Chapter Text
Smoke erupted everywhere, while fire blazed in every direction. Screams could be heard as well as the wails of people as the sound of destruction and doom lingered in every corner. The boy's feet ran as fast as possible, one after the other, and as his coughs deepened with each breath, the smoke filled up his lungs like poison. His wrongdoings had resulted in disaster, for which he would pay for the rest of his life.
"Wang!" a voice shouted from afar. In the distance was a man, running towards the boy, holding something very dear to the temple. He was badly injured.
"Wang, take this," the weak man said urgently, shoving a box into the boy's palms.
"The Miracle Box." The box glowed in his grasp; even amid the fire and chaos, it still seemed just as clean and well-kept as ever. "Take it and run far." The man coughed onto his knees. Black smoke dyed his skin a dark shade. "Far away from here," the boy said as he bent down to his level. "Master..?" he said worryingly, placing the box down while trying to comfort his master. "Master?!" There was no one to call, no one to come to his rescue. He could feel panic start to settle as his world started crumbling before him, literally.
The boy caught a glance at the box and saw the glow the gems radiated; he could feel their power and their magic. He reached towards the box, thinking that maybe a jewel could fix all this mess—his mess. Before he could do so, a hand forcefully and aggressively grabbed his arm, pulling it away. "No," his master's voice said sternly.
"But master! The Gem of the Ladybug could repair all this; it could fix all this destruction." The guardians eyes gleamed over the boys as a tension so strong formed between them; goosebumps rose on the boys arms and legs.
The Guardian harshly grabbed hold of both the boy's shoulders and brought him close, his glaring gaze never ceasing.
"You listen here, boy!" His voice came out rough and dry: "You are not to meddle with the miraculous; you are meant to guard them!" Small tears welled up in the child's eyes; the feelings of guilt and self-disappointment washed over him harder than ever before, and before he could tell, the screams were gone.
"No one is left," the Guardian said downheartedly.
"But-"
"No one, Wang, no one." With that, the adult let go of the tight grasp on his shoulders and slowly let himself crumble to the floor. "Master!" he yelled again, tears streaming down his face.
The ground began to vibrate, and the debris and rocks surrounding him began to tremble. "Go! And guard the Miracle box with all your life, do you understand?" The Guardian pushed the box towards the boy, who wiped away his tears and nodded his head hesitantly. The adult stuck his hand forward and rested it against his chest. I, Hayou Mingchi,hereby relinquish the miracle box and name Wang Fu the new guardian." A swirl of wind encircled the box as colors and shapes of all kinds engraved themselves around the knowledge of its new holder. The miracle box took on a new shape; it had formed itself into a new wooden decorative box that lay on the ground. Before the reality of the situation fully dawned on Fu, his Master lay lifeless on the ground.
The Ground quivered and shook, and upon the reality of his new given responsibility, a new heart-sucking chaos had begun—the fall of his temple. The ground cracked around him as if meant to chase him away as the wooden structure of the sacred building collapsed into itself, being eaten by the fire. The boy ran as far as he could go, the earth shattering at his feet with each step he took. Ahead of himself, the snowy ground began parting from itself, creating a ground fissure. The boy had no option but to jump over the gaping hole in order to get away, and in doing so, he lost grasp of the box, causing it to crash itself into the snow, where all the jewels were scattered across the ground. When the boy regained his senses, he began rapidly picking up as many jewels as he could, shoving each one back into its place. And soon it came down to two Miraculouses; he searched and searched but just couldn't find where they had landed. His frostbitten fingers began to go numb, and the fear and panic in his mind took over as he saw the last of the temple sink into a crater in the ground. He closed the box back up and ran as far away from his home as he could, destined to forever guard the magical box from harm.
But that was 170 years ago.
People.
The police in his car, calling in for a robbery, or maybe even the painter you see in the park, or the mother out with her child. The two friends out for coffee, or the couple putting a love lock on the Pont De Arts. People are a magnificent thing—a creature of such love and emotion, with a personality so strong that sometimes it shines through them, in the best or worst ways. A being so fragile that it somehow climbed its way to the top of the food chain. They're all just humans, that's all. But the order of life must always be balanced with the order of acceptance, although some people find that pill too hard to swallow, which creates their own failure.
