How Did We Get Into This Mess - KOTLC Oneshots

The Chosen One

( She said where'd you wanna go? How much you wanna risk? Cuz I don't see myself as somebody on that list. )

Sophie loved living in France. Her adoptive parents had wanted to move back by their family, and it was a fresh start. The perfect scenario for a loner with no friends. Especially since she already knew the language.

"Maman, the ripplefluffs are ready," she called, grabbing a sugarknot for breakfast. It was the Ruewen version of a croissant- a flakey pastry filled with an impossibly rich brown-sugar custard.

"Box twenty of them for your classmates," Edaline called down sweetly. It was Sophie's first day of school at Collège Françoise Dupont, or Françoise Dupont Middle School in english. There were so many small adjustments here, and this was only one of them.

"Thank you!" 

Sophie swung on her backpack, quickly arranging the treats before kissing her adoptive parents on the cheek as she raced out. The school was close enough to walk to, and she was determined not to be late.

It was an odd choice, to others, Sophie going into eighth grade when she could very well be placed as a high school senior. She wanted to be with students her age, and the curriculum didn't matter to her. If she got bored, she would just look for differences in french teaching versus american.

Waiting at a crosswalk, she shifted her weight from one foot to another. An wrinkled old man with a protruding stomach starts to cross the street, leaning heavily on his cane.

A car whizzes closer, and Sophie sprinted forward, dragging him across to to other side of the street. She gasped, shoulders heaving. 

"Thank you, miss," the man gushed. "Oh, what a disaster!"

"Don't worry," she choked out, eyes widening as passerby stepped on the ripplefluffs that had fallen from the box, offering him one of the two that remained. "I'm no stranger to disaster. Besides, there are still a few left."

He unwraps one, popping one in his mouth with a blissful sigh.

"They're delicious."

The warning bell rings, and Sophie curses under her breath.

"I'm going to be late! Erm, have a nice day, sir!"

Running down the pavement and up the stairs of the school seemed like a blur, relief only came when Sophie was safely seated.

The whole atmosphere changed when one girl walked in.

Grumbles erupted in the class, eyes rolling at her entrance. This girl was the most gorgeous person Sophie had ever seen. Teal eyes framed with long eyelashes, her chocolate brown hair cascaded down her shoulders. 

But she was glaring directly at Sophie. So much for the fresh start.

"That's my seat."

"Pardon me?"

"Her bitchiness Biana said it was her seat," a short blonde explained, deadpan. "The boy she's obsessed with is switching to our Collège today, and she's desperate to act on her sad little one-sided crush."

An angry flush rose to Biana's cheeks, and she pursed her caramel-glossed lips in frustration.

"Keefe is going to sit over here, so I need it to be my seat," she forced out, gritting her teeth. "It would be much appreciated if you moved."

"And why should she," the blonde demanded. "She has no reason to."

"Oh, go back to the animals, Marella," Biana spat. "You know, the zoo trash your dad loves more than you?"

Low blow. Sophie had clearly stepped into some rivalry, and she was way out of her depth.

"I'm just gonna move, if that's okay with you guys," Sophie said hesitantly, gathering her things to sit by Marella. She released a deep breath.

"Whatever."

"Thank you."

But through the rest of the day, Keefe didn't arrive. A Tam, Linh, Dex, Maruca, Ivan, Kim, Nino, Alix, Nathaniel, Mylène, and Juleka made up the rest of the class. Nobody in particular stood out to Sophie- maybe Dex, with the robot he built himself, or Tam, with their journal filled with scribbled pages.

What was really interesting was the news broadcast of a hulked-up stone monster with Ivan's voice that shut down school. He had been sent to the principal's office that day, and nobody had seen him since.

"Ugh, I hate first days," Sophie moaned, plopping face-down on her bed. She rolled over to toss her backpack into her chair. 

A hexagonal dark oak wood ring box sat on her desk, shimmering red ink carving a design on the top.

It definitely hadn't been there that morning.

"Papa," she yelled, unsure. "Did you leave anything in my room?"

"Me and your Maman have been too busy with the lunch rush," he shouted back, cementing Sophie's suspicions. Someone had snuck into her room, and left something there. 

Climbing down from her loft, she opened it, jumping back and bracing herself for some sort of explosion. And she was right, in a way. A red glow flashed, some sort of bug flying out.

"What are you," Sophie asked shrilly. "Some kind of flying bug turtle without a shell?" She held a textbook menacingly above her head.

"I'm Tikki, the kwami of creation," the creature said, beaming.

"You can talk?!?!?"

"Well, you asked," Tikki shrugged.

Sophie started to hyperventilate, backing up and shaking.

"Oh, it's ok! I'm your friend, Sophie. You have to trust me. You're the only one who can stop Stoneheart."

She lowered the textbook, breaths slowing. She chose to ignore the fact this 'kwami' knew her name for a moment.

"You have the wrong person. I can't even stick up for myself, let alone all of Paris."

"You are Sophie, are you not?"

"It doesn't matter! Just go to my friend, Marella- at least I think she's my friend. She's great at this kind of stuff."

"But you're the chosen one."

"Go find Harry Potter then, because I don't wanna be the subject of some tired trope."

The kwami looked down, abashed.

"I can't do that. You're my holder. You are to be the hero of Paris."

". . . okay."

( *Cue age regression* Miraculous! Simply the best! Up to the test when things go wrong- yeah, I know it's a kids show. Got a problem with that? You can take it up with the manager, Karen. Which is me. Technically. )