(A/N) So this is my first foray into writing ML fanfiction! I've had the idea for this reveal method for awhile, and finally decided to write it. Hope everyone likes it! Anyone who's read one of my other fics, Memories of Godly Selfishness, should recognize the format I used for this.

(Edit: Past dialogue's in italics now, while thoughts are underlined.)

Marinette blinked as the world around her, Nino, Adrien, and Alya blurred. Some new akuma had barged into the schoolyard, yelling about how he'd show everyone the turning points in their lives, when things changed forever. How that was supposed to help Hawkmoth get the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, she didn't know, but she'd LONG since stopped trying to figure Hawkmoth OR his akumas out. Besides, however the akuma was showing people these turning points, it involved being shot with a weird portal gun thing and a giant metallic-looking bubble appearing around the person and anyone who'd been unfortunate enough to be near the victim, so she didn't want to take any chances.

Marinette was just about to mumble some excuse to Nino, Adrien, and Alya so she could run off and transform when she was shot, the bubble engulfing herself and her friends.

When it cleared, the four of them were standing in Ms. Bustier's classroom. Which wouldn't have been unusual at all if not for versions of all of them (except for Adrien) ALREADY existing in the classroom.

"Nino! Why don't you have a seat in the front row this year?"

Marinette blinked. Nino sit in the front row? But he'd been sitting in the front row ever since-

Oooooh.

"I think this is the first day of school," she stated.

Alya looked around, making note of everyone's positions. "I think you're right."

Chloe slammed her hand on past!Marinette's desk. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

Past!Marinette looked dejected. "Ugh. Here we go again."

"That's my seat," Chloe declared imperiously.

"But Chloe, this has always been my seat," Marinette tried to explain.

"Not anymore!" Sabrina interjected. "New school, new year, new seats!"

"So why don't you just go and sit beside that new girl over there?" Chloe said, pointing at past!Alya.

The current Alya laughed a little. "If Chloe knew how much THAT suggestion would screw her over, do you think she'd still have made it?" she asked Marinette.

Marinette laughed.

Alya would still have become friends with her, she was sure, but it might've taken a few more days before they'd speak to each other. By Chloe being... Chloe, she'd unintentionally helped spark her friendship with Alya.

"Listen. Adrien's arriving today, and since that's going to be his seat, this is going to be my seat. Get it?" Chloe ordained.

Adrien frowned. "But our seats weren't assigned at that point."

Marinette sighed. "Like that would stop Chloe. She probably expected to just declare the seating arrangement and have everyone go along with it."

Past!Marinette quietly asked, "Who's Adrien?"

Not knowing who Adrien was was such a foreign idea to Marinette now. She hadn't even known him for a year, yet she couldn't imagine life without him. So much had changed with the start of the school year.

Chloe and Sabrina laughed. "Can you believe she doesn't know who Adrien is? What rock have you been living under?"

Sabrina explained excitedly, "He's only a famous model."

Chloe finished, "And I am his best friend. He adores me. Go on, move!"

Adrien winced. "No wonder you thought I was helping Chloe that first time we met. I'm sorry, Marinette."

Marinette shook her head. "It's Chloe's fault, Adrien, not yours. I still shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. But thanks."

Adrien smiled back at her. Marinette was a great friend.

Past!Alya stalked up to Chloe, "Who elected you Queen of Seats?!"

Chloe fired back, "Oh, Look Sabrina! We've got a little do-gooder in our class this year. What are you gonna do, super noobie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?"

Present Alya snorted. "Really? THAT'S the best she could come up with? Calling me a good person and making fun of my glasses? For someone with so much experience at insulting people, she sure isn't good at it. I'd forgotten her first attempts at bullying me were THIS lame."

"Wouldn't you like to know," past!Alya growled. She took Marinette by the arm and tugged her over to the front, accidentally causing Marinette's macaroons to spill onto the floor.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Marinette mumbled as she rushed to pick up all the cookies.

"Sorry Marinette," the present Alya apologized. "I shouldn't have been so rough with you."

"It's fine, you were just trying to get me away from Chloe, it was an accident."

"Has everyone found a seat?" Mrs. Bustier asked. No one answered her.

