EDIT: 

Hi! Author, here! 

As everyone knows, the longer a person writes, they become a better writer and their style changes more.

I started writing these oneshots around February of 2020 and my writing abilities and style has improved immensely, in my opinion. 

I am not vain when it comes to rereading my own stories, because I like to see how much I've grown. So, I also will not re-edit these beyond correcting typos or spacing out paragraphs.

Anyway, I just wanted y'all to know that you are all welcome to read these, but just know; I didn't really quite get the hang of what I wanted to be 'my style' until quite a bit later.

So, please don't judge me for how I wrote my early works.

Thank you for respecting my request.

(EDIT OVER)

'''''

Hi! Hello! Bonjour! Hola! Aloha! (Insert other greetings)

Welcome to my book of Miraculous Oneshots! *applause* *bows*

Anyway, I'm a fan of the show, so I'm writing this book to help satisfy my addiction to writing and to watching "Miraculous Ladybug". That's right! I'm killin' two birds with one stone! 

So, I wrote this oneshot after listening to "The Space Between" a couple times on repeat. And in my mind, I had a sudden burst of inspiration.

My brain: "Hey! This would be a really cool song for Alya and Marinette! Like, if Ladybug's identity was revealed to Paris and she has to leave, so she and Alya sing this to show that their friendship could never be severed." 

Seems like a cool idea, right? 

Well, it was. 

In fact, it was so cool, that I got carried away with the storyline. It got all angsty (it kinda still is) but it also has an 'inspiring' element to it. So having Marinette and Alya randomly burst into song wouldn't make much sense. 

So, the final product of this oneshot, is that it is a JUST a oneshot. But, here is "Space Between" to kinda set the mood of the oneshot. 

https://youtu.be/gpPgn9aBnYg

I recommend playing the song after you read what I wrote, just 'cause I find listening to music while trying to read as distracting. But, to each his own!

(The painting at the top is made by me!)

Enjoy!

'''''

Marinette wasn't safe. 

She wouldn't be safe for as long as she stayed in Paris. 

She couldn't leave the bakery doors without being boycotted or ridiculed. Not to mention the clambering reporters. 

She had received several death-threats and promises of deep hatred. 

What had she done to deserve this? 

Nothing, except to have been the girl behind the Ladybug mask. The ex-heroine. 

They hated her for being the unworthy teen girl behind the masquerade facade.

She was no one but the baker's daughter to them; but now, she was a fraud. She wasn't confident or witty, like her alter-ego. She wasn't graceful and elegant. 

She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. A disgrace to Paris.

All she had done was defeat Hawkmoth, but in the process, her identity had been on display to the world. 

To Paris. 

To her partner, Chat Noir. 

No one had seen neither ear nor tail of Chat Noir since Ladybug's identity had been revealed. He had taken one look at the defeated and revealed Hawkmoth, looked at Marinette, and had fled the scene. 

No one knew what happened to him. 

Paris didn't care; but Marinette did. If there was ever a time that she desperately wanted her chaton, this was it. But he was gone. 

He'd disappeared and left Marinette to fend for herself.

And still, Paris didn't care.

Because Marinette Dupain-Cheng was their spotted heroine. And they hated her for it. 

Protests were growing in numbers everyday. Someone had even thrown a brick at her bedroom window. 

Her family was nice enough to her. But it was clear that Tom and Sabine wouldn't be able to think of their daughter as the same, ever again. They were constantly worrying, to the point that they acted like she didn't exist; because if she didn't exist, then their worries and problems wouldn't exist, either.

Her friends were gone, too. Alya was still in shock. Nino had retreated into a shell of himself.

 And Adrien...no one knew anything about him. It was as if the Earth had swallowed him up;  never to be seen again.

Marinette was tired. She was tired of the rallies and protests. She was tired of living in constant fear and stress. Of all the negativity directed at her. 

Marinette was tired of being cooped up in her room. She was tired of being alone. She was tired of it all. 

She just wanted it to stop!!

She wanted it all to stop. Just to give it a rest. Please.

And she knew how to do it. 

She had to leave Paris.

It was for the Parisians' own good. Without Marinette among them, they could finally get on with their lives.

If she took a break, they would either forget about her, or they would open their eyes and see what destruction could have ensued if she stayed. They would see that she was still fighting for them; for the goodness deep in their hearts. 

