Set after the first season.

xXx

The wisest person Marinette ever knew was her grandmother on her father's side (she'd only met her grandparents on her mother's side once, and only barely remembered their visit—they were old fashioned and rarely had access to anything outside their little farming community in China). She often remembered going out to the country as a child and arriving at a modest home set back in a small vineyard that seemed like it belonged more in a fairy tail than in real life. Her grandmother would then show her all sorts of things and tell her stories of far away places and fairies and princesses. Not all of them were pleasant, but Marinette loved each and every one of them nonetheless.

"These stories exist," her grandmother would often say, "because bad things will always happen, no matter how good you are. Your life is what you make of it. You can be in the best circumstances and still be sad. You can be in the worst circumstances and still be happy. Life will give you lemons, so let me teach you how to make lemonade."

Now that Marinette looked back on it, it had been silly and cheesy, but she still loved thinking about it. Sometimes, especially recently, she'd been having a hard time remembering that good things happened if she just kept at it. Endurance, she discovered, was by far the most difficult aspect of living. The fact that she'd been chosen to be a super hero only made this more obvious to her. So many times she found herself grateful that part of her super powers dealt with luck, because quite frankly, she needed all the help she could get sometimes.

Like right now.

"Chat! Duck!" The blond boy did so as a stream of dark energy shot through the space where his head had been not moments before.

"Thank you, My Lady," he said, taking a second to smile at her before he dodged another beam. The Akuma, a teacher at her school (again), had gotten frustrated with students not paying attention in class. They hadn't seen the black butterfly land on anything, but while her back had been turned to the class, she'd suddenly frozen. After a few seconds the whole class had freaked out when a dark energy had surrounded her. She'd then turned and proclaimed that if they couldn't watch the board, they wouldn't be able to watch anything and proceeded shoot energy beams at people. Said beams blinded each person they touched.

All in all, it wasn't the worst Akuma they'd ever faced, but the situation still created it's own problems, mainly because in addition to the black energy beams, she also exuded a mist of darkness that no one could touch without getting blinded as well. Marinette had no idea how to get close to her at all, let alone find whatever the butterfly-Akuma had possessed.

She ducked as the Akuma (she hadn't heard the name Hawkmoth had given her) shot a beam out at Ladybug just to let the super hero know she hadn't been forgotten. Ladybug managed to roll to the side, coming to land on one knee and a hand, bracing herself to move quickly if she had to. Thankfully, Chat had swooped in with his stick and distracted her again. Being able to hit the Akuma from any distance was useful.

She glanced around and noted some air vents not too far away. Maybe if she could lure the Akuma over that way, they could at least get rid of the aura of darkness and try to figure out what they had to break this time. Honestly, she couldn't think of anything else she could do at the moment, so she made a few mental calculations. Then she yelled out to her partner.

"Chat! Follow me!"

She threw her yoyo out and swung in the directions of the air vents, trusting that Chat would follow right behind. She landed several meters away from the grate and noted that yes, air was indeed coming out of it. Tiny streamers that had been tied onto the grate stood straight in the air, dancing in an amusing display of color. She smiled just as Chat landed beside her.

"My Lady?" he asked.

She nodded with her head towards the grate as she eyed the teacher-turned-monster that continued to follow them.

"Do you think I don't know what you want me to do?" the Akuma screeched. "I have an intellect far superior to yours! Teachers always do!"

Ladybug wasn't so sure about that, but she did note with displeasure that the Akuma had planted itself more or less in the middle of the street and did not move another step closer to the vents. Well, at least that let them know that something would happen if they did manage to get her over there.

"What now, My Lady?" Chat asked, his nonchalance slightly forced.

Sparing a glance at him, she grabbed her yoyo. "Distract her for a moment."

"Of course!" he said and leapt at the cloud of darkness, using his pole to poke at the Akuma and prod her as he had been doing before. This, of course, gave Ladybug the opportunity to pull out her final card.

