Chapter 1: She's Back

https://youtu.be/H-R3TZX5weE

~2 Years Ago~

"She was a great friend and an inspirational hero."

The streets of Paris remained silent as the citizens stood by the Ladybug and Chat Noir statue listening as Chat recited the words he'd so carefully prepared. He stood perched on the mossy green stone, a tear threatening to escape from his tear ducts. 

"She was always there for us in our times of need and never ceased to amaze me." he sighed, "Despite my reckless actions and unnecessary jokes and puns, she-" his voices cracked, "She still managed to stay by my side and save us all until her last dying breath. She-"

The tear threatening to spill made its way down his cheek and was soon followed by many more. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't act as if it wasn't killing him on the inside. He just couldn't! He was always the one that let the whole of Paris, heck, the whole world see who he was. She was the mature one. She was the sensible one. And now, she was the dead one.

He screamed. Everyone flinched. They knew how much he'd loved her. 

Next to talk was Batman. He spoke of how they first met and how they'd all thought she was completely bonkers when she'd mentioned akumas and magical jewels that could give people powers. He spoke of how much he'd underestimated her and thought of her to be just another normal person who'd had to carry the burden of a whole country on her shoulders, just like him. 

"But no, she was much more than that. I didn't even get to thank her."

Robin watched his father. He could practically feel the depression wafting off him and taste the bitterness in his voice. He then caught sight of her parents. Tom held Sabine as she shook and yelled for the young woman who'd captivated everyone's hearts. Everyone else thought that Ladybug must've found a place in their hearts, however he knew that it was much more than that. 

-&-

"We always knew that there was something strange about her. Ever since her first day of Lycée, she'd started acting strange and making excuses whenever Hawkmoth was involved. We'd even caught her talking to herself a couple of times in her room."

Robin eyed the two bakers. He'd come over to tell them the news before the funeral because as her parents, they deserved to know. What he didn't know though was that she hadn't told them. Then again, who would tell their parents that they were a superhero who was fighting dangerous monsters on a daily basis. They would freak out! He was lucky because his family was a family of heroes - well vigilantes. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she must've felt carrying this secret on her own with only an old man in a hawaii shirt to talk to.

"We'd suspected that she was Ladybug, however you coming here today only confirmed it." 

He couldn't bring himself to say that everything was all right. Because it wasn't. Their only daughter was dead and they couldn't even find her body to give her a proper burial. The guilt in his stomach only grew.

~A few months later~

"Put down the knife or I'll shoot!" 

Red Hood held a gun to the head of the mugger in his hands as he directed his attention to the one in front of him who had pulled a random guy off the streets and used him as a hostage. The mugger watched as his friend squirmed in the hero's arms telling him not to do it and just take the goods and run. But he didn't. He sighed and dropped the knife, the metal clanking when it hit the floor,  then lifted hands, ignoring the annoyed expression his friends gave him, and dropped the bag.

Red Hood called the police and left the two men tied up in the alley. He then proceeded to scout the streets for anymore trouble.

After the incidents of the Grim Reaper and Marinette's death, they'd been surprised to find the whole of Gotham completely unscathed as if a powerful being hadn't terrorised it and turned it into a hellhole. They were even more surprised when they'd asked Commissioner Gordon how everyone was coping after what happened and he'd had no idea what they were talking about. No one remembered. Well besides the Justice League, them and the Teen Titans. Joker didn't even remember breaking out of Arkham in the first place! On a more positive note, Dick had proposed to Barbara the moment she got back and she'd said yes!

Meanwhile, in Paris, everything was beginning to settle down and Viperion and Ryuko had been chosen as the newly appointed leaders of the Miraculous Team. After Hawkmoth's long break, he'd started re-terrorising the streets of Paris with stronger villains. Although they'd won every battle, Ryuko, Viperion, Queen Bee and Chat would occasionally have to call for back up from the other miraculous wielders. They knew that along with them, the streets of Paris wouldn't last long without her miraculous cure. They needed her and she wasn't there.

~2 Years Later~

This was the closest they'd gotten to finding Talia. Robin stared down the man in front of him, one of her henchmen. "Leave him be Robin. We've got other ways of making him talk." Robin turned to the deep voice behind him and grumbled under his breath. "All your methods of torture always involve guns and end up with the interrogatee dead."

Red Hood chuckled. Damian knew him so well.

"Stop joking around." Nightwing said as he entered the room,"This is serious."

He looked down at the man they'd pulled into an abandoned warehouse and tied up then pulled in close to him and spoke, "I'm going to ask you one last time. Where. Is. Talia."

The man responded by spitting on his shoe. Red Robin snickered. His brother was so bad at this! "If you want him to talk, you're gonna have to make him." he spoke up as he watched his brother scrape his shoe against the concrete floor. He proceeded to show him by sending his fist into the man's stomach. He groaned. Red Robin then pulled his hair back and kneed him in the face sending him flying. The man only spat out some blood and continued to glare at his captors.

"You were saying?" Robin quipped.

Nightwing sighed. He held the bridge of his nose and opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by the sound of shuffling. The light flickered.

"Who's there!" he demanded. No answer.

"I said who's th-" he felt a sharp pain on his stomach as he was kicked and sent flying.

Robin unsheathed his sword and lunged for the hooded figure who'd somehow made their way into the room. He was tripped and his sword was sent skidding. Red Hood pulled out his gun only for it to be hit out of his hands and him to be sent a punch to the face. 

The figure then untied the henchman and proceeded for the door to be stopped by Robin's sword on their neck.

"Who are you!" he demanded. When they didn't answer, he got impatient and instead pulled the hood off with the tip of his sword. His eyes widened and the sound echoed bouncing off the walls as the sword made connection with the ground.

Her midnight blue hair caught the attention of a nearby light as it glimmered and sparkled under the light's gaze. She turned around.

Robin stumbled. He'd recognise that arch of barely visible freckles anywhere. And her eyes! The eyes that had always seemed to draw him in and read him from inside-out stared back at him. The glint of recognition on her face was gone so soon that he thought he'd imagined it.  

Just as it had when they'd first met, the room remained silent as the boys stared at her and she stared back. Until she spoke.

"Talia sends a message." her voice ice cold, "Don't mess with us if you don't want to get hurt."

Then she was gone. The light flickered off covering them in darkness as they watched the now empty door. 

Red Robin was the first to speak, "Holy shit."

Then it was Red Hood, "It can't be."

Their intercoms beeped. "What's going on? What happened!" Bruce's deep voice could be heard on the other side.

Nightwing was the one to answer, "She's alive."

"Who?" Alfred joined the conversation.

"Marinette." Robin whispered, "Marinette's alive."