"Chillax, girl. No biggie," past Alya reassured her.

"I so wish I can handle Chloé the way you do," past Marinette said sadly.

"You mean the way Majestia does it," past Alya said, showing past Marinette a picture of Majestia on her phone. "She says all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."Past Alya pointed at Chloe. "Well, that girl over there is evil, and we are the good people. We can't let her get away with it."

Alya smiled. "Majestia was great, but Ladybug's WAY cooler."

"I'm sure Ladybug thinks you're cool too," Marinette replied, suppressing a grin.

Alya laughed. "I'm pretty cool, but compared to Ladybug? Nah. I'm just a reporter. Why would she think I was cool?"

Marinette let her grin loose. "Oh I don't know, I think you're pretty great."

"Thanks, girl."

Past Marinette wasn't as confident. "Well, that's easier said than done. She likes to make my life miserable."

Adrien frowned. He knew Chloe could be mean to her other classmates, but seeing the sadness and hopelessness in Marinette's eyes... he REALLY didn't like it. Marinette had had to deal with Chloe's bullying many times over the past year, but she'd never looked this hopeless before. Had Alya made that big a difference over the course of a day, so that Marinette felt confident enough to stand up to him the very next day when she had thought he was bullying her?

Past Alya certainly seemed to be trying. "That's cause you let her, girl! You just need more confidence!"

Past Marinette took the last remaining macaroon and broke it in half, holding one out to past Alya. "Marinette."

Past Alya took it. "Alya."

The current Alya blinked, realizing something. "Wait. The akuma said that he was showing us turning points in people's lives, and he took you back to this moment... oh, girl..."

Marinette looked her in the eye. "I meant what I said. You ARE great. You were the first person I'd seen really stand up to Chloe, and for my sake! You inspired me. And... well... you were the first really close friend I'd had in a long time. This moment meant a lot to me."

Alya blushed slightly, embarrassed. "Thanks. I couldn't just leave you to that bully. And it meant a lot to me too."

The world blurred again, colors zipping around, melting into one another, until they coalesced into a new scene.

Oh crap, I forgot, Marinette thought. I got so caught up in the past, I got distracted from figuring a way out of here!

Then she noticed where - and more importantly, when - they were.

Double crap.

Marinette jumped in front of Alya, Nino, and Adrien, trying to obscure her past self from their gaze.

"We shouldn't be watching this! It's made by an akuma, it's definitely gonna be bad for you guys to see - because... uh... maybe we'll freeze when it's done! Or explode!"

Marinette could tell Alya didn't buy it. "We watched the last bit just fine, and it's not like we can really STOP watching it, unless we all closed our eyes and stuck our fingers in our ears until it stopped. And then we really WOULD be sitting ducks for an akuma."

She looked at Marinette suspiciously. "What is this REALLY about?" she gestured to past Marinette, who was watching news footage about Stoneheart while cowering in her chair in her bedroom.

Adrien spoke softly. "It's okay to have been scared, Marinette. None us knew what was going on, we're not going to judge you for that. We're your friends."

"No, that's not... ugh," Marinette glanced back at her past self.

"I hate first days back at school..." her past self said, then glanced down.

There was no time. This was going to happen, whether Marinette liked it or not. She chose 'not'.

She looked at her friends, trying to project her Ladybug seriousness. "You can't tell ANYONE about what you're about to see."

The three of them looked confused.

Then Marinette's past self picked up a small, ornate black box.

"What's this doing here?"

Nino's, Alya's, and Adrien's eyes widened in recognition. Which Marinette thought was weird in Adrien's case since he wouldn't have ever seen a box like that, but she didn't have time to dwell on it.

Past Marinette opened the box.

A bright red light shot out, fading to reveal...

"A kwami?"

Marinette's three friends looked at each other, realizing they'd all spoken at once.

"Wait, how do you know what a kwami is?" Alya and Nino asked Adrien, and Adrien asked them simultaneously.

As the three of them scrambled to come up with explanations, past Marinette provided a helpful distraction.

She jumped up and yelled, attempting to cower against her desk, "Ahh! Help! It's a giant bug! A... a mouse! A... a bug-mouse!"

Alya couldn't help chuckling a little.

