A/N: Hello! Welcome to my new story! I have been so excited to begin this! This idea comes from the "Selection" series by Kiera Cass. It won;t be exactly like the books and will not follow the same characters and plot points, but it will follow the general idea. This is going to be just a teensy tiny bit OOC on the Marinette end. If you haven't read the books, you really should; they're awesome! This is my first Miraculous Ladybug story and I'm super excited to start writing for this fandom! I really hope you enjoy!

P.S. If you are wondering about any of the pronunciations (because I changed a couple of the names of the fictional countries in this), go ahead and ask for it in the review and I'll let you know.

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. All rights belong to their respectable owners.

Chapter 1

Prince Adrien Agreste VI had always loved the idea of the Competition. It was how his father had met his mother. It was how they fell in love. He had always been excited for that to happen to him one day. He wanted to find his soulmate, just as his father had found his. Adrien never questioned how his "soulmate" would happen to be one in twenty-four girls. Perhaps he had subconsciously marked it off in his head as fate.

Whatever the matter, Adrien had always been waiting for this day. Well... nearly always.

After his mother died in a rebel attack, he lost hope in love. His life grew lonely and dark. His father, who had always been rather distant, never spoke to him after the incident. Adrien realized that his mother had been the person he spent most of his time with and she had always been intent on making sure he was happy. All of a sudden, his happiness was stripped from him. He was a husk, a paper thin prototype of what he had once been.

It was during that time, that period of time when he was alone, that Adrien lost hope in love.

He decided then that he would never be able to find his love, that there was no such thing as true love, and that love was an idea that silly optimists chased their entire lives and never found.

His heart never hardened. It just broke.

Poor Adrien, whose life had been so dark for so long, changed the first day of Competition.

As the girls walked into the processional hall, his world exploded in color.

"Marinette! Dinner's ready!"

Marinette waved goodbye to Nathanael as she ran towards the bakery. She ran in through the door, slightly out of breath.

"Hello Mama, Papa." She kissed their cheeks and sat down to her plate of chicken and peas. A bowl of soup sat beside her glass of milk. "This is rather, uh... hearty, isn't it?" she questioned, looking up at her parents. They hadn't had a meal this fancy since Christmas.

Her father, Tom, laughed. "It's a special occasion. Don't tell us you forgot what day it is?" Marinette stared back blankly.

"It's the day of the Choosing Ceremony," her mother, Sabine, said taking a sip of wine.

Marinette gasped. She had forgotten all about the Competition. How could she not have remembered the hours of waiting in lines at the processing offices, handing in her forms. Every time a new prince reached the age of marriage, there was a Competition. All girls between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were to enter their names and information into the running. Marinette, whose age fell just above eighteen, hadn't been worried about being drawn. After being chosen to be Ladybug, she believed that nothing too exciting would happen in her life again. Her being Ladybug was her legacy, her one thing. Fate only picked one thing to happen to you in life, Ladybug had been hers, bada bing, bada boom, been there, done that, that was it.

How wrong had she been.

The Dupain-Chengs crowded around the television, watching in anticipation to see who had been picked for the Competition. Girls were being called left and right, fake crowds erupting in cheers with the press of a button. It was cool to see new types of people. This was the first Competition to ever go international. Marinette had never been outside of Franic. She herself was part Chine on her mother's side, but she hardly knew the language. Only girls who were fluent in the native language of Franic were eligible for Competition. Marinette had heard at school that those in other countries were rigorously tested to see if they knew it.

However, when Marinette's face popped onto the screen, she froze.

This had to be a mistake.

Had to be a mistake.

Her big thing had already happened. Ladybug was her big thing. This wasn't possible.

And yet, there her picture was, in all it's smiling glory.

And there was the fake applause.

And there was her name being called out by Prince Adrien.

She was too confused to see his reaction.

She felt her head spin.

"Hooray?" Tom said in a small voice.

Marinette took a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth, she thought to herself.

She sat on the bed, trying to calm herself down. However, the bed just made it worse. She didn't know what it was made of, but it was extremely plush compared to her springy bed at home. Although it had been made for ultimate comfort, it just made her more uneasy.

The entire room was overdone. High ceilings, thick and silky drapes, a canopy over her blue bed, cream walls, a bathroom that contained a bath fit to be a pool, and a vanity that was so big and so grandiose it could have been the queen's. It all made her uncomfortable and even with the fancy classical music playing down the hall, it felt strange compared to her old pink bedroom with a beaten up desk and a mattress lying on the ground.

"It can't be that bad, Marinette," Tikki said, hovering in front of Marinette's face.

