Crimson

To heal hurts first.

Marinette and her permanent team of miraculous holders were slowly but surely getting stronger. Everyone worked hard to get better.

No one really paid any mind to the fact that Marinette was much stronger than all of them. It was a given as she was the one training them that she would be strong right?

The class had split on two at school. But it wasn't waring sides, they just tended to leave each other alone.

Marinette was considering taking legal action against the lier though, she'd lied about her clients rather a lot and her birth parents.

She decided to let it be for a little while longer, she couldn't sue without solid evidence.

As for Hawkmoth, she couldn't make much progress no matter what she did. Damien had began helping as well and they had suspects, but too many to narrow down. She was still quite certain Gabriel Agreste was a lead but she was reluctant to press further because it was her partner's father. She couldn't investigate without a hint of concrete evidence...

Then, her team had managed to find out her less than human nature. Solely because she turned up to a training session after a cure had been cast, still bleeding from the side.

"Red... Your suit is redder than usual." Viperion pointed out.

Marinette looked down and saw as such, she hadn't detransformed since the fight so the suit wasn't remade either.

No one needed to detransform anymore they were all old enough to unlock their adult evolution.

Marinette groaned "dammit..." She said quietly.

"Dear Leader, would you mind explaining why you're BLEEDING BADLY FROM A STAB WOUND?!" Queen Bee had screamed.

She shifted nervously. "The cure doesn't affect me... Neither does the suits indestructibility..."

Adrien stared at her in shock. They had all seen the amount of life-threatening injuries Crimson had experienced. To know that none were healed with the cure was horrifying.

Adrien punched her, hard. "Why the hell wouldn't you tell us!?"

She was surprised it didn't hurt that much. Crimson looked anywhere but at her teammates. "Because the reason reveals too much about me..."

"We know your identity dudette, what else is there to know? You dad an assassin or something?" Nino crossed his arms.

She flushed "what?! N-no!" Her best friend used to be but that wasn't the point.

"Then what is it?" Kim asked.

"I'm... Not human. Not completely..." She admitted timidly.

It was silent except for the occasional car horn for what felt like forever.

Finally, Nathaniel spoke up. "What are you?"

She took a deep breath. "I'm... Half Kryptonian. I think..."

"You think?" Marc blinked.

"How can you only just think you're a half alien?" Chloe crossed her arms.

"W-well it's a long story!" Marinette rushed to say.

"And this gives you a vulnerability to magic?" Max asked. "So the cure doesn't affect you!" He said in understanding.

She nodded silently in response.

Adrien stared at her. "You related to superman?"

She stiffened but said nothing.

"Oh my gosh that's so cool!" Kim grinned. "Can you lift up a building? Shoot lazers?! Freeze lakes with your breath?! Oo! The flying thing you do? Is that part of it?!" Kim rambled, excitedly bouncing around her.

"No! I can't! I'm the failure of the family why do you think I'm not with them anymore!?" She shoved him away from her and turned her back on them. She clenched her fists and tried to use the breathing techniques Damien had taught her to calm down.

"You a failure? What kind of twisted universe is this?" Nino scoffed. "Plus that flight thing is definitely a part of it. Aaand you are hella strong."

Marinette shook her head and said nothing in response.

Adrien signalled to the group to go back to sparring with each other. She was his partner and his responsibility and he took his role in pride. He went to stand next to her. "Why did you actually leave?"

Her shoulders sagged in defeat, she would end up telling them either way. "I didn't develop any sort of power until I was already in Paris.... My brother, Superboy... Got his when he was seven. My oldest brother, the original Superboy, while... He was technically a clone and born at 12 I think? I'm not sure... Anyway, he had powers straight away."

"Just because you didn't get powers doesn't mean you're a failure." He said softly.

"Why do you think I try so hard in school?"

"Because... You like to learn?" Adrien tilted his head, his ear flipping down.

"Because I thought I could impress them." She smiled sadly. "It wasn't enough. My twin was lifting trucks at nine years old... How could an average girl compare to that?"

"You are far from average Crimson" he nudged her playfully.

"You say that now... But growing up in a family of supers I was lesss than average... Even though mum didn't have powers either, dad loved her first. Always made time for her and when my twin was learning to use powers and would fall.... Even with invulnerability, both of them would rush over. If I wanted to show them a drawing or my new A star on a paper... They'd glance at it.... My brother would do something amazing and they'd forget whatever I did..." She leaned forward onto the railing in front of her. "Worst part was I couldn't bring myself to hate them for it... Both my brothers were more impressive... They deserved the attention."

Adrien listened curiously, it helped him understand why she had stuck by him so much. To some extent, she knew what he was experiencing. Perhaps not on the same level but still had an idea.

"The bats trained me... I thought then dad would at least let me help on missions... I mean I could easily compete with the bats if put against them and they went into the field all the time... But it still wasn't enough. It was never enough." She breathed slowly.

Adrien held her hand, shuffling a little closer and shivered slightly when he got close, the air around her was so cold.

"Robin convinced me I was better off without them... Going somewhere I could be seen." She smiled, a fond expression on her face when thinking of Damien. "He was right. I'm happier now than I ever have been."

Adrien smiled and shivered again, the air getting colder. He eyed her carefully and picked up a water bottle that Nino had brought. "Sorry to intercect... But could you blow on this?"

Marinette blinked in confusion. "Okay?" She did as she was asked and

The water started to crystallize into ice, a faint crackling sound barely loud enough to hear.

Marinette stared in awe.

Adrien stared back at her. "You have ice breath!"

She tested her breath against her hand, it was back to normal. She wasn't sure she could do it again, she'd have to test at home.

Adrien hugged her. "We'll be okay buginette. Promise."

Not even two days after her revealing her heritage, she got a call on her bug-phone.

"This is the justice League headquarters. Batman speaking. It has come to our attention that your city is in danger. We request that you and your team allow us to meet you at the Eiffel tower in three days time. We would like to offer assistance."

Only one person could have told him.

Damn you Damien.