masterlist | maribat

(so apparently there’s something wrong with my asks, so if there are any requests, just ping me!)

felinette

oneshots:

rewinder | +0.8k | adrien salt, class salt

summary: an akuma brings people from the future to the past.

jasonette

oneshots:

broken promises | +1k | adrien salt, alya salt

summary: adrien sees his lady kissing another in the school hall.

dead (or not) | +1.9k | fluff, angst

summary: marinette thought jason was dead.

that’s that. | +0.6k | tooth-rotting fluff; [part 2 to ‘dead (or not)’]

summary: “on a scale of one to ten, how bad do you want to kill me?”

wanted | +1.4k | adrien salt mainly

summary: jasonette with wanted by hunter hayes.

series:

jasonette july 2021 | +11.9k | fluff, angst, humour

the title says it all

marijon:

series:

marijon week 2021 | +4.4k | fluff, angst, humour, adrien salt, alya salt, lila salt

summary: the title says everything.

daminette

oneshots:

serendipity | +3.9k | lila salt, adrien salt, alya salt

summary: the last time damian al-ghul saw marinette was when they were twelve. he didn’t think he would see her again. so, it’s a huge surprise when he stumbles upon her in WE while exposing the liar of the class from France.

the confrontation | +0.8k | lila salt, mild class salt [part 2 to ‘serendipity’]

summary: what a lovelytime to run into her enemy that probably wants her deadby now.

soulmate au | +1.8k | lila salt, adrien salt, alya salt

summary: tradition says that your soulmate will have another tattoo, something that relates to you. when they meet you, it is said that the tattoos start glowing a bright gold.

jealous damian | +0.7k | alya salt, adrien salt

summary: so can you make yandere damian or one were he is very possessive with marinette and his anger and jealousy hits 1000%?

kidnapped | +0.4k | yandere damian [tw]

summary: damian’s habibti is kidnapped.

hogwarts au | +0.6k | a hint of salt, humour

summary: polyjuice potions

i think i could fall in love with you… | +1.1k | lila salt, humour

summary: he was a handsome man, she would give him that, but according to her father - the one of the most important lords of the kingdom - he was extremely stand-offish and cold. she didn’t know if she would get along with him.

just two kids in love | +0.9k | fluff

summary: song-fic of ‘kid in love’ by shawn mendes.

i’m so sorry! | +0.5k | fluff | genderbend

summary: marin accidentally drops coffee on his new classmate, dahlia.

jealousy jealousy | +0.3k | fluff, jealous damian

summary: damian gets jealous.

overprotective | +1k | fluff, overprotectiveness

summary: clark, jason and tim were more than a littleoverprotective over marinette. especially when she started dating damian.

arranged marriage au | +1.1k | talia being a lil female dog :)

summary: talia makes a deal with the order of the guardians - in exchange for their not-annhilation, their great guardian will be betrothed to damian.

the great guardian | +2k | angst, adrien salt, hints of fluff

summary: the assassin bows his head. “yes. the great guardian of the miraculous is currently in new york city.”

and we meet again | +0.8k | humour, romance [part 2 to ‘the great guardian’]

summary: “i’m looking for an alien. his name is thanos. or something like that.”

colours of love | +3.5k | salt, fluff, angst

summary: damian glared at her fiercely and she shrunk back. “i can assure you, lila rossi is most definitely not my soulmate. perhaps you should check everything she has said on google. it does exist you know.”

hero | +1.8k | fluff, angst

summary: hero by faouzia.

series:

the story of love | +12.3k | lila salt, adrien salt, alya salt, class salt, adrien redemption, class redemption | complete

summary: the story of damian and marinette’s relationship.

timinette:

oneshots:

an…interesting reunion | +1.5k | little angst, fluff, salt

summary: tim and marinette attend marinette’s class reunion.

the recording | +1.5k | little angst, fluff, salt; [part 2 to ‘an…interesting reunion’]

summary: the recording (can be read as a stand-alone)

the gala | +1.6k | lila salt, adrien salt, alya salt, class salt [platonic]

summary: timothy drake-wayne was not happy. he had to lead the (according to dick at least, and he was inclined to believe him because he had never seen dick so unhappy) class of dimwits from france because it was his turn. He had put it off all week and now he had to do it as the CEO of WE.

brucinette:

oneshots:

injuries | 1.1k | angst, fluff

summary: a sharp blade was sticking out of bruce’s side and hot, sticky blood was gushing out of it.

lukanette:

series:

luka couffaine wayne | +7.9k | fluff, angst, humour | incomplete

summary: “you really should have sat down,” sighed anarka. “lad, your father is bruce wayne.”

no pairing

oneshots:

the exposé | +5.3k | lila salt, adrien salt, alya salt, class salt

summary: lila was having the time of her life at WE. the class was fawning over her, ready to do her bidding whenever she wanted, however she wanted. she could spout out a ridiculous lie and they’d believe it; they were completely and irreversibly under her spell. but then, of course, things hadto go wrong.

pathetic little liars that are squished like ants | lila salt, humour [part 2 to ‘the exposé’]

summary: damian was seething.

hospitals | +0.7k | fluff, crack, humour

summary: marinette wakes up in a hospital, paralyzed.

what a liar! | +1k | lila salt, class sugar, fix-it fic

summary: lila rossi mentally prepared her plethora of lies as she entered her new class. the only thing was, she wasn’t aware they possessed brain cells.

other pairings

oneshots:

absolutely & irrevocably | luka and jason | +1.1k | fluff

summary: luka gets over his feelings for marinette, only to fall head over heels again, this time, with his best friend, jason todd.

adopted | maridamijon | +3.1k | fluff, angst

summary: “i mean,” marinette says frustratedly, ready to tear her hair out - you will never believe the number of rants she has told chloe and kagami and the nights she has spent obsessing over it, “i’m in love with both of you!”

colours of love | daminette

Word Count: +3.5k

summary: damian glared at her fiercely and she shrunk back. “i can assure you, lila rossi is most definitely not my soulmate. perhaps you should check everything she has said on google. it does exist you know.”

ao3|wattpad | masterlist | prompts

“Marinette!”

Said girl stirred a little, mumbling, “5 more minutes, maman.”

“Marinette!”

Yet she did not respond, rolling over to cover her ears with the pillow next to her.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, if you do notwake up right now you are going to miss your flight to New York!”

Sabine Cheng stifled a laugh at her daughter’s high-pitched shriek.

**

Marinette grumbled as she picked herself up from the ground.

Amazing start to the day, rolling off your bed and falling down.

“Cheer up, Marinette!” Tikki said, unfailingly happy in the morning (as always). “You’re going to go on your America tour today!”

Her chosen brushed her teeth faster, while simultaneously trying to make sure she had everything ready. “Tikki, am I missing anything?” she asked frantically.

While looking at the list Marinette made, Tikki smiled fondly at her chosen, hoping that the Rossi girl and Marinette’s ex-friends didn’t ruin the trip Marinette had worked so hard to organize.

Since Bustier couldn’t be bothered to, it fell onto Marinette to plan the senior trip. It was supposed to be educational and fun, in a way, since they would be required to write an essay about their trip. It counted for more than 50% of their grade.

With help from her friends (Alix, Kim, Max and Chloe), in no time, Marinette had developed an outline of what places they could visit.

Theoriginalplan (before it was presented to the class) was to go to New York, Metropolis, LA and then finally California.

But nooo, Lila Rossi just hadto see her so-called soulmate, Damian Wayne (“Marinette, how could you?” “How could I what?” “How could you just exclude Gotham because I want to see my soulmate?”), billionaire Bruce Wayne’s son.

Despite Marinette’s warnings, Mdm. Bustier forced her to change the itenary so that Lila could see her ‘soulmate’ (“Marinette, please change the locations.” “But Mdm. Bustier, Gotham is one of the most crime-ridden-” “I will not stand for your petty grievances, Marinette. Change it at once.”) and so the list had become:

California, New York, Metropolis and thenGotham.

Nevertheless, Marinette beamed as she waved to her parents, feeling excited.

“You can stop waving now,” Chloe remarked dryly, filing her nails. “They’re out of sight.”

**

You might be wondering, what happened to elicit such a changebetween their relationship.

Lila.

That was one thing Marinette had to thank her for. She showed Marinette who her realfriends were, a.k.a Chloe, Alix, Kim and Max.

Chloe didn’t believe Lila from the start (“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Does she expect meto believe that Jagged Stone, the one who lives in my hotel every monthowns a cat? Everyone knows he’s allergic to them!”) but Max was disillusioned when some of the things Lila said didn’t line up – “I got tinnitus from saving Jagged Stone’s cat from an airplane!” “You would’ve become deaf. Not suffer from tinnitus.” “Don’t be silly, Max!” – case in point.

Kim and Alix, on the other hand, came to know when Lila mixed her names up (“I know Michael Phelps – he’s such an amazing skater, Alix. I could give you some tips from him!” “Michael Phelps? Isn’t he a swimmer?”) and (Marinette snorted when she heard that) said Michael Phelps was a skater.

That certainly didn’t earn her any points with thosetwo.

In the end, Marinette could say she would take her life right nowthan the one before because until Lila came, she never really noticed how whinythe class was.

She shuddered when she remembered the never-ending requests they had – and they expected herto do it for free.

Thank god she got away from them.

**

In response to Chloe’s statement from earlier, Marinette mock-glared at her. “I know,Chloe. I was about to stop.”

“Sure, Mari,” sniffed her best friend.

Marinette protested feebly. “Really!”

“Uh-huh,” Chloe continued to file her nails, completely uninterested.

Before Marinette could retort, the door burst open and two balls of chaos rolled into the car with one poor Max.

“Ha! I won, Kim, you owe me 30 Euros!” Alix crowed triumphantly.

Kim, as expected, disagreed. “No way, pipsqueak! Iwon.”

“I did.”

“No, I did.”

“I did.”

“Can you both pleasesit properly?” Chloe pushed them with a surprising amount of strength. “You’re wrinklingthe car leather.”

In response, the two of them stuck their tongues out.

Marinette snickered at the expression on Chloe’s face – exasperation, pureexasperation.

Maxfinallyup righting himself, stood up unsteadily as he walked to the only empty seat next to Marinette.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Kim said, pulling Max onto his lap.

Max squeaked, his cheeks turning a fiery shade of red.

Alix cackled, “Poor Max. Kim, you reallyshouldn’t do that. You’re going to give the poor boy a heart attack.”

Marinette sighed happily for her friends. She was honestly elated that Kim and Max had found their soulmate in each other. They were just adorable!

She fairly beamed when Marinette saw the love-sick smile on Chloe’s face. It meant she was talking to Kagami.

Alix hadn’t found hers yet and according to the girl herself, she wasn’t really bothered by it either because she was ace.

Marinette just wished she could find hersoulmate.

Soulmate bonds – in their world – came in different types. For example, Chloe and Kagami’s bond was the word bond. Each had a word or a phrase written circling their wrists (“Excuse me, you dropped your phone.” “Thank you”) and whoever said those words was their soulmate.

Kim and Max had the string-bond – one of the strongest bonds in existence. The bond only surfaced when it decided whether the two people were readyto become lovers.

Marinette had the aura bond – one of the most difficultbonds to find your soulmate with. Basically, her aura and her soulmate’s aura – when they meet – would touch each other and glow.

It was extremely rare to witnesssuch a bonding and even rarerfor someone to find their soulmate with it.

She often wondered whether she would ever findher soulmate. At first, she thought her soulmate was Chat Noir, after all, wasn’t he her other half?

But their auras did not connect when they met.

“Marinette?” She snapped out of her thoughts when Chloe shook her arm. “Come on! We’re at the airport!”

**

After checking in – and successfully avoiding Lila’s attempts at sabotage (“Oh my gosh, Marinette! Your ticket is ripped to shreds, you can’t come!” “Well, it’s a good thing I made two copies then, isn’t it? Just in case I lost mine.”) – Marinette sighed and resigned herself to listening to Lila’s bullshit for the next few hours.

Unfortunately, she and Alix had gotten the seats rightbehind her and Alya.

“-and then Prince Ali took me out on a date!” Lila was babbling.

Alya gasped theatrically, right on cue. “Oh my gosh, girl! How did it go?”

“Well-”

Marinette groaned and resisted the urge to throw herself out of the window. “Kill me now,” she said tiredly, “Please.”

Alix didn’t look like she was faring any better and glared at the idiots in front of them. “Why did we have to get stuck with them?”

“I don’t know,” Marinette banged her head on the table in front of her. “But what I doknow is that the next few hours are going to be torture.”

**

By the time the plane landed, Alix was eyeing the knife in her hand murderously, clearly plotting Lila and Alya’s murder, and Marinette had scribbled uselessly on 2 clean pages of paper because Lila’s voice was interrupting her inspiration.

“FINALLY!” Alix screamed, running around like a maniac. “FINALLY, WE GET TO LEAVE THOSE-” Yelling some extreme profanities, she continued, “BEHIND!”

Even though the attendants were eyeing the two of them like they were crazy, Marinette didn’t care because finally.

How did anyone believe Lila anyway?

**

The next day, Marinette argued with Chloe the better color for her new sketchbook at one of the gift shops near the Statue of Liberty. “Red it better because it’s so bright but not toobright. That way, if I don’t know where it is, I can just look. For. RED!”

Snatching the yellow one off the shelves, Chloe held it in front of Marinette’s eyes. “NO! Yellow! Red would just mergeinto your room because it’s pink, while yellow would be more obvious!”

“But yellow is too brightfor the night!”

Offended, Chloe gasped. “How dare you-”

Seeing as they were dragging the attention of other customers, Alix snatched both the books from their hands and put it on the counter. “Both of them, please.”

As they walked out of the stationary shop (Chloe and Marinette still arguing) the three of them spotted Lila, Alya, Mylene and Rose walking out of a boutique loaded with bags.

“I can’t believe they’re going shoppingwhen we’re supposed to be taking notes for the essay.” Alix muttered glaring at them with disgust.

Chloe smirked icily. “It doesn’t matter because when they fail the essay, it’ll be theirfault.”

Marinette and Chloe agreed to disagree in favor of scorning Lila and her cronies.

**

California was the funpart of the trip. With its beaches and just right weather, Marinette and crew set up their site somewhere on the beach.

They spent most of their days running around, playing games and in Marinette’s case being completely oblivious to the boys flirting with her.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t help wonder whyHawkmoth wasn’t striking. It had been 3 days now and yet there was no akuma. Perhaps he was giving hera break since Chat Noir didn’t show up to half the fights anyway.

It certainly wasn’t because Gabriel Agreste was frantically planning for his spring line of which the developments got delayed due to his…terrorizing activities.

Marinette made the most of the reprieve.

**

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe screeched. “I cannot believe you!”

They were in Metropolis now and Marinette was currently stuck inside a sideways bus.

How, you ask?

She saved a young girl from being the hostage of the villain. Unfortunately, because she wasn’t Ladybug then her reflexes weren’t as fast and now Marinette was stuck inside the bus being the villain’s hostage.

Just a regular day for her.

Along with Chloe, Alix was yelling, “Mari, what is wrong with you?”

“Marinette, is her name?” asked the terribly-dressed villain (seriously, was he color blind or something?), “Alrighty then! Superman!” he bellowed suddenly.

Superman appeared almost immediately and distracted the villain.

While,Superboypulled Marinette out and set her beside her friends where she was promptly pulled into a bone-crushing hug.

“Guys,” she gasped, exaggerating only slightly(read:a lot), “Can’t….breathe…need…to…breathe!”

Finally, they let her go and just before Superboy was about to take off, Marinette called out, “Thank you!”

In reponse, he merely tipped an imaginary hat.

**

Marinette muttered angrily while Kim and Alix rough-housed with each other blow some steam.

How could they? She fumed. How f*cking could they?

Their ‘class’ had left them behind in Gotham Park. And Mdm. Bustier (someteacher) hadn’t even bothered to do attendance to check if everyone was there.

Marinette would even go as far as to bet that Lilawas the one to engineer this.

“Look OUT!”

Yelping, Marinette tumbled down laughing when a Great Dane came jumping on her, licking her face.

Giggling, she ran her hands through his fur making no move to get up.

“Marinette!” Chloe gasped, running to her, “Are you okay?”

Still playing with the unnamed dog, Marinette giggled out a “Yes,”.

“Ms, I am sosorry,” a masculine voice gasped, evidently from running. “Titus, no. Bad-”

Marinette sat up slowly. “It’s fine, your dog – Titus, is it? – is really very cute.”

“Cute?” Surprise laced his tone. “Most people describe Titus as scary. I haven’t seen him take to someone so fast.”

Standing up with Chloe’s help, Marinette brushed her outfit and made eye contact with the man.

Her breath suddenly whooshedout of her chest.

And slowly, slowly but steadily, her pinkish red aura reached out and merged with his dark emerald one.

As Marinette watched in wonder, the two of them slowly formed a beautiful, breath-taking gold turning brighter and brighterand then it was gone.

The only sign it had been there was a little heart made out of a puff smoke – one side red, the other green.

“Oh my god, Mari,” Chloe breathed. “I think that’s your soulmate!”

You think?

◇─◇──◇─◇

When Damian went to walk Titus that afternoon, he expected it to go normally.

He certainly didn’t expect Titus to run off and then meet his soulmate all in one go.

Nevertheless, he swallowed thickly and introduced himself, “My name is Damian Wayne.”

His soulmate’s friends looked at him in shock but his soulmate didn’t have any such reaction. If she was surprised, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Marinette,” her glasses friend said, “Don’t you know who that is?”

She turned to him curiously. “He’s my soulmate, Max.”

The girl – familiar from somewhere, he thinks – slaps her forehead and pulls Marinette to her side while whispering something in her ear.

“Oh!” Marinette’s cheeks suddenly colored and she said, “I didn’t know you were theDamian Wayne, I just-”

Suddenly feeling nervous, Damian interrupted her. “It’s fine,” he said slightly harshly. “It was actually kind of refreshing to meet someone who didn’t know who I was.”

She started blushing all over again and he distantly thinks, it’s cute.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Damian moved forward to try and dispel the awkward silence that had descended upon them. “I’ve never seen you here.”

“Well,” Marinette stutters, “We were actually on a school trip, but our teacher acci-”

“Since Mari’s too nice to tell you it objectively,” Her blonde friend interrupts, “I will. We were left behind by our teacher. Chloe Bourgeois.”

Chloe holds out her hand, eyes threatening and Damian takes it, equally cold.

Somehow sensing the tension between them, Marinette continues, “And we were supposed to go to WE but because they left us behind-”

“-we’re stuck here,” finished a pink-haired girl. “Alix Kubdel.”

Nodding towards her (she certainly seemed better than Chloe), Damian sends a small smile to his soulmate (his heart beat faster at the thought that he found his soulmate). “I can take you to WE if you want. But how did your teacher just forgetyou existed?”

Exchanging looks with her tall friend, Marinette gestures towards him and says, “Kim will tell you.”

**

By the time they have reached WE, Damian is fumingresisting the urge to go and murder this Lila Rossi and Adrien Agreste and the rest of their idiot classmates.

Whotells someone letting a pathological liar, lie and lie is taking the ‘high road’?

What kind of friends ditch someone who did so muchfor them just like that?

And the liar. Damian seethed at the thought of her. How dare she, how dare she targethissoulmate.

“Woah, Damian, man,” said Kim – the tall one, “You might want to calm down. You’re scaring the people.”

Breathe Damian. Breathe.

Inhaling with great difficulty, Damian said, “I am going to murderyour class and teacher. And I won’t even make it look like an accident.”

Chloe finally looked at him with something other than wariness as she murderously said, “I’ll help you.”

Marinette panicked looking at their serious expressions. “No! You guys can’t do that!”

