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It began with the day that she died.
Well maybe that was an exaggeration, but she really didn't care.
The woman was old and her life had been a happy, successful one. A well known leader of her community and a widely respected and admired hero.
Her death was not unexpected. Just the normal results of old age. She passed surrounded by loved ones. Children and grandchildren were at her bedside, teary-eyed and praying for more time.
As she closed her eyes for the final time and felt herself slip away, a most unusual thought crossed her mind. A simple request that many would question.
"Please let this be the last time."
The moments following death were predictable. A few moments looking down on her body and the people who loved her. It was a better death than some of her previous deaths she supposed. (Drowning was not fun. Nor was smallpox or bleeding out from a stab wound or…well anyone living fifty-six lives in fifty-six different worlds was guaranteed to hit a few duds. Especially when magical artefacts and creatures and various other magical things were ALWAYS getting involved with your life.)
Still, she was getting better at reaching the dying of old age part at least. That had to count for something, right? She hadn't had an early death for at least eight lives.
There was a familiar rushing sound and the woman swore. Fifty-six times she had died. Fifty-six times she lived her life and for reasons that she didn't understand, she was being reincarnated yet again.
Someone really hated her. Probably some god from her first life. Gods are surprisingly petty for such powerful entities. Or somewhere in her first life she had done something really stupid. She was very used to people being stupid.
Whatever the reason, she was done with magic. No, this life she was done with all forms of magic. No spellbooks, grimoires, genies, Miraculous's, Prodigious's or enchantments. And definitely no magical swords! (Those ALWAYS ended badly. At least two, maybe three of her lives had ended because she had gotten involved with magical swords.) Nothing magical whatsoever.
The world faded to black and once more she was alone.
A series of cries cut through the void. The cries of a woman in labour, no doubt giving birth to her next life. It was always interesting to see what she was going to be named this time around. In her last life, she had been named Bridgette. This time…well she would see.
The rushing sound returned and the void was replaced by light. She opened her eyes for the first time once again. (Reincarnation was weird like that. She had lived lifetimes, but now she was doing everything for the first time in her new body. It used to be novel. Now it was just predictable.)
She looked up at the person holding her in their arms. The person was a small Chinese woman with kind eyes and a tired expression on her face. The love in the Chinese woman's face was obvious. The large man beside her was equally entranced.
"Hello Marinette," the woman said gently. The woman smiled. Marinette was a good name for her fifty-seventh life.
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For the first thirteen years of Marinette Dupain-Cheng's life, her life was normal. Nothing magical about her life or abnormal about her whatsoever.
Just the way she wanted her fifty-seventh life to go. It was bad enough having to go through infancy and the terrible twos. (Having to be potty trained AGAIN, despite technically knowing how to was always frustrating. And then there was talking and having people coo over you and being helpless in general was never fun.)
To the outside world, she was a perfectly normal girl. A talented fashion designer and skilled with a needle, but nothing that screamed child prodigy. (She had made that mistake with her third life. Never again! It was far too much trouble!)
So when she ran out of the Dupain-Cheng bakery on the first day of a new school year, she wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen.
She waved goodbye to her mother and gave her father a quick kiss on the cheek. (He was a sweet teddy bear really, despite his size. He reminded her of one of her fathers from a previous life. Her thirty-ninth life if she remembered correctly. Or was it her forty-second? It was so easy to lose track of those little details. He was a sweet teddy bear too.)
It wasn't until she tried crossing the road that she encountered HIM.
After narrowly avoiding a close encounter with a car, she spotted an elderly Chinese man in a…colourful Hawaiian shirt struggling to cross the road. Worst still, she could see a car fast approaching.
Without thinking, she dashed into the road and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to safety. (And spilling macaroons across the street. How very frustrating.)
She wrinkled her nose briefly, before returning to a more relaxed expression. The old man had magical artefacts on him. A Miraculous or two if she had to guess. It didn't matter what world she was in, she could recognise the smell of magic anywhere. (Technically magic didn't 'smell', but it did manifest itself that way to those who knew.)