Because, rejected or not, Marinette Dupain-Cheng would still protect Paris as long as she had blood in her veins.

She had packed her bags, already. But there was one more thing for Marinette to do. She pulled open her vanity drawer. She reached inside and took out a little hexagon-shaped box. Fingers trembling slightly, she opened the lid. 

A ball of pink light zoomed out of it, coming to a stop before Marinette's face. The light faded away, revealing the small Ladybug kwami, Tikki. 

"Tikki! I'm so sorry! I wouldn't have given up my miraculous if Mayor Bourgeois hadn't made me! He made me stop being Ladybug! Tikki, he threatened my family! You have to believe me! I swea---" Tikki zoomed toward Marinette, cutting her off with the biggest hug the tiny kwami could give her.

"Oh, Marinette!" exclaimed Tikki's high voice. "I know it's not your fault! I know you did it for selfless reasons; it's in your nature! It's what makes you such an amazing Ladybug! I've missed you so much!"

Marinette's fragile heart threatened to crack as she witnessed Tikki wipe tears out of her own huge, blue eyes. 

Marinette's eyes welled up with tears. "Thank you, Tikki. I really needed to hear that." 

Tikki beamed.

"So what are we gonna do now?"

Marinette took a calming breath. 

"We're running away. For the good of Paris." Tikki nodded her head, understanding Marinette's reasons for leaving immediately.

Marinette placed her luggage in a duffle bag and brought the load around her shoulder. Just then, there was a knock on the trap door on her floor. Marinette assumed a defensive position; ready to call on Tikki for the powers of Ladybug.

"Marinette?" came a soft voice from the other side of the floor. The world seemed to drift away as Marinette recognized the voice.

"A-Alya?" Her voice cracked. To her disbelieving eyes, Alya opened the trap door and climbed into the room. She stood in front of her, sheepishly.

"Hey, girl. H-How's it going?" Marinette stood motionless.

Marinette realized that her ex-friend was slightly different from their last encounter. Gone were the blazing eyes of a betrayed friend, instead, they were replaced with the light of guilt and mourning. She was no longer fired-up or yelling, instead, she was shifting from foot to foot, as if she were nervous. 

Alya? Nervous? Those words didn't even belong in the same sentence!  

Yet there she was, sniffling slightly, with red-rimmed eyes and with saddened posture.

 Alya continued speaking, haltingly.

"I-I just want to say I'm sorry, La--Marinette. I s-shouldn't have left you defenseless. That's not how a tru-ue friend would have acted. You're being persecuted and have lost all support. And when you turned to me, I insulted you. I hated you, I-I hurt you and I abandoned you! I was hurt for no good reason." 

She paused to take a couple steadying breaths.

"And that left you all alone. I swore that you would never have to battle your fears by yourself, that I'd fight them with you. But I left you to be devoured not only by your inner demons, but also by your outer ones; the people that could bring you actual, physical pain."

Alya blinked back a couple tears. She raised her face to focus on Marinette's ceiling. She was sure that if she looked Marinette in the eye, she'd breakdown, crying.

"I shunned you because I felt betrayed, but I was the one who did the betraying."

She shifted her gaze to the ground.

 "I know that you probably hate me right now; you have every right to be. But I just wanted to say that, because I know that although I'm not the best friend, that you are the best person in the world."

Alya's resolve broke. She locked gazes with Marinette. 

She had expected to see betrayal and hatred in her eyes. She'd expected that looking at Marinette would break her. 

But what she saw were the eyes of a scared, but strong girl. A girl, whose body may bend, but whose spirit would never break. A girl who was certain. A girl who was unyielding. 

Looking into Marinette's eyes filled Alya with the strength and courage that she needed to continue. To go on. 

"You're kind, compassionate, sweet, very funny, brave, and the strongest person I know. You constantly go out of your own way to help others, to brighten their day. In short, you are the most genuine person in Paris. No, in the World. You are a perfect being." 

Marinette couldn't take it any longer. She rushed forward, hugging her friend, fiercely. Her blue eyes were filled to the brim with tears. They were both hugging tightly, crying slightly. 

A little bit later, Marinette drew back from Alya's embrace.