“Watch me,” Damian snarled.

◇─◇──◇─◇

Richard Grayson considered himself to be a good person.

So,whothought he deserved this?

This being a class (and teacher) without braincells because they believe every damn word out of a patheticliar’s mouth. Seriously, hadn’t they heard of something called Google?

Oh, and as if thatwasn’t enough, the teacher had forgotten about 5 students and stated, “They are troublemakers anyway, we can start without them,”

Was she insane?

She was a goddamnteacher! Didn’t she know it was her jobto make sure they straightened out?

Gritting his teeth, he said with a patience did notfeel, “Mdm. Bustier, we cannotstart the tour without your missing students. You will have to findthem and get them here.”

So, here he was.

Waiting for the idiot of the teacher to try and get her students to WE.

Needless to say, he was elatedwhen the WE doors slammed open and Damian came striding in (even though he looked like he was about to murder someone).

“Lil’ D!” Dick yelled, hoping Damian saw the pleading in his eyes, “Come meet the class we’re touring today!”

Growling, Damian walked right passed him and glared icily at the class. “Which one of you is the liar?” he hissed, glaring at everyone.

When no one responded, Dick volunteered himself, “That one.”

Damian shot him a slightly thankful look and advanced to her. “You,” he spat. “Lie about my soulmate one more time and I’ll end you.”

Turning her nose up at him, she sniffled theatrically. “How dare you say that to me? My soulmate is Damian Wayne and he’ll have the Wayne lawyers on you in seconds.”

By now, everyone (employees included) had frozen, watching the drama eagerly. But when Lie-la said that.

Most people burst out laughing immediately, and Dick would have too, had she not said Damianwas her soulmate. “What do you mean, Mdm. Rossi, that Damian is your soulmate?”

Smirking triumphantly, her olive-green eyes sparkled maliciously as she said, “Damian Wayne is my soulmate.”

Woah.Shereallyhadn’t done her research. “Mdm. Rossi,” Dick said coldly. “Damian is not your soulmate.”

“And how would you know that?” An ombre-haired, glasses-wearing girl glared at him.

“Because,” he said coolly, “I am his brother andyou do realize that Damianwas the one to tell you to stay away from his soulmate?”

Lila paled and Dick felt satisfaction course through him.

But then he registered what Damian said. He had found his soulmate.

“Wait, Damian,” Dick asked turning to him, “Just whois your soulmate?”

“I am,” a female voice said. A short blue-haired girl with pale skin walked next to Damian and held out her hand. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng,”

Dick smiled at the girl and shook it firmly. “Dick Grayson.”

“But that’s not possible,” cried out the glasses-wearing girl, Alya. “Lilais Damian’s soulmate!”

Damian glared at her fiercely and she shrunk back. “I can assure you, Lila Rossi is most definitely notmy soulmate. Perhaps you should check everything she has said on Google. It doesexist you know.”

Alya quickly pulled out her phone and was probably searching up everything Lila told her.

The rest of her class watched her in tense silence and then backed away slowly as they saw the unbridled fury grow in her eyes. “You.” Alya hissed. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!”

◇─◇──◇─◇

Marinette jumped when she felt a hand touch her elbow.

It was Adrien. “Marinette,” he hissed, “What are you doing? Why are you exposing Lila?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Adrien,” she said loudly, drawing the attention of Damian. “Maybe it’s because she’s been lying about me?”

“But she wasn’t-”

“Hurting anyone?” Marinette glared at him coldly. “She was, Adrien. Me.And you and your ‘high road’ bullshit can go and rot in hell for all I care.”

“Wait,” asked Nino, hurt evident in his expression. “Adrien knewall this time?”

Chloe smiled icily. “Yes. He didn’t wantto expose Lie-la because she wasn’t ‘hurting anyone’,”

And then suddenly, the entire class was rounding on Adrien, who was frantically trying to explain his actions.

In the chaos, no one noticed Lila advance closer and closer to Marinette.

She jumped onto her and screeched, “MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG,I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

Lilaattemptedto try and choke Marinette but said girl was quicker, stronger and smarter.

Marinette quickly backed away and flipped her onto her back, pinning Lila’s wrists together.

“Let me go!”Lila was thrashing around trying to get out of Marinette’s hold.

“Mdm. Rossi, you are under arrest for assault and attempted murder,” came the cool voice of an unfamiliar officer.

As one of his men handcuffed Lila, Damian wrapped Marinette into a warm hug. He opened his mouth to say something but Alya interrupted him.

“Marinette!” she called. “I’m so sorry! Can you give me an interview with theDamian Wayne?”

Marinette goggled at her, unable to process what she said. Turning to Chloe, she asked, “Did she actually just saythat?”

“Well?” Alya tapped her foot impatiently and Marinette glared at her.

“No,Alya, I will notgive you an interview with Damian,” she hissed.

Alya looked gobsmacked. “But…why? I’m your best friend!”

“Best friend?” Marinette laughed. “Best friends don’t leave each other when the next shiny thing comes around. Best friends don’t ditch other. Best friends don’t believe a liar over each other. And besides,” she added sweetly. “Youare not my best friend. Chloeis.”

Chloe beamed at her.

“Alright,” Dick clapped. “I know this must be a nasty shock-”

Damian snorted quietly when he said that.

“-but we must continue with the tour!”

Marinette shot him an amused look.

At least everything was right in her world.

Miraculous Ladybug x Identity V: The Oletus manor diary of a ladybug: Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Prompt concept

Warning : English is not my first language so sorry if it’s confusing !

Warning 2 : This fanfic content salt if you don’t like don’t read !

Warning 3 : Reference to sexual assault.

Hey everyone! ^^ here’s the new chapter of “The Oletus manor diary of a ladybug”! :D

I know it’s was a long time since the last chapter and I’m really sorry about this, I had a bad writting block and was also busy with other writting works! ^^’

But I finally was able to finish this chapter so I hope you’ll all like it! ^^

—————————————————————–

23/04/2015, Oletus manor’s living room security camera :

The camera show the survivors and the hunters at the table, talking about their temporary ̎ young housemate ̎.

Kreacher Pierson(Awkwardly) : Sssoooo… This is the kid who will stay at the manor during the rainy season ?

Freddy Riley(sighing frustrated) : For the hundredth time Pierson, YES, this is the girl, YES, she will stay here and YES her stay will last at least for two weeks until this god forsaken storm stop ! Good lord ! Would it kill you to spend at least a few minutes without asking the same question over and over again ?

Kreacher Pierson(defensive) : Whoa ! Hold your horses ̎ mister lawyer ̎, I was just curious and confused, as everyone else is probably, I mean, our ̎ host ̎ permitting someone from the outside world, who wasn’t invited, to stay in the manor ? Come on ! Don’t tell me you didn’t find this strange ?

Vera Blair(ironic) : Right ! Because leaving this girl, sick, in a violent thunderstorm and risking to attract unwanted attention in the aftermath would have been the logical thing to do !

Kreacher Pierson(annoyed) : Ohoh ahah, very funny !

Mary(rolling her eyes) : As much I hate to admit it, Monsieur le Voleur does had a point it’s quite unusual for our ̎ host ̎ to letting someone from the outside world who was not invited to participate to the games to stay in the manor and to know about how things are going here this easely !

Naib Subedar(nobbed, arms crossed) : Yeah, this is really out of character for him when you see all the amount of precautions he’s taken to make sure to keep the games, and everything else in the manor, a secret.

Lucky Guy(frowning) : I don’t know, this guy is always so cryptic, who knows what’s going on in his head right now!

Andrew Kreiss(calmly stutters) : B-But shouldn’t we m-more wondering… w-what that girl was doing outside all alone?(slightly panics when the others looked at him) I-I mean this is strange right ? N-Normally a young girl of her age shouldn’t wander by herself in a forest this far from the town…

Jack(thinking) : An interesting question M.Gravekeeper! But I am sure some of us could had a theory on the matter since some seem to had recognised they young lady, am I right Miss Doctor, M. Embalmer?(throw an amused look at Emily and Aesop)

Aesop Carl(nervous) : Well… I did remember having met her, one time in town, she had an accident because of a drunk driver who were driving when the lights were red and nearly run her over, thank god the driver stopped before he could run her over, but since his car struck her a bit and she was in shock because of the accident, I helped her to go to the hospital.

Emily Dyer(frowning) : I made a check up on her and, thank god, she didn’t have any kind of injuries ! However I was shocked to learn that this poor girl end up in this accident because her whole class, the teacher included, left her behind when they were supposed to go to the museum.When her teacher come to pick her up she had the guts to scold her, when it was HER fault for leaving her behind in the first place, for, I quote, ̎ Having being irresponsible and bring problems to her and the class ̎ ! Absolutely revolting !

Emma Gardner(nobbing) : Oh yeah ! I remember you were ranting about it for hours when you came back after your shift !

Joseph Desaulniers(lift his head) : By any chance, is this class from France ?

Emily Dyer:(nob her head)

Joseph Desaulniers : Ah ! Then they’re without any doubt the class who came to the museum that day ! Since it was the anniversary of the town, the museum was quite busy with giving tours during the week and I remember that day Monsieur Lapadula and I were supposed to give a tour to a class from France and I remember they were… How do I put this politely ?

Burke Lapadula(interjecting grunchy) : A bunch of rude, noisy, bratty and messy worms !

Joseph Desaulniers(Carefully):It’s… A way to describe them, oui…

Burke Lapadula(Snorting) : A perfect description of them you mean Desaulniers ! Those brats were nothing but nuisances and without any manners ! First they made a scene at the front desk because they didn’t had the security codes to get the tickets, then the teacher left and came back moments later with the student who actually had the codes and her ̎ classmates ̎ ganged up on her about having ̎ stole Lali’s codes ̎ or whatever this girl’s name was !

And when, finally, Desaulniers and I were able to begin the tour, only a few of them were actually paying attention ! Most of them were busy listening the fibs of that Lali girl, during the whole tour she was always butting in to tell rubbish nonsense like she was the secret descendant of one of Eurydice’s founding fathers or how her too many great uncle/aunt/grandfather or whatever actually helped the creator of this machinery to create it or the other one or how one girl who was on one of the photos was a very distant family member of her and blablabla… URHG ! Disrespectful little twerps !

Martha Behamfil(Confused): They were making a mess and no one did a thing ? And their teacher ? I know from what Emily told us she doesn’t seem to be the teacher of the year but surely she would at least try to get her students to behave ?

Joseph Desaulniers(Hesitant) : Well…

Burke Lapadula(Angry) : Absolutely nothing ! She just stood there and looked at them like nothing was happening and constantly smiling like an idiot ! I wouldn’t even be surprised if this kid’s situation was because of this so called teacher’s incompetence !

Burke Lapadula kept on ranting with all the other hunters and survivors looking at him.

Demi Bourbon(Snorting) : Honestly I’m not surprised ! I saw this class at the café where I work at once and they tried to leave and make me believe that the classmate they left at one table will pay their bill, but I wasn’t born yesterday ! I saw them multiple times during the time they were at their table and the classmate in question was away from them at another table and not once they went to talk to her so I guessed they were trying to trick me into letting them leave without paying, so I kept them from leaving until they paid. They tried to change my mind, make me pity them, threaten me but I didn’t budge and they finally gave in when I gave them the ultimatum to either pay their bill or I was calling the police on them !

Kevin Ayuso(clear his throat) : Not that those ̎ work gossips ̎ aren’t entertaining but that doesn’t answer the main question here : what’s about this little lady for the manor’s owner to permit someone from the outside world to know how things are going here ?

Everyone is silent not knowing what to answer.

Hastur(silently laughing) : Oh she’s way more than meets the eye than you believe…

The rest turn their attention to Hastur, looking at the eldritch being, some uncertain, others wary.

Hastur(cryptic) : This is something I would rather let you find out yourself, but what I can tell you is this girl is connected to big forces ! But I am sure a few of you did notice it !(Give a quick look to Eli Clark and Patricia Dorval) But like I said this isn’t up to me to tell ! However if our ̎ host ̎ is taking this much precautions for the girl’s safety to the point of even taking the risk to tell her about the manor’s ways that mean he is also aware of the powerful forces in relation with this girl and of the possible consequences if anything should happen to her !

Unknown female voice : A good deduction lord Hastur !

The Hunters and the Survivors turn to see Miss Nightingale enter the room.

Miss Nightingale(formal) : Like Lord Hastur said, this girl is connected to big forces which are important for this world’s balance and so her safety is really important ! If anything tragic happened to her, the consequences may be disastrous ! That why the owner instructed me to insure her comfort and safety during her stay and to instruct you, particuliary for some of you, to be on your best behavior and to not let your ̎ shenanigans ̎ bother our guest !

Edgar Valden(grumbling and murmuring):Tss really ? Does he take us for children ?

Miss Nightingale(hear him, seriously) :I wouldn’t take this situation lightly M. Valden ! The owner takes this girl’s safety very seriously, messing with the forces connected to the girl aren’t a laughing matter, others had tried in the past and deeply paid the price !

Wu Chang:(silently nob in agreement the others didn’t notice it)

Luchino Diruse(skeptical) : How ̎ deeply ̎ are we talking ?

Miss Nightingale(listing) : The dinosaur’s extinction…

Luchino Diruse(stunned) : … Uh…

Miss Nightingale : Atlantis’s destruction…

Kurt Frank(shocked) : Atlantis is real ?!

Miss Nightingale : Correction : ̎ was real ̎ (keep listing) the Plague…

Ann(her dark pitch eyes wide in shock) : … What ?

Miss Nightingale : The Tower of Pisa being toppled…

Edgar Valden(surprised) : You mean the tower wasn’t toppled because of the swampy grounds ?

Miss Nightingale : The Hundred Years’ War.

The survivors and some of the hunters(in shock) : …

Miss Nightingale(formal) : And this is just a few, the list is quite long ! Do you understand the situation now or should I continue ?

Naib Subebar(hold up his hands) : We get it, we get it ! The kid and whatever power with her is off limits !

Miss Nightingale(smile) : Good ! Now as I was saying, during her stay Miss Dupain-Cheng will need to rest a lot to recover a bit until we are able to send her to the hospital ! For that she will need for her recovery a lot of peaceandquiet!That’s why the owner expects from all of you to not disturb our guest with your shenanigans and I’m insisting on that for some of you particularly.

The hunters and survivors, at this remark, turn their heads toward Smiley Face, Jack, Servais Le Roy and Kreacher Pierson with a narrowed look, the first three ignoring them.

Kreacher Pierson(Noticing the looks on him) : What ? Why are you looking at me like that ? I can understand the warning for ̎ Clown face ̎, who’s unpredictable, ̎ No face ̎, who’s a freak and Le Roy, who’s ready to do anything to be ̎ the greatest magician ever know ̎, but me ? Why would I try to mess with the kid ?

Michiko(Sipping from her tea cup) : Well, for starter your title isn’t ̎ Thief ̎ for nothing !

Kreacher Pierson(Slightly offended) : Oi !

William Ellis(with a jaded look) : Your shady treatment toward those kids at this orphanage of yours in the past, which makes the guarantee of the young lass’s safety questionable if you ever interact with her !

Kreacher Pierson(Turning toward William) : I didn’t-

Freddy Riley(Crossing his arms) : You’re overly untrustworthy !

Kreacher Pierson(Offended) : Oh ! Look who’s talking !

Emily Dyer(Frowning) : You also had this bad habit to take advantage of others at their weakest moments ! Just like you tried to do to Emma times ago !

Emma Woods:(Nob in agreement)

Leo Beck(groans in agreement) : Huurrrrrr….

Kreacher Pierson(Exasperated) : OH COME ON THAT WAS LITERALLY CENTURIES AGO ! WE ALL AGREED WHAT I HAVE DONE WAS TRASH, I COUNTLESSLY APOLOGIZED TO WOODS FOR WHAT HAPPENED AND EVEN KEEP MY DISTANCES FROM HER WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME ? AND SERIOUSLY ? YOU THINK I WOULD TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE KID ̎ THAT WAY ̎ ? I MAY HAVE DONE A BUNCH OF QUESTIONABLE THINGS IN THE PAST BUT I WOULD NEVER GO TO ̎ THAT ̎ LEVEL ! I MEAN DID YOU SEE HER ? SHE’S WHAT ? 16 ?

Miss Nightingale(stoic) : Actually from my talk with Miss Dupain-Cheng I learned she was 14 and would be 15 very soon…

Kreacher Pierson(Over-dramatic) : SEE ? SHE’S EVEN YOUNGER ! SO ALL OF YOU MARK MY WORD WHEN I SAY THAT I, KREACHER PIERSON, MAY BE A THIEF, A CON ARTIST OR A DECIEVER BUT NEVER EVER IN MY LIFE HAD, OR EVER WILL, STOOD TO ̎ THAT ̎ LEVEL OF TRASH !

Everyone else is rolling their eyes at Kreacher’s over-dramatic reaction.

Miss Nightingale(Still stoic) : Well, now this was made clear, I will have to excuse myself as I had a lot of duties to attend, good day to all of you !

Miss Nightingale took her leave and the survivors and hunters silently look at her, exciting the room.

Luca Balsa(joking) : Welp… That was something !

Norton Campbell(sigh) : Tell me about it… In the end we just got more questions than answers about that girl outside of the fact she is connected to ̎ powerful forces ̎ which are apparently very dangerous in the wrong hands !

Jose Baden(Shrug) : Well… I guess this will be up to the little miss to tell us if she decided to do it at one point !

Tracy Reznik(Confused) : Uh guys ? Sorry to interrupt you but… Where is Bonbon going like that ?

Burke Lapadula(grumbling) : It’s name is Guard 26 not Bonbon and…(He notices that the robot is indeed leaving quickly) What the- ? Guard 26 ! Where are you going ? Get back there ! Oi ! Get your metallic butt here right now ! Are you even listening to me, you me you pile of dolts ? GUARD 26!(Burke go after the robot and leave the room)

Most of the survivors and hunters took it as their cue and also left the room, outside of a few of them.

Oletus manor’s first floor security camera :

The camera shows Robbie about to take the stairs to the second floor but is busted by Michiko who appears in the camera’s vision.

Michiko : Robbie ? What are you doing ?

Robbie(Freeze) : Uh… Nothing ?

Michiko(Sigh) : You were trying to sneak in to see Dupain-Cheng-san were you ?

Robbie(Hesitant) : Uuuuuhhh…

Michiko(Softly) : Listen, she needs to rest for now ! You can go see and get to know her another time okay ?

Robbie(Sigh) : Okayyyyy….

Michiko(Smile) : Good ! Now come with me ! How about we go to your bedroom and I read you the story you want ?

Robbie happily nobbed and took Michiko’s hand and both left the floor.

Oletus manor’s second floor security camera :

The camera show Burke arguing with his robot, Guard 26 ̎ Bonbon ̎, who was guarding Marinette’s bedroom’s door with no intention of leaving.

Burke Lapadula(Angry) : What the hell are you doing ? I didn’t even give you the order to go to the brat’s room, so what are you even doing posted in front of her door ?

Bonbon : Presence of a vulnerable person in the manor declared, so Bonbon’s protection code was activated.

Burke Lapadula(Angry) :Protection co- I didn’t even give you the order to activate this protocole ! I’m your creator and any protocol or any action from you should be activated on MY order ! So desist your protection protocol and come with me now !

Bonbon : Apologies, but Bonbon’s protection protocol can’t be desist !

Burke Lapadula(Getting impatient) :… Guard 26, desist protection protocol and follow me right. Now !

Bonbon : Apologies, but Bonbon’s protection protocol can’t be desist !

Burke Lapadula(Frustrated) : Oh for heck sake ! DESIST THIS FREAKING PROTECTION PROTOCOL !

