Chapter Text
Adrien woke up from a dream, a bit shocked and yet extremely relieved that it was just a nightmare. that's not how he planned his first day at school. he wanted to get a good night sleep for such a fresh start. It was then he noticed there was something odd about his room, though he couldn't tell what. as if his privacy was invaded somehow. and yet, everything was perfectly in place.
except... except for a small, neatly folded note next to his bed. on the note, a message was written: "Do not let your claws out".
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Adrien thought to himself. "Who left this?"
An oddball fan prank wasn't an unheard of thing, but this one was way out of line. burglary? how on earth would they manage that, without triggering a myriad of alarms?
He quickly finished his breakfast and they went out of the Agreste mansion. but just as he embarked out of the gate, a gigantic red graffiti was sprayed on the opposing wall. it, too, said "Do not let your claws out".
"What the hell?"
"Are you bothered by something?" Nathalie asked.
"It's... nothing. Don't worry."
As he entered the car, he found another note... same thing. in his CAR! what the hell was going on?
—
Alya walked into class and took a seat, just when a blue-eyed black-haired girl came to her and grabbed her arm. not forcefully but not without force either. "Wait, why are you grabbing me?". The girl didn't answer, though she did make Alya take the seat next to her.
Alya took a moment to examine her new table-mate. She looked... distant. very distant. There was also something sad in her eyes. Alya couldn't really tell why, but that look sent a bit of a chill down her spine. even though she felt no malice from her.
... which you couldn't say about the one that came to them next. Chloe.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, what are you doing in..." but then she stopped. Marinette gave Chloe a slightly menacing stare without uttering a word.
"What happened to YOU over summer vacation?" Chloe said mockingly. Marinette continued her stare and it looked like Chloe was taken aback, losing her self-assurance and starting to fear the girl.
"Leave." Marinette said, as if commanding.
Chloe grunted, but Marinette's unexpected resolve and the fact she was nothing like Chloe remembered her, forced her to be more careful. "I'll leave it be for now." she told herself. "I'll find a way to get to her. she will pay for this." and she contended herself with that thought.
"Wow, that was awesome!" Alya said, "You stood up to her bullying! Good job, umm... marinette. that's the name, right?"
Marinette just nodded and returned to her distant look.
"You're... are you ok?"
Marinette looked at her, seemed as if she was thinking for a moment, then nodded and again looked away.
"You're not very talkative, are you?"
There was no response.
The boy from the bench below them came over to check up on them. Alya learned his name was Nino.
"Marinette... are you alright? you don't seem like yourself right now."
"Hey Nino, you friends with ms ice queen?" Chloe called mockingly from the side. "Might want to make a small cut, see that she has blood instead of ice in her veins." Sabrina laughed as if someone just told the most wonderful joke ever.
"Shut up, Chloe" Nino and Alya said in unison. That was the moment when Adrien entered class, and immediately afterwards Madam Bustier, their teacher.
"Everybody, take your seats please."
Marinette rises up, hands Madam bustier a note, then quietly goes to sit again. Madam bustier reads it for a moment, and then nods towards Marinette. "No problem."
The rest of class is rather uneventful, aside from an argument Ivan had with Kim, which caused him to be sent to the principal's office. Soon enough though he got back and sat in class, reprimanded. Nino and Adrien used the opportunity to exchange notes introducing each others and they set up to talk on recess.
recess couldn't come a moment too soon. Alya, Nino and Adrien met up to gossip.
"Marinette is awfully weird today. Can't say what she did with Chloe wasn't awesome, but she's just... so unlike herself!"
"What's she usually like?" Adrien asked.
"Dunno dude... happy? full of life? it's as if she's the exact opposite of it."
"Aha! I love a good mystery!" Alya proclaimed. "We'll get down to the bottom of this. Investigative journalism is my life! I've already applied for the school newspaper and blog!"
"I'm sure there's a reasonably simple explanation to all of that. maybe she's just not feeling well or something." Adrien commented. "But you're right, she's our classmate and we should try to help her. something is obviously on her mind. Let's just try asking her parents first, say we're classmates, ok?"
School was done for the day and Adrien asked Nathalie to go get some freshly baked pastries with classmates.
"Don't delay, Adrien. this much is fine though."
Adrien just met his friends from school and waved at them. They were planning what to say, when suddenly there was an emergency newscast on the billboard.
"It appears that Paris is under the attack of a supervillain, an awakened pharaoh is thrashing the Egyptian expose."
