Chapter Text

Season 1

Episode 1 - Monarch (Origins, Part 1)

Somewhere out there, beyond human reach , beyond any sort of technology space organizations could have invented... is a cloud.

A cloud of stardust, and galaxies. Home to two deities, in deep hibernation. One is a giant insectoid, with wings that span a mile by human comparison. Red and Black, but golden spots adorned on the armor of her body. The other is a giant cat humanoid. His black body crumbling, breaking, with green and black energy radiating off of him. Despite this destruction, his whole body is held close together by some miracle. Universes are born near the ladybug, universes die near the cat.

Time... is irrelevant here. Has it been days since they've last been called to? Months? Years? Not important now. Now? They rest…

One of those days happened one fateful September of our era.

The insectoid deity awakens. Her blackened insect eyes, which hold galaxies inside them, look around frantically as she gasps in horror. She scrambles up and crawls to the cat humanoid. 

“Plagg?! PLAGG!!”

The deity called Plagg was in the midst of his usual slumber, letting the aura around him do some destruction for him. In a half awake stupor, he mumbles out to his partner, “Ngh, Tikki, give me a few…”

“Plagg.” Tikki states, louder, “Nooroo’s been found.”

The reality of this situation has not hit the cat yet. “Oh, that’s nice, he’s no longer lost-” As he spoke aloud this sentence, reality finally took a sledgehammer and crushed it into his face. His radioactive-like eyes dart over to Tikki as he finally asks “What do you mean?! By who?!”

“I - I don’t know,” Tikki stammers, “I thought he was lost at sea after The Siege!” 

A shiver ran down Plagg’s spine, that grim period of time shuddering through him like a chill of ice. “Ugh, that whole thing… but seriously, we need to see what’s going on.”

“Hold on, please, hold on!” Tikki reaches the cosmos by her side and gathers together a group of stars. A brilliant light shone as she brought them all together into an all seeing crystal ball. As the light faded, their faces fell as the orb revealed a catastrophe playing out right before their eyes.

It’s an eagle-eyed view of Paris, France, but not as it should be. There should not be a giant rock creature storming down its streets. The sound of collapsing buildings should not interrupt the usual noises of beeping cars and pigeon coos. 

A sound breaks through this catastrophe: an army captain declares “FIRE!”, and in quick succession, the army men fire their guns and tank ammo at the giant rock creature, but they do nothing. They deflect off his gray, blocky body. They even bounce off the moss that coats some parts of his stones. The only thing the ammunition was able to accomplish was to make the giant stronger, and larger. He turns his imposing head at his attackers. He’s ready for his revenge. 

Panic washes over the captain and his army men, cursing as they’re forced to retreat. The giant bends down and hoists up one of the tanks the men were firing at the giant, like it was nothing more than a mere toy, before throwing it at the fleeing police and army men. Some met a terrible fate under that tank. 

This is the sight that the deities face in that crystal ball.

“No…. no no no no no no! Someone’s abusing Nooroo’s power!” Tikki panics, immediately recognizing the creature as one their butterfly friend could create.

Plagg catches on quickly, too. “That giant has to have been - okay, don’t panic but - but PRODUCTIVELY panic! Do you know how we even got here?!” 

Tikki doesn’t answer Plagg’s question. “Plagg, we need to step in and find our new holders, NOW!”

“Hold on, hold on,” Plagg reminds, “We don’t even know WHO we’re going to go to! We both know we can’t just land ourselves wily-nily!”

“People are dying, Plagg!” Tikki argues.

“And even more people will die if we don’t act smart about this!”

“We can ask our holders! They’ll know more!”

 Plagg takes a pause from this argument. The last time he was in France… he was in a miserable state, and his holder was… he tries to brush off this intrusive thought. “We don’t have time!” he continues.

“Plagg!” Tikki sternly went up to Plagg’s face - this conversation was going nowhere and she was the first to realize it.

“W- what…” Plagg, seeing Tikki’s gentle (but still intimidating) face before him, snaps him out of his initial reaction. “I - I know I know, I’m being annoying, I’m sorry. I just wanted to make sure we’re doing this right.”

Tikki sighs. “I know… I’m sorry, too.”

“Thanks.” Plagg looks back at the crystal ball, the chaos still playing before it, and no one yet to save them from it. “We need to go slightly back in time and test our potential holders. From there… we’ll know the drill.”

“I just hope we can make it on time.” Tikki worries.

“Only one way to find out.”

The deities now have a new mission - they will have to leave the cosmos, and each other, for now. They will each find themselves a holder, two souls with a strong will to do good. Two souls with the hearts of heroes. 

Knowing this is the last time she is going to get to see her partner for a while, Tikki gently looks to Plagg. “Be safe… and please, don’t get run over like last time, Plagg.”

Plagg chuckles at this amusing memory. Oh, immortality, always giving the world a scare. “Oh no worries, no worries, I have no plans for any of that. Also, you too.”

After a bit of a pause, Tikki brings him into a hug, the two’s energies of creation and destruction making their proximity perfect. “I’ll miss you, Plagg.”

Plagg hugs back. “You too… but I’ll see you again soon, yeah?”

The two slightly separate but keep their foreheads touching. “Yeah…” Tikki wistfully says, looking up at her eternal companion, “I love you.”

“Love ya too. See ya out there.”

Tikki and Plagg finally let go and face the crystal ball again. The two glow under a bright white light, and so does the space around them. 

The two are needed again. And so, they must go into their faerie forms, and head back to Earth once again.

Before this chaotic afternoon, it was a quiet morning in Belleville. One place of note here is a boulangerie. The outside décor is emblemed with an “M&L” in fancy script, leaves surrounding it. This is a well known and popular family owned business, run by a loving husband and his wife. The wife and the husband get up early in the morning to make the bread and prepare sweet treats fresh from the oven daily. It doesn’t take long for the aromas to overtake the building - first the kitchen, then the bakery front, and even reaching up to the family’s own apartment floors. 

Up above however is a young girl with extraordinary talent she doesn’t realize. A fashion designer, sure she knows that. But she hasn’t been able to express herself at all except for the comfort of her home. This is Marinette-Qingge Dupain-Cheng. The loneliest and unluckiest girl in Paris.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The alarm clock blares from the bed in her room. A hand emerges from the depths of the comforter, budging out to slam off the alarm. Her hand swished past. Missed. She tries again. Another swiff. Another miss. Third time, her hand knocks into the alarm and accidentally pushes down the clock from the side table it’s on… and it’s still beeping. 

The girl in the depths groans. Her hand reaches down and pulls the clock into the blanket with her, finally being turned off in that way. 

“Marinette, 千金, are you up?”

The voice of her mother, Lucy, rang into the room. “I guess…” the girl replied, starting to pull off the relaxation of her comforter.

“Breakfast will be ready in 10 minutes, make sure you get yourself together before then!”

“...yes, Mom…”

Forced to get up, Marinette was still tired. Not because she didn’t get enough sleep last night but she’s just emotionally drained. She had been dreading this day.

Turn to a wooden support beam by her bed, wood being her source of comfort for superstition and Murphy's law, and knock in a rhythmic pattern to prevent any ill fates for today.

After pulling herself through her morning routine, she’s faced with herself in the mirror. Her jet black hair is still unkempt, slightly blocking out her face. A pair of bandages adorn each side of her cheeks, under the bags of her eyes. She slightly presses her hands on her cheeks to have some momentary reprieve from the bags, only for them to droop back down revealing the truth once again. She wonders why she even tried. And her hair still needs to be brushed. It’s the first day of school again, and if she has to go, at least she wants to look presentable. 

She brushes her hair before looking at the singular scrunchie she had pulled out on her counter. She thought about someone she knew last year, someone special. After giving the idea pause for a moment, she takes out a second scrunchie as she divides her hair in half. Brush… tie one side up. Brush… tie the other side … a pair of pigtails hold up her voluminous hair. It’s almost like she’s here with me now. 

As she left her bathroom, she bumps into the counter’s drawer handle- causing her to momentarily yelp. However, this is par for the course. Seeing the cut it made, she pulls open a drawer and picks from a selection of bandages. She picks one with red and black hearts and places it on her leg before getting dressed except for her shoes and climbing downstairs.

Downstairs, Lucy - Li-Hua, a woman in her forties, finishes prepping her eldest daughter’s breakfast. She still leaves her apron from the kitchen of the bakery on, slightly stained with butter and flour. Her slightly dulled black hair rests on her head as she carries the plate over to Marinette’s seat. Also sitting at the table is a girl, 6 years of age, eating her croissant with butter and puree. She's swinging her legs as she enthusiastically watches her morning cartoons on the TV. Her lighter brown hair sways back and forth as she does this. At least someone is happy about her first day of school.

Slowly but surely, the reality of today crashes down on Marinette once again. Maybe if she pretended to be sick, she might be able to last one more day. Or one more week. Or maybe more. It’s not likely but she tries anyway, faking a cough. “M-Morning mom,” she mutters out.

Lucy did not buy this for one second. “千金 , that’s not going to work.”

Marinette didn’t expect to be caught so instantaneously. “What? But I-”

“Oh no, you’re not sick,” Lucy replies, placing the plate in front of her, “I know what my daughter sounds like when she’s actually sick.” 

Marinette’s expression droops as she stares at her plate. Sensing her daughter’s despair, Lucy’s tone shifts to something warmer as she spoke up again: “I know you said you wanted to be strong about this, you can’t give up, now. You made a promise to Jacqueline after all… I even see a little bit of her in you right now.” Ah, she noticed her new hairstyle.

“I know, but what does it matter? She’s not going to be there anymore.” Marinette finally takes her first bite of her croissant, a little bit of puree added onto it for flavor. When she turns to the right, she notices that she has an audience to her meal - her little sister, Julia, still kicking her feet under the table. It’s hard to stay sullen around this embodiment of sunshine. “Morning, Jules,” she greets with a soft smile. 

“Mornin’f!” Julia replies, her mouth still full with her croissant. 

The meal continues, and the time to leave only draws closer with each and every tick of the clock. “Marinette, this is going to be a fresh start for you, I can feel it,” Lucy believes.

Marinette’s dark eyes shift. “But what if… she’s there?” A vision of pale yellow fashion and glossy lips warped into a smirk flash in a memory.

Lucy pauses. She knew that she was going to bring her up. “Your father and I already told you, we’ll do whatever we can to switch your classes if it comes to that.”

“Will they listen to you, though?” Marinette asks, knowing her school’s history dealing with this particular person, “They will always listen to her as long as she has her dad on speed dial-”

“Oh we will make sure of it, no matter who she thinks she OR her father is,” Lucy interrupts, slightly waving her empty cup as she speaks. 

Marinette smiles very slightly. “Yeah, uh, thank you. I’ll thank dad too when I see him. I appreciate it.” She knows that this is bittersweet comfort. Just because she’s not in her class doesn’t mean she couldn’t encounter her in the halls, or during lunch, but there’s only so much you could ask for, realistically. It’s another school year. That means she will be there. It’s as clear a fact as the colors of the sky.

“Don’t forget you still have your breakfast in front of you!” Lucy reminds. Right, she still has to eat. Marinette starts to reach towards the end of her croissant.

A new voice rang in: “Goooood morning!” Unmistakably climbing up the stairs into the apartment in an eager step is Mathias, Lucy’s husband and Marinette and Julia’s father. His apron is still on from being in the bakery downstairs, but this time stained with colorful icing. Even under his bushy brown mustache, you can easily read this teddy bear of a man grinning ear to ear, carrying a covered tray up. 

His daughters greet him, Julia yet again with her mouth full. His wife chimes in, “甜心, the girls got their breakfast and it won’t be long before they’re off to a new school year!” She peeks at the tray he’s carrying. “So, did you bring them up?”

“Yes I have! I have made bee-utiful sweets for all your friends! I didn’t forget your favorite- Unicorn cakes!” Mathias proudly lifts the cover of the tray to reveal an array of pastel cupcakes, with white chocolate horse ears and a rose chocolate unicorn horn sticking out of the perfectly swirled frosting. Six-year-old Julia is more than enthused, cheering about the cute treats. Twelve-year-old Marinette, however…

“Julia can take mine, Dad”, she states, politely wincing. 

Mathias falters a little bit, recognizing Marinette’s demeanor. “Sorry, I hope I’m not going to embarrass you, sweetie pie!”

“It’s okay, Dad, I know you thought of me and I appreciate it,” Marinette replied, feeling a bit guilty for how she turned it down.

Julia, meanwhile, celebrates “I’ll be the coolest girl in cours préparatoire!”, elated to have her cupcake haul doubled.

“I’m happy for you, Jules,” Marinette chuckles.

After a bit of compromise and discussion, the family finally decides that while Julia was going to bring in the cupcakes, Marinette was going to bring to school a box of macarons - their specialty nut-free macarons! More mature, you know?

“I could bring them to school with you!-” Mathias offers.

“Dad- no - I can bring them, my hands will be free!” Marinette politely declines. 

“Are you sure?”

“I insist, dad.”

“Right, sorry sweetie.” Mathias, rubbing the back of his head, heads back downstairs. His girl really is growing up.

As Marinette finally finishes her prolonged breakfast, Lucy reminds, “In the end, we want what’s best for you, Marinette, even if… the path is scary to it.”

“... thanks, Mom.”

Marinette finishes her breakfast at last. The time is nearly here. She heads upstairs and changes out of her pajamas into the outfit she already picked out. A long pink skirt covers most of her legs before stopping at her ankles, a white blouse layered underneath it, before all being covered by a baggy gray sweater. An emblem is embroidered on one of its sides, a pink circle surrounded by black lace and floral vines, an “M” in cursive in the center of it. It's a largely shapeless outfit, which Lucy takes notice of as she steps down from her room. “Marinette, it’s not that cold out, you don’t need to layer up that much-”

“I’m fine, Mom-” Marinette snaps a little bit, before cooling down, knowing she was going to have to be a bit defensive about this outfit, “This- this is what I want to wear.”

Lucy knows that she is much more than this, “I know you’re a bright and beautiful girl-”

“Mom.” She stares at her with a pair of serious eyes. 

Her mother surrenders, “Alright, I’m not going to argue with you on that. You still designed that?” Marinette nodded, which relieves Lucy. “Then that makes me feel a bit better at least… it’s still you.”

A “me” I would want to hide as much as possible .

Marinette finishes up her packing for the school day, slipping into her pink flats as she says goodbye to her family as they head off to work again and to school, promising her parents she’ll at least try to have a good day. Macaron box in hand with its trio of flavors encased inside, she starts off, but not before accidentally hitting the rim of the door on the way out. Knock on wood again, out into the street she goes. 

I...wish I don't have to be clumsy loner Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Maybe if I was someone more... confident or competent , I could be out here ready to seize the day instead of... walking constantly with cold feet worrying about what terrible thing is going to happen to me today. But in order for that to happen... I'd have to well... not be me . And I wouldn't really mind that.

Her home neighborhood of Belleville is a small, edgy neighborhood of Paris. Belleville hosts a monthly street food market that sprawls along Boulevard de Belleville with outdoor tables. Part of the area is a Chinese quarter, with grocery stores and restaurants, as well as a new wave of contemporary galleries and street art. From the boulangerie, the bus stop is two blocks down. It’s entirely possible. She can make it. Just… don’t be Marinette, Marinette.

She walks but as she goes she ends up prone to bumping into people- a thing she’s apologetic for and she survives it- momentarily she’s captivated by a new artwork before a near-loss of balance from the moving pedestrian traffic drove her to keep forward until she finally arrives at the bus stop, hopping aboard. 

At a traffic light, Marinette looks out the window of the bus to see a new display - a beautiful dress, in an almost neon orange. This combination of elegance with vibrant colors is immediately recognizable to be an Ines B. designer piece. She never fails to deliver. 

Eventually, the bus finally arrives at the stop of Marinette’s judgment day - a block away from her collège. After nearly tripping out of the bus, she heads down the street, quickly popping out her hand sanitizer bottle to wash her hands. In her sights, there it was. 

Collège Françoise Dupont, a private academy Mathias and Lucy have saved up together to get Marinette into. It's said that students who come to Françoise Dupont are gifted, and they'll be on the path to greatness once they graduate. The collège has served as a filming location for many films, and often hosts fashion shows during Paris fashion week.

Students bustle about in the front entrance and bond with one another in various styles and demeanors: a goth girl just as quietly enters the school practically unseen, a boy with red orange hair heads inside the school with an objective in mind, and a pair of jocks enter as well. They give off the energy you might first expect.

“It was my first time surfing, but hey, it worked out, Kim,” the jock with the long dirty blond hair told his buddy, “I was worried I was going to come back with one of those surfer accents or something.  But I mean, it worked out in the end, I’m still me. And my legs thank me for it. Not to mention it got me plenty of attention from back on the beach.” He winked.  

“That is so freaking sick, dude,” Kim replied. The two continue their conversations upstairs. 

A girl in a wheelchair goes up the ramp, phone in hand, and her sunshine clip reflecting its real-life counterpart’s rays. She turns on the phone and starts the camera, waving to it, “As you guys know. I transitioned last spring and a lot has changed since then. I grew out my hair, I got this sweater dress on, I put on some opaque eyeliner from Ines B, and I decked out my wheelchair for the upcoming weather girl contest! Not to mention, it's my first full school year as myself! Needless to say, life's been good!” She flashes up a victory sign with her other hand, beaming as much as her hair clip.

A boy in a red cap trudges to school, puffing as he reluctantly heads up the steps. A gust of wind suddenly blows, taking his cap with it, which forces him to give chase until it’s caught by another student, adorned with her own black cap. 

The two catch a look at each other, the boy having a hard time maintaining eye contact with her. Memories of a rocky past stick to him like a weight upon seeing them, who looks up in a similar awkwardness. She knew what she had done before but for now, he does still need his cap back. 

“Um… your cap, Nino,” the student murmurs, handing it over. 

Nino couldn’t not at least thank her: “Uh… thanks… uh… Alix. …. Thought that was solid on my head. Guess not.” He takes it out of her hand and places it back on its proper place. Double check, yes. “Yeah…. Thanks.” Without a further word, he heads back into the school. 

Redemption doesn’t end with saving peoples’ hats, Alix recognizes. 

Approaching these same steps is now Marinette, the macaron box still in her hands. She just needs to survive this year. That’s all she needs to do. Just don’t make herself obvious- 

CRASH.

