Until We Meet Again - A Miraculous Ladybug AU

Chapter 1: Him

"Marinette!" Alya calls. 

And here I am. Not doing a thing. Just on my bed. My face to the wall. My knees curled up to my chest. 

Miserable. 

"Marinette." an unfamiliar voice calls. 

Shocked, I turn around. 

"It's you-" 

My vision turns blurry and comes back into focus.

"Marinette?" Alya's voice returns. 

"Oh, hey, Alya." I mumble, turning around. 

Alya walks around the room, picking up books and cleaning up the space. Even my lamp is turned off. 

"Mari," Alya sits down behind me, "he's been gone a long time. And I mean a long time. He's not coming back. I'm sorry. I truly am." 

Looking at me, she sighs and then stands up. 

"I'm here if you need me, okay? We should talk about this." she reminds me, then ruffles my hair. 

"Let's get some macarons and then head out. Sound good?" she asks me. 

Sometimes Alya isn't my best friend. Sometimes she's my sister. Or my mother. Or a whiny little brother. She's been all the parts of my family. 

Climbing down from the bed, I groan as I open the trapdoor. 

The room underneath mine is... well, chaos. 

"Mylene! Where the heck are my rubber shoes!" Alix groans. 

"I'm not sure! Maybe they're underneath the bed?" Mylene shrugs. 

"Sabrina! Get my makeup!" Chloe, the snobby, irritating, sad excuse for a fairy demands. 

"I'm hurrying, Chloe!" Sabrina pants, already late for the day. Pulling on the other shoe, she smiles and waves at me, then follows Chloe. 

"Juleka, please, your hair looks fine," Rose reassures her best friend, who shakes her head in exasperation. 

"Let's all try to calm down!" Zoe suggests shyly. The entire room is quiet for one minute before the chaos resumes. To be honest, this room could be expanded. But none of us would want to use up our energy just to have a bigger space. 

Chloe looks at Zoe for a minute, contemplating staying with her makeup or going over to her sister. 

She chooses her sister. 

At least Chloe has a heart. Not a very good one, but... 

Alya pushes me out the door. 

"See you girls later!"

"Oof, Alya!" I land on my stomach, my hands scratched and my palms nearly torn open. 

"Mari!" all the girls cry. Some of us may be rivals, but at least we're sisters. 

"Thanks, girls, but it's fine." 

"Nonsense, Mari. Sana!" Rose casts a spell, but gets hit with a dizzy spell instead. 

"Rose! We should all be saving our strength. Don't you remember what happened when-" 

"the rest of fairykind used their magic up! We know!" Zoe giggled, touching my shoulder. 

"You just be careful. You're the clumsy one." Chloe mutters. 

"Thanks, I guess." I mumble. 

The rest of the girls head back inside. Alix is still grumbling about her rubber shoes. And her baseball cap. All of which went missing at least five hours ago.