Chapter Text
“Anne, wake up, we’re landing in an hour.”
A hand on your shoulder brings you out of your dream. It had been a nice dream, and you mourned it as you slowly flutter your eyes open.
You’re met with the back of a row of blue striped seats. For a second, your brain spins, trying to reconcile the white curved walls around you with your bedroom walls. You’re on a plane. You definitely didn’t fall asleep on a plane.
“Anne?” Your neck cracks as you whip around. There’s a lady sitting in the seat next to you. She looks concerned. “Are you alright? You’re not airsick, are you?”
You don’t realize you’re hyperventilating until the lady touches your knee. “Anne, take this. It’s meant for seasickness, but I doubt there’s much difference.” She’s holding out a pill in shiny wrapping.
You pinch yourself. It stings.
Trying to act natural, you mutter something about the bathroom and rush as fast as you dare to the back of the plane. After you’ve locked the door, then double-checked that it’s locked, you splash water on your face. You’re not entirely sure why it feels right, but it’s what people in the movies usually do when something like this happens.
You don’t feel like an actress. You feel panicked and like your shirt collar is wet.
Where the hell am I?
The last thing you remember is being in bed. You were watching a magical girl show that one of your friends had recommended. You’d seen clips of the show before, but never really sat down to watch the whole thing.
You’d watched a video once that said that if you were ever stuck out in the wilderness, the first thing you had to do was take stock of your supplies, then make a plan of action based on how you’d gotten out there and what you knew.
An airplane wasn’t the wilderness, but you took three slow breaths and emptied your pockets onto the counter. You had the pill the lady had given you, a candy wrapper, and a small pile of foreign money that you didn’t recognise.
The pill went into the trashcan along with the wrapper. You weren’t that stupid. The money was returned to your pocket, though if whoever this was (because that face in the bathroom mirror wasn’t yours) was just keeping it loose in her pocket, it probably wasn’t worth much.
You studied yourself. Dark hair, blue eyes. Honestly, you were pretty nondescript. You also weren’t too far from how you’d looked before waking up here, but there were subtle differences that made the person in the mirror a stranger. Your eyes seemed bigger, your nose was shaped differently, you had less piercings than you’d had before.
Internally, you sighed. Now you have to get your ears repierced. Then you shook yourself. Not what you should be focusing on right now.
Make a plan of action based on what you know.
What did you know? You were in the air, you looked different, and this body was capable of swallowing pills.
There was a knock on the door. “Occupied!”
You couldn’t stay here forever. The lady next to you had acted completely normally. She wasn’t scared or threatening.
Mind made up, you flushed the toilet, ran the faucet for a few seconds, then walked back to your seat as if nothing was wrong. The lady looked up and smiled. “Better?” You nodded and squirmed past her to get to a bag that was tucked under the seat you’d been sitting in. The lady didn’t seem to notice, meaning it probably was your bag.
Just as you’d hoped, there was a laptop. Unfortunately, it was password protected. You crammed yourself against the wall so the lady couldn’t see the laptop screen and rifled through the bag. There was nothing that could help. Chapstick, leftover snacks, tissues, a book. All things normal people bring on a plane ride.
You opted not to eat the snacks, though your stomach grumbled. They were some of your favorites, too. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. The book was one of your favorites as well. Everything in the bag might have been picked out by you personally.
You thought for a second, then slowly typed out your password to your computer back home. The laptop unlocked. Huh.
Pulled up on the screen was a video of a familiar man giving a speech to reporters. This you liked Miraculous Ladybug too. You ignored it and clicked over to the system settings app. Sure enough, pulled up was the name and account settings of this other you.
Your name was Maryanne. You were a minor, and your account was paid for by an Elise Monet. That was probably the lady next to you, your mother, judging by the shared last name.
When you checked your inbox, there were emails about a flight which had taken off on the same date as the one in the corner of the screen. The date was about three decades earlier than it should have been.
Ignoring that for the sake of keeping your cool, you read the emails. You were going to Paris, from another location in France that you’d never heard of.