Bonbon : Apologies, but Bonbon’s protection protocol can’t be desist !

Burke keeps going on trying to get his robot obey him with the robot not budging.

Oletus manor’s third floor security camera :

The camera shows Emily and Emma talking in the floor corridor, Emily seems still upset about the possible reason for Marinette’s state.

Emma talks to Emily for a while, comforting her about how everything will be okay, that Marinette will be fine, especially with a doctor like Emily to take care of her.

Emily, moved by Emma’s words, shares a hug with her for a few minutes before the two leave holding each other’s hand.

A few moments later, the camera shows Naib, Eli and Aesop having a talk in the corridor.

Naib Subebar(Arms crossed) : Hey Clark, about what Nightingale told about those ̎ powerful forces ̎, you think you can told some things about it ? I mean you’re into this magic stuff right ? So you probably ̎ feel ̎ something right ?

Eli Clark(Nobbed) : Well yes I felt something unusual radiating from this young girl ! But before you ask, no I didn’t feel anything which could be ̎ dangerous ̎ for us, those forces seem to be powerful but not evil ! Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s something which will deliberately hurt us !

Naib Subebar(Nobbing) : I see…

Aesop(Nervously) : Now we clear up this matter, I must go ! I have ̎ important things ̎ to do ahah…

Naib Subebar(Smirking) : And I suppose those ̎ important things ̎ have obviously nothing to do with a certain french photographer ?

Aesop(Very nervous and blushing) : I… I… I REALLY MUST GO, GOOD DAY TO YOU TWO !

Aesop leaves the corridor embarrassed.

Eli Clark(Smirking to Naib) : You know, you’re one to talk on that subject, after all isn’t there a thing going on between you and mister Jack ?

Naib Subedar(Sputtering and blushing) : Wh-… How-… When-… ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!

Oletus manor’s first floor camera :

Other survivors and hunters go through the floor’s corridors, some going to their bedroom and others to another part of the manor.

Oletus manor’s living room security camera :

The hunters and the survivors had left the living room outside of the Dream Witch, and by extension Follower, and Hastur were having a discussion.

Dream Witch(Humming) : So it’s seem ̎ they ̎ get a new guardian ! I must say this is surprising to ̎ see ̎ one of ̎ them ̎ after so long !

Hastur(Nobbing) : Indeed, I don’t know about you, but I think things will get very interesting during those two weeks !

Both turn to the camera, the Dream Witch is smirking and Hastur is chuckling.

Hastur : Don’t you agree mister the Owner ?

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The Most Bizarre of Adventures -Chapter 2

This is for the amazing @sayuricorner who is an absolute angel. Thank you for being so patient with me!!

She asked me to write a crossover fic of ML and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. This chapter is more of an intro than anything else, the exciting stuff is (hopefully) coming soon though!!

Warnings: Lots of Salt, Lila Salt, Alya Salt, class salt, attempted akumization

Chapter 2

Marinette’s life very quickly dissolved into a whirlwind of events. She woke up in the hospital with a throbbing headache and an emptiness in her heart. Its weight seeming to pin her down. The emptiness was residual from the failed akumization , A few minutes with Tikki and the emptiness lifted. Immediately, Marinette wanted it back. She wanted to feel that same indifference again. Her heart ached at the friends she had lost. Even after everything they had done to her, somewhere deep inside her heart Marinette had held out hope that her classmates would see sense. Then came the anger. It boiled insider her, hotter than anything she had ever felt before. She was angry at Lila for doing this to her, she was angry at Adrien for abandoning her, and most of all she was angry at her former classmates, people who had been her friends for years. She was angry at how quickly they would believe a stranger. She was angry about how they treated her. She was angry that she had fallen right into their ruse of fake friendship. Nobody had ever truly wanted to be her friend. They just wanted the things she could give them. The only one who had ever been honest with her, and brutally so, was Chloe.

Chloe had grown leaps and bounds in the past year. Gone was the entitled bully she had been for so long. She was still Chloe. She had very little filter and was extremely blunt , but she didn’t deliberately try and make people miserable. Chloe was trying so hard to fix her mistakes and keep herself from making them again. To say Marinette had been shocked to receive a tearful apology from Chloe of all people, would be an understatement. At first she had thought it was a joke, but very quickly she realized that Chloe’s apology was completely heartfelt. She was truly heartbroken by the things she had done. Deep down Marinette had always known that Chloe had a good heart, even if she rarely showed it. Marinette assumed hiding it was a coping mechanism, a way to prevent herself from getting hurt. She has adapted the hurt before you get hurt philosophy. But now, now she was learning to do away with that. And she was the better for it. You could see a weight being lifted off her shoulders. Despite the Lila situation and the fact that their classmates refused to believe she had changed, Chloe never wavered in her efforts. She still messed, there were times when she fell back into old habits but those occasions were becoming fewer and fewer as time went on. Which is why Marinette knew she was making the right decision.

Marinette walked inside of the Bourgeois Hotel and made her way to the elevator, heading towards Chloe’s room. She was dreading the conversation she was about to have. She hated goodbyes, no matter how long they would last.

The decision to leave home had been a hard one. Marinette loved her parents to death and knowing that she wouldn’t see them again until summer hurt. However, Marinette also knew that there wasn’t truly anything left for her in Paris. She had the few friends that remained and her job as Ladybug but other than that she had nothing. Staying in Paris would only harm her in the long run. She needed a new start. She knew that she was leaving Paris in good hands. With Luka as Copperhead, Kagami as Orochi, and Chloe as Yellow Jacket, she knew Hawkmoth didn’t stand a chance. Chat Noir was there too, occasionally anyway. Marinette wasn’t really sure what to make of her partners sudden disappearances. On one hand he seemed to be under a lot of stress lately. Perhaps it was difficult for him to escape his civilian life. On the other hand he would completely lose his civilian life if they didn’t stop Hawkmoth, they all would.

She arrived at her destination and knocked on the door, hearing a soft “Come in."  Chloe was sitting on her massive bed and she sat up straight when Marinette entered the room.

"Hey, Maribug. How are you feeling?” Chloe questioned with genuine concern. Marinette smiled, Chloe had proved to be quite the mother hen once you got to know her. One thing was to be said about Chloe, she always protected the people she cared about.

“I’m feeling much better, I’m still pretty tired but otherwise, I’m fine,” Marinette replied. Pollen flew out from wherever she had been hiding and nuzzled into her cheek, she was just as protective as he holder. Marinette cuddled back to the best of her ability before Pollen pulled away and flew off with Tikki in tow. Chloe had an old doll house that she had fashioned into a place for her Kwami to stay. Tikki and Pollen generally went there when Marinette visited her blonde friend. Chloe patted a spot on the bed beside her and Marinette accepted her invitation to sit.

Years ago Marinette would have never imaged having such an interaction with another Miraculous Holder. But when she became Guardian of the Miraculous, she had decided that anyone who wished to reveal their identity could. She of course had already known about Chloe, Luka,and Kagami, but somehow it was different, more special as they all detransformed.together. Chat hadn’t showed up and when he came to fights he was usually to busy flirting or ignoring her instructions for her to tell him of the new development. She had honestly been looking forward to meeting her partner outside of the mask. Revealing her identity had turned into a good thing. There was more trust between the group and they had become an incredibly cohesive and formidable team.

“I’m leaving Paris Chloe,” Marinette replied, figuring there was no use in beating around the bush and delaying the inevitable. Chloe hung her head, sadness to
long her eyes.

“ I can’t say I didn’t see it coming,” She mumbled thickly, “ I guess the expulsion was the last straw huh?” Marinette nodded. It had been the second wrongful expulsion that she had experienced all because of the testimony of a single person. And this time it had nearly ended catastrophically. Marinette had found out upon waking up into the hospital that her mental battle with Hawkmoth had caused her to remain unresponsive for nearly a week and the amount of stress and emotional abuse she was under had been the straw breaking the camels back. Her parents had take evidence of the wrong expulsion to the board of schools who launched a full investigation and had the expulsion repealed. Mr.Damocles had tried to apologize and encourage, or rather manipulate, Marinette into returning but the damage was already done. By that time Marinette had already begun searching for new schools.

“Yeah it was but Chloe,” Marinette said, waiting to make sure she had her full attention, “ Me leaving has nothing to do with you. You have been an amazing friend. You have helped keep me sane through all of this,” Chloe looked relieved at her statement. Marinette knew that Chloe’s brain had already begun to convince her that Marinette was leaving because she had done something. The amount of people who left or abandoned Chloe in her lifetime, left lasting imprints.

“ Thank you Marinette, that means a lot,” Chloe said sincerely. It was quiet for several minutes before Chloe said, “What are you going to do for alums attacks?” And that brought her to her next point. Marinette sat up straight and looked Chloe straight in the eyes.

“That part is simple. Chloe, I am trusting you with the Miraculous of the Horse. I trust that you will come and get me during an akuma attack,” Marinette said confidently, watching as Chloe sat in shock.

“Maribug, why? shouldn’t you be taking this with you? Won’t you want to come back for the attacks on your own,” Chloe asjed, genuinely confused. Marinette shook her head.

“Unfortunately I can’t take it with me. The less miraculous that leave Paris the better. Besides, there will probably be times, especially near the beginning, where I will not be able to get away, at least not quickly. This way you won’t be waiting around wondering if I will show up or not.”

“But how will that change if I’m the one picking you up or if you are coming on your own? How will I know if your free or not?” Chloe questioned.

“I’m still working on the full plan but the idea is this: I will find a place for us to meet up. Someplace that wouldn’t be suspicious for me to go, like the bathroom. I’ll send you a picture of said place so that you can teleport to it. This will be where we  meet up every time there is an attack. If I am able to get away long enough to join the fight, I’ll come to Paris with you,"Marinette said, looking skeptical and calculating. It was the look she always wore when considering a plan.

” And what happens if you can’t get away for long enough?“ Chloe pushed. Marinette looked almost hesitant, as if she wasn’t sure how to say what she was thinking.

"If for some reason I can’t get away without raising suspicions, then I will hand my miraculous over to you until the fight is over. I’ll exchange the ladybug miraculous for the bee. When the fight is over you can visit me again and then we can switch our Miraculous back to normal,” When Marinette finished, Chloe was silent. The reaction was totally different from the one she would have given years ago.

“Marinette, I’m not really sure what do say. This is a huge responsibility. After everything I’ve done, you would really trust me with your miraculous?” Tear glistened in Chloe’s eyes and she spoke quietly.  Marinette reached out a place a hand on the arm of her friend.

“Chloe, you have made mistakes in the past, but so have I. Neither of us are perfect. Everyone messes up. But not everyone chooses to learn from those mistakes. Not everyone accepts responsibility for those mistakes and strives to make them right. But you do all of those things Chloe. That more than anything else is why I trust you with this responsibility,” A singular tear trailed down Chloe’s cheek as Marinette finished. The blonde girl flung herself at her friend, wrapping her arms tightly around Marinette. Marinette returned the hug just as fiercely.

“Thank you, I don’t know if I can ever express how much this mean to me,” Chloe said thickly. Marinette just smiled and continued to hug her friend. Chloe, as Marinette had come to realize long ago, really just want someone to believe in her. She wanted someone who believed she could be great and someone who would push and challenge her to reach her dreams. After a few moments, Chloe pulled away.

“I am going to miss you so much. You better call and keep in touch, understand Dupain-Cheng? ” Chloe’s voice was strong once again and she had composed her self back into the aloof girl she portrayed to the public.

“Understood Chloe, as long as you promise to do the same,” Marinette replied with a smile.

“Always Marinette. Always,”

___________________________________________________________
The next couple days passed quicker than anything Marinette had ever experienced. She had discussed her new plan with the rest if the Miraculous Team, sans Chat who had neglected to show up. She had also finalized her enrollment in the prestigious Speed Wagon Academy.

When Marinette had first withdrawn from school she knew only one thing, she wanted to move to Japan. Partially to get closer to her roots and partially because it’s distance from Paris. She was also excited to experience the different culture of Japan. Several boarding schools in Japan were accepting new students this late in the year but for some reason Speed Wagon was the one that kept sticking out to her. Maybe it was due to the mystery. Out of all the schools she had looked at, Speed Wagon had the least amount of information available. Her parents had tried to discourage her from picking it purely for that reason. However, something in her gut told her that Speed Wagon Academy was where she was supposed to go. In the end she followed the instincts that had rarely failed her .

It was early in the morning and she was on the way to the airport. She couldn’t deny she felt nervous. She was about to embark on one of her biggest adventures yet. Luka and Kagami were sitting in the front seat of the car. Both of them had offered to drive her to the airport in order to say goodbye. She had readily accepted. Her parents couldn’t leave the bakery and she didn’t think she could do this alone.  The ride to the airport seemed much too short as they pulled into the airport parking and filed out of the car.

“Stay safe, melody. And stay true to who you are,” Luka said pulling her into a warm, comforting hug. She breathed in his comforting sent. Something about him was always so comfortable. Maybe it was because of how calm she was. She knew she had the tendency to pick up on other peoples anxiety and take it with her. However, Marinette thought there may be more to it than that. Kagami was next, pulling her in for a hug as fierce as the girl herself. The hug meant the world to Marinette. Kagami hated physical touch, especially in public . The knowledge that she would put that discomfort aside for Marinette warmed her heart and made her eyes tear up.

“You will always have a friend and a home with me,” She stated firmly, placing her hands on Marinette’s shoulders. Chloe had said goodbye to her at the hotel. Marinette knew how hard goodbyes were for her blonde friend. Chloe constantly struggled with the thought that everyone was leaving her. She believed that she wasn’t enough to make people stay. Their friend group was doing the best they could to break that line of thinking but it was a gradual process. Marinette knew that saying goodbye In public would simply be too hard for her, which was one of the reasons she had gone to the hotel in the first place. 
Marinette took a deep breath and armed with confidence and love of her true friends and family, she stepped walked into the airport, ready to face this next journey in life head on.

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Okay so here is the long overdue second chapter! I really really enjoy writing this so I hope the wait won’t be as long though exams are quickly approaching so I make no promises. As always let me know what you think and what you want to see next!!!!

So the document where I kept my tag list got deleted so if you would please fill this out So i know what you want to be tagged in, that would be great!!

Tag List

YES! YES! YES! THE NEW CHAPTER IS THERE! *\(^0^)/*

I LOVE IT, IT’S AWESOME AND THE MOMENT BETWEEN MARINETTE AND CHLOE WAS SO GREAT!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHH I REALLY CAN’T WAIT TO SEE MARINETTE INTERRACTING WITH THE JOJO CHARACTERS!!!!! o(≧▽≦)o

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This was a post from @smartlanceisreal Salt Fic Ideas, I saw one I really liked and just expanded on it. I was just in the mood to post something a little different than I normally post, but there is still salt galore for all my faithful followers. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!

It had been a bad day for the, now former, employees of Gabrielfashion company. Vincent the photographer, Elisa the makeup artist, Alizabetta the model, and Andrew the staff assistant had all been fired or rage quit because of Mr. Agreste’s new favorite; an Italian brat named Lila Rossi. The girl thought she was untouchable. Unfortunately; she was right, so she got away with so much more bull than anyone else would be able to at any company in the entire fashion world. 

She refused to take Vincent’s directions while modeling, which had the photos looking sub-par and was hurting his reputation. She was borderline abusive towards Elisa, literally throwing things at her and using racist slurs that had the artist crying off set at times. Alizabetta had been outright bullied and tormented by the Italian until she was akumatized that day, which resulted in Mr. Agreste firing her, believing that shewas tormenting Lila. When Andrew stood up for her, saying that it was the other way around, he was fired as well for talking back. Seeing the situation, Vincent and Elisa quit as well and left with the others.

Which brings them to now, drowning their sorrows in pastries at the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. Alizabetta was upset because this was her first real modeling job. The others were worried about Mr. Agreste being spiteful and blacklisting them, that was something that he seemed to enjoy doing since his wife disappeared.

The table was quiet when a new plate of macaroons were gently set on the table in front of them. Looking up, they saw a young woman, a little older than Alizabetta. Vincent recognized her from somewhere, but couldn’t quite place her.

“You all looked like you could use some more comfort food,” she said, smiling kindly.

“Oh, thank you so much, Angel. We could definitely use this.” Elisa smiled back, before taking a bite out of one of the pastries and humming from the wonderful flavor.

“If there’s anything else I can do to help, please let me know. My name’s Marinette and this is my parents’ boulangerie.”

Vincent snapped his fingers. “Ah, si! That is how I recognize you. You were the girl that won Singor Agreste’s contest a few years ago and your designs were praised by the Style Queen.”

Marinette blushed at that. “That was a while ago. I’ve stuck with private commissions for a while, since I wanted to at least finish lycee before trying to join the big leagues.”

“Piece of advice, avoid Gabriel. That company treats their people like crap and let others get away with anything but murder.” Andrew groused as he helped himself to his plate pan du chocolat. 

The table didn’t miss her scoff of disgust as she crossed her arms. “Nothing new there. He treats his own son like a billboard, ignores him in every aspect of his life unless it has to do with business, and lets that lying bitch climb all over him like a cat in heat. It’s disgusting.”

Alizabetta’s head snapped up at her. “You know about her?”

Marinette shrugged. “Italian liar that makes fashion and anyone with Italian blood feel dirty? Yeah, I’m familiar with Lila Rossi. She got me expelled once, convinced all my friends that I was practically the antichrist, almost got me akumatized 12 times, and tried to ruin my career choice. If I hadn’t switched schools and gotten a restraining order against her, I don’t want to even think about what might have happened.”

The four of them stared at her for a long moment before Vincent grabbed a chair from another table and pulled it up so she could join them, having found a kindred spirit and someone they could vent to about the ammature model. It was hours later, and a lot of pastries that Marinette mentioned that she was actually looking to start her own fashion house. She had clients that wanted her clothes, a fanbase of people on her waitlist that she hadn’t been able to get to because she was only one person, capital to pay employees, and a facility that she had just leased. What she was missing was people. It was hard to find competent people in the fashion industry that weren’t already employed in one of the bigger fashion houses and willing to work for an eighteen year old girl.

Alizabetta was the first to speak up about that. “Do you need models? If you do, I’d be more than willing to work with you. I mean, if you’d be willing to hire me.”

Vincent completely agreed. “Si, I have seen Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale wearing your designs and have always thought they were molto bella. When you are in need of a photographer, I would be willing to work with you.”

Elisa and Andrew were partially joking and semi serious when she said “You seem nice enough, and Vincent here knows your work. We’d be willing to give you a try.”

“For the right price,” he finished with a smile. 

Marinette was practically vibrating with excitement as she stared at the four of them. “You mean it? You’d be willing to work with me even though I’m practically a kid?”

Andrew shrugged at that. “It’s not like we have any other jobs right now. And accepting a job from you will help us make sure we can pay our bills.”

Nodding in understanding, Marinette stood from the table with a smile. “Okay, if we’re going to do this, let’s do this right. Alizabetta, I’m going to need your resume, comp cards, and any spreads you’ve done in the last three months. Andrew and Elisa, your resumes and references for my records. Vincent, your resume and I’d like to take a look at your portfolio. And if at any time, any of you are offered a ‘real’ fashion job, just give me proper notice and there won’t be any hard feelings. I’ll schedule some meetings with you this week to get the details ironed out and you can start work as soon as next Monday. Does that work for all of you?”

They all stood from their chairs and shook Marinette’s hand. Although they were admittedly worried about working for someone so young and new to the business, they had a good feeling about the girl.

~oOo~

It had been three years since that afternoon at her parents’ bakery and Marinette’s business had been skyrocketing ever since. Much to the surprise and delight of the five people that had been there.