Still, it had nothing to do with her. Her fifty-seventh life was going to have nothing whatsoever to do with magical artefacts. No, not her problem! Not at all!
The school bell rang, telling her that she was about to be late. Marinette inwardly sighed with relief. The perfect excuse to get her away from the old man and his Miraculous.
"Mmmh, delicious," the old man said as he helped himself to one of her macaroons. She resisted the urge to glare at him or say something. She didn't have time to do anything more to his rudeness. (And she was tempted. Oh she was so very tempted. Fifty-six lifetimes was enough time to be done with this attitude.)
"Okay, nice to meet you. Time for me to go now before I'm late!" Marinette said quickly, pulling herself away from the old man. She was not going to be dragged into magical shenanigans this time! Not this life! Spinning around, she ran to school.
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As far as first days back went, this was fairly normal. The old man hadn't had the chance to give her a Miraculous (and wouldn't have the chance. Hopefully. Miraculous holders and Guardians could be a little unpredictable. Besides which, it didn't look like there was any reason for the Miraculous to be deployed.) And she had made a new friend. A girl named Alya, who had stood up to Chloé no less.
Okay, it was a fairly good first day back.
Or at least it was until a giant stone monster appeared.
"Kimmm!"
Marinette looked at the giant stone creature with a slight frown. She was trying to avoid magic in this lifetime and now this…
She swore. She hated dealing with corrupt Miraculous holders. And by the looks of it, it was the Butterfly Miraculous that had fallen into the wrong hands.
Of course, it might not have anything to do with the Miraculous at all, but after the encounter with the old man…well she had good reason to suspect the work of a Miraculous holder.
Besides, she had wielded the Butterfly Miraculous a few lifetimes ago. Of course she would recognise the effects.
"It's as if he's been transformed into a real life supervillain!" Alya exclaimed excitedly, her face lit up with joy. "GPS, check! Battery check! I am so outta here!"
"Hey! Where are you going!?" Marinette said as Alya began running.
"Where there's a supervillain, there's always a superhero close behind! No way I'm missing this!" she said and continued to run.
Marinette swore once more and ran after her new friend. (She reminded Marinette of another girl her age. Her best friend from her fourth life actually. A girl named Lisa Hall. She had no sense of self preservation either.)
Still, just because she had no self preservation instincts, didn't mean that Alya deserved to get seriously injured or killed.
And Marinette inwardly admired the girl's reckless courage and good heart. Those kind of qualities needed to be encouraged.
So Marinette chased after her friend. Her crazy headstrong friend who was almost certainly going to get herself killed if left to her own devices. (And unlike Marinette, Alya was probably not going to be reincarnated. That was another painful lesson she'd learned from her many lives.)
Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough to catch her in time.
Alya was on her bike and pedalling after the Stone creature before she could stop her.
Marinette swore. There was no way she could catch Alya on foot. And she wasn't sure that she could steal a bike and catch up in time.
"Think Marinette, think. You're on your fifty-seventh life. You've been everything. A doctor, an artist, a tracker, a detective. Think," she said to herself. "You can't keep up with her, but you do know where she's headed. Or rather, I know where the thing she's following is going." She smiled to herself. She had been a monster hunter in her twenty-ninth life. And her thirty-seventh. Good to see that she still remembered how to think like that.
She ran to the stadium. She couldn't catch up with Alya, but she could hopefully arrive at the stadium before Alya got herself hurt.
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By the time Marinette reached the stadium, a superhero was already on the scene and Alya was gleefully watching and recording. Judging by his appearance, he was obviously the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous. (Those cat-like features were unmistakable.)
A new holder of the Black Cat Miraculous. It was pretty obvious, Marinette thought to herself with a wince as she watched him hit the stone creature. The stone creature grew bigger and threw the new holder across the field.