Elise nudged your arm. “Here’s some of the possible schools in our district. Would you like to look through them?” She handed you the tablet she’d been holding. The first option on the screen was called Francoise Dupont.
You looked up at Elise, expecting her to smile and switch to the actual school list. She just blinked expectantly at you. A sudden horrible suspicion took hold of you. You switched back to the tab that had been up when you logged in to the computer.
Mayor Bourgeois was frozen in the middle of laughing at something a reporter had said. The title of the video was “15 Times The Mayor of Paris Interrupted A Speech Because Of His Daughter.” You unpaused it. Chloe Bourgeois stormed on stage and started furiously whispering in her father’s ear. Her father faltered awkwardly, then excused himself, ignoring the shouts from the press.
You opened a new tab and searched “Miraculous Ladybug.” Nothing came up. “Ladybug,” “Chat Noir,” and “Hawkmoth” also came up blank. You switched tabs again and started scrolling through your YouTube feed. Other you had been researching Paris, apparently.
Your history showed multiple videos about the history of Paris, tourist attractions, and lectures given by speakers like the Mayor. You looked back at Elise’s tablet. Francoise Dupont looked like a perfectly normal school. The pictures looked exactly like what you remembered from the show.
You spent the rest of the plane ride frantically Googling anything you could think of. Nothing turned up any results. You, your life, the history you remembered, even the city where you had lived, it was all gone.
When you landed, you followed Elise numbly through the airport, sat in silence during the short taxi ride, and carried your luggage up to a hotel room without complaint. Elise, who seemed to be attributing your behavior to jetlag, left you alone to sleep almost immediately.
You should have been researching. Instead, you buried your face in your pillow and cried yourself to sleep.
—---------------------
You lived in a cartoon now.
That was your new reality. Honestly, it didn’t seem very cartoony to you. Everything looked just as real as things in your old life had. People acted normally, although the mannerisms were different since you now lived in France.
According to the articles you found online, Mrs. Agreste had just died. That put you right at the start of the plot.
When did your life become a cheap self-insert fanfiction?
You wished you’d read more cheap self-insert fanfiction. It would have been useful. All you knew about this show was from the spoilers you’d seen online and from the first couple seasons. You’d debated the wisdom of putting down what you knew where someone could find it, but eventually decided that remembering everything you could was more important and started a journal. You’d written it in English in the hope that whoever might find it would be unable to understand it. This you had never left France, and thus didn’t speak any English. Neither did Elise, which eased your mind a little.
You weren’t very worried about Elise anyway. She was a doctor, apparently, which was why she had moved you two down to a bigger city. She worked long hours and spent most of her time resting when she was at home. You had near limitless freedom, as long as you were home and looked like you’d never left when Elise returned from the hospital.
You spent most of that time at the public library. You were going to start school again soon, and history had completely changed from what you had known. You couldn’t seem like you knew nothing in that one particular subject only.
You were attending Francoise Dupont. You’d made the decision while still dazed from your little jaunt to another world, but you’d stuck by it since. You had laid your entire plan out.
You really didn’t want to die. (Again? You still weren’t sure how you got here.) You also didn’t want anyone else to die. You happened to be the only person in the city who knew that as soon as the school year started, comic book monsters would be wreaking havoc in the streets.
You didn’t think anyone had died in the show, but this wasn’t a show anymore. The people in the street outside your window were real living human beings.
The most sensible thing to do would be to leave the city. Fat chance of convincing Elise of that without any real reasons.
That left you with one solution. Change the plot.
If you were starting from the beginning of the plot, you knew what would happen up to a point. After that, you were almost as clueless as anyone else about what the future held. However, you did know what would happen immediately. If you could get ahead of the plot and stop Hawkmoth, it wouldn’t matter what was supposed to happen in the future episodes because without a villain there wouldn’t be any danger.
Main characters in the fanfictions you’d read worried a lot about changing the plot, since that would change the future and render their foreknowledge useless. You had just enough plot knowledge to get you started, and after that it wouldn’t matter.
