"an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance. the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break." -ancient chinese belief

☾ ☽

Ladybug began seeing things when she was thrown across the room. Granted, it was her fault in the sense that she wasn't paying attention, but a lot of things were on her mind that day. Of course she just had to be sidetracked in the middle of a battle against an Akuma.

How it all began?

Everything started as a casual day in school. The sky was clear, the birds were chirping, and Adrien was looking as fabulous as always. Wait a minute; were her thoughts escaping again? Marinette shook her head wildly as she trudged up the stairs beside Alya. It was bad enough that she was a stuttering mess around him and couldn't hold a normal sentence to save her life, but creepily seeing sparkles around her crush? Marinette was a complete heart fluttering mess. She sighed, and her friend caught sight of this.

"Oh no. More love problems?" Alya teased her friend by nudging Marinette with her elbow.

Marinette tugged at her pigtails with stress as they walked across the gym, "You know it. I don't understand how anyone talk normally in front of the person they like. It's like giving a speech in front of the mayor; impossible!" She stared sadly at the back of Adrien's glorious golden locks that sparkled against the sunlight. Marinette pinched her cheeks to regain sanity, which was a bit impossible to do as of arriving at school. As they finally reached their classroom, the whole room was buzzing as if they were a swarm of bees. And of course, in any hive, there's the queen bee.

"Adrien, darling!" Chloé cried as she tackled him, puckering up and trying to land a kiss on the model's cheek. Her arms were tightly wrapped around his neck like a noose; unable to unravel and could possibly bring death.

"Hey Chloé," Adrien awkwardly pushed her face away, and Marinette felt a sense of relief. She obviously wouldn't release him, but Adrien was doing his best to maintain a good face distance.

As the two best friends headed for their seats, a flash of pink stopped them in their tracks. "Have you two heard about the latest craze?" Rose squealed as she clapped her hands together, as if she was on a sugar high. Knowing her, it was possible. She was the very definition of rainbows and sunshine; if you looked up the phrase online, there would be a picture of Rose. "The red string of fate?" Her short blond hair shook with excitement that she couldn't contain.

Alya leaned forward with interest, pushing her glasses up like a reporter would, "Hm? What's that?"

"It's all the rage in Japan right now, and people in France are starting to learn about it. I mean, I'd rather have my string be pink instead of red, but they're both pretty close," She rambled with her periwinkle eyes all aglow, "Anyways, it's about a supposedly invisible string that ties you with your eternal partner. And get this; it can stretch and tangle, but can't break! Kind of like Ladybug's yo-yo. Pretty interesting, right? But I wonder how it's red if it's invisible. I heard it's a thing that came from Ancient China and-."

"That's all I needed to know," Alya immediately typed into her cell phone the newest data she just received.

Marinette looked around to all the classmates bustling about, especially Chloe trying to make Adrien hold up his pinky finger like her, "Is that what everyone's talking about?"

Rose nodded in delight, "Yup! Rumor has it that some people can see it when meeting their lifelong partner. I bet that's what everyone's doing right now! I better hurry up too!" She ran down to the rest of her classmates, leaving the two behind.

Alya raised an eyebrow, "So, why don't you go check that out with Adrien?"

Marinette nearly landed on her face even though she was standing upright, "W-W-Wha?" She waved her arms in bizarre motions, "No way! I can't ask Adrien-, I mean, should I? No, I can't do that; I'll die!"

Alya chuckled at her flustered friend, "Well one thing's for sure: it probably isn't Chloé!" She pointed at the girl who was being pried off of Adrien by Nino. The bell rang and the door opened, revealing their French literature teacher, Miss Bustier. Everyone returned to their seats like a trail of ants, still jittery and ecstatic. Chloé reluctantly released her grip Adrien, but wasn't hesitant to blow kisses and wink at his direction. Marinette slunk into her seat with the red string wrapped around her mind. Maybe she could possibly ask her mom after school about it. Making a mental note about it, Marinette rested her face against her hands as she gazed at the back of Adrien's head.

As Miss Bustier began to ramble about how the Three Musketeers were similar to the strings on a ukulele, a loud crash resonated outside the classroom. "What was that?" She asked, "Children, stay silent for a moment." The teacher slowly approached the door and slowly turned the knob to get a look. It slammed open, throwing the teacher back. She screamed and crawled away in fear.

It was the principal, Mr. Damocles, except that it wasn't. He wore a black clad suit and a dark mask was pulled over his face. A silhouette of a purple butterfly outlined his face and faded away. Oh no, an Akuma, Marinette thought, looking at his direction, how am I going transform here?

