Clair de Lune: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

01 ⇢ prologue

PARIS, FRANCE
JUNE

It was on a weekend trip into Paris to see Jagged Stone in concert when Marinette Dupain-Cheng's life was changed entirely. How was she meant to know that helping an old man cross the street would burden her with being a teen hero for the foreseeable future?

"I must be hallucinating."

The young girl stood in the cleanest porta potty she could find on short notice, eyes wide from the sight in front of her. She could swear that her entire body was shaking from her nerves, although the sonic waves from the heavy bass in Jagged's set could have very well been a prime contributor to these tremors as well.

"No, Marinette! This is very real and serious! He wouldn't have put you in charge if you couldn't handle it!"

Tikki, her 'kwami,' who had known her for ten minutes maximum, was already convinced that she was some godly person, a real-life Atlas that could balance the entire world on her shoulders.

Could that be true? Possibly. However, it wasn't up to the new hero, because some man Tikki referred to as her 'Master' already decided for her. Marinette made the executive decision to be a little more wary with helping strangers from now on.

In Marinette's eyes, she could barely handle going into her final year of lycée. Protecting Paris on top of that, with a thirty minute commute to the city from her home in Sèvres? Impossible.

"That master man must have thought that I'm a Parisian teenager..." Marinette panicked. Although she was honored to be chosen for such a serious task, protecting the city of Paris is difficult from the suburbs of it. "I'm flattered, but I really can't make the trip whenever there is trouble!"

Tikki floated closer to Marinette, taking her face between her cute little arms. The girl didn't know whether to be terrified, or to just give in to the magical creature.

From what Tikki had graciously explained to her about kwamis, the young girl had just gained a new best friend and life partner. The bind between a miraculous holder and their kwami seemed like a marriage of some sorts, a special paring between those that are meant to be together.

"If there is anything I've learned from the Ladybugs before you," Tikki said, attempting to impart some words of wisdom on to the young girl, "It is that Ladybug always finds a solution."

Marinette couldn't deny that she loved to problem solve. Although she'd never been able to take her own advice, her favorite pastime was being a dutiful makeshift therapist to her friends.

"Find a solution..." Marinette mumbled, as if she was racking her brain for the perfect plan.

And then it hit her.

She quickly exited the makeshift bathroom, giving Tikki a comfortable hiding spot in her purse.

☆♬○♩●♪✧♩ ♩✧♪●♩○♬☆

SÈVRES, FRANCE
AUGUST

Marinette held the envelope in her hands daintily, as if being too rough with it would cause it to fall apart, all of her hard work smashed to smithereens.

It had taken two full weeks of groveling for her parents to finally break down and allow her to apply, even if the boarding school was so close to home.