You had written out the plot of the origins episode as closely as you could remember it. One thing was sure - you weren’t going to change any of the major details. Marinette would be Ladybug and Adrien would be Chat Noir. You weren’t going to interfere in anything until after they’d been tested by Master Fu.
You do need an in with one of them, preferably Marinette. You had considered casually walking by the intersection where Marinette would be tested. She would save Fu and run off to get to school, and you could step in to offer to walk the Guardian home or something. You’d decided against trying to ingratiate yourself with Fu, though.
You didn’t know if he was giving away any Miraculous besides the Ladybug and Black Cat, and you weren’t going to risk him choosing you over Marinette. Instead, you would show up to school like normal. There wasn’t a very good chance you’d get placed in Marinette and Adrien’s class, but you would be able to talk to them at lunch or in the library.
You would become friends with one or both of them, preferably along with some other people from their class. Alya and Nino, the future Fox and Turtle Miraculous Holders, came to mind.
Anyone in the class would be good, really, you just needed someone to introduce you to the rest of them. You felt a bit stalkerish planning how you would approach each person, but they would forgive you if they knew why you were being creepy.
Once you were fairly good friends with Marinette, you would try and stick with her during an akuma attack. She would slide away from the class to transform, and you would follow to “accidentally” walk in when she was activating her Miraculous.
As the one civilian person she could talk to about her double life, you could start to influence her subtly. Convincing her to share more secrets with Chat, giving hints about how to deal with akumas, leading her slowly toward Gabriel Agreste as Hawkmoth, possibly even obtaining a Miraculous of your own from her later.
You definitely felt creepy now.
You considered your options for new friends. Ivan seemed like a big sweetie, but he was going to get akumatized on the first day. You probably wouldn’t influence the plot of the first episode, you decided. Until you saw Ladybug and Chat with their respective Miraculous with your own eyes, you wouldn’t change anything.
That still left most of the class. Chloe was an obvious no, if she was your in you’d never be taken seriously as a friend by anyone in the class. Eventually, you decided that Nathaniel would probably be your best bet.
From what you could remember, he mostly sat in the back of the class and doodled. He hadn’t seemed particularly shy, just introverted. He was a part of the art club and had a serious temper when he got going. That was most of what you remembered, but it was enough.
He’d seemed pretty nice as long as you didn’t make fun of his art, so if you approached him as a transfer student looking to join the art club, you were sure he’d be friendly. This plan also came with the bonus of hopefully avoiding an akuma. Marc Anciel’s plotline didn’t happen until the next season, but his akumatization had been caused by Nathaniel.
If you became friends with Marc and introduced the two boys early, you could probably avoid the giant misunderstanding and the subsequent destruction of Marc’s notebook.
You did have a backup plan in the form of Juleka and Rose, who were respectively very shy and very friendly. They’d probably be happy to sit with you at lunch. You’d prefer to avoid becoming particular friends with Juleka, though, because with her would eventually come Luka.
Luka, while very cool, was the kind of person you’d like to avoid. Knowing him, he’d take one look at you and declare that your inner melody was completely wrong. If it came down to it, you were fairly sure he’d keep your secret. He’d kept Ladybug’s, afterall. It felt wrong to put that pressure on him, though, and you’d prefer to keep your cards close to your chest.
You stuck a bookmark into the textbook you’d been reading and tossed it onto your desk. Your head hurts.
You’d done what you could to prepare for any situations that might come your way. Elise had been happy to sign you up for first aid classes. You’d started watching YouTube videos about proper police procedures in dangerous situations, studied the blueprints of your new school to find good hiding places, and learned various grounding techniques for people having panic attacks. Remembering the Syren episode, you’d also started swimming lessons at the local pool.
Elise was happy you were settling into your new home nicely. You were exhausted and terrified for tomorrow. The first day of school. Everything depended on the first day of school.