A trip up the stairs. A fall forward. And now, the macaron box, as she lifts herself up, she realizes that it fell victim too. Half of the box had crumpled up under her weight. She doesn’t say a word or look anybody in the eye. Instead, she darts inside the school - before anyone could even have the chance to check on her. 

Inside its walls, more students stand about, taking full advantage of their time before class begins to socialize and mingle. 

“Oh my summer was SOOO fun!” a bubbly girl dressed all in pink recounts to the goth girl, “I got to help my grandma in the tea shop for the first half of the summer, you know how much I adore floral tea so I was basically on cloud nine over there!” The goth simply nods in response.

A tall, gigantic boy dressed in metalhead fashion stays silent as he paces a bit - he seems to be writing something on his phone and mumbling said words to himself… before shaking his head and back tracking. 

In a similar fashion, a girl in blonde pigtails and a vibrant blue dress rehearses off the top of her head as she walks past the entrance of the school: “Good morning, this is Aurore Beauréal, your go to weather girl of KidzTVi! … Hi everyone, this is Aurore Beauréal and welcome to the KidzTVi channel- what- no no, first one…”

In taking in everything around her, Marinette accidentally bumps into another one of the students, the one with the red-orange hair. She quickly apologizes and escapes right away before the boy could reassure her. He sighs, pulling his sketchbook closer to him. 

Marinette’s class is upstairs this year. Please, no more tripping up the stairs today. As she approaches the stairs she notices the railing by it. That hand sanitizer is going to come out again but it’s perfect! She’ll just use that to not trip again. She reaches her hand up to it- 

SLAM!

This time, the victim was her toe, having slammed into the wall of the stair. Defeated, she took her time going up the stairs, her foot having a very slight limp from the stubbing of it. 

However, when she reaches the top, immediately she notices a trio of boys a grade younger than her staring at something in the corner of the hall. 

“Dude, look - look!”

“Aaaaa, it’s gonna eat that ladybug!” 

“Yo, that’s sick!”

The boys take out their cameras and watch the dance of nature prepare to take its place, a spider indeed slowly approaching its latest prey, a ladybug snared within its webs. Marinette frowns. They’re broadcasting this cruelty against a ladybug for their own personal amusement? She felt sorry for the ladybug. So sorry, in fact, that she finds herself moving towards the scene. 

“Hey, we were here first!” one of the boys tries to protest. Marinette doesn’t listen. Instead, she pulls out from her pocket a pencil that she proceeds to use to swipe the spider off its own web, and in the process creating a split in the web, almost like she actually erased it. She then uses the same pencil to then gently lift the ladybug off the web, cupping it with her hand.

“That’s right… stay there…” she mumbles as if the ladybug can hear her somehow. The boys grumble as they get up, their definition of fun interrupted as they pack their phones again and spread off. Marinette doesn’t think much of it - one of those three are probably going to end up stepping on that spider they were rooting for later and never even realize it. 

She takes the pencil with the ladybug on it up to the open windowsill before letting it climb off the pencil. What a pretty beetle it is, having five spots on its back. “Go on…” The ladybug takes a few steps before opening its carapace and flying off. At least she could make something happy. And she still has to go to class. Right. 

She continues until she approaches the door number she was looking for. A name plate: “Mlle. Bustier” adorns the outside of it. If nothing else, she is a bit relieved to be in her class - she’s one of the most popular teachers at school. Officially starting the new school year, Marinette steps inside.

No one enters a school like Chloé Bourgeois. 

Dressed in professional yet stylish preppy clothes, she struts confidently to the steps of Françoise Dupont, accompanied by her red-headed bestie, Sabrina. Upon seeing her, like a flock, the students go up to her in a paparazzi fashion. But it’s all for very good reasons. 

“Chloé! I'm so sorry to bother you on the first day, but I need a chance to get into the chess club. Can you please put in a good word for the teacher?” a student pleads. 

Chloé points her phone like a director. “Consider it done!”

“Oh thank you! Thank you!!”

“Salut, Chloé! Debate club cannot wait to have you on the team again!” A girl dressed in a sporty yet cute denim dress says. 

“And I can't wait either, Madeline!” Chloé finally turns to see Madeline. “Oh I love your dress!”

Madeline gasps, “Chloé loves my clothes guys!!” She cheers as she returns to her own four besties. 

More students continue their transactions with the mayor’s daughter, smiles, compliments, eagerness for the new year aplenty. As the crowd wanes, Chloé turns to her bestie. “New year, a whole lot of fun, right Sabrina?”

“New year, new things ahead!” Sabrina beams, as she then proceeds to look down at her own phone, their schedule pulled up on it. “Alright, so this year, we will be in Mlle. Bustier’s homeroom class!”

“Oh perfect!” Chloé chimes in, “This year will be a breeze! And you know what will make this year even better?”

“Hm? What is it?” Sabrina asked, tilting her head.

“Gabriel Lachance is finally allowing Adrichou to come to school this year!” She clasps her hands together and sways in a childlike glee, “It’s been SEVEN years, Sabrina, we finally get to hang out again like old times!”

Sabrina grins, she hasn’t seen her bestie this happy in ages. “Oh my gosh I’m so happy for you, Chloé!!!” She takes a pause before looking back and forth among the students. No Adrien in sight. “I haven't seen him yet, though. He’s either not here yet or at class already.” Like clockwork, she goes onto the school’s social media page - the pages showing equal enthusiasm for the arrival of this particular student. “I heard there’s a big buzz about it, even when it’s only near and dear to your heart!”

“Most certainly…” Chloé places her hand under her chin in a pose. With that, the two continue chatting as they make their way inside to the classroom.

As Marinette enters the class herself, she’s relieved to see that she was not the first one to arrive. Many familiar faces from the last year of school for her, yet there are still new ones. Nonetheless, Marinette does not intrude on any of their conversations.

A girl with voluminous red hair introduces herself to Aurore, “My name is Lila Rossi, I’ve just recently moved in ‘cuz my Mama’s officially the new Italian ambassador for Paris!” She flutters her curled eyelashes. 

“Oh that’s so cool!” Aurore gasps, amazed, “I’m actually one of the finalists of the KidzTVi Weather Kid competition!” She flips her own blonde hair. “Love your look, by the way!”

“Thank you ~” Lila thanks, slightly turning her body to give a full view of her red romper with black and white spotted blouse underneath, “I commissioned Off-White for it.”

“Off-White?!” Aurore gawks, her jaw dropped, “Get ouuuut, really? That’s awesome, Lila!”

A nerdy boy with a slanted hi-top fade quietly sits in his row, pulling out a notebook and writing notes on… something. Class hasn’t even started yet, what notes would he take then?

Marinette took a look at the row of seats before her and contemplated her options. Hm. It would be good to sit towards the front so she could get in and get out quickly, but she doesn’t want to be in the spotlight on the first row either. You know what? Second row, teacher’s view on the right side. That will work, since it’s still close to the door. She settles into her seat and puts the half-crushed macaron box down, alongside starting to set up her own notebook. 

SLAM .

Marinette’s train of thought got interrupted by yet another slam, but not of her own doing, but by the perfectly manicured hand of Chloé Bourgeois. It might suffice to say that her expression of disgust here is that of a totally different person than who entered the school this morning, but that would be a lie. That Chloé, and this Chloé, in her signature canary yellow and her glossy lips, are indeed the same person. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng. ” Chloé sneers, face distorting into a smug grin from one designer earring to the other, “Lovely to see you again this year.” Of course right by her side as usual is Sabrina, whose expression reads more like a rich puppy in the arms of the diva, giving her own side eye to the losers outside the conversation. 

Chloé continues, pawing at the pigtails that now rest in Marinette’s hair. “Wearing baby pigtails I see?” She quickly flicks her hair as she brushes it back to her own self. “Trying to be like your ‘older sister’?”

Through all this, Marinette’s expression stays dull and sullen. She could only mumble, without even giving her eye contact, “Mlle. Bourgeois…” as she tries to continue to set up her seat.

“I hope you know you’re sitting in my seat.” Chloé states, placing her hand on the back of Marinette’s chair.

“Your… what? ”

“She said her seat!” Sabrina parrots, sliding into the spot right next to Marinette. 

Chloé makes a shoo-ing motion with her hand. “Go on, you can sit next to that new girl there!” Chloé points to another new girl in the class with glasses and two-toned afro hair, absorbed in her phone. Chloé continues to ramble, “She looks just as lonely as you and I think you’d both make good company”. The new girl glances up in offended confusion after hearing her comment. This was said like she was doing a favor for Marinette, much like how she had with the students who asked her early this morning. However, with Marinette, she doesn’t even give her the courtesy of hiding her disdain with her perky politician’s smile. She keeps her hand on Marinette’s seat back. 

As Marinette continues to stare dumbfounded, Chloé’s impatience starts to show in her next statement, “Adrichou is arriving today. And since that is going to be his seat,” She points to the seat in the row in front of Marinette, “THIS is going to be my seat.” She slightly pushes on Marinette’s seat. 

“I thought there wasn’t a seating chart,” Marinette retorts.

“There is now,” Sabrina snides.

Marinette is still dumbstruck. “And who’s… Adri…chou?”

Chloé’s eyes widen before snapping her hand up to cover her mouth as both girls laugh, “Ah, thought you’d be more aware of this since it’s in your field, Dupain-Cheng.” Finally relieving herself of her laughter, she twirls her own hair, “But, goes to show the daughter of Style Queen’s founder knows more than a hobbyist like you.” She releases her hair from her finger, a ringlet dropping from it. “ I’ll fill you in. Son of Gabriel Lachance, he’s a part time model, he’s my best friend and he adores me. ”

Oh. She’s talking about Adri-en Lachance . Marinette’s eyes widen, which only makes Chloé smugly close her eyes in personal victory. “THAT Lachance-?” Marinette manages to squeak out.

“Alright, seat warming time is over,” Sabrina interrupts, “Back to your actual seat.” She glances back at the seat by the new girl again.

Marinette darts her eyes. She can’t just… lose this seat like Chloé made her lose everything else. Like Jacqueline had told her, she needs to be strong. She needs to stand up for herself. Marinette blurts out, “What If I’m-” ….uh oh. She pauses. What should I say next? Why did I start before I knew what I was going to say? Quick - I need to say something but what do I say? “What if -...uh…” That was just me repeating myself? What should I say? What CAN I say? Say the wrong thing and she’ll-

Marinette’s panic is interrupted by that same manicured hand now gripping her shoulder. Marinette pulls her head away from that shoulder as she turns, only to meet with Chloé bending down to stare down Marinette’s dark, worn-out eyes with her own bright blue eyes, dulled out by her waned patience and utter contempt. Chloé then finally speaks, “I’m not going to ask again, Dupain-Cheng. You don’t have your ‘big sis’ to help you out now.” She thinks a moment, before coming up with an idea. “So, if you don’t move, I think M. Caillebotte wouldn’t like to have a student who keyed his car participate in his art class~” 

“ Ahem. ”

That voice wasn’t Sabrina, Chloé, or Marinette. Chloé turns to be faced with the same new girl she was going to sit Marinette next to, her face covered by her phone, recording the whole incident. 

The girl speaks up again. “Quite a specific threat, Mlle. Bourgeois. Care to explain?”

Marinette can only be baffled, staring up at the girl who’s recording them all. How long was she standing there? Chloé meanwhile, darts her attention right to her instead. “You’re not supposed to be recording me-” 

“Isn’t keying someone’s vehicle considered harassment, as well as incriminating someone else? AKA, a crime?” the girl asks, matter-of-fact.

“ Who asked YOU to- ”

“Thought you’d be more aware of this since it’s in your field. But I guess some random nobody from Besançon knows more than the mayor’s daughter.” The new girl puts down her phone, putting on her own fake smile under her round glasses. She now holds the phone out, the photos and videos app now up instead. “Now leave her alone and I’ll delete the video, mmkay?” 

Chloé’s anger distorts into a nervous smile, lifting her hand off of Marinette’s shoulder and giving it a pat, “Of coooooourse I was ONLY kidding. We are besties after all!” That grin could not hide her great irritation one single bit. 

The girl shows herself deleting the video on the phone before stealing Marinette, “Come on.” She brings her back to her seat with her. Sabrina glances down at the now empty row before shrugging and sitting herself in her seat behind Nino, the red capped kid from before, and Chloé sits behind the reserved seat.

As the girl leads Marinette to her seat, the reality of what she had done hits her, stowing her phone into her own backpack and carrying up the pendant of her own orange star stim necklace to chew on. Despite this, she still looks up with concern. “You okay?”

Marinette sees this girl in the state that she is in at the moment. Why… is she asking me this? “Uh - yeah… are… you?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she muffles in a less strained voice, “Does she always do this to you?”

Marinette isn’t sure whether to believe the girl is fine or not but the least she can do is answer her. “Yeah… it’s… it’s a thing.” 

“Well, it’s freaking stupid that she makes it a thing.” 

“Maybe,” Marinette sighed, looking down, apologetic, “But it’s better than… what could have been…” 

“Could’ve been-” The sheer shock causes the girl to drop the stim toy from her mouth. “No- the freak?! Those two girls are super villains, and all that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing!”

Did she just quote-.... Eh, it’s a quote so absorbed into pop culture, she shouldn’t think too hard on it, and yet… it doesn’t leave Marinette’s mind. “Well… someone did” , Marinette explains, pawing at her own pigtail from Chloé’s playing with it earlier, “But… I wouldn’t say they’re… ‘super villains’ as much as they’re closer to those usually calm, collected villain types that have a lot of connections like Vice Panther… at least many super villains are often more open about it-” 

Marinette stops herself when she realizes Alya’s expression changed. Not to anything negative this time but in expectancy. Her dark eyes are widened like saucers, her mole on the top of the right side of her forehead pushed close to her baby hairs by her lifted eyebrows. 

Before Marinette could backtrack, Alya quietly asks, “Do you like comics?”

Marinette flushes, “I uh  I - uh -” … there’s no going back now, “....yeah…?”

Like a light switch, the girl’s expression changes to complete enthusiasm, “Okay! Best hero in the Righteousness Society?!”

Oh thank god, she wasn’t asking to mock her. “Well,” Marinette starts to answer, “I … I like Frostbite a lot! I love her designs - there’s been like, so many ice-themed heroes over the years and she’s got this cool spin on it!” 

“Perfect choice!” the girl celebrated, “I’m basic ‘cuz I like Majestia but like hello??? One of the most influential black superheroines?” She talks with so much fervor on this subject, “People think she’s boring ‘cuz she’s nice and ‘way too OP’ but that’s what makes her unique dammit!” She quietly slams her hand on the desk.

Marinette sighed, “Ugh, don’t I know it a little bit. Don’t get me started on the gay stuff either, Frostbite and Hurricane have so much romantic tension and yet the writers haven’t done anything about it! They just need to stop dangling the string ‘just in case’ or whatever, they just need to go for it!” 

“God, yeah, really!”

The two girls laugh a bit realizing they both share that same passion, Marinette couldn’t remember the last time herself sharing that sort of energy with anybody. “Anyway, uh, hi, I’m Marinette!” Marinette finally introduces herself, “Do you… want a macaron from my family’s bakery?” She pulls out the half-crushed macaron box in front of her, “I.. know it looks bad but there are still some left intact!”

Opening the box reveals the three flavors that she picked out to get to the class with: vanilla, red bean, and salted caramel macarons. Some of the fillings do coat one side of the wall of the box, and the cracking of the cookies only prove to pronounce the sweet scent of them even more. 

“Sure!” The girl opts for the red bean macaron before splitting it with her new friend, finally introducing herself, “I’m Alya Césaire, my family recently moved here to Paris.”

“Oh, thank you! And welcome to Paris!” As Marinette graciously takes her half of the sweet, she realizes.. Oh, THIS is why she wasn’t hesitant to talk to her… but she’s happy to take whoever she can get, before Chloé’s influence could get her grubby nails on her.

“Thanks!” Alya replies, mouth partially full with the macaron, “mmm. By the way, they taste amazing!”

“I’ll pass the compliments to my dad,” Marinette says, “I mean, the most I did was make the logo on the box.”

Alya takes a double take at the box that was before them, the “M&L” emblem adorning it. “Wait, you made the logo?! That looks so professional!”

“Aw, thanks…” Marinette smiled, “By the way, back to the comics, um, did you get to read the latest Majestia issue yet? I didn’t get the chance yet so no spoilers please.” 

Alya slyly waves her phone, “I got the digital copy on my phone~,” she cheekily offers.

“You do?!” Marinette spoke a little louder than she wanted to, before relaxing her volume once again, “heh… you do, cool, how are you liking it?”

“Wanna find out at lunch time?”

“That - that sounds great, thanks!” Marinette was almost tearful at this offer, it almost felt too good to be true. But it was true. By sheer luck, Chloé ended up putting her with a new friend after all. They continue their conversation, taking advantage of every minute before the teacher’s impending arrival. 

Sabrina couldn’t help but overhear the conversation between the new friends. All that stuff they were talking about it’s so…um… weird? “They talk over there like it's a foreign language,” Sabrina blurts almost defensively to Chloé, “It’s so weird.”

Chloé doesn't care one bit about what those nerds were talking about - she is just staring down at the empty seat in front of her, then back at the door of the classroom again. “What’s taking him so long…?”

In the streets of Paris, walking by a farmers market where a man plays a stereotypical french song on the accordion and old tourists dance in the square, two young men wait for their morning on-the-go cafe au lait to be finished brewing as they wait in line. They skipped breakfast for this occasion.

The shorter of the boys, pale as if most of his color was drained from him, is currently running from home in disguise with his pushy cousin Félix. The boy is the son of the mover and shaker of Paris, Gabriel Lachance, a fashion magazine division editor-in-chief and top critic for Style Queen: France , as well as responsible for a few products sold in stores. One such product is on him now: a white hoodie with a gray stripe running through it, the “G” emblem over his heart. But this family is anything but happy. The boy shouldn’t be out of the house, registration for school is debated to be undone, but Félix pushed him out of the house to go to school for once after five years. A rebellious streak, something the boy has never done before.. and it makes him feel sick. And he knows his luck is running out.

Meet Adrien Lachance, the loneliest and unluckiest boy in Paris.

“Félix, can we ditch the café, please?” Adrien nervously mutters, “What if Major Daume and Nathalie find us here?!” 

