Burrow to the Past

Prologue

"Sabine Cheng, I am your daughter, Marinette from the future. I have to give you something very urgently." The dark-black haired woman in front of her looked very distressed, borderline paranoid, with the dark circles under her eyes, messy hair and pale complexion.

Sabine's day had been very normal up to this point. Doing her Tai-Chi routine in the morning she had decided to take a walk in the park from where she could easily get to the meeting place she had set up with Tom for their date this afternoon. They were trying to find Andre's ice cream trolley to eat some of his delicious and fated ice cream. She was nearly giddy to find out what flavors they were going to get this time.

What the girl said was preposterous, Sabine's first reaction was to dismiss it as a distasteful prank, but upon closer inspection she couldn't deny the familiar features of the young woman. Her very same dark black hair, the slight asian features, the little button nose. But there weren't just her own features, they melded with typical european maybe even Tom's features. For one the young woman was taller than her, had slightly darker skin than her and her mannerism did remind her a lot of Tom when he was in a hurry or hadn't slept in a while.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but are you sure, you're okay?", Sabine asked in a gentle tone. She didn't want to scare the young woman.

Marinette sighed. Of course her mother wouldn't just believe her. With a few quick glances she spotted a hiding spot behind a small kiosk, away from the people that passed by. "Would you please come with me, mom? I will answer all the questions I can within the short time frame I have, but please trust me and follow me." She made the best puppy dog eyes she could muster to convince her mother. She hadn't done this in a long time, not since she was a teenager so she wasn't sure how effective they would be.

"Please understand that I can't just trust you," Sabine smiled. "But maybe a question could help with that. When were you born, my supposed child? And to whom?"

Marinette sent a glance to the place, where she had left the burrow. Alix would reopen the portal in seven minutes, so she should be quick. And 'quick' meant she had to gain her mother's trust. "I was - will be born in 2003 on the 9th of July to Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Does that prove to you that I'm not a total fraud?"

Sabine nodded and let herself be dragged behind this strange young woman named Marinette.

"We did a good job giving you your name, Marinette. It's a very beautiful name," Sabine smiled and patted Marinette's hand.

"Yes, so what I wanted to talk to you about." Marinette took a deep breath. "This will sound even stranger than the whole 'I'm your daughter from the future'-thing, but trust me, I am not lying to you." Her hands were playing with a little pale pink purse that was hanging by her side, indicating how nervous she was. "My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, but that isn't the only name I go by nor my single identity. I am also a superhero sworn to protect Paris, known as Ladybug." Her eyes followed her hands and she looked at the purse. To Sabine's surprise she even started talking to it. "Tikki, you can come out now." Maybe this girl really was a bit mentally unstable. Her clothes were tattered and stained. Did she not live a comfortable life?

Sabine shrieked when a little red bug that looked more like a squishy than a real living creature appeared out of the closed bag. Its big blue eyes locked on Sabine and it smiled sweetly.

"Hi," it said with a high pitched but clearly feminine voice. Sabine gasped. This wasn't what she had expected. "My name's Tikki and I'm the kwami of creation. I give Marinette her superpowers and turn her into Ladybug."

"So, please tell me, Tikki, what's a kwami?" Sabine stammered, looking stunned at the kwami. She didn't know what was happening, but she never lost her cool nor her etiquette.