"What? I'm SO there. Where there's a supervillain, there must be a superhero too!" Alya exclaimed with overbearing excitement.
"Wait, Alya! calm down!" Nino tries to stop her. "You don't know what-"
That was the exact moment when Adrien heared an odd metallic screech sound and saw magic runes on the ground. before he could utter a word, the entire world froze in deep crimson haze. All human beings within the haze looked matte grey and frozen to boot. time stopped for everyone, but him.
"You're kidding me... What... What is going on? What is this?"
And then, he saw her. Flying above him, jumping from one rooftop to another... and landing right next to him.
"Ladybug" She introduces herself in a somber, almost passionless tone. "And that's Tikki" she motions towards her tiny red companion. Adrien gets a quick glance at Tikki. she looks a bit like a miniature red mouse, with a black dot at her forehead. She's just as grim as the ladybug herself. "Now, hold on to me. I'll explain later."
Adrien seems hesitant, but he realizes he's in no position to argue with a superhero. as he does, she binds them together with what appears to be a yoyo. she opens a pair of wings and jumps high in the air.
They land next to the louver, where there obviously has been movement. a very angry live pharaoh has just left the compound and is looking at them.
"With this seal there is no one to sacrifice... but you!" he growls threatening.
Ladybug doesn't seem to be the least impressed or with any need to retort.
"Joss-13" Ladybug said.
"Joss at 13" Tikki replied. Adrien took note just how... mechanized... this exchange sounded. like a robot talking to another robot.
"Precog"
"Precog On"
"Sekhmet, give me strength!" the pharaoh cries as he lunges towards her and Adrien, but all he can get at is Ladybug's foot kicking him straight in the head and throwing him dozens of meters away. It seems like Sekhmet's strength is no match for the Ladybug.
"The Akuma is in his pendant. clear for shooting." Tikki says.
Ladybug throws her yoyo up in the air, though not as a yoyo. rather, she tosses it in the air like it's a stone.
"Lucky shoot" She says in that same monotone.
as soon as the yoyo falls down and touches her hand, a spark of lightning engulfs the touch point and the yoyo shoots forward, leaving a noticeable ionization trace in its path. it hits the pharaoh's pendent and somehow, (one could call it sheer luck) only the pendant alone. The pharaoh detransforms into a person, who is now also frozen. Ladybug snaps her fingers and the Yoyo appears back in her hands. she opens it up and a white butterfly leaves it.
Ladybug pauses as if she's planning on saying something, but in the end she says nothing. she then turns to Adrien.
"I will need you to be able to fight, Mr. Agreste," she says. "Make yourself available whenever a seal is around."
"But... wait!"
"And you must never, never ever discuss my existence."
"But..."
"Those weren't requests."
"Listen... can't you explain a few more things?"
Ladybug mulls it for a moment, then responds with a terse answer: "No."
"Let's get you back to the park" she says.
During the flight back, he tries to gather as much information as he can about Ladybug and her fairy companion and studies them with his eyes. if he had to take a guess, she's somewhat shorter than him. she has a petite figure and deep blue eyes behind her mask.
Ladybug lays him where she picked him off and jumps away. In a moment, a storm of ladybugs erupts and makes its way towards the louver.
a minute or two later and the haze was gone, just like that. as if someone just pressed 'play' on a remote control and everything resumed.
"It appears that the supervillain just... disappeared?" Nadja Chamack's report cried from the billboard. "We'll keep you posted as police examines the scene.". they switch to reruns showing the pharaoh making its way through the louver, but then, all of a sudden, it just disappears from the security camera footage. as if he was never there.
"Adrien... are you ok? snap out of it dude!" Nino said. Adrien suddenly realized Alya and Nino were looking at him.
"Didn't you... did you see none of that? the crimson haze?" he pleaded.
Alya and Nino exchanged puzzled looks. "What... are you talking about?"
"Oh right, they were frozen in time." Adrien thought. "and the ladybug asked that I never mention her... actually, she didn't ask. she commanded."
"I'll believe anything today, Adrien" Alya says. "But tomorrow I might not" she adds with a wink.
"Fine, i'll tell you later, let's head off to that bakery for now, I think I really need something to eat and drink."
—
"We've been blessed with a very jovial child" Sabine told the inquiring kids. "look at how she smiles" she says as she shows them a picture of Marinette. yes, indeed it's their daughter. but THAT one is smiling and hanging around with her parents and sticking her tongue out, whereas the one they saw in class seemed incapable of showing any emotion.
