When I Knew You

Chapter One: New Beginnings

It's time, Marinette thought to herself, it's time to get over Adrien Agreste; After Master Fu passed on the miraculous box to her, there was no time to be thinking about Adrien, especially since he was in love with her good friend Kagami.

"Oh Tikki, I don't know what to do," Marinette sighed to her red kwami as she buried her face in her hands, "all this pressure of being the new guardian, it's just... it's just so... ugh!"

"It's okay Marinette," Tikki said reassuringly, "Master Fu trusted you for a reason, I'm sure you will be a great guardian."

"You're right," Marinette nodded determinedly, "I need to believe in myself."

"That's the spirit," Tikki giggled as she nuzzled her face to Marinette's cheek

"Thanks Tikki," Marinette smiled giving the small kwami a peck on the forehead, "you're really the only one I can share everything with."

Marinette decided to take down all her photos of her beloved Adrien Agreste, the handsome teen supermodel/classmate she was crushing on over the past year. After all, I will only be just a friend, she thought to herself sadly.

It helped that she had several extra-curricular activities outside of school, like designing for her friends' band "Kitty Section" and had a great group of friends to support her as she got her mind off Adrien. However, it was difficult to hang out with them and keep her alter ego a secret. She had nobody to share her insecurities with except Tikki, who was helpful but she often wished she had a human friend she could talk to.

Additionally, Hawkmoth's powers were becoming more and more powerful. Marinette wasn't sure what happened but with such threats and becoming the new guardian, she no longer had time to think about boys.

*****

Adrien slumped his shoulders as he walked into the locker room after fencing practice. He felt horrible, as he couldn't let go of his feelings for Ladybug, yet he was stringing Kagami along. After all, his beloved Ladybug was the one to push them together saying they were "people in love."

He had tried so hard to forget about his lady and even renounced his miraculous and beloved, yet stinky cheese-loving kwami Plagg, when they were in New York. However, with ladybugs convincing, he decided to become Chat Noir again and continue fighting by her side.

Not to mention, he couldn't help but wonder why he felt so comfortable and happy around his friend Marinette. Sure, she was always stuttering around him, but why did he feel a sense of familiarity whenever she was around? And why did he feel a sense of pain in his heart whenever he saw her with Luka? After all, she was just a friend right? (You dense little sunshine boy smh)

"What's wrong," Kagami asked as she came into the locker room looking at the defeated blonde slumping down on the bench. "You're getting too easy to defeat these days, it's not as rewarding as it used to be."

"I'm sorry, Kagami," Adrien sighed, "I've been thinking a lot and... well..." he tried to come up with the words but couldn't seem to break it to her.

Kagami stared at him but looked away, she liked Adrien a lot, and knew he wasn't 100 percent open with her whenever they were together. But she wasn't ready to give up just yet, they were great together, their parents approved of the relationship, and well they had so much in common.

"Shh..." she shushed putting a finger to his lip, "let's hurry up and go home, our parents are waiting for us.

Plagg grumbled from inside Adrien's locker, he hated to see his beloved kitten suffering in this unhappy relationship with this girl he thought he liked. As painful as it was to watch, Plagg knew he had to keep his mouth shut and watch the poor soul suffer from what he thought was unrequited love. They can't know each others' identities, not yet anyways it's too dangerous.

"Alright," Adrien sighed, knowing once again he was unable to bring himself to "break-up" with Kagami. They hadn't really made it official or anything, but with all the business events they had been attending, and casual meet-ups, it was almost as if they were a couple.

Adrien and Kagami made their way into the limo as his bodyguard drove them back to the Agreste mansion for another business dinner between the two families.

*****

"We must thank Nathalie for retrieving the spellbook" Gabriel said with a wicked smile as he spoke to his unconscious wife lying in the glass coffin underneath the Agreste Mansion. "Now I am much closer to defeating Ladybug and Chat Noir!"

Ever since his assistant Nathalie had gotten a hold of the decoded spellbook, he was finally able to fix the peacock miraculous and merge them together. Now, he was able to more and more powerful, even without the help of his loyal assistant Mayura.

Nooroo sighed silently as he knew his master was becoming more and more corrupted as he continued to use the butterfly miraculous for evil instead of good. He secretly hoped that Ladybug and Chat Noir would be able to defeat Hawk Moth soon so he could reunite with his kwami friends.

"Sir, your son Adrien has arrived with Miss Tsurugi," Gabriel turned around to see Nathalie behind him.

"Very well," he nodded slightly, before turning his back to her "I'll be there shortly."

Nathalie nodded adjusting her glasses before heading back to the main level of the mansion. Like Nooroo, she could see that Gabriel was becoming more and more obsessed with retrieving the two miraculous. It seemed like he no longer wanted them just to save his wife, but also to receive ultimate power. She could sense how corrupted he had become over the past year and worried about him. However, she loved him too much to let him give up. She knew how precious Emilie was to him and Adrien, how precious Emile was to her.

Hey guys! What do you think of my first chapter? It's been a while since I've written anything but I hope to just improve. Let me know what you think!