“We can’t go to school without anything in your stomach either. Trust me, you are going to notice more in a classroom,” Félix lectures in the British accent he brought with him from his home. He takes the lead by the counter of the pick up window, “Also, don’t shift yourself around too much like that. I know we’re keeping an eye on things but it’s just going to make you look more suspicious.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Adrien stands still. He’s heard this instruction from many photographers. “It’s just… I haven’t been to school in a while, and you know how Pere is…”

“Only a few months here and I can get a lifetime of an idea,” Félix sighs, “Yet the last thing you need is for you to make everything fall back to square one. Which is why we keep going. If you treat it like you’re doing something wrong, people think you’re doing something wrong.” 

This statement gets interrupted by the barista calling for Félix to pick up their orders. After a thank you, he passes Adrien a coffee cup with café au lait and leads the way out of the cafe again. Adrien lags behind, staring down at the cup in his hands. The steam escapes from the hole of the exhaust of the lid as well as the drinking hole of it.

“Drink up,” Félix reminds, “It’ll help you get going.”

Adrien relinquishes and starts his sip, only to be met with the heat of the drink hitting directly onto his tongue. He yelps, causing Félix to dart his head back to look, only to be faced with a defeated Adrien, with his tongue partially sticking out, fanning it. “Lathanth luk..” he uttered, his tongue still out.

Félix rolls his eyes. “No, Adrien, burning your tongue on a hot cafe au lait isn’t ‘Lachance luck’, I don’t think, it’s more so just… wait for it to cool down a little.”

The “Lachance Luck ''. It’s something Gabriel has declared that the whole family has had. Adrien knows it as starting with his mother Emelie’s cancer diagnosis, and her subsequent death not long after. He knows there was something earlier than that which his father sees as such, but he would rather not count it. From there, life felt like nothing but a downward spiral. A life of isolation and homeschooling. A life of remote work, closed door meetings, using Nathalie to be their voices. Flashes of cameras, turn your head up, shift your feet. Perfect. At the same time, either of their presences get plagued by drained camera batteries, corrupted files, outdoor photoshoots ruined by a sudden thunderstorm. A power outage, interrupting a virtual meeting. Delays on the transportation of new clothes. A bridge was out, the fabric got wet. The English language teacher stopped showing up to tutor Adrien one day. Hell, it could even extend to extended family- Félix’s own father had died not too long ago. The Lachance Luck takes on many forms, and it was a burden for all in that manor to bear. 

As the boys continue to walk down, Adrien slightly opens his cup to let some of the heat escape more from the drink. Suddenly, a small black silhouette brushes by the two darting down the sidewalk, before turning left down one of the side streets. The silhouette slowing down reveals to be that of a small black cat with striking green eyes. Adrien can not help but look at the cute little guy. 

The cat proceeds to approach one of the awnings, then jumps onto a pile of boxes for. But when the cat launches off the boxes, the stack immediately collapses behind it, startling it and leaving it trapped on the tarp of the awning. Its tail fuzzes up before trying to find any way down. There was none. 

Adrien’s expression fell when he saw the cat. “Félix, can you hold my cup?” Before Félix can answer, he slightly shoves the cup into his free hand, before jogging up to the awning where the cat was. “Here, minou minou… I’m gonna help you out!”

Félix stares bewildered as his famous child model cousin composes a staircase of the nearby crates in order to reach the cat, before he proceeds to climb it. And the strangest part was that it was working. 

When Adrien reaches the top of his makeshift staircase, the cat looks at him apprehensively for a moment, before nudging up to his chest. Adrien takes the chance and holds the cat in his arms. “I’m not gonna hurt you… I got you, minou…” He starts stepping down. “That’s it… that’s-” 

CRASH!

Upon reaching one of the steps, Adrien’s left foot breaks through the crate, which jostles both him and the cat. Both boy and cat are startled but unharmed. This causes Félix to start running to them.

Despite this predicament, Adrien manages to lower the cat to the following step. “Heeeeereee” Adrien strains, finally releasing the cat from his arms. Upon landing on solid ground from the step, the cat briefly looks back at him before continuing on its way.

Now that the cat was safe, Adrien is faced with a new predicament - he needs to get out of the crate. He struggles alone at first, until Félix approaches him with a second set of hands to try and lift him up - 

POP!

Both boys stumble back as they land on the hard sidewalk. From this position on the ground, both are left gawking at the leg that remains in the crate. Oh no. Adrien looks back at his own legs, one of the pant legs now flat just before where the knee would be. “Dang it.”... Adrien stares at the sky in defeat, his metallic-green prosthetic leg remaining in the crate. 

Félix gets up with a sigh and pulls the leg out of the crate before bending back down back to his cousin. He attempts to roll up the loose pant leg but it isn’t going as smoothly as it should be- the pants were a skinny fit. “I think it’s so stupid he makes you wear trousers that make it so hard all the time,” Félix complains, before finally revealing the covered stump that indicates the actual end of his left leg. “Something looser would be much easier to fix in case of emergencies.” Adrien could only nod. “Come on, let’s get that back on.”

Adrien sits up and helps Félix put his leg back in place, and with the clasps set back in, Adrien was whole again. 

“I don’t understand why he wants me to hide it,” Adrien sighs, “I ripped a lot of pants because of this! ….Thanks anyways, Félix…”

Félix looks to the side, visibly annoyed, “I think we both know why… anyhow, the battery connection works too?” 

Adrien bends his leg. “Yea.”

“Alright, no more misadventures. Let’s get up and go to school now.” Félix takes Adrien’s wrists as they both stand up, him also returning his cooler cafe au lait to him. Adrien looks down at it and sighs. 

Escaping home was probably stupid. Pere is going to punish me in ways I can't imagine once I get home. He'll probably send Major Daume and Nathalie to pick me up mid-class, that would be so humiliating. And I'm sure school life won't be simple either way. I've heard some influential kids are at Françoise Dupont.. but will I be treated normally there? What I’d give just be someone other than me , just for one day... Someone who isn't known for a brand, or my horrible luck. Perhaps someone who could just be himself , and people would appreciate that either way.

After some more walking, the two finally arrive at the steps of Françoise Dupont. But that does not mean their stress is over yet. Adrien nervously checks the streets on either side of the school. “Are they here?” Adrien double-checks.

“Nothing but students and faculty as far as the eye can see” Félix replies, checking himself, “Let’s make sure as long as we’re outside, it stays that way. Keep a low profile. We know how people can act.”

The two start climbing the steps, but given who they were… that low profile was not going to last for very long. 

“Félix Graham de Vanily is here!”

It begins. Eyes turn to the two.

“Waa!?” “That’s Félix Fathom!” “He’s even better looking in the flesh!” “He’s going to our school here?!”

The students gawk as they start to form an audience around him… climbing the steps to school. What riveting content to witness the son of a famed filmmaker to be doing. Adrien tries to prolong the attention from being on him by keeping his hood down.

“Yeah yeah I know people,” Félix tries to push back, “just going to school, just like you all here.” He picks up his pace which Adrien tries to catch up to, only for Adrien to end up tripping up the stairs himself, his bags scattering about. Adrien is forced to quickly pick up his items, but as he does, his hoodie drapes down - 

“ADRIEN LACHANCE?!”

Oh no.

“Oh my god?!” “Wait - what’s he doing here???” “Ough, he’s even cuter in person!” “He’s going to school here?!” 

Félix groans, their mission to be low profile failed. He goes back to Adrien to help with the bags, “What. Are. You. Doing.”

“I slipped!” Adrien argues.

 “Just get up so we could actually go to school-”

A few students try to butt in to their area, bent to look for the scattered supplies. “I’ll get your supplies, Adrien!” “We can pick it up, Adrien!”

“No - no - we got it!” Félix protests, waving his arm to shoo them away. Which doesn’t help his own crowd one bit. 

With supplies sloppily in hand, the two rush up the stairs, their paparazzi of students not too far away.

As the time draws nearer for class to start, more students enter Mlle. Bustier’s room, among them the two jocks talking about their vacation, Nathan and Kim. They both make their way up to the back row where weaving her way between Nathan and Kim, Aurore seats herself next to Nathan instead. “Hey!” Kim complains.

Nathan, without batting an eye, greets her. “Ohhh hey, Aurore!” 

“Hey! How’s your summer been?” Aurore asked.

“Ah, been fun, been fun. So I heard you’re competing in a competition?” He gives his signature smile.

“Mhm! It’s for a spot being a weather girl on KidzTVi, me and Mireille from the other class are finalists!”

“Ohhhh Mireille, I know her!” he points his finger upward in recognition, “Well, whoever wins, I’ll certainly be tuning in!”

Aurore put her hands on her hips. “And it’ll be me.”

Kim, intercepting this conversation, makes his way over. “That’s my seat, pigtails!”

“And I’m near-sighted,” Aurore replies, sticking her tongue out.

Kim was ready to insist again, only for Nathan to give his two cents. “It’s fine, it’s fine, let her sit here, Kim!” 

If Nathan is fine with it, I guess. Kim grumbles as he sits himself next to the nerdy boy making his own notes. The new desk neighbor, Max,  buries himself in his book, not wanting anything to do with what was happening there.

As Kim sits, he feels two bumps on the back of the seat. In confusion, he turns to find a pair of googly eyes looking back on him. “W-what the-?!” he shouted.

A different girl wearing a pink bandana covers her mouth trying to hide her giggle. Ah, of course it would be Mylène Haprele, she does these types of jokes often. 

“Not in the mood, Mylène,” Kim states, peeling the eyes from his seat. 

“Welcome to a full year with me, Kim,” Mylène replies, unfazed, biting her smile with her upper lip. Kim couldn’t say much more without looking like a jerk so he just sits down, googly eyes in his pocket. 

The boy in the metalhead jacket, Ivan Bruel, hasn’t really looked up since he got here. He fiddles with his pencil, with his big stubby hands, only glancing up hearing her happy words. 

Behind Kim, he can hear Nathan continue talking with Aurore,

“And so - “ Aurore starts, before taking notice of the front of the class, “Oh shoot, they actually came to school?!” 

Nathan blinks. “Huh?”

Nathan takes a look down and sure enough, Adrien Lachance and Félix Graham de Vanily arrive at class. Two seconds after they step in however, Chloé leaps out of her seat. “Adrichou!” She darts down the few steps and hugs Adrien tightly. “YOU CAME!”

Adrien is startled by being practically jumped by Chloé right off the bat, but all of this catches the attention of the rest of the class too. Great, more attention. Just what he needed to keep a low profile.

“Adrien and Félix??” Rose, the bubbly girl in pink, coos.

Lila, the new girl with the voluminous red hair, hears their names and looks down at them with her green eyes, her brows raised in fascination. “Oooo ~”

Kim, meanwhile, is not so focused on the boys themselves as he is on the fact that Chloé is hugging Adrien close and fawning over him. Ugh.

“Adrichou, I missed you!” Chloé sobs, keeping them in the hug for a few moments longer. She does not seem ready to let go any time soon.

Adrien greets her back at last with a cheek to cheek kiss greeting. “Bonjour, Chloé, I missed you too!” He feels Chloé’s enthusiasm, but at the very least, he’s relieved that there was someone he knew here besides Félix. 

Félix, meanwhile, is stuck nearby. “... oh KILL me.” he thinks to himself. Not wanting to involve himself in any of this, he starts to escape up to a row further back, and as he climbs, he notices that after the two greeted each other, the atmosphere had gotten much more… awkward.

On the side, Alya and Marinette share their two cents on the matter to each other. “Daddy’s boy, teen model, and Chloé’s buddy?” Alya whispers, “Oh, we got like a league of villains here in this class.” Marinette makes a quietly annoyed sound in response, rubbing her eye. 

After the two finally separate, Chloé escorts him to the seat in front of her. “This is your seat, Adrichou!” Chloé beams, “I saved it for you! Right in front of me!”

“Thanks, Chloé!” Adrien replies, sitting himself down. Chloé returns to her own seat, who proceeds to dreamily stare down at Adrien as he sets up his desk. 

Nino had kept his head down throughout this whole affair. He is ready to start getting into class mode, until Adrien excitedly looks to his left to greet his new desk partner. “Ah, I’m Adrien Lachance! It’s nice to meet you!” he greets, holding out his hand.

The red-hatted boy quietly looks at his hand, contemplating for a moment, before tersely shaking it, “Sup, I’m Nino.” After that snappy handshake, he quickly pulls his hand back and returns to looking at his book.

Adrien’s smile falters. Félix, upon seeing Adrien getting the brunt of the awkward atmosphere, writes something on a small piece of paper before crumpling it in his hand and scaling down the steps to Adrien’s row. However, that’s not a clear cut mission, Chloé rising up from her seat and staring him down with a grin. Félix knows too much about her. 

“You already dropped Adrien off, Félix. You should get back to your school now!” she states, that glossy smile breaking glass. 

“Chloé,” Adrien steps in, “Félix is staying here. With us.” Upon hearing the news, Chloé looks back at Adrien with her mouth agape for a moment. Adrien continues, “He’s a transfer student. I really want you to make him feel welcome-” 

“I’m good, thanks,” Félix interrupts, far from needing any welcoming committee from the girl he called out for obsessing over his cousin. He still remembers that one party, blurs with some of the other rich people galas he’s been dragged to, where he succeeded in a plot to humiliate Chloé into a dance with a different partner to allow a chance for Adrien to breathe. Chloé has not forgotten that. Even though they were 6 at the time.

Félix weaves his way around Chloé to reach Adrien, passing a note to his hand before walking back up to his seat.

“What a shame,” Chloé ‘pouted’, “all the way in the back.” She can’t help but sneak a smirk into her pout.

“Chloé, please” Adrien insists. He then sits back down into his chair to inspect the paper Félix gave him. Opening it, he quietly reads, hearing it in his accent:

Be wary of Chloé. Seems like this class has seen her true colors.

Adrien knows Félix doesn’t like Chloé, but he is not sure how to respond to that. Instead, he folds it back up. 

The wait is over. Class is about to start. A pair of white high heels bring in the students’ homeroom teacher, Mlle. Caline Bustier. Her red hair is tied up into a bun, her face is dotted with freckles, donning a blue and white suit. She turns and smiles with her warm teal eyes and greets everyone as she puts down her bag. 

“Bonjour, students!” She turns and writes her name on the board behind her. “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Mlle. Bustier, I’ll be your homeroom, literature, and history teacher this year!” She smiles looking back at her new students now… mostly alert.

Adrien turns back to Nino. Okay, they might have gotten off on the wrong foot but he feels a desire to try again anyway. After all, there is too much on Adrien’s mind right now. “It’s my first day here,” Adrien whispers to Nino, “I haven’t been to school for 7 years and I’m nervous…”

Nino did not know what to make of the boy who was now his desk partner. However, that catches his attention. “You… haven’t been to school in seven years? What? ”

“It’s a long story,” Adrien continues, looking aside, “I’m sure you must have heard about my Per-” he pauses, recognizing that just talking about him without a name wouldn’t make sense in this scenario, “... M. Lachance isolating himself at his manor. I had to stay in isolation too as well.”

This talking point did not help too much with Nino deciphering him, “...so… you’re that Adrien, for real? So you’ve been homeschooled all this time?” Nino does not really follow the fashion world all too much but most of Paris has heard the tale of the widower who hid away in a manor and took everyone in with him. It was like a fairy tale origin story.

“I… might be homeschooled again after today,” Adrien sighs in response, “My Pere had second thoughts about registration and he planned to pull me out. I uh... ditched home with my cousin just to experience being in school today.” As he continues to recount, he starts to hold his head, spiraling, “But I feel awful, like I'm going to.. throw up my breakfast, and karma's waiting to make my curse a million times worse!-” 

“Dude - hey - dude don’t panic, ok?!” Nino interrupts, trying to place his hand on his shoulder to bring him back down to Earth. Even though Nino is still uncertain, it would be a decent thing to do still to at least try and relieve him from that panic a little. “Yea true, that’s a real concern but panicking about ‘what ifs’ isn’t gonna solve the problem, right? You’re inside, away from the view of the street so take it easy for a moment, remember to breathe, and this is where ya got to focus on yourself, despite what the nerves are saying.”

“Breathe?... okay.” Adrien attempts a few deep breaths, recalling his times when he attempted meditating. Is it helping? He could not tell yet.

“Kurtzberg, Nathaniel?” Mlle. Bustier meanwhile calls. 

“Present,” Nathaniel, the boy with the sketchbook, responds, raising his hand.

“Lachance, Adrien?” the teacher calls next. No response. She then turns to where Adrien is in the classroom. “Lachance, Adrien?”

Adrien stares back dumbfounded. Nino steps in with a whisper, “You say present.”

Oh, it’s that simple? Okay - but I can’t leave her waiting for too long-

“ UH- PRESENT!” Adrien loudly declares, rising up from his seat and reaching up towards the sun with his hand. 

A pause. Then the class chuckles as Mlle. Bustier attempts a reassuring smile. Humiliated, Adrien slinks back down into his seat, ready to be absorbed into it.

Nino turns to Adrien, “Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be that loud - “

“Lahiffe, Nino?” Mlle. Bustier next calls.

Nino quickly intercepts his own talk to say “Present!” before turning back to Adrien, “But hey, you made it this far, you could make it through the rest of it.” Adrien smiles in response. “Though I do have to ask… what’s up with you and Chloé?” Nino questions.

“We’re uh… childhood friends,” Adrien sheepishly answers.

“Childhood friends?... ohhh through the- the families, Style Queen and - stuff -”

“Since Cours préparatoire. I know she’s not perfect, but I can’t throw her under my bus!” Adrien defends, “She’s… my only friend…”

“Your only -” Nino is shocked at this revelation. Thinking about where he is now, and where Adrien seems to be at, and the conversation they’ve had so far, he realizes: there’s a chance this seating arrangement doesn’t need to be miserable. “Let me introduce myself again - I’m Nino Lahiffe and I want you to make more friends. Starting with me.” Like he was on a mission, he firmly holds out his open hand to him.

Adrien is stunned by this 180. “Are you sure?”

“ Please. Yes.”

He gets a bit excited again as he shakes his hand. “Thank you Nino!..” Nino smiles in response. He… hopes this ends well.

