest quality camembert." His tail swished at just the thought of runny, gooey, delicious camembert.
"I- I can get you that… yeah." Then a loud roar erupted from the box. Pigtails cringed. "Lemme just lower the TV volume."
She only took a step before her door swung open. He barely had enough time to phase under the table. The box with his ring soon joined him and he realised she must have knocked it down there to hide them.
That woman who came through the door was… something. It was like all the heat was sucked from the room when she entered.
"Marinette," the woman said, and her voice was dripping with worry but he still shivered. "You're alright."
"Of course, I am, Mother. Why wouldn't I be?" the girl said, glancing at Plagg hovering under the table.
"The woman came to stand in front of the girl and he almost snickered. She was one of the shortest humans he'd ever seen.
The woman and girl sat but he still couldn't see their heads. "I guess it's silly. It's just… when that monster came so close to the mansion-"
Pigtails' body went rigid. She shouted, "The monster was nearby!" Then she shrank on herself. After a pause, the woman continued, "Yes, it was in the 4th arrondissement." Plagg crept closer.
The girl leaned back. "Mother, the 4th arrondissement is 10 minutes away." The mother replied in a similar tone, "I was worried for you."
He was close enough to see their faces now.
She huffed. "As you can see, I'm fine." She paused. "So you can leave."
Plagg's ears perked up.
"You're following the news," the woman said as she turned to the picture box- TV- and his ears drooped again. They'd never able to transform with her here. Normally, he couldn't care whether he went to fight or not, but this girl was a bundle of nerves. He had a feeling that if he couldn't get her to go out today, she'd never go.
"Yes." Pigtails sounded exasperated.
Plagg's ears went straight up. He had an idea.
"I saw your friend on the news."
He phased into the floor and up into the couch they sat on, not caring whether he was flying past Pigtails or the woman. In a second, he heard the sound he was waiting for: a loud splish followed by, "I'm so sorry, Mother! It was an accident."
He heard the woman stand. "Right. Well, congratulations. I'm leaving your room like you wanted." She left, probably to a bathroom. When her footsteps were faint enough, he phased out of the couch and found Pigtails frowning at the door.
"Great, the snow queen's gone." He flew down to pick up his ring in his tail, flipping it in the air once he was at eye level with the girl. "Now say the words and let's go already," he said, nodding to the TV.
Marinette's throat went dry. "But-"
A blonde boy in a spotted suit appeared on screen. Was this supposed to be her partner? Mme Wang said her partner was getting the ladybug miraculous, and he did have a ladybug-themed suit. She furrowed her eyebrows.
The news station had to film from a helicopter which meant everything was too far away to see details but she knew he was wielding a yoyo. A ladybug hero with a lasso-yoyo for a weapon. How much stranger could this day get?!
"Aargh! We're late. C'mon, Pigtails, we got a job to do."
Saving Paris. Right.
At first she was willing to at least try because Chloe was going after that thing, but when the police blockade had stopped her and carted her offscreen (probably to her home), her nerves had returned in full force. Because which sane person goes to fight a monster with a ring.
Her voice came out much squeakier than she wanted. "But I a superhero be can't. I can't might fonsters- fight monsters. I'll make just everything fall apart-"
That last sentence was truly the only thing Plagg understood. "You're the new holder of destruction. You're supposed to make things fall apart."
Her pitch rose. "But-"
"Come on. I know you want outta here," he said, looking at the enormous room and remembering all his previous holders that had rooms that were just too big. "This is your shot, huh." He floated to the window. She looked at the ring for the thousandth time. It was prickling her, urging her to go.
On TV, ladybug-boy was dodging the stone giant, doing flips and jumping onto it to make it hit itself. He looked so… natural.
"I don't think-"
Plagg dove behind the curtain as her mother glided in.
"I forgot my phone." She picked it from the table and her eyes lingered on the TV. "He looks really young," her mother said, gesturing at the TV. Marinette squinted. Does he? Then it dawned on her. He was her partner, and she ditched him so she could spill orange juice on her mother. She hung her head.
It wasn't completely her fault. She couldn't up and leave her mother. Besides, she'd tried to get her mother to leave but she just came back. And with how things were turning out, she was probably too interested to leave, even if it just meant going to watch the fight in her own room.
Bug-boy was holding a long metal something now. It looked like a street sign, maybe a stop sign, judging by the shape; it was spotted, like him. Was that from his creation powers? And what was he supposed to do with it?
The stone-giant was upon him. He barely had time to backflip away. Marinette wondered why bug-boy was heading for the stands where there was less space for movement and lassoing, when she saw the girl following behind.
She gasped. Chloe?!
Oh, wait. The girl was a redhead. Not Chloe.
But still a civilian in danger. Bug-boy was leading the monster away from her.
She wondered if she should have gone. Bug-boy was doing okay, but some help wouldn't hurt. She winced as the giant hit the stands above the exit. It caused a shockwave of groaning, bending metal. Bug-boy slipped, the spotted sign fell from his hand and nearly bashed the monster's face, but it caught it just in time with one hand. Its other hand was holding up the exit so the place wouldn't crumble and bury it alive.
When Bug-boy regained his bearings and stopped sliding into things like a spotted, human pinball, Marinette could breathe again. He threw his lasso at something on the ground near the giant. A few seconds later, a purple, boiling blob formed around the giant, dissolving to show a much smaller, human figure falling. The person landed on the grass (that looked like it hurt), and a pile of rubble fell on him/her.
That person was buried alive.
She slapped a hand over her mouth just as her mother's eyes widened. That person was dead. She let someone die because she was too afraid to say three simple words, go out there, help her partner- This was all her fault. Someone died and it was her fault.
Then they walked out of that mess, spotted hero and former-monster, the hero using his yoyo to clear the way of rubble, and she let out a strangled cry, wiping a tear she didn't know had fallen. The news crew was cheering, her mother's figure relaxed, but all she could see was how easily today could have blown up in her face.
The hero pulled away from the person and lassoed the spotted stop sign to himself, before hoisting it into the sky. She couldn't hear his words over the still-celebrating news crew but when the pink light spread across and beyond the stadium, restoring everything to the way it was, it finally clicked.
Magic. She was seeing real-life magic, not hearing, or seeing pictures of it.
Once the light washed over the hero he stood straighter, waved at the girl he'd protected from the stone-giant and lassoed out of there.
Marinette leaned into the couch, eyes glued to the screen as the news crew followed him. He noticed the crew, swung under a bridge and vanished.
They tried to search for him for a little longer and she used the opportunity to inspect the city from this vantage point. Besides the streets being empty, Paris was as it should be. No giant footprints, broken buildings or even bent trees. That magical light was incredible. That ladybug-hero was incredible.
He saved all of Paris. By himself.