Marinette joined Professor D'Argencourt's fencing team two weeks into the school year as a way to keep her skills sharp and as an outlet for stress. It works surprisingly well, but she is by far the most skilled fencer on the team. Marinette is confident she can at least match Professor D'Argencourt in a match, but she hasn't ever tried.

The only person anywhere near her skill level, regrettably, is Adrien. Every day after school, she duels him, and every day, she is victorious. None of the team is a match for her, unlike Cass, or... Damian.

She shakes her head, pulling her face guard down and walking out of the locker room into the open courtyard in the middle of the school. The red and gold leaves of November rustle above her. Thinking about Damian will not bring him back.

A new fencer, boldly dressed in red, is demanding to join the team. D'Argencourt insists that they only have room for the best, and the fencer states that they were the best, wherever they went. The professor agrees to let them duel the best fencer he has, and that they will be allowed to join the team if the fencer beats his best.

When asked who is the best fencer, everyone turns around and looks at Marinette. She draws her sabre and walks over to the mats. Maybe this fencer will be different.

Marinette stands tall, sabre at the ready, facing her opponent, who does the same. At the professor's signal, they lunge in a furious battle of blades, and she feels a jolt of excitement as she has to increase the amount of focus she uses from half to about two-thirds to keep up. Marinette has never met someone who could keep up with her that wasn't a Bat, Justice League member, or assassin. This is new and interesting, and she likes it.

Again and again, the machine declares a tie, so they remove their sensors and engage in combat the old-fashioned way. Marinette knows she isn't pushing herself as much as she can, that she could win if she tried harder, but this fencer is... special. Different. She wants them to join the team, if only so she can duel them during practice instead of Adrien.

When their sabres finally touch each other again, Adrien is the only one who witnesses it, and he declares the one in red the winner.

Marinette disagrees, but lets it go. It is not every day that she meets someone who can match her in swordplay. She looks forward to duelling them again, now that they have been awarded a place on the team.

The fencer removes their mask, revealing- "Tsurugi Kagami." Marinette says reverently. "It was an honor to duel you."

She removes her own face guard and holds out her hand. "Marinette Cheng."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kagami's French is lightly accented. "I do not find many that can keep up with me."

It was more like you were keeping up with me, but it is admirable all the same. Marinette smiles as the other girl shakes her hand. "I believe this will be the start of a strong partnership. I look forward to seeing you at practice tomorrow.."

Kagami's serious brown eyes meet her piercing blue ones. "Yes, I believe it will."

.o0o.

"Tikki, why did you choose a child to be a hero?" Marinette asks one November afternoon.

Her kwami blinks. "Your soul was the most compatible with my miraculous in Paris."

"But would choosing an adult that was less compatible send the city up in flames? Why did it have to be children who guard the city?"

Tikki sighs. "There's a Guardian of the Miraculous. That question is meant for him."

"A Guardian of the Miraculous?" Marinette asks, frowning at her kwami.

Tikki nods. "Yes. I want to take you to meet him. I believe you are ready."

The next day, after school, Marinette walks among the scattered red and gold leaves asTikki directs her to a small massage parlor. Upon knocking, Marinette sees the old man with the terrible shirt from her first day of school. So he was hiding something, after all.

"Hello, Ladybug." The man greets, and she raises an eyebrow.

Tikki flies towards the man. "Marinette, this is Master Fu, the Guardian of the Miraculouses."

"I knew you were hiding something." Marinette says, then remembers what she originally came to ask.

"What were you thinking, giving magical jewelry to children so they could be thrust into the middle of a battlefield without any training or forewarning?"

Master Fu sighs. "Children are less likely to use the miraculous for evil."

"And that makes it correct?" Marinette's eyes flash a dangerous green for the first time in her kwami's presence. "Children are supposed to be children, not have to constantly find excuses to leave school and extracurricular activities so they can bear the weight of a city on their shoulders. Children are supposed to be innocent! You are extremely lucky I lost all innocence long before I came to Paris, but what of Chat Noir? He holds his staff like a sword! The only reason he hasn't died permanently yet is because my power reverses all the damage, and his suit absorbs most of the harm done to him!"

Master Fu, Tikki, and the turtle kwami she never caught the name of hovering next to the old man's shoulder wear identical expressions of shock.

"You have used a Lazarus Pit." The turtle kwami says.

Master Fu nods. "That would explain the destruction in your soul that would make you a good Black Cat as well."

Marinette looks at her Ladybug kwami, eyes hard. "Tikki. You already knew I was once a part of Batman's team, that much is unavoidable given the calls I make weekly. What you did not know, however, was that I was born and raised in the League of Assassins until I was ten years old."

