Finding Myself Again

Chapter 11: How the Cookie Crumbles

Marinette ventures farther into her room, briefly ignoring the baffled man sitting at her desk. She removes the glasses perched on her nose and places it back into the Miracle Box, and then does the same for the rest of the miraculi she used during the battle.

When the priceless jewels are safely inside of the box, she spins to face Jason.

"So why exactly are you in my room?" She glances down at the cookies in his  hand and in his open mouth. "Other than to eat all of my cookies, that is." Jason's eyes widen slightly as her flat, expressionless tone and rushes to swallow the mouthful of cookie to answer.

"Ah, well... I was wondering if you were alright after last night and... Uh... If you wanted to talk about it." He tugs at the collar of the jacket the bluenette have him earlier that day. "Besides, your not the only one with skeletons in the closet in this house. Shit happened to all of us, some worse than others." Marinette's frown deepens and she regards the slightly nervous man with a certain curiosity.

"I'm not going to touch what you just said about skeletons in he closet and how all of you have them. Everyone has skeletons. I just have more than most. A lot more."

A white grin against the blackness of the night.

"I guess one could say that I hit two bugs with one stone. Who knew our everyday Ladybug was Paris's heroine. Oh wait, I did. It only makes it easier for me to punish you for your wrongdoings; in and out of costume."

"As for talking about what happened?" Marinette let's out a harsh laugh. "No one else should have to sit through that insanity. It's not like you'll believe it, anyway. No one remotely knew what was happening, either because they didn't care or they're absolutely blind. And because of that, no one would have to care." She shrugs her dainty shoulders. "I guess it's just another secret I'll have to keep until I die."

Jason anxiously shoves another cookie into his mouth, slowly processing what Marinette just told him.

How is it that both of the youngest in this house has been through hell in back in less than nineteen years?

He stuffs two more cookies into his mouth in horror. Sure, he died for Christ's sake, but together, Marinette and Damian's personal hell called life really takes the cake. Ooh, cake sounds really good right now... He snatches a third from the plate right before Marinette takes it away. Jason looks up at her glaring eyes, confused on why she took the cookies from him.

"And stop eating Tikki's cookies. She's not happy as it is because you now know my identity, but she'll be even more pissed off when she finds out some asshole decided to stress eat after I told him that I've been through some serious shit and no one knows about it." She places the plate of cookies on top of her dresser, and then leans against it with her arms folded across her chest.

"You cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone about me being a superhero. If you do, you'll not only have an entire arsenal of gods after your ass, you'll be risking my life. I've  almost does countless times because my partner found out my identity. And if I die, the world ends. Literally."

Jason blinks, unable to process what she just told him. "Wait. What your saying is that you're a superheroine whose partner tried to kill multiple times, but cannot because the world will end?" She nods solemnly. " Why would the world end?"

"I'm the current guardian of he miraculi. Miraculous are supernatural weapons based off of ideas and emotions such as teleportation, creation, deception and destruction. Because I'm to guard these magic jewels, my life force became tied with their containment box, making me age as slowly as needed for me to find someone to pass the guardianship to. If I die before I fin someone to pass it to, the kwami will run free to do as they wish, and that cannot happen." She takes a deep breath before continuing. "The previous guardian lived up to be almost two hundred years old before Hawkmoth forced him to relinquish his guardianship to me mid battle. This was almost five years ago."