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Marinette toiled away during the day and couldn’t really get her mind settled even after settling into bed. She couldn’t help but think of what Miss Bustier had said to her. She had potential. Not as a baker or a chef, but as a fashion designer. Hearing that from her parents was one thing: she knows they’ll always support her. But, someone like her teacher seeing the great things she could do gave her a boost she had no idea she needed until now.

She hunched over her desk, pen in hand. She was overlooking lots of old designs she had mocked up years ago when she didn’t take her goals as seriously. She’d been creating new patterns, experimenting with stitches, and redesigning the same dresses over and over all night. Her dream was slowly becoming a reality.

She was so preoccupied with her work that she hadn’t even realized she had fallen asleep in the process. Even then, she couldn’t stop thinking of different color swatches and fabrics she could swap out for her more intricate ideas. Not even the sound of her parents footsteps could wake her.

They walked inside and moved as quietly as they could. Théo grabbed a blanket from the edge of Marinette’s bed and draped it over her. He looked down at all the work she’d accomplished in such a short time and smiled. Xia Bing came over to quickly place a kiss upon their daughter’s forehead. She looked up at her husband and breathed out. She knew eventually Marinette would find someplace to work other than with them. “She really is something special.” She gave a bittersweet smile as they turned to leave. He nodded in response. Their daughter was stubborn. There’s no way she’d allow someone to reject her when she knew she could make work like this. He looked at her one last time. “Night, Mari.” He gently closed the door so they wouldn’t wake her. To be great she needed her rest.

●・○ ◈ ○・●

The air was cooler in the dark and still night. Everyone was either tucked in their beds or out late attending to errands, working, or partaking in social events. There were nowhere near enough people out to choose for this mission though who could be picky in a time like this?

A single ladybug flew throughout nearly all of Paris to find just the right person, landing near those it saw as the most compassionate and giving, principals, firefighters, volunteers, and even well known philanthropists, but none of them felt the connection between them. At last the little red bug landed on a windowsill, drawn in from the smell of sweet berries and honey. There it was: that feeling that was missing.

After a few seconds of rest the bug made its way inside the cluttered room. It phased through the glass of the window as if it was nothing but the air around it. This young girl sleeping at her desk didn’t seem promising at first but there had to be a reason why she was chosen for this and not one of the other millions of Paris’ residents.

It landed atop an alarm clock, its bright LED lights read 2:34 am. The bug encased itself into a blinding ball of light, with small dotted earrings quickly taking its place. During this transformation the girl in front of them stirred.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes before glancing at the clock for mere seconds before turning around. She was too tired to notice the magic jewelry that had mysteriously appeared on her desk. All she cared about was getting her sleep.

The bug grew restless, or perhaps it was the earrings themselves that were shaking off their own accord. A soft glow emanated from them as the light formed a being overhead, not exactly the same bug from before. It was bug-like but also humanoid, alien, and otherworldly. This new being hovered over the accessory before floating over to the girl’s face. Its antennae hung upside down and its large eyes shone with anticipation. They had met a possible new holder, though under unfortunate circumstances.

The little bug-like creature cleared its throat and spoke sweetly, not wanting to startle the human. “Hello? Could you wake up for me? It’s very important.”

The woman grumbled and pulled the blanket on her back up to her neck in an attempt to get comfortable. This strange voice was ruining her dream. She still had a few more hours until they started another work day.

The creature huffed. It had just met the perfect person and they weren’t going to let that opportunity go to waste. It buzzed as it flew even closer to the human’s ears in an attempt to annoy her awake and when that didn’t work it grabbed hold of a heft of her hair and yanked. The girl yelped and quickly covered her mouth.

“Oh, great! Now we can talk!” The being clapped their claws together.

While whatever this thing was appeared completely overjoyed, Marinette wasn’t at all happy with being woken up out of her sleep, but that’d have to wait. She had a giant talking red cockroach flying in her room!

Seeing something like this surprised her so much it sent her falling backwards. She was somewhat thankful her parents had gotten used to her late night falls. She waited until the initial shock wore off before lowering her hand. “Um, hello… weird alien thing…”

“Oh actually my name is Tikki, Kwami of Creation!”

She looked up at the strange thing and blinked. Maybe she hit her head one too many times. Now she was hallucinating magic creatures! Maybe if she just went along with it it’d go away faster. “Oh, a kwami? That sounds um- cool!”

Tikki could tell she was a bit concerned so she flew over and grabbed the earrings to show her. She flew even closer until she was practically right in front of Marinette’s face. “I empower these earrings. They give you powers.”

“Uh-huh…” She nodded, still unsure until Tikki handed them over to her. She could feel them. They were smooth and even the edge of it hurt if she pressed it too hard into her hand. This was real. It took her a second to process what was really going on. “What kind of powers, like- bug related stuff or do I get to choose…?”

Tikki shook her bobble-like head. They were glad she wasn’t going head first into the whole superhero aspect. It was refreshing to have such a cautious holder for once. “Unfortunately no, but you do get to choose your appearance! None of this will come naturally to you but I know you’ll handle it.”

“I don’t know… I’m such a clutz. I couldn’t even walk down the stairs without falling today!”

Tikki laughed. A weird chittering noise followed as her mandibles clicked against her mouth. “Don’t worry, there have been much clumsier holders and they all managed to do their duty in the end.”

“My duty?” Marinette asked. It was a stupid question. Why else would a strange magic bug hand her magic jewelry to become a superhero.

“Yes, unfortunately we’ve felt a disturbance in the universe. In order to-”

“We? You mean there’s other things-” She paused. That was probably offensive. “Sorry- Kwamis like you out there?”

Tikki nodded. “Yes. With creation there’s destruction, your partner, and lots of others that help keep everything you humans do in balance.”

Marinette sighed. She did always want to help out others in her life. She usually imagined the designing the perfect designer apron would be her magnum opus, but being a superhero wasn’t that bad. Could help her out- somehow.

“Okay, I’ll do it.” She shrugged and put on the earrings. The dots on the earrings quickly disappeared and the scarlet color faded away into silver. She didn’t expect this to be a full time thing. There’s no need for superheroes in Paris. If a supervillain did exist, they certainly weren’t anywhere around here.

The little bug creature squealed with joy as it fluttered around her head. This was going to be such a wonderful experience for the two of them! She always loved to help out new heroes. She was going to make Marinette the best she could be. She’d never failed to protect the world before and she didn’t plan on letting anything bad happen to it anytime soon.