Miraculous Hunters Rewritten: Book 2

Chapter 11: Befana Part 1

(Italics: Singing)

The day after Alya had shown the video of her participating in Side-by-Side with Nadja to Manon and Marinette, the Sunday after Prime Queen had arrived. And with that Sunday's arrival, came Marinette's first birthday as a Miraculous Holder!

Needless to say, she was super excited about what the day had to offer, especially since she had an inkling about one of those predetermined events. But she was waiting patiently in her room for the time to come, folding up some spare laundry while her parents worked in the bakery on a 'secret' project.

"Marinette, this is quite a special day for you!" Tikki squealed as she flew to Marinette's side, excited for her holder's birthday.

"Yes, Tikki! It sure is." Marinette agreed as she knelt next to her chaise, folding the last of the laundry before checking her phone. "Hmm, still no call..." the designer observed with a perturbed look before grabbing it and going up to her balcony, Tikki followed behind.

"There's a ritual we kwamis perform on a day like this." Tikki proclaimed after flying through the trapdoor, watching as Marinette placed her phone on her balcony side table before leaning over her balcony rail.

"Oh really? That's nice." Marinette replied distractedly as she looked over her balcony and at the street below, searching for something.

"But I don't know if you humans would like it. I wonder if you guys even give each other presents on your birthday." Tikki coyly announced, immediately catching Marinette's attention from her searching and directing her gaze onto her kwami.

"Oh really, Tikki? You got me a birthday present?" Marinette asked with a squeal of joy, surprised by Tikki's words as hopped up and down in place as she spoke.

"A kwami specialty." Tikki proclaimed, proud of herself while Marinette clasped her now fidgety hands together and pulled them to her chest.

"Oh, that's so awesome! What is it?" Marinette excitedly asked before lowering herself to her knees, responded by Tikki zipping over to her and doing a small dance in the air while humming. As the red kwami neared the end of the dance, Tikki rose higher into the air whilst rapidly spinning before splitting something into Marinette's hands after she stopped.

"Miraculous birthday, Marinette!" Tikki cheered as she lowered herself back to Marinette's eye level, a little bit of her spit dripping on her chin. But her cheery mood was taken down a few pegs when she saw Marinette looking at the spit-covered object with shock and slight disgust. "Oh no, you don't like it, do you?" the red kwami asked, crestfallen by Marinette's reaction to her gift.

"No, I love it! It's amazing!" Marinette quickly assured Tikki, hoping to salvage the kind gesture her kwami had given her. "But... what is it?" the pigtailed girl asked, still confused about what Tikki had gifted her.

"A Kwagatama. A great symbol of friendship among us kwamis." Tikki began, the spit covering the Yin-shaped charm evaporating to reveal the little red charm in Marinette's hands. "We take a hair from our Miraculous holder and join it to the hairs of all the former Miraculous holders. And with them, we grow a magic resin for a few months and-" the ladybug kwami explained, deep-diving into the backstory of the charm before she suddenly noticed Marinette focusing on her phone and not listening to her.

"I know you don't wanna tell me because you don't want to hurt my feelings, but it's obvious you don't like it." Tikki spoke in a disappointed tone as she turned away from her holder, pulling Marinette's attention from her phone and back to her sad kwami.

"I'm sorry, Tikki! I-I really do love your gift." Marinette apologized to her little friend, upset that her occupied thoughts had offended Tikki. "It's just that Alya should already have called me by now. We're supposed to be taking her little sister to the 'dentist' at four o'clock today." the red-tipped-haired girl explained as she rose to her feet, putting the Kwagatama into her side pocket as she grabbed her phone off of the side table.