But beauty can also be made, either through practice or skill. Nothing is more touching than a pure heart. Such as this one’s,
Meet Marinette Dupain Cheng, a girl whose world is about to change. Her creativity floods the pages of her papers as well as her mannequins. She has dreams and hopes just like any other person, but what is the difference between her and you? Well, you’ll just have to keep reading.
"It's just... not right," the girl mumbled before crumpling up another piece of paper, one that had a beautiful green dress with golden designs drawn around the hem, but for some reason, nothing satisfied her. She threw the crumpled paper into her backpack and soon looked up at the greenery in front of her. A child was pulling a brightly colored kite across the park while giggling and screeching. The sight before her made her smile softly, and it also gave her an idea.
She picked up her pencil and began sketching. The design consisted of a colorful skirt in the same colors as the kite. The skirt was layered as well as bejeweled. Now all she needed was a shirt to go with it. But before she could come up with one, her phone rang. "What the..." She searched through her backpack and picked up her phone; her mom had been calling her.
"Hello? Mom?" She put her pencil in her mouth as she picked up some scattered papers that had fallen out of her bag while she was searching for her phone. "Hey honey! How's your afternoon so far?" Marinette sighed. It had been peaceful, but nothing exciting had happened, as always. "Nothing much, just drawing in the park," she said as she zipped up her bag and took her pencil out of her mouth, switching her phone to her right ear. "Oh, that's nice! There's nothing wrong with getting some fresh air," her mother said happily. "But, honey, you aren’t still at the park, are you?" Her mom's tone changed to a more worried one. Marinette could hear the busyness of the bakery in the background, meaning her mother was juggling talking to her and preparing orders.
"Well, yeah?" Marinette, although kind and sweet, had a bit of a record for being, well, forgetful.
"But honey, isn’t your school orientation soon?" Marinette's stomach churned at the thought of her school's orientation; not only was she going to arrive late, she also knew no one at her school. This was her first year at College Francoise Dupont, which was a high school right around the corner from her house. She had never attended that high school though, due to her having cousins in a different district, such as Socqueline, but the art department at her old school wasn't giving Marinette the artistic challenges she wanted in order to become a fashion designer, so, after a lot of debate, her parents finally decided to switch her over, to which she felt frightened and thrilled at the same time.
"Shoot!" She squealed, grabbing her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder. "Thanks mom, you're literally a life saver! I’ll see you when I get home. Bye!" Her mom said a quick goodbye before Marinette hung up.
She had gladly been given a scooter for her 15th birthday, which had been very convenient in the past year or so when it came to transportation. This wasn't the first time she had been late to an event, and it definitely wouldn't be the last, but although the scooter couldn't teleport her anywhere, it definitely helped her get to her destination a lot quicker than running would.
She eventually reached the school and parked her Scooter on the side of the road. She removed her helmet, set it down on the handle of her scooter, and quickly made her way up the stairs towards the entrance doors. Running across the halls and up the stairs, she suddenly remembered that she didn’t know which class was her homeroom or where orientation was being held. She groaned, "Why does this always happen to me?"
Marinette then began wandering the halls, opening every door, trying to find the room she belonged in. Eventually she started to lose hope that she’d find her class as she kept checking the time again and again to make sure she had gotten the hours right. As she made her way up the stairs, she couldn't help but hear the faint sound of voices echoing from her right, and a small smile made its way to her lips. She made her way towards the door and peeked through the small window, taking in the liveliness of the class. Not only did everyone seem to be in unison with each other, they were all so comfortable and definitely seemed to be acquainted with one another, which made Marinette worry she would stand out too much, and soon, doubt creeped into her mind. I can't do this, she thought as she backed away from the door. The thought of everyone looking at her as she stood in that class, perhaps being the only new person to be a part of the group, made her have second thoughts on her decision.
Maybe I'm not as ready for this as I thought I was. She thought, I should've stayed with Socqueline. She hugged herself as she began to back away.
"Well, hello there," a gentle voice said from beside her. As she looked up, she immediately noticed bright blue eyes as well as freckles. "Hello," she managed to squeak.
