Crimson

Growing up

She never complained.

Marinette never complained.

She was in a family full of supers (minus her mother.) And she wasn't one.

She understood why she didn't get as much attention. The boys had powers to control. They went out with their dad on missions. They could get hurt.

She was normal. No matter how hard she tried in school, always top grades, always creating. Her younger brother Jon held priority.

She was getting tired.

When she had first met the Wayne family, she was skeptical. They weren't hard to see through, even Bruce was quite thin with his 'Brucie' smile. It didn't take her long with knowing her father's identity to figure out the true nature of the family.

She didn't really care. All heroes did was fight. What about everyone hurting? Everyone who barely had anything to live off because a fight had destroyed their apartment? It wasn't fair. Of course that may have been just her being angry that she couldn't help. She hated being useless.

She finally thought she could help when Damien and Bruce offered to train her.

She learned quickly, worked hard, was smart to find advantages, it wasn't long until she was on par with the rest of the batfamily the rest of the Wayne's becoming rather fond of her too as she was about so much.

Still wasn't enough for her Dad though.

She didn't feel unloved. Clark, Lois, her older brother Konner, little brother Jon (by 3 minutes but she held onto it) they did love her, hugged her, Jon always gravitated towards her, they never actively ignored her. She just never felt in place, was often sort of forgotten. Even her mother, not a Kryptonian, fit in better than she did.

Konner and Jon both got Kryptonian names. Jon-El Kon-El. She never did. She wasn't Kryptonian.

Her only real friend was Damien. The only person she felt she could talk to and be herself. She could let her need to be good enough fall with him.

They called each other a lot. Almost every day. No matter how deep his scowl was he could always put a smile on her face.

But no matter what she did, she always felt unwanted in her own home.

She couldn't bring herself to hate her family for it. She was just tired of doing everything she could to try and impress them but always coming up short and she would look over to Jon lifting a car and getting a proud hug from Clark and her heart would break a little.

She didn't think they even realised they were doing it.

She was twelve, talking to Damien in the batcave after a few spars of which they had tied.

Damien frowned deeper than normal, pausing their light-hearted conversation. "Ke- Marinette...? Are you unhappy with your current family?" She looked down at her.

She froze. Then her shoulders sagged. "I just want to make them proud..."

Damien awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't worth it. You are working yourself raw. They are not worth it. I think you should leave."

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to put into her head.

Because the worst part was she was seriously considering it.

Damien wasn't the most reliable source of ideas when it came to ... Well.... Life. He was still quite affected by how the league raised him. In his mind, it probably seemed for the best. He saw it as the Kents were holding her back and making her upset. Even if unknowingly. He believed it was best to cut weaknesses.

"I don't think I could..."

Damien hummed. "I could help you. Give you an alias. What languages do you know?"

"I'm almost fluent in all the ones they teach at school... Spanish, Mandarin... French and German. Oh and Latin but that won't help much" she muttered, pros of being an overachiever.

Wasn't a bad amount considering she had only been learning through public education. Damien thought.

"Father knows some people in Paris. They own a bakery. They have catered for us before. I'm sure if we bent the truth a little, they would take you in. They seemed adequate." He hummed.

Marinette looked at him for a moment. She bit her lip. Was it bad that she wanted to go? Was it betraying her family?

"Marinette... You deserve to be seen." He said softly, softer than anyone would have thought possible from him. "You are an enigma that I cannot figure out. You are a... Good fighter. You're extremely intelligent and more creative than anyone. It is about time that got recognised. We don't have to tell anyone where you're going. I still have your number. What do you say?"

She choked out a sob. Tears streaming from her face. She felt so guilty. But... "I want to go."

Damien gently pat her back. "Then go you shall."

..~~..

A few days later, Clark walked in on Lois crying in Marinette's bed, clutching a piece of paper close to her chest.

"Lois? What happened?"

"Our baby... She's... She's" she could barely speak through ragged breathing. She shoved the note into his hand.

Clark slowly opened it.

'I'm leaving. I love you. But I want to be more. No longer yours truly, Marinette.' with a Kent crossed out next to it.

Clark's breath hitched. He didn't understand. What had they done wrong?

"Our baby's gone Clark! Our daughter!"

He dropped the note, sitting on the bed next to his wife, "W-we need to find her! I'll use my hearing! We'll fly until we find her!" He rushed to say.

"Clark... She ran... She doesn't want to be found by us."

"Dad?" Jon said quietly from the doorway. "Where's Mari?"

It set Lois off again. She ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry Jon" she choked out.

Clark sat still on the bed, he looked sick, just staring blankly at the wall. He listened for her heartbeat, the one he had memorised the ever so slightly unique rhythm of. It felt so far away. She actually left...

Konner's reaction was one of the worst. He'd started trying to fight Clark. "This is all your fault! Just because she had no powers she was nothing to you!" He screamed.

"That's not true!" Clark snapped back.

"Like hell! You're dead to me dad! You lost me my baby sister!" He screamed, slamming the door on his way out.

..~~..

Damien had turned out to be right. She was now Marinette Dupain-cheng. She was much happier than she had ever been. It had only been a few days and she felt lighter. The dupain-cheng's were great, treated her like their own.

She called Damien daily. She had blocked and deleted almost all other numbers in her phone. She kept Alfred's and Damien's but that was it.

She had actually managed to make friends.

She was happy... But at what cost?