Duty to protect

So much

"Is there not meant to be a guardian of the miraculi?" Marinette asked Plagg while playing around with some thread and fabric. When Tom and Sabine took the time to teach her to knit, she wasn't expecting the hobby to turn into something she genuinely enjoyed. She took up designing and sewing and it was thanks to them.

"There anything you don't know about the miraculous?" Plagg groaned.

"I did a lot of reading. It was one of the organisations that intrigued me the most." Marinette hummed.

"There's no use resisting taking you to him is there?"

"None at all" Marinette smirked.

It wasn't long later that she found herself in front of a short man in Hawaiian shirt. Fu his name was.

Her first question came quickly. "What happened to the order?"

"How do you know about that?!" Fu straightened.

She narrowed her eyes at the type of reaction. She watched his fidgety body language and drew her conclusion. "I see. You caused it."

After a bit more prodding, Fu spilled everything.

He wasn't what she read about at all. The guardians she knew were all powerful warriors. Not what she saw as a rather cowardly man, not very trained at all.

The more he spoke the more offput Marinette was. If she were to tell him about her heritage, she doubted he would know who the League of Shadows even were. He was trained for less than two years.

He could not handle one of the trials. No food and drink for 24 hours.

She did that under the leagues rule because she had no choice.

"Do you at least have power ups?"

"E-excuse me?" He stuttered.

"There are recipes for power ups for Miraculous holders. Do you really not have them?"

"H-how do you know about them?"

"You lost the book with the peacock and butterfly... No matter I found it. Took pictures and returned it. I will be keeping he identity of the owner of the book quiet. We can not jump to conclusions yet."

The man seemed at a loss for words.

"The kid might know more than you at this point." Plagg laughed. "Certainly better trained combat wise."

From then on, Fu tried to pass on as much information as he could remember to her.

Marinette in turn, taught the same to her partner during their combat lessons. He was certainly getting better but had not reached much further than above average. But then again she wasn't really sure how to teach so it was partly her fault.

Together, they decided on some temporary heroes.

May have been a little bit biased. The only ones chosen were indeed the ones within her circle. Except for Adrien. Red-Beetle did not seem to like that idea.

Chloe was an accident, she was good at heart but she never thought her ready to be a hero. This was confirmed when she revealed her identity to the entire city.

Marinette met Chloe's mother for the third time on the day of her reveal. She was immediately recognised and not just because her hat won the competition. Before Audry had a chance to speak, Marinette tore into her. Granted, personally she would have preferred an absent parent than either of her parents but Chloe was clearly hurting from it.

Seeing the two reconnect did hurt a little bit. Neither of her parents wanted her, choosing to send her away and drop her off with the next in line. But she did miss the hugs her mother would give when they were away from prying ears. Bruce never really acted as anything more than someone providing her with food and shelter. She didn't miss him as much.

It was less than a few months later when Chloe had a meltdown. She was turned into queen wasp and the guardian was captured.

Marinette was made the new guardian which she was not in any way prepared for. She personally thought her partner was more responsible. But now she did have something she would die to protect again.

From what she read, secret identities caused much more harm than good within teams.

So her first act was to initiate a reveal.

She approached Chloe after that. She offered her a second chance as Honey. Coming from the Wayne, Chloe was willing to change.

Things were going well.

She and Adrien made a surprisingly good duo. He was a better team leader, had better people skills in general. She had the tactics and experience to train them to be better.

She found herself growing attached to him but she wasn't mad at it. Sometimes they would sit in the quiet on the rooftops with some quiet music playing. He knew what she needed and she knew what he needed.

They had a mutual partnership. They had an amazing team.

She was wanted and loved not just a tool.

The first time the lazarus energy took over again was when she saw Viperion die.

No one had seen her fight without holding back before.

She had no remorse, just anger. The only reason she was brought out of it was before killing the akuma victim was some of Tikki's magic from Red-Beetle pulled her from it.

The city grew a little bit more scared of Catastrophe that day.

That evening she sat on a roof with her team, she was silent for a while until the snake holder gently pulled her into a hug and she was soon engulfed in a giant hug from her entire team.

Everyone thought she would cry but she didn't.

No one knew her full background besides the kwamis and only Chloe knew that she was a Wayne. But they were all told that she had been victim to toxic magic and many punishments.

As little as she reacted to it, everyone knew that she craved affection, needed hugs, she loved to care for people but never knew how because she was only ever taught to hurt. So she protected them the only way she knew how. Fighting.

But she still never stopped being cheery at school. It made it weird for those who actually knew her but she was accepted.

They were in a war against a magical terrorist but Marinette had truthfully never been happier. She had so many things she enjoyed and cared about.

She was building a name for herself as a designer without a Wayne title. It was amazing...