"Are you a part of the Junior year orientation?" Marinette nodded quickly, which caused the Adult to give a reassuring smile. "I'm Madame Bustier; are you perhaps Marinette?" Marinette gave another quick nod, and Mrs. Bustier gently put a hand on her shoulder, comforting her.
"I can see you're a little nervous; everyone can be at times, but just know that the kids in there are going to be like family to you before you know it. Everything will be fine, and if something doesn't go as planned, just let me know and we can work something out together, alright?" The teacher's kind words sent a wave of relief over Marinette as she straightened out a bit. "You got here at a perfect time; I was just about to go in and greet everybody. Would you like to come in with me?" The offer definitely seemed tempting to Marinette, and her gut could already feel a sense of safety with her new teacher. Mrs. Bustier led the way and opened the door. Everyone turned to look at her and the teacher as they saw movement from the door. Marinette quickly felt like shrinking back into the hallway, but Mrs. Bustier quickly waved her over, and so, with a slight blush on her cheeks, Marinette did so.
"Class, Welcome to your Junior year! My name is Madame Bustier, and I’ll have the honor of being your homeroom teacher this year. I know most of you are acquainted with each other, but with a new year will come new faces, so I’d like to introduce someone new who will be joining your class this year. Everyone, say hello to Marinette Dupain Cheng." Mrs. Bustier gave a small, reaffirming push to Marinette, making her step forward. Thus, she waved a little. "Hi," she said, "Im Marinette," and at about that moment her mind went blank; she had nothing else planned to say—in fact, she hadn’t expected to be put on the spot in the first place. But, to her luck, she was saved. "Excuse me?" She turned her attention to the doorframe, where a boy stood—a very familiar one at that. "Is this Madame Bustier's homeroom?" he asked again, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
"Yes, it is! Please come in." The blonde boy made his way inside, closed the door behind him, and stiffly stood at the front of the room, not quite knowing what to do with himself. Suddenly a small gasp came from the clump of classmates, and the spread of hushed voices echoed in the air. Marinette noticed a change in the boy's behavior as she returned her gaze to him, seeing that he slumped down a bit at the gossip of his arrival. He exchanged a small wave to a few students before Mrs. Bustier clapped her hands together to gain the attention of her class back. "Class, please don't be disrespectful to our new student." Marinette gasped at the words new student, and thought, Maybe I’m not so alone... A faint smile formed on her lips at the thought of someone new.
"Would you like to introduce yourself?" Mrs. Bustier asked, and after a small moment of hesitation, the boy did.
"Hi, I'm Adrien Agreste," Of course! The moment his name rolled off his tongue, she recognized him immediately. Adrien Agreste was the son of her favorite fashion model, Gabriel Agreste, who was known for making exquisite clothing that was featured and bought all over the world. He was her main inspiration when it came to her fashion hobby; his sense of creativity and the way he used textures and colors so effortlessly inspired her dearly. "And this is my first year of actual school," he continued. "I don't know much about public school, but hopefully it ends up being fun." He looked up at the class with a fresh smile on his face, a smile that held tinges of hope. That's exactly what Marinette wanted for herself more than anything in the world—maybe even more than a fashion career.
Well, Adrien, I wish you all the luck! And I'm sure you’ll do great." Mrs. Bustier said encouragingly, "Thank you." He put his hands in his pockets and waited for further instruction as the teacher explained what would happen today.
There would be a tour of the school, and at the end of the day, they would be handed their school schedules. It seemed fast and easy since Marinette was most excited to see their art room. Marinette and Adrien ended up standing for all of Mrs. Bustier's explanation since they had never really been dismissed to sit down, but eventually she called down all the students to follow her as she began the tour.
After writing her name down on the attendance sheet, she turned around to pass it over and asked, "Uhm, have you filled out your name yet?" Marinette asked the girl beside her. The girl was pulled away from her conversation when she heard Marinette's question and reached out to take the clipboard from her with a smile. No, I haven’t yet," she said, writing her name down. "Marinette, huh?" Marinette's attention was brought back to her; confused by her statement, she tilted her head slightly and said, "Uh, yes?"
"You have a really unique name; it's really pretty." The girl passed the clipboard to the girl next to her, who had purple-faded hair. The compliment definitely boosted Marinette, as she grew a faint pink tint on her cheeks. "Thank you. It was my great-grandmother's name."
