Of Runways and Darkness

Chapter 3

Author's Note: Wow this is one of the longer chapters I've ever written but eh, a first time for everything right? Enjoy!

The Friday morning dawned bright, an unusual circumstance given that Paris was often covered in clouds and looked dreary to outsiders. They loved it though and wouldn't change it for the world. However, the bright morning didn't help Marinette's anxiety. After leaving Chat Noir on the Tower, she'd immediately sped back to her room, transforming as she did a flip inside. Tikki spiraled out of her earrings before landing on the pillows with a weary smile and a soft comment about how glad she was that Hawkmoth had apparently backed off on the release of akumas. Marinette mumbled her agreeance. The little red kwami turned her head confused for a second. Her brow knotted in concern as she watched her chosen climb down off of her bed and go to her desk, sitting at it without much a word to her. She immediately pulled out her sketchbook. Tikki sighed.

It was going to be one of those nights.

After thinking about it, she giggled, grabbed a cookie (or two) from her stash, and made herself comfortable on the bed, listening to the gentle scratching sounds of her chosen's pencil as it quickly moved across the paper, stopping only now and then as the young woman tried to gather her thoughts.

The kwami was asleep soon after.

****

Marinette looked and felt like death.

She hadn't slept at all the previous night; the news of her second-round chance at an Agreste summer internship had her giddy.

Not that she could explain that to her parents.

After all, she'd been in her room all night and not secretly meeting with Adrien as Chat Noir and Ladybug at the top of the Eiffel Tower after a quick patrol where he told her the fabulous news that had kept her up all night planning and panicking about what she was going to do to make sure that she was going to be the Agreste intern this summer.

Nah. That hadn't happened.

She had to explain that she had had a nightmare and couldn't sleep. Her mother looked concerned. The older woman placed her hand on her daughter's forehead, concerned that she might have formed a fever or was coming down with some spring illness but Mari had assured her that wasn't the case. She dropped her hand after being sure that it was alright for her to leave that day.
Mari's feet dragged up the sidewalk. Suddenly, a set of hands caught her around the shoulders and she yelped, nearly pitching forward. She turned her head with a glare only to be greeted with a smirk across Alya's face. The darker skinned girl chirped, "Morning Mari!" Leaning closer she asked, "Long patrol?" Marinette rolled her eyes and straightened, forcing her friend's hands to drop. The two linked arms instead.

"Nope. Everything was quiet," she returned. Alya nodded and squeezed her arm.

"Good. I'll be honest, I get nervous when I'm not out helping anymore." Mari smirked.

"But you are always helping. Between the blog and well... the other things you do, you are helping."

"You're just saying that for brownie points."

The raven haired girl giggled. "Guilty as charged."

Since Alya and Nino had received the fox and turtle miraculouses respectively right before the Masquerade Ball, life had been so much easier for the spotted heroine. Paris, at first, had been hesitant to accept the new heroes especially since the first fox hero, Volpina, turned out to be a lie. However, word from Ladybug and the Ladyblog confirmed that these two were the real thing; Paris now had four superheroes and there was almost a sigh of relief across the city. The hesitation was still there though. Now, as the seasons changed, and the month of March rolled on, the citizens were beginning to get more comfortable with the idea. Suddenly, Lady Fox and Emerald Shield were slowly growing their fan base. The idea of Alya being swamped with fans just like she was made Marinette giggle. The girl was good with popularity but even this was a bit overwhelming for her since most of her fans were kept at a distance through the Internet.