“Alright, now settle down, class!” Mlle. Bustier interrupts the socializing, bringing all attention to her. “Before we begin, I have some expectations for this class, so I want you all to listen carefully…”

—

The lunch bell rings. It’s time to eat! “So that concludes history class for today!” Mlle Bustier speaks over the bell, “I’ll see you all tomorrow, first thing in the morning!”

The students arise from their desks. Amidst all of the packing, Kim slinks his way to Ivan to pass a note to him, much to the latter’s confusion. Ivan picks up the note… only for his face to turn as he crumples the paper into his hand. He snatches up his backpack and starts moving a little bit quicker than usual down.

Mlle. Bustier, noticing his change in demeanor, goes up to him, “Ivan?!” 

“I’m fine , don’t worry about it,” Ivan told his teacher. A pair of snickering voices catch his ears as Nathan and Kim sneak past to escape the classroom. 

“Pff, come on, let’s go-” Nathan goads Kim out.

“Eh, I’ll face the consequences tomorrow!” Kim assures, both of them disappearing into the school crowd. 

Ivan makes an irate eye contact with Kim before he fully leaves, keeping his control for now. He does not want to blow up in front of his teacher. 

“Ivan, wait!” Mlle. Bustier calls as Ivan disappears into the crowd. She looks back and forth. Kim? Ivan? Kim? … Ugh, she’ll have a word with Kim tomorrow, Ivan first! She goes towards his direction. 

Meanwhile, Kim and Nathan start to go to the vending machines, but they’re intercepted by two girls Nathan knows quite well: Mimi and Maria, two of his biggest fans. 

“Hey, Nathan!” Mimi sweetly greets, looking with adoring eyes.

“Hey Mimi ~” Nathan greets with his signature smile, “Glad to see your class let you out on time today!”

“Are you gonna come with us for lunch?” Mimi offers, “Adrien’s gonna be there, with us, in the cafeteria!” 

A bit caught off guard hearing his name come out of her mouth, he repeats, “Adrien-”

“He’s like, not that hard to miss!” Maria tells, pointing at the small crowd down the hallway. 

Sure enough, Nathan looks in that direction to see the two blond rich boys with their unwitting crowd of students. Félix, yet again, tries to deter the crowd away to no avail, but to his annoyance… Chloé agrees with him and tells the crowd to.. ‘Give Adrichou and moi some space please ~’, Sabrina acting as a sort of bodyguard to the group.

 “No one has ever seen him in person before, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!” Mimi giddily recounts.

Again, Kim pays more attention to the fact that Chloé was stuck to Adrien’s side than anything else about the two, “Thanks, but I gotta grab snacks for Lacrosse.”

“We’ll see you two later, alright?” Nathan assures, giving a sly wink.

Maria giggles, “Come on, Mimi, let’s go!” The two join the waning crowd, 

Nathan looks back at the two boys in the crowd, and just how much attention they’re getting from… what? Existing? It better STAY once in a lifetime, he thinks, before finally joining Kim to go to the vending machines.

Ivan, meanwhile, retreats into the boys’ bathroom. He needs to calm down. Why… he wonders, why would he have the nerve to write… Faced with his own frustrated demeanor in the mirror, he further crumples the note in his hand. Along the way, he grips the side of one of the sinks. 

Ivan Bruel is alone in the boys’ restroom.

Poor thing.

This note has really gotten to him, hm? 

It’s okay. 

Because he can take action soon. 

Under the bathroom door, something slips in. As it flies up, Ivan sees it in the mirror. He blinks. A bug? Certainly not like one he has ever seen before. A.. black-purpleish sickly-looking butterfly with white distorted patterns like broken glass, that glows purple.

“Oh - oops,” Ivan momentarily snaps out of his mood, although not fully gone, “How’d you get in here?” He goes over to the door and cracks it open. “Here… you can go…” 

The butterfly stays. It flies in place. “You’re a funny looking one.” 

The butterfly flies down. It circles near Ivan. He’s getting confused. “Uh, right here?” he shimmies the door back and forth. “Cmon-” 

Whoosh. 

Before Ivan could think, it dives straight to his paper in his fist instead, getting absorbed into it and blackening it. 

A pit. It's building in his stomach. Anxiety seeping, confusion and fear rising, his face getting flushed- what’s happening? What the hell is happening? 

And then, Ivan wasn’t alone anymore. 

“Bonjour, Ivan. Don’t be scared.”

This voice, it was sweet. It was velvety. It was sinister. But he could not find who was saying it. He held his head. “Who are you?! Where are you?!”

“My name is Monarch. I’m here to give you your deepest desires and the power to go with it.”

Ivan approaches all of the doors in the bathroom with him. He opens them. No one there. Or there, or there, or there. All the stalls are open.

“Don't you want revenge on the boy who gave you that hurtful letter?”

Ivan stuttered, “Where - where are you coming from!? I do want a plan to get revenge on that sonova- but - where - how did you know?!”

“ How, where, or why doesn’t matter. I’ll be giving you the strength to smite your enemies, and the invulnerability to make you impenetrable.”

“What - what are you talking about?! That’s just - stuff you see in movies and stuff-”  

“Everything is not what it seems, Stoneheart.”

Stoneheart? Who is Stoneheart, what do they mean - “Did - you just call me Stoneheart? What…?”

“You keep on fighting back, asking question after question.”

A jolt of pain emits from the hand holding the paper. It seeps into his veins. Closer and closer. It traces up his bulky arms. 

“I’m giving you the opportunity of a lifetime, the power to get back at the boy who hurt you, anyone who looks at you and fears you. You’ll be able to do whatever you want and no one will ever stop you. Take the deal.”

This is wrong. The pain reaches his elbow. He’s powerless right now.

“Blacken your heart.”

It crawls up his neck from his chest. It hurts so much. It needs to stop. It burns.

“Unleash your rage.”

Ivan hunches. It hurts so bad, It reaches his heart. It reaches his mind. It twists. It blackens. It distorts, warps, corrupts. In the mirror he finally looks. Looking back at him, there stands a violet silhouette of someone in a cape and a wide brim hat. 

Then the pain suddenly stops. Ivan Bruel is left with nothing. Nothing but total submission.

“.... if it’s going to take him down, might as well see what this is all about…” Ivan utters, staring at the figure in his mirror, the light of a butterfly-shaped mask gleaming back around his own eyes. “... Monarch, hm?”

The figure disappears. A dark violet ether, stemming from the crumbled ball of paper, wafts over his body. Morphing, disfiguring, and changing him into something new. Once the ether dissipates, taking Ivan's place is a giant rock monster, with moss growing all over his body. A monster with a glowing chartreuse face in the shape broken heart, and an empty heart emitting the same color right on his chest.

The rock monster that goes by the name of Stoneheart looks back into his mirror. Looking at his rock solid hands, might as well test out this new strength, hm? He brings them down onto the sinks in front of him. They crash into absolute porcelain crumbles. This is power. 

An unlucky kid approaches the bathroom, unaware he was about to come face to face with Paris’s first nightmare. The two make eye contact, the boy frozen in place.

….” Outta my way.” 

The student screams and barely avoids Stoneheart’s crashing body, stumbling down to the ground as he could do nothing but hopelessly watch as the giant starts to destroy the halls in his path. 

Oblivious as of yet to what happened inside, Chloé escorts Adrien out of the school away from the crowd of students he and Félix have unwittingly amassed. “Oh you’re not going to eat at the school,” Chloé insists, “The food there isn’t all that well made. I promise you there’s better quality back at The Ritz!”

Adrien, in all honesty, would have preferred to eat in the cafeteria. For once, it wasn’t somewhere stuffy, or lonely. It would have been casual, it would have been chill, for once. He also could have talked more with Nino there. 

“Chloé, I don’t think you understand his position at the moment,” Félix states, trailing behind.

Sabrina, yet again, butts in. “ I think she fully understands it!”

Félix grimaces. “I don’t think she needs you to speak for her.

Looking back at the school, Adrien tries to tell Chloé, “That’s - very sweet, but-”

Those were these kids’ last seconds of normalcy. All of that gets shattered with the stomping of the giant. No one knows what to make of that loud noise at first. Who the hell could guess what was making that noise? 

The answer arrives with Stoneheart, crashing through the front of the school, taking everything, and everyone unfortunate to be in his proximity, down with him. Chloé can only scream out, Sabrina stumbles down to the ground in sheer shock, and the boys could only stare dumbstruck. Maybe if they blink really hard, they would wake up from this dream. Sorry, that’s not possible. Because this is reality now!

The giant looms over the four, specifically at the two girls. Kim has been around them before. They could know. 

“ C h i ế n L ê, ” Stoneheart bellows, “ Where is he? ”

Understandably for once, Chloé yelps out “GET AWAY FROM ME!”, leaping back behind everyone. 

Adrien attempts to mediate the creature before them, “hhhhhhheyyyyy big guy…” he forces a smile, “There’s - there’s no need for violence here…!”

Stoneheart completely ignores him. “ Where is Kim Chiến Lê!?” he demands, slamming on the ground, cracking it below their feet. Félix pleads with Adrien to go with him but Adrien has a hard time moving or speaking any further. Nothing but sheer terror. …seems like no one here really does have any answers. “ Hmph. Useless.”  

As Stoneheart turns to go back into the building, he knocks down a lamp. Then that lamp knocks down the next, and the next, and that all starts a domino effect right towards Chloé, sparks flying along the way. 

The horrific sight can’t be ignored. It’s what finally springs Adrien to action, leaping out and bringing Chloé with him out of the way before the last lamp would have fallen on her too. After both yelp, Chloé sees the lamp that would have collided onto her and the sparks that would have electrocuted her. She looks back at him. “Adrichou…!” she swoons like the damsel being saved by the superhero. 

No more nonsense. It was time to go. “Get out of here- find a safe spot!” Adrien shouts as he pushes the reunion of Chloé and Sabrina before rejoining with Félix and fleeing by themselves. Adrien continues to shout at the still-standing students around him, to go the way he is- it’s the least he can do.

The library was quiet at first, as usual. Fulfilling her promise, Alya and Marinette read the latest Majestia issue together, the aroma of books filling the air. 

“Solitude is really going to try that against her, huh?” Marinette wonders, looking at the panels on Alya’s phone, “Wow…”

“Turn the next page-” Alya teases as she tries to swipe down the phone - only to be interrupted by a panicked Nino slamming open the doors of the library, followed by a loud crashing noise from outside!

This shakes the girls - and everyone else in the library - out of their seats. 

“THERE’S - UH - THERE’S SOMETHING BIG OUT THERE!” Nino yells, out of breath and slightly dirty with dust from the school.

Nothing makes sense right now. Marinette yelps out a “HUh?!-”

Considering Alya and Marinette were the two girls closest to the door, he opts to dart up to them. “It was big - and uh - rocky - and uh - I feel like I woke up in a movie!”

The three of them look around and they see the students start to flock over to the series of computers over on the back wall, which shows security cam footage of the entire school. Some of the cameras have lost signal. Some footage has some last remnant of scenic normalcy. Some cameras have halls utterly destroyed. And one camera featured the giant himself. 

“W- what the heck?!” Marinette gawks.

“I told you that it exists!” Nino tells, pointing at the screen. 

Then, a wash of panic comes over the students, suddenly, as they flee from the security feeds. It isn’t clear why until Marinette sees exactly WHERE the giant is. In a volume she hadn’t used in ages, she yells, “IT’S COMING OVER HERE! RUN!”

Sure enough, Stoneheart forgoes the use of doors again and crashes through the wall of the library, everyone forced to hide away! 

“I-I must be dreaming-” Marinette stammers, stuck under a desk with Nino in panic.

“No we’re not dreaming!” Nino responds, before a pause, “Wait… you’re Marinette, right?”

“Y-Yeah. …Nino?”

“That’s me.”

“Where is he?!” the giant bellows again, shaking the whole room.

 Alya is stuck alone under her own table not doing so hot. She clenches her elbows over her ears, knuckles reaching up tapping on her head. She sways. This is too much. This is all too much for her. 

Nino sees Alya in this position and tries to reach her from the perimeter of the desk he hid under with Marinette, “Woah - uh - hang in there we’re going to be okay I uh - I hope!” This unfortunately does not help too much. 

“It’s like a movie but we’re the extras,” Marinette stammers, trying to dust off her jacket, “Where’s the hero, then?!”

Nino looks up, “Up there!”

“A hero?” 

“No - watch out!” 

Stoneheart’s blind rage causes another domino effect, this time with the bookcases crashing on top of each other - and Alya is in its path. She manages to finally let out a scream, distracted, unaware of the immediate danger she is in. 

“ALYA!” Marinette shouts, and without hesitation, leaps and pulls Alya with her away from the falling bookcase. Nino stares agape at the scene that just played out. Without missing a beat, Marinette looks down to Alya, “Are you ok?!”

Alya is currently speechless, still completely overwhelmed, but she manages to nod. 

The pro of having a giant stone monster that doesn’t specifically target you crash into the room is that the hole he leaves behind makes for an excellent escape route. “Hey, we can get out over here-” Marinette declares before raising her volume again to the remaining students in the library, “Come on! Our exit’s over here!”

Everyone ends up fleeing the library, Nino deciding to join up with Alya and Marinette - he was not sure what to do with himself, and they seem to know what they’re doing. Although Stoneheart sees the various students flee, none of them are Kim, so he does not really care that much. What he does see, though, lying on the ground, is a bright poster - the sign ups for the lacrosse try-outs.

“... of course he would be there .” Stoneheart concludes. 

To reach that destination, Stoneheart decides it would be easier to pummel in a straight line towards it- the arena. 

It’s nothing but chaos outside Françoise Dupont. Screams all around, people tripping over each other trying to escape, trying to not fall victim to the collateral damage. Among them still are Adrien and Félix, reaching the bottom of the steps together. “Come on,” Adrien planned, “We can hide out at - “

The two boys are interrupted by a very familiar car quickly pulling up with two equally familiar faces rushing out of it. The driver is a well built man in a vest and tie, his jet black hair slightly messed up from the rush to get here. His other passenger is a sleekly-dressed woman in all black corporate fashion, the red streak in her hair similarly slightly messed up from said rush. 

Félix sighed. “ … oh bloody hell.”

The man immediately catches eye contact with the two of them, and waves his arm in a hurry. “Boys!” he shouts, “Over here! Hurry!” 

Adrien freezes, looking around at all the students around him. They’re all lost, they’re all panicked, they don’t know where to go to be safe. He and Félix can’t simply just jump into the car by themselves knowing they’ll be somewhere safe - aaaat least from the giant stone monster. Probably. “I -uh -” Adrien stammers.

Uncharacteristically nervous, the woman shouts, “For the love of God - get in - “ as she looks up she realizes the situation has grown quickly dire, “WAIT-STEPBACK-”

Stoneheart has breached the entrance once again, and with it, a piece of column is tossed in the direction of the car and the four of them. The boys step back, and the column thuds with a crash between the adults and the kids. All parties involved catch their breaths. .

“Are you two okay!?” the man shouts, brushing away the dust with his bulky hands. 

Adrien looks back at himself and at Félix, “Yea, w-we’re fine-”

SPLASH. 

To add insult to injury, a car swerves by a puddle, drenching Adrien. Great. Exactly what this situation needs. The Lachance Luck. Again.

“Come on,” the woman steps over the rubble right up to the two, “We’re going home-” 

“Nathalie, wait!” Adrien snappily argues, pulling back to look at the still distressed civilians around him, “We have to bring these people to safety!” 

Particularly of note are some people who were not so lucky about escaping the school unscathed. A girl has her arm draped over her friend’s shoulder as she limps down the stairs. A boy covers his cheek as blood drips down over his hand. A boy is being led out by a small group of students as his hands wrap around his chest, hyperventilating, the students trying to give him some air from his panic attack. These are all people who need help, desperately. Adrien can not dismiss that.

“Adrien, this is not our problem,” Nathalie retorts, “That is the ambulance’s problem-” 

“PLEASE, oh my god! PLEASE!” Adrien begs. 

Nathalie has never heard Adrien shout like this before, it nearly startles her more than the fallen column. Unsure what to do next, he turns to the man - who was left equally staring at the evacuating students ... .yeah, of course “Major” Daume would feel a resonance with this situation. She knows exactly what he’s going to say. 

“... fit whoever you’d like and have them follow us,” Daume instructs, firmly, “We’ll deal with the consequences later.”

Adrien looks up at the Major with massively grateful eyes, before he starts to call some of the injured who have a hard time walking over to them. Daume even joins in. 

Maybe Adrien can be rebellious in his own way after all.

“Well, how about THIS for our first day back to school!” Nino nervously chuckles as he, Alya, and Marinette continue fleeing the scene. Maybe a little bit of humor could lighten up their moves a little bit.

Sadly, it does not work, Alya keeps her hands cupped over her ears. “I-Intense…” It was better than she was doing in the library, but they all are still in the middle of it.

Apologetically, Nino backtracks, rubbing the back of his head with his hand, “Yeah, yeah, that was in a bit of bad taste, my bad…” He takes another look at Alya, “Hey. Uh… I think I saw you in class, Mlle. Bustier’s class - you’re new, right?” He snaps his fingers trying to remember her name, even though Marinette just shouted it minutes before, “Alya! Right?

“Yea. Hi.” Alya affirms as she starts getting her phone out.

Meanwhile, Marinette continues waving her hand, her jacket blowing in the wind to pilot some of the students around her to escape in this same direction. “Okay okay cool, great, good job…!” she stammers. She turns her attention back to Alya, “Alya, are you calling your family?”

Alya does not answer Marinette’s question. “G-GPS.. Check… battery… check… fanny p-pack… check…! Bike.. outside!” Alya’s head darts to the bike parked nearby as she physically and mentally tries to shake off the nerves that still linger.

“All set to go home?” Marinette asks.

Alya looks back with a half confidence at Marinette, “Well, n-no, I’m gonna go after that rock monster!” Marinette’s baffled expression does not deter Alya’s blossoming determination. “Where there’s a supervillain, there’s always a superhero close behind!”

“Y-you’re going to be like Louise Way?! You’re joking-” Marinette starts.

“Oh no, she seems serious!” Nino notes, “If you’re doing that, I’m going to go with you! No questions!” 

Marinette almost contemplates joining them before looking down at her own phone. It will not turn on. “Shoot… I never charged my phone - I - I need to go and see my family! I can’t just text them - they’re probably having a heart attack right now-!”

