Hero-Miraculous Short Story

Chapter 7

Now, it was a few years after that when Marinette became almost as skilled as Mrs. Agreste. She knew how proud she would be if she saw her whip up her own designs now. Unfortunately, just the year before, Mrs. Agreste had suddenly disappeared from the eyes of Paris, and there was no telling where she'd gone. Still, Marinette knew that she would come back some day, and then she'd be there to show her all that she had accomplished with the help of her teachings.

"Dad, these are so amazing!" Marinette gasped in amazement. The perfectly-baked macaroons neatly displayed in the rectangle box that Tom was holding for her in the bakery.

"Glad you like them!" he chortled happily. Marinette couldn't keep in her excitement.

"Thank you, Dad, my class will love them! You're the best!!" She carried the macaroon box with care.

Tom corrected her with a smile. "We're the best, thanks to your amazing designs!" He popped open the notebook that held Marinette's drawing of the symbol that was now engraved in each green treat. She beamed and hugged her dad, accidentally dropping the box. Her father then caught it with his foot and propped it back up.

Marinette giggled. "Thanks! See you tonight!" She ran out of the bakery and made her way to their school to hopefully make it in on time.

To her dismay, on the way to Collège Françoise Dupont, she saw an elderly man wearing a red shirt with white floral patterns struggling to cross the street with his wooden stick. She snapped her head to the side and saw a roaring car racing its way towards him as if they thought he wasn't there.

Marinette's mind flashed with memory as Mrs. Agreste pulled her over to save her body from being trampled by the rubber tires of a road vehicle, and she immediately lunged forward. She wrapped her arms around the old man and together they leaped to the side of the road just in time to dodge the swerving car. In the process however, Marinette's macaroons spilled everywhere on the ground.

"Thank you, Miss," the old man said gratefully. "Oh! What a disaster!"

Marinette smiled sheepishly. "Don't worry! I'm no stranger to disasters, besides, there are still a few left!"

As he took one to eat for himself, Marinette smiled bittersweetly. Oh, how she missed Mrs. Agreste and her bravery...

——————

She couldn't do it. She could never be as brave and as heroic as Mrs. Agreste once was.

"So that means...this is all my fault? I knew it! See, Tikki? I'm not cut out to be a superhero! I'm only gonna keep messing up!" She felt tears well up inside her, threatening to escape her eyes.

"Keep calm," the so-called kwami said. "It was your first time. You're going to go back and capture Stoneheart's akuma, and do it successfully!"

Marinette felt pain strike her insides. "I can't! I told you, I'm clumsy! I create disaster all the time! I'll only make things worse for me, for you and for everyone. Chat Noir will be better off without me. I'm quitting." She ignored Tikki's face of dismay. She squeezed her fists and tried to ignore the sick feeling inside her stomach

She had failed Mrs. Agreste.

"If Chat Noir can't capture the akumas, then... just find another Ladybug. I told you, I'm not cut out to be Ladybug! I'm sorry Tikki..." Marinette hesitantly reached up to take off her earrings.

"No, don't do tha-"

Marinette blinked and whipped around. Tikki was gone. "Tikki?" she murmured quietly. When she received no answer, she let out a small sigh. "I'm really sorry, Tikki..."

I'm sorry, Mrs. Agreste...

——————

"If you can hear me, Ladybug, I could use a little help!" Chat Noir tried attacking the Stoneheart on his own, but failed miserably. Marinette clutched Alya's bag tightly when she saw both Chat Noir and her best friend running after the multiple stone beings.

"What's she waiting for?!" Alya said impatiently, holding her phone for video action. Marinette bit her lip. Why was everybody depending on Ladybug so much when she was just going to fail again like she did last time?

Then, one of the stone beings knocked a car over to Alya, snapping Marinette out of her thoughts. Before she could even blink, however, Chat Noir saved her, but in the process, he was captured by a large rock fist, and Alya remained trapped between a wall and a car. She screamed in fear and struggled to break free.

"HELP!!!" she cried desperately. Marinette widened her eyes, and she immediately plunged in a world of the past.

-/-

"But...when you tried to save me, weren't you afraid that you were going to die yourself?"

"Of course I was," she said, smoothing out Marinette's hair. "But that's the whole part of being brave: you have to overcome your fears if you want to help others."

-/-

Marinette clenched her fists with determination. She whipped out the Miraculous box and summoned Tikki out by clipping on her earrings.

"I think I need Ladybug!!!"

(Author's Note)
Sorry if this was a bit long for a short story chapter. As you can see, I've incorporated some of the show's scenes in this book to explain Marinette's thoughts and actions for particular events that I thought would be a great example on how Mrs. Agreste had influenced her life. The last chapter on Ladybug's dream is coming soon!!