Alizabetta had become the face of her brand and was the least high-maintenance model around. The girl was just so happy to be treated with  respect and without being asked to be beanpole thin, that her happiness easily showed through in her work. Although that might have something to do with her amazing photographer, Vincent. The man’s reputation had been saved when he had joined MDC, proving that his work with Gabrielhad been sub-par due to the model rather than his talent as a photographer. For that, he was eternally grateful to Marinette, going so far as refusing to leave for another company, even when he was offered more money. 

Elisa became the head of the makeup department with six artists working under her. She worked very closely with Marinette and was glad to say that the girl-turned-woman was as sweet and wonderful as the first day she met her. All the stress she had dealt with working for Gabriel was now a distant nightmare that she only bothered mentioning when other artists asked her to compare the two companies. 

Andrew ended up becoming Marinette’s personal assistant and was very good at his job. His biggest responsibilities were making sure Marinette took time to herself for things like eating and sleeping, and protecting her from the people from her past. Namely, her former college friends that came asking for jobs, favors, and interviews after her business had picked up. Hardly any of them had references or any experience, expecting their former connection with her to get them what they wanted. The first time was a girl named Alya Cesaire, she’d applied for a PR position and had demanded to meet with Marinette, saying that “she owes me this job, after everything I’ve done for her”. 

He had gone to see his boss, and at the mention of the woman’s name, Marinette had gone deathly pale. The four of them knew of all the things that her former classmates had put her through and swore that they would protect the woman that saved their careers. So Andrew had told Ms. Cesaire that his boss did not remember any friendby that name. That her references and experience were not up to par for the company; as the Ladyblogwas little more than a gossip blog and Lila Rossi had recently been fired from Gabriel. 

Speaking of, not long after the four of them had quit/been fired, Gabrielhad seen a high turnover rate of employees. Many of those employees found their way to MDCthanks to her popularity, good pay and benefits, and just the fact that she treated her employees so well. When Mr. Agreste had looked into the reason for the high turnover rate; he discovered a few other problems with his company along the way. The number of applications from qualified applicants was dwindling, his sales dropping to a low that he hadn’t seen in over a decade, and there were multiple scandals that were connected to his company’s name. Most disturbing of all, it could all be traced back to a single person: Lila Rossi. 

Anyone and everyone who was forced to work with the talentless diva soon found themselves fired due to her tantrums or they quit because they couldn’t bear working with her. Word quickly spread around the industry that Gabriel was a company to avoid, so they weren’t getting any new, qualified candidates. Then there were the lawsuits. Lila had two lawsuits against her for sexual harrasment in the workplace filed by other models. Another for assault when she threw a prop at a set hand that required him to need stitches on his head. And another for theft and disturbing the peace when she refused to pay her bill at a restaurant and caused a scene which saw her being arrested.

Mr. Agreste had tried to do damage control by firing and blacklisting the girl from the fashion industry, but it was too late. His company and its sales were in the toilet and nothing he did could bring its reputation back up.

Lila had tried to save her career, turning on Gabrieland telling anyone who’d listen about how unprofessional and disorganized the company was. That the quality of clothes was terrible, and Mr. Agreste himself had been pressuring her to cause those public scenes so that it would bring some attention back to the brand. She wasn’t a bad person, she’d just had to deal with a terrible boss so she could keep her dream job. This was followed up by her applying to be a model with MDC. 

Andrew made sure that all five of them were present for that interview. He would admit, the girl was smart enough to realize that she was screwed the second she saw the people behind the half-circle desk. Alizabetta was glaring at her with disdain at the far left. Vincent sat next to her, looking through the photos on Lila’s comp card, while verbally ripping it apart. On the far right, Elisa only asked her how she was able to get any modeling work with her highly questionable choice of hairstyle? Andrew made a show of calling each of Lila’s fake references in front of her, unsurprised when they all came up as unavailable. At the center of the table, presenting herself with all the poise of a queen looking at a subject that she’s about to sentence to death, Marinette sat quietly as she listened to her friends. 

Lila made an admittedly pathetic attempt to kiss up to Marinette. With crocodile tears in her eyes, she pleaded with her former school mate. “Please, Marinette. I am so sorry for how I was back in college. But we were just kids back then and mistakes were made by everyone. I never meant for you to get hurt or anything like that, I just wanted to make friends and you scared me since you realized right away that I didn’t always tell the truth. But I swear, that’s not who I am anymore. If you would just give me a chance, you’ll see that I can be a valuable employee and model for your brand.”

Marinette said nothing for a moment, simply stared at her former tormentor before pressing a button on the desk. A man walked in, a man that had been sitting next to Lila in the waiting room. He pulled a pocket sized recorder from his jacket and pressed play, Lila’s sneering voice filled the room.

“I can’t believe I have to stoop so low as to try working for Maritrash. You know, I used to go to school with her?”

“Really? What was she like? I’ve only been  here for a few days, so I haven’t had a chance to meet her yet.” The man asked her, playing along with Lila.

“Ugh, she was a total nosy-good for nothing that would have been better off slitting her wrists and stop taking up air. But she’s also a bleeding heart, so she’ll probably give me a job anyway. If I can fool her for long enough, I can fix my reputation, ruin hers again, and maybe claim that she’s actually a madame or something and her models are call girls.”

“If you’re willing to cut me in on the deal, I’ll back you up. I could probably print out some evidence on the letterheads to support your claims.”

Lila’s chuckle, which had been genuine at the time but made her feel sick as she listened to it now, echoed off the walls of the room. “I get this job, and you’ve got a deal.”

The man pressed the button again to stop the recording before handing it to Marinette. She calmly set the recording on the desk in front of her, never looking away from Lila’s pale face. “You were saying?”

Doing her best to hide her fear, Lila shot to her feet in a rage. “You had no right to record me without my consent! I could sue you-”

“If you had bothered to read the notices when you entered the building,” the man interrupted her, “you would know that by entering the premises you are consenting to being recorded. This includes video and audio.”

“Thank you, Philip.” Marinette smiled at him. “Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Lila, this is Philip, my head of security, and he takes his job very seriously.”

“I’ve already called the police. We’ll be filing charges against Mlle. Rossi for attempted corporate espionage.”

The girl let out a guttural shriek before diving for the recorder while taking a swing at Marinette. Her fist didn’t get close before her arm was twisted behind her back and her face was slammed into the table. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t get away before the police arrived and slapped cuffs on her. Since the news crews were minutes behind, their head of PR had “no choice” but to share the security footage along with a statement that they were pressing charges for attempted assault and corporate espionage. 

The story blew up. Any miniscule amount of sympathy that Lila may have earned was now in ruins, along with her reputation. Especially when Marinette gave Nadja an exclusive interview. 

~oOo~

It was two months after the Lila incident that they received their next surprise guests. Gabriel Agreste, Adrien Agreste, and their assistant Natalie had made an appointment to talk business. Marinette had a feeling that this meeting would be coming. The others were worried and had wanted to sit in on the meeting, but she assured them that she could handle it. 

Her guests, on the other hand, seemed very out of place. Natalie seemed frazzled, her hair not as neat as she remembered, and hands gripping last year’s tablet a little too tight. Gabriel was attempting to exude an air of calm that he was known for, but the incessant tapping of one foot gave away what was really going on in his head.

Adrien, who had always seemed perfect in her eyes, was the most obvious. Or maybe she was just more aware now that her rose colored glasses had been removed and crushed beneath her designer shoes. His clothes, hair, and posture were not quite the perfect model look she remembered. His expression was open; she could see that he was uncomfortable with his family’s situation, as well seeing her again.

The last time they had spoken was their last week of college. Lila had destroyed Marinette’s final project for class, claiming that she had done it herself. Adrien had publicly sided with Lila before pulling Marinette to the side and chiding her for trying to expose her. At that point, she was done. She called her parents, had them bring a lawyer, and forced the principal to look at the security footage. Once they had the rock solid proof that Lila had destroyed Marinette’s property, it was easy to get a restraining order. It was harder to get her in trouble, since Lila fell back on her “lying disease” excuse and only got a week of detention, which she never served.

However; that was the past, now was time for business. 

“What can I do for you, Mr. Agreste?”

To her relief, he and Natalie didn’t waste her time. Proposing that they were interested in merging GabrielwithMDC. They went on about how with her skill and his experience, their companies would flourish and grow to new heights. They even hinted that with Adrien as her model, it would add more legitimacy to her company. Especially if the two of them were seen out together in romantic settings. 

“I think I’ve heard enough.” Marinette said as soon as she saw a break. “I’m sorry, Mr. Agreste, but I don’t see any value in joining our companies. As it stands; Gabriellacks stock value, you are unable to keep any decent staff, your business practices are questionable at best, and you have not created a single noteworthy design in years.” She watched as spoke, apparently they hadn’t expected her to turn them down and were surprised that she had.

What surprised her was when Gabriel Agreste lost his ever present cool and started yelling at her. “Who do you think you are speaking to me like that?! You have no experience in this world and you think-”

“Despite what you think of my experience, Mr. Agreste, the numbers don’t lie.” Marinette cut him off easily. “Your stock price is lower than it has been in over 20 years. People are not buying your clothes, some have even boycotted you due to your lax policies on sexual harrasment and your choice of models. Everything about you has become toxic. In fact, when my board members heard that I was meeting with you, some threatened to leave if our companies joined. I will not jeopardize my company for another that can’t even claim to be on its last leg, more like its last toe." 

"Please, Marinette,” Adrien pleaded as he stood from his seat to move closer to her. “We really need your help, and friends-”

“I’m going to stop you right there, Agreste.” She interrupted again, refusing to let Adrien take her on a guilt trip. “You made the choice to ignore my warnings about Lila years ago. You took her side and told me over and over that her lies didn’t hurt anyone. Your employees told you what she was doing, and you fired them instead of punishing her. At this point, the consequences are catching up to you and I want no part of it. This meeting is over, I’ll have someone show you out.”

Gabriel and Natalie were smart enough to realize that Marinette wouldn’t budge on her decision and were willing to leave without a scene. Adrien made the mistake of grabbing her to make her “listen to reason” just as Philip entered her office. His hand was forcibly removed and there was nothing Gabriel could do to keep the man from forcing his son from the building. He could only hope that there weren’t any paparazzi waiting for them.

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Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been missing for a while, but I’ve had a lot going on and lacking inspiration, until the other day! I know that Lila thinks she’s the smartest person in the room and that everyone else it too stupid to figure her out. So, I decided to let her “think” she’s being smart, but gets caught because she did something stupid. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!

Lila was happy. Since she had become a model, she had acquired a small fan base of people that thought she had beauty and talent. Granted, it wasn’t as large as she thought it should be, but she had only done three photo shoots and had been mentioned in one magazine. But this was just the beginning; soon, all of Europe would know her name and reporters would be clamoring after her for pictures. 

But at the same time she was very angry.

This was because Marinette had been mentioned in the same magazine as her. And where Lila got a single photo that showed more of Adrien than it did of her, Maribrat had gotten an entire article and multiple photos about her designs and the collaboration she was doing with Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois since the woman had decided to stay in Paris. She had even looked at the girl’s website and saw that there was an actual wait list to receive one of her original designs.

Enraged that someone she considered to be plain, talentless, and all around lower in status than her, Lila started coming up with plans. She wasn’t about to share her spotlight with anyone, let alone Maribrat.

She was tempted to accuse the bluenette of stealing her designs and ruining her reputation, but since she had been designing for longer than Lila had been in Paris, that had too much of a chance to backfire. She’s thought of sicking one of her classmates/sheep to break into her house and destroy her commission projects, but that also had too much of a chance to backfire since they would likely blab if they were caught.

No, she needed a different type of plan. Something that would be farther removed from herself so nothing would blow back on her, but harsh enough so that even Maribrat wouldn’t connect what happened to her. It took a few weeks and a lot of planning, but she came up with something that would work. It had been the perfect plan, a way to get Marinette out of her life and the spotlight for good. 

All it took was some sweet talking one of her new followers; a large, burly boy named Henry that was a couple years older than her and not very bright. He would have done anything for her… including going after a “stalker” that had threatened to hurt her. She barely even had to suggest anything before the boy assured her that he would protect her at all costs. It even seemed to be working when Maribrat was suspiciously absent from school for a few days after Henry said he would “take care of it”.

It had been the perfect plan…

Until the police showed up. 

She had just gotten home when the police arrived, saying that she was wanted for questioning in an open case. They had already been in contact with her mother and Greta Rossi had promised them their full cooperation. Rather than risk looking guilty, Lila called her mother to make sure they were telling the truth before grudgingly going with them. 

When she got to the police station, she was met by her very confused and furious mother. This wasn’t the first time she had been in trouble with the law. There had been an incident in Rome where she’d been accused of pushing a boy, Simone, down the stairs, and her mother had been forced to pay his medical bills. She had made it very clear that if Lila caused any more problems at school, it would not be pleasant.

So there she was; sitting with her mother and a couple of police detectives that she didn’t recognize, who were giving her condescending looks. “I am Detective Cooper, and this is Detective Raimus. We understand that you have been made aware of your rights, correct?”

“Yes, multiple times. What is this all about? You can’t just bring my daughter in for questioning like she’s some common criminal.” Her mother said as she stared down the two men.

“Mme. Rossi, we need to ask your daughter some questions in connection to an assault that took place against one of her classmates.” Stated Cooper, a detective with a thick mustache.

“Are you or your daughter familiar with a M. Henry Mortaure?”

“I’ve never heard of him,” Lila lied with a shrug.

“Neither have I, who was attacked?” Her mother asked, suddenly worried about what her daughter might have gotten involved in.

“A Mlle. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, are you familiar with the name?” Asked Raimus, who looked a bit older than his partner.

Greta Rossi thought for a second before nodding. “Lila has mentioned her a couple of times, said that she was a bully. What about her?”

“The Dupain-Cheng residence was broken into a few days ago by M. Mortaure. He was armed and confessed to be doing so with the intent of killing Mlle. Dupain-Cheng.” Mme. Rossi gasped in shock while Lila was attempting to hide her smirk with a look of worry. “The Dupain-Chengs were not harmed, although the same cannot be said for M. Mortaure.” Cooper placed some photos in front of them on the table, gaining another gasp from Greta. Three of the man’s limbs were wrapped in heavy gauze, his face was swollen and bruised from a black eye and a seriously broken nose. 

Lila didn’t flinch when she saw the photos, but was now fighting a scowl at the knowledge that Henry had failed her. And since she was here in an interrogation room, it could only mean that the idiot had blabbed. But that didn’t matter, she could just say that he must be a crazy stalker who had somehow found out that Maribrat was bullying her and decided to take things into his own hands. After all, it wasn’t like she had called or messaged him from her personal phone. She had bought a burner phone with cash just for this occasion. 

“Despite being armed with a pistol, he never had a chance to use it,” Raimus stated as pushed one of the photos towards Lila. “He will require reconstructive surgery on his face from being hit multiple times with a rolling pin. His arms were severely burned when he fell into a fryer, it’s likely that he’ll never have full use of them again. Despite the burns, he attempted to go for a kitchen knife after being disarmed. That knife was turned on him and he ended up with a perforated lung.”

Greta looked like she was going to be sick, unable to look away from the pictures in front of her. But she eventually did, casting a harsh stare at her daughter. “Please, tell me you had nothing to do with this.”

Doing her best to fake her shock, she shook her head and pushed away the photos. “I swear, I had nothing to do with this. I don’t even know why he would do this.”

“We were wondering the same thing and discovered that he’s a fan of yours. He has multiple pictures of you, as well as Mlle. Dupain-Cheng. We suspected that he had been stalking you and came to the conclusion that he thought she was bullying you and decided to protect you on his own-”

“Oh no, that has to be it!” She exclaimed, skillfully faking shock. “Marinette followed me out of school last week and threatened me to stay away from my boyfriend. This boy must have seen her and decided to get rid of her.”

“If that’s the case, why are you questioning my daughter?” Greta pressed, not completely believing Lila but seeming to be coming around to her side.

“As I was saying,” stressed Detective Cooper. “We had suspectedthat M. Mortaure was stalking your daughter, until we got the warrant for his phone. It seems that someone, supposedly Lila, has been corresponding with him for many weeks. She had been flirting with him, sending him photos of herself, and then Marinette. She went on to tell him that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was a stalker and had threatened her. M. Mortaure seems to have done what he did with the understanding that he was protecting Lila, at Lila’s own behest.”

“I would never do that!” Lila cried before reaching into her purse to pull out her personal mobile and set it on the table in front of them. “Check my phone, I never messaged him.”

“We have already checked your phone records against the one that has been messaging M. Mortaure, and found that the numbers did not match.” Detective Raimus said, and Lila watched her mother visibly slump from relief… but it was short lived. 

“We did, however, track the number to a burner phone that was purchased in cash from a gas station. We thought it was a dead end, but the person who bought the phone made a mistake.” Raimus continued as Detective Cooper pulled out his own mobile and dialed a number. “The person who bought it has kept it on, and it is currently active.”

Seconds after Cooper pressed send, a ringing came from Lila’s purse. Greta Rossi stared at her daughter in shock before yanking the purse out of Lila’s hands and pulling out a second phone from inside. When Cooper cancelled the call, the second phone stopped ringing. 

“What have you done?” She spat at Lila.

Panicking, she shook her head while looking around the room for an exit. “That’s not mine! They must have planted it on me when they brought me here! They’re trying to frame me!”

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Greta screamed at her daughter, causing Lila to practically fall out of her seat in fear. “You convinced someone to commit MURDER for you! That makes you just as guilty as him!”

“But-but I have diplomatic immunity! I can’t be charged for any of this!”

“Yes, you can,” Greta said, her voice going cold. “I may be a secretary to the Italian Ambassador, which grants me immunity, but that doesn’t extend to you! I told you to behave! I told you to never cause trouble like you did in Roma after what you did to that boy that called you out on your…” Understanding washed over Greta’s features as her expression morphed from anger, to understanding, and then disgust. “That’s it, isn’t it? Marinette never bullied you. She knew about your lies and you set out to hurt her just like before!” 

Standing up quickly, her mother started pacing the room before looking back to the detectives. “I’ll still need to speak with the ambassador, but you can expect our full cooperation in this.”

“Mom, no!”

“What are the charges?” Greta asked, acting as though Lila wasn’t even there. 

“As Lila is a minor, she can be charged with Complicity to Commit Murder, the decision of sentencing is ultimately up to the judge. But seeing as she purposefully bought a burner phone to use and has also lied to the police, I wouldn’t hold much hope.”

~oOo~

The trial took longer than expected. At first, things had been looking up since her followers from class had come to act as character witnesses. All of them saying how wonderful she was, a great friend that did so much for them and everyone she knew,   and that she would never do something so terrible. That Marinette was just jealous of Lila, so it was better to take whatever she said with a grain of salt.

Then, the prosecution started their case. Showing evidence of Lila falsifying records at school, video evidence of her purposefully framing Marinette for assault and theft. As well as the communications between herself and Henry, encouraging him to kill Marinette. 

Her followers had still been a bit sceptical to believe what the prosecutor was saying about her, not wanting to believe that they had supported someone who would try to get another person murdered. But then came her past victims, many of whom her mother had never known about. Simone from Rome, Sara from Florence, Giulia from Venice, Daniel from Viterbo, and Sofia from Palermo. All of them testifying against Lila, many with screenshots of threatening texts from her, photos of ruined property and injuries she had inflicted on them, and all around proof that Lila was the reason behind many hardships that had happened to them. And all because they had figured out that she was a liar and she had done everything in her power to hurt them.

After all that, the judge had not been kind. 

