In the Home of Chat

Marinette

Sirens blaring in her ears, the flashing lights set the scene as more of a nightmarish fever dream than reality. Gabriel Agreste laying at her feet, the pendant that housed the butterfly kwami was in her hand and everyone in the city was watching. Her breath was coming in short bursts and the ringing in her ears covered up everything but the steady beep of her earrings. She didn't have any time left, Chat could handle the press and Mr. Agreste. She needed to get the Miraculous to Master Fu and find Adrien.
Adrien.

Was he one of the countless others watching a screen or was he in the crowd seeing it all first hand? The dust filled ruins of the Champs-Élysées was slowly filling with far too many bystanders for her to pick him out even if she tried. She couldn't try though, she had no time.

Chat was on his knees behind the unconscious fashion icon, his head bowed in a way that Ladybug had never before seen. His eyes seemed dead, hollow, as they looked up at her through messy golden bangs. He looked like a husk of a man, a shell of his former more energetic self. She had no time to ponder on the sight of her best friend and most trusted partner either.

She. Had. To. Go.

A tear slid from her cheek as she whipped her yoyo from her hip and began to spin it by her side. Then, she was flying. The reporters' slew of questions were all drowned out by the sound of the wind in her ears. She had to hurry, and had to be as efficient as possible if she wanted to make it to Master Fu's home before the remaining two spots on her earrings went out, slipping away along with her transformation. She put all of her thoughts on her efforts to avoid the questions in the back of her mind, questions that brought the tears along with them, questions that were best left unasked when she wasn't close to Adrien anymore, questions that would leave her frozen with fear for her best friend, her partner, and the boy who had her heart. All three of them would have to be ignored if she wanted to finish her task. Yet, Adrien still managed to take over her thoughts...

How was he going to react to his father being the number one super villain of Paris for all of these years?
Would he hate Chat and herself now for taking him down?

Chat had come so close to touching Hawkmoths flesh with his cataclysm back there.

Adrien, when would he know about what happened?

Would he show up if there was a trial?

She stumbled on a roof, her mind too far into her unanswered questions for her to pay attention to her surroundings. She missed when she attempted to keep herself aloft with her yoyo, and found herself falling towards the damp concrete below. Twisting her body mid fall allowed her to land safely, with only a small, sharp pain shooting up her right leg as punishment for giving into her fearful thoughts. She winced and grabbed her thigh in an attempt to soothe the pain. She rubbed it in slow circles as a blinding pink light filled the area around her. Her transformation dropped, leaving her as plain simple Marinette, alone in the alley but for her kwami Tikki, who was laying pitifully on her shoulder. Still wincing from the pain, she removed her hand from it's spot on her leg in order to scoop the tiny red god into her palm so she could get a better look at her.

"Are you okay Tikki?" She asked around large puffs of air she exhaled to draw her focus off of her leg.

"I'll be fine Marinette," Tikki responded as she turned her eyes on her miraculous holder, "we need to get Nooroo to Master Fu." She finished her statement as she shifted her attention pointedly to the winged pendant in Marinette's hand.

"Right." Marinette gritted her teeth and practically dragged her injured leg behind her as she weaved her way through the alleyway crowded with boxes, a faint beeping sound growing louder and louder with each step that she took. She tried to ignore it, her focus on finishing what Needed to be done, but it was all encompassing and grew in volume to the point that her vision began to fade until all she saw was white...

"No!" She screamed as she sat upright in her bed, memories of the same dream that had plagued her for years filling her mind as beads of sweat dripped from her forehead down to her chin. She took a moment to return to reality as a long drawn out breath escaped her lips, then glared at the device making the offending noises. Her phone alarm was going non stop, endlessly beeping, and forcing a headache into her temples at each sound. She groaned and reached over to her nightstand to shut it off before laying back on her bed and releasing a long exhale once again. Her eyes were locked onto the painted white ceiling above her head as she thought over her dream. It was really more of a memory, the day they finally stopped Hawkmoth had been stressful and hectic and so packed with emotions that her brain still had a hard time processing it all. Sometimes she dreamed of the fight, sometimes of what happened after, but it was always of that day.
"Marinette?" She turned her head to see Tikki rubbing her eyes as the small god sat on the pillow beside her. She must have been thrashing in her sleep again, the small kwami would often nuzzle her cheek during the night if her dreams became too much.