"Go on cat, you can do it!" Alya shouted, pumping a fist into the air. Marinette winced. The smart course of action in a superhero fight would be to stay quiet and out of the way.
Alya was apparently not given to necessarily taking the smart course of action. (Another thing Alya had in common with her old friend Lisa Hall. She couldn't bring herself to stand on the sidelines if she could help.) It was stupidly brave, but definitely heroic.
Alya's shout angered the creature and suddenly a set of goalposts were thrown at Alya.
Time seemed to move in slow motion and Marinette threw herself at Alya. Both girls landed in a heap and the goalposts narrowly missed them.
"You…saved me," Alya said and Marinette glared. "Thanks."
"Maybe next time, don't chase the dangerous unknown supervillain?" she said in a deadpan voice.
"Come on! I've always wanted to see a superhero in action! Besides, a good reporter always tries to keep on top of the story!"
Marinette rolled her eyes as the two girls stood up. The cat themed superhero had hit the stone creature and it had only grown larger.
"Stop hitting him!" Marinette shouted in an authoritative voice, before looking around.
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked and she looked around.
"Keep him distracted!" she shouted, before looking at Alya. "I'm going to need your help. Follow me."
Like a well oiled machine, the three of them went into action. The cat themed superhero (she really needed to find out what he was calling himself, Marinette thought to herself.) was quickly getting into his stride. Whoever he was, he was a natural. He kept the stone creature busy, dancing around the creature as Alya and Marinette ran down the field.
She grabbed the hose pointed at the tap. Alya nodded and ran to the tap to turn it on. Marinette grabbed the hose and pointed it at her target.
"Now Alya!" she shouted and suddenly the stone creature was being pounded by a jet of high pressure water. It even began stumbling back as it tried shielding it's eyes. The cat themed superhero ran behind him.
"Cataclysm!" the cat themed superhero shouted and he hit the ground behind the stone creature. (Definitely the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous, Marinette noted to herself.) The ground turned black and a hole appeared in the ground. The stone creature, still retreating from the water pressure, fell in with a thud.
Marinette waved a hand and Alya turned the tap off. The cat themed superhero ran towards them and Alya whooped.
"That was amazing Marinette!" she said, her face alight with joy.
"That was pretty cool," the cat themed superhero said, before kissing her hand.
"By the way," Alya said, pointing her phone at the cat themed superhero. "Who are you?"
"I'm…" He paused and thought for a moment. "Chat Noir,"
"So Chat Noir, do you have anything to say to our viewers?" Alya asked and Chat Noir grinned.
"Don't worry citizens of Paris. Chat Noir is here to help," he said, before he pole vaulted away.
"That. Was. AWESOME!" Alya practically squealed and Marinette smiled to herself. It was fun watching someone so young being so happy. "You were awesome Marinette! The way you just came up with that plan on the fly and the way you knew what to do and-and-and-"
"You were pretty cool yourself Alya. A real hero!" Marinette said and Alya stared at her in adoration.
Marinette inwardly sighed. Alya was looking at her with an all-too-familiar expression. A crush, or at least an infatuation.
Marinette wasn't against same sex relationships. She'd even had a few in some of her previous lives. She just…it didn't feel right having a relationship with a teenager. Physically she was the same age. Nobody would have called her a predator and this world didn't seem to have any issues with same sex relationships. It was just…well she had lifetimes of experience compared to the teenagers around her. It just felt creepy.
"Come on, let's get back to school," she said and the two girls walked out of the stadium.
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"No."
Tikki stared, apparently shocked into silence by the finality of her words.
"But Marinette-"
"No. I'm NOT going to be the chosen one. Not this time! It's too much hassle and I don't want to be involved with magical items this life!" Marinette said with some annoyance. "It's bad enough that I had to get involved with that mess with whatever that stone akuma was-"
"Wait, you know what an akuma is?"
"And it's bad enough that there's a Butterfly holder that's gone bad in Paris, but I am not getting any more involved!"