"Alya, I'm not perfect. I'm far from that! I'm clumsy, forgetful, and I'm a coward---don't shake your head, Alya. It's true! You think that Ladybug's perfect. Not Marinette. Ladybug is the one in the super-suit, Ladybug is the one who's confident, and Ladybug's the one that saves Paris; not Marinette. The citizens of Paris have made it very clear that Marinette is far from perfect."

"Girl, I wasn't talking about Ladybug when I was describing you. I was talking about the real you, Marinette."

"Huh?"

"You are sweet, down-to-Earth, and you have a heart of gold. You're willing to drop everything just to make a child's dream come true. You juggle several tasks and make sure that you do your work and still have time to spend with your friends." Alya paused for dramatic effect.

"And you also are so confident, and funny, and smart; anyone would feel blessed to spend even 5 minutes in your presence." Marinette blushed at the praise.

"You don't care what people say; be honest, are you more concerned about Paris' remarks about your identity, or it's safety?"

Marinette opened her mouth to respond immediately. But then paused to consider the question.

Hmm, Alya was right. Wasn't Marinette just gonna leave Paris in order to save it? She was willing to risk everything if it meant that the safety of everyone else was inevitable. 

She responded, "Maybe a little bit."

Alya giggled. "And you are incredibly modest."

"Touche." Marinette smiled lightly.

Alya suddenly spotted the duffle bag that had laid forgotten on the floor. She turned to her closest friend.

"Are you leaving?"

Marinette nodded, mutely.

"But why? I've just got you back! Why are you leaving?"

"It's like you said, Alya. I'm more concerned about Paris' safety than my own."

Her friend sighed.

"Why do you have to be so selfless? Don't answer that," she pointedly glared at Marinette, who had attempted to do so. "It was a rhetorical question."

She sighed, heavily.

"Well, I'm gonna miss you. But I won't stop you."

"Thank you, Alya. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"I want you to promise me three things."

Marinette nodded, "Anything."

"First of all, I want you to know that I will always be here to support you. I won't relent. I'll keep up the faith, because I am blessed to have Marinette Dupain-Cheng as my best friend. And even if no one else will support you, I'll be here every step of the way." Marinette tackled Alya in a huge hug.

"I'll never forget that, Alya. I promise." 

Alya giggled, "Back up, girl. I'm not finished with my list of demands."

Marinette joined in the giggles. Alya continued.

"Second, I want you to promise to come back. I don't know how I'd live if I didn't see my best friend, again." Marinette nodded, immediately.

"I promise."

"And lastly, I want you to do whatever it is that you're doing in style."

"...Wait, what?"

"You heard me. I want you to leave Paris like a boss. I want you to be the most fashionable person ever as you explore the world. I want you to not care what anyone else thinks of you. I want you to learn from other people's experiences and apply them to your life. And I want you to come back to Paris, and blow all the haters outta the water!"

Marinette was stunned. Could she actually do that? Did she have the confidence? 

But, who needs confidence when your best friend is Alya Cesaire.

"Do you wanna know why?" Alya continued, empowering her friend. "Because you are my best friend. You are the most amazing person in the world. And I want the world to know it. I want you to show the world that they will never be able to reach you. Because you are Ladybug. But most importantly, you are Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And you are Untouchable."

'''''

Whoa! I feel like I could write an amazing motivational speech after that. Alya should definitely become a famous motivational speaker/blogger!

(Btw, this whole oneshot was 2328 words! Wahoo!)

'''''

I was inspired to write this by two things:

1. The song, "Space Between"

2. NotSoEvilMastermind's oneshot called, "There's a lot of fight left in me" which is about how Ladybug's identity was revealed, she ran, but then she came back. And how she decided to fight back against the citizens of Paris.

I loved her oneshot so much!

'''''

So, what did ya'll think? 

'''''

Edit: Okay! May I have all my MLB Oneshots readers' attention, please? I just have something I'd like to clear up :)

In the past week or so, I've gotten tons more readers (for which I am eternally grateful). And a lot of them have commented a part 2 of my first ever oneshot "Untouchable". I just want to say that I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to do that. My first oneshots are incredibly cringy and different from my current writing style. If I wrote a pt2 now, the styles would be really different and I'd want to completely change the first one, which is something that I've sworn not to do for the sake of progress through practice. Sorry, but I just don't want to, and I'm not taking any more requests. :)

I apologise, but as King Theoden from LOTR once said, "You hold no power here."

'''''

Vote! Comment! Share!

'''''

Have a nice day!