Miraculous Ever After

The Baker's Daughter

Ten years have past since the Queen and the Prince had died. Ten years since Marinette met that strange boy on the hill. A boy, that at the time, she never realized would become her closest friend, besides the book keeper's daughter Alya of course.

The town of Francoise was a quiet but peaceful village that was located near the heart of the kingdom of Miraculous, only a three days journey from the royal castle. Marinette loves this sleepy village she calls home just as much as she loves those who live in it.

She skipped down the dirt path to the farm house, a basket of croissants in hand and a pep in her step.

"Good morning Marinette my dear!" Mr. Lahiffe called out from behind the ox plow he was pushing.

"Good morning sir, would you care for a croissant?" She stopped and pulled one of the delicious pastries from her basket, holding it over the fence for him to take. Mr. Lahiffe accepted the offer and within two huge bites the pastry was gone.

"I suppose the rest of those are for my boys?" Marinette nodded sheepishly at the farmer's statement, a light blush crossed her cheeks. "You spoil the lad." He pointed to the blonde who was resting underneath a tree's shade.

Marinette approached the green eyed wonder, those same green eyes that stared back at her when they first met. A hue of emerald that stood out in the sea of yellow daisies that surrounded his limp body, one that was covered in scrapes.

"Hey there kitty-cat." She teased as the blonde looked up at her, a devious grin spread across his perfectly tanned face.

The villagers called him Chat Noir for his cat like tendencies and his rotten luck. A name he didn't mind because he had no other. Not only did he have no memory of his life before he met Marinette, but he also had no family or home to call his own. The only thing that he had was the ring on his finger and the clothes on his back.

"Are those fur me?" He purred, keeping true to his name and his horrible sense of humor. The baker rolled her eyes, but did end up giving him the basket along with a tap on the nose.

She sat down next to him in the shade of the large oak tree. Mari fiddled around with the hem for her skirt as she watched him greedily open the basket to reveal the goodies within.

As soon as the scent of the freshly baked goods wafted out of the basket others began to wander over for a snack. Nino, Mr. Lahiffe's son, was one of these suckers who where caught by the alluring bait. Chat lazily swatted his adopted brother's hand away from the basket, holding it closer to his toned chest. His messy blonde hair standing slightly on end as he let out a small hiss.

Marinette laughed at the blonde's actions. He truly was a cat boy, no doubt about it. Marinette laid back in the grass after Nino walked away, going back to his work of feeding the chickens. She allowed the gentle breeze of the spring air to lull her to slumber, trusting that Chat would guard her as she slept.

As she dreamt more about that day...

---

It was noon when Chat awoke her. He had left, done his choirs of tending to the farm's horses and came back with lunch that was prepared by Mrs. Lahiffe.

Chat scarfed down the jam sandwiches and juice, and was already licking his fingers clean as Marinette took her first bite. She was still drowsy from her nap but she in no way found his behavior rude. It's wasn't like he was a prince or something. He was a farm boy who had choirs to do and little time to kick back and eat. Mari always admired his hard working attitude, even if he never was serious about it. No this cat boy was prone to goofing off on the job.

Chat got up and wondered away to the farm house to help Nino load the wagon to take to the shops in town. After she finished her sandwiches, Marinette followed suit.

She always enjoyed this part of her afternoon, getting to ride on the wagon with Chat. He was surprisingly good with horses and was always fun to talk too as they slowly rolled down the road. Their conversations always began with simple formalities such as, "How was your day?" or "Nice weather we're having today." But she could always rely on him to start a chain of gossip that he over hears from the other farmers as they work the fields.

Today's gossip was about the Duke. The town of Francoise was on his land and thus he was in charge of the village. This made his brat of a daughter, Chloe, think she is better then everyone else in town and deserves to get her way no matter what. So when news breaks out that he scolded her over something, then you know people are going to talk about it.

"Apparently the king raised the taxes once again, so the Duke wasn't under enough pressure as it is but then she starts complaining about a dress!" Chat chuckled as he held firmly on the reins. "Long story short, complete meltdown!"

Marinette giggled at the news, her laugh instantly brightened Chat's face and sent his heart racing a little. He slowed the horses to a halt in front of the store and got off to help the shop keeper unload the goods from the wagon. Marinette got off as well but her attention drifted elsewhere as the sound of trumpets echoed down the street.