7. Going Public

"Bold" means speaking in French

It's been a week since Chloe's birthday. Everything has been relatively normal, though the only thing unsettling me is school.

Mom has scheduled appointments to the nearby public schools so that we can both visit. The thing is that I'm going to miss a few days of the school year. We should have started the paper work sooner, but we can't turn back time and all that.

Secretly, I'm glad of it. I really don't want to go to school. It's… nerve-wracking to go to a school when you are barely mastering the language.

Talking about school, Adrien has been acting a bit… odd. Especially, right now.

"Adrien, your food is not going anywhere." I state as he is quickly eating his omelet. Usually, he eats at a more relaxed paced, unless he has an early morning photo shoot. However, I know that he has nothing in his schedule. His Chinese class has been cancelled for today.

"Sorry, it's just-" He stops himself before he gives me a sheepishly look. "I'm going to school."

It took me five seconds to process this. "Until now you tell me." I say unimpressed.

"Sorry," Adrien mumbles. "It's a surprise. You are the second person to know."

"Your dad allowed you…" I whisper in awe.

However Adrien only frowns, "He… doesn't know. I applied myself to Françoise Dupont and they accepted me. Chloe was actually the first person to know."

I gasp dramatically. "She knew before moi. Your best friend." I put my hand over my heart. "That really hurt." I comment sadly as I wipe away a fake tear.

Adrien, easy to fool, stammers his apologies to me. "Hey, I'm just messing with you." I smirk, but then my lips twitch to a small frown. "You do know that you have to be there. School is about to start soon." I say as I look the time on my phone.

"Oh man! Got to go!" Adrien explains as he quickly gets off his chair. I follow the same action (more calmly) and before he leaves, I grab his hand and pull him for a quick hug.

"Good luck." I smile softly as I push him away.

He nods gratefully and quickly runs away, almost bumping into my Mom. He says a quick greeting and apology before he is out of sight.

"What was that about?" Mom asks curiously.

"Something about being late for his classes." I wave it off casually. "He mentioned about how his teachers like punctuality and be prepared before starting."

"Oh," Mom says before she checks on her purse. "Well, Gabriel let me borrow one of his cars today so that I can take you to the schools. Are you almost finished?"

"Yeah," I say as I finish my omelet. "Just let me get cleaned and I'll meet you outside in ten."

"Great." Mom grins as she walks out.

After Chloe's birthday party, Mom and Gabriel no longer eat breakfast with us. They get up earlier and leave just as Adrien and I are about to eat breakfast. I try not to show how much it really bothers me. Seeing Adrien's sad, but resigned face told me everything. His dad absent for breakfast wasn't something out of the ordinary.

Though, I am grateful that at least they both make it for dinner. Well, Mom does. Gabriel already missed out three dinners in the last week.

I hope Adrien will stay at Françoise Dupont High School. It's one of the schools that Mom and I are going to visit today.

"This an emergency radio broadcast. To the citizens of Paris, as incredible as it seems we have a supervillain loose on the streets. This is not a joke. All Parisians, stay at home until the situation's under control. The police are struggling to control the situation. Please be careful." The radio says.

Mom and I share a nervous look. We are at a red light at the already empty streets. That only increased our wariness.

"We already finished right?"

"Yeah, let me take you home. We can go school shopping another day." Mom says as she speeds up towards the Agreste home.

"Bye Mom." I kiss her cheek and get out of the car.

Mom rolls down the window and looks at me, "Be careful. Call me if anything happens."

"I will. You just speed to your job. I'll be safe inside the mansion." I say with a reassuring smile.

Mom air kisses me, "Bye, mihija. See you later." She then rolls up the window and quickly speeds away.

That broadcast was very unsettling. But I think positive thoughts as I close the gate behind me. The Agreste mansion is a safe place. It has high walls and a gate that open only through the code or someone presses a button from the inside. Plus if someone gets in, there are a lot of places to hide and I can make a clean getaway.

It would not be the first time that I jump from rooftops. My crew and I would do that a lot back in San Fran. But I do have to say that the houses are a lot closer together to make free running possible and easier to do back there. Here, since it's a rich neighborhood, the houses are very far apart. Maybe I can try in the middle class neighborhood apartments?

My body was slowly relaxing, but then just as I reach the front door I hear the squealing of tires. I turn around and see three police cars in front of the gates, barricading the street.

I don't know why I stayed there, watching how the police men scrambled and had their guns out. I should have just gotten inside the door, but no. I was such an idiot for my curiosity.

I feel the earth shaking from under my feet. Then I heard the thundering footsteps that were coming closer and closer.