"Lucky charm!"

A compact fell into her hands. It had a large mirror and nothing else.

"Is now really the time to powder your pretty nose?" Chat asked, having noticed her signature move.

She shot him a dirty look before another stream of energy came at her.

And she knew what to do.

Holding the compact up, the beam struck the mirror. Apparently it was light-based (although she didn't know how that could be as it looked dark, but chalked it up to magic) because it bounced right back at the Akuma before it had a chance to dodge.

"Aarg!" she screamed and the cloud moved as if she were stumbling. Ladybug and Chat exchanged glances as the Akuma straightened herself. "Do you think this will stop me? I can still blind you! Consider this your punishment for not paying attention!"

With that, a steady stream of the dark began to circle around her in one continuous shot. Ladybug honestly wondered why she hadn't used such an attack before as both she and Chat had to take cover from it. Then again, it would make her dizzy and hopefully disorient her, which would only help their cause so she couldn't really complain too much.

"My Lady?" Chat called to her from somewhere off to her right.

"I hear you!"

The earrings beeped.

"She's blinded now," Ladybug called back, hoping the obviousness of the statement would give him a hint. Apparently it did.

"Maybe you can hear me," he said to the Akuma suddenly as he bounded from in back of the car he'd taken refuge behind, "but you still can't catch me!"

He proceeded to quite literally run circles around the Akuma, barely keeping ahead of the teacher, who didn't cease her attack. It left a dark streak behind wherever it touched, and Ladybug was pretty sure they'd have to avoid contact with that if they wanted to be able to continue to fight.

Typical. This was getting better and better.

The earrings beeped again.

She mentally berated herself for being so sarcastic in the middle of a fight. If she had time to think such thoughts, she probably had time to figure something else out.

Mme. Durand, the teacher, continued to follow Chat Noir's voice with her attack, swinging it this way and that as the super hero did his best to dodge and duck out of the way. Meanwhile, Marinette sneaked as quietly as she could, hoping to get into position without the Akuma noticing.

When she finally stood in place, she took a deep breath and swung her yoyo out, ignoring a third warning from her miraculous. The yoyo wrapped around the teacher in the middle of the cloud and Ladybug yanked the Akuma towards her and the air vent between them. Mme. Durand shrieked but was unable to stop herself as she landed heavily (and harmlessly—thank goodness for the hardiness that came with Akuma powers) on top of the grate. She didn't move for a moment, and Ladybug grinned.

What was left of the cloud of darkness dispersed upward with the air, allowing Ladybug to see the laser pointer in the teacher's hand. It was the only thing she could see that could conceivably have been possessed because the rest of the teacher's body was covered in in a black, skin-tight suit.

She rushed forward, yanked it out of the black-clad hand and threw it on the ground, stomping on it with her foot for good measure. A small, relieved sigh escaped her when a little, black butterfly floated up. In moments, she'd purified it.

"Bye, bye, pretty papillon," she said with a relieved smile as it fluttered away. Then she tossed the compact into the air and the smile turned into a full-blown grin as all the streaks of darkness left behind by the attack vanished.

"Great job, Milady!" Chat Noir praised as he ran up to her, fist bump ready. She met it just as her earnings beeped for the final time. She glanced at the very confused teacher who now sat on the pavement, blinking as if trying to remember something she'd just been doing and not succeeding. She looked like any normal teacher, albeit this one sat in her professional skirt and button-down top under somewhat ruffled brunette hair in the middle of a vacant street. Rather out of place for any working adult.

"Sorry for leaving you with the clean-up, but my transformation is about to wear off," she said apologetically to Chat Noir.

"It's fine, My Lady," the blond boy said with a bow. "I'll take care of everything."

She rolled her eyes at his cheesy lines, but couldn't stop the smile that crawled onto her face. Then, with a grateful wave, she rushed down a nearby street and just managed to duck behind a car before her transformation wore off. Exhausted, Tikki let herself fall into Marinette's hands, but she had a large smile on her face.