Several gasps are heard, and Marinette glares at the Guardian.

"So I have seen too much. I have gone and crossed the line. I have watched others cross that line. I have been the victim when others cross the line. My innocence may have been long gone, but it does not change the fact that you put the burden of protecting a city on children." Marinette leaves the massage parlor without another word, Tikki quickly hiding back in her jacket as they exit.

.o0o.

When Marinette accepts Richard's request to video chat at their usual time, she is surprised to see Father in the small crowd around the screen too.

There are various cries of 'Mari!' and 'Nettie!' and she smiles.

"Bonsoir Richard, Cass, Jason, Tim, Alfred, Father. How have you been?"

"Great!" Richard replies, then pauses. "Well, actually, Timmy got stabbed on patrol three nights ago, but it wasn't that deep and didn't hit anything major."

"Dick!" Tim whines. "I'm fine! Your winter break starts in three weeks, right? Are you coming back to visit?"

Marinette would be lying if she said she hadn't already thought about it. She went to Paris to escape the city, to escape her memories, but it would be nice to see her family again. Paris was different, in a nice kind of way, but sometimes, one just needed the darkness and gargoyles of Gotham.

"I'm booking a flight to Gotham for Winter Break. Our break lasts until January 6th, so I will return on the same day. Jet lag is not much of an issue for me."

Father looks at the screen with more seriousness. "How are you holding up? We saw this week's akuma. Jackady? A terrible name, but a mob managed to storm past the Agreste Manor's front gates and into the home."

"Jackady was a play on Jacque a dit, the French version of Simon Says." Marinette replies. "The akuma had a lot of potential for destruction, but the bakery was left untouched. I am fine, Father."

The look of relief on his worn face is obvious. "Good. And another thing? I know you said you didn't want to be a vigilante anymore, but if you're up to it, could you do a bit of digging into Ladybug's identity? I understand that we're not allowed in Paris, but Chat Noir doesn't seem to be pulling his weight in the fights and our resources can help in her search for Hawkmoth from afar."

Marinette frowns. "You still don't know who Ladybug is? It has been almost three months. Tim solves decades-old cold cases in half an hour. Surely, they have some idea...

Cass shakes her head. "Magic blocking investigation, but maybe being closer helps. Ladybug's fighting style... familiar."

Marinette would hope so. Most of her combat moves were adopted from the League's training, adjusted to be non-lethal. The rest were taught by her siblings. Ladybug constantly used Nightwing's signature acrobatics to dodge attacks, wrestled off far larger opponents with Red Hood's instructions in her head, scanned and analyzed everything and everyone just like Red Robin taught her, and Black Bat's style was present in well... everything. Marinette always had an almost identical fighting style to her.

"You have no clue whatsoever? None?" She double checks, just in case. They shake their heads, Tim frowning in irritation at his inability to crack the case.

Marinette glances at Tikki, who is hovering above her computer. The kwami nods with a tiny smile, although Marinette would have them either way if she wanted to.

She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. "...You guys are Bats. The most mysterious clan of heroes in the Justice League, the partners of the World's Greatest Detective, or in Father's case, the World's Greatest Detective himself, and yet you cannot deduce that I am Ladybug. Though, I suppose I should cut you some slack since my kwami has informed me that the magic makes it almost impossible to deduce the holder's identity without seeing them transform in front of your eyes."

As expected, the other side of the screen erupts into chaos. Swear words (mostly from Jason), Alfred's cries of 'five dollars in the swear jar, Master Jason- No, make that six!', Father's grumbling about how he should have seen it, and overall shocked exclamations make her smirk.

"We should have seen it! Who else could possibly have been Ladybug?" Tim asks. "She stands for Creation, and literally nobody is more creative than Marinette. She's got the same fighting style, the same mask- wait. Is the whole Caucasian appearance another magic thing?"

"Well, eighty-five percent of France's population is white. My normal skin tone combined with blue eyes would make me stand out far too much for my liking, and I do not want any outsiders learning my identity, magic hiding it or no. I will not take that risk. Besides, it throws people off my trail, along with the hair. Red streaks in my hair do not look too bad." Marinette explains.

She glances over at the Robin doll on her bed as her family squabbles across the ocean, its masked eyes fierce. I hope I have made you proud, akhi.

Before she turns around, she can almost hear her twin's voice. You always do, ukhti.

Then her phone beeps with an akuma alert, and Marinette says goodbye to her family before hanging up, transforming, and leaping off her rooftop balcony, swinging towards the destruction to once again save the day.