“It is clear, Mlle. Rossi, that you are a very disturbed girl in need of help,” the judge said, not bothering to hide how offput he was by Lila. “I cannot, in good conscious, allow you to roam freely. Having seen that these habits of yours have not only been repeated over and again, but have escalated to attempted murder. I have no choice but to have you returned to Italy where you will be kept in a juvenile detention center until you turn 18, at which point you will be transferred to a mental hospital for treatment for no less than five years. At which point, you will be evaluated to see if you will be able to safely rejoin society.”

Lila was immediately escorted back to Italy in disgrace. Her name slandered across every newspaper and magazine across Europe for what she had done. She was now famous, with most everyone knowing her name and reporters scrambling to take her picture as she did her walk of shame out of the courthouse. She was finally famous, but for all the wrong reasons

In case you are wondering. Henry made the mistake of coming after Marinette when she was with her parents. Tom and Marinette were in the bakery kitchen and Sabine was at the front. Tom saw the gun and hit him in the face with his rolling pin twice. He dropped the gun but was still coming after Marinette, she tripped him and he landed in the frier, which had been turned on to make donuts, and splashed oil all over him. Sabine had rushed back in time to see a bleeding and badly burned Henry grabbing a knife, she did some wicked moves that resulted in Henry stabbing himself. By then, he passed out from the pain and the Dupain-Chengs had called the police. The officers that came were both impressed and terrified by what happened to the boy, but the surveillance footage proved that they were only defending themselves.

TAGLIST:

@2confused-2doanything @7-sage-7 @aadnrsstar @abrx2002 @awkwardromances @bayball @babylovebug18 @botanicalfoxx @caffeinetheory @cheshire5210 @chocolateherringtacofan @city-of-all-tunas @classycollectorreviewworld  @corabeth11 @darkened-flame @delightfulcookiesrecipespizza @fandom-trapped-03 @ghostmaster @iamblinkmarvelarmy @interobanginyourmom @izang @jesussavedevenme @kazedancer @kitten12113 @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @lilypotter2018 @lunataravler @maskedpainter @ miraculouslydumb  @nerd-nowandforever @ola-is-dead @pandacatxd @plushbookworm @plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw @pheonix-biach @raiderofthelostbooks @ramos123 @rowanrouge @rowanyx @ren121 @seesea22 @seraphichana @sashakoi @shypeacekitten @tazer6787 @that-girl-sakea @thecrazyfantrollshasmoved @the-smallest-kittenz @tishwinchesterannabethjackson @t1dwarrior-of-earth @ulmban @with-forward-motion @wonderbat91939 @zoiechance

Part 1     Part 2

The final part of my “Marinette’s Haunted Doll” series. It took a lot of time and effort to write, but it was really worth it. By request, I have included the Adrien salt and redemption ending. Please let me know qhich ending you liked the most. And thanks again to @unmaskedagain for the prompt that inspired this story. Blood, gore, and character death ahead. You have been warned.

It had been the most eventful week of Marinette’s life. And considering she had gotten her miraculous, became a central figure in Paris, met Chat Noir, and met Adrien in a single week; that was saying something. 

It all started when Lila convinced Alya to dump a jar of paint on her during the class photo. Mme. Bustier didn’t do anything to help, neither did Adrien. She just went home crying and told her parents what happened. They had been furious by the state of their daughter and her mother took pictures of the damage to her dress, the smeared makeup, and the bruises and scratch marks on her arms and face. Marinette attempted to salvage her dress; but it proved to be beyond saving. She could hear her parents on the phone with the Board of Governors when she got out of the shower and they did not sound happy. But there was only so much that could be done until the class, Mme. Bustier, and Adrien stopped blaming herfor Lila’s behavior. All that happened on Monday.

On Tuesday, things started happening. First, Kim and M. Damocles both fell down the stairs and someone from the Board of Governors had to come to take over until their principal could return to work. She had a feeling that her parents’ call the night before might have had something to do with it. When she saw Lila try to blame her for both of them falling, Marinette wasn’t sure what to expect, seeing as the teachers of the school kept letting her down. But when M. Rupere confronted Lila and pointed out that if she had been pushed down the stairs, she would be injured, Marinette almost cried in relief and Lila later showed up with detention slips. The day got even better when Nino came up and apologized to her. It was a relief to have one of her oldest friends back on her side. 

Wednesday morning, she heard the news about Alya and couldn’t help but cry for her former friend. She had hoped that somewhere down the line, Alya would have figured out the truth about Lila and they could try to start over, but that was gone. A part of her admitted that she was relieved that Alya would never torment her again, but that feeling was fleeting. She would miss the girl that she had met on the first day of the school year and shared a macaron with.

Then after lunch, M. Rupere was in class, saying that Mme. Bustier had decided to take the rest of the day off for personal reasons. Much to her relief, he kept a keen eye on Lila for the rest of the day and stopped her every time she tried to interrupt the lesson to tell one of her stories. At one point, even threatening to give her another day of detention for every time she interrupted class. For the first time since Lila came to school, Marinette felt like they actually learned something in class. 

When Mme. Mendelieve’s class came; she and the rest of the class watched in horror as Max and Alix’s experiment literally blew up in their faces and burned them. The smell of chemicals and burning flesh nearly made her throw up as she covered her face with her sleeve. Classes ended not long after that and Marinette decided to go visit her former friends in the hospital, knowing that Lila wasn’t likely to do it. Although she wasn’t allowed to see Max and Alix, she was permitted to see Kim. She brought him his favorite macarons from the bakery to cheer him up, already knowing how much he hated hospital food from the time he broke his collarbone when they were nine years old. He was happy to see her, saying that she was the only person to come see him and that he appreciated it. He even apologized for being a bully, since being stuck in bed with nothing to do but think, as well as listening to his mother chastise him for his bad behavior, made him realize what a terrible person he had been.

Not long after she got home, Mylene and Ivan came over to visit and apologized to her as well. They even brought her fabric to replace her ruined dress, apology cards, a new sketchbook, and money to pay for the things they had asked for but never paid for; going so far as to ask for receipts to pay back everything to her. Marinette had started crying and hugged the two of them in relief. 

Thursday morning, she went to school early with her mother, since M. Rupere had apparently called the day before and asked them to come in to talk. After arriving, he asked her why Lila had accused her of causing Kim and M. Damocles’ accident. Since he had already proven to be a more trustworthy educator than Damocles and Bustier combined, she told him everything. It was Kim who took her bag and dumped it out, then ran up the stairs with Serafina and tripped near the top, and the doll was still missing. She told him about how much Lila lies and that she’d had it out for her since she called the italian out after she returned from her “trip to Achu” and threatened Marinette. That she hadn’t said anything because Adrien had asked her to take the high road, but Lila hadn’t stopped. 

She told him about the day she was expelled; the test answer sheet, the fake push down the stairs, and necklace in her locker; pointing out that her locker had been broken into before, that the answer sheet had been crammed into the top of her bag, and that M. Damocles had never looked at the CCTV footage. And through the entire incident, Bustier and Damocles had basically refused to listen to her side of the story and believed Lila without a second thought. They only reversed their decision after Lila told them that she had a lying disease, which did not exist in any of the medical journals she had looked into. 

Then, just earlier that week while they were taking the class photo, Mme. Bustier had forced her and Lila to sit next to each other in an attempt to make them get along. She had seen the jar of paint seconds before Alya went to dump in on her. Marinette had tried to get out of the way, but Lila had gripped her arm so tight that her nails dug in. When she started really struggling, Lila threw an elbow into her face and then got out of the way before Alya dumped the paint on her head and down her dress. Sabine pulled out her phone to show M. Rupere the photos she took after arriving home, and he looked quite disturbed by what he saw.

He asked her what Mme. Bustier had done and that brought Marinette to tears. Her teacher had told her to stop causing a scene and not touch anyone, or else she would ruin the photo for everyone else. She was then sent home for the rest of the day and told that she simply would not be in the photo that year.

M. Rupere listened to her before looking something up on the computer. A moment later, he turned the screen to show Marinette the entire incident from Monday, happening exactly as the girl had described it. He also showed them a recording of Marinette and Lila arguing at the top of the stairs before the other girl practically skipped down, sat on the ground, and began crying. Sabine was furious that the girl she had thought was simply sick from a diseasewas actually hurting her little girl. 

They were interrupted a few minutes later when Rose came rushing into the office, saying that Sabrina had fallen with a bag of knives and razors in her hands and was badly hurt. Their meeting was paused for a long while before M. Rupere returned to place something in his desk drawer, and then called the Italian embassy to have Mme. Rossi join them. From what Marinette could hear, the woman sounded very amicable and agreed to come to the school right away. He left the office once again and returned with Lila herself, forcing the nervous girl to sit in a vacant chair. 

“Now, Mlle. Rossi, Sabrina claims that she got that bag from you. Do you want to explain why you brought a bag of weapons onto campus?” M. Rupere asked, his tone indicating that she had to answer.

Marinette watched as Lila began her act, covering her face as she pretended to sob. “I-I didn’t mean for this to happen, i-i-it was Marinette’s fault. *sniffle*  She blames me for what ha-happened to Alya, but that doesn’t make sense. This-this morning, just before class, she-she practically threw that bag at me and told me to use it. *sob*”

Her gaze switched from the liar to M. Rupere, he was looking at the girl with a hard glare while writing everything down. “You said that Marinette gave you the bag full of sharp objects?” Lila nodded. “And she did this right before class, correct?” She nodded again. “About how long was that before Sabrina got hurt and Rose came to get me?”

Marinette saw Lila hesitate, but she still answered. “N-not long. *sniffle* Maybe, ten minutes at most.”

He nodded, writing that down while Marinette fought the urge to smile. She and her mother had been in the meeting with him for close to half an hour before Rose came. And before that, she’d been with her parents at home. 

“And why would she do that?” He asked her.

Marinette barely caught Lila’s snide glance before going into her sob story about how Marinette bullied her, threatened her, had stolen from her and pushed her down the stairs. True, she had been very lucky to not be seriously hurt, but that was because she’d been trained by an uncle who was a stuntman in Hollywood. 

By the time Lila had finished spinning her tale of all the reasons Marinette was jealous and had been bullying her; her mother, Greta Rossi, had arrived and sat next to her daughter. Everyone saw the utter shock and unease on Lila’s face the moment the woman stepped into the room. Marinette had to keep herself from smirking, knowing that the liar wouldn’t be able to spin such tales with her mother sitting next to her.

“Is everything alright? What happened?” Mme. Rossi asked, looking from M. Rupere to Sabine.

“Mme. Rossi, your daughter was just telling us about her life. But before we get into all the things she’s been saying,” M. Rupere paused as he reached into his desk and pulled out the object he had placed in his desk earlier, one of the knives that he had taken from inside the bag. Marinette and the other two adults saw Lila’s face pale significantly when he placed it on the desk, while Mme. Rossi looked at it with a bit of shock. “Do you recognize this kitchen knife?”

The woman’s brow creased. “It looks like one of our old kitchen knives. Lila said that they were beginning to rust and that we should throw them out. We got the new ones last night.” Then she turned to her wilting daughter. “Why in the world would you bring that to school? Someone could have gotten hurt!”

“Someone did get hurt, Sabrina Raincomprix fell with the bag in her hands and had to be rushed to the hospital.”

“But those aren’t our knives!” Lila practically yelled in a panic. “I told you, Marinette threw them at me before class and told me to ‘use them on myself’. She basically told me to kill myself!”

Greta Rossi turned back to M. Rupere in shock. “Is that true?”

“That your daughter claimsthat Mlle. Dupain-Cheng gave her the bag of knives a few minutes before Mlle. Raincomprix was injured, yes. The problem with her claim is that she, her mother, and I were in a meeting for close to a half hour before I was alerted to the incident. So, unless she was in two places at the same time, your daughter is lying.”

“Well, considering how terrible those vigilante heroes are at doing their jobs, that could be a possibility. After all, the school was closed down for months when Principal Damocles was akumatized.”

His brow creased at that. “I apologize, Mme. Rossi, but the school never closed for that amount of time for akumas. However, there isthe matter of the trip you and your daughter took to the kingdom of Achu, missing four months of school. If you are saying that is not the case, your daughter will be charged with truancy, will very likely be expelled, and you will be paying some significant fines. And then there are the other matters to be addressed. Such as the assault and destruction of property your daughter committed against Marinette, of which we have picture and video evidence. Framing the same girl for assault, which we also have video evidence, and there are likely to be other charges added on once the Board of Governors, of which I am a member, concludes their investigation.”

The meeting quickly devolved into a lot of shouting after that; with Lila’s lies coming undone, recordings of her purposefully framing Marinette being shown to the woman, and talk of possible jail time since she had brought weapons to school and a police officer’s daughter had been seriously injured. Marinette could see that even though Lila was nervous and angry that she was in trouble, she wasn’t really scared. After all, she had a magical safety net known as diplomatic immunity.

She even had the nerve to roll her eyes at the adults discussing her fate. “So what if I’m expelled? I’ll just be enrolled in another school by the end of next week. That’s the worst anyone in this country can do to me since I have diplomatic immunity.”

“No, you do not.” Greta sneered as she coldly stared at her daughter. “Only the higher ranking members of the embassy have immunity. I’m a secretary at the embassy, I don’t have immunity which means you don’t either. And even if you did, I would have it revoked.”

“HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT!?” Lila screamed, standing from her chair.

“If I didn’t, the embassy would have. But that’s neither here nor there. And as for your next school, it will be a reformatory school in Italy and you’ll be staying with your Zia Francesca.”

Lila’s jaw dropped even more. “But-but Zio Simone andZia Francesca don’t have internet, cell signal, or even a tv at their house!”

“Do I look like I care? You are in big trouble, young lady. This is not something you talk your way out of. You are going to answer for everything you’ve done. Including committing assault, property damage, and slander; while trying to frame this girl for assault, theft, slander, and threatening you with deadly weapons. At this point, you’ll be lucky if I can convince the courts to try you as a minor instead as an adult since you were fully aware of your actions.”

Marinette saw it happen; the shift in her expression, posture, and pallor to alert her that she was about to do something. She barely had time to react when Lila screamed, grabbed the kitchen knife from the desk, and dove at her own mother. Her Ladybug reflexes had her leg lashing out and striking Lila in the chest. The girl, not expecting the blow, was thrown back into the desk and fell to the floor in a heap. The two women had jumped from their chairs while M. Rupere dashed around the desk to restrain Lila, only to pause when he turned her over. Marinette looked on in shock when she saw that the knife had impaled her throat and she was quickly losing blood. Marinette quickly removed her jacket to staunch the blood while her mother called for an ambulance. 

A few minutes later while the paramedics were treating Lila, Greta Rossi approached Sabine and Marinette with tears in her eyes. “I want you to know that I don’t blame you for Lila getting hurt. You likely saved our lives, mine at the very least, when you kicked her away. And I promise you, Lila will answer for everything she’s done to you.”

Seeing that the woman was on the verge of a breakdown, Marinette hugged her and whispered words of remorse that she was going through something so horrible. And she really hoped that things would get better very soon.

M. Rupere excused Marinette from school for the rest of the day, but she was expected to speak with the school counselor the next day. She thanked him before she and her mother left for the police station to give their statements.

It was a little after 3pm by the time she got home, but didn’t stay for long as the Nadja reported another akuma on the news. She half expected it to be either Lila or Mme. Rossi, considering how upset they had been, but no. It was Nino, back as Bubbler and at least three times as powerful as before. She expected it to be difficult, but Chat Noir was surprisingly on top of his game that day. Apparently, he was aware of Alya’s passing and knew that Nino had been dating her, so he wasn’t messing around this time. They soon defeated Bubbler and restored Nino to normal. Ladybug gave him a hug, telling him that she knew about Alya and although they didn’t always see eye-to-eye about what she was reporting, she knew Alya was a good person, a wonderful Rena Rouge, and would miss her greatly.

Friday morning came and everyone in school knew about Lila’s freak out, attempted murder, and that Marinette had been the one to stop her. She was glad to hear that Sabrina would be alright, although she had suffered nerve damage and would have to go to physical therapy to regain full use of her hands again. Kim had joked with her about being therapy buddies to push each other to get better sooner. Nino was a bit of a mess, but Marinette set a box of his favorite pastries in front of him and got a small smile in return. Alix and Max were still in the hospital, and were not likely to return until after their surgeries. It was now suspected that Lila had mixed up the chemicals to go after Marinette but the other two had grabbed those bottles instead, though this could not be proven. 

M. Rupere had hired a substitute teacher as Mme. Bustier was on leave for the foreseeable future. Although it wasn’t mentioned, most of the students were pretty sure it was because she had a nervous breakdown at the school the day before. One of M. D’Argencourt’s students had found her hiding in a corner of the supply closet just after lunch and it took a couple hours to coax her to come out. They did hope that she would get better, she was a really nice teacher, afterall.

Adrien also wasn’t in school that day and he wasn’t answering his phone. Most everyone in the class tried to reach him, but received no reply. It wasn’t until during lunch that they got their answer on the news. Gabriel and Emilie Agreste had been found dead in their home by Adrien the day before from heart failure and an apparent suicide. Although details were scarce, Adrien mentioned that he had been out to see his friends but returned to find his parents in his father’s office. He guessed that his mother had returned to their home on the brink of death and passed away. His father had not been able to handle it and took his own life to be with his wife again. Anyone watching could see how broken Adrien appeared and knew that he would never be the same. Nadja went on to report that the investigation was still underway, but the thoughts and prayers of Paris went out to the last surviving Agreste.

Adrien Redemption

Marinette went out that night as Ladybug, focused on going to see Adrien and comfort him in any way she could. What she hadn’t expected was to find him sitting on the front steps of his house in the dark. He barely even acknowledged her when she landed a few feet away and then sat beside him.

The two of them sat for a long time in silence, tears slowly leaking out of Adrien’s eyes before nodding absently. “You were right.”

“About what?”

“About my father being Hawkmoth. You were right, M’Lady.”

It took her a moment for her brain to fully comprehend the meaning of what he’d just said. She had only told two people her theory about Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth; Master Fu and Chat Noir. And since the Master had recently lost his memories and left the city… 

“Kitty?” She gasped, surprised at herself for not figuring it out sooner. “But… how-”

Plagg flew out of Adrien’s shirt pocket before reaching in to pull out a folded piece of paper, holding it out to her. Ladybug carefully unfolded it before reading the elegant script.

Dear Adrien,

I am not one to admit defeat, and I refuse to do so now. However, I am also a businessman and recognize a failed investment. And the endeavor I have been participating in has failed.

For the past year, I have been operating as Hawkmoth in order to obtain Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. This was so I could bring your mother back to us. She fell into a deep sleep after using the damaged peacock miraculous, and I was going to use the wish to wake her. 

However, after today’s failure, Nooroo informed me that Emilie has been dead for a number of months and I was only preserving her body at this point. He also informed me of the cost of using the wish. If I were to wish your mother alive, you would have likely taken her place. If you had died, she would have never forgiven me. Therefore, I have relinquished my claim to the butterfly and peacock miraculous. 

All I have wanted was to hold your mother in my arms and hear her voice. With that out of reach, I can not go on. 

I expect you to maintain the dignity of the Agreste name and protect the company in my stead. Nathalie will assist you as she did me, if necessary. 

Goodbye,

Gabriel Agreste

Ladybug couldn’t help but read the letter again once she had finished. M. Agreste’s reasoning for wanting their miraculous made a lot more sense now. But she didn’t miss the underlying statement that he had only had himself and his wife in mind. He didn’t even tell his only son that he loved him in his final words, only that he was to uphold the Agreste name. Part of her wondered, if he had been a little further gone, would Gabriel have sacrificed his son to get his wife back? From the tears in Adrien’s eyes, he believed that he would.

