Adrien was twenty years old when he first became Chat Noir and met Ladybug. Four years later, amidst the toughest time of his college career, he meets Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
A College/Reverse Crush AU exploring what would happen if Marinette was fo...
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Helpless.
A whole five seconds of feeling that way was all it took. A few seconds of seeing Alya struggling, her parent's desperation to help her, to Chat Noir crying out as he tried to escape Ivan's grasp, and Marinette had made her decision.
The weight of her choice propelled her whole body forward as she dived underneath the debris, to the miraculous. To her miraculous.
She couldn't stand by and let innocent people suffer. Despite any bad blood between them, she couldn't let Chat Noir face this alone. Finally, she understood all that she could do. Finally, she knew who she was meant to become. What she was meant to be.
I can't do this without you.
His words rang in her ears as she stretched her arm out, grunting in pain as she propelled herself just a bit further, just a little bit more. She was too weak in this state, the cut under her fringe reminded her of that. She needed Tikki.
Never in her life had she wished she was a 2d character more than this moment, able to bend at will. She inched further under the debris, praying it wouldn't collapse on top of her. Every centimeter she moved made the metal and plastic above her groan and crunch. Still her bag was out of reach.
"Come on," she grunted, partly to psyche herself up but mostly as a plea to some higher miraculous-giving power. Her fingers scraped against the cobblestones, almost there but not quite.
The debris above her shifted again and Marinette froze, holding her breath. If it collapsed, she'd be trapped. Or worse.
When nothing more happened, she closed her eyes, scrunched up her face, and decided to risk it all.
She threw herself to the side, her fingers finally touching the cloth of her purse. With a quick turn of her ankles, she awkwardly pushed herself towards the gap she'd crawled through before.
Just in time for the debris to start collapsing as she feared.
With a yelp, she pushed off of the ground with all her might. She had to make it. She had to.
The debris came down.
But she'd made it through! She'd got out! Sure, she was far more worse for wear than before, and had gained more scratches, particularly on her legs, but she'd done it! She'd gotten her bag back!
Pulling herself to her knees, Marinette wrenched open her purse. There was no time to recover from almost being crushed to death, no time to assess any potential injuries. Her loved ones needed her. The city needed her. Chat needed her.
And she needed Tikki.
Like the first time she opened the box, Tikki appeared in a beautiful burst of pink light. This time, however, Marinette was prepared. This time, she was ready.
"I knew you'd change your mind!" Tikki beamed at her. Although Marinette didn't smile back, she did feel warmth spread through her- a kind of instinct telling her that as long as she had Tikki's encouragement, there was nothing she couldn't achieve. She placed the box down on the ground and removed the earrings.