—--------------
You started your day early. Knowing that school would be dismissed early because of Stoneheart, you didn’t bother to pack lunch.
Elise kissed your forehead before she rushed out to make her shift on time. You took the subway to school. It was exactly as you’d seen it on the screen, first in your world, and then in this one.
As you walked up the steps, a limousine pulled up in front of the steps. Nathalie Sancoeur stepped out, scanning the street. You put your head down and continued walking up the stairs at the same pace you had before.
Internally, you were screaming. The first canon character you’d seen in person was standing right behind you and speaking to someone. Adrien. You didn’t turn around. Adrien would run to help Master Fu in a moment. You couldn’t risk Fu seeing you see him and not do anything. He would put you down as someone ineligible for a Miraculous, and that was part of your plan.
You walked into the school without looking back, as much as you wanted to see the first canon scene you would be present for. Thankfully, you were already near the doors. You went straight to the principal’s office, as you’d been directed to do.
Principal Damocles was pompous. You didn’t like him very much. He walked you up the staircase to your new homeroom, talking the entire time. You focused on his speech more than you wanted to, to avoid thinking about the girl next to you. She’d already been in the office when you’d knocked. She nudged you with her elbow. “Hey. I’m Alya.”
You smiled and steadfastly did not say “I know.” “Hi Alya. I’m Maryanne, but call me Anne.” Principal Damocles threw the door to your classroom open with more force than was necessary. “Here you are, girls. Madam Bustier will take over from me. Welcome to our school.” No fucking way. No way are you this lucky.
Alya pulled you with her into the classroom. Madam Bustier smiled warmly and handed each of you a syllabus. “Welcome. Please choose a seat, and we will start class when everyone has arrived.”
“Want to sit together? I don’t know anyone here.” Thank god for Alya’s extroverted nature. “Sure.”
You let Alya slide into the row of desks first and sit next to her in Marinette’s usual seat. You’re going to have to move once Marinette actually arrives, since you want her to be friends with Alya still.
You scan the classroom as subtly as you can. If you were placed in this class, that probably means someone else isn’t here. You can see Nino, Nathaniel, Ivan, Juleka, Mylene, Max, and a few others, but not everyone is here.
God, I hope I didn’t accidentally get Adrien placed in a different class.
People start to trickle in. Alix fistbumps you on her way up the aisle. Chloe and Sabrina kick someone out of their seat to sit together in the front row. Kim trips in at the last minute, right before the bell rings.
You push down your anxiety. Adrien won’t actually be here until tomorrow. The seat next to Nino is still free. There’s only one other seat, though. Neither Rose nor Marinette are here. Marinette is famously late to everything, so maybe-
“Sorry, Madam Bustier! I’m here.” “Try to be on time in the future, Marinette.” Thank god. You feel a bit bad for Rose, but it isn’t the worst case scenario. She and Juleka were already friends, you’re pretty sure, and she’s still in the art club with Nathaniel and Alix.
You’ll try and pull her into some class activities. The class will like her anyways, she seems very sweet. Juleka is sitting in comfortable silence with Nathaniel, so she isn’t left alone either. You feel a tiny bit bad for taking advantage of Rose’s absence, but you’re pretty sure that almost everyone in the Akuma Class will eventually wield a Miraculous, if only for a short time. If you can get into Marinette’s good books and stay there, you might even become a full-time hero.
“Get out of my seat, Clumsy-nette.” Chloe’s predictably decided she doesn’t like her seat anymore. “But Chloe, I’ve sat here for years?” “What utter nonsense! I’ve always sat behind my Adrikins.” As the struggle goes on, you meet Alya’s eyes. They’re narrowed in indignation. Silently, you slide out of your seat to let her through. You’ll back her up, and she knows it. She squeezes your arm as she goes by.
“Leave her alone!”
Chloe sputters. Sabrina gasps. The rest of the class is silent. You can see some of Chloe’s more frequent victims like Juleka and Nathaniel watching closely. You let Alya do the confronting and sidle over to help Marinette up. She’s gathering her things up off the floor where she’d dropped them when she’d fallen.