“After we saved Nino, I hung out with him for a while to make sure he would be okay. When I got back to my room, I saw that letter on my desk with both of the miraculous beside it,” he said, his eyes unfocused as he remembered what had happened. “I must have read it four or five times before realizing exactly what it meant and ran downstairs. They were in his office on the floor and I just… I couldn’t move. I mean, the paramedics told me that they were both dead for a while when I found him, it must have happened just a few minutes after we saved Nino.

“After the paramedics left with their bodies, I confronted Nathalie. She denied everything at first until I showed her the letter. She was Mayura, that was why she was getting sick. She tried defending Father, that he was only doing what he thought necessary to bring Mother back…” A shuttered sob escaped him as he gripped his hair in both fists. “I lost it. I yelled at her, told her she was fired. She packed most of her things and left a few minutes before you got here.”

Tears brimmed in Ladybug’s eyes as she wrapped her arms around her kitty and held him close. The moment she did, the floodgates opened and he was sobbing into her shoulder. They sat there for a long time, holding each other as he let everything out, and she never once loosened her grip on him. 

It was a long time before he gently pulled away from her, but only so he could reach into his pants pocket and show her the butterfly and peacock miraculous.  “I am returning these to you, the new Guardian, to keep them safe. I had the chance to talk to Nooroo and Duusu earlier, they’re sad, but they’ll get better with the rest of the kwamis.” Then he paused, giving Plagg an apologetic look before removing the ring from his finger and holding it out to her as the little cat disappeared.

Shocked, Ladybug stared at the ring for a long moment before shaking her head as her own tears trailed down her cheeks. “No, I can’t take that. You’re my kitty, I could never replace you.”

“It has to be done M’Lady. After losing them and knowing what the wish is capable of, I’ll be tempted. And despite you saying that you love someone else, I’ve loved you since we defeated Stoneheart together. Meaning that you would be the person I lose if I ever got your earrings and made that wish, and I won’t risk it. So, I’m begging you, M’Lady. Let me be a hero one last time and give you my ring to make sure that you and Paris will be out of danger.”

With trembling fingers and her eyes blurred with tears, Ladybug gently took the ring from his hand and placed it safely in her yoyo. “That was the most noble thing I have ever seen in my life. And with or without the mask, you will always be my kitty.”

Adrien gave her a sad smile before looking away from her. “I realize that you’ll have to tell Paris that Hawkmoth is gone, but…”

Knowing what he was asking, she tilted her head back to look at the stars that were beginning to form in the sky. “I’m going to tell them the truth. That Chat Noir discovered the identity of Hawkmoth and Mayura and was able to retrieve their miraculous, they are no more and will never be able to harm anyone again. However, while doing so, Chat worried that he had become corrupted by the events that had taken place. Rather than risk anyone being harmed by his future actions, he gave up his miraculous to live a normal life.”

He nodded, grateful that she was willing to let his father keep his good name in the end. It was more than the man deserved, but Ladybug wasn’t doing it for him. She wanted Adrien to be able to live in peace; and as difficult as it would be with the knowledge of who his father had been, she wasn’t about to make it worse with the world against him for being Hawkmoth’s son. 

“So… what are you going to do now?” She asked him, a little worried about what his answer would be.

“I, um, called my Aunt Amelie this morning. I’m going to be moving to live with her and my cousin Felix in London. I just… if I’m not my father’s perfect model son anymore and I can’t be Chat Noir, I need a fresh start to figure out who I am. I’m hoping I can figure that out away from Paris.”

Ladybug nodded, knowing that he was right. “While you’re doing that, you can start by knowing this; you are a good person, Adrien Agreste. Not because of your status or what your father made you to be; but because you made the choice to put others before yourself when it really mattered. Start with that, I think you’ll eventually be okay.”

That gained a soft smile from him before looking her in the eye. “May I ask one thing from you before you leave, M’Lady?”

“Anything.”

“I know that I’ll probably never see you again with me going away and you staying here to watch over Paris. So, before I go, can I have a kiss that I’ll actually remember?”

A sad chuckle bubbled up, thinking of the two kisses they had shared but how he hadn’t been able to remember either. Reaching towards him, she gently cupped his cheeks between her hands and gave him a lingering kiss that said so many things: “I will always care about you”, “you are a wonderful person”, but the saddest one of all, “goodbye”. 

Breaking the kiss, Ladybug wiped away her tears before yo-yoing away.

~oOo~

Saturday morning, Ladybug met with Mayor Bourgeois and had him hold a press conference where she alerted Paris that Hawkmoth and Mayura had been defeated by Chat Noir and that Ladybug was now in possession of their miraculouses. There were a lot of questions and a lot of tears when they asked where Chat Noir was. 

With tears in her eyes, she told them. “Chat feared that he might have been corrupted and refused to put the city he loved in danger. As many citizens have been akumatized, you know the kind of influence he had and how skilled he was at getting into peoples’ minds. Chat refused to risk that. To protect Paris and its people, he gave up his miraculous and opted to live a normal life. It was the bravest and most heartbreaking moment of my entire career as a hero. He is truly the embodiment of what a hero is meant to be and I am honored to call him my partner.”

The Mayor immediately declared that a new statue would be erected in honor of Chat Noir’s sacrifice and that he would not be forgotten. Ending the press conference with declarations of celebration across the city, as they were finally free to feel again.

Back home, Nooroo and Duusu’s miraculouses were where they belonged in the miracle box. She had asked the kwami if she should retire as well, but all of them agreed that even though Hawkmoth was gone, the world may still need Ladybug.

By Monday morning, school was a very different place. Adrien was gone, Mme. Bustier was on permanent leave, and M. Damocles had been let go with M. Rupere taking over as his replacement for the rest of the year. Word has also gotten around that Lila had completely lost use of her vocal cords and had attacked a police officer with a syringe while in the hospital when they came to arrest her. That resulted in her being drugged into a stupor and immediately deported back to Italy where she would be tried on five counts of attempted murder, assault, property damage, slander, as well as other charges being added on every day as the investigation into her actions continued. Max and Alix would not be returning to school that year, as it would take time to recover from their upcoming surgeries. And then there was Alya’s funeral, which would be taking place after school.

However, on a good note, classes were a lot more peaceful. People were finally expressing themselves in ways that they hadn’t been able to do in over a year. And someone had found Serafina. The porcelain doll had been left sitting on top of her desk when she got to school that morning. Although her outfit was a little worse for wear after being kwami knows where for close to a week, she still looked to be in pretty good condition. Giving the doll a hug, she carefully placed her in her bag before turning forward since the class was about to start.

Serafina was satisfied. Marinette’s enemies had been punished, she was no longer in danger, and she had even regained some of her friends. All that, and she had only killed two people. It might have been easier to just kill everyone, but it was worth the effort to see this special girl smile. Adrien had even surprised her when he had not only handed over the butterfly and peacock jewels, but also the ring of the black cat to make sure that his lady would never be in danger from him. For that reason, she had decided that the knowledge of his father’s identity was enough punishment. 

She also hoped that those she had punished had learned their lessons. Because, if she was forced to step forward again to protect Marinette, she would not be so kind next time.

Adrien Salt

When Ladybug arrived at the Agreste Mansion, she immediately sensed something off with the atmosphere and was on high alert. The front door was open, she could hear movement inside, and the smell of blood and death had her covering her nose and mouth with her hand. Following the sound, she cautiously entered the mansion and opened the door to M. Agreste’s office. The inside was an absolute disaster area, nothing like the organized workshop she had seen during the Simon Says incident. The chaos of the room had been so drastic, it took her a second to clear her head and look at Adrien. 

With bags under his eyes, rumpled clothes, and cuts on his hands, it looked like he hadn’t slept at all since finding his parents. She might have considered that an understandable reaction if he wasn’t manickly pacing the room, while looking over the Miraculous book with the butterfly and peacock miraculouses beside it. She must have gasped or made some sort of noise, because Adrien stopped what he was doing and turned to her with a large smile.

“M’Lady! I’m so glad you’ve come! Now I can fix everything once you give me your miraculous!”

So many things ran through her head in the moment Adrien was reaching for her ears. First was that only Chat Noir called her M’Lady. Second, since the butterfly and peacock miraculous were both on the desk, her previous theory about Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth had been correct and he’d tricked them. And third, the way Adrien was acting, she was having some serious flashbacks to Chat Blanc. 

Just as she felt his fingers graze her cheeks, Ladybug shoved him away with all her strength before diving across the desk to grab the other two miraculous while she could. By the time Adrien was standing again, she had already placed the jewels securely in her yo-yo. When he looked at her, she could see the shock and a bit of hurt in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, M’Lady. I didn’t mean to be rude. And you didn’t have to snatch the other miraculous like you did, I was going to give them to you as soon as I saw you. Now, can I have your miraculous, please? It’s the only way I can fix things.”

“Kitty?” Unable to help herself, she stepped closer to him. “I don’t understand, why do you need my miraculous?”

His eyes went wide and manic for a split second before rushing over to the book and pulling out a piece of paper to show her.

Dear Adrien,

I am not one to admit defeat, and I refuse to do so now. However, I am also a businessman and recognize a failed investment. And the endeavor I have been participating in has failed.

For the past year, I have been operating as Hawkmoth in order to obtain Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. This was so I could bring your mother back to us. She fell into a deep sleep after using the damaged peacock miraculous, and I was going to use the wish to wake her. 

However, after today’s failure, Nooroo informed me that Emilie has been dead for a number of months and I was only preserving her body at this point. He also informed me of the cost of using the wish. If I were to wish your mother alive, you would have likely taken her place. If you had died, she would have never forgiven me. Therefore, I have relinquished my claim to the butterfly and peacock miraculous. 

All I have wanted was to hold your mother in my arms and hear her voice. With that out of reach, I can not go on. 

I expect you to maintain the dignity of the Agreste name and protect the company in my stead. Nathalie will assist you as she did me, if necessary. 

Goodbye,

Gabriel Agreste

She was genuinely shocked. Gabriel Agreste had been trying to steal their miraculous so he could bring back his wife, but committed suicide when he found out the cost. She remembered Tikki and Master Fu telling her a while back about the dangers of having the black cat and ladybug miraculouses out into the world and something about a wish and the cost. If M. Agreste had brought his wife back, Adrien would have died.

“It’s all here,” he said looking from her to the book. “By merging our miraculous together, we can be granted one wish. Any wish we want. My wish would be to fix everything. My parents would be back, you’ll be safe, and we can be together. Even if someone has to be sacrificed, it doesn’t have to be someone I know, any random person will work-”

“Kitty, stop! Are you listening to yourself? You’re talking about human sacrifice to resurrect your parents after your father…” Her voice trailed off as she saw his brow crease and his lips turn into a grimace.

“You’re not even listening, you don’t understand. Plagg, claws out!”

Ladybug jumped into action before he even finished transforming, jumping up to wrap herself around his right arm and drag him down into an armbar. She moved fast, grabbing his ring and yanking it off his finger before he could call for his Cataclysm. He transformed back into Adrien, giving her a hurt and anger look as he struggled to free himself from her hold. But without his transformation, he was no match for her strength. 

“Why won’t you help me fix it! We’re soulmates! You’re supposed to help me no matter what!”

“We are not soulmates,” Ladybug said between gritted teeth as Adrien continued to struggle, her own heart breaking as she realized it was as true for Adrien as it was for Chat Noir. “We were only ever to be partners to keep Paris and its people safe, but you never listened to me when I told you ‘no’. And now you’re willing to let people die, just to get your wish? I can’t let you do that!” Giving his arm a twist, not enough to break anything but it would still hurt, she jumped a safe distance away. “As Guardian of the miraculous, I hereby reclaim the ring of the black cat. You are unworthy of its power and will never come by it again.”

Without waiting for his response, she sprinted out the door and yo-yoed away. His anguished scream chasing her every step of the way until it faded in the distance. 

~oOo~

Saturday morning, Ladybug met with Mayor Bourgeois and had him hold a press conference where she alerted Paris that Hawkmoth and Mayura had been defeated and that Ladybug was now in possession of their miraculouses. There were a lot of questions and a lot of tears when they asked where Chat Noir was. Although it made her uncomfortable, she didn’t want to completely destroy the city’s memory of Chat Noir.

“As many of you know, Hawkmoth had the ability to get into peoples’ minds and corrupt them. Chat Noir fell victim to his manipulation and it affected him even after I had the butterfly and peacock miraculouses in my hands. For the safety of Paris, I had no choice but to relieve Chat Noir of his miraculous.  And although I will not reveal his identity, I believe that he will not be a danger to Paris. Nor should we blame him for what transpired. We should all wish him a happy life and future.”

The Mayor immediately declared that a new statue would be erected in honor of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s defeat of Hawkmoth. Ending the press conference with declarations of celebration across the city, as they were finally free to feel again.

Back home, Nooroo and Duusu’s miraculouses were where they belonged in the miracle box. Plagg apologized and told her how he tried to calm his kitten down, but the loss of his parents sent him over the edge. Plagg was glad that Ladybug had reclaimed his ring before Adrien could do something that he would later regret. She had asked the kwamis if she should retire as well, but all of them agreed that even though Hawkmoth was gone, the world may still need Ladybug.

By Monday morning, school was a very different place. Lila was gone, Mme. Bustier was on permanent leave, and M. Damocles had been let go with M. Rupere taking over as his replacement for the rest of the year. Word has also gotten around that Lila had completely lost use of her vocal cords and had attacked a police officer with a syringe while in the hospital when they came to arrest her. That resulted in her being drugged into a stupor and immediately deported back to Italy where she would be tried on five counts of attempted murder, as well as other charges being added on every day as the investigation into her actions continued. Max and Alix would not be returning to school that year, as it would take time to recover from their upcoming surgeries. And then there was Alya’s funeral, which would be taking place after school.

On a good note, someone had found Serafina. The porcelain doll had been left sitting on top of her desk when she got to school that morning. Although her outfit was a little worse for wear after being kwami knows where for close to a week, she still looked to be in pretty good condition. Giving the doll a hug, she carefully placed her in her bag before turning forward since the class was about to start.

When Adrien walked into the room, Marinette couldn’t help but tense a little. His posture was ridged, he looked to be wearing the same clothes that he’d been wearing on Saturday, and he appeared exhausted. If she had to guess, he still hadn’t slept since he found his parents. 

When the class started talking about everything that had happened the week before and someone mentioned Lila and her lies. What happened next, Marinette would say that it came down to how angry and exhausted Adrien was. He jumped up from his seat, turned to glare at her in the back of the room, and yelled “Stop trying to expose Lila, Marinette! Her lies aren’t hurting anyone and I don’t want to deal with her getting akumatized again! Stop antagonizing her!”

It was only when he was met by her shocked expression and the intense silence from the classroom that Adrien realized exactly what he had done. Or more specifically, what he had said to Marinette.

“Dude, you knew that Lila was lying to us? How long did you know?” Nino asked, not bothering to hide how hurt and angry he was at his friend.

“Um, since Ladybug confronted her?” Adrien responded, still seeming dazed but what he was saying.

Ivan glared at him from the back of the room. “When was that? A week ago? A month ago? When did you find out, Adrien?”

“The first day she was here. Ladybug told her not to spread lies about her or claim to be the fox miraculous holder.”

Nino growled when his friend said that. Not only had Lila lied to them for close to a year, but she lied about having Alya’s miraculous! If he had been angry before, he was becoming more furious by the moment. “How could you not tell us about this?”

“Well, it, her lies weren’t hurting anyone-”

“How can you say that after what happened to me?” Sabrina snapped at him with tears in her eyes. “She told me that Marinette gave her a bag of knives and razors and told her to ‘use it’, but she brought those from home herself! If she hadn’t brought those in and lied about them, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt!”

“And what about me?” Kim glared. “Lila suggestedthat since Marinette tried to dump paint on her during the class photo to ruin her outfit, she wished that someone would show her what it was like to have their stuff sabotaged. I’ll admit that I did what I did myself and the fall was my own fault, but it might not have gotten to that point in the first place if you had told us!”

“Lila got Marinette expelled, too!” Rose said in the most disapproving tone. “Do you have any idea what that can do to someone’s student career? Assault, theft, and cheating are not things that will just disappear from your record. Notes like that stay in files. Because you let Lila lie and get away with everything, Marinette might not have been accepted into lycee!”

Adrien wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to argue that he was right, that all you had to do was ignore the person lying until they left you alone, just like his father taught him. But the evidence to the contrary was literally staring him in the face. Sabrina’s hands, Kim’s broken bones, Marinette’s permanent record; all hurt because he didn’t out Lila. And looking back, even though she hadn’t been outed earlier, she had still been akumatized multiple times for petty reasons that were out of his control.

“I… I just-”

“Didn’t think her lies hurt people.” Nino growled at him. “I know you were sheltered, dude, but that was just mean and wrong.”

Without another word, Nino picked up his bag and moved to the back to sit with Marinette. Everyone else turned away from him. Even Marinette looked at him with utter disappointment before turning away from him to comfort Nino. He wanted to say something else, try to defend himself, but the substitute teacher came in and they got down to the lesson. 

By the end of the day, Adrien had practically been slapped in the face as he realized just how alone he was. He’d lost his father, his mother all over again, his Lady, and now all of his friends. There was literally nothing left for him in Paris. On the way home, he called his Aunt Amilie in London, set on asking if he could come live with her and Felix. Maybe he just needed a new start, a place to find out who he was if he wasn’t his father’s perfect model son or the masked superhero.

Taglist (even longer):

@themagicmistic @andromeda612 @ramos123 @t1dwarrior-of-earth @justanotherweirdo277 @irisfox @thestrangestofthemall @plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @the-fandom-girl @wisecolorthing @mewwitch @luxurioushellgirl97 @seraphichana @fantasiame @whydoexamsexist @wispyrainbow @legodetectivemalsblog @kindasoundslikealien @shadowangelreborn @kazedancer @unmaskedagain @7-sage-7 @irontimetravelflower @ghostmaster83 @izang @ulmban @plushbookworm @corabeth11 @darkened-flame @caffeinetheory @iamablinkmarvelarmy @raiderofthelostbooks @cheshire5210 @chocolateherringtacofan @city-of-all-tunas @aadnrsstar @kitten12113 @interobanginyourmom @pandacatxd @nerd-nowandforever @jesussavedevenme @zoiechance @the-smallest-kittenz @wonderbat91939 @maskedpainter @tazer6787 @that-girl-sakea @seesea22 @with-forward-motion @ola-is-dead @thecrazyfantrollshasmoved @bayball @2confused-2doanything @queen-in-a-flower-crown @sabrina1414 @ceres-zephyr @if-you-give-a-chat-a-cookie @zalladane @tails-and-scales @rumbelle18 @sam-spectra @collegefae @pale-lady-dreamer @animegirlweeb @evaraux @consumeconstantly @iz-bell-saiah @puspa-san @wishing-to-be-a-fictional-chara @sassakitty @miraculous-ninja @fandom-trapped-03 @idontfuking @sillyfishrubberducky @anonymousreviewer-t @i-am-fallen-angel @zotinha456 @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @chocolatecatstheron @crypticsabbat @startouchedqueen1318 @para-dox-normal @marinettepotterandplagg @incredulous-reader @professionalfangirl1738 @fangirlnerd001 @redscarlet95 @sixtyeightdays @iamtotalfandomtrash @tazanna-blythe @animehime94 @mysticsoulgirl @miraculouspenta @local-witch-of-mn @roseinbloom02 @senpaiweird @iggy-of-fans @tropestropestropes @sleep-deprived-aroace @comteqfr @neromerp13 @prudencerika @galaxylightmoon @c-s-stars @spartanxhunterx @shadowhex99 @abrx2002 @lunartaravlar @theymakeupfairies @myazael @wannajointhecrabcult @some-weird-multifandom-girl @marvel–unsolved @kuroko26 @mcheang @nach0ava @syrencall @mexicantttt @insomniac-nerd-posts-things @enchanted-nerd @actual-disaster-human @mashmallow619 @clumsy-owl-4178 @hollowwisteria @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @lunataravlar @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @tishwinchesterannabethjackson @mariposa-macaroon @starlightshield @255940g@naruwitch@emmathedestroyer@trippingovermyfeet@emark7@mewwitch@zalladane@lilypotter2018@rowanrouge @hansa-12

Part 1     Part 3

The 2nd installment of the “Marinette’s Haunted Doll” series. I was seriously shocked by how much response I got from part one, so I hope this lives up to your expectations. Blood, gore, and death are coming, along with some mental freak-outs. You have been warned. 