"When is your last picture of Marinette from?" Alya asks. "it's from yesterday." that's where Sabine starts to get more concerned. "Why, did anything happen in class?". Alya and Nino and Adrien exchange quick looks between them. "Oh no there's nothing to worry about ms. Dupain-Cheng, I'm sure Marinette was just stressed out about her first day at school."
"Now that you've mentioned that, she was a bit off this morning. please take good care of her at school." Alya asks Sabine to whatsapp her the image and she does so. She then bids them farewell as she tends to the store customers.
"What a kind lady." Alya comments and Adrien nods in agreement. "Marinette doesn't look like one that's going to have family angst or something." he says, wincing a little as he thinks of his own family.
"So, we need to investigate further." Adrien says, and they all nod in agreement.
—
That wasn't how Master Fu imagined it. Wayzz woke him up, reporting up two mutual activations. one by Nooroo and the other by...
"Wayzz, why did you pause?"
"... Tikki." Wayzz completed his sentence, concerned about how Master Fu may react.
That wasn't the name he expected to hear. he opened up the jewel box and his felt his heart sinking as the ladybug miraculous indeed was missing.
"Also, master... I think she's... suffering."
Bad news piling up on more bad news, he thought to himself. he took a moment to compose himself back and turned back to Wayzz.
"We know not who stole the miraculous, why and how. we can assume Tikki isn't pleased with her new owner, too. Our only hope therefore is that the two will oppose each other, as no one but Tikki can purify an akuma. In the meanwhile, I'd like to get some eyes on the ground and deploy our own forces. I will choose You and Trixx for this and I will guard Plagg personally.
He went over the security cameras again and again. there was nothing! how could it be? this was no ordinary thief. this wasn't boding well. perhaps scouting for miraculous holders would fare better.
he went about in town and planned to take a rest on one of the benches, when a bunch of teenagers caught his eye. As the newscast went, he saw the gleam in her eyes. Yes, she was the journalist spirit he was looking for, and her friend would make for a fine bodyguard.
But then news of the akumatized victim broke out, and not too long afterward the seal appeared. No stranger to magic, Master Fu was still startled due to the entirely unfamiliar nature of this one. this was not a Kwami capability he had ever heard of. and since Nooroo was already employed akumatizing someone, this had to be the work of someone else...
as much as he wanted to look, he figured he should be hiding somewhere safe. after a while he went to check the scene back. everyone was still frozen, though one of the kids was missing. he used the cover of the spell to sneak the boxes where he wanted to, and slipped away. next time he'll have better eyes on ground.
—
Back at home, Nino and Alya both unpack their stuff, when they notice a strange box. "What's this doing here?" they ask, both at their respective homes and yet somehow in perfect unison. both open up each of their boxes, and are blinded by a flash.
"No way... a... flying miniature fox?" Alya rubbed her eyes and rubbed them again.
"I'm Trixx! I'm the Fox Kwami! So pleased to meet you!"
"Wait, are you going to grant me superpowers? are you the one that handled the supervillain? this is SO going to be blogged"
"wait! no! no one must know I exist."
"Right" Alya smacks her forehead. "What was I thinking. it got the better of me."
"Actually... that's one of the reasons you were chosen. things are a bit more complicated than that today..." Trixx fidgets his digits and goes on explaining.
"We need someone with the best journalistic instincts. It appears that fights are now conducted under a seal, so only you will be able to take pictures or videos of the event. Once you have the material, we'll watch it and the guardian will tell us how to progress."
"A super-journalistic task. This is the happiest day of my life!"
"If you ever find yourself bathed in a crimson haze, you must transform immediately and locate the superhero and supervillain fighting. if they will need your help, you can help, but remember your primary task. you will also be assigned with a bodyguard... he should be getting his Kwami now. just so you know he's not your target."
—-
"Wow, dude! you're... you're..."
"I'm Wayzz and I'm a Kwami. I grant superpowers. we need you, Nino."
"You do? Awe-some!"
"Yes, you're part of the team now. Your first assignment is a bodyguard one, to yet another superhero. she should be receiving her Kwami as we speak."
"Dude! You sure no kicking some supervillain senseless?"
"Actually, we have a bit of a situation... There's a ladybug whose intensions are unknown. I would much rather you be careful. The ladybug is one of the stronger Kwamis out there."
"If you ever find yourself bathed in a crimson haze, you must transform immediately and locate your designated partner, the holder of the fox miraculous. help the other superhero as needed. and remember, not a word to anyone!"
"You got it!"