Marinette spent half of her Saturday morning conversing with a brick wall. No matter what she seemed to say, Plagg just won't let her transform. Especially in the sour mood happened to fall into.
She was just about ready to give up on the stubborn little cat-like creature and accept that she would have to start giving Alya four digit waves each morning she saw each other before deciding on the fact that she might need to beg for its co-operation.
"Look, I'm sure that you are a little shocked-"
"Upset," he cut in.
"Upset...over this whole situation but-"
"No way!"
"Will you at least let me finish the sentence?!"
Plagg crossed its arms and turned its body away from her face. Marinette pulled on her hair in frustration.
"I bet you wouldn't be so fussy with Adrien!"
The sound of the blonde's name made its ears twitch.
"Wait, has it only been a day?" it said as it turned around to face Marinette. "How do you know Adrien?"
"Well, I was his partner for the past four years."
Plagg zipped around Marinette's body before landing between her eyes.
"Geez, you're Ladybug?" it asked before pulling on her cheek.
"Yes, I am," she gritted through her teeth.
The black kwami pushed its body off her face and hummed.
"Well, you look nothing like her then again Tikki is really good at masking others, but I'm going to need proof."
Marinette walked up to her desk and reached for a secret drawer where she placed the ladybug earrings. Pulling the box and showing them to it, the kwami nodded in approval.
"That looks like Tikki alright," it said before phasing through the desk to see how it worked and Marinette placed the box back.
"But I don't get it. If you're Ladybug, what do you need me for?" the kwami asked curiously as its ears stood up.
"Well, due to some...unfortunate...circumstances, your previous holder decided to pass you onto me."
"Ew, Adrien chose you?"
"Firstly, what do you mean 'ew'? Secondly, he didn't tell you?" she asked him in confusion.
Sensing the worry in his eyes, Marinette held out her hand to allow Plagg to sit in her palm.
"You've got Tikki's ditzy magic smothering you and it always brings me bad luck and no, he didn't tell me, but that's not surprising. I've had a few guardians pull the old ditch and run one over me over the past few centuries. I was kinda hoping that Adrien would have been different."
And for the first time, Marinette saw the black cat in her hand look so down in the dumps. Before she knew it, her index finger was on his forehead, rubbing gently back and forth.
"And knowing Adrien, once he makes up his mind on something there's no stopping him. I guess he's another one I never got the chance to say goodbye to."
Marinette was beginning to realize that Plagg was in the same position as her. They both got left behind.
The girl sighed and put on her best smile to push her sadness bad.
"Okay look kid, I'm sorry. I always need to pull the stuff guy act in the beginning to see how far they go, but if I was given to you by recommendation then I just gotta roll with it."
"Yes!" Marinette cried as she pumped the air in excitement. "Time to power up."
"Not so fast Bug-Girl. You might be wearing me but you need to prove that you are worthy of the power you want from me."
"Worthy? Well, now that I think about it, Tikki never put me through a trial or anything."
"Well, Tikki isn't really fond of the following the rules. That and the fact that we operate on completely different planes of reality. Marinette, I'm a soul forced to live out the concept of destruction. Everything I touch and set in my sights turns to dust, be it dead or living. Tikki operates on the philosophy of free will. She blessed those earrings to allow others to express individuality and I was cursed onto that ring to burden others. "
"What kind of burden are we talking about?" she asked seriously.
"The libraries of the past, the mystery of the present and the prophecy of the future will fall into your hands, if I see you fit. If you can understand that, then I'll be glad to call you the true Guardian of the Miraculouses and bestow upon you the powers of the Black Cat."
"Wow. How come Tikki never taught me any of this?" Marinette said she sat on her bed with her legs crossed.
"Didn't she give you the manual?" Plagg raised a thin eyebrow at the girl as he floated over to her face.
"She did," Marinette said as her eyes twitched. "But she mostly said to ignore everything and focus on what's in my heart and unlock my imagination."
The little cat-like being threw its head back in laughter.
"Talk about being lazy! She probably didn't wanna waste any time on teaching you anything. So, she's either really smart-"
"-Or I'm just really stupid," Marinette groaned as she facepalmed herself and fell onto the bed.
"If there's one thing I know well about that kwami, it's that she loves to cut corners and take the backseat at any opportunity. It's a miracle enough that the city survived as you managed to get by as Ladybug without even knowing how to operate your earrings."
That feeling of betrayal was really hitting hard now. Why would Tikki act so stupid about things surrounding herself? Did the kwami really not trust in all her time as Ladybug? Was she just using her for free food and shelter? Well, there was no point in being angry now, she wasn't going to lay her hands on those earrings anymore.
"I would totally throw her in trash," Plagg giggled before belly flopping onto Marinette's face. "But I can see why she would neglect to tell you anything. I mean, would you believe the words coming out of a weird talking cat creature that lives in your ring?"
"No," she muttered. "But I'm a girl who believed in the words that came out of a weird bug creature that lived in my earrings for four years."
Marinette sighed before closing her eyes.
"Hey Plagg, why do you look so weird?"
"I should be asking your mind that question," Plagg said as he crawled onto her forehead and wiggled his butt. "I'm more of a demi-spirit than a doll. Most of the time I'm formless, but I'm sure that this is how your mind copes with the supernatural. I'm guessing that the concept of magic is so foreign that your subconscious rewrites itself to give me shape."
"Well, that's entirely my fault. Chat Noir just handed me a pair of magical earrings and told me not to freak out too much if I saw an alien trying to talk to me."
Plagg sighed, "One thousand plus years of fighting evil and I get my dignity stripped from me by becoming the ugliest being from your imagination. Just great!"
"Ewww. You're letting your prehistoric dust fly about my room!" the teen yelped as she swatted Plagg off her face.
"Owww," he cried before flying up to the ceiling. "Well, you can't get rid of me now. You might as well spend this time trying to convince me to become your ally."
Marinette pulled out her phone to show him a picture of 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯 and flashed the ring towards the kwami.
"I've made a lot of promises, Plagg. None of them really involved me becoming the guardian for the rest of my life but I want to do more than protect my friends and my city. Chat Noir could only do so much as a hero and he gave up at his worst and Robin thinks he's got things handled by himself. I need to fit into that picture too. I want to able stand by Robin as an equal and when he's gone, I want to show Chat Noir that I could be leagues above him. That's why I need your help."
The black kwami descended from the ceiling and crossed its arms as Marinette stretched out one hand to catch him.
"I'm intriguing promises you've made there Marinette, but it's going to take more than that to satisfy me," Plagg said before dematerializing into black dust.
Marinette closed her fist and brought it to her heart. The list of people she needs to please extends. At this point, she needs to master her memory before moving any further.