But... wait... a bug kwami... who was red with a black spot...

Her eyes widened, Nino and Adrien coming to the same conclusion.

Adrien;s reaction was much more noticeable. He gaped at Marinette, slack-jawed, eyes bugging out of his skull.

"Everything's okay!" the kwami said soothingly. "Don't be scared!""

This did NOT have the desired effect.

"Ahh! Bug-mouse talks!" past Marinette yelled, throwing anything she could get her hands on at the small creature.

The present Marinette winced. "Sorry, Tikki."

Adrien got ahold of his mouth, miraculously enough.

"Ladybug?" he asked, sounding strangled, like his mouth still couldn't quite form the words.

She winced. "Yeah. Sorry for keeping it from all of you. It was too dangerous to tell anyone. Even Chat doesn't know."

She groaned. "Oh man, CHAT. He's gonna be so upset when he finds out that other people found out first."

"Oh I don't know," Adrien said in a high-pitched voice, sounding like he was on the verge of hysterics. "I think he'd understand."

She frowned at him, a little puzzled at his weird behavior, when Alya came to her senses.

"OH MY GOD! YOU'RE LADYBUG! MY BEST FRIEND IS MY IDOL! MY BLOG IS DEDICATED TO MY BEST FRIEND! LADYBUG IS MY BEST FRIEND!"

Marinette laughed nervously. "Yep."

Alya calmed down slightly. Slightly. "Wait, so all those times you made up lame excuses to ditch me, all those times you got separated from me while an akuma was around..."

"I needed to get out of sight so I could transform and defeat the akuma."

"And that interview- OH MY GOD no WONDER you paid me special attention! No wonder you were able to set up that first interview!"

Marinette laughed a little. "Yeah, you've got it. I felt bad about deleting that footage you took of me earlier, so I decided to give you something even better."

Alya teared up a little. "Girl..."

Marinette glanced down at her purse. "Hey Tikki, since they already know, do you want to meet my friends?"

Tikki flew out of her purse. "Hi Nino, Adrien, Alya, nice to meet you officially."

"Nice to meet you too."

"Hiya, dude!"

Adrien just made some more strangled sounds. Marinette looked at him worriedly, then glanced back over at the past version of herself and TIkki.

"This has to be some mistake," past Marinette told TIkki anxiously. "The only superpower I could possibly have is super-awkwardness."

Marinette's friends gave her concerned looks. She smiled back reassuringly.

Past Marinette continued, "I know! Alya would know! That's my friend. Well, at least I think she would... She loves superheroes! She'd totally be up for the job! You should totally go see her!"

"Marinette, you're the Chosen One!" Past Tikki insisted.

Present Alya was stunned once again. "Girl, you... you didn't think you could be Ladybug? But you're awesome! You ALWAYS win, no matter the odds! And... you wanted ME to be Ladybug?"

"Before this past year, I've never been very confident. I was always kinda a screw-up. But you gave me HOPE, Alya. I meant it when I said that Ladybug thinks you're cool. You INSPIRED me, Alya."

Alya hugged her.

Nino spoke. "You were never a screw-up, Marinette. No more than anyone else was. You've always been really nice and talented. You just needed a confidence boost, like Alya said."

"Marinette, you've ALWAYS been amazing. Never doubt that," Adrien spoke, adoration in his eyes.

No, I HAVE to have that wrong, Marinette thought. He only thinks of me as a friend. I can't get my hopes up.

Past Marinette put on the earrings, "Okay, so all I have to do is break the object where the whatchama-call-it is hiding?"

Past Tikki replied, "It's called an akuma. Which you must then capture."

"Got it! Capture it! And what's that charm thing again?"

"Your Lucky Charm. It's your secret superpower!"

"Aww... this is all going too fast, Tikki... I... won't be able to pull this off!"

"Trust yourself, Marinette. Just say 'Spots on.'"

Adrien smiled. "Tikki's right. You did fine. Plus you remembered to ask about your powers, which I bet Chat didn't do."

Marinette laughed and blushed, not trusting herself to speak.

"Spots on?"

Past Marinette transformed, thoroughly freaked out."Whoa! What is happening?"