You offer her the most welcoming smile you can muster as you gather up her box of macarons. It’s smashed, you notice with pleasure. She did meet Master Fu.
“Thank you. I’m Marinette.” “Anne. Come sit over here with Alya, and I’ll find another chair.” She protests, but you plop her stuff down where you had been sitting and swing your own bag onto your back. Madam Bustier has broken up Alya and Chloe’s fight and is now placing Chloe right back where she had been before, with much more firmness than she’d shown in the show. She actually seems like a decent teacher when you’re standing in front of her.
Alya looks confused, but you mutter “cheer her up” as you pass and she brightens immediately. Her thumbs-up isn’t very subtle, but she sits herself down next to Marinette and begins chattering away about her blog, drawing Marinette into conversation.
You skip Adrien’s open seat and head to the only other place in the classroom, which is next to Ivan. “Can I sit here?” “Um, sure?” You smile and introduce yourself. He is nice, as it turns out. Your plan was to make friends with Nathaniel, but as long as you don’t interfere with Ivan being akumatized, there’s no harm in sitting with him. It also gives you a good opportunity to switch seats with Mylene once they start dating in a couple days. You’ll make a good impression on both of them and be able to make friends with Alix, Mylene’s seatmate.
Madam Bustier starts the day by having everyone complement their neighbors. “I like your shirt, Ivan. Is that a band?” Ivan, bless his heart, brightens at once and starts telling you all about his favorite songs. You cement his friendship by asking for recommendations and writing them down in your notebook.
Madam Bustier had set a timer. You still had five minutes. Time for my original target. “Hi! Nathaniel, right? Did you draw that cartoon calendar on the whiteboard?” You’d seen him doodling “back to school” themed stuff, probably at Madam Bustier’s request. Nathaniel looks startled, but nods.
“It’s really fun. You’re a good artist.” “Thanks.” Juleka and Ivan had taken cues from you and were having a muttered conversation about a rock band that you’d never heard of. You ask for recommendations from Juleka too. “I like songs in English, usually. I’m trying to build a repertoire of French songs.”
She is probably the shyest person you’ve ever met, but music seems to be her weak point as well. She obligingly scribbles down some bands for you, and even asks for English rock bands she might like. “Let me listen to some of these so I know what stuff you like.” You smile winningly. “I’ll bring you a playlist or something tomorrow.”
When asked, Nathaniel adds some calming music he listens to while drawing to your list. You tuck it safely into your bag and return to focus on Madam Bustier’s lecture with a feeling of accomplishment.
When Madam Bustier dismisses class, Alya is at your side in a moment. “Hey! It was cool of you to give up your seat for Marinette. We’re gonna go to the library, wanna join?” You accept with alacrity and ask if any of your new friends want to join. Juleka is going to meet Rose (which brings you untold relief, knowing that you didn’t accidentally steal all Rose’s friends), Nathaniel has homework, and Ivan is too busy scowling at a note Kim had sneaked to him to answer.
You give the soon-to-be akuma a reassuring smile and head out.
The rest of the day goes swimmingly. Alya runs after Stoneheart, Marinette and you mutter worriedly in the corner of the library for a while, and then the school closes early because of the damage done to the walls of the library and the principal’s office.
You take the subway home and hole yourself up in your room to watch the news. When Ladybug and Chat Noir appear just as they should, you nearly cry in relief. If this is the same, everything else should be the same.
You know the most important pieces of lore. You can change the fate of Paris.
In celebration, you make yourself a playlist of all the songs Ivan and Juleka wrote down for you. Honestly, you may actually need to listen to the rest of Jagged Stone’s songs. You’d been too busy to get into the pop culture of your new home, but the guy is famous for good reason.
—--------------------
When you arrive at school the next day, you’re mobbed by Alya, Kim, and Alix, chattering excitedly about the real-life superheroes that had appeared in front of them.