My heart rate sped up and I think my body was shaking, activating my fight or flight reaction.

When I saw the rock monster approaching them, I held my breath. One of the police shouted an order and soon they all shot at the monster. That was the moment my stomach dropped and I felt cold fear take a hold of me.

The shots of the weapons didn't faze it at all. Instead it made the already big monster bigger. My body finally awoke when the huge monster roared at the police.

My body went through the motions of opening and shutting the door and running. My legs automatically went towards my room. I open and close the door. My back hit the door and I slide down as my heavy breathing tries to regulate.

When I was somewhat more coherent I grab my phone and call Mom. She picked it up at the first ring, "Mihija, are you okay?"

"M-mom, the news lady…" My voice manages to squeak out.

"Samara, what happened?" Mom worry is heard in my ear.

"The supervillain is real. It just passed the mansion." I tell her in the most serious voice that I can manage. "I'm okay." I quickly add. "It just passed through. It went down the street. Where are you?"

"I'm okay. I'm glad you're okay." Mom breathes out. "I'm at work already. Everyone is tense, but we are working. I guess with the extra security guards everyone is more or less relaxed."

"Okay, please don't leave the building unless absolutely necessary." My heart feels a little heavy with worry for her.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay, I love you." I say earnestly.

"I love you too, mihija." Mom makes a kissing sound through the phone and hangs up.

I hope Adrien- ADRIEN!

My phone leaves my hand as I quickly stand up and run out of the room and start running towards Adrien's room.

He texted me earlier about how Nathalie and Giles caught him before he could enter the school. I texted him back saying that he tried his best. He said that he had to go. His private tutoring lessons was about to begin.

So because of that I know that he is here. I just hope that he isn't in trouble. Just as I was about to open his door I hear Adrien yell, "Plagg, transform me!"*

A bright light appears from under his door and I open it.

In Adrien's room there is a boy around my age in a black leather body suit that resembles a lot like a cat. The black belt is wrapped around his waist and it dangles behind him like a tail. He has black cat-like ears pinned on top of his messy blond hair. It looks a lot how I would mess it up on Adrien… ouch! Sudden headache…

"Adrien?!" I exclaim. "What happened?"

The boy turns around. He has a black mask, similar to those that heroes use to cover their identities. Even though his scleras of both of his eyes are light green, his irises are so familiar…

My eyes narrow in concentration. My brain actually started to hurt more and become hazy because of it.

"Sa- I mean, who are you? Stranger?" His voice was a little deeper, but no…

"Adrien, what is the meaning of this?" I gesture to him, my head pounding uncomfortably.

"I don't know what you are talking about." He says nervously, the belt started to twitch a bit. This is so weird.

"I know it's you Adrien." I say as I prowl my way to stand in front of him as I poke my finger on his chest. "First of all, you are in Adrien's room." I could see a drop of sweat rolling down. "And second, you replied to me in English." Also which he doesn't need to know is that he just can't lie to me. Plus, I would recognize that specific shade of bamboo green irises that I'm secretly jealous of. I wished I had green eyes. I always thought they were pretty.

"Please don't tell anyone!" Adrien says, this time his voice sounding more like his voice. My little headache is gone. He grabs me around the shoulders and looks into my eyes. "Are you okay? When did you get here?"

"I got here a while ago. I was about to get inside, when the police came and then that… supervillain came by." I say.

Adrien quickly hugs me, "I'm glad you're okay." He whispers and then he pulls me away. "I have to go."

"Adrien, just because you have a super cool costume doesn't mean you have superpowers." I state softly.

Adrien smirks at me. "The thing is I now have superpowers." Adrien tells me with most seriousness. "I'll explain later, but right now I have a supervillain to stop and save Paris."

"Do you even know where he could be?" I ask him.

The television then announced, "Stoneheart is heading to the Montparnasse tower."

"Well, there you go." Adrien says as he walks towards his window and opens it.

Before he could jump, I catch up to him and grab his wrist. He looks at me confused and I struggle to say something. I open, then close and open my mouth again. "Please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt." I manage to say, but I'm ashamed to admit that my voice cracked a bit.

I am worried for him. I admitted to myself that Adrien wouldn't be part of a fight; he is just too damn nice. Now he is going to fight a supervillain that is five times bigger and at least stronger than him.

The next thing I know Adrien has pulled me in his arms and hugs me tight enough to remind me that he is still safe and unharmed. "I can't really promise that. But I will make it back." He then pulls away and give me a reassuring and confident smile. "Come on, good always win over evil."

