Chapter Text
In a quiet loft in the midst of Paris an alarm blared. A girl jumped up and tumbled down off her bed in a panic. Marinette Dupain-Cheng scrambled to her feet with a muttered fuck as she noticed the time. She moved so quickly she almost fell down the ladder to her room and right into the bakery.
“There you are!” Her father said. He passed her a box as she moved around him. “For your class.”
“Thanks Papa.” Marinette said as she ran out the door. Her parents stood together and watched.
“Most of those aren’t making it to the school.” Sabine said, her husband laughed.
“No, of course not.” Tom said. “That’s why there’s extra.”
Marinette stumbled slightly as she reached the crosswalk, quickly pulling an elderly man out of the road as she did. He glanced up at the cars and lights and smiled at her.
“Thank you miss.” He said, Marinette returned his smile. “I should really pay more attention, let that be a lesson to you, being old doesn’t mean being wise.”
“I wish people actually thought that.” Marinette grumbled. The man chuckled as they waited. The light changed and Marinette practically sprinted the rest of the way to school. The elderly man waited a moment and a small black cat poked his head out from the man's pocket.
“I told you she was the one.” It said, “Seriously Fu, you trust me and Tiks right?”
“Of course I do.” The man said. “Far more than the order at least, I just want to be certain.”
“You brought Roaar?” Fu nodded and the cat sunk into his pocket. “Make sure to get me into her bag then.”
“Sooner is better.” Fu said. He slipped a pale white ring from his finger and placed it in an ornate box. Meanwhile Marinette slid into her classroom and dropped into the first empty seat she saw, right next to the new girl she didn’t recognise.
“My names Marinette.” She said as she sat down.
“Alya.” The new girl said. “You know what blondies issue is? She freaked on me for sitting in her seat or something.”
“That’s Chloe, she’s not used to not getting everything she wants.” Marinette said, she shrugged. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Why should I? Sounds like a stuck up bitch.” Alya said, Marinette blinked at her. “If your gonna do nothing about it it wont get better.”
“Chloe’s working on that and Alix says she’s doing better.” Marinette said. “It takes time I guess.”
“I don’t get how you can put up with it is all.” During their conversation, unbeknownst to the class a small purple tiger floated through the room. Roaar carefully and invisibly slipped around desk and feet to drop the small box into Marinette’s bag then slid right though the wall and out. The chatter around class slowly died as it got closer to the actual start of the day.
Outside the building a famed blond bolted towards the stairs only to stop and gran at the sound of tires behind him. He turned to find his fathers assistant and his bodyguard exiting the vehicle.
“Adrien, you know what your father said.” The woman said as she approached.
“Come on, mom said-”
“Your mother is gone, Adrien.” The woman snapped and he flinched slightly. “Your father isn’t going to lose you as well.”
“And he’s not going to, I just-” Adrien paused as the sound of something clattering took his attention. He looked over to see an elderly man struggling to get up. “Hold on.”
Adrien rushed over, grabbing the cane that had scattered over the ground as he went, the two he had been speaking to simply stood and watched. Adrien took the mans hand and arm and helped him to his feet.
“Are you okay? I’m sure we can take you to the hospital sir?” Adrien said, glancing back at the woman. Nathalie sighed and nodded.
“That wont be necessary son.” The man said, patting his side once. “This is more than enough. You looked like you were busy so thank you.”
“No problem sir, have a good day and watch out.” Adrien moved back to the car and sighed as he went to go in. The man smiled as the vehicle pulled away.
“Plagg’s plan was much simpler.” He said. A small turtle creature poked is head out alongside Roaar. “I was never the best at breaking and entering.”
“You would’ve been fine master.” The turtle said. Fu laughed.
“But simply giving them their miraculi is so much faster.” He said. “I take it you placed the ring Roaar?”
“No one saw me.” The purple tiger replied with great pride. Fu nodded.
“Good. Wayzz, how much do you think they’ll tell those children?” Fu said as he turned to leave. The turtle took a second.
“They never much liked the order.” Wayzz said. “Nor were very well bound, I doubt they’ll hide anything.