"Well, your great-grandmother's mother knew what she was doing." The girl let out a small chuckle, then proceeded to put her hands on her hips before sticking out a hand.
"Im Alya." Marinette reached out and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Alya." Both girls smiled. "Have you always gone to Francios Dupane?" Marinette asked as they walked out of the room together, following the crowd.
"Yup! Always have! I pretty much grew up with these people." Alya keenly pushed her glasses up. "So, were you home schooled like Adrien?"
"Me? No, I just attended another school and needed a change in pace education-wise," Marinette shrugged as they were led down the hallway. "Ah, so what? Are you a brainiac?" Alya giggled while giving Marinette a gentle flick on the shoulder. "Hah! I wish," she smiled in return. "I'm just here because I wanted to be part of a better art department, that's all." Alya nodded along until her gaze was drawn to Mrs. Bustier, the teacher who had taken them to Ms. Mendeleiev’s Science class.
Although the Science teacher was a bit harsh, maybe even quirky, Marinette could feel a small quake of excitement gush over her as she got to know more and more about the school, and soon the feeling of fear was forgotten. Next on the tour was the Art room, which Marinette was most excited for.
"And here we have our art room! Where our amazing Mr. Monlataing teaches!" The moment Marinette stepped into the art room, her breath was taken away by the possibilities ahead of her. The walls were decorated with hand-drawn graffiti, and the tables had every color of paint imaginable scattered around. Each ceiling tile had a different picture painted on it, and the windows had handmade curtains that seemed to have been crafted by students.
There were canvases with gorgeous abstract art drawn on them, as well as pencil sketches that were left unfinished due to summer break.
"Hello everyone! My name is Mr. Monlataing, but you can all call me Jean-Pierre. As you can see, this art room is no joke; it's where creative ideas are formed and made!" The man said excitedly, "I'm very, very excited for this school year, if you can't tell already." The man chuckled. "I know that this year’s students will be just as talented and inspiring as ever!"
"Well said, Jean-Pierre," Said Mrs. Bustier, clapping. "Well, students, although it is close to the first week of school, if you have any desire to change your schedules and add a class, I'm sure that can be talked over with the front office." As Mrs. Bustier continued speaking, Marinette felt herself become embraced by the sheer potential of the room; not only was its size big, but she finally understood why this school had been voted number one for its artistic abilities.
Her fingers lingered against the table as she walked toward a wall mural at the back, the art being of a garden with blue and green flowers scattered across the meadow and a small treehouse resting in the back. The small details added to the mural did not go unseen, at least not to Marinette, as she made sure to take in everything. Even the small ladybug was painted in to blend with the red mushrooms. There were shelves nailed to the wall that supported sculptures of every kind, ones made from metal, tin, clay, and even yarn, each one just as impressive as the next.
"As much as I’d love to stay, I do have to get going, but I hope you have a great rest of your summer break! I’ll see you guys soon!" Jean-Pierre grabbed his backpack and coffee and said a more formal goodbye to Mrs. Bustier. "Sir, where are you going?" asked one of the students. "Im headed to the last bike marathon of the season! So wish me luck!" As he made his leave, Mrs. Bustier led the class out of the room to move on with the tour to the Math room.
"Now, this will be your Junior year Math room, and your math teacher will be..." As Mrs. Bustier looked closely, she could sense that something was off. Doing a mental headcount, she soon realized she was a student short. She told her students to talk amongst themselves while she looked back at the attendance sheet. "Max Scherzer... Rose Lavillant... Her eyes scrolled down. "Aha! Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she looked up, "Has anyone seen Marinette?" The students looked around, shrugging and conversing amongst themselves about the question, "Uh, Alya? I saw you two talking earlier; you didn't happen to see where she went, did you?" Mrs. Bustier asked,
Alay froze, tracing back where her and Marinette's conversation had ended, but she truly couldn't remember seeing where she had gone. Giving an empathetic shrug, she replied. "Sorry, Mrs. Bustier, I don't know where she is." A small sigh escaped the teacher as she looked around. School hadn't even started, and she had already lost one of her students.