A black butterfly flew in from her window and made its way towards her.
"Piss off!" she shouted as she swatted the butterfly, apparently unaffected. (It had been almost fifteen lifetimes ago that she had learned how to do that. Good to know that particular technique still worked.)
Tikki stared, completely dumbstruck for the first time in…centuries really. Or maybe ever.
"Look Tikki, I'm sorry," Marinette said as she cupped the Kwami in her hands. "I know that it's not your fault that you're here. You don't get to choose your holders. And I know that it's supposed to be a great honour to be chosen. But I'm not getting involved with anything magical in this lifetime. I've had fifty-six lifetimes being involved with magical items and creatures before. I'm not going to be involved this time."
"Fifty-six…"
"I know who would be a great superhero! Alya! She helped me defeat the stone akuma! She's fearless and young and she loves superheroes. She'd be perfect."
"Marinette…"
Marinette closed the box and Tikki vanished.
At least it explained the lack of Ladybug Miraculous holder at least. While Chat Noir was busy fighting the stone creature, the Ladybug Miraculous was sitting on her desk. Still, they had managed to fix the problem. Sort of. Ivan was still transformed, but Alya would be able to fix it when she got the Miraculous.
With a slight twinge of regret, Marinette put the box in a drawer.
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"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, here is the Miraculous of the Fox, which grants the power of illusion. You will use it for the greater good."
Marinette stared at Scarabella in disbelief. Someone, somewhere, was having a long hard laugh at her expense. A long, hard laugh that was NOT funny. She had successfully passed on her Miraculous to Alya months ago without any trouble. Scarabella had appeared for the first time that very day and purified the akuma and restored everything. Marinette was convinced that her part in this was over. But no. Fate it seemed, had other ideas.
"You can totally do this girl! Just believe in yourself!" Scarabella leaned forward and gave Marinette an encouraging smile. "I still haven't forgotten how you helped defeat Stoneheart you know."
Marinette bit back a retort. Bit back telling her that she only did it because she was protecting Alya. She knew that Scarabella would use it to encourage her.
Scarabella put the box in Marinette's hand and stepped closer. "Marinette, we need you. We can't defeat Sapotis alone."
"But-but-"
"Marinette, please…don't doubt yourself. You're amazing. I've seen it first hand. You're amazing and beautiful and brave and creative and…" Scarabella turned away as a blush swept across her cheeks.
Marinette inwardly winced. She knew that Alya had developed…feelings for her. And she knew full well that it would be inappropriate for her to enter a relationship with Alya. (One of the many downsides of reincarnation. She couldn't exactly date like a normal teenager. It was something she envied about her classmates.)
Marinette held up the box and explained it, as though she expected it to be any different to the Ladybug one. It wasn't of course, but it seemed appropriate for her to look.
"I…don't want to be a superhero," she finally said and Scarabella looked up. "But I don't think that I can just sit here and do nothing either. They're just children. They shouldn't be used like this. Or changed. Or hurt."
Marinette opened the box and a glowing orange-yellow light emerged before fading into the familiar shape of a Kwami. Well at least it was a new one. Marinette was pretty sure that she had never dealt with the Fox Miraculous before.
This one was, predictably, a red and white Kwami with a fox tail and ears. Marinette felt a sudden wave of nostalgia for Plagg. He was an annoying little beggar, but he cared at the very least. And Tikki. And Sass. And Fluff. And Nooroo. And Stompp.
Actually that was a lot of Kwamis in her past lives.
"Hi there! My name is Trixx and I'm your Kwami!" the red and white fox-like Kwami said.
"Hello," Marinette said, before picking up the necklace and putting it around her neck. "How do I…"
"Just say the words 'Trixx, let's pounce!' and you'll be a superhero!" Trixx said and Marinette nodded. She paused and took a deep breath. It was only for this situation. A one off. Afterwards, she would return the Miraculous and never have anything to do with magic again. (Famous last words…)
"Trixx, let's pounce!"