Chapter Text
Marinette stretched sweetly and opened her eyes.
She immediately met the eyes of a handsome green-eyed brunette, who stared at her with a sleepy look.
At first Marinette was still enveloped in a sleepy cloud of calm, so she took her time to examine his face and eyes in detail.
Those eyes were magnetic and deep, it seemed that despite the youth of their owner, they saw through life, looking from the depths of their wise experience.
“Wow…” Marinette whispered.
Then suddenly it came to her that her sensations were too realistic to be a dream, and that she was not in her bed and not in her room too.
Judging by his rounded eyes, a similar thought hit the boy at the same time.
Marinette jumped away from him with a squeal and fell off the bed onto the floor, tangled in the blanket. She jumped to her feet, kicking off a huge piece of unruly fabric and saw that the guy also jumped off the bed – though more successfully than she – and now he stood in a fighting stance on the other side of the bed, preparing to fight with her.
“Who are you and how did you get in here?” He demanded in English. “Did my mother send you? Is this a test? Another attempt to lure me away? Or did she decide to try and get rid of me? Tell her that I…”
“What mother?! Where am I? How did you drag me here?!” Marinette yelled back also in English. “And what kind of weird relationship do you have with your mother?!”
“Don’t pretend you don't know where you are!” The boy hissed. “How stupid do you think I am?!”
This guy was crazy, Marinette thought. Somehow he brought her here in her sleep and now pretended to see her for the first time.
Could he be after...
Marinette carefully raised her hand to her ears to check for her earrings.
No. Everything was fine. The miraculous was in its place.
Seeing her movement, the boy visibly tensed, waiting for her attack.
Marinette quickly scanned the room, looking for an escape route. The door was on her side of the bed (‘Her side of the bed’, she thought, ‘How ridiculous sounds that!’), and if only he couldn't fly, that advantage might give her a chance to get out of here.
Without hesitation, Marinette rushed to the door, which, fortunately, was not locked. She slammed the door behind her and ran away along the wide corridor of the huge house, not understanding where she was and where she was running to.
The girl saw a door that was less conspicuous than the others that got in her way and rushed towards it. Closing it behind her, Marinette pressed her back against the door and held her breath, listening to someone rush down the corridor.
It was probably her pursuer, but surely he would soon discover that she was not there and would return to look for her here. So she needed to act quickly.
Marinette looked around and realized that she was in some kind of spacious and neatly cleaned closet.
It’ll do.
“Tikki!” She whisper-shouted, worryingly realizing that she was in pajamas and, of course, she didn't have a purse on her.
“I’m here, Marinette.” Tikki responded, flying out from behind her chosen. “I wasn’t sure what was going on and hid in your hair.” She explained.
“I’m not sure either, but I’m sure we need to get out of here quickly. “Transform me!”
Ladybug opened her yoyo, took dark glasses out from there and put them on.
A kwami in the form of a horse appeared in the air in front of her.
“No time to explain!” The heroine said. “Tikki, Kaalki unify.” And after transforming into Pega Bug she added: “Full gallop!”
And jumped into the portal that had formed just as the footsteps in the corridor began to approach her door again.
*
“What the hell was that?!” Marinette was still shaking as she collapsed onto the lounge in her room. “Could it be the effect of the akuma that hit me yesterday?” She asked no one in particular. “But what was it? Not the future and not the past, today is the same date on the calendar as it should be.” She reasoned. “Then where did it take me? And if it's because of the akuma, why didn't it work right away, but only at night?”
The girl continued chattering to herself as she got up again and began pacing up and down the room while Tikki and Kaalki finished their snacks.
The akuma that Marinette was talking about appeared in Paris the day before. They called themself Shadchan.