"I am the Jurisdiction! Here to rightfully take control of what should be mine," He looked around with a creepy grin, almost murderous. He stomped his foot against the ground, and a large hole revealed the gym underneath, "Now, where are Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"Children, escape through the back!" Miss Bustier yelled. The students left in a flurry, but Marinette ducked under her desk, making sure no one could spot her.

"Let's go, Tikki!" She whispered, and the little kwami emerged from her bag. "Tikki, transform me!" As soon as her transfiguration ended, she burst out from under the desk, "Stop right there!"

"Ladybug!" The principal shouted, "I demand you hand over your Miraculous!"

"In your dreams!" Ladybug tossed her yo-yo over a beam on the roof and swung across, giving the principal a good kick to the face. "Escape, ma'am!" She landed on the ground and gestured with her chin to Miss Bustier. The teacher scrambled away quickly, nearly tripping over herself. As soon as this happened, a loud smash came from the window, and an annoying black cat slunk in.

"Sorry to pro-cat-stinate, but I'm here!" Chat Noir smiled and bowed as if he was a performer. His cat-like pupils dilated when making eye contact with her. Ladybug rolled her own eyes; it wasn't time to be messing around. Her sight wandered around Mr. Damocles, trying to find an item that the Akuma could've been possessing. Her gaze landed on a pen that was in his suit's breast pocket.

"Chat Noir, the pen!" Ladybug yelled, tossing her yo-yo at the writing utensil. The principal caught it with his hand, and with inhuman strength, pulled Ladybug along and tossed her down the hole, releasing the yo-yo while doing so. "Eek!" Ladybug cried and grabbed a pipe hanging from the ceiling. The gym was right below here, and her classmates were distancing themselves as far as possible. She gracefully landed on the ground, deciding to be daring and flipping in the air while pulling her weapon back.

"You alright, My Lady?" Chat Noir asked, pushing the Akuma-tized principal out of the classroom with his baton.

"Never been better!" She replied, swinging her yo-yo in circles for momentum. Ladybug tossed her weapon up, and it wrapped itself around Mr. Damocles' legs. Yanking as hard as she could, she pulled him down to the first floor. The principal pulled his pen out of his pocket, and uncapped it in midair. It turned into a full out sword, and he tried toss it at Ladybug.

"What sort of weapon is that?!" Chat Noir complained, grabbing Ladybug and leaping out of the way of the sword. Her yo-yo recoiled, and Mr. Damocles was immediately unraveled. Ladybug glared at the arm that was around her waist, and he let go with a sheepish grin.

I hope Adrien didn't see that, Ladybug thought as she looked worriedly at her classmates.

"Have you not been paying attention to your literature class? No matter; there will soon be a class dedicated to me!" He quickly slid and picked up his sword, brandishing it in front of him confidentially.

"I'll handle this, my lady," Chat Noir held his baton in a fencing fashion, "He doesn't seem like the cat-hletic type."

"You're ridiculous," Ladybug rubbed her temple from his bad puns, "But go for it."

Chat instantly launched himself at Mr. Damocles to be only pushed away by sheer force. The principal immediately made his way to Ladybug, and she got herself in a defense stance. He swiped his sword at her legs, and Ladybug jumped. It was a trick; as she was jumping, he brought his sword back up and batted her across the gym as if she was a baseball. She crashed into the wall, right beside the classmates hiding behind a corner.

Her vision began to dot with black spots. Ladybug blinked a few times, trying to get it back to normal. "Are you okay, Ladybug?" She heard Alya's voice from her left.

"No worries," She waved a hand, staring at the ground as her vision returned to normal, "I'll go finish this off." She got ready to toss her yo-yo up in the air, "Lucky-." Her eyes stopped at something hanging from her right pinky. It was a thin, red thread. Ladybug tried following where it ended, but it was hopelessly entangled in the mess by her classmates. "What is this?" She waved her hand, watching as the string followed her movements. Ladybug helplessly rubbed at her eyelids, but to no luck. The thread wouldn't disappear.

"What's wrong, Ladybug?!" Chat Noir shouted, "Needing a bit of help over here!" He kicked Mr. Damocles in the stomach and did a backflip onto the floor. Mr. Damocles swung his sword, but Chat blocked it with his baton.

"Y-Yeah," Ladybug said absentmindedly, still in awe of the red string wrapped around her finger.

She had no idea of what fate would bring her next.

---

whew! new fic! new story! new writing style! new obsession! sigh... there's no escaping this fandom.

hope you enjoy this new emotional rollercoaster.

xoxo,

arisa