Youth

Are You Satisfied?

"You're coming with me to New York!"

It was always Marinette's dream to be able to go to New York to study fashion and new designs. And now her dream was coming true. She'd be able to go and study with none other than the famous director of the fashion magazine - Style Queen - Audrey Bourgeois. AKA, Chloe's mother. But none of that mattered to Marinette, THE queen of fashion was asking her to go to New York because she liked Marinette's designs.

Her excitement and joy over her dreams coming true were short-lived, though.

Tikki. Ladybug. Marinette had a responsibility to protect and save Paris from Hawkmoth and his akumas. She couldn't go to New York. Who would save Paris? Cat Noir can't de-akumatize people without Ladybug, well, without the ladybug miraculous. But Marinette was chosen to protect Paris and she couldn't abandon her responsibility by forcing someone else to become the new Ladybug.

So she stayed in Paris and gave up on her dream for the foreseeable future to protect not only those she held dear, but all of Paris, and even Hawkmoth himself. Even if she had to fight Hawkmoth on a daily basis, she would protect him and everyone else from the ramifications of using both the ladybug and black cat miraculous.

.     .     .

Even though everyone called Marinette a dreamer for her wild fantasies, she bit back her tears and laughed at how silly they all thought she was.

Although she still wanted to marry Adrien and get a hamster, she had given up on all her other dreams because she knew they were too far out of her reach. 

Famous fashion designer? Saving Paris comes first, and who knows how long it'll take to defeat Hawkmoth...

Even her passion for designing and creating new clothing was put on hold when an akuma alert went off. She was a superhero first, designer last.

Well... everything was put on hold whenever an akuma alert went off. It didn't matter if she was in school, sleeping, eating, hanging out with friends, studying, etc. She had to save Paris even if she was tired. Even if her friends were turned against her.

Her grades were slipping. She was often late for class due to sleeping in from lack of sleep. If she did make it to class on time, she would fall asleep and be ridiculed for not being able to pay attention.

"Dreamer"

"Airhead"

"Klutz"

"Forgetful"

"Always late"

"Do you even set an alarm in the morning?"

Marinette learned to shut it all out. They didn't know she was up late because she was saving Paris. They didn't know the sacrifices she had made for them all. They didn't know she was struggling to keep up the facade of a normal, happy teenage girl with no more worries than when the next test was or whether she had studied for it or not.

They didn't know that she clung to her dream of being with Adrien so desperately because she had been forced to give everything else up and she didn't want to lose hope in all of her dreams. So she clung on to that last dream like an obsession, even though it made her friends question her sanity and call her crazy sometimes.

Although she did do her best to find a new dream because it hurt that her friends thought she was a little too obsessed and a little bit crazy.

.     .     .

"Chat Blanc?"

Marinette can't trust her own superhero partner. She has to be careful what she says to him in fear that he'll be akumatized again. She now knows that she can never reveal her identity to him, no matter how many times he asks. No matter how many times she has to disappoint him.