"Uhm, If you’d like," Adrien chimed in, raising a hand, "I could go back and look for her?" A soft smile formed on Mrs. Bustier's face. "That would be amazing. Thank you, Adrien."
"Of course, I don't mind." Adrien turned around and retraced his steps throughout the tour. Although he wanted to find Marinette, he also just wanted an excuse to escape the large group. It was beginning to feel suffocating with all the questions that were being thrown his way by his future peers. And although he was grateful to be such an inspiration to so many, it could get overwhelming to be constantly crowded. And don't get him wrong; he knew this would happen if he went to public school, but that doesn't mean it doesn't get old.
He walked down the corridor and headed toward the art room, pushing the door open, revealing exactly who he was looking for. A smile formed on his lips at the sight of Marinette. She was absolutely hypnotized by the mannequins that were on display, each one wearing a different, unique outfit. Some people truly wear their feelings on their faces, and this girl was an example of the amazement in her eyes.
"It’s a really pretty piece, isn’t it?" he asked.
Marinette was startled and jumped in place, almost knocking over the other mannequins, which she was gladly able to catch just in time. She quickly straightened herself out, putting the mannequin back in place. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said, walking closer. "N-no, you're fine. I was just in the zone, y’know?" They both chuckled subtly at the situation.
Eventually Marinettes gaze fell behind Adrien as she soon realized they were the only people in the room. "Where's…" Adrien turned around to see what she was looking at. "Where did everyone go?" she pointed out.
"Oh, I was actually sent back to come get you. You kind of strayed away from the tour group," he chuckled, putting his hands in his pockets shyly.
"Oh," Marinette was known for usually being in her own world, and she’d sometimes get carried away with things and, hence, get distracted. "I have a feeling this isn’t the first time this has happened to you." She couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the comment.
"I wish it was, but no, this happens almost daily." Pink crept onto her cheeks. "That's okay; things like this happen to the best of us," he shrugged.
He stuck out his hand and presumed to introduce himself.
"Im A-"
"I'm Marinette!" She stuck her hand out too quickly, which resulted in her hand crushing into his arm. The pink hue on her cheeks only grew darker. Why would I say that? She subconsciously squirmed. And why would I do that?
"I'm sorry." Her gaze dropped to the ground, embarrassment crowding her thoughts.
A smile formed itself on his lips as he grabbed her hand in his and shook it.
"I’m Adrien,"
"I know," she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She pulled her hand back from the shake and held it at her side, her gaze stuck on the ground.
"I bet you would know; my name is kind of everywhere," he joked.
"Yeah…"
A sort of awkward tension coursed through the air, so Adrien did something about it. Talking was something he was surprisingly good at since he was usually constantly being interviewed. "So, are you signed up for art this year?" he asked. She looked up at him, then changed her gaze to the rest of the room. "Yeah, I am. I love art; I always have," she said, crossing her arms tightly around her chest. "That's really cool; I wish I was good at art." A small sigh escaped his lips as he leaned himself against the table behind him.
"Well, you're a model, right? That's a type of art. Having the elegance to pull off every outfit as well as display it isn't easy." Now it was Adrien's turn to look down at the ground and say, "Thanks."
Marinette nodded as she walked towards the different textures of fabric, turning away from the boy. "So, I'm guessing you're not signed up for Art?" she asked,
"Nope. My father signed me up for music, though."
"Hey! That's another form of art!" She turned around to say, "And it's impressive! Do you play something? Or is it your first year?" she squeaked.
It was refreshing to not have someone know everything about him and to be able to introduce himself to someone new.
He couldn't help but smile to himself and say, "I play the piano; I always have. It's pretty fun when I can play what I want."
"That's cool. I always wanted to learn to play an instrument, but I guess I just never talked about it enough as a child, so my parents never signed me up for anything."
Suddenly an idea popped into his brain, and he scrambled to search for his phone. His quick movements startled Marinette a bit, but she soon lifted a brow, wondering what he was doing.
"Although this is my first year at school, I do know some of the kids in our class." He unlocked his phone.
"You do?" Marinette asked, "Mhm, I'm part of a band called Kitty Section." He pulled up a picture of their flier and showed it to Marinette. The flier was very dull; in fact, the only thing on it was the logo and show times. It made her cringe.