“Perhaps this’ll be better than.” Fu said. He thought back to the last time he saw someone wield the ring or earrings, back to the deaths that the order's rules caused and nodded. “It will have to be.”
Adrien slumped in the backseat of the car. Glaring at the back of Nathalie’s head. She noticed and turned towards him to say something. Adrien rolled his eyes and put the privacy screen up. Once he did he leaned back and paused. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small box.
“Where’d this come from?” He said, pulling it open. A bright reddish light erupted from the box and a red creature with black spots formed in the air above it. Adrien stared as the creature shook it’s head.
“Oh hello Adrien” The creature said. “My name’s Tikki, kwami of creation.”
“Uh, hi.” Adiren said and blinked. “Wait, are you like an animal companion, am I a superhero?”
“Kind of.” Tikki said. She smiled and settled in his lap. “I’m the kwami of creation and you are my holder. The Earrings of the Ladybug are yours, they grant you the power of creation.”
“This is so cool.” Adrien said. quickly taking the earrings out to put them in his ears. Tikki laughed. “So do I transform? What can I do?”
“I’ll explain everything soon, but right now you need to keep me hidden.” Tikki said. “You can’t tell anyone about me.”
“Well obviously.” Adrien said. “It never goes well when the hero’s identity is known. So is this like crime fighting or am I purifying things or some secret magical society?”
“Purification is your partner's job.” Tikki said. “She can destroy impurities and cleanse foreign substances. We do the opposite.”
“So adding things that shouldn’t be there?” Tikki nodded. “That’s so cool.”
Adiren and Tikki didn’t have much longer to talk before they arrived back at the manor and Tikki dove into Adiren’s jacket to hide. Nathalie opened his door and Adrien came out, finding his father waiting for him in the entryway.
“I thought I was clear, Adrien.” Gabriel Agreste was a stern man and yet somehow managed to look more so than usual. “And since I was, I want to know what about school makes you keep trying to go?”
“I just.” Adrien sighed. “I want to be around other kids is all.”
“Go finish your studies for the day.” Gabriel said. Adrien turned and his father turned to Nathalie. “Clear my schedule, I suppose I should at least check if the school may be a good fit before denying it.”
Adrien perked up as he left the room and Nathalie glanced at her boss in hesitation. He raised an eyebrow at her and nodded. She tapped at her clipboard as she searched for the right words.
“A highschool is a volatile place sir.” Nathalie said. Gabriel nodded. “With your… activities are you sure this is a good idea?”
“No. But it's better than misery isn’t it?” He said. “Emile was right, we’ve been too protective. Adrien will have to go out on his own eventually. Whether that’s in two years or now makes little difference.”
“And him being out of the house for eight hours a day five times a week sir?” Nathalie said, Gabriel nodded once and turned to leave. Gabriel went to his office and opened a secret compartment. He was quickly ina domed room full of butterflies.
“Nooroo. I think it’s time we start. “Dark Wings Rise.”
At Collège Françoise Dupont Marinette lifted her bag and blinked at the weight. A quick request and Marinette was on her way to the washroom. Once she was there she pulled the object from her bag. A box she didn’t recognise.
“Where’d you come from.” She said, pulling it open. A ball of green light appeared and from ita black cat hovered in the air.
“About time kid.” The cat creature said. Marinette gapped at him. “And here comes the panic.”
“What are you!?” Marinette said, trying to keep at least a little hushed. “A bug-”
“Nope.”
“Mouse-”
“Well that’s insulting.”
“Cat-”
“There we go.”
“Thing!?”Marinette backed into a stall door. The cat waited for a second. “How- what’s going on.”
“My names Plagg. I’m the kwami of destruction. Listen kid.” Marinette was still breathing heavy and glancing around. “Kid, Marinette.”
“You know my name?” She said, eyes snapping back to him.
“Course I do, I’m not choosing someone and not knowing their name.” Plagg crossed his arms and scoffed. “I grant powers, yours is destruction. There’s a lot of details to go over-” -there was a loud bang from the other end of the school.- “=And we have no time. You have two hours transformed, using your powers shortens that. Your power is cataclysm, it destroys things. Don’t forget to purify the akuma, say Plagg Claws Out to transform. Your ring will beep and have its symbol vanish as your time runs out, one paw piece means five minutes.”
