Closer Than Before \\ A Miraculous Fanfiction

1.

A girl with blue hair swiveled around in a pink plastic chair, exhausted. She was trying her hardest to keep awake, but it was proving difficult. "How much longer, Tikki?" She groaned, her chair's spinning slowing to a stop.

Her kwami zoomed over from the cookie plate Marinette had laid out for her to check the timer.

"There's only twenty eight minutes left. Maybe you should take a quick nap to get your energy back up for when your parents return, Marinette!" Tikki suggested.

"No, I can't!" Marinette wanted to argue, but it was only a few seconds before her mind succumbed to sleep.

~~

Meanwhile, a mother and father sat in their car, struggling to see through the endless snow. The windsheild wipers did little to deflect the hail that battered the windsheild, and they had no idea what to do except keep going and hope for the best. Sabine had a map pulled up on her phone.

"I think you have to turn right here, dear-" she directed, cut off by the storm's noise. Tom had no idea whether they were turning onto a road or into a ditch, but he twisted the steering wheel nonetheless. The hail became deafening at that point, and neither Tom nor Sabine could hear the other frantically saying their panicked "I love you"s as their car was lifted into the air, never to be seen again.

~~

Marinette awoke with a start, her head jolting up the moment she realized that it was morning. "Tikki! Maman and Papa! They must be home by now!"

Ignoring the cramp in the arm she had rested her head on, Marinette stumbled through the trapdoor and dashed into the kitchen.

"You're right, your parents should be in the bakery now!" Tikki said as she floated lazily a foot behind Marinette. The girl glanced at the digital clock on her microwave, confused. "It's nine. They're always finishing up the croissants right now."

Tikki and Marinette pondered where her parents could be in silence. There were no suitcases, no anything. No evidence they had even gotten back from their trip yet.

"Well, they must be here somewhere. On second thought, they must have arrived really late, so maybe they're still asleep?" Marinette tried, refusing to condsider the probable: Her parents hadn't come back.

She ran into the living room, spotting an open door out of the corner of her eye. Her mouth went dry. The door was leading to her parent's bedroom.

Marinette sank to her knees. She had been worried about this happening since the moment her parents had told her about how they were going to a baking convention a five hours away. "They-They aren't here," she whispered in disbelief. "What happened to my parents, Tikki?"

Her kwami stayed silent. They both had an idea.
Hands shaking, Marinette turned on the TV. She sat on the edge of the sofa as a news report covered the screen.

"Breaking News. We finally have information on the storm that raged not too far from Strasbourg last night. Officials have estimated that around ten vehicles were in severe accidents, but there were only three known deaths. In other news, a puzzling set of car tracks was seen beside a right-turning lane. There was no car found, but the tracks disappeared suddenly as the car would have presumably rolled into the ditch, put it appears as if it was lifted into the air, as the tracks stopped abruptly before the ditch. Video coverage will air as soon as possible, a-"

Marinette turned off the news report. She was entirely confused about the situation. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she kept having to push all of the horrible thoughts out of her head. ​I am not going to suspect that anything bad happened until all of the other possibilities are ruled out. There's no proof yet, ​she repeated, over and over, hoping it would help.