The three most extroverted people in your class are absolutely over the moon. Alya’s just starting to curate her first post on what will become the Ladyblog, and asks you anxiously about your opinion on the name.
“I like it. It’s short and memorable, but relates to the content still.” She beams.
Nathaniel has already started drawing Ladybug, you guess, judging by how he hides the page of his sketchbook. You don’t press him and instead pass Juleka her playlist. Her smile is small, but genuine.
Adrien’s in class today. Once the mob of students dies down, you go up and introduce yourself. You would prefer to avoid the gum misunderstanding between him and Marinette. You keep it short and sweet. Chloe’s doing enough fawning. “I’m Anne, nice to meet you. Us newcomers to this school have to stick together.”
Adrien looks relieved at someone other than Chloe or a fan talking to him. “I’m Adrien. Do you know where I’m sitting?” Chloe pipes up from where she’s clinging to his arm. “I’ll show you, Adrikins. If we ask nicely, I’m sure Madam Bustier would even let us sit together.” Adrien seems visibly uncomfortable at this.
You cut in quickly. “You’re sitting with Sabrina, Chloe, and I think she’d be disappointed if you switched seats. This way, Adrien.” Sabrina shoots you a thankful look from where she’d been hovering behind Chloe.
Adrien worms his arm out of Chloe’s grasp and follows you to where Nino’s sprawled over the bench, bobbing his head to whatever he’s listening to. “Nino? This is Adrien, he’s your seatmate. Adrien, this is Nino.” Adrien sits down. You wait for the two of them to hit it off. Nothing happens.
Nino is glaring at Adrien out of the corner of his eye, looking between him and Chloe like she’d infected him with a contagious disease. Adrien just looks really awkward. He’s never talked to anyone by himself, has he?
You sigh quietly. “Adrien, you were saying you liked Ultimate Mecha Strike III, right?” Adrien, who’d said no such thing, looks even more awkward. “Um-” “Really, dude? Who’s your favorite mech?”
Nino, immediately swayed into speech by the mention of his favorite game, blinks at Adrien hopefully. You can visibly see the moment where what you’d done clicks in Adrien’s head. He sends you the brightest smile you’d ever seen on a human face and begins conversing with Nino.
You head back to your seat, satisfied. When Adrien had shaken your hand, you’d felt the cold of a ring against your palm. Now you just had to check that Marinette had her Miraculous.
For once, she arrives on time. She comes to you before you can get up, though. “Anne, my dad sent me with a replacement box of macarons since the last one got kinda crushed. Do you want one?” You greedily accept the strawberry flavored treat she hands you and heap generous amounts of praise on her parents’ baking.
She smiles at you, but she doesn’t seem as cheerful as she had yesterday. You barely spot her slipping the tiny black box into Alya’s bag, but only because you’re looking for it. Your first instinct is to slip it back into hers when she’s not looking, but you remind yourself that you’re still in the middle of Ladybug’s first adventure.
If she’s ever going to fully commit to her path as Ladybug, she needs to decide for herself that she’s worthy of this Miraculous. If you force it back on her, she won’t learn anything.
Ivan arrives last, making his way through the classroom with his head down. You’re about to ask if he’s alright - you don’t think you’re supposed to know that he was Stoneheart. Chloe beats you to it, beginning to mock Ivan and his crush on Mylene.
Ivan flushes red and leaves the classroom, Marinette running after him. You leave them to it and back up Alya as she lays into Chloe. Madam Bustier breaks up the fight before Alya can punch Chloe, much to your shared disappointment.
Madam Bustier begins to take attendance. You sit alone in your row of seats, bracing yourself. Madam Bustier calls Ivan’s name. Stoneheart breaks down the door.
Broken pieces of wood fly over the first few rows. Nino hisses in pain. Adrien pulls him under their desk. You follow suit, pulling at Nathaniel’s jeans to get him to duck. Juleka crouches next to him, eyes wide and scared.
You can’t blame her. This is the first time you’ve seen an akuma close up. The show dramatically undersold them.