That made me crack a smile, "I can't fight against that logic. Go and save Paris." I say.

"Will do, milady." He then does a two-finger salute and jumps out of the window.

Just as he was about to hit the ground he grabs the silver escrima stick on his back and puts it in front of him. It then elongates and it pushes him forward and he is now over the gates. He uses his stick and starts jumping around.

My chest is still heavy with worry, but it lightens up a bit. It seems that Adrien will be okay.

When I turn around I see toilet paper all around his floor. Okay… he is going to give me an explanation when he comes back. But for now, I'm gonna clean this mess.

"So with this ring you now have the powers of destruction with the help of your kwami, which turns into the suit that protects you from a lot of heavy damage. You do not work alone, you have a partner. It's a girl who has the power of creation and her kwami is in her earrings. However even though you both have to work together, you cannot know each other real identities under the masks. Oh and your kwami's name is Plagg." I state as I summarize the information overload Adrien told me.

"Yeah, that is basically it." Adrien says. "Thanks for cleaning up for me."

"It's no problem. It's the least I can do. You and that girl just saved Paris." I say as I nudge him with my shoulder.

"I still think that you should not have told her." Plagg says as he suddenly in front of my face, narrowing his green eyes at me.

I am not afraid to admit it, but I am an animal lover. And I do have the tendency to speak my mind when it concerns them. So I blurted to Plagg, "You are gorgeous."

The kwami splutters and I see pink coloring on his tiny cheeks. Oh my gosh, he is so adorable! I want to hug him close to me, but I don't want to squish him.

"Ah… what's your name, sweet-cheeks?" Plagg asks.

"My name is Samara De Fuego, but you can call me Sam." I answer with a soft smile. My heart has a big soft spot for animals. And seeing Plagg a magical cat kwami just makes it all mushy. Cute animals are my weakness.

Adrien being a 'cat' is so ironic. I had compared him to a feline for many times and now he is a cat super hero now known as Chat Noir. Though I have to say that he pulls it off very well.

"What a pretty name for such a pretty girl." Plagg says as he then rubs his soft head next to my cheek.

I tentatively raise my hand and use a finger to rub his ears. Immediately, he starts to purr. "I like her." He says in a dreamy voice and then pulls away and looks at Adrien. "I'm hungry. I need food to keep up my energy if you want keep having cool powers."

"I can make something quick for us." I offer as I stand up.

"No, it's okay. The private chef is still here. What is the point of contracting her if I let you do all the cooking?" Adrien says as he pushes me down to the couch.

"Yeah, don't fret sweet cheeks." Plagg says. "Let Adrien go to the kitchen to get us something."

"Okay," I chuckle. Adrien just rolls his eyes at his kwami.

"Is there something that you want?" Adrien asks Plagg and me.

"Something delicious." Plagg says immediately.

"I'll have what you'll have." I answer.

"Got it, be right back." Adrien says as he walks out of the room.

Plagg then sits on my lap and I rub his back with my finger and he stars purring again. He is so adorable. I want one.

Adrien came back, holding two silver platters in his hands as I open the door for him. I carried one and we both went back to the couch. We both stay silent as the news lady started showing the video that some girl gave it to them about the fight between the supervillain, Stoneheart, and Paris' new heroes.

We both put the silver platters on the coffee table that's in front of us. I open them and one of them has two grilled cheese sandwiches that are cut in half. On the other platter there was a wine glass filled with chopped fruit and has a decorative little umbrella on it.

I started eating my sandwich as I was watching the news. Hey, I'm hungry.

Adrien didn't touched his, too absorbed in watching the fight. I watched with impressed eyes. It was cool, though I will have a word with Adrien about fighting.

"Ladybug, her name is Ladybug." Adrien finally says after the news lady got back to talking. I look at him and smirk. He has such a dorky face that I've seen Mantis and Monkey do a lot to the female population.

"Eww… what is this?" Plagg asks as he holds the fruit coattail glass.

"Seriously? My personal chef made it." Adrien frowns.

"If you expect me to get my energy back after a transformation I need to eat something more… delicate." Plagg states as he drops the glass. With quick reflexes I grab the wine cup and put it back on the table. Then he sniffs the air and soon is in front of me. "Oh, what is this? It smells delicious."

"It's a grilled cheese sandwich." I answer. Then I rip off a piece from my sandwich and offer it to him. The kwami grabs it and starts nibbling it.

"Oh, cheddar! Now this is what I'm talking about." Plagg says as he quickly finishes it.

"You like cheddar?" Adrien asks surprised.