"Whoa... So cool!" Alya squealed. "I just witnessed Ladybug's first transformation!"

"Ladybug... Marinette is Ladybug..." Adrien mumbled dazedly.

Marinette was REALLY worried now. "You already knew that, Adrien. Are you okay?"

"It's one thing to hear about it, it's another to see it,"

Past Ladybug looked at herself in the mirror nervously, "Aww... how does this thing come off?"

She wandered away from the mirror, calling out to her kwami, "Tikki, if you can hear me, I want my normal clothes back. I'm not going anywhere!-"

Until she noticed the news.

Notably, news footage of Alya riding her bike behind Stoneheart, following him.

Past Ladybug gasped, looking worried. "Alya...?"

She rushed off to the roof, the current versions of herself, Alya, Nino, and Adrien following her.

"Girl, you first left to save Paris... because of me?" Alya asked.

Marinette nodded. "I couldn't let my new friend get hurt, not when I could help."

Alya smiled at her. Marinette was an even better friend than she could've imagined.

"Ok, I have special powers, and apparently this amazing super yo-yo thingy?"

Past Ladybug threw the yo-yo outwards.

Current Marinette whimpered. "Oh no..."

Alya grinned widely. She was gonna get to see Ladybug swing through the city for the first time!

The line went taut.

Past Ladybug was sent flying off into the distance. "WAAAAaaaaaa..."

Marinette covered her eyes, wishing she could disappear. "Please let this be a bad dream."

The scene changed slightly. The four of them found themselves on some street in Paris.

"Where'd Ladybug go?" Nino asked.

Marinette pointed upwards as a familiar scream got louder and louder. Then she covered her face again. "...aaaaAAAAAAH"

Nino, Adrien, and Alya watched as past Ladybug collided with the past Chat Noir, wrapping both of them up in her yo-yo and leaving them dangling a few feet from the ground.

"This is so embarrassing," Marinette muttered.

"THAT'S how you two first met?" Alya asked incredulously.

Marinette nodded, hoping she'd spontaneously melt into the floor. Bad enough Alya and Nino saw this, but Adrien too? He'd think she was a total spaz, worse than he'd already thought!"

"Nice of you to drop in," past Chat said teasingly.

"I'd forgotten the first thing he said to me was a joke," Marinette muttered, very much NOT in the mood.

"I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose," past Ladybug replied.

" I bet you're the partner my kwami told me about," past Chat replied, dropping down to the ground. "I'm... Chat Noir. Yeah, Chat Noir. And you?"

"So that's when he came up with his name," Alya muttered.

" I'm Ma... err... Mar... uhh..." Ladybug said as she tugged at her yo-yo. She finally succeeded at getting it loose, accidentally bonking Chat on the head with it.

"Madly Clumsy. I am so clumsy," she said, embarrassed.

"You almost introduced yourself as Marinette? That's what that was about?" Adrien asked, eyes wide as saucers. They'd been that way for most of the past few minutes.

"Yeah, I did... wait, what do you mean 'that's what that was about?'"

"Errrmmm..." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. Luckily for him, the past provided a distraction.

The street rumbled with the sound of Stoneheart's footsteps, a tower falling over in the distance.

Past Chat extended his baton, pole-vaulting onto the nearest building. Past Ladybug called out after him, "Hey wait, where are you going?"

"To save Paris, right?" he called back cockily, before turning to chase after Stoneheart.

"Trust yourself, trust yourself..." past Ladybug muttered to herself before throwing her yo-yo again, sending her flying, screaming, to where Chat and Stoneheart would be waiting.

"Kitty's always been so eager to be a superhero, right from the very beginning," Marinette said softly, looking at where Chat had been with a fond smile on her face.

Adrien blushed, which Marinette thought was a little strange, but Adrien had been acting strange since he found out she was Ladybug.

Their surroundings changed again, this time taking them to on top of the wall of a stadium.

"Oh! Your first fight!" Alya practically vibrated with excitement. "I remember this! I always wondered why you waited a little bit before joining in. I figured you were watching Stoneheart, planning your strategy, waiting for just the right moment to swoop in and save the day."

Marinette winced. "Not exactly..."

As Chat attempted to battle Stoneheart, past Ladybug stood nervously on the wall.