"Nice job, Marinette," she said.

"Thanks," Marinette grinned as she glanced around to make sure no one saw, stood and started her journey home. She was sure Chat would be alright, but she still felt a little guilty for leaving him to do all the clean up. Normally she had a little more time to help out. Odd...

"Tikki, is everything alright with you?" she asked with a slight frown.

The little, red Kwami blinked her large, blue eyes up at her wielder. "Why do you ask, Marinette?"

The dark-haired girl furrowed her brow. "Well, it just seemed like the transformation wore off more quickly than usual is all."

Tikki looked down and put her chin in her hand. "Well, I have been feeling a little strange today," she admitted.

Marinette stumbled. She tended to do that when she got worried. That was something no amount of good luck could help, apparently. She felt her brow furrow in concern. "Are you sick?"

The fairy thought about that for a moment before shrugging. "I might be coming down with something, but I don't feel particularly bad. At least not yet."

"Should I take you to see Master Fu?" Marinette asked, unconscious of the way she brought Tikki to her chest protectively.

Tikki shook her head, causing her antenna to flow around her like little ribbons. Marinette couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. Tikki was just too cute for her own good.

"No, I don't think it's anything a night of rest and a plate of cookies won't fix," she assured. "And even if it is, we can go see Master Fu when we're sure. He's a pretty busy man."

Marinette bit her lip and went to open her purse. They were approaching a more heavily traveled street and would attract too much attention with Tikki out in the open like that. "If you're sure," she acquiesced hesitantly.

"We really shouldn't bother him if it isn't important," Tikki insisted.

"Alright," Marinette said. "But if you feel anything tonight or tomorrow..."

"You'll know," Tikki nodded.

Something about how she said that caused Marinette to stop and look down at her Kwami with a frown.

"What do you mean, I'll know?"

"Well, when I get sick, I tend to get...unlucky," Tikki admitted, flushing an even brighter red. Huh, so Kwami could blush, Marinette thought, and then the words her fairy had spoken caught up with her.

"What?" she practically screeched.

Tikki sighed. "Remember when you lost me the last time I got sick?" Marinette nodded. She'd had to track her little friend across half of Paris during an Akuma attack. It hadn't been fun. "Normally I'm a force for good luck, but sometimes my energy gets out of balance and I get sick. When that happens, everything that might have been good luck becomes bad luck until my energy becomes balanced again."

Marinette's eyes widened in realization. "Which is why we had to get Master Fu to cure you."

Tikki grinned. "Exactly."

"Alright," Marinette said with a nod and began to walk again, tapping her chin with one hand thoughtfully. "Well, I was still able to help stop an Akuma attack last time, and I did manage to get you back, so it wasn't too bad, I guess."

Tikki just shook her head. "How much bad luck gathers depends on how sick I get. If it gets really bad, it can affect you too. Thankfully I haven't gotten that sick in centuries."

"Well that's good," the dark-haired girl said with a grin as she stepped out onto the busier street and turned towards the subway that would take her back to her neighborhood. She didn't particularly care if people saw her 'talking to herself', and very few people took notice of her purse talking back to her. As long as the Kwami stayed hidden, they were usually fine, so when something else occurred to her she didn't mind voicing it.

"Tikki, what makes you sick?"

The Kwami didn't answer for several seconds and Marinette wondered if she'd heard the question. Then, finally, she heard the muffled answer.

"There are lots of reasons. The energy around Paris has been in flux because of all the Akuma attacks, and that can affect Kwami. It could be something to do with Chat Noir and his Kwami too."

"Chat?" Marinette asked, surprised. "Why would he affect you?"

"Chat Noir and Ladybug are two halves of a whole," Tikki said with a giggle. "So if something is really wrong with him and his Kwami, it can affect me. Usually not enough to cause serious problems though because it's indirect."

"Oh," Marinette replied, thinking about that. "What else?"