Alya turns and goes up to Marinette upon hearing this news. “You gonna be okay, Marinette?”

Marinette nods, “As… long as I know you both are…” Coming up with an idea, Marinette fumbles out the macaron box again before tearing off one of the pieces to pass to Alya, “Here, uh, can I have your number?”

Alya obliges, signing it with her name and number before passing it back to her, “See you soon, Marinette… wish us luck!” She softly smiles. 

“Please don’t let yourself get kidnapped ok! Be safe! And thanks!” Marinette sends off, as she runs off to the bakery. The duo repeat the same sentiment to her as they went off on their first mission.

By sidewalk, the Boulangerie is typically quite a walk away, but time seems to speed up as Marinette runs alongside crowds of panicked civilians. Before she even knows it, she’s back home, not even out of breath. She stumbles through the bakery, seeing patrons all take their own shelter under the tables of the storefront. Upon hearing the entry chimes ring, Mathias and Lucy peek up and then practically leap up as they run up to her.

“Mom! Dad!” Marinette sobs, falling into her parents’ arms. 

“Oh Marinette!” Lucy cries out in relief, hugging her tight, “哦，感谢上帝, 哦，感谢上帝!”

“OH MY BABY!” Mathias practically picks up both his eldest daughter and his wife in his hug, “I was so worried sick, I thought I was going to die of fright!!”

“I’m so so sorry,” Marinette profusely apologizes, “My phone battery-” 

“It’s - it’s okay, Marinette,” Mathias continues, “I’m just so glad both of my sweet angels are safe…”

‘Both’…! A wave of relief washes over Marinette now, “Jules is here too?!”

“She is!” Lucy reassures, “She’s in her room!” 

“Good, good…!”

The parents finally separate from the hug from Marinette as Lucy bends to Marinette’s height, “Marinette, you.. Should get to your room too for the time being..” 

“But - what about you two-”

“Don’t worry about us, alright, sweetie pie?” Mathias smiles at her, “You take care of yourself, first and foremost before you worry about us.”

“O-okay…” Marinette surrenders. With one last hug with her parents, she takes off her shoes and makes one last stop hugging her sister tightly in the doorway of Julia’s room before walking by herself up to her room… not before taking a quick shower to wash off all the dust and rubble off of her.

A car and a few people trailing behind drive through after gaining access into Villa Montmorency: a more private neighborhood in Paris. This neighborhood acts as a refuge for the rich and famous: big industry names, actors, entrepreneurs and politicians alike. Rich tourists often opt for this neighborhood as well to fantasize about living lavishly in Paris. 

Among the many manors that populate this neighborhood is the Lachance Manor. It stands like a haunted house, yet it is pristine on both the outside and the inside despite that descriptor. Its normally barren monochromatic main hall becomes populated with several people laying refuge, all attempting to recover in some way from all of this. Adrien walks down from the curtain with his arms full of water cups, passing them about. 

“T-thank you, you’re too kind, Adrien…!” a student graciously thanks him.

“No problem,” Adrien starts to reply, only to feel Nathalie’s hand on Adrien’s shoulder. There’s the Nathalie he knows all too well, that poised, put together woman with her stoic face. 

“Adrien. Your father wishes to see you now.” 

That sentence rings like a death knell. He sighs and with no other choice, Nathalie leads him up the stairs.

A walk that feels like an eternity later, Nathalie opens the doors into the office of Adrien’s father. Lining the walls of this cold room are covers of Style Queen France, one of the handful of international variations of the USA-based Style Queen magazine. Photos from Adrien’s own past modeling gigs are scattered about the wall too. The magazine’s most famous outfits of this division are on mannequins inside. At the end of the office lies a desk with a tablet, a large mural of Lachance family significance and at the seat of it, editor-in-chief of Style Queen France and patriarch, Gabriel Lachance. His coat drapes off his shoulders like a cape, revealing the red that makes up its lining, standing out against the creamy white the rest of his suit is. His dark blue stare breaks right through the glasses he wears.

“We have a lot to discuss.” Gabriel snappily tells Adrien, his hands folded into each other. It was more like a meeting with a boss and employee here, rather than a talk between father and son. It would not be too far from the truth however, since Adrien’s modeling gigs were all under the guidance of him. 

Adrien wants to get this point out of the way first, “These people needed help-”

“If they needed help, they had cops,” Gabriel interrupts, “They had hospitals. They had stores, restaurants, cafes, their own homes that they could take cover in. Many already are. What’s the point of them having them invade MY estate like this?”

“Pere- we- we can’t just kick them out either!” Adrien argues, his hands clenched. 

… Unfortunately for Gabriel, Adrien has a point here. Sure, the last thing he wants is assorted strangers to be on the property at all, but it would look much worse if he were to actually kick them out to the wolves that dwell outside. “Tch, fine. But they MUST not go further than that hall. And this must never happen again. Do you understand that?”

This was as good an answer as he was going to get. “I understand, Pere,” Adrien nods, looking down at his seated legs. 

“Now, you and I know that this is not the only matter of conversation.” Here it comes. It’s time to talk about school. 

“Pere, I-”

“We have been through this before. You get a magnificent education here- you do not need to leave the house to go to the school building anymore. You knew that yet you deceived us, absconded like a runaway and maneuvered there anyway. Do you see here what the outside can be like now?” … He briefly looks at the curtain hearing the explosion quite a long distance away.  “...Sure this is more of an… extreme example but this goes to show you that even when that is toned down, it is too much for you? You uncontrollably draw too much attention to yourself for it to be beneficial to your education. And what could they learn about you then? At least I always know that when you’re here, you are going to be focused… it’s not like you ever wanted this before, where are these ideas coming from? Is it Félix again?”

“It’s not Félix,” Adrien defends for a moment, before settling back, “... I want to go to an actual school, Pere. I want to.. Make friends. I want to go outside. Like other kids.”

“You aren’t like other kids, though,” Gabriel dissents, “You’re not ready to, Adrien. Today, you barely got out by the skin of your teeth. You made reckless decisions against my wishes, and now you brought this mess home with you. Remember, everyone is only going to see you as the model, Adrien Lachance. It is not to their benefit to have you attend with them, and it not to your benefit that you go as well -” 

This meeting gets interrupted by the creak of the door. A different woman enters, her dyed brown hair tied up in a bun, her piercing green eyes staring through to meet with Gabriel’s. This woman is Amelie Graham de Vanily, filmmaker, Félix’s mother, Adrien’s maternal aunt, Gabriel’s sister-in-law. Did Félix alert her? Adrien wonders. 

“Gabriel? What’s going on here?” Amelie asks, placing her well-manicured hand on her  hip.

The patriarch, tired already, slightly slumps in his chair. “Amelie, this matter doesn’t concern you,” he states as he takes off his glasses to rub his eye.

“Gabriel, we already talked about this. Why are you still fighting me with this?” The two of them have butted heads many times since she and Félix arrived to live in the manor after her own tragedy. This isn’t the first time, and it most certainly isn’t going to be the last time.

“Because you haven’t been here long enough to fully understand our position!”

“Well, your position is frankly ludicrous !”

As Adrien awkwardly sinks into his chair, he hears a “psst”, also coming from the doorway. It’s Major Daume, waving his hand to get Adrien over to him. 

“Leave us for now, Adrien, I must set the record straight to your aunt,” Gabriel commands.

“Set the record - you’re the one who’s bending it-” Amelie continues to argue.

“Yes, Pere,” Adrien obliges, getting up and slipping out of the congested-feeling office. Upon entering the hallway and having the door be closed behind him, he could still hear the muffled arguing between Amelie and Gabriel. Daume shakes his head.

“Adrien,” Daume says to Adrien, pulling him aside, “I think I want to share something between you and me. Is that good with you?” Adrien nods in confusion. “If you ask me, I think you did the right thing.”

“Major” Dominique Daume has known Adrien since he was born. A childhood friend of the Lachance family, he was hired to become their butler and Adrien’s bodyguard shortly after his birth. Out of everyone, despite being employed to work here, it seems that Daume knows Adrien the most out of everyone in this estate. It was like he could read his mind sometimes. 

“Both this, and trying to go to school,” Daume continues in his well spoken manner, “Even if things got… extreme. Which I’m still processing but I know we all are.” He thinks for a moment, looking at Adrien’s tired green eyes. “Come on, I’ll take over in helping out some of the people you brought, you need some rest. 

Adrien nods, “Thank you, Major.”

“Any time.” Daume leads Adrien away from the muffled arguing and to the door of his room, slightly patting his back before heading off to fulfill his promise. 

Adrien enters his room, only to be met with a resounding BOOM from outside once again. His room is large and… eclectic to say in a word. It’s a hodge-podge of what is assumed for boys his age to like. Arcade games, rock climbing, a basketball hoop, and a giant wall of video games, DVDs, and CDs on shelves. Adrien sits himself on the sofa and turns on the TV. It doesn’t matter what channel he turns to, all are talking about the stone giant. Even the channels showing TV shows had updates on the giant and an order to seek shelter running along the bottom of the page. At this point then, might as well just watch the news. On it, the channel catches footage of this chaos. 

Stoneheart is storming down the street, followed by cop cars and military vans. Further along, a line of police cars is waiting for him, forming a barricade. The Captain of the Police Force stands up on the hood of one of the cars and yells aggressively into the loudspeaker: “CEASE ALL MOVEMENT AND SURRENDER IN PLACE, OR EXCESSIVE FORCE WILL BE USED!”

“ Get out of my way! ” the giant yells, stomping forward anyway.

“Alright then… FIRE!”

In quick succession, the army men fire their guns and tank ammo at the giant rock creature, but they do nothing. They deflect off his gray, blocky body. They even bounce off the moss that coats some parts of his stones. The only thing the ammunition was able to accomplish was to make the giant stronger, and larger. He turns his imposing head at his attackers. He’s ready for his revenge. 

Panic washes over the captain and his army men, cursing as they’re forced to retreat. The giant bends down and hoists up one of the tanks the men were firing at the giant, like it was nothing more than a mere toy, before throwing it at the fleeing police and army men. Some met a terrible fate under that tank. 

—

In her own room, Marinette watches the news too, the camera finally cutting away from the chaos itself to focus on a different definition of chaos: politics. A podium and standing behind it, France’s current president Candice Endat. She’s a woman with a strawberry blonde bob cut, a baby blue suit and skirt, and looks to be in her early 40's. She's in a last-minute press conference as cameras flash, several video cameras point at her, speaking into an array of microphones.

“We have no idea of where this.. rock individual came from, what it wants, or how to stop this thing. We are still doing our best to slow the creature down, but in the meantime we ask all Parisians to stay indoors until this threat has been eliminated.” 

The crowd becomes encapsulated by questions, raised hands, and shouts of “Madame President!” until their questions end up lost in the crowd they make anyway.

Marinette is having a hard time concentrating on this circus. Hey, if I was going to school, at least the world isn’t going to end huh?.... Yeah I thought so too. She knocked on wood again, praying that the stone monster wouldn’t come and kill her, her family and new best friend, and curls up her legs. Marinette’s room is painted her favorite color of a light pink, with not just a computer station for her to work on, but a station for her fashion design. A desk with a lamp for her sketching phase, a torso mannequin matching her body frame which she covers with a tarp, a basket of fabrics of various textures and colors, and a clothing rack of various final products, alongside drawers and drawers of needles and threads, along with the sewing machine. 

She turns the channel one more time to France 24, home of TVi’s broadcasting. Its lead reporter, Nadja Chamack, with her signature dyed dark magenta hair,  is now the one speaking. 

“As incredible as it seems, it's being confirmed that Paris is indeed under attack by- by what seems to be a rock monster. It's like a fairytale or a movie come to life! As you have seen the police have been struggling to keep the situation under control…”

As Nadja recounts the day’s events so far, Marinette’s view of the screen becomes obscured with the arrival of a ladybug on it. A bit confused at first, Marinette arises from her seat to take a closer look at it. When she does, the ladybug opens its tiny wings and flies down right to her hand. In response she slightly turns it, like she was catching it, and it does land on top of it. “O-oh… hello!.. How did you get in here…?”

As Marinette takes a closer look, however, she realizes that she feels like the spot pattern on it is familiar. Five, arranged on each corner and then one towards the center.Wow. Could this really be the same ladybug from before with the spider web? Nah, what could be the odds of that?

The ladybug flies yet again, up towards where her nose is now. Marinette is careful to make her face still as she looks down at it the best she could. All she hopes for is the bug not to bite her.

One more time, the ladybug flies off as Marinette watches with a sense of serenity, some reprieve from the stress of today - 

Nope. Now the ladybug is starting to glow in a pinkish, reddish white light, flying all about Marinette as it does so. “ GYA-H? -” Marinette shouts before the light continues to glow as the bug finally lands by her desktop.

That was enough news for a day. Or a lifetime. Adrien finally turns off all the misery from his television and sets down his remote. Before he gets up, however, his train of thought is interrupted by a patting at his balcony window.

Pat. Pat. Pat. 

Upon investigating, Adrien is surprised to see a sleek black cat peeking through the glass panes, staring through with its bright green eyes. This looks just like the cat Adrien saved earlier that day on the side street. Cats… know where people live? “You again…?” Adrien asks as he opens the balcony window again, the cat slipping in like it owns the place. 

The cat proceeds to strut up and get onto the desk where Adrien settles himself, before purring, and reaching its head to nudge on Adrien. Adrien feels compelled to pet the top of his slick head. “All that ruckus must’ve gotten you scared, huh?” The cat continues to purr, closing its eyes slowly. Nothing matters right now but the scritches Adrien gives. … oh no, he’s starting to get attached to this cat. “I- I doubt that Pere would allow me to keep a stray, but… your company feels nice at the moment,” he sighs.

The cat gives a cheeky side eye, before getting up and down under Adrien’s desk. Mrrow!  

Suddenly, there is light - this one greenish in tone! Adrien nearly fell from his chair, partially shielding himself from this new brightness. When it finally subsides, Adrien realizes that the cat has vanished, like a ghost.

And in its place, a silver ring lies on the ground.

The pink light Marinette was faced with before subsides, and before her now, are a pair of red earrings with black spots. The light has not fully faded yet, though, a small ball of light continues shaping and morphing, much to Marinette’s bewilderment, and the silhouette reveals herself: a little glowing ladybug creature. The same from the cosmos - Tikki.

“That took long enough!” Tikki says nonchalantly, “Whew! My goodness!” She proceeds to turn her big head around the room, full of wonder and intrigue. She flies over to her cellphone, knocking it with her antennae. “Exciting! You’ve finally made phones wireless!” She zips to Marinette’s seat. “Cushioned seats for working! Oh, I’m getting so distracted again!” She proceeds to fly up to Marinette, “It’s so nice to meet you-”

“GAAAAAAAAAAH!” Marinette yells out, totally freaking out and drowning out anything “it” is saying to her. In a panic, she pushes the desk chair at her before going to her desk to throw supplies at Tikki. Okay - today is the day I totally lost my mind! “You’renotrealyou’renotrealyou’renotreal-goawaygoawaywakeupwakeup!”

Tikki is forced to dodge Marinette’s ammunition from her panic, “Marinette! WAIT- don’t be scared!”

Adrien is faced with a very similar circumstance. More conspicuously than the new ring on the ground, the light fades back into the darkness as a very different looking cat emerges. Still black yes but it looks like he’s constantly having parts lifted to the atmosphere, even if his shape doesn’t change. And also, he talks. Plagg has arrived on Earth. Brace yourselves. 

“Well well, I’m glad to find someone who appreciates the black cat!” he greets, starting to float about, “Ya know how much of a bad rap we all got stuck with ever since that one era…” Upon arising from under the room, Plagg realizes just how much space in the room there is. “Wow, very fancy pants place nya have here! Are you an heir of some sort? Although I’ve never seen an heir before with…. This?” Plagg comes upon the basketball hoop and starts floating in cycles around it. 

Adrien, meanwhile, is backed up against his desk. “ Aaaaaaaaaaa what are youuuuuuu?”

“‘What’?” Plagg answers, without turning to him yet, “Well, the answer to ‘what’ is a faerie, the answer to ‘who’ is something else!” His stomach growls, his appetite is growing. Seeing something shiny and soft looking, he floats over to it and bites into a pink eraser. Nope, not food. “PWEH!” He spits out the chunk he tried to eat. “Do you really eat this? That’s not food!”

Less fearful, more annoyed, Adrien tries to speed walk up to Plagg, arms outreached. “Hey - stop that!” He attempts to grab Plagg but he just slips out of his hands. 

“Come onnnn ya gotta have something good to eat around here!” Plagg complains. He goes about trying to bite various objects in his room - the pillow, the computer mouse, the TV remote. All not food, all not what he was looking for. Adrien continues his chase at this new ‘menace’ that was in his room.

Deities don’t typically have to dodge desk supplies being thrown at them in a tweenager’s room. But that’s what Tikki is faced with as Marinette still panics before her. 

“Listen!” Tikki dodges a pencil, “Ah!-” Next up a ruler. “Marinette-” Loose button. “I forgot how hectic this part could be-” Hair tie. “WAH-! Marinette if you would just listen-” 

New strategy - Marinette takes her water cup and pours it down her utility sink before slamming it down to surround Tikki in, much like one would an ordinary bug that they want to save. Tikki sees these surroundings before shrugging. “Well… ok! If that makes you feel comfortable-”

“WhoAreYouWhatAreYouHowDidYouKnowMyNameWhatIsGoingOnOhMyGodI’mHalluci-natingSoBadly-” Marinette panics, her words blending into each other. 

“Okay -” Tikki attempts to reassure, “First things first, don’t panic, please! I won’t hurt you! My name is Tikki, I am the Faerie of Creation, and I chose you, Marinette.”

Marinette’s eyes widened, “ Faerie?! ” She darts her eyes about, keeping her hand on the cup, “Oh no- no - no- even if you know my name, I don’t want to be whisked away into the woods-”

“Nononononononono!” Tikki clarifies, “I’m not that type of faerie, I’m not those guys! I actually come from the cosmos! We’re different species, I promise!”

Marinette is trying to brush off the implication that woodland faeries could be real too. However, she does manage to start to slow down her speech. “The… the cosmos ?

Tikki flew up in the cup. “Let me explain myself…”

So this is what life is like when cats talk, hm? 