"I like cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss and my favorite, camembert." Plagg announces. "If you really want me in top shape, camembert cheese is what I need."

"I'll go get it." I say as I stand up. Before Adrien could protest, I interrupt him. "I need to stretch my legs anyways." I say and quickly leave the room.

"Camembert cheese, fantastic. Now I'm going to smell like stinky cheese." Adrien laments. I look at him with pity. Yeah, that cheese is not my favorite. I don't like it at all.

"Just as Paris is about to celebrate our new superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir, a new wave of panic has hit the capital as people are turned into stone monsters. It's simply unbelievable." The news lady says, getting our attention. "The Stonebeings are still like statues. Police are perplexed. What will happen? Will they come to life?"

"Plagg, what's going on? We defeated him." Adrien asks the kwami, voicing our concerns.

"Did you capture the akuma?" Plagg asks him.

"Did I have to do that?" Adrien asks, panic in his eyes.

Plagg immediately shakes his head. "No, it was Ladybug's job. Only she can capture them."

"But there was one akuma victim. Why are there more?" I ask worriedly.

"An akuma must be captured or else they multiply once they are out in the… wild, so to speak." Plagg informs.

"So those akumas infect regular people, despite their emotions?" I ask further.

"Yes. But they will be like a statue until the original host gets an akuma in him again. Once he does, all the Stone Beings will be under his control and use it as his personal army if he so wants."

"This is bad." I say rather lamely as I look at my phone in worry. "Ladybug must feel a lot a pressure on her. I mean, she must be as new as you, Adrien. She must have forgotten or she didn't know about capturing akumas."

"She shouldn't feel bad. It was a rookie mistake." Adrien defends his partner in… justice? I guess it's more appropriate to say than crime. "So in other words, Plagg, I can't do anything without Ladybug?" He asks his kwami.

"Again, only Ladybug has the ability to capture the akuma. And repair damage caused by a supervillain. So we just have to wait until the original Stoneheart gets akumatized again." Plagg informs us.

We must, or rather I must have looked really worried because Plagg flies in front of my face and puts his tiny paw on my cheek. "Don't you worry, sweet cheeks. Everything will be back to normal soon. Trust me."

I let out a small smile and rub Plagg's chin, which caused him to let go of me and lean into my touch. "Thank you, Plagg. I needed that." My softness for animals has almost no end.

"So sweet cheeks, where are you from? Your French has an accent that I cannot quite place…" Plagg asks as he rubs his paw under his chin. He is so adorable.

And so I talked with the magical cat kwami for quite a while, answering his questions. There are not kidding about curious cats.

(The next day)

Mom is borrowing Mr. Agreste's car again, but this time to let us go school shopping.

Even though I was buying all my school supplies and conversing with Mom, my mind went towards Adrien. I hope that he did make it to school before Nathalie notices.

I suggested that he escape by jumping over the gates or using a back door that Gilles wasn't watching over. I really want him to go to that school. I don't want to be alone…

"So Sam, how are the crew and the rest back in San Francisco?" Mom asks as we are looking through backpacks.

"They are all good. We all miss each other and they won't start school until next week." I comment. "Po said that Tigress is sending the letters from Tai to our address."

"How is Tai? I mean, do you know anything?"

"From the letters he sent to the crew, they all say that he is getting trained to the bone, but he is healthy and has some friends already." I smile. "Though I have yet to read what he has to say to me."

"Do you still have a crush on him, mihija?"

"What?! No!" I exclaim. "I mean, I got over it before he left." I say more calmly. Mom gave me a look that said that didn't believe me. "I swear. I did. It's just I had a crush on him for a reason. I do care for him. But I am happy that we are just friends."

"Are you sure? Tai is a good boy. I would approve of him if you guys ever wanted to date or be a couple when you guys are older." Mom says with a smile.

Internally I was sweating and my stomach clenching. She (or anyone else, minus Po) doesn't know that we kissed, several many times (Po only knows that we kissed once and that was because he caught us in the act). And that we went to secret dates (Po covered for me). And that we broke up and agreed that we are better as friends for now (Po took me out to an ice cream shop so that I could stuff myself; it felt better than eating noodles).

She didn't even suspected that I was low-key depressed about this. She thought I was just tired because we (the crew and I) were having tournaments and a lot of testing. It was better that she thought it was that.

It wasn't that I didn't trust her. It's just I didn't trust that she would approve. Tai is older than me by three years. And to her… it's a lot. She would approve it once I am older than 21, just like what she mentioned.