Part II

Despite wanting to stay with Marinette to comfort the girl after the tearful apologies by Mylene and Ivan, Serafina couldn’t return until her work was finished. There was still much to do and people to punish. 

She arrived early with Mylene, which allowed her to observe the others that entered the classroom. Kim had returned to school that day in a wheelchair. The cast on his leg went up to his waist and the one on his arm went up to his bicep. His face and exposed skin were covered in bruises and his right eye looked like it had blood in it. 

“How are you feeling, dude?” Nino asked him as he entered alongside Adrien.

“Really sore,” the boy admitted. “Doctors had to reset my leg at the knee and said that my arm was a three piece offset fracture, so they had to use screws to put it back in place. Other than that; had a concussion, a lot of bruises, and a couple cuts; but no internal bleeding or ruptured organs. They said after a few months and some physical therapy, I should be as good as new.”

Nino gave him a solemn nod. “Glad to hear you’re going to be okay, dude.”

Kim’s expression dropped a bit. “I heard about Alya, I’m really sorry, man.”

The boy lowered his head while Adrien patted his back. “I really… I can’t believe she’s gone because of some freak accident. It makes no sense!” Nino jumped to his feet and started pacing as more students filed in. “I mean, she wasn’t supposed to die like that! Getting caught up in an akuma battle, childhood disease, there would be a reason for that! But that was just pointless!”

Mme. Bustier did attempt to calm him down, but her kind words fell on deaf ears before he grabbed his bag and left the room. No one could blame him, and only Adrien followed to make sure he would be alright, and to make sure he wasn’t akumatized.

Lila came in not long after with a curious bag in her hands. Serafina watched the liar as she looked around the room. She had a feeling that the liar would try something after her last attempt to frame Marinette had failed. When the girl tried speaking to Mylene, the doll was proud to see the girl refuse to acknowledge her as she continued to speak with Rose and Juleka. When it was clear that she was being ignored, she tried speaking to Ivan, only for him to give her a harsh glare that had her shuffling backwards. With Max and Alix still at the hospital and Adrien not in the room, that left her with Sabrina. The redhead had been sitting alone at the front of the room since Chloe had transferred schools after the Miracle Queen incident.

“Hi Sabrina, how are you doing?”

The girl smiled up at the italian, glad to still have a friend. “I’m doing okay, at least a lot better than a lot of our class. I heard Max lost sight in his one eye from the chemicals and Alix might have to have cosmetic surgery to get her face back to normal. At least Kim might be back to normal in a few months after going through physical therapy. But Alya…”

Lila faked her tears at the mention of her lost follower. She was really more annoyed than sad, Alya was easily manipulated, went along with everything she said, and Lila had been able to use her blog to build up her popularity. And the girl had been a decent attack dog, just point her at someone and off she went. Now that she was dead, maybe she could turn Sabrina into her new lead follower, she was already partially trained and it wasn’t like the blonde bitch was around anymore.

“I know, it’s so terrible. She was my first friend when I moved here, it’ll be so hard without her,” she faked a few more tears. And just like that, Sabrina took her hand in comfort and said a bunch of soothing words while she continued to fake cry. 

After a moment, Lila placed the bag she’d been holding on the desk and pushed it away from her, making sure the action caught Sabrina’s attention. “What’s that?”

Lila fake sobbed even harder, hiding her face in her hands. “Ma-Marinette, she-she said it was m-my fault that Alya’s dead. She practically threw that bag at me and said to use it,” she said before breaking down in more fake sobs.

Carefully opening the bag, she gasped when she saw it was full of razor blades and a couple of kitchen knives. Sure, she knew that Marinette didn’t get along with Lila, but to actually give this to her and tell her to ‘use it’? How could she be so cruel?

Serafina scowled as the red head hugged the liar and promised her that she would take care of it. Her anger erupted as Sabrina stood from her desk with the bag in hand, and began walking towards Mme. Bustier’s desk. The girl didn’t take two steps before trippingover nothing and falling onto her side. Luckily, she did not land on the bag. Unluckily, she gripped it too tight and the impact forced the knives and razors through the bag and deep into her hands.

The girl screamed and cried as blood rushed out of the wounds and down into her sleeves. She begged Lila to help her, but the italian backed away from the girl in shock. Mme. Bustier gripped her head between her hands and began saying “not again, not again” before running out of the room. The only ones that helped her were Juleka, Rose and Ivan; the smaller girl sprinting off to alert the nurse and the principal, while Juleka and Ivan got Sabrina to her feet. Ivan kept the girl upright and moving out the door while Juleka held the girl’s hands above the level of her heart to keep her from bleeding too much.

Those left in the classroom were in shock as they stared at either the door or at the blood staining the floor. No one said anything for a long time, not even Lila. She hadn’t thought anyone would get hurt. She just thought she would get Marinette suspended and everyone would be on her side again. Adrien returned before the others, completely shocked when he saw the blood and Kim explained to him what had happened. The blonde sent a scathing look at Lila but said nothing.

It was a while later before Rose, Ivan, and Juleka returned to class, along with M. Rupere. He informed them that their classes were cancelled for today. “After everything that has occurred this week, I’ve decided that all of you will be meeting with the counselor today. He will decide if more sessions are necessary and for who, but his door and mine are open if you need to talk. M. Deveraux will come to speak with you one at a time. Kim Le Chien, he had requested to speak with you first. Mlle. Rossi,” he looked sternly at the girl, “would you please follow me, we need to talk about the incident with Sabrina Raincomprix.”

Serafina smiled as the liar trudged out of the room after the man. She was satisfied with Sabrina’s punishment and doubted if Mme. Bustier would last another day before having a total mental breakdown. She also knew that Lila would be in even more trouble after M. Rupere looked into the girl a bit more. But just to make sure, Serafina touched her on the way out. To most people, that would do nothing; but to someone like Lila, it would cause her to become more and more unhinged until she did something drastic. Very soon, Lila would be out of the picture and those deserving of punishment will have paid their debts.

~oOo~

It was more difficult sneaking home with Adrien than she had expected, especially with the tiny god of Chaos and Destruction in his bag. Plagg was his name, and he was very defensive of his kitten and had threatened to cataclysm her. Serafina told him that she would not purposefully harm his ‘kitten’, but there was something she had to take care of at the Agreste Mansion. The doll had long suspected that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and she was going to find out tonight if it was true. Plagg was reluctant to agree since it would hurt Adrien; but if it was true, they had to put an end to it.

After arriving at the mansion, Plagg easily convinced the boy to sneak out and check on Nino. After he left, Serafina sensed something on Adrien’s desk. Being an enchanted/haunted object, she could sense other objects like herself… such as Miraculous jewels. And right there on the desk was a pin shaped like a peacock, one of the jewels that had been missing and used by Mayura. If there had been any doubts before about who had been terrorizing Marinette, they were gone. 

Tucking the pin into her small outfit, she began to search the building, starting with Gabriel’s office. She had expected the man to be present, but he was missing. And given that Hawkmoth was a very active user, she had no doubt that he kept his jewel on him at all times. So, she waited.

It was about an hour later that Gabriel Agrest entered the room, and not from the door Serafina had expected. The man had a secret entry in the floor in front of a portrait of a woman. He was muttering on knowing better than to use Bubbler again, but that the negative emotions had been too strong to ignore. She also saw the purple kwami hovering over his shoulder, but the creature stopped when it sensed her. Gabriel strode out of the room, barely noticing that Nooroo had stayed behind and flew over to the doll hiding behind the desk.

“What are you doing here? If the Master finds you, he will destroy you.” The kwami said with worry.

The doll conveyed that she knew that his master was Hawkmoth, just as her human was Ladybug. She was here to protect her and return the butterfly and peacock miraculous to their rightful place. Also knowing that Gabriel had become too corrupted for his miraculous.

“I’ve tried to tell him that the wish would be dangerous,” Nooroo told her with downcast eyes. “He wants to make a wish to revive his wife, but he doesn’t realize that the cost would be to put Adrien, someone he loves equally as much as Emilie, into the same state of death. She isn’t even truly alive anymore, her body only lives because of the machine she is in.”

An idea spawned in Serafina’s thoughts and she barely kept herself from smiling. She asked Nooroo to help her activate the secret passage so she could get to his wife, but the little kwami shook his head. “Even if I could get you down there, the motion sensors would trip and he would attack you.”

Smiling this time, Serafina promised the little god that Gabriel would not attack her. That she would make sure that Adrien would be safe and the two kwami’s would go to their rightful place. All he had to do was help her open the door. Although reluctant and slightly scared, the little god opened the door, hoping that the nightmare would finally end. 

Down in the lair, the doll saw the mechanical coffin placed in the center of the room and went to it. The motion sensors caught her quickly, but she had been planning on moving fast anyway. Opening the coffin, she settled herself into the woman’s arms. Nooroo had been right, Serafina could sense that the woman’s soul had departed from her body a while ago and it was only the machine that was keeping her body alive. With no other soul to contend with, this would make what she was about to do next all the easier.

Nathalie had called to alert him the moment the alarms went off in the lair while she and Simone were out on an errand. He was moving faster than he could remember with Nooroo following close behind. Gabriel transformed on the way down, prepared to attack whoever had stumbled in, but his breath caught in his throat halfway down when he got a good view of the room. 

The coffin was empty.

Rushing forward, he began frantically searching the room for his wife, calling her name. He turned to rush back upstairs and froze. Standing behind him, looking dazed, was his wife. Her eyes were unfocused and her arms were hugging her middle, but it was her. Dropping his transformation, Gabriel cautiously approached her and she flinched back from him. It took a few minutes and a lot of gentle coaxing before he was able to wrap an arm around her shoulders and lead her to the elevator. When they got to his office, he watched her carefully as she began walking around the room. He wanted her to sit down and rest, but he was still in shock that she was awake and standing in front of him.

Eventually, her green eyes met his. “Where’s Adrien?”

“I… I don’t know, he should be up in his room.”

Emilie’s head tilted slightly, her eyes searching his. “What have you done? Did you make the wish?”

“No, my love. I was going to when I got the jewels, but Ladybug and Chat Noir evaded me.”

Tears grew in her eyes as she continued to stare at him. “You tried to make the wish? Knowing that it would have cost our son’s life?” 

Gabriel froze. He hadn’t known that wishing Emilie to come back would cost Adrien’s… but Nooroo had tried to tell him. He remembered the kwami trying to tell him about the cost and he had forced him to not speak. “I’m sorry, Emilie. I didn’t-”

“You knew,” she interrupted, her voice lacking any emotion as she continued to stare at him. “You knew from the beginning that what you were doing was wrong, evil. You chose to ignore what it would cost.”

“Emilie, my love, please don’t say such things,” Gabriel begged as he rushed forward to wrap his arms around her. “All I have wanted since the day I lost you, was to hold you in my arms again and hear your voice. I was lost without you and was willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring you back. Is that so wrong?”

He had just barely met her eyes when he felt the twin pains in his arms. Jumping back, he looked down to see both wrists had been cut deeply with a pair of his fabric cutting scissors. Blood was draining from the wounds at an alarming rate. His hands were shaking and he was already feeling light headed as he grabbed a handful for fabric from his work table in an attempt to slow the blood. He wanted to call out for help, but they were alone. 

His eyes grew hazed as he looked to Emilie, surprised that she was staring at him with such contempt. “I know what you’ve been doing while I was in that coffin. Tormenting the city and people I love, isolating our son and treating him like a burden. If you had ever succeeded in getting the Cat and Ladybug miraculous, it would have destroyed Paris. But you didn’t care. As you said, all you cared about was hearing my voice and holding me in your arms. Congratulations, your wish came true, and you will be the one to pay the price. Not Adrien.”

His legs gave out from under him as the fabrics dripped from the excess blood. He couldn’t understand how this had happened, Emilie would have never done something like this… but was this really her? With his vision fading, he took a hard look at his wife, only now noticing the dullness of her eyes, the greying pallor of her skin, and the fact that she only seemed to breathe when she spoke… “Who are you?”

Her head tilted again, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly. “Serafina. Quite astute of you to figure that out in your state. Your wife’s soul passed on a long time ago, all you have been doing is preserving a corpse. And I was telling the truth; even if you had made the wish, it would have cost Adrien his life.” Her hand shot forward, removing the butterfly miraculous before he could stop her. “Your actions have hurt someone close to me and I could no longer stand back and allow it to happen.”

She stood, walking to his desk to pull out a piece of paper and writing something down before neatly folding it and leaving it on his desk.

“Wh… What…”

“Youjust wrote a letter to Adrien; admitting what happened to his mother, that you were Hawkmoth, and the reason why you did what you did.” She said calmly before looking back at him. “Whether he tells the rest of the world is up to him. As for the miraculous, I will give him a chance at redemption. Though if he should fail, you may be seeing him sooner rather than later. Either way, they will soon be back where they belong, with the guardian. And you, good sir, have just committed suicide after bringing your wife’s body upstairs, so you would be able to hold her in your arms as you died.”

Unable to sit upright anymore, Gabriel barely felt his body collapse to the floor. He was hardly aware of Emilielifting one of his arms to tuck her body to his side. The last thing he was aware of was something that he swore would haunt him in the afterlife; a porcelain doll emerging from the folds of her clothes and standing beside them. It stood there on its own, watching him until he could no longer keep his eyes open and he took his final breath.

Taglist (even longer):

@themagicmistic​ @andromeda612​ @ramos123​ @t1dwarrior-of-earth​ @justanotherweirdo277​ @irisfox​ @thestrangestofthemall​ @plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw​ @certainmuffinbagelcalzone​ @the-fandom-girl @wisecolorthing @mewwitch​ @luxurioushellgirl97​ @seraphichana @fantasiame​ @whydoexamsexist​ @wispyrainbow​ @legodetectivemalsblog​ @kindasoundslikealien​ @shadowangelreborn​ @kazedancer @unmaskedagain​ @7-sage-7​ @irontimetravelflower​ @ghostmaster83​ @izang​ @ulmban​ @plushbookworm​ @corabeth11​ @darkened-flame​ @caffeinetheory​ @iamablinkmarvelarmy​ @raiderofthelostbooks​ @cheshire5210 @chocolateherringtacofan​ @city-of-all-tunas​ @aadnrsstar​ @kitten12113​ @interobanginyourmom​ @pandacatxd​ @nerd-nowandforever​ @jesussavedevenme​ @zoiechance​ @the-smallest-kittenz @wonderbat91939​ @maskedpainter​ @tazer6787​ @that-girl-sakea @seesea22​ @with-forward-motion​ @ola-is-dead​ @thecrazyfantrollshasmoved @bayball​ @2confused-2doanything​ @queen-in-a-flower-crown​ @sabrina1414 @ceres-zephyr​ @if-you-give-a-chat-a-cookie​ @zalladane​ @tails-and-scales​ @rumbelle18​ @sam-spectra​ @collegefae​ @pale-lady-dreamer​ @animegirlweeb​ @evaraux @consumeconstantly​ @iz-bell-saiah​ @puspa-san​ @wishing-to-be-a-fictional-chara​ @sassakitty​ @miraculous-ninja​ @fandom-trapped-03​ @idontfuking​ @sillyfishrubberducky​ @anonymousreviewer-t​ @i-am-fallen-angel​ @zotinha456​ @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen​ @chocolatecatstheron​ @crypticsabbat @startouchedqueen1318 @para-dox-normal​ @marinettepotterandplagg​ @incredulous-reader​ @professionalfangirl1738​ @fangirlnerd001​ @redscarlet95​ @sixtyeightdays​ @iamtotalfandomtrash​ @tazanna-blythe​ @animehime94​ @mysticsoulgirl​ @miraculouspenta​ @local-witch-of-mn​ @roseinbloom02​ @senpaiweird​ @iggy-of-fans​ @tropestropestropes​ @sleep-deprived-aroace​ @comteqfr @neromerp13​ @prudencerika​ @galaxylightmoon @c-s-stars @spartanxhunterx @shadowhex99 @abrx2002 @lunartaravlar @theymakeupfairies @myazael @wannajointhecrabcult @some-weird-multifandom-girl @marvel–unsolved @kuroko26 @mcheang @nach0ava @syrencall @mexicantttt @insomniac-nerd-posts-things @enchanted-nerd @actual-disaster-human @mashmallow619 @clumsy-owl-4178 @hollowwisteria @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @fandom-trapped-03 @lunataravlar @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @tishwinchesterannabethjackson @mariposa-macaroon @starlightshield @255940g

Part 2     Part 3

Based on @unmaskedagain post “Marinette’s Haunted Doll” this is my take on the story and the kind of things Serafina would have done to get even. There’ll be three parts, and will hopefully be posted through the week. Blood, gore, and character death ahead. You have been warned.

She was seven years old when her Grandma Gina’s sister, Ramona, passed away. Marinette couldn’t remember ever meeting her. Her dad said that she was a very private person and didn’t get out much. Since she had never married or had any children, all of her relatives were asked to come over to the house and divide the property before the rest was sold and equally divided. 

While her parents had been in the kitchen, looking over some family cook books, Marinette had wandered around the old house until she came to a small room. It was full of spiderwebs and old toys, which greatly interested her. She spent a long time looking through the boxes and shelves until she found a locked chest in the closet. Remembering the key she had seen in a dresser drawer, she retrieved it to see if it worked. It was hard to turn, but she heard the click and was able to open the lid. Inside was a box with an envelope laying on top of it. Curious she opened the envelope and read the note as best as she could.

“If I’m dead, Serafina killed me.”

Tilting her head in curiosity, Marinette set the letter aside and opened the box. Inside was an old looking porcelain doll. It was covered in spiderwebs, the dress was old and ripped, she was missing a shoe, and the hat looked like it was stained with red paint. 

“Are you Serafina?” She asked the doll before carefully lifting it out of the box. “I don’t think you’re bad, you just look lonely. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of you!” Giving the doll a gentle hug, the little girl got to her feet and left the room and letter behind. Finding her parents, she asked if it was okay to take the doll home so she could take care of her.

Tom remembered seeing that doll when he was a kid and had always thought it was creepy, but if his little girl saw the good in it, he would trust her. And since none of the other relatives wanted anything to do with the doll, it came home with them. 

Once home, the little girl raced up to her room with the doll and immediately got to work. She threw away the old dress, hat, and shoe before cleaning away all the dirt with a washcloth and carefully combing out the knotted hair. Then Marinette got to work on making Serafina a brand new outfit with new shoes and a hat. It took a few days, but she was really happy with what she came up with: a pink Victorian dress with rose and pearl accents, a wide brimmed hat with maroon feathers, and maroon slippers that tied with ribbons around the ankles.

Proud of what she had made, Marinette held the doll up high as she twirled around her room. She had been interested in fashion and clothes for months now, and making the pretty outfit for Serafina was a lot of fun. If anything, it proved to her that fashion design was what she wanted to do.

“I hope you like your new clothes, Serafina. You make the perfect little model, so I hope you don’t mind if I make more clothes for you later on. I promise to only make you clothes that will make you feel pretty.” Giving the doll a kiss, Marinette placed her next to her computer before skipping down stairs for dinner.