Plagg continues his voracious journey across Adrien’s room to try and find something to eat. However, sneaking up behind him, Adrien sneaks up before finally taking a grasp at the cat, mid chew of the TV remote. “W-what are you?!” Adrien asks again.

Plagg lets himself be captured, but his mouth has not let go of the remote yet. “I told you, I’m a faerie! The from-the-cosmos, kind, not like the funny guys who hang out in the woods. My name’s Plagg and I watch over and harness the power of destruction-'' Plagg feels Adrien’s grasp tense, “wait- WAIT- I know that sounds bad, but I purr omise you, I’m a good kitty! And… I have chosen you for something very important.”

Adrien doubts, “Such as…?”

“Wellllll say there’s a new darkness that’s looming its shadow over Paris at the moment, an example being say… a giant stone monster rampaging the city?” Plagg’s attention turns towards the window. 

The stone giant that was at school?! “That thing?!” Adrien gawks, “This- this has to be a joke, I’m losing myself, the stress has to be getting to me!”

“Kid, I wish I was joking but this is a terrible situation all around.” Plagg sighs. “I wanna keep this quick but that giant isn’t some fantasy creature from out of nowhere - it’s a fellow Parisian who was taken advantage of by someone using the powers of one of my friends… and I believe that you are capable in helping me save both who’s become that giant, and eventually reach to my friend. I can give you the capability to.”

“That - that giant-” Marinette responds after hearing the same from Tikki, “Are you kidding???”

“Nope! You have the power to save that Parisian!” Tikki reaffirms. 

Okay, that’s it, Today was already crazy, and the last thing Marinette wants is for it to get any crazier. She starts to head to the hatch out of the room. 

“NoNoNoWAIT-!” Tikki shouts, in a desperate measure, escaping the cup by phasing through it, “I’m your friend, Marinette! You must trust me!” 

Marinette is a bit out of breath from everything. “I- I don’t even, I don’t even know you- oh god , I don’t even have anything you can use that can help the giant at all-”

“Of course you do!” Tikki says, hovering back to the desk she first arrived at. “With these!” She reaches down and picks up the pair of stud earrings, carrying them over to Marinette. “When you put them on and say the magic words, you’ll be gifted with superpowers!”

“Superpowers?” Marinette doesn’t believe it at first at all. “S-Superpowers?” Tikki looked at her in a serious manner. “.....OHHHHh…..” Marinette suddenly bursts out in a delirious laughter, “Ohhhh I get it- the reason why there’s no heroes is because I’m the one who’s getting the origin story??” She holds herself up by her desk. “Me, the girl who doesn’t know how to fight or anything, the girl who can’t even stand up for herself in school??? Me? With superpowers!? That’s a recipe for disaster!-” She thought for a moment, before feeling the piece of macaron box torn in her pocket, “Oh! I just met this girl today - her name’s Alya - she is really about going INTO the fray, she is braver - and much, much more passionate about heroes-”

“Marinette!” Tikki interrupts. She let her ramble on for this long but now that she better understands her mindset, she finally knows how to talk with her. “I chose you because you put others' lives before yours. From little creatures to the students around you! And on top of it you're massively innovative! Looking at your room, you do strike me as someone who’s creative in more ways than one. Don’t worry about skills, I’ll guide you in battle!”

“But… that creativity is in fashion and art though…” Marinette mumbled, before putting her hands on her face, “Gh…”

“I know the concept of destruction sounds scary at first, but it’s not only necessary but when it’s under control, it can be very VERY helpful!” Plagg relays,  “You use that ring and you get a helping of my power, and we can work together to help save the giant!”

Adrien looked around at the perimeter of his room, looking even beyond to the perimeter of the estate as a whole. “But- but I'm stuck here! I'm not even allowed to go to school! What good is a superhero who's imprisoned in his own house..?!”

Plagg looked at the window. “Hm, lemme check something…” Plagg proceeds to float to the window that leads out to the balcony, before fiddling with the knob and letting it open, before closing it again. “Well first of all, you’re not imprisoned, if you’re sneaky, you can navigate with this! Besides, that’s what alter ego stuff is for! And secondly…. What was that this morning then, hmmmm? That was a bit further than the mansion! You wouldn’t have been able to save that poor pwecious kitten from the awning if you weren’t outside! More than anything, I think it says a lot about your character!”

“B-but-” Adrien stammers.

“So what if you had a clumsy moment after, you still got me down safely! And not only did you save me, you saved that blondie and you even broke the rules to let people displaced into one of the most isolated manors in Paris! I consider breaking the rules a form of destruction ya know!” Plagg winks. 

Plagg still sees the apprehension in Adrien’s eyes. He already led him back to the ring he left behind, so now he’s simply holding it gently in his hand as he looks back to the balcony window. If he can’t go back to school again, is this really… truly… his one shot at freedom?

“I mean, hey, I have another friend out there doing the same thing for someone else.” Plagg continues, “Ya won’t be alone!” Adrien stays silent.

Wait. This really isn’t a dream. This. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. To become something more. Something real. Something more than supermodel Adrien Lachance. Maybe… this could be fun- this could be amazing. 

 “...well?” Plagg asks, sensing his change in demeanor.

“So you and your partner will have to break the object the Champion is hiding in, and you or they can purify it with your weapon!” Tikki explains.

God there’s so much new terminology? Champion? Purify? Miraculous? “I-I’m sorry, I- I still don’t know what any of that means…” Marinette mumbles. Before trying to focus instead on the easier question. “A.. partner? There’s someone looking for me…?”

“The holder of the miraculous of the black cat!” Tikki replies, swaying in her hovering, “I’ll help guide you to them!” 

She looks down. No matter how many times it gets explained to her, Marinette still has that doubt lingering. “I… don’t know if I can do it. I mean, look at what we’re up against!”

She reaches down and turns on the TV again, back to the live news story plaguing all the local channels of Paris. However, the giant’s rampage is not the only thing of note anymore. Marinette squints, and immediately, she pales. 

Riding on her bike towards the scene is Alya, with Nino holding on for dear life to the back of the seat. Oh god they were serious. 

“O-Oh my god Alya!” Marinette freaks out, seeing her new friend running right to the danger, “You’re really- nononono-” She paces about the room, “I- after everything you did today, I - I can’t let you go and get yourselves killed-” Her eyes turned down to the earrings yet again on the desk. She somewhat hovers her hands over them. “Tikki, those two they - they can’t go up there - if something happened there because I wasn’t there I’d never forgive myself!” 

Without thinking, she takes the earrings into her hands and pierces them on. She does not realize what she did until her hand slightly glows as the ring turns from the ladybug print earrings into a pair of ordinary dark studs. “W-what was that…?” Marinette wonders.

Tikki answers, “We can't let people know who you are, so those earrings are all glamoured up to hide their true form! The same thing happens when you transform, so you may somewhat look the same and sound the same, but the glamor will make sure no one knows it's you!”

“Transform…? How does that happen?” 

Tikki flew up a distance from Marinette’s face. “Remember, all the information you need about your powers is in your yo-yo, just hit the spot in the center! And all you have to do is say ‘Tikki, Spots On!’”

Marinette freezes one more time. Is she really going to do this? She gets her answer as she finally says aloud, Alya in her mind and in her heart, 

“Tikki… spots on?”

WHOOSH! The earrings flash into a bright shade of red, Tikki de-materializes into a wisp of magic and flies straight into the earrings, the five ladybug spots appearing instantly on them.

Before her very eyes, the normal girl with a normal life transforms. 

In flashes of neon vegas-esque lights piercing the dark and colorful fuzzy spots of pastels, her casual outfit temporarily transforms into an avant-garde red-with-black-spot super suit with mask, beetle Wings and antennae, a yo-yo arriving into her hand!

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has become a ladybug hero.

After she awakens from the transformation, Marinette is completely frazzled, “W ... .what…!” She looks down at her hands to see the oversized sleeves go down her arms. She eventually builds the courage to go to the mirror, and looking back, she finds someone completely unrecognizable. She yelps and ends up tripping over herself, “Where - What are- these -” She reaches up and brushes her hand on her antennae. “W- What ?! ”

What did she sign up for?

Much less nervous now about becoming a superhero is Adrien, who a bit eagerly slips the ring on his finger. The light glows, the glamor of the miraculous transforming it into a silver ring. 

“So that ring there?” Plagg explains, “That is your miraculous, Adrien! It’s gonna be the source of your power and it’s very very very VERY important that you never let it get into the wrong paws. It’s what gives nya your powers and allows you to transform! So here’s the gist, you say ‘Plagg, claws out’ and-”

“Got it!” Adrien nods, interrupting Plagg. Should he be this confident? You know what, why not? For once it’s something different in his life! Adrien shouts:

“Plagg, claws out!”  

“WAIT I’m NOT FINISHED-” Plagg shouts as he gets whisked into the ring. Suddenly, the silver ring reverts back to its black coloring, with the radioactive green paw print imprinted on it. 

In flashes of broken mirrors and blinding green light, Adrien's clothes change into a much more rebellious look with leather, spikes, and an edge to his super suit. Belt reminiscent of a tail, cat ears, a much more athletic and functional prosthetic leg with claws of their own, and a staff rested on his back!

Adrien Lachance has become a black cat hero. 

After he feels the transformation end, he dashes to the nearest mirror and takes a good look at what he’s got on. He feels like he’s got his fervor back. “SWEET!” Adrien shouts as he sees himself in the mirror for the first time. 

After her initial fear, Marinette is warming up to her new look too. “O-oh my gosh, I - I look so cool? Are these wings-” She tries to activate them, only for it to accidentally knock items off her nearby desk. Oops- she hurriedly picks the items up back onto the desk where she had them before. As she does, she feels a pair of yo-yos at either side of her hips. “O-are these - yo-yos?” She proceeds to unfurl it like an actual yo-yo- which it does. Huh.

“Marinette!” she suddenly hears her dad call from downstairs, “Are you okay up there?” 

Oops, he must have heard the crashing from earlier. “Uh- yeah Dad, I’m uh- I’m fine! I….” She looks up at the ladder leading to her bed. “I think I need to take a nap - though- so - uh - yeah!” She proceeds to follow her eyesight and climb up to her bed before standing atop it to reach the latch to the rooftop. “Tikki? Are you there? I…don’t know what I’m doing!” she whispers as she opens it.

Not to worry, I’ll guide you! Tikki’s familiar voice rings in her head. When you’re out on the roof, hold out your yo-yo!

After she reaches the top of her roof and its nice little garden, she steps out into the open, dusty air. She lifts her hand with it. “Like this-”

From her hand, one of Marinette's yo-yos is starting to hover up on its own. Whisking slightly around her till it comes to a slow right in front of her. Marinette is in a bit of awe at this. Once she took it back into her hand, however, suddenly the yoyo zips forward. Eh? And so, with a mind of its own, like a grappling hook, Marinette gets zipped herself through the air, and the yelling begins.

Hop! Hop! Hop! 

Parkour always looks so cool when other people do it, but to the new cat hero, it comes naturally! Free as the wind rushing through his now messy hair, belt tail whipping behind him, Adrien has arrived at the rose window of Notre Dame. Turning around, oh, what a view of Paris! 

He laughs, “HELLOOOOOOO PARIS!” 

Paris… Paris…  The echo startles a flock of pigeons. 

“Unreal! This - this is so unreal!” he continues to look around, eventually peeking through the window himself. “Cou cou saluuuuuuut?”

Muffled by the decoration of the window, however, the new ladybug hero is zipping across the Parisian landscape herself, ungracefully. She would say that she stumbled across 3 alley ways, startled 7 civilians (8 if you count the dog), and crashed into one street food stand. As she draws closer, her shrieking gets louder. 

Hearing this, Adrien looks back, gasps in horror at the oncoming shrieking girl charging right at him, and both collide, crashing through the Rose Window. The Ladybug heroine's yo-yo strings tie them both up together, leaving them hanging from the ceiling of the church.

This temporarily knocks her out for a few seconds. Her vision starts to come to, unable to register where she is. “Ugh.. where… where am I…?” As her eyes flutter open, Marinette realizes the gravity of her situation and shrieks as her and the stranger she crashed into hang upside down inside the cathedral, making the stranger wince a bit.

She looks back at the stranger. “Oh my god- I -uh - I’m so so sorry-”

“B…  Bonne après-midi! I believe you're my partner?” he greets. 

Marinette scans his face, “Uh… black cat… yeah you, you certainly fit the description I was given…” She attempts to nudge them both out of the tangle they got stuck. “I’m so so sorry I’m trying to get us down-” 

Crack! Oh, the support beam. That’s one way to free them. With its breaking, the amateurs fall down but get untangled at the same time. Like most cats do, Adrien manages to land on his feet. He throws his hands up in victory. Marinette meanwhile splats beside him.

“Ugh… I feel like this should have broken a few ribs…” Marinette moaned, even though she didn’t. The perks of being powered up. 

In a fluid motion, the cat hero leaps onto a pillar, hanging off of it. “A pleasure to meet you! I’m A-”

WOAHWOAHWOAHWOAH- Plagg’s voice rings in Adrien’s head alone, SLOW down there! Ya can’t go around yowling out your real name! Come up with some cool alias instead!

An alias? Like a real superhero! Oh this is getting good! The ladybug hero meanwhile stares in confusion at the cat’s sudden ending of his yapping. “Hm…” he thinks, pouncing on another pillar, “Name’s Chat Noir. I’m the new hero in town. Here…” he stands in a stereotypically heroic pose, “To save the world.” 

“...uh…huh. Thanks for helping me up by the way.” she murmurs as she gets herself up. “Well then, Chat Noir, you can call me…uh…” Come on, you’re a superhero nerd, come up with something cool. Something memorable. She looks at her attire. She looks at her yo-yo, she’s got this. “You can call me….Lady…bug!” Man, I could have done something cooler than that…too late now.

Chat Noir takes a bow like he’s on a stage. “It’s a pleasure to meet you then, Ladybug-” 

Their conversation was cut short by the creaking entrance of a guard. Mumbling to himself, “One day… the one day I was supposed to be let out early and shit already happens!” He looks around and sees the broken glass but no animal-suited people anywhere. “I know you’re here! Once I catch you hooligans, there’s gonna be hell to pay! I’ll tell ya that!”

Ladybug manages to wedge herself into a corner, while Chat Noir climbs up the pillars. They are forced to remain quiet as the guard investigates the broken window. “First, that monster now this…” he grumbles, fiddling in his pocket. He picks up the walkie. “Hey, I need backup, we got hooligans who vandalized the Rose Window and they’re hiding somewhere! God… with everything happening today, this is the most tragic day in the world!” 

In response, the officer on the other end of the walkie is screaming. Certainly not over a broken window. Something does sound like it’s broken though. Shaking his head, the guard heads off, grumbling about having to do everything himself. Wow. 

The coast is clear at least. The heroes manage to slink out through the window and proceed to meet up at the top of the roof again. Ladybug suggests the yo-yo go for less grapple hook, more mountain climber as she latches the yoyo on the top to slowly climb up to the roof. Chat is already there, basking in the sun of the afternoon.

“So… Chat Noir hm?” Ladybug asks, pulling herself up. “And you got brought here to be my partner against this… giant?”

“Seems so!” Chat enthusiastically replies, pulling his staff out into another ridiculous heroic pose. “We’ll be a crime fighting duo together! Like… um… Knightowl and Sparrow!” He grins. Does he have cat fangs too?

Ladybug lets out a little chuckle and eyeroll, “Well I would say we’re a bit more like… Majestia and Knightowl whenever they gotta team up on something. We’re supposed to be more… partner y, no one’s gonna be a sidekick here.”

“Heh, sorry!” Chat apologizes, rubbing his claw on the back of his head. “I’m not all too knowledgeable about comic books.” He snaps back into his persona, leaping onto the head of a gargoyle. “I’m learning the ropes as well, but I think I got it in the bag mrow ~” He proceeds to playfully claw at the air.

To Ladybug, Chat Noir is somehow finding this perfect balance of charm and clownery. Either way, she couldn’t help but crack a small smile. “Alright, partner … so you’re new to this whole thing too, huh?” Her smile fades. “I… don’t know how capable I am of doing anything like this, though…”

Recognizing his new partner’s apprehension, his demeanor briefly shifts to encouragement. “You were chosen, weren’t you? You must have something under your…um…” He squints, trying to decipher Ladybug’s costume, “...belt?..purse…?”

Ladybug looks at the magic yo-yo that’s in her hand. “I know I was chosen, I just…. I don’t know why I was chosen.” 

Chat Noir returns to his more enthusiastic behavior, remembering how it made her smile. “Don’t question it! We’re superheroes now! We- we get to do cool stuff that not a single soul in Paris could do! We’re at the top of freaking Notre Dame! ” He spreads his arms out wide. “We could get arrested for this!” He declares much more proudly than he should. Like a cat at 2 A.M., Chat Noir rashly leaps up more and along the way, his feet (boot and claw) dislodge some tiles and slide down until they shatter on the ground below. 

This does not improve Ladybug’s mood, and the filthy roof of Notre Dame doesn’t ease her tensions. “AH- we - we could still get arrested for this, we haven’t even DONE anything yet-”

“I mean if we stuck around here, sure. But like… look at this view, partner!”

Ladybug ends up following this direction. She looks up and she beholds a relatively peaceful part of Paris. And like a rush of the wind, a memory surges. When the slightly musty smell of a newly bought property hit her nose. When she was the little girl wandering about, imagining where all the future parts of the bakery will go. Climbing all the way up from her new room, opening the hatch for the first time, facing the light of the sun. Emerging out to see an untamed paradise of garden, and upon looking past… a vivid, in person cityscape of her brand new home. And here it was again, even after years of living here, it’s a whole new perspective, and she feels like she got introduced to her home all over again. “Woah…”

Chat Noir stands beside her. Even if he has lived in Paris his whole life, he never got the chance to fully appreciate it until now. Paris is not just a neighborhood, or a house, or a certain select audience of particularly picked people. Paris is a whole community , the city has so many faces that it’s hard to keep track of, and he is eager to meet every single one of them. It’s like opening a whole new book, a whole new story, a favorite movie just got an anticipated sequel and it turned out great! Paris, this is Chat Noir. Chat Noir, this is Paris. It’s very nice to finally meet you. 

“Smell that?” Chat Noir asks, “That’s the smell of freedom-”

BOOM!

