Marinette Dupain-Cheng has disappeared for good.
Chat Noir refuses to give up on finding her, even if Ladybug already has.
* * *
Started: July 27, 2017
Finished: December 17, 2018
Idea inspired by @its_nusa_obviously 's book, Stuck.
Cover drawn by...
In the next hour after awakening, Marinette decided to take Tikki's advice and go see Master Fu. She honestly knew she could use whatever advice he could give her. This was a definitely necessary step to take, seeing as how she accidentally lost one of the earring's backings from checking on it too much.
Although her kwami assured her that the backings weren't part of the magic, Marinette still worried she might have somehow messed up the working order of her miraculous, and ruined the powers. Currently, she was wearing only one earring, and she had placed the back-less earring on her desk.
"Marinette, so many of my holders have accidentally lost the backings before, and they just usually replace it with whatever cheap earring backings they could find in their room," Tikki told the girl as she checked around her bed one last time.
"But what if because I already had the development, it affects my transformation?" Marinette asked, crawling under her desk as she felt around the floor for the backing.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Nathalie practically lost the earring backings three times in two months while she was a teenage Ladybug and trust me, the quality was not affected after her development. You're fine, Marinette! Just use another backing, put the earring back in, and let's go," Tikki flew down, trying to urge her holder.
The girl sighed and attempted to crawl back out from under her desk. In the attempt to get up, she accidentally bumped her head on the side of the desk, causing her to let out a groan. Rubbing her head, she grumbled, "Just my luck."
Standing to her feet, she reached over to the top of her desk where she left the single earring, only to find she knocked it off when she hit her head. "Here it is!" Her kwami retrieved it from the ground, holding the piece up.
"Thank you," Marinette took it from her, and walked over to her jewelry box to grab another backing from another earring.
The only other backing she could find was from a special pair of earrings her grandmother, Gina, had once given her from one of her international trips. Hesitantly, she slid the back off one of the special earrings, and used it to secure her miraculous after putting it on.
Closing her jewelry box, she grabbed her purse and slung it diagonally over her left shoulder to hang at the right side of her hip. "Okay, I think I'm ready. I only remember how Master Fu's place smells, so I'm not so sure I'll be able to point it out with my human sense of smell," Marinette cracked a bit of a smile, glancing at her kwami.
"I'll help you find it," her kwami reassured her, deciding to take her place in Marinette's purse in the case that she'd come across any overexcited reporters.
After having breakfast with her parents that morning and telling them that she'd re-enroll into her school the next day, Marinette quickly headed off into the streets. She knew Mrs. Chamack technically had her permission to report Ladybug's return to Paris on this day, so more civilians would likely be on the lookout for her in both hero and civilian form.