"I'm fine," she waved away Tikki's concerns with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes before slipping her blanket down to her knees and sitting up once again. "It was just a dream." she added, more to herself than her tiny partner, as she turned to hang her legs off of the side of the bed. A long yawn escaped her lips as she stretched and looked around her small bedroom. It was packed full of cloth and boxes of thread, yarn, and needles. All things that were needed for her classes at ESMOD, the fashion university that she had struggled for two years to finally join. Two mannequins sat in the corner by her door that lead to the rest of her apartment. Moving out of her parents house had been a stressful endeavor, but the sight of the boxes that still needed to be unpacked filled her with a new sense of pride. She had made it on her own. She was living by herself for the first time in her life and attending a school she had gotten into on her own merits. Her days would be spent in classes and at her part time job that she had managed to get on her own. Finally, she was moving forward with her life.

She moved from her bed and to the suitcase by her closet that held the clothes she had planned out for her first week of school. Alya had offered her the piece of advice to prepare the suitcase before she moved out so she wouldn't be rummaging through boxes for a week in search of what to wear. Her best friend of many years had taken on a whole new level of motherly advice after her marriage, and subsequent move in with Nino. Though she greatly appreciated the advice, she wanted to finally be on her own, making her own decisions, and mistakes, along the way. With that thought in mind she began to dress for the first day of school, a warm pair of light pea green wool leggings and a black pencil skirt was combined with a button up blouse to match the leggings and a pair of black, leather, babydoll pumps. Her usual pigtails, that had been a part of her aesthetic for years, was replaced with a long high ponytail that showed off just how much her hair had grown since her days in collège. With a light touch of makeup here and there, she was ready to face her first day with confidence.

"You're looking absolutely ready to run your own fashion line!" Tikki exclaimed as she caught up to Marinette in the bathroom where she was finishing up brushing her teeth.

"To be honest with you Tikki, I am excited." Marinette smiled brightly at her old friend as she wiped her mouth on a waiting washcloth. "This is the first step to my five year plan. Just you wait, pretty soon there will be a little shop right by the Seine. Marinette's Boutique." She let out a dreamy sigh as she leaned against the wall by her bathroom sink. Her mind was years ahead of them now, dancing through a shop full of clothes that she made herself and customers who adored them. Tikki has seen her go through these same emotions for years over many things. In her teens it had been over a certain blonde boy who had infatuated her for a long time, but slowly she grew away from infatuations of love and moved on to focusing on her future beyond just marriage and kids. It was a long and complicated road for her, and she was nowhere near the end of it. Still, Tikki was proud of the young woman her chosen had become: Strong willed and a brilliant young woman who looked ahead to her promising future, rather than focusing on a past she found so painful.

"You're going to do great Marinette!" She cheered as she followed the energetic young woman through the apartment. The young designer snatched her phone from her bedroom before returning to her kitchen/dining area/living room combination and sliding onto a barstool she had received as a housewarming gift from her parents. Tikki watched as she typed furiously on the screen before reaching over to snatch two cookies out of the waiting cookie jar and handing one over to Tikki. For only being in the apartment officially for a day, the two of them had already settled into an easy morning routine. It was simple, given it was their usual morning activities with just a bit more freedom granted to both of them, due to not having to worry about Marinette's parents checking in on her during that time. Yes, Marinette getting her own place was a good thing for both of them.

"My Uber's here." Marinette announces when her phone chimed loudly. She hopped from her seat on the stool and grabbed a small round purse with a bird graphic on it, the same purse she had made when she was fourteen out of the shirt her grandmother had gifted her for her birthday. Without a word, she held it open and Tikki zipped into it happily. Marinette gave her new home one last look over and took in a deep breath. Today was the first day of her new life, not even a haunting dream could hold her back from running head on towards her future.