Reality hits the two of them like a pile of boulders. They turn to see, falling like a curtain, the crumbling of a building, the dust piling up, and the structure turning into nothing more than rubble.

“OH MY GOD- NO!!” Ladybug shrieks. All of it came crashing back. The giant. The overwhelmed military forces. The reporters. Alya and Nino. “We need to do something!”

“Of course…!” Chat Noir tries to keep up his confident attitude, but a falter starts to show in his voice. “After all, I got all the stuff we need!” He leaps up to another part of the building. This isn’t charming anymore. Ladybug was almost mad at first until she realizes this is his desperation to cope. “The devastating power of destruction!” He covers his vibrant green eyes with his black gloves and dramatically reveals them, “Night vision! Razor sharp senses! Mrow!~” He claws the air again. “Not to mention my weapon!” He pulls out his staff from his back pressing a button to elongate it to a combative size. “THIS all-in-one thing-a-ma-jig!”

Even if the presentation was a little out of touch, Ladybug did appreciate the memo of what are his abilities. “Well…” Ladybug tells him, “I uh… got this yoyo that can split into two… that you saw and um… I can make things turn into… other things apparently… I got wings, I don’t know how they work yet, but, I’ll find out somehow. Either way I really wanna get-”

“Get on going?” Chat completes the thought, “Way ahead of you!” He proceeds to hold out his staff over the street, and to her astonishment, it lengthens to the height of the street, and it lets him vault to the direction of the danger. 

“Hey- wait!” Ladybug calls, holding out her yo-yo again nervously. She knows what’s going to happen. She’s going to be pulled by the grapple again. And sure enough, off she goes with a yelp. 

And so our new heroes officially head off onto their first mission.

Lacrosse practice was supposed to happen today at this field but it got understandably postponed. The field lays empty with evidence of some traction on its sod, but now, no one should be practicing. Instead, the locker room is where everyone is. Many of Françoise Dupont’s students, and the gym coach all murmur among each other, pacing, leaning by the locker, staying alert. 

Alix holds her head as she calls her dad, “I’m fine, dad, I promise, is Jalil at home?”

Kim Chiến Lê wanders about the room, holding up his phone, “This is what I get when my dads don’t buy unlimited data…”

Juleka is hiding her face in her arms, trying not to go into a panic. Beside her, Rose slumps on the bench, her blond curly hair slightly covering her face as she sways her feet. “How long are we going to stay here?” she wonders.

“I-I don’t know!” Nathan replies in bafflement, “until the apocalypse wants to end?!”

Mme. Portive, the gym coach, a sardonic woman in her forties, steps in, “I know, I know,” she utters, “Just.. try and stay calm the best you can. I’m saying this for you kids’ sake.”

“Whatever.” Kim sighs, putting his phone down, “ The army will take care of it. We got all the time we want here so let’s just kill some time by doing indoor stretches and activities!” In a fluid motion, Kim starts jogging in place.

Alix is not having any of this. She mutes the call with her dad to shoot a glare at Kim. “There’s a fucking monster out there and you want to practice ?! Read the room, dude.”

Kim stops his jogging. “Hey come on, I’m just trying to lighten things up here! Everyone here’s so gloomy, it’s gonna ruin our day!”

“Like our day already hasn’t been ?” Alix inquires. 

Nathan chimes in with a shrug. “I mean… if it makes us limber, if we have to run for our lives or something, it could be useful.” Alix has no further comment on this but a groan.

“Alright!” Kim enthusiastically stands in front of the rest of the lacrosse team, ready to lead an unenthusiastic crowd. “Let’s start with arm stretches!” He reaches his arm across his torso, holds it in place, and twists. “One, two, three, four! One, two -”

Suddenly on the outside, a stomping noise. This falters Kim’s impromptu exercise. 

Stomp… STOMP…

And it’s coming close. Mme. Portive shoots up from the bench where she sat. “TAKE COVER!” 

In a wave of panic, all the students rush to hide in the locker room. In lockers, in the janitor’s closet, under benches, get low to the ground, any method. The fear returns. And for a moment… the room falls until an untrustworthy quiet. No matter who each person in the room is, their hearts are racing. Why did it get so quiet?

Sure enough, a loud scratching answers that for them. Sunlight pokes through from above. The light seeps in, only to be shadowed yet again by the now massive Stoneheart. Kim stares up. Stoneheart stares back. Target found.

“You know why I’m here, Kim.”

Stoneheart’s bulky arm reaches in, slamming into lockers, knocking over all means of walls and equipment, all to reach the boy who angered him. In his own panic, Kim stumbles up to flee, only for his red-sneakered feet to betray him and trip him down to the ground. A perfect chance. The hand reaches down and grabs Kim like a toy, pulling him up to his face.

“Not so high and mighty now, are you?”

Kim shrieks out. “HELP! HEEELLLP!” His teammates and coach could do nothing but stare up in sheer horror. 

“ Oh NOW you want help? Let what happens next be a lesson…” 

—

Finally approaching the field now are the new Miraculous holders, vaulting and getting propelled respectively, to the scene. They at last reach solid ground, faced with the nightmare in front of them, even if the giant hasn’t seen them yet. Do… they have a plan? Given Ladybug’s gritted teeth, no, no they do not.

“W-what do we do?!” she asks, hoping Chat would have more of an idea than she did.

Unfortunately for the both of them, Chat Noir’s bravada was left behind at Notre Dame. “LLLLet’s try to take it down!” he attempts to plan, “I’ll distract it, you go for a sneak attack!” Without much definition for what that really means yet, Chat leaps towards the fray leaving Ladybug to slowly walk towards the scene in a different matter. She can sneak, sure, that’s fine, but the attack part…uh…

Stoneheart, Kim in his grip, starts to lift his arm up in the side, ready to give Kim the worst body slam he would ever experience in his life. Before that could happen though, Chat’s staff lands right in front of Stoneheart. Sliding down, the cat faces him. 

“Hey!” Chat shouts, “It’s not nice to pick on people who aren’t your size!” He attempts to regain his bravada, standing in a heroic way, but coming off more like a child playing pretend instead.

Stoneheart stares at the kitten before him in sheer confusion. To break through that confusion for him though, that sinister voice returns in his head, the butterfly light mask reappearing in front of his face. 

“Hold still, Stoneheart.”

Stoneheart obeys.

“Do you see the ring on the little kitty’s left hand? I need you to get that ring for me. It’s one of the two things I only ask for in exchange for your powers.”

The light mask dissipates. “Hm… so it seems you are going to be very important to me, hm, little kitten?”

Before Chat could even pull off his first move, Stoneheart takes the hand holding Kim and slams him down to the ground. An agonizing crunch echoes as Kim yelps in pain. As Kim lays there, Stoneheart lifts up one of the lacrosse goal nets and embeds it into the ground around him to act like a jail. It is not like Kim is going to be going anywhere any time soon though, so this just adds insult to the injury. 

Now that has been taken care of, it’s time for the cat to pay the same price. Stoneheart is attempting to grab Chat but his leaps make him about as elusive as a feline dragged to the vet. He climbs higher with his leaps and bounds until he comes face to face with his glowing head. 

“HYA-” Chat yells, using his staff to, with all his might, thwack Stoneheart in the head. Except, the giant stands rock solid. He even increases in size more. 

Oh. Maybe this isn’t as easy as the movies make it. And now he’s in major trouble. Any semblance of bravada left gets washed away as the tables have turned and Stoneheart is now in hot pursuit of the fleeing Chat Noir! And yet… “DON’T LEAVE ME HANGING HERE PARTNER!” Chat yells. 

Partner? Stoneheart looks up and it takes him about five seconds to meet eye to eye with Ladybug, staring like a scared spectator in the audience rafters. The sinister voice interjects again.

“Her too! Take her earrings alongside his ring! Don’t fail me now, my protege!” 

As Ladybug foolishly attempts to return to her sneaking strategy, Stoneheart starts to charge at Ladybug. “Don’t think you’re not a part of this, beetle!” 

At first, Stoneheart tries to grab Ladybug from the seats but she leaps back, or keeps herself low with each swipe attempt. “E-Easy there, big guy!” she tries to soothe, “Uh - what happened to you to - uh - cause you to be like this?”

“It doesn’t matter to you!” Stoneheart rejects the question, now switching from attempting to grab her to attempting to crush her. He slams his fist down onto the seats, which Ladybug also manages to dodge. 

“Yyyyyyyes it does! Maybe… you don’t have to be violent about it and maybe we…uh, could be friends?” Ladybug sheepishly grins as she dodges. 

“You would be a FANTASTIC friend if you gave me your earrings!” 

“Uh - no no no!” Ladybug cries out, “Not these, we can uh - we can trade for something else! I uh - I got some cute bracelets- “

“Not interested. I only want my revenge, your earrings, and the kitten’s ring!”

Stoneheart has backed Ladybug into the corner of the rafters, but before he could lift his fist again, Chat Noir interferes, leaping onto his back and trying to dig his claws into the rock, screaming all the way there. The giant only grows a little bit more and with a few simple shakes and arm swings, he manages to pry off the cat and force him into the wall nearby. Which hurts. Stoneheart turns to try and see Ladybug again, but she has already gone from her trapped spot and is running for her life yet again.

Oh, these two don’t know what they’re doing. 

However, approaching the field are a pair of kids on one bike - it’s Alya and Nino, after braking the bike, they take cover behind a bush. “Nino, check this out! A real life superhero and supervillain battle!” Alya notes, a bit out of breath from all the bicycling.

“III can’t believe we’re this close…” Nino murmurs, covering his face with his hat. What they see before them however, is far from what one may expect from a superhero movie. On one side, you have the cat who’s going in claws-a-blazing with no plan, and on the other side is the ladybug, making her way up the steps further and further away from the actual battle, but keeping her eyes entirely on it the whole time. And throughout all of this, Alya has her phone out, taking camera footage on her phone of this battle. 

In a fit of frustration at the cat, Stoneheart picks up the other net and throws it in the direction of Chat Noir. As one would instinctively, the hero with the power of destruction… dodges the net, but this direction was not only where Chat was - it was where Alya and Nino were.

“HEY LOOK OUT-” Nino yells. Ladybug hears his voice. She pales.

To Ladybug, everything feels like slow motion for a moment. Chat Noir needs her, Alya and Nino need her - but she - she feels like she can’t hear anything but her own heartbeat- it’s- it’s racing. What can she do? What- what can MARINETTE do about this? What if she just messes up like she always does? Just because it’s a costume doesn’t mean it’s not- 

It’s not- it’s not it’s not-

…

No. I can’t let anything happen to them.

Ladybug leaps down and throws the yoyo without a second thought AT the incoming goal before winding it up and colliding it into the empty audience seats.   

“I.. I will not let you… I will not.. Let…” 

Chat Noir takes a look at the situation before him again. Ladybug is shaking. He… is shaking too? This isn’t a fantasy. This is reality. And if it weren’t for Ladybug, something could have happened to his new friend. Chat Noir falls down to his knees, he looks at the world around him. A frightened Ladybug, his new best friend nearly killed, and the stone monster approaching him and his new partner. Okay, lesson learned, being a superhero is nothing like in the movies. It's real, it's horrifying, it feels utterly hopeless. Maybe he should've just stayed at home, maybe he should've just let Plagg be on the awning. Why did I wish for a new life? I never asked for it to be like this...! Why did I do this? Why did I listen to Félix today? I think I'm going to die today, and I'm going to send my own father into a pit he'll never climb out of. Yeah, I should've stayed home. I should've just stayed homeschooled for the rest of my life. What the hell can I even do? All I know is history, foreign languages, and modeling..! I'm no athlete, I'm not cut out to be a superhero..! I'm going to die, I'm going to fail.

I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry...!

“I… will…” Ladybug is stumbling her words at a monster again. She doesn’t know what to say again. Slow motion. Heart is raging again. This isn’t me. I just got lucky. This isn’t me. I’m going to fail. I’m going to pointlessly die. Mom, Dad, Julia, my new friend, my partner who believed in me, my classmate, all of Paris, they're all going to see me fall apart. I’m not a fallen alien from a destroyed planet destined for great things. I’m not a genius inventor who knows how to master their tools. I don't know what I’m doing with my powers. I’m a fashion designer, I’m a student, I’m the daughter of a pair of bakers from Belleville, I’m so many things but a hero isn't one of them. This isn't me. This. Isn’t. Me.…. 

…

…

In the muddled sounds, of all the destruction around them, a voice breaks through. Alya. 

“What are you waiting for?! The world is watching you!”

Ladybug gasped for a moment. That's Alya. She for a moment thinks about the origin stories of some of her favorite comics. Frostbite especially. After that accident in Antarctica, she was initially scared of her powers. She felt like she had to isolate herself from society. She was a regular old scientist. But what did she realize she could do? She found a way to use that power for good. When in the suit, she’s not Winnie Shivers anymore, she's Frostbite…

When she met Majestia for the first time, Frostbite was able to sit down and talk with her from her experience... that as long as she does something, she'll be ok. After all... all that it takes for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.

Alya had said that to her.

And yes, this isn't me. I'm not Marinette right now.....

…to the world that's watching right now...I'm Ladybug.

In a newly awakened spur of confidence, Ladybug uses the yo-yo and swings herself up to get a higher look at Stoneheart. “I’m getting tired of this animal cruelty to the both of us!” she yells at the giant. 

“ Well you better get used to it !!” Stoneheart replies. 

Stoneheart attempts to swipe at Ladybug again but she maneuvers back. Instead of facing away from the giant, she looks back. Chat Noir looks up and sees this display. What… is this?

Another voice rings out. Nino’s. 

“You both can do it! Come on, let’s go!”

Chat Noir looks at Alya and Nino. He hardly even knows Alya but.. why does she have that much confidence in him? Why does Nino trust him..?! He made things worse, he made the giant bigger, he ran off like a coward, he's hardly fighting back. Why do you trust me when I've screwed up dozens of times!

.... "I’m Nino Lahiffe and I want you to make more friends- starting with me"

He trusted me earlier today. I felt ostracized by my peers, especially Chloé. He hardly even knows me, yet he was willing to become a real friend of mine. A new best friend, despite our class knowing my connection with Chloé and... her true colors, as Félix told me. Does everyone still trust me? Even after my first three failures?

... I have to get up. I have to get up, for Nino, for Pere, Nathalie, Félix, Amelie, Major Daume, Alya... and for my partner. I have to take the risk and get up!

Chat Noir joins in the fray once again, but instead of aiming for his head again, he extends his staff down below, tripping down Stoneheart by the feet. This technical attack causes him to grow, which Ladybug finally approaches him directly to take note of. “WAIT! That’s it, Chat! From this point on - try, try not to hit him anymore! Attacks against him are what’s making him bigger.”

He’s glad Ladybug caught up on that. “Kinda figured!” Chat replies, “I was trying to stun him!”

“Well - HEADS UP!” 

Stoneheart lays his hand flat onto the audience seating by where Ladybug and Chat are. The two heroes are forced to run along the audience aisles, Stoneheart chasing with the open hand, ramming through the seats, before attempting to stop them by slamming a front of them, crumbling the ground in front of them. The duo manage to stop in time.

“There - there has to be some sort of weakness of his! We’ll have to do some sort of different strategy!” Ladybug declares. 

Chat Noir grins. “Like using our powers! Got it!”

“ CATACLYSM!”

With Chat Noir’s shout, he holds his hand with his ring up and out, now charged with a negative energy emitting from it. “Apparently, this can destroy whatever I touch!” he boasts as he leaps by a street light, his hand inches away from it. 

“Wait-wait-wait-” Ladybug tries to stop Chat from making this demonstration, but he does anyway. His hand grips the stem of the light, and before her eyes, the metal ages intensely fast, rusting and corroding like nothing she has ever seen before, before crumbling down to the ground into dust.

Okay. That was a bit terrifying. And that still catches Stoneheart’s attention, pummeling through to see them.

“Juuuuuuust follow me big guy!” Chat proclaims, trying to back his way out of the field and towards the parking lot, before whispering, “Ladybug, get out from under here!” Ladybug obliges.

“Get back here you kitten!” Stoneheart yells as the giant charges at the heroes again!

“Cataclysm!” Chat shouts again, the negative energy reappearing on his hand. He rushes to the supports of the roof of the parking lot, before fleeing quickly, letting the structure collapse on top of the giant. 

What once was the roof is now a pile of rubble draped over the giant - but the heroes both know that this isn’t going to hold down the giant for long. Ladybug looks at her yo-yo. While she has the chance, she remembers a power that Tikki had told her that she has now - a power that can start the path onto saving the day.

“LUCKY CHARM!”

Marinette shoots the yoyo up into the air, twirling about as a small swarm of tiny ladybugs emit from it, before they all converge together into… a red wetsuit with black spots. 

Needless to say, how was a wetsuit going to save Paris? “I…. uh… what…the?” Ladybug sputters in bafflement, catching the wetsuit with her free hand. In a look of desperation, she glances at her partner to see if he has any answers to this. Chat Noir does not know what to make of this either, shrugging as he stares at the wetsuit as well. 

This pause in the battle does not last for long,as Stoneheart, now bigger yet again, emerges from the rubble of the roof, rising up with a growl and a dead set stare at the Miraculous holders. In a panic, the first instinct was to try and stun the giant with the wet suit, Ladybug launching herself over and draping it over where his “eyes” would be on the giant heart that is his face. It’s Ladybug’s turn now to land on his back to tie up the wetsuit and keep it in some semblance of place. However, sure enough, like one of those mechanical bulls, Ladybug is forced to hold on for dear life as Stoneheart stumbles about the proximity of the arena, aggressively trying to fight what is in front of him. 

However, the more Stoneheart moves, the more of the landscape he destroys that surround the field. The rocking back and forth takes a toll on her. New plan. Her grip is slipping but this wetsuit needs to stay around his face.

“Chat, get up here so you can hold on to the wetsuit!” 

“Uh - sure thing!” Chat Noir tags in Ladybug’s place and now it’s his turn for this ride of a lifetime. Stoneheart’s movement is making sure Chat really has to hold on as Ladybug hooks the yo-yo around his shoulder before spiraling down around him, the thread winding him up before reaching the ground! 