"Where are you, partner?" past Chat asked.

"Oh, I can't, I'm not going to be able to do it," past Ladybug muttered to herself, covering her face.

"You were scared?" Adrien asked Marinette, as if it was a foreign idea.

"Yeah," Marinette told him, ashamed. "Chat was all ready to battle supervillains right from the start, but I wasn't. I was convinced that I was the wrong person for the job. I almost let him down."

Stoneheart hurled the soccer net at Alya, forcing Chat to sacrifice her baton to save her.

"What are you waiting for, super red bug? The world is watching you!" past Alya shouted up at past Ladybug.

Past Ladybug shut her eyes, screwed up her face, and made a decision. She put on a determined face and jumped into the fray.

The current Alya gaped. "Wait. I was the reason you joined the battle here?"

"Well, partly because of Chat, but yeah. You gave me the last push I needed to get past my fear."

Alya hugged Marinette. "You're AWESOME, girl, you know that?" she whispered in her ear.

Marinette hugged back. "Thanks, Alya. You're pretty awesome yourself."

"So after this you got past your anxiety and just kicked butt, right?" Alya asked.

Marinette winced. "Not quite. I failed the first time, remember? I took it hard. REALLY hard."

The four of them flashed forwards, landing in Marinette's room right as Tikki finished explaining what would happen now that the akuma was free.

"So that means... this is all my fault?" past Marinette asked miserably. "I knew it! See, Tikki? I'm not cut out to be a superhero! I'm only gonna keep messing up."

"Marinette..." Adrien said softly, wanting to give her a hug. No. Bad Adrien. She's in love with Luka, she might take it the wrong way.

Tikki attempted to reassure her, comfort her, " Keep calm. It was your first time. You're going to go back and capture Stoneheart's akuma, and do it successfully!"

"I can't! I told you, I'm clumsy! I create disaster all the time! I'll only make things worse for me, for you and for everyone. Chat Noir will be better off without me. I'm quitting."

"NO!" Adrien yelled.

Marinette jumped.

Adrien made a strangled sound. "Mi- Marinette, you thought Chat would be better off without you? Because you're WRONG. He needs you. He can't DO this without you. You're partners! You don't make things worse, you never make things worse. Everyone's lives are better because you're in them! My life is better because you're in it..."

Adrien's outburst petered out as he finally seemed to realize what he was saying. He blushed crimson red.

The other three stared at him, Marinette gaping, Nino giving him a thumbs up, and Alya grinning like a loon.

Past Marinette couldn't hear Adrien's words of encouragement, unfortunately. " If Chat Noir can't capture the akumas, then... just find another Ladybug. I told you, I'm not cut out to be Ladybug!"

Past Marinette took off the earrings. "I'm sorry Tikki."

Tikki tried to warn her, " No, don't do tha-"

And then she was gone.

Past Marinette looked around her. "...Tikki?"

Sadly, past Marinette replaced the earrings in their box and put them in her drawer. She fell to her knees, "I'm really sorry, Tikki..."

Adrien made a high-pitched whining noise.

Alya took over since Adrien's capacity for coherent speech appeared to have been exhausted. "Ladybug is awesome because she's YOU. And you ARE cut out to be Ladybug! Everyone makes mistakes, especially their first time doing things! Just try again!"

Alya blinked. "Actually... come to think of it, what DID happen after this? It sure didn't seem like you'd quit, you showed up again the next day."

Unfortunately Marinette couldn't answer since her brainspace was currently dedicated to screaming Adrien just said that his life is better because I'm in it this is the best day of my life he loves me! Wait but what will we tell our kids about how we got together we won't be able to tell them we're superheroes and what will we name our hamster?!

Alya waved her hand in front of Marinette's face, snapping her out of her stupor. Alya smiled at her, amused. "Breathe girl, breathe."

Marinette took a deep breath and let it out again.

"So, now that you're back on Earth," Alya asked, "How DID you go from quitting on this day, to declaring you were gonna save Paris the next day?"

Marinette gave a nervous little giggle. "Well it's a funny story..."

The world blurred again.

(A/N) This was getting too long, so I decided to cut it. Next time: Origins - part 2!