demon's daughter

II-IV

Marinette, Tom, and Sabine watch the news with horrified eyes as Nadja Chamack announces people turning into replicas of today's akuma all over Paris. Marinette excuses herself and runs up to her room.

Tikki zips out from her hiding spot in Marinette's jacket. "Did you purify the butterfly?"

"Did you tell me to?" Marinette retorts. "All you told me was that the earrings were a magical piece of jewelry called a miraculous, I had a phrase that I needed to say in order to transform, my power was Lucky Charm, which would help me in battle, and that I had a partner. So, what did you leave out?"

"It's obvious that you have to catch the butterfly in your yoyo and purify it!" Tikki exclaims. "You should know that you need to throw your Lucky Charm in the air after the battle and call Miraculous Ladybug to fix everything!"

"It wasn't obvious, and I didn't know, because nobody bothered to inform me." Marinette sighs. "I did warn you, Tikki, that I could never be a hero." She moves to take the earrings out. She just isn't the right person to wear them.

The kwami flies forward. "No, Marinette, don't! This can easily be fixed, we just have to wait for Ivan to be akumatized again!"

Marinette glares at the kwami. "Why would I ever wish for someone to be akumatized because they experienced a negative emotion again? It should not happen in the first place, let alone another time. I am sorry, Tikki, but you will have to find someone else to be Ladybug." She removes the earrings, and Tikki disappears.

Marinette tucks the earrings back into the box they came in and slumps onto her bed. She recalls her promises to her family to stay out of trouble, to be safe, to be careful, and her promise to herself to give up being a vigilante, because she could never be a hero, not after the lives she has taken.

"You did the right thing." She says out loud. It sounds less like a statement and more like a question.

.o0o.

The next day, Marinette walks into the classroom and sits down in the same seat she was in yesterday, ignoring the crowd of students around Ivan. She does, however, frown when Chloé says "Once a monster, only a monster." and sends Ivan stumbling out of the classroom.

Alya sits down next to her and starts talking about the blog she created to follow Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette reaches into her bag, fingers finding the hard wood of the jewelry box. Ladybug would not be making another appearance. All she needed to do now was slip the box into the belongings of a worthy candidate.

She scans the classroom. Alya was impulsive and constantly threw herself into danger (the blog served as a testament to that.) Juleka and Myléne were too timid, Rose would feel bad about possibly hurting the akuma. Sabrina was certainly loyal enough, but she needed someone to tell her what to do. Chloé- just- no.

Marinette cycles through all the males in the classroom too, until her eyes fall on a blonde boy whom Chloé is hanging off of. She peers closer, eyebrows furrowing.

Adrien Agreste, son of reclusive fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Interesting. His body language is... weird. He is giving off the sense that he is constantly lying. It's almost as if his entire person is fake.

Alya catches Marinette staring and gives her a 'knowing' smile. "Got a crush on the new model boy, eh?"

Marinette frowns. "Why would I feel any romantic attraction towards Adrien Agreste?"

"Is he good looking?" Alya asks.

"Well, yes,but-" Marinette is interrupted by the blogger.

"Then you have a crush!" She crows gleefully.