A Change of Heart

Chapter 1

It was happening again. The portal was back once more.

"Marinette look out!" she could hear Tikki's worried cries from somewhere close by. "We don't know what will come out of that thing - so keep an eye out and be careful!"

"Yeah, yeah I'll keep that in mind." The goth girl responded in a strangled voice. "There's no way I'm gonna go near that thing again!"

As the pinkish light of the portal grew bigger and bigger, Marinette's anxiety seemed to leap from her stomach to her throat.

What was the portal doing here? Was it going to take her to yet another alternate world?

The butterflies fluttering in her stomach soon felt like hybrids of kamikos swarming inside of her belly, making her stumble back words at the sudden dizzy spell.

After a moment or two, the diary ESD subsided and Marinette took a hesitant step forward, not yet knowing what was going to happen.

Marinette gritted her teeth and stood to her feet, her bluebell eyes narrowing as she squinted against the harsh light the lit up her dark bedroom like a Christmas tree.

She gasped as the portal expanded. Her mouth dropped open as a figure was spit out not so nicely on the floor of Marinette's bedroom floor.

As the light of the portal dies down and it had disappeared, her eyes blew wide in a mix of horror and surprise when she caught a flash of black and red spots.

Paling at the sight of blood pooling under the girl, Marinette clenched her jaw tight and called for her little kwami friend.

"TIKKI! COME QUICK! I NEED YOUR HELP!" she called over shoulder as she dashed over to the fallen superhero on the floor.

At her panicked cries, the little ladybug kwami came zipping over to her chosen like a rocket.

"Bette? What's wrong? What's" the kwami stopped mid- sentience upon seeing the beaten and bloodied girl in her chosen's arms.

"Oh my God! Is she still alive?" the kwami fretted nervously, hovering over Marinette's shoulder as she put two fingers on Ladybug's neck.

After a moment of tense silence, the goth girl nodded her head with a worried glee mob her bluebell eyes.

"Yes, yes she's still alive." Marinette told her kwami with a soft sigh. "But she's lost a lot of blood: we need to find a way to get her suit off of her to stop the bleeding."

Tikki looked down at the unconscious hero in her charge's arms. The girl's head was on her lap and her pigtails were a bit ruffled and one of the ribbons was gone.

Thinking quickly, the little ladybug kwami floated down to Ladybug's head and gently nudged one of the earrings from her ears.

Upon being removed - the ladybug suit desolated in a bright flash of pink light. Tikki came spiraling out, looking a bit tired and dizzy.

Marinette took the earring from her kwami and gentle placed it back in the girl's ear where it had been moments earlier.

"Oh no! No! No! No! No!" the little kwami shrieks, flitting nervously in mid-air while looking down at the unconscious form of her golfer with wide, horrified eyes.

"Is she okay?" Tikki asked, looking over at the goth girl as she spoke.

Marinette sighed softly and rung her hands nervously in her lap. "I dunno. But could you go get the first aid kit from the bathroom?" she directed this question to her own kwami, who nodded her head and sped off to get the requested items.