Chapter Text
"I... I think it's a Miraculous."
Marinette didn't even register what she had just said, but she was sure of it now. She remembered bits and pieces of a conversation she once had with Tikki, after she first got her Miraculous.
•oOo•
"Tikki, are me and Chat Noir the only Miraculous holders?" Marinette asked the small kwami, a few days after they battled Stoneheart.
Tikki sat beside Marinette on her bed. "That's a complicated question."
"Well, tell me about Hawk Moth. How did he get his power?"
"I don't really know. His Miraculous was never meant to be used for evil," Tikki replied.
"He has a Miraculous?" Marinette asked. "So that must mean that there are other Miraculouses, right? What other kinds are there?"
"Well, there is a necklace, a brooch, a hair comb, but don't worry. You'll learn everything when the time is right."
•oOo•
Adrien stared at her, a little slack jawed. Marinette felt a familiar blush trickle on her neck, before she remembered what was happening.
Still holding the brooch, she flicked on her laptop. Luckily, she had changed her background from Adrien's photoshoots to a plain red background. She opened up a new browser tab, and searched up: Miraculous brooch. Hundreds of results popped up, and Marinette groaned internally. She wasn't even sure what she was looking for, but it definitely wasn't discounted brooches, on sale at everybrooch.com.
"How are you sure?" Adrien asked her. She knew instantly that she couldn't tell him. She might not be Ladybug anymore, but that didn't mean she could start blabbing. Adrien wouldn't understand. Not now, not ever.
"I just am, okay?" she finally said. "Now, who did this belong to?"
"Well, it wasn't a hero, if that's what you're asking," Adrien grimaced.
Marinette caught herself wishing, not for the first time, that Chat Noir was here. He could be helping her right now. He would know what to do. God, Marinette really wished she never took him for granted. Maybe if she hadn't been so stupid, they could be talking right now. If she had just trusted him with her identity, maybe things would be better. If she just had some connection to him...
But she did. They shared one thing, something that tied them together. It wasn't pleasant, but it was all Marinette had.
"Can I borrow this?" Marinette asked Adrien. He bit his lip, but Marinette stubbornly held her stare, willing him to say yes.
His face softened, and he gave her a heart melting smile. "Okay. You seem like you know the answers, so yeah. Just let me know what you find out, okay?"
His green eyes pierced hers, and for a fleeting moment, her school-girl crush washed over her like a violent tsunami. Then she remembered how much his rejection stung her, and she gave him a weak smile in return.
•oOo•
After Adrien left an hour later, Marinette slipped the brooch into her pocket, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Her hands were sweaty, and her knees shook a little in anticipation in what she was about to do.
She bounded down the stairs, swinging her backpack over her shoulders. Her parents were sitting together, cuddled up in front of the television.
"Marinette? Are you going somewhere?" Sabine asked her, glancing up.
"Just to the library!" Marinette chirped, hoping her mom wouldn't see through her blatant lie.
"Alright, wear a coat!" Sabine advised, looking out at the window. "It's started to snow."
Marinette followed Sabine's advice to keep her happy and oblivious. She tugged on a coat, and wrapped a scarf around her neck. For extra measures, she grabbed a few of her textbooks that were laying on the kitchen table, making sure she wasn't too obvious with them, but also making sure her mom believed in her lie.
After Marinette was out of eyesight from her home, she hopped on a bus headed away from the library, and to her real location. She really wished nobody she knew would see her. What would she say? They would think she was crazy for doing this.
Marinette stared at the little frost patterns etched on the bus window. They swirled together, like the colours in Starry Night. They were mesmerizing, so mesmerizing that Marinette lost herself in them. Unlike herself, the intricate weaving of the frost seemed to take direction. Every spiral, every curve, they all seemed to have purpose. Marinette didn't even know if she had a purpose anymore, let alone what it was.
She didn't even have a solid reason for embarking on this crazy mission. She was looking for all the answers, but she didn't know what questions to ask. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed the brooch, staring at it a little sullenly. How frustrating it was to actually hold a real Miraculous in her hands and not be able to do anything with it was beyond her.
After Adrien left, she tried everything. She pinned the brooch to her shirt, nothing happened. She tried to coax out a kwami by asking nicely, singing, even threatening the brooch. Nothing. She threw it at her bed a couple of times, still nothing. The brooch was as unresponsive as Chloé Bourgois in the middle of their math exams.
Marinette had already figured out that Adrien had stolen it from his dad. It was kinda obvious, the way he refused to tell her, how he seemed a little embarrassed about it. Adrien might have been a stellar model, but Marinette hoped he would never get into acting. It just didn't work out for him.
Closing the brooch tightly in her fist, she rested her head on the back of her seat, when suddenly someone in the seat behind her cleared their throats rather loudly. Marinette jumped a little, and turned around. An old man in a flowered shirt regarded her, an impish smile. She gave him a polite smile in return, then turned back around.
"I find that the hardest paths in life often lead to the happiest endings, don't you think?" the old man hummed loudly to Marinette. She turned in her seat again, out of polite interest.
"I guess so."
"That being said, nothing in life is ever really easy, is it?" he continued to speculate. "Especially when you feel alone."
"Yup," Marinette agreed tiredly.
"Loneliness is a fickle thing, Marinette. Blow out your own candle, you'll be left in the dark," the old man said. "Don't do this. If you do, you'll not only be sniffing out your own candle, but your partners as well."
Marinette narrowed her eyes in on him. "My partner? What do you -"
"Ah! My stop!" the old man exclaimed, getting up as the bus came to a rolling stop. He nodded his head in farewell, and Marinette watched him hobble away, until the bus turned a corner, and she saw him no more.
•oOo•
"Name?"
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"Reasons for visit?"
"Uhm, family friend. I'm friends with Adrien Agreste."
"Please leave all your belongings in this bin here. Also, remove your coat, scarf, and anything else that might be a danger to you or anyone else in the nearest vicinity. Now, if you'll stand on this X, one of our female officers will perform a formal pat down to make sure you're not concealing any weapons."
"Anything else?"
"No. You're free to start your one hour of time. Step this way."
Marinette walked behind the police officer. She wasn't going to lie, she was a little intimidated by the lethal looking guns on his belt. Even as Ladybug, she knew she wasn't entirely invincible.
The officer led her to a small room, with two doors on either side, two chairs, and a wooden table in between the chairs. The walls were a muddy brown, paint worn from years of neglect. The whole thing made Marinette feel hollow inside.
The office gestured for Marinette to take a seat. She sat down, staring at the table. A little worried voice told her to get away from this place and keep running like hell until her legs burned. Trying her best to quiet it, the other door walked in, and Gabriel Agreste sat in front of her, a mess of chains and the the colour of orange.