Unfortunately, this plan was a bust. Stoneheart uses his sheer strength to lift his arms and pull the string of the yo-yo further and further apart until the base of it loses his grip around him and everything unravels. This not only knocks Ladybug back into an ungraceful landing, this also causes Stoneheart to stumble out of the field, and rather, into the streets of Paris once again. Wherever he goes, it’s Paris he destroys. That one shop that sells a lot of tourist trinkets, crumbled. That one chocolatier that makes those really good pralines for Valentine’s Day? Rubble. The heroes try to call out their apologies from their frantic positions, but it's hard to apologize to something already destroyed, especially with Chat Noir clinging on for dear life. 

In a desperate effort to catch up, Ladybug finally continues her practice with using her yo-yo to grapple herself forward, the wind shooting through her hair, and she’s shooting herself through more booths and panicked civilians trying to evacuate still. More apologies. The casualties continue to include an additional two cars, the front of a bar, and a cart selling bags. 

Along the way throughout this whole battle, Stoneheart fought practically one handed. He keeps his fist clenched at all times. Ladybug finally takes note. What.. is that all about?

Chat Noir has held onto Stoneheart for long enough. At long last, he stops running amok and takes his free hand up, grabbing both him and the wetsuit in his hand. “Pesky kitten, you’re getting on my nerves!” Chat could only yelp in his struggle, trying to bare his claws and scratch his way out of the grip of the stone-cold giant. 

Alya and Nino continue their bizarre adventure to get footage of this strange day, Alya still keeping her enthusiastic grin about her, while Nino is trying to not die as much while holding his phone. This instinct to protect them reaches Ladybug right away, but instead, something different has happened. Ladybug has started to notice things. 

Stoneheart’s closed fist. Chat Noir in the other grip. The wetsuit in the same grip. The fire hydrant that somehow survived nearby. Alya and Nino. And lastly… a thrown away empty soda can on the ground. 

All of these could be pieces to bring down the giant at last. 

Firstly, the soda can. However it’s not going to be used as a soda can. It’s going to be something else entirely. Another memory flashes of Tikki telling her of a different power - one that allows her to transform some objects into other objects instead. She swipes up the soda can, (it should be okay, she’s got gloves on so it’s not a full contamination) and shouts:

“RECREATION!”

A light emits from her hand touching the soda can, and in its light the soda can morphs and twists its shape until it becomes a coil of fire hose instead. Even Ladybug is startled by this power at first. The next phase of the plan reminds her when she feels the lens of a phone camera stare at her courtesy of Nino. 

“Hold on for a bit, you two!” Ladybug interrupts their session. “I’m going to need your help!” Nino blinks, almost like the characters in a tv show he was watching were suddenly directly talking to him. Alya’s eyes glisten in excitement. “Go by the fire hydrant I’m going to go to, and wait for my cue to twist it on!” As the two proceed to follow those directions, Ladybug beats them to the hydrant, twisting one end of the hose onto it, before leaping up to reach the loose wetsuit leg and twist the other end of the hose too, using the yoyo grapple to hold on while she locks it in. 

“AA- WHAT DO I DO?!” Chat screams in panic, not understanding Ladybug’s logic here.

“Hang in there, Chat, I’m gonna get you out!” she declares. Making sure all is set, Ladybug turns back down to the budding reporters. “Turn the valve!”

“ON IT!” Alya shouts, working together with Nino to turn the valve of the fire hydrant. Sure enough, the water starts to blare through the hose, and from the hose it rises up into the wetsuit, where it proceeds to inflate with water, more and more. Until eventually, Stoneheart’s hand was forced to open, freeing both the wetsuit and cat from the giant’s hand. 

Alright, he’s free now. As he falls, Chat Noir looks at the scene before him. The giant still is looking down in anger and frustration, and his next move is inevitable. Now, though, he’s glaring down at Alya and Nino rather than the heroes. Chat Noir can’t let that happen. He can’t let anything happen to his new best friend Nino, and this girl who shares his first class in years with him too. Then he remembers another power he has. A force of energy, a way to get Stoneheart away from them all. Still mid-air, Chat Noir brings his hands together, facing the giant.

“BLACK STORM!”

In one fell swoop, a ball of negative energy forms by the base of his ring, and bursts out a ray of dark energy, blowing Stoneheart down the street, away from Ladybug, Alya, and Nino. 

But the giant is not the only victim of this blast. With the giant’s pushback, he creates a circular crater at the buildings around them all. Oh good lord. The two chase through the crater. 

The giant lies knocked out, embedding into a boutique. His arms limp, and that includes his hands. A paper slips out into the air, before burning up by a nearby small fire that the incident caused, The paper singes into nothingness. And out flies the same dark purple butterfly that haunted the boy in the bathroom. Flying past civilians, flying past the damage it partially caused, it soars off back into the dust-laden sky.

The heroes could do nothing but stare in horror.

As the butterfly flies away, a black ether washes over the giant, revealing the unfortunate boy who had the misfortune of being the first. Françoise Dupont student, a boy who had a bad day… Ivan Bruel. Head still throbbing, and now every other part of him in aching pain, Ivan awakens, like one would from a dream. 

“What…. Huh…?” While in his daze, some citizens approach. Some back away. The holders still try to approach. However, interrupting all the approachers is the whirr of a helicopter. The rattle of army trucks. The trods of military men and police officers.

The holders are not welcome here. They need to leave. And so they abscond.

Through Ivan’s vision, a blur of guards block the civilians, giving them no choice as to what to do with the embedded boy. Alya and Nino get pushed back too, much to the former’s protest. “Find them!” echo through the crowds, seeking to claim these weird animal people for themselves. 

Nino glances between the crowds of civilians, all the dust, all the terror, all the officers, and military, to take a good look at the boy. “Is that… Ivan Bruel?”

Ivan feels his consciousness fading once again. “W…what…?” …

… In sheer exhaustion and overwhelming confusion, Ivan passes out.

That could not have gone any worse. 

The holders have reconvened atop the Arc de Triomphe, forced to hide. Ladybug paces back and forth across the structure’s width, Chat watches the news on the phone attached to his staff. On it, TVi News. Nadja Chamack reports: 

“We are reporting live above the intersection between Ave. Frayce and Rue Auguste Rodin where the giant monster has mysteriously vanished, a currently unidentified young college child in place, as well as the missing whereabouts of two apparent caped crusaders who attempted to fight the stone being back! Lately, amateur footage has been released online capturing the duo up close in action. Whoever these masked individuals are or if they're connected to the stone being is unknown. We'll get back to you as soon as we know more… Don't be bemused, it's just the news!”

Ladybug finally pierces the deafening silence. “What a disaster. Some of- some of that mess was us!”

Chat grimly closes the screen, keeping his eyes hidden. “I’m sorry… I made things worse.” 

Ladybug quickly turns her attention back to Chat. “Oh no no don’t apologize to me, Chat!” she tries to tell him, “I’m at fault too - I - they - I - They - They don’t know what to make of us. WE know we wanted to help but… how could they know if we arrived at the same time that boy got turned into a giant?”

Chat Noir does not have an answer for that. Instead, he finally exchanges a look at her with his radioactive green eyes. He has a question of his own, it seems.  “Now what?” 

“I… I don’t know,” Ladybug looks down. She.. just met this guy an hour ago and neither of them knew what they were doing. Who was this guy? Why did he act like that when they first met? And where had that gone? … In an attempt to know at least something about her partner, she turns to him. “Are.. you.. Are you from around here?”

His ears slightly twitched. “I live here in Paris, sure…”

“And I’ll tell you I live here in Paris too.” Ladybug relays. “... see? Now we both know we’re not some… strange people from another dimension or whatever.” Chat Noir attempts to chuckle, but only a single “heh” escapes his mouth. 

“I would take you home…” Chat tries to offer, “...but I… am not even supposed to know where ‘home’ is for you,”

“Don’t worry about me anyway. I can take myself home.” 

Another pause. The two miraculous holders look out into the dusty sunset of Paris, an overwhelming sense of dread drowning them. This is not a game. This is not a story. This is their reality, and their help had escalated the situation into causing more damage in their eyes. Instead of valiant superheroes like Majestia or Knightowl, they’re wanted. Instead of saving the day, they ruined so many days in their eyes. Is it even safe to be like this?

Chat Noir looks up at the girl who saved his new friend. The girl who did her best despite everything. And with this, he pierces her mind with one more question. “Will I see you again?”

This question startles Ladybug, and it even mildly touches her. The boy who did his best despite everything. The boy who also saved her new best friend. “You’re still asking me that? Even after…” she looked back at the sunset. At the very least, she owes him her honesty. “I don’t know how safe it’s going to be to be out like this again. I’m just…” She pauses, trying to find her words. What she wants to express to him in this short time. “I’m… so grateful this whole thing wasn’t just… us all alone. You still did a lot, Chat Noir. Thank… you for being here” She gives a slight smile. “But… they… they make this all look so easy in the comics and in the movies. I… I didn’t want this to end up like this.” 

Chat Noir hides his face again. Those were such kind words she said to him. Even if she did not know him long, this still warms his heart. Maybe he could reach out to other people, and this is the first person he ever reached like this. “I know.” he murmurs, keeping most of those thoughts to himself.

The chime of the cathedral bell rings through the air, causing Ladybug to get up. “It’s getting late - I- I should start to go!” 

“I think - I think I should go too,” Chat mumbles. This is almost over. Back to the mansion again. Back to being who he always has been. “I’ll.. see you soon, Ladybug?” Maybe he could see her one day again. 

“Maybe. I don’t know how much I can promise you.” Ladybug looks aside. “And I don’t think it’s up to us. It’s been a pleasure, Chat Noir. Take care.” 

Ladybug is the first to leave the Arc de Triomphe, grappling herself back in the direction of home. Chat decides to stay atop it for just a little bit longer. 

As Ladybug grapples home, that voice rings again.

I didn’t want to interrupt you there, but you have to go back there and get that wetsuit! Tikki pleads in Ladybug’s head, in sheer desperation. 

“I can’t!” Ladybug argues, “The DGSE probably has it by now! And I’m a person of interest! I’m going to mess up talking to them and I’m going to look like the bad guy!”

But Marinette! That wetsuit could fix all property damage caused by the butterfly!

Ladybug nearly freezes mid-grapple. “What…?”

The Miraculous power! I told you about this! Wait - did Chat Noir capture the butterfly?! Tikki’s voice grows even more frantic.

“He was by my side the whole time - what - where is this coming from, Tikki?!” Even though yes, Tikki did tell her this, she didn’t really get to listen very well. Her panic combined with this onslaught of too much new information did not allow this information to stick. Ladybug has no choice but to continue swinging back home now as the distant sirens echo throughout Paris. 

Unbeknownst to Ladybug, after passing the Eiffel Tower on her route back home, something sinister is brewing. The corrupted butterfly makes its way to the top of the tower. There, it rests its frail body. ....Suddenly, it starts to quiver, and duplicate. It’s mitosing as dozens to thousands of more butterflies form from its body, and take on the skies of Paris, covering the top of the tower as a storm of blackened violet clouds. 

The cat meanwhile has landed himself back into the desolate playground called his room. Before settling in, Chat Noir slightly peeks open the door out into the hallway. The mansion is quiet once again. Back to how it always is. No else here once again.

“Claws in…” Chat murmurs, collapsing onto the bed again as the green light washes over him, bringing him back to being Adrien Lachance.

Plagg escapes out of the ring and hovers by him. “Ehhh first time jitters, I get it. Not everyone is going to be a clean hero the first time you’re gonna use me! I mean no matter what though, with that Lucky Charm Ladybug summons, you and her do the Miraculous together and it can do something for ya! But,,, well uh…. Can’t do that without a lucky charm hm…”

“It's stuck with the police now!” Adrien remembers, half muffled by his own comforter. “I can’t get it back either way, it’s gone, Plagg!”

Plagg gets suspiciously quiet. Despite this, Adrien could hear in Plagg’s mumbling: “Ladybug didn’t find… didn’t purify it either… it… got away…”

Adrien shoots up from his lying position like a pistol. “What got away?!”

“The butterfly itself!” Plagg reasserts, “The one that made that kid into that giant! You or Ladybug were supposed to catch and purify it, but you…” Plagg needs to choose his next words carefully, “you both didn’t get to.”

Adrien stares aghast.

“Tikki, spots off.”

Marinette has returned to her room as her own self, before quickly turning on the television again right to where it left off on TVi. Nadja reports: 

“Just as we are currently investigating today's attacks, a new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital as dozens of people are mysteriously being transformed into stone monsters, the same exact ones as the one that attacks us earlier today!  These victims, transformed into Stonebeings, are still as statues. Police and investigators are perplexed! What will happen to them? Will they come to life or be frozen in time forever?” 

          The camera shifts, video footage showing surveillance and smartphone videos. Flurries of butterflies strike down randomly, and if they hit a civilian, like being victim to Medusa’s cold stare, they get turned to stone- smaller statues resembling the Stoneheart giant that haunted all today. All the civilians could do is pray as they scurry for cover, shrieking out for their loved ones turned to this fate.

Marinette can hardly breathe. “I - I knew it I can’t - I can't even do THIS right!” She grips her forehead. 

Tikki attempts to approach reassuringly. “Keep calm, it was your first time! You’re going to go back and capture that guy’s butterfly and do it successfully!” Tikki holds out her insect appendage to count. “We can work on your control, and throw, and even add some puns to your escapades! Just need to be ready to…strike back?-”

“What’s the point!” Marinette interjects, throwing her hands to her sides. “You got the wrong girl for this! Now you see why I didn’t want to do this?! We almost died! People are getting hurt because of ME!”

“Again, it was your first time!” Tikki reminds, “You saved people from death, and there’s still ways to fix all this!”

The report blares from the television in Adrien’s room as well.

“I hardly ever did anything!” Adrien frets, “My partner did most of the work while I made things worse, Plagg! I risked people’s lives!”

“There’s still ways to make it right! If you two get out there and-”

“How?! How?! ” Adrien argues against Plagg, “I’ll get arrested on the spot! And - and - and we can’t purify all those other butterflies! There must be thousands of them out there!”

“Of course those authority guys are going to make assumptions, its unusual, that’s why you can prove them wrong and show what YOU are capable of-”

Adrien works up the nerve to get up to Plagg’s face. “PLAGG, enough! Enough, please!”

“We got distracted!” Tikki tries to plead, “I’m sorry I should have told you again or warned you in battle! Now - here’s what we can do-”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Marinette gasps, “You’re putting too much faith in me!” She quickly turns to the safety of her bed and starts climbing up the ladder to it.

Tikki tries to follow her up. “Marinette-”

“Please just - just leave me alone.” Marinette returns to under the depths of the comforter she had grown all too accustomed with.

“I’m not cut out for this!” Adrien confesses, “Thousands are hurt! This always happens, something NEVER goes right when it comes to me. I’m cursed! Bad things always happen! THAT is why I can’t make friends, this is why I trip on my own two feet, this is why I can’t talk to my own pere, this is why my m-” Adrien hitches his voice - he does not dare complete this sentence, but the tears welling in his eyes speak louder than his words. “... I can’t do this.”

Plagg tries to approach. “Adrien, it can get better-”

“You need a better Chat Noir, Plagg,” Adrien counters, matter of factly, “Félix, he’s just down the hall, he’s more responsible than I am! He should have you, not me!” He reaches his hand up to his finger, gripped to the ring on it.

“Hey - no no no you can’t just take it out and off in the open, that can’t go into the wrong hands - “

“It’s already in the wrong hands, Plagg!” Adrien shouts. He pauses, looking down at his hands, before they go limp, silver ring still on. He can’t even take the miraculous off. What could he even do himself? “Plagg, I,,, I can’t. I can’t do this. I…” His swollen eyes trickle its tears down at last as he brings his hands to his human ears before retreating to his own bed. He pops off his prosthetic leg and lets it drop down. “I…need a minute…”

Plagg has finally gone silent. He can’t say anything now. However, instead, he floats up to the shelf over the bed, lying down there. From above, he looks at the boy who needs to find his voice.

Tikki reaches the end of the comforter. “I know you need your time to yourself… but I will always believe in you no matter what you and the world may think.”

A chilling silence echoes in the room. Then, a sobbing noise from below. Marinette’s. The blankets shuffle with her hand movement, reaching her head. 

Marinette finally speaks. “... you shouldn’t.”

Tikki knows what’s next. In a desperate attempt to reach out one last time, she cries, “MARINETTE-”

With a pluck of the backings, the earring slips from her lobes back into her hands. The room falls silent, Tikki whisks away with the unworn earrings. Even if they were off, Marinette still holds them to her. She does not have the heart to fully release them from her hand. 

In her abyss, She prays for forgiveness under her sheets, that’s the most important thing to her now before she could allow herself to curl up and sob.

Somewhere unknown to him, Ivan Bruel quietly waits for judgment in a cold interrogation room. A blanket drapes over his broad shoulders, his blond-dyed hair slightly tostling in the wind of the ceiling fan. This is a nightmare he is in and he can’t wake up from it. Constantly murmurs surround him, seeping through the walls of another room. Talks of a giant, talks of a pair of animal-suited people, talks of millions of euros worth in damages across Paris in both lives and property. Ivan stares vacantly. He could not tell them anything about the giant. He has no memory of it. All he remembered before losing this memory was getting irate at a note Kim had passed him to class. 

It’s funny how someone as big and scary as you hasn’t got the guts to tell Mylène you love her, ya wuss.

As the discussion shifts toward calling him innocent of wrongdoing through the thin walls, Ivan continues to stare. He’s so tired. And apparently, what he did while he was gone, it was so horrible. So evil. And yet most importantly… he did not have control over his own body.

“… I hope you can forgive me,” he thinks anyway.

The butterfly from earlier flutters back to its creator, through a window in a balcony, landing right on a gloved fingertip.

“There you are, mon joli papillon.”

The figure strides to pull out a box they have kept for safekeeping, holes punched into the side of it. They lift the lid, the butterfly resting in there after the busy day it has had. The darkness of the night hides most of their living space, only the glow from the moon, seeping through a nearby window. gives any sort of light to this setting. The figure pets the top of the box gently.

“Today has been quite eventful, hm, my little scélérat?”

They look back out to the dusty skyline of Paris. It has changed drastically, and if it’s to reach what they want, Monarch would not have it any other way.

“I’ll see you then, Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Monarch approaches the curtains and closes the curtains of the window, leaving their room in sheer darkness.

END OF PART 1