Though, I am glad that Tai and I broke up. I don't know what I would do if we continued our relationship. With us in different places, logically it wouldn't work out. Tai was actually a little bit jealous and possessive when we were together. It caused us some friction between us, but he got over it when he saw how I downright refused to go out with a guy. He trusted me and I trusted him. And I will admit that I was jealous when some girls would approach Tai with goo-goo eyes.

"Thanks, Mom. But I'm good. If I ever have a boyfriend, I'll tell you later." I tease, making Mom slap my shoulder in a playful way as she pouts.

Mom and I were actually almost close to the mansion when we saw a lot of Stonehearts walking all in the same direction.

We both screamed and Mom did some illegal maneuvers to prevent from crashing into them. We weren't that lucky. We left a rather large dent at the front of the car.

Mom and I agree that we will save money to pay for it later.

Once we parked the car, we quickly went inside and turn on the news.

We saw everything. Well, as much as you can when the fight is in the Eiffel Tower and the news camera crew are in the ground, away from the main action.

It was impressive in both a scary and awesome way.

I won't lie that I was holding my breath when I saw that Stoneheart threw Chloe of all people. Even though she is a mean bitch, she doesn't deserve to die. Hurt, yes, but not too severely. I still have a little mean streak in me, but I have it under control.

After seeing everything to the very end, (Hawkmoth is rather intimidating) I was glad things turned up fine and that good did beat evil.

Mom checked on the car that we dented and hollered so loud that I could hear from my place inside the living room.

I went to check on her, because I thought something went worse. But it was the opposite. The car was fixed! There was no dent or anything wrong.

We both went to our knees and thanked God for this miracle. We weren't going to waste money! Hallelujah!

Later when Adrien came back home, I immediately hugged the life out of him. He joked, or not, that he couldn't breathe so I loosen the bear hug, but still hugged him. He hugged me back then.

"I'm so glad that you are safe." I whisper to him.

"I told you that I will be back." He whispers and ever so slightly tightens the hug.

We released after a while and soon Plagg comes out of Adrien's blazer and gets almost in front of my face. "Thank you for taking care of Adrien, Plagg." I tell him. Adrien is pouting in the background.

"You're most welcome, sweet cheeks. Do I get a treat?" He asks excitedly.

"I have a piece of camembert waiting just for you." I tell him. His green eyes basically sparkle as he zooms away towards Adrien's room.

"You are spoiling my kwami." Adrien continues pouting. "Do I get a treat too? I saved Paris."

I laugh lightly and I tell him, "I am going to make sure that you are in top shape to fight any future villains." I didn't hide my amusement when Adrien's jaw dropped.

I am so glad Gabriel let Adrien attend Dupont High. I won't be that lonely when I start class tomorrow. I just hope that we both share a lot of the classes.

Right now I am in the car with Giles to pick up Adrien.

I am so proud that I told him to bring his umbrella. Mom predicted that it was going to rain earlier than expected. And Mom bullied me into bringing my own red umbrella even though I didn't plan of getting off the car.

My future classmates left very quickly, some already had their own umbrellas and others using their jackets or backpacks to keep them less wet. Eventually there was an Asian girl with twin pigtails just standing in the entrance.

Where is- oh, there he is.

He's… talking with her. Oh, are they in the same class? He's offering his umbrella to her. She looks shy and takes it from him.

I giggled when the umbrella closes on her. They also laughed and I decided to be nice.

I got out of the car and open my umbrella and walk towards Adrien half way.

I hear a certain magical cat say something about two lovebirds.

Adrien puffs out, "Whatever, she's just a friend." Then he pauses and says almost in awe. "A friend."

"I'm glad that you're making friends, Adrien. I told you that you'll have them in no time." I state as I bring the umbrella over the both of us.

"I shouldn't have ever doubted you." Adrien says mock serious as he opens the door for us.

"Yeah, you shouldn't." I retort, also mock serious.

And with that we got comfort in the back seat as Gilles takes us back home.

I wonder how school will be for me tomorrow. I just hope that I don't make a complete fool of myself.

AN: So yeah, I did the Origins Part 1 & 2. I am trying to make the episodes go into the chronological order that I thought would fit. There's no dates and I can only assume what order they would be. So I guess you can all try to predict what episode is next?

Thank you readers for your reviews to those that did.

Also, next chapter Sam and the rest will now speak French all the time, unless stated otherwise.

*- In the French dub, Adrien and Marinette literally say 'Plagg/Tikki, transform me!' not 'Spots on!' or 'Claws out!'. Ooooorrrrr that is what I heard it to be. I am not a fluent French speaker so correct me if I'm wrong. But I am going to stick with 'Transform me!'. It fits.