Marinette woke up late, as usual, while her family worked in the bakery on the first floor. She looked over at the clock. 9:30? I can't believe patrol lasted until 6:30 this morning. Normally, patrol ends late from either Marinette doing both her route, and Chat Noir's route, or Chat Noir follows her the whole time and keeps trying to advance on her. Chat Noir has a soulmate, that he is almost sure it's Ladybug. Their Miraculous have a battle feature, that helps them read eachother's thoughts. Chat Noir, thinks that the battle feature is a soulmate connection. No matter how much she tries to tell him, he won't listen. She knows that he is not her soulmate. She talked to both Tikki and Master Fu and the old man agreed. That he picked the wrong cat.
In her class, Marinette is the only one who supposedly does not have a soulmate that she knows of.
Marinette groaned and rolled out of bed.
"Tikki, what time did I end up falling asleep?" The small kwami scratched her head.
"7-ish? I wanted to wake you up, but if you pulled another all nighter this week, you will get sick." Who says I'm not already?
"It's ok. Thanks Tikki. I'll just go in late. It's not like anyone will notice if I'm there anyways." Tikki looked sadly at her holder and nodded. Marinette hopped in the shower, trying to scrub the tiredness away when she noticed a message on her inner arm. It said 'Patrol at 6' Marinette sucked in a breath and hopped out of the shower. She got dressed in a large hoodie and jeans, to blend in with the crowd. She'd rather not deal with her classmates today.
"Tikki, did you write a message for patrol on my arm?" The kwami knit her eyebrows and shook her head. Tikki flew into her backpack and Marinette got down using the fire escape. She skipped over half the rungs, favoring just partially sliding down the side. She hopped on the sidewalk and sprinted to the school. She slipped in the back door that was always unlocked, and found Madame Bustier's room. She opened the door and the class didn't even notice. This was a usual occurence. Marinette sat down at her new seat next to Chloe.
"Morning Nette! Why were you late today?" Chloe was now a permanent holder of the bee miraculous, but Marinette still refused to tell anyone her identity.
"Good Morning Chloe. I overslept and I was late." Chloe smirked.
"You used the back door didn't you?" the bluenette sheepishly shrugged. "Your face has guilt written all over it. You won't believe what the liar is spewing out now." Marinette raised an eyebrow. "You know how we have that field trip that we leave for tomorrow? Yeah, well she's now claiming that Damian Wayne is her soulmate. I've only met him once a year ago, but that boy is cold as ice and can see through your soul."
"Well let's hope that they'll meet. I remember setting up the trip. We are supposed to get a tour of Wayne Enterprises and go for a tour around Gotham. We still have yet to meet Bruce anyways." she grinned. "He emailed me saying that I might get to transfer but don't tell anyone. I would hate for my backup plan to be ruined." Chloe motioned zipping her mouth up and throwing away the key. The two girls giggled.
"Madame Bustier, It's so cold in here, I think I might pass out." Lila turned around and smirked at Marinette, knowing that it was almost summer and she was wearing an oversized hoodie. Marinette challenged her and rolled up her sleeves.
"Marinette, what's that on your arm?" Chloe distracted her. Marinette looked back at the reminder that she found that morning.
"I don't know, but it's not my handwriting and it was there when I woke up." Chloe bounced on the tip of her seat.
"What if it's your soulmate?!?!?" She is way more excited about this than I am...
"Yeah right Chloe." She scoffed still looking at the writing. She reached into her bag for her sketchbook. It wasn't there. Damn it, where is it? I have a new pattern I'd like to get down. Across the room Lila smirked. She put the pink notebook with a big cursive M into her bag. Marinette shrugged and pulled out four different colored glitter pens. Pink, purple, blue, and green, and started drawing a flower pattern that went from her wrist to her elbow.
"Mar, that's really good! Is that for your new spring collection?" Marinette nodded and pulled out a backup sketchbook. The period went by and they packed up their bags. The rest of the day went by painfully slow for Marinette. When class was over, she ran before they could see her. She saw some of Lila's posse chasing her. She jumped up to reach the fire ezcape ladder and swung her bag over the roof. She then, pulled the ladder up in perfect timing.
"You can't escape yet Dupain-Cheng. We will get back at you for what you did to Lila." The girl furiously shouted over the side of the roof.
"AND WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO LILA?"
"You PUSHED HER INTO THE SEINE YESTERDAY!" Marinette rolled her eyes.
"How could I do that if I was in the bakery all day yesterday? I had to babysit Manon. Don't believe me? Ask Nadja Chamack because I am tired of this shit." she jumped in the skylight window and locked it after her. She finished packing the rest of her clothes right before her mom shouted up the stairs.
"Marinette, don't forget to set your alarm. Ok?"
"Ok Maman." She laid out her clothes the next day, and set her alarm. "Tikki, do you think I'll have better luck in Gotham?" Tikki nodded.
"Marinette, I honestly think anywhere is better than here." The two laughed. "So, do you think it's a soulmate connection? The thing on your arm?" The girl forgot about the cursive message on her arm.
"Should I go to patrol at 6?" she joked and the kwami laughed.
"It can't hurt, assuming Chat Noir isn't there." Marinette shrugged then transformed.
"TIKKI, SPOTS ON." she felt a rush run through her veins. Like caffeine on overdrive. She stood on her balcony and noticed a large mass of smoke in the sky. It was Master Fu's shop. It was in flames. Smoke coiled out the windows, and flames roared both around and in he building. After pulling out her yoyo to use as a mask, She ran into the building to see Master Fu and Hawkmoth in a protective ring inside the flames. Fu was on the floor, holding the miraculous texts and holding the box of the miraculous. He made eye contact with Ladybug, and in the language of the guardians, spoke.
I Master Fu, the last guardian of the miraculous, transfer my duties of guardian to the Ladybug holder. Marinette Dupain-Cheng do you accept? Her eyes filled with tears. If she did this, he would die. But if he died at Hawkmoth's hands, there would be no guardian whatsoever. I- I do. I accept the duties as guardian. A bright light flashed in the room. Master Fu smiled at Ladybug and dissintegrated.
"Ladybug, what have you done?" Hawkmoth turned to her. "Where are the other miraculous? Give me yours as well." She crossed her arms in a very teenager-like position and scoffed.
"No. Just because you ask for something, doesn't mean you're going to get it. You're an asshole." He looked offended. "Also, I know you are Gabriel Agreste. As a fashion designer, why do your akuma outfits look like a hot mess?" he gasped.
"Ladybug, we may have been enemies before, but now you've done it. I will find you one day, and it will not be pretty. Chat Noir has turned and it's only a matter of time before you do." He left on a cloud of butterlies. Lame. She opened the safe the miraculous box was hidden. She took the texts and left a prayer for Master Fu. She then jumped out of the parlour before a burning beam fell on her. She crashed onto her roof and fell into the skylight in her room. She landed on her bed, and detransformed.
"Marinette," Tikki's voice, she heard it but couldn't hear, "Are you ok?" Her head spun as she took in the last few moments. "Marinette, I know it's unfair, but it was only a matter of time." She nodded and put the miraculous box into the bag holding her clothes, and the miraculous texts into her carry on bag.
"Tikki I think I need to head to bed." the kwami nodded and flew away, giving Marinette some space. Marinette hopped in the shower, hoping to scrub away the soot and ashes in her hair. She scrubbed at the pen ink on her arm and saw another message in marker. It said
'Nice flowers.' I don't think that's Tikki.......