The sound of grating stone-against-stone fills the air every time Stoneheart moves. He’s made of real rock, not just a costume, and he towers over Madam Bustier. It’s the single most terrifying moment of your life to date. Suddenly, you reconsider your plan to become a superhero.
Ivan’s gentle voice now sounds like thunder as he snarls out his lines. You plug your ears. Chloe and Mylene’s screams as he snatches them and hurtles out the window will haunt your dreams tonight. A hand touches your knee. Nathaniel mouths “Are you okay?” You force a smile.
He doesn’t look convinced, but now that Stoneheart is gone, you have work to do. Madam Bustier is leaning heavily against her desk. She doesn’t look great. For the first person who’s ever faced down an akuma, she’s doing pretty well, though.
You’re at her side in a moment. Alya’s gone already, along with Adrien and Marinette. Everybody else is unsurely emerging from beneath desks. “Hey!” Eyes snap to you. People from other classes are starting to congregate in the hall, gaping at the giant holes where walls used to be.
“Kim, Alix, can you fill the principal and any teachers you can find in on what just happened? Everybody else, find somewhere to hide and tell anyone you meet to hide too. Those monsters on the news, the ones people were turning into, they could be anywhere, and we don’t know where that one went.”
Surprisingly, they listen pretty well. Chloe shoves out ahead of everyone else. As they exit, Max awkwardly assures a crying Sabrina that “everything will be alright, those superheroes will come back.” Nino is the only one who doesn’t obediently file out into the hall.
He looks scared and uncertain, and he’s holding his arm wrapped in his hoodie. The shattered door.
Elise had, on your request, filled out a first aid kit for you with stuff from the hospital. You’d just told her that you wanted to be cautious. Now, you pulled wood splinters from Nino’s cut, disinfected it, and slapped some gauze into his hand. “Keep pressure on it with the hoodie over the gauze.”
Madam Bustier has mostly recovered, and shepherds Nino to the nurse while you run to hide in the locker room. If you can catch one of Paris’ new heroes detransforming, you can accomplish two steps of your plan in one day.
You don’t catch Marinette in the locker room. Actually, Marinette doesn’t show up at school until the next day. Everybody had been released early again, so Marinette, Adrien, and Alya didn’t get in trouble for disappearing.
You hug both Marinette and Alya. “You disappeared without me! I thought one of the stone dudes got you.” Alya happily informs you about her narrow escape from death and her save at the hands of Ladybug. Marinette sighs. “Alya, you really shouldn’t have done that.” “And miss the scoop of the century?”
As they bicker, Nino taps you on the shoulder. “Thanks for patching me up yesterday, dudette. The weird red ladybugs fixed my arm, but you helped a lot.” You poke suspiciously at the clean, unbroken skin where the ugly slash had been. “It looks fine. I’m glad it doesn’t hurt.”
When Adrien arrives, you scold him for vanishing too. Alya makes an exaggerated sympathetic face over your shoulder. You swat at her and open your arms to Adrien, who appears to have absolutely no clue how to hug someone.
“You’re allowed to hug me back, you know.” “Right.”
He gives good hugs, once he gets over his awkwardness.
You turn to greet Juleka and Nathaniel, but Chloe opens her mouth before you get more than a few sentences out. “Well, if it isn’t the terror of Paris. Kidnapped any amazingly beautiful mayor’s daughters today, Ivan?”
Ivan looks like someone pointed a spotlight directly at his face. Mylene swells with rage, but it’s your turn to deal with Chloe today. “Will you shut up? We know you need attention, but there’s a mirror in your bag. Go put even more makeup on and leave Ivan alone.”
Chloe flushes as Kim snickers loudly. “Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” She flounces to her seat and starts snapping at Sabrina.
You snag your bag and gesture for Mylene to take your seat. She’s focused on Ivan, but she spares you a kind smile. Alix snorts and pulls her stuff aside to make room for you. “You have to stop giving up your seat for other people. You’re gonna sit in every row in the classroom at this rate.”