For the comfort of all readers, I have made all the characters above 20. However, you can age them however you like.
[WARNING] This book will probably trigger someone's anxiety so if you don't want to, you don't have to read it. Even I'm having a hard time not crying whilst writing it. There's gonna be so much angst 😭. Enjoy!
The darkness formed a cloak around her shadowing her from the rest of the world, but also making her the perfect target. As her heels clicked on the floor and echoed, it only reminded her of the fact that she was all alone in a new city that she'd hopped through a portal to get to. She pulled off the glasses and placed them safely in her purse and as if by instinct, or perhaps some sort of reassurance, she touched her ears and was met with the familiar cool touch of her earrings reminding her that she was in fact not alone. And that in her purse stuffing herself with cookies to get ready for any attacks, was her beloved kwami, Tikki.
Her stomach growled angrily begging for food and her feet screamed at her to kick off her heels and give herself a well-needed foot massage. She groaned as she felt the throbbing of her head and felt sick; perhaps from fear...or maybe something else.
Tears began going at her eyes but she wiped them off and continued to walk down the lonely street in her shredded pastel pink lace dress. This was one of her favourites as well. She heard movements from behind and began to speed up her steps, however the thing behind her matched her pace. This was the time for a little of Ladybug's luck. Although she knew that transforming in plain sight and infront of a witness was a terrible idea as it would not only expose her identity, but also risk her family and friends being tortured for it as well, she also doubted that anyone outside of Paris even knew what was going on.
She wasn't stupid. If anyone else knew, it would be the latest news all over the world and she scoffed at the possibility of scientists not paying a visit to their humble city of love (and apparently akumas too). Besides, even if they did know who she was, she could just silence them.
As she came to an abrupt stop and heard the person behind her stop as well, she whispered the words, "Tikki. Spo-" BAM! Marinette almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a loud thump from behind and practically felt the man's scream. Then everything went silent.
"Mind telling me what you're doing roaming around the streets of Gotham at 2 in the morning?" a voice cut through the silence, their deep American accent almost ruining their fluent French.
"How do you know I'm French?" she asked in English. Marinette had yet to turn around and meet the mystery man.
"You're the embodiment of a typical French person."
"Isn't that a bit assumptive?"
"Maybe." he chuckled, "But your thick French accent also gave it away.
Marinette silently scolded herself. She really needed to work on her accent. Pretending to speak English wouldn't work if her homeland was practically stuck in her throat the whole time.
She finally turned around. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make out the figure in the dark. He then took a step closer and she realised immediately who it was, Robin.
"You know being saved by a walking talking traffic light wasn't what I had in mind when I decided to move to Gotham for a change of pace."
His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "But why Gotham?"
"I don't know. I guess you could say I put a bunch of America's countries in a hat and Gotham was the one I plucked out." Her humorous answer caused the side of his mouth to twitch up.
"Very funny. So why not tell me the real reason you're here." All her hopes of deceiving him crumbled. She couldn't tell him that she' d been in a rush to escape and so opened a magical portal to anywhere but there and hopped in! He'd think she was crazy!
"Let's just say that I had to escape from someone quickly and a ticket to Gotham was the soonest one."
He nodded and his previously tensed body seemed to relax a little. She was hoping he wouldn't question her anymore out of pity.
"I would say bye." she was broken out of her reverie by his voice, "But I don't want to leave a vulnerable woman like you standing out in the streets. So I'll drop you off at a hotel."
"I don't have any money."
"It's on me."
"Why?"
"Because you're life is too valuable to waste." she smiled, "And I don't really want your dead body to be the first thing I see when I turn on the news knowing that I could've helped." She chuckled at that.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
He reached out his hand and she took it.
She would have been surprised when Robin whipped out his grappling hook and sent them flying across the building if she didn't already do it on a daily basis with her yoyo.
When they reached the entrance of the hotel, he gave her a couple of dollars and watched as she booked a room.
She turned around with a smile and shook his hand giving him another 'thanks'. He nodded curtly.
"Marinette."
"What?"
"My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"Well have a good night Miss Dupain-Cheng and don't go roaming around the streets at night in the future."
"I can't promise that." She replied as she began to walk away.
And of course, she couldn't. Ladybug did have to make her debut in Gotham somehow after all.
He grinned as he watched her walk away then nodded to the receptionist, turned on his heel and was out the door to look for anymore stray pedestrians.
-&-
"Tim, I'm going to need you to do some research on a 'Marinette Dupain-Cheng' for me."
Tim groaned in his cup of coffee at the word 'research'. Although he found is absolutely exhilarating that he'd get to crack open his laptop and snoop through another person's life (as creepy as that sounds), he'd just woken up! However, the words 'Marinette Dupain-Cheng' got him on his feet and walking to his laptop as he grinned from ear to ear, his fatigue disappearing.
"Ooh is our little demon interested in a girl?"
the word 'girl' dragging on. Damian grumbled under his breath, he knew this was going to happen.
"No I just met her earlier this morning and she was walking around on her own in a ripped dress and twigs poking out her hair. She's French and it's way to suspicious for someone to make their way to Gotham of all places. Moreover, she also lied about why she's here."
At this, Tim's carefree attitude faded away as he went to work absorbing the information.
Damian wasn't dumb. And being in a family of the world's greatest detectives had its perks. He knew the moment she'd mentioned tickets that she was lying; there were no tickets to Gotham. No one in their right mind would want to visit here. The only way to get here was by private transportation. He was a pretty good actor, when he'd had to feign relaxation, he also caught her shoulders slightly relax and the creases on her head wipe away from existence.
"Found her!" Tim called as he grinned triumphantly to himself, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, in her 20s and the daughter of two bakers, Sabine and Tom. She's a favourite of Paris' hottest rockstar, Jagged Stone and recently used to work for a Fashion Brand owned by Gabriel Agreste until... yesterday."
Damian's eyes furrowed everything seemed perfect for her so he couldn't point out why she'd want to leave. And according to the info, he could tell that she definitely was in a rush to leave yesterday as she quit her job only moments before arriving. "Anything else?"
Tim scanned the page looking for anything of worth and came upon something that interested him, "She's dating Adrien Agreste." Damian nodded. Once again, he couldn't find anything wrong as she seemed to be living the perfect life, however if he had to guess, he would bet that Adrien was the cause for her suffering. Although, the last time they'd met, he seemed like a pretty chill guy. Maybe he was letting his assumptions get to him. Or maybe his assumptions were actually his gut feeling telling him something was definitely wrong. Either way, he would definitely get down to the bottom of this; it was concerning to have seen a foreign woman looking a mess and arriving with no money or luggage and only a pink purse.
-&-
"I look a lot worse than I thought." Marinette said as she watched the girl in the mirror imitate her movements. The girl's lipstick was smudged and her mascara had run. Her dress wasn't too bad, however her hair was definitely at its worse. She sighed.
"It's okay kid. He's gone. You're safe."
Marinette looked up to the bed where Tikki, Kaalki and a little black floating cat were perched watching her.
"Thanks Plagg."