"That's cool!"
"Yeah, it is, but we need a designer for our band because, as you can see," He cringed at the flier. Good to know he could notice how bad it was, thought Marinette as she giggled. "It's not the best advertisement—I mean, of course it's not Nino made it," he rolled his eyes. "He's about as lazy as a turtle, if you know what I mean." Marinette covered her mouth as she laughed. "But anyways, you're artsy, right? Would you be interested in being our designer?" Her laughter died down as she thought over the proposal: Would I have time to commit? She thought. She had never been a part of something like that, and she felt Adrien was giving her too much credit; he hadn’t even seen any of her art pieces yet!
"Uhh.." was all she was able to get out. Adrien took a few steps back. "I get it; it's a big decision. I came off a bit strong." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Here, why don’t you come over and check us out sometime? You could meet Luka and talk it over with him."
She tilted her head slightly. "Luka?"
"Oh! Sorry, yeah, he's our MD, Music Director." He chirped, "He also plays guitar; he's pretty cool." He shook his head slightly and said, "Anyways, he's kind of in charge of everything, so you’d want to talk to him about it. Here, "he stretched his hand forward, offering his phone, and said, "I could give you my number if you’d like. Then I could send you our rehearsal dates." Marinette's heartbeat quickened at the thought of her number being on a celebrity's phone. And it wasn't just any celebrity phone; it was Adrein Agrestes!
She shakily took the phone from his grasp and put in her number (she definitely didn’t spell her name wrong twice) before handing the phone back, to which he happily replied, "Thanks Marinette! Oh, I need a picture for you," he held his phone up, "smile!" Marinnette gave a timid smile to the camera, but Adrien didn't seem to mind it.
"Perfect," he said, admiring the photo. "We should head back to the group, don't you think?"
"Oh! Yes!" Marinette answered hastily as she made her way to the door, almost knocking into the corner of two tables, to which Adrien just laughed. As they walked back towards their class, he couldn't help but smile to himself, knowing he had made a new friend. Although he already knew some people, such as Nino, Alya, Luka, Juleka, etc., it was different since he was introduced to his friends in his band—he met Jagged Stone, then had a perfume collaboration with him, but it led to him meeting his daughter, then her brother, Luka, and so on and so forth. The only reason his father would ever let him be a part of a band in the first place was because Juleka and Luka were both children of a very, very famous singer. But he felt very proud of himself for (Hopefully) making an entirely new friend without anyone's help! He offered to find Marinette, held smalltalk, shook her hand, and introduced himself! Even if she already knew who he was, it was still a huge step for him to take! He was even able to get her number! And possibly recruit a new member for the band!
But, as Adrien thought about it, he hadn’t formally announced that he wanted to be her friend, and so it was starting to dawn on him that maybe he should ask her? He didn't know if she saw their handshake as an automatic friend label or a new person's introduction. So he mustered up the courage and asked.
"Hey, Marinette?" He said shyly, almost regretting the decision to ask,
"Yes?" He stopped walking and found himself getting nervous. He had never asked someone to be his friend, not even as a child. He was a lonely kid and only ever played with the kids his parents picked out for him, and the friends he had now, well, he knew they were his friends because of the way they acted together, but he wanted to make sure that Marinette would know she wasn’t alone in this and that they could face this new year together!
"Would you be my friend?" He suddenly realized how stupid he sounded. Almost like a pathetic child, and he instantly wanted to take it back. "Sorry that-" he sighed,
"I just wanted to make sure. -"
"Of course,"
He looked up, startled a bit by her confidence.
"I'd love to be your friend, Adrien," she said, flashing a shining smile. Her body language became a kind of embrace, much different from the timid and embarrassed one that she had manifested minutes ago. His heart couldn't help but swell at the reply,
"Thank you. It means a lot," he added as they resumed walking.
"No problem! That would make you..." She twisted a strand of hair between her fingers and smiled. "My first school friend," she said, looking up at him. And he couldn't help but return the look.
"Same here,"
"Cool,"
"Cool."
Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad, Marinette thought. They walked side by side in comfortable silence the rest of the way. And Mrs. Bustier was glad to see that both of them were okay. So yeah, it's safe to say this year is going to be very special for Marinette.