“What was it they were saying?..” Marinette asked still more to herself, trying to remember it. “Something biblical… something like… ‘Did you know that the Garden of Eden was huge? Our whole planet was a Garden of Eden!’ Yeah! That was exactly what that akuma said…” Marinette sighed. “But nothing actually happened to me after I was hit, and the akuma vanished into thin air just after…” Her eyes widened. “Oh my god, Tikki, Chat was hit too!” Marinette exclaimed. “What if he is somewhere far away? What if he doesn’t have the Astro Cat formula with him?.. Spots on!”
In fact there was a message from Chat Noir on her yoyo.
‘Hey Bugaboo! I’m in China. Come to get me at my location? Thanks, buy!’
Ladybug pressed the call icon.
“Hey, Chat!” She called when her partner’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hey LB! What’s up!” His voice didn’t sound distressed at all.
‘Maybe Chat found the way to come back home already?’ Marinette thought.
“Chat, are you still in China?” She asked.
“Funny story, milady,” Chat replied, slightly blushing. “I woke up in the bed with… uh…”
“With someone you have never seen before!” She finished.
“How did you…” Chat started, then suspicion appeared on his face. “Wait a minute! You were hit by that akuma too! So tell me, Bugaboo, is he better looking than I am?” Chat asked. But his face didn’t express any jealousy. Only a playful smirk appeared on it.
“I’m not gonna answer that!” She exclaimed protectively as deep green eyes surfaced in her memory against her will. “So what do you think this akuma did to us? Just sent us around the planet to explore our Garden of Eden?”
“My guess — they are matchmaking us,” Chat said, blushing again. “This girl, she is…”
“There is no way I can match that psycho!” Ladybug protested, interrupting him.
“‘Psycho’ you’re saying… I see…” Chat smirked at her. “So it’s definitely matchmaking akuma then…”
“Chat!” Ladybug exclaimed.
“Sorry, Bugaboo!” Chat Noir laughed. “But let’s face it: the guy must be really something to handle you!” He said through laughing.
“Traitor!” Ladybug said and sighed. “I’ll unite Tikki with Kaalki and come to get you. Don’t change your location.” She commanded.
“I uhh…” Chat sighed. “Sure. Waiting for you.”
*
“Like I said,” Jason yawned. “Eventually everyone in this family goes crazy.”
“I'm not crazy!” Damian protested. “She was here!”
“Maybe you just had a very realistic dream?” Dick suggested.
“I’m perfectly capable of distinguishing dreams from reality, thank you very much!” Snapped Damian. “She was real and she was in my bed!”
“So, correct me if I’m wrong, but did Damian just confess that he brought a girl to his room, who slept in his bed and ran away from him in the morning?” Tim smirked.
“I like the sound of it.” Jason began to choke with laughter.
“I did NOT bring anyone to my room!” Damian gritted his teeth. “She entered my room by herself while I was sleeping!”
“Well, it would be really hard to explain how she did it, as no external camera recorded the intrusion, the security system didn’t work, and no one saw her enter or leave the building,” Dick reasoned. “But suppose someone actually broke into your room, – let's say teleported, – and instead of stealing something or hurting you she... decided to sleep in your bed?”
“Oh, this is too good!” Jason spoke through laughing. “I have to remember this one for when I bring someone here and Bruce finds them in the morning…”
“Let’s say she could teleport wherever she wanted and was just tired and wanted to rest,” Tim said. “Why would she choose your room?”
“How the hell do I know?!” Damian growled at him. “She pretended she didn’t know where she was.”
“So you talked to her?” Jason asked slyly. “And about what?”
“I… she… a little… She ran out of my room and vanished.” Damian said almost in a sad voice.
“Typical.” Tim commented.
But Damian seemed not to hear them anymore. He turned away and lost himself in his thoughts.
“She was speaking with an accent…” He muttered under his breath, carried away by his memories.
“I don’t know what exactly happened, but he definitely believes it did.” Said Tim behind his back.
Dick sighed.
“Whatever it was, I hope we’ll figure it out before Bruce and Alfred are back.” He said.