Crimson

Comfortable

It had been 5 years since Hawkmoth appeared.

Marinette told Damien about the Crimson mantle. She didn't keep any secrets from him. He'd helped her through controlling her emotions.

She hated the Justice League. Guy Gardener. The infuriating glow stick dismissed her quickly. Screw him. She knew she could easily call her father for help but she refused. Kara knew, but Marinette had begged her to stay away from Paris. She couldn't bare fighting her if she got emotional.

Then there was the matter of her flying. She'd tried it out a few times in her room. After a few months she could finally control it. No other powers had surfaced she couldn't help but be greatful. It wasn't like she had any other Kryptonians to help guide her. If lasers started flying out her eyes she wasn't sure what she would do with herself.

When she used her flight as Crimson, she passed it on as an add on from the ladybug miraculous.

Chat noir was making good progress, he wasn't the fastest learner. He was impatient, he wanted to advance too quickly but they were getting better slowly.

School life was odd but comfortable for the most part. She had friends.

Chloe and her, to everyone else seemed like mortal enemies but in truth the both had high levels of respect for each other. She was fairly certain Chloe knew that Tom and Sabine were not her parents but she never mentioned it.

When her best friend mentioned that she idolised daily planet reporter's Lois and Clark Kent, she had to suppress the urge to scream. She was nice enough but was a little too headstrong. It made her too impulsive but Marinette tried to ignore it.

Adrien and her became rather close quickly. She felt bad for the boy, his living situation was awful and he couldn't run away as easily as she did. Every moment he was free, he was with her because he could tell she knew him on a deeper level. They were comfortable around each other. Like brother and sister.

Nino, Alix and Kim were interesting charecters, when she moved there, they quickly had adopted her into their group, somewhat acting as her older brothersand sister. It did make her miss her actual brothers.

Nathaniel and Marc she gravitated towards a lot. They were quiet and calming.

Kagami was a bit of a chance. Their friendship started weirdly, she seemed to think she liked Adrien. She did not. However, once they had sparred once and Marinette had won, it earned the girls respect and her mother's apparently.

The band, kitty section, she wasn't quite sure how she became a part of them in all honesty. But her designing took off. Luka, she knew he liked her but she never saw him as anything more than a friend and he was great about it.

After designing for Jagged as well her career took off. She soon became one of the most successful designers on the continent as Miraculous designs. She would have used her initials but the internal conflict of weather or not to add a 'K' became too much.

Overall her class loved her. She had never been happier.

As Crimson, she had managed to recruit her most trusted friends as heroes. Luka, Chloe, Marc, Kagami, Nathaniel, Nino, Kim, Alix and Max. Alya.... While she trusted her, she couldn't trust her enough to keep a secret. The girl spouted all information in her head. She was too eager to share everything.

Then everything changed all at once. First came Miss Lila Rossi.

The kind of girl that Lois used to warn her about.

Lier with every breath.

Marinette did as she was taught, she stayed away from her, subtly laying out seeds of doubt.

Unfortunately the lier realised what she was doing and didn't take kindly to.

With annoying amount of success, she got her expelled. Things weren't quite the same once she had wriggled her way back into the school.

Alya clung to the new girl with every fibre of her being.

So she moved to sit at the back, it wasn't too bad.

Turned out that she chose her heroes correctly though. They were the ones that stood by her. She knew Adrien was on her side too but had a bad feeling his father was putting pressure on him to stay on Rossi's good side.

No one was actively mean to her on Lila's side. Mainly dissapointed but in her opinion, this was still better than life in metropolis. At least she had people on her side.

Then there was the matter of being given the responsibility of 19 little Gods. Again... A curve ball she didn't expect. Especially considering she was vulnerable to magic.

As Crimson, she got injured more and more often, the cure ineffective on her again due to her magic weakness but she healed quickly. Apparently something about being a good match for guardianship and the ladybug miraculous meant that she got a few perks as a civilian.

Since she finally had full control of her team she allowed identity reveals. None of which surprised her but the others were surprised to know they all knew each other.

Adrien had stuck to Marinette's side like glue whenever they were away from prying eyes. Marinette slowly began to reveal more of the truth about her past.

Kara always checked in, making sure she was okay and on her birthday, she would fly over and drop off a handful of cards and gifts. Not that she'd ever opened any of them except the ones she knew were from the batboys or Kara.

Every time she talked to Damien she grew a little more homesick. She didn't know if it was her family she missed or the boy on call. When she turned up on their daily call, bleeding from her head and looking white as a ghost, Damien was not happy.

"Angel, what happened?" He scowled.

"Just a rough akuma..." She said weakly. "Stupid vague Kryptonian weaknesses mean I don't get healed by my own cure."

"You look on the verge of death and we cannot allow that. Get your parents to patch you up." Damien said firmly.

"No they c-can't know. I'll go to Chloe's, I heal quickly I'll be fine."

Damien scowled "Do you promise?"

"I promise. Would it make you feel better if I called you back as soon as my wound is dressed?" She said softly.

Damien's glare weakened slightly and his features softened. "Yes it would. Thank you."

That was when Damien went against his promise to keep the league away from Paris.

Without telling her.