Chapter 1 - The Mark

Marinette's alarm sounded, waking her up from a deep and peaceful sleep.

She groaned softly, not wanting to go to school.

Then she remembered. She was turning 17, and that meant... she was getting her soulmate mark! She threw the covers off of her, suddenly completely awake.

"Today's the day!"

She jumped out of bed and began to search her skin for any signs of it. It, being her soulmate mark, On everyone's seventeenth birthday, they received an initial somewhere on their body that represented who their soulmate was - their other half. Usually it was the initial of the person's first name, but there have been case of their full initials. The fonts and colours and gave clues to your soulmate.

For example, her best friend Alya had a red N on her wrist to represent their DJ friend, Nino, and Nino had an orange A representing Alya.

On the other hand, her crush, Adrien, didn't have anything... yet. She was both dreading and anticipating seeing his mark on his upcoming birthday. What if it was Chloe? Chloe was the meanest girl in school, taking every chance she got to bring Marinette down and flirt with Adrien.

After ten minutes looking at all the usual places, wondering if it was just really small or something, she sat back down on her bed and tried not to panic.

"Tikki, where could it be? What if I didn't get a mark? What if I don't even have a soulmate?" Marinette worried.

Her kwami flew in front of her. "Marinette, calm down. Take a deep breath. You haven't looked everywhere. In fact..." she said, flying behind Marinette, "Aha!"

"What?" asked Marinette.

"Here it is! It's on your shoulderblade!"

"So I do have one! Is it Adrien?" Marinette asked hopefully. She didn't know what she would do if it wasn't. She couldn't imagine being in love with anyone else.

But Tikki's voice seemed saddened. "Uh, Marinette..."

"What is it?"

"It's a green and black CN," said Tikki, knowing this was not what Marinette wanted, not at all.

"But that could only mean... Cat Noir," said Marinette, realizing it suddenly. She was destined to love him? But she loved Adrien! This was not how it was supposed to go. There was supposed to be a blue A! It was supposed to be Adrien.

Her heart broke at that moment. She couldn't spend the rest of her life with Cat Noir, knowing the love of her life was with someone else, maybe even her enemy, Chloe.

She twisted her head around and looked at her back. Sure enough, there it was. Plain as day. The initials themselves were beautiful. That initials had an ombré that turned the green at the top to black and then back to green. There was no doubt. This could only refer to Cat Noir. How could this have happened? She didn't have feelings for him. Would he get a red L for Ladybug? Worse, would he bring it up to her - the fact that they were destined to be together?

She didn't know how she could even look at Adrien today, knowing that he wasn't her soulmate.

She began to cry and accepted the tissue Tikki brought her.

"It'll all be okay, Mari. You'll see. Maybe you'll grow to love Cat Noir."

"But what if I don't? What if I always love Adrien my whole life? Oh, Tikki, this has been the worst birthday already."

Tikki didn't quite know what to say. She knew Marinette loved Adrien, and agreed that he was the perfect guy, but inside, she was jumping for joy.

Ladybug was meant for Cat Noir. They were two halves of a whole. They had always fit together. Every Ladybug down the centuries had received the same soulmate mark - Cat Noir's.

She hoped Marinette would develop feelings for Cat Noir, and realize this was a good thing. She also wondered about Cat Noir, and when his birthday was. She never got to see Plagg, so she didn't quite know anything.

Marinette slumped downstairs and avoided her parents' questions about her soulmate mark. She ate a quick breakfast, and left for school, dreading the day ahead of her. Her heart was still so heavy, but she had to go on. She had to.

At school, as soon as she sat down, Alya bombarded her with questions and congratulations.

"Happy birthday, girl!"

"So did you get your mark?"

"Who's your soulmate?"

"I'm so happy for you, girl. I'm going to give you your present after school. You are going to love it."

"Woah, woah, calm down," said Marinette, trying to laugh.

"But who's your soulmate? The great Agreste?" said Alya in a lowered tone.

Marinette lowered her head. "I - I don't really want to talk about it."

"Not Adrien? Oh, girl, I'm so sorry. Come here," said Alya, pulling her best friend into a much-needed hug.

Just then, Adrien walked in, and Marinette's jaw quivered. She determinedly looked away from him and continued talking to Alya. She didn't notice his look of concern when she ignored him.

Ms.  Bustier walked in. "Class, before we start the lesson, I want you all to wish Marinette a happy eighteenth birthday."

Most of the class complied, happily, except for Chloe, and Sabrina once she saw that Chloe wasn't doing it. Chloe crossed her arms. "Why would I wish Mari-trash a happy birthday? No. Just no." Sabrina nodded along.

Ms. Bustier scolded Chloe, and Marinette put her head on her hands. She couldn't wait to get out of school.

Later, as her friends left her birthday celebration, Marinette bid them all goodbye. They smiled as they left, Alya giving her one last comforting hug. She closed the door and sighed. Her party had been fun, but all she could think about was the tattoo, and Cat Noir, and Adrien.

She looked at the clock, realizing it was time for patrol. She raced upstairs, and went onto the balcony.

"Tikki, spots on!' she said, instantly transforming. She made her way to the Eiffel tower, where Cat Noir was waiting.

"Hey, Bugaboo," he said.

"Hey, Kitty," she responded.

"Beautiful night, don't you agree?" he asked.

"Let's get on with patrol, Kitty," she said.

After patrol, they met up at the Eiffel Tower and sure enough, Cat Noir started to talk about marks.

"You know we might end up together. We're partners. We have a lot of the same interests, we were basically fated together the second we got our miraculouses," he said.

"Sorry, Kitty, but It's not going to happen," she said.

Cat Noir paused.She knew what he was going to say, and she did not want to tell him anything. He was always asking her if she had gotten her mark or he was talking about marks.

"Wait, have you gotten your mark?" He asked

She sighed. "Well, yes."

"And? Who?"

She smiled. "That's not for you to know, Kitty. That's a secret."

He pouted. "You have to tell me!"

She held a finger to her lips. He laughed. "Fine. I'll just have to get it out of you somehow."

"Don't worry, you won't succeed," she said teasingly. As soon as she turned away, her smile slid off her face. She couldn't tell him. Ever.

"Later Cat Noir, I'm going home," she said, and flung her yo-yo.

When she got home and detransfomed, she felt incredibly guilty. She had basically just lied to his face, telling him that she knew who her soulmate was, and that it wasn't him. He was right, they were meant to be together, yet she couldn't bear to tell him they were soulmates. Judging by what happened tonight, she doubted that Cat Noir had his mark. It could very well be a ladybug or something that was clearly telling him that his soulmate was Ladybug.

Marinette knew it wasn't the worst thing in the world to be fated to Cat Noir. He was a really nice guy, but her heart didn't want to get over Adrien.

She yawned and went to bed. The events of the day had completely worn her out.

But tomorrow was a new day. She'd have a clearer head to figure out what to do. As soon as Marinette's head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep, temporarily forgetting about today's events and putting it behind her.