"Oh, Tikki, I hate it here! It's too big. I don't need a bed this big. I don't need a pool in my bathroom. I had everything I needed back home."

Tikki had followed Marinette to the castle. She had to, otherwise how was Marinette supposed to be Ladybug!

"Marinette, I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually," Tikki said trying to calm Marinette down.

In an effort to stop breathing so fast, Marinette changed the subject. "I guess I better unpack."

Marinette put all her clothes in the giant wardrobe, folded and hanged neatly. She was surprised to find that there were some already in there, but brushed it off. She'd wear her clothes on the weekends. She put up a picture of her family on the nightstand next to her bed. In the drawer of the nightstand, she put the box containing her journal and a fountain pen engraved with her name. She tacked up a drawing of her family and friends waving to her. It was drawn by Nathanael. He had handed it to her as she had been saying goodbye.

"You know that you're ruining this extremely expensive wallpaper, right?" Tikki asked, looking in amusement as Marinette pushed the pin into the wall with great effort.

"Yep. And I don't care one bit." After Marinette drove the last pin into the wall she stood back and looked at the picture. It had been drawn in great detail, and it was as precise as a photograph. Her eyes welled with tears.

Finally, she pulled a box out from her trunk. She opened it and looked at the red jewels. The necklace had been in her family for ages. Marinette had never put it on due to the fact that her mother said that it was so fragile and special that she mustn't break it. In fear, Marinette never wore it. She simply kept it for when she had a daughter, so she could pass it down.

She had gotten a letter about a week before she came to the castle and it said in it that the contestants were allowed to keep any valuables in a safe in the room. The only person who knew the code was King Gabriel and everyone knew he had enough power and money to get anything he wanted and he had no interest on some girls' valuables.

Marinette shut the box and locked it in the safe. There was a sudden knock at the door. Tikki hid in Marinette's suitcase.

"Come in," Marinette called wiping at her eyes.

"Hello Miss Dupain-Cheng. I am Claire and I will be your personal maid throughout this Competition. I can't wait to get to know you!" This sounded extremely rehearsed, however Claire sounded like a nice girl. "For now, I have your dress for this evening." She gestured to large garment bag on the carrier behind her. "I can assist you in putting it on."

"Oh, really, it's no problem. I can do it myself," Marinette said. She really wanted some alone time.

Claire laughed. It was a nice laugh, although a little quiet. "I don't think so." Before Marinette could say anything, the dress was laid out in front of her. It was a large, cream ball gown. Layers and layers of silk and tulle flowed to the ground. It cinched at the waist and poofed out. This dress was worth more than Marinette's entire life.

However, there were some things Marinette would change about the design if she could. The sash was a bit much. Maybe a belt... no then it would look too much like a wedding dress. Actually, now that she thought about it, it already did look like a wedding dress. Maybe it could be a bit more off white... No, then it would be a weird light yellow. The color was fine in the end, more like a dance dress than a wedding dress. The worst thing had to be the tulle and silk. Although beautiful on the body, the two textures clashed to the touch.

"It's very pretty," Marinette said. Which was true. It could just use a bit of work.

"It's one of the King's designs."

Oh. Oops. She took back all of her previous statements.

Marinette had always been enthralled with design and King Gabriel's designs had always been her favorite. The only thing she looked forward to at the castle was seeing the dresses. Specifically, on real people, not models who knew what they were doing.

She realized that she had just criticized her idol's work.

After Claire had tied her up into the corset of the dress, Marinette was sent to the vanity. The makeup artists came in and made her look like a completely different person. Marinette did not know much about makeup, but compared to what the artists were wearing, she felt like hers was rather natural. Then even more stylists came in and they did her hair and her nails and moisturized her skin. There was even a fragrance specialist.

"Is it like this everyday?" Marinette asked Claire.

"Most days," Claire said with a giggle.

Claire was not much older than Marinette and she was soft-spoken at heart. Marinette could tell they wouldn't become best friends, but she knew that they would get along well.

Marinette was only left alone to put on her shoes. They were heels and she spent the next few minutes practicing walking in them until she felt she had it nearly down.

"Great job Marinette!" Tikki cheered on as Marinette walked across the room and back without falling for the fifth time in a row.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this..." Marinette said, stumbling to the bed.

There was a knock on the door. Tikki dove for a hidden pocket in the dress. The best thing about Gabriel Agreste's dresses: they always had hidden pockets.

As Marinette lined up near the processional hall with all of the girls, she felt downplayed. Most of the other dresses were extremely extravagant. Maybe it had to do with class. Marinette's family definitely didn't have the most money in Franic.

As the doors to the hall opened wide, little did Marinette know that this was going to be the beginning of the rest of her life.