“Plagg, Claws Out!” Marinette vanished in a flash of green light. Once it died down she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her hair was pitch black and up in a ponytail while her bangs had turned green. Her eyes were green all the way through and surrounded by a black domino mask. “Plagg?”
Nothing answered her. Marinette glanced at the rest of the outfit, a skintight black shirt with green trim was on her torso. A sleeved open jacket over it, the sleeves rolled up to reveal bracers, again black. She had a belt that hung back behind her like a tail and ended in a gold clasp. The pants were tight and held pockets, score, and a set of black boots with green laces.
“That’s a lot of black and green” Marinette said, reaching back and flipping the hood of the jacket up. She glanced at the ring, a solid gold now compared to it’s previous black. A white paw print on its face. Glancing down she found a baton hooked to her belt. The baton rang. “Uh, hello?”
“You the partner my kwami mentioned? I’m… uh.” The boy on the other end paused for a second. “Scarab, yeah Scarab, and you?”
"I’m…” Marinette blinked as the power flickered out in the building. She blinked and glanced around, night vision was nice but the green accents on her clothes were glowing dimly. “Nightlife.”
“Oh that’s so much cooler. Is it too late to change mine?” Marinette laughed at that. “Do you know where the akuma is… nevermind, just saw it leave the school.”
“I’m on it.” Marinette put the baton back and left the room. All the halls were dark now. Maneuvering to the entrance was far from hard and she found the akuma, a giant stone monster, easily.
“KIM!!” The monster yelled, stone grating on stone. Marinette winced as the sound hit her ears.
“Oh that’s louder than normal, ow. “She muttered. “Hey rocky, why don’t we sit down and talk it out?”
“You,” The monster whirled on her. “Give me your miraculous!”
“This?” Nightlife held a hand out, showing the ring on her finger and her black painted nails, shaped into claws. The monster growled its affirmation. “Hm no. It looks too good on me.”
The monster threw the car next to it forward. Nightlife jumped up and onto the streetlamp next to her. She grinned at the stone monster and it chucked another car, this time past her.Towards the oncoming cops. A single jump and she landed in front of the cars.
“Cataclysm!” The thrown car disintegrated as she touched it. One of the officers had a gun pointed at her.
“If it wants your ring, give it up.” He said. Nightlife rolled her eyes.
“Really? Someone turns a person into a monster and sends them rampaging and asking for her ring and you think giving it up is a good idea?” she glances up to see Scarab come back up from a roll. He looked every bit the hero, a full bodysuit, red domino mask and armor plating in all. The red armor with black spots was clearly over an all black undersuit. He looked at her and groaned. “Oh come on Nightlife, cooler name and cooler suit.”
“Your hair’s pink.” Nightlife said. “I know that was your choice cause I wanted the green bangs, you're a dork Scarab.”
“Look I get giving it what it wants is a bad idea but shooting it makes it bigger, any ideas?” Another cop asked. Nightlife looked at Scarab.
“I have an idea. Lucky Charm!” A flare of red and a weirdly crumpled ball landed in his hand. “Well shit, what do I do with this?”
“I’ll district it, you figure that out.” Nightlife grabbed a megaphone from another officer and jumped on the roof of a cop car. “Hey Rocky!”
“It’s Stoneheart!” The monster yelled back at her.
“I don’t care!” She said, grinning as it growled. “Whatever your problem is, I’m sure this isn’t an answer.”
“Hawkmoth promised me a solution! All I need is your miraculous.” Nightlife nodded at that.
“If Hawkmoth wants my ring he can come here himself and try it.” Nightlife rolled her shoulder and rushed forward, another cataclysm leaving her lips to destroy another car. A brief thought of whether they had a way to fix that crossed her mind. “I’d be happy to knock him out!”
Stoneheart backhanded her towards the cops as she approached. She slid to a stop and groaned. That hurt, but way less than she expected. She glanced up at her partner as he threw the ball up once.