"Sometimes the same things that can make humans sick can make Kwami sick too. Not enough rest, not enough food or water, things like that. Sometimes it can just be the energy of the world shifting or the energy of the universe following its course. Sometimes getting sick is completely natural for a Kwami and they can become stronger when they heal.

"See? There are lots of reasons."

Marinette smiled ruefully down at her companion as she bought a ticket. "You know, that may be the most information you've ever given me at one time. Are you sure you're not sick?"

Tikki just rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

xXx

Marinette managed to finish her homework that night and went to bed early. Which was why she was surprised when her mother had to physically rouse her and inform her that even if she got up at that moment, she would be late. Marinette rushed and scrambled so quickly that she forgot to check on Tikki until she grabbed her purse to leave.

"Tikki," she said through a roll as she rushed out the door. "How are you..."

Marinette froze when she saw the little, limp form that had more or less made her purse into a home. Tikki wasn't answering and she just sat there in a heap at the bottom of the pocket. To Marinette, she looked dead and that scared her...deeply.

Forgetting about school completely, she turned and half-ran, half-tripped (her luck really was bad this morning) to Master Fu's where she practically collapsed on the floor in tears. She explained the situation and then carefully handed the Kwami over. The look on the old man's face as he examined Tikki didn't do anything to reassure her.

"What's wrong with her?" Marinette couldn't contain the question any longer, even though she knew Master Fu was still examining. He must have decided to humor her, though, because he sighed and glanced up at her.

"Unlike humans, getting sick can be a natural part of growing for Kwami. It's a way for them to purge unnatural energy that has accumulated in their bodies."

Marinette nodded. "Tikki said something like that yesterday. So how long before she gets better?"

Master Fu shook his head. "I couldn't say. It could be a few hours or a few weeks. This isn't something we can hurry along without some rather dire potential consequences."

That surprised (and worried) Marinette and she sat back, eyes wide. "You mean, you can't ring your gong and make her better?"

The old man shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. It could hurt her and potentially weaken her even further in her current condition."

Marinette began to wring her hands together worriedly. "But she will get better?"

"Of course," Master Fu replied, patting her hands calmly.

"But what if an Akuma attacks?" she asks.

"Then Chat Noir and I will have to take care of it until Tikki is better. I have ways of temporarily storing magic in stasis and it should work on the Akuma too. It's risky, but something we can resort to if we have to."

Marinette did not like the sound of that. "And I'm just supposed to sit on the side and just watch while you two risk your lives?"

Master Fu didn't frown often, so when he did this time, it startled her (and maybe even scared just a tiny bit—he was pretty intimidating for a little, old man). "You need to stay as in balance as you can if you want to help Tikki get better. Rushing into battles you can't handle won't help her and it won't help you."

Then he smiled reassuringly as he laid Tikki in Marinette's hands. "There's nothing I can do for her here. She may be able to help you transform just long enough to purify an Akuma if she gets enough rest and food. That's if you're lucky. But please don't push her. It could make the whole situation worse."

Marinette sighed. "Right," she muttered and stood, placing Tikki lovingly in her purse.

At that point, she noticed the time. "I don't suppose you could write me a note excusing me, could you?"

He sighed again.

xXx

AN: Don't know how many people reading this will also read my Star Wars stories, but I promise that the next chapter of Dangers of Foresight is with the beta readers now. Been writing this one on and off for that last little while and can't promise when it will be updated (I usually work on something like this when I get blocked in my other stories that I'm supposed to be updating, helps keep my writing alive and stops me from getting writers block), but I do have a good 4 chapters written already, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Note, this will be a Dark!Ladybug fic. This is rated T mainly for tense scenes and some violence as well as a few underlying hints at something darker here and there. It should be a pretty mild T, though; no language, no explicit content.

Also, only canon pairings.

Hope you enjoyed it so far. Replies, positive or negative (as long as they're constructive) are welcome and often help me with later chapters. :)