“Please tell me you have an idea Scarab.” She said. “Cause that hurt.”
“He only uses one hand.” Scarab said. Nightlife glanced at Stoneheart and watched him reach across his body for another car. There was a beep, one of the pads on her ring vanished. “Two power uses and ten minuets take half our time?”
“We should write that down.” One of the officers coughed. “Plan?”
“We need to occupy his hand with something more important.” Scarab said. Nightlife nodded.
“Got it, me.” One of the officers looked panicked.
“My thoughts exactly. Then we need to get this in his other hand.” Scarab held the ball out and Nightlife took it. He spun his yo-yo and walked forward. “ So which miraculous specify do you want?”
“Yours!” Stoneheart said. The street shook with his voice and a purple butterfly shape formed over his face. Scarab disagreed, slinging his yo-yo upwards he pulled and swung. Straight over Stoneheart. The monster, as expected, tried to catch him. Nightlife got in the way.
“Yes Hawkmoth.” Stoneheart growled as Nightlife struggled, one arm pinned to her side and the other free. Her ring was secured still and the ball free. Stoneheart reached over with his other hand to grab her in a way to get at the ring.
“Now!” Scarab called. Nightlife glare and shoved the expanding ball into the oncoming hand. As she did she pulled a cord and it burst to life. Something fell from Stonhearts hand.
“The paper!” Nightlife said, Scarab dropped to the ground and ripped the paper in two. A dark purple butterfly escaped. Nightlife watched it go, panic growing as she fell to the ground. Where Stoneheart was her classmate Ivan remained. Scarab pulled her up.
“I’d say that was a pretty good first outing.” He said. Nightlife shook her head.
“I’m supposed to purify the akuma.” Scarab blinked and shrugged.
“As I said, first outing. We can’t be perfect.” That she could agree with. She paused for a second, something was off.
“All three of you, hands in the air!” That’d do it. She glanced back at the police and took in the destruction, not as much as she expected. “We’re bringing you in for questioning.
“Seriously?” Scarab says. “We saved the day and you're arresting us?”
“It kind of makes sense.” Nightlife said and shrugged, not like it’d work. “Ivan wasn’t responsible for this, Hawkmoth was the one in control.”
“We still need to question him, get the full story.” One of the officers said, Ivan nodded and moved forward. “We’ll make sure this is smoothed over, but the two of you are under arrest.”
There was another beep. Nightlife glanced at her ring, three pads, twenty minutes without using her powers. She glanced at Scarab, four spots on his earring. She made up her mind. Pulling her baton free she smiled.
“Sorry, I’m a little busy.” A push of a button sent her upwards and easily onto the rooftops. She rushed home and slipped into her bedroom quickly. “Okay… now how do I transform back. Uh, claws in?”
A flare of green and she was back in her civilian attire. Plagg hoovered in front of her for a second before floating back to the desk. Marinette collapsed onto her bed and groaned.
“Plagg I screwed up. I forgot to purify the akuma and it got away.” She groaned. “You chose wrong.”
“Eh, doubt it. Look kid, you have no training or time to process, I figured something would be forgotten.” Plagg floated over. “I’m just glad it wasn’t the time limit.”
“So what now, we wait?” Plagg nodded.
“Speaking of, do you have any cheese?” Plagg said, Marinette looked at him. “I need to replenish energy if you want more than twenty minutes for later today, and so do you. I prefer cheese but any decay is fine, cheese, fungus, some bread, rotting wood.”
“I’ll get you something.”
“Dark Wings Fall.” Gabriel smiled. So they were active, good. He rolled her shoulder and walked back to the center of the room.
“Master I’m still certain we should be asking-” Gabriel glared at his Kwami.
“Nooroo, if I wanted your opinion I’d ask. This is how it must be done, they will never agree to the wish.” Gabriel adjusted his tie to hide the miraculous. “We’re done for now, Let’s see how those hero’s do against an army.”
Gabriel sank back towards his office. Nooroo shook his head sadly. For all he’d tried his master refused to listen and continued along this path. Of course, Nooroo had no idea how bad it could get.