~oOo~

Serafina had not been expecting this when the young girl, Marinette, had opened her box. It had been decades since anyone had shown her any kindness. For so many years, she had been passed from person to person, shoved into boxes and hidden from sight or attempted to be sold off. Serafina had had no choice but to punishmany of her past owners, and she had not been lax with their punishments. 

But she didn’t feel the need to do that with Marinette, this girl was different. She wasn’t afraid of her. She didn’t scorn her and hide her away where no one could see her. No, this girl was kind and made Serafina feel loved; something she hadn’t felt in nearly a hundred years. Staying with Marinette, she knew that she would be happy. So, no one needed to die here.

And she was.

The porcelain doll smiled quietly on Marinette’s desk as the years passed, and felt more for this girl than she could remember with anyone else. She felt beautiful whenever Marinette used her to experiment with a new outfit before she would make a full sized outfit for herself. She had fun when the girl would sing and dance around the room, sometimes even picking her up so she could dance with her. She felt entertained when she would play movies on her computer, one time watching a movie about a haunted doll like herself; they didn’t watch much before she turned it off, but Serafina thought it was funny. Scratching people and leaving notes wasn’t scary, she had done muchscarier things than that.

As Marinette grew into a teen, Serafina felt proud as she grew from a shy girl into a fearless superhero. Her owner had a lot of love and light to give, so it made sense to her that she became Ladybug. She also felt scared for the girl, not wanting to lose her to Hawkmoth, but silently promised her that if she was ever hurt, the people who hurt her would pay her back in blood.

Serafina was also aware of the tiny god that gave Marinette her power, just as Tikki was aware of her. No doubt, the god could sense the darkness that dwelled in her porcelain body, but realized that she cared for the girl and would not harm her. So the little god wisely said nothing, she would hate it if Marinette suddenly feared her.

After all, the three of them were happy and at peace.

Until the day Marinette came storming into her room, complaining about a girl named Lila. From what she could hear, this girl was a liar and was using her friends. Knowing how much her human cared for other people, that didn’t sit well with how it would affect her. Then she didn’t hear anything about the girl for months. But when she was mentioned again, it quickly got worse from there. 

Serafina heard about the threats, the lies, almost being akumatized, her crush Adrien telling her to take the high road, all of it. She watched as one by one, her friends turned against her. Bullying her while accusing herof being a bully until only three of her classmates remained. She knew that the teacher and principal were useless and even accused Marinette of being a problem, especially after the expulsion. Serafina had nearly enacted her revenge that day, but held back when she was reinstated the next day.

Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka were the only people left that believed her or even bothered to try and help in her class. There was also Kagami and Luka, Juleka’s brother. Serafina would admit, that boy was sharper than most. When he first saw her, his blue eyes studied her intently for a long moment until Marinette spoke up.

“That’s Serafina, she’s been passed down through my family for a long time. She was in really bad condition when I got her and took a lot of work to get her fixed up, but it was worth it. She was my first ever model and I’ve never felt lonely since she’s been around.”

Luka looked back over at the doll and gave her a smile. “I can tell, I’d bet no one gave her the proper love or attention until she came to you. And I think, if she could talk, she would say that you kept her from feeling lonely too, and all she wants is for you to be happy.”

Serafina liked that boy, a lot more than she had liked Adrien when he had come to play video games. The boy genuinely seemed to care for Marinette. And even though he could somehow sense that she was more than just a doll, he didn’t spill her secret. Yes, she approved of this one.

And then, less than a week after she returned to school, came the worst day. They were taking pictures at the school and Marinette had worked so hard on a new dress; it was pale purple cotton with teacup sleeves, a tulip skirt and pink lace at the hem. It was so sweet and looked like she was going to a spring tea party. Then half way through the day, she came into her room crying. Her makeup was smeared, there were bruises and scratch marks on her arms, another bruise on her cheek, her hair was a mess and covered in dark blue paint. The same paint that covered almost half of the dress. Tikki was doing her best to comfort the girl as she showered. Marinette was unable to save her dress and ended up throwing it away before she cried herself to sleep on her bed. 

Serafina was angry, the kind of anger she hadn’t felt since Ramona had attempted to burn her in the fireplace… and that hadn’t gone well for her. Tikki flew over to face her. “I know what you’re thinking and I can’t condone you falling into old habits and killing her entire class. Despite how much they’ve hurt her, it would still break her heart if they all suddenly died.”

The doll actually considered that for a moment before picturing some very specific people. Lila, the liar that was trying to take away/destroy the person she cared about. Alya, the best friend that betrayed her, acted like a hypocrite, and took joy in hurting her. Adrien, the boy that not only broke his promise to help her as a civilian, but continually harassed her as a pseudo-hero. And finally, Hawkmoth, the person that was constantly putting her in danger. Everyone else that had harmed her would be punished, paying back the harm they had done to Marinette in blood, but those four would pay with their lives.

Tikki shook her head. “As angry as I am with Adrien, you can’t kill him. Marinette still has feelings for him and if he dies, she might never get over him. I can’t stop you from punishing them, but please try not to kill them. You know that she has a big heart and it would hurt her to lose any of them, so please keep that in mind.”

Serafina would have argued, but the little god was right. Killing around Marinette would only upset her. So she would do her best to punish them without killing them… although, accidents do happen. 

~oOo~

It was easy enough to sneak herself into Marinette’s bag the next day of school. It was even easier to select her first victims. One of her classmates, Kim, stole her backpack and dumped out all of her stuff, including her. The boy laughed about Marinette bringing a doll to school as he ran up the stairs to keep it away from her. It took little effort to make the boy trip, in full view of everyone that had been watching, and fall backwards down the steps. 

Serafina had landed at the top landing with a perfect view of the boy’s tumble, and it was oh so satisfying. She could see his knee bent in the wrong direction, a bone in his arm protruding from the skin, and blood dripping from the cuts and open wounds. But the sound was even better, all the cracking and popping of bone before he began crying like a little girl, begging for his mom.  Ah, she hadn’t realized how much she had missed those sounds.

When the principal came out to see what was happening, she hid her presence and let the principal trip over her and fall as well. He even landed on Kim, causing more injuries to both of them. She held back a laugh as the grown man wailed and cried until the paramedics arrived. Loading the two into the ambulance while one of the teachers called the Board of Governors. A representative, M. Rupere, quickly came to take over the principal’s duties while he was gone, and was surprised when a bunch of students tried to blame Marinette for the incident.

“And how is it her fault?” He asked the students that surrounded him. “Did you see her push or trip M. Le Chien or M. Damocles down the stairs?

“Marinette brought in a doll and Kim was distracted by it when he was going up the stairs, that’s how he tripped and fell,” Lila told him with tears in her eyes. “Then M. Damocles tripped over the doll and fell down the stairs too. It’s just like how she pushed me down the stairs last week and I hurt my knee. I think she’s actually trying to hurt people.”

The man looked at Lila for a moment before looking to the top of the stairs, but there was no doll there. Then he looked back at Lila with a stern glare. “Young lady, if you had been pushed down the stairs last week, you would have been severely injured just like your friend or M. Damocles. And whether or not it was Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s doll that caused the incident or not, does not mean that she is at fault for the accident. To the principal’s office, right now. I think we should have a discussion as to why you are trying to blame another student for something she did not do.”

Totally shocked, the girl looked around to her followers for some support, but they were now looking at her with uncertainty. They had just seen two people fall down the stairs and receive severe injuries, so how was Lila walking around just fine without a scratch on her? Huffing in annoyance, Lila stomped her way to the office while the class stared after her, most of them noticing the lack of limp to her walk.

Serafina was pleased with how this was turning out, she had already punished two of the people that had betrayed Marinette and had begun sewing seeds of doubt with the liar. At the moment, she was hiding in the classroom, observing everyone so she could figure out the best way to punish them. She noticed Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel sitting close to the girl and doing their best to comfort her. She also noticed Nino, a boy she had seen a couple of times over the years, casting looks back at Marinette. 

During the first break, the boy cautiously approached her, clutching his hat in his hands. “Hey dudette, listen… I, um, wanted to say I was sorry,” he said, having a hard time looking her in the eye. “After Kim fell, what that Governor dude said about Lila not being hurt, and the fact that I’ve known you forever. I felt so stupid. You would never push someone down the stairs or cheat or steal from someone like that. And I tried looking up Jagged’s discography to see if there was any mention of a song about Lila, and there was literally nothing. I tried telling Alya, but she didn’t want to listen and-”

Nino was interrupted by Marinette giving him a hug. Serafina smiled at that. The boy had thought for himself and admitted that he was wrong. He apologized and Marinette was willing to offer him forgiveness. She supposed that Nino could also be exempt from punishment, so long as he never betrayed the girl again.

Half way through the second lesson, Lila had returned to the class with two weeks worth of detention and had a meeting scheduled with herself, M. Rupere, and her mother at the end of the week. Serafina decided to let the girl’s empire fall before going in to completely destroy her.

During lunch, when all the students had left. Serafina got to work on punishing Mme. Bustier. She started by slamming the door shut, it made the woman jump and look around the room, but there was no one there. Then the giggling started, causing her to look around the room again. This time, she walked up the steps to see if anyone was hiding in the room, but she was completely alone. When she turned back to her desk, the papers she had been grading were torn to pieces. A bit panicked, Bustier tried to run out of the room, but the door was locked. As she struggled with the door, she heard the scraping of chalk and froze for a moment before looking at the board. Large words were scrawled in block letters: LIAR, ENABLER, MEAN, CRUEL, and the most frightening of all, YOU WILL PAY.

Bustier’s hands were shaking as she erased the words from the board, not understanding what was happening. Only taking a breath when the door opened and her students began to file in. Serafina quietly laughed at the teacher’s fear, she was another person that she would take her time in punishing. Payback for failing to help Marinette. For now, it was time to take out her biggest supporter. 

Again, it was much easier than it should have been to sneak herself in Alya’s backpack and go home with her. When the girl found her she sneered. “The klutz must have put you in my bag by mistake.” Then she smiled cruelly at her. “I think I’ll give you to Etta and Ella to play with before giving you back to Maribrat, maybe tell them that you need a makeover and give them some permanent markers too.”

Turning to take the doll out to her sisters, she stubbed her toe on her desk chair hard enough that she felt a crack and dropped back on her butt while hissing in pain. When she was finally able to think past the pain, she realized that she had dropped the doll and didn’t see it on the floor. After wrapping her foot, she looked all over her room but couldn’t find it anywhere.

That night, things got… more than scary. Alya was absolutely terrified.

First, her computer turned on, on its own, and started printing off papers saying “YOU KNOW THE TRUTH”. She turned the computer off, only for it to turn back on after she’d climbed into bed and the browser pulled up past searches; specifically, the searches that proved that Lila had been lying. She had found that out after Lila had disappeared from school for months, but had kept to herself so she wouldn’t lose her credibility on her blog or have to admit to Marinette that she’d been right. Turning it off again, she’d decided to sleep on the couch when her phone suddenly let out a hiss and burst into flames.  

Letting out a shriek, Alya rushed to her door, and had just barely opened it when it slammed shut on her fingers, causing her to scream as she struggled to pull her hand free. She could hear her parents and Nora shouting on the other side of the door, trying to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Her head got fuzzy and she suddenly felt cold, she realized that she was going into shock. Her parents’ shouts became garbled background noise and Alya heard the sound of tiny feet running around the room. She tried reaching the light switch so she could see, but it was out of reach.

From the light outside her window, she could barely make out the movement of a small shadow, moving from one part of the room to another. Coming closer and closer to her with every sweep. Alya began tugging harder on the doorknob and her hand. She needed to get out. Something was in the room with her. She could almost feel the darkness creeping closer. It wanted to hurt her!

What happened next, Serafina couldn’t have planned better if she’d tried. Alya jerked back her trapped arm and the doorknob at the same time Nora threw her shoulder into the door as hard as she could. Sending the teenagers flying into her bedside table and her head hitting the corner with an audible *crack*. The doll smiled silently in the corner of the room as the paramedics were called and listened to her parents cries for their horrid daughter to wake up. They called time of death at 2:03am.

~oOo~

It was a bit more of a chore for Serafina to get back to the school, but it was still manageable as her mother had to inform the school of her daughter’s death and pick up her things. The woman had also noticed the information that had been brought up on Alya’s computer and thought that she had been up late chasing a lead. And as the lead had to do with the disturbing behavior of one of her daughter’s classmates, she thought it best to show the acting principal the information before taking her leave. 

Making her way back to the classroom, she saw that the news had spread already. Nino seemed to be hit the hardest, as it was his girlfriend, but he would get over it. Kim was still out of class, and likely would be for a few more days. Tikki saw the doll when she was peeking out of the purse and gave her a disapproving glare, but there was nothing she could do. And in Serafina’s defense, she had only intended on maiming the failed journalist, her death had been an “accident”.

When class let out for lunch, Serafina got back to work tormenting Mme. Bustier. Today, the door slammed and locked shut a few minutes after the last student left. The woman shrieked and was struggling to open the door when the giggling started again. Bustier started screaming for it to “go away” but the giggling continued. Turning back to the door, books began flying at her from all over the room, hitting her chest, back, arms since they were shielding her head.

Then the door opened to show a panicked looking M. Rupere. “I heard screaming, are you alright?” The red haired teacher looked extremely frazzled; her hair was a mess, eyes wide and dilated, and her hands were shaking.

“The books,” she said in a trembling voice. “There was giggling, the door wouldn’t open, and the books attacked me. And this was the second time!”

His eyebrows rose to his hairline as he stared at the woman. “Did you see who was throwing the books at you?”

Bustier shook her head in a frantic manner. “There was no one, the books just started flying at me after the giggling.”

Giving her a slow nod, Rupere gently motioned her to step out of the room ahead of him. “How about you take the rest of the day to recover? Some rest will do you some good.” 

To his relief, Mme. Bustier agreed and collected her purse before leaving the school. Looking around the room, he was confused to see all the books in place on the shelves. Curious, he went to examine her desk and saw essay papers… covered in red ink with large “F’s” on every one of them. Reading the paper on top, all he saw were a few grammar mistakes, nothing that should have resulted in a failing grade. A bit unsettled, Rupere called the Board to schedule a psychological exam for the teacher. Serafina watched the man with satisfaction, at the rate she was going with that terrible teacher, she wouldn’t be around much longer.

Her next victims were Max and Alix during science class. She switched a couple of labels on the tubs on their desk before hiding in the room to enjoy the show. Half-way through class, Max poured a large amount of reactive chemical into the mix while it was warming over a burner, and the glass exploded. The two screamed and cursed in pain as Max tried wiping the liquid away from his face, only succeeding in getting more in his eyes. Alix tried wiping it away with a cloth, not noticing in time that the fabric was also soaked in the chemicals that now covered her entire face.

Serafina was impressed with how quickly Mme. Mendeleiev reacted to the incident. Doaning on gloves in an instant and leading the two students to the chemical wash station. Both students looked to have chemical burns on their faces, arms and necks. She could already see the burns covering a large amount of their exposed skin. While the class was distracted, Serafina switched the labels back so it would appear that the two had not been doing as instructed.

When school let out, the doll hid away in Mylene’s bag and ended up going on a date with the girl and Ivan. They commented on the bad luck their class seemed to be having and wondered out loud at what the cause might have been.

Mylene was hesitant to speak as the two ate their ice cream. “Do you think… maybe it’s karma coming back on our class?”

“Why do you think that?” Ivan asked her, seeming genuinely curious. Deciding that their conversation might lead to something more, Serafina waited and listened.

“It’s just… ever since Kim fell down the stairs, it’s got me thinking. Lila says that Marinette pushed her but the only injury she says she got was a bad knee, and she’s been walking around fine since then. And then she tried blaming Marinette for Kim and M. Damocles, when Kim shouldn’t have been running up the stairs and M. Damocles tripped at the top of the stairs when she was still down in the courtyard.”

“You’re right, now that I think about it. Lila lied to that new principal and she did it really easy.” Ivan nodded slowly, his brow creased as he pulled out his phone. “I wonder if she lied about anything else.” Mylene watched over his shoulder as he looked up the story about saving Jagged Stone’s kitten from an airplane. There was nothing, the only article that came up about a pet was his crocodile, Fang. The story said that he had hatched the reptile himself seventeen years earlier and any other pet wouldn’t be as rock’n’roll as Fang. “I don’t think Jagged ever had a cat, this article says that he’s only had Fang for longer than we’ve been around.”

Mylene pulled out her phone and called Rose, putting the call on speaker when she answered. 

“Hi Mylene, did you hear anything about Max and Alix? Are they going to be okay?” The girl asked as soon as she picked up.

“Ivan and I haven’t heard anything about them yet, but we have a question for you, Rose, and it’s something only you would be able to answer.”

There was a slight pause on the line. “Go ahead.”

“Do you still chat with Prince Ali?”

“Sure I do! We video chat every Saturday and I send him videos of our performances with Kitty Section. Why do you ask?”

“Ivan and I were wondering… Has he ever mentioned Lila to you?”

There was another pause, although they could hear a hushed conversation in the background. “So, you guys figured out the truth about Lila?” When they didn’t respond right away, Rose continued. “I found out a few weeks after Lila says she came back from Achu. I mentioned Lila to Ali and asked him about the charities they had been working on together, but he’d never heard of her. And Ali is only working on charities involving children, nothing with the environment. When Juleka and I tried asking Lila about it, she got really mean and threatened us if we told anyone. I would have been akumatized if Marinette hadn’t been there to calm me down.”

Ivan and Mylene were horrified, not only had Lila been lying to them, but she had threatened Rose, Juleka, and probably Marinette too. “What should we do?”

“First, you should apologize to Marinette for how you’ve been treating her and let her know that you know the truth.” They heard Juleka over the phone. “Lila has been more terrible to her than anyone else and she keeps getting in Lila’s way to protect us and Nathaniel since we know the truth about her.”

“Who all knows?” Ivan asked, feeling a bit sick to his stomach. Sure, he and Mylene hadn’t really hurt her or done anything, but they hadn’t stood up for her either and they were supposed to be her friend.

“Us, Luka, Kagami, Nathaniel figured it out when she said she could introduce him to Stan Lee, Nino figured it out yesterday, and Adrien’s apparently known from the start but didn’t say anything because he doesn’t think her lies are hurting anybody.”

Both of them could hear the acid in Juleka’s voice when she mentioned Adrien, and they couldn’t argue with her. They knew he had led a sheltered life, but how could he claim that ‘lies don’t hurt anybody’ after sitting back and watching Lila and her friends torment and bully Marinette?

Mylene hadn’t even realized that she had asked that question out loud until Rose answered them. “He told us that it was Marinette’s own fault for antagonizing Lila, and ‘If she just took the high road like I told her, then Lila would leave her alone’. It took everything I had not to slap him.”

Coming from Rose, that really was saying something.

Serafina was then taken on a shopping trip to an arts supplies store, a card shop, and a stop at an ATM before going to Marinette’s family’s bakery. She smiled quietly and with great respect to the couple as they apologized to her girl, gave her cards, an entire bolt of soft purple cotton the same color that her ruined dress had been, a new sketchbook, and money to pay her back for some of the things that Marinette had given them over the past year. They even asked her to provide them with proper receipts, and admitted that they knew the amount they had given her wasn’t enough to cover everything. But they promised to pay her back before asking for anything else, as well as pay in advance for any future items or baked goods. 

The little doll would have cried right along with Marinette if she could. These two had proven themselves to her and would avoid punishment, just as Nino had.

Taglist (it’s a long one):

@themagicmistic@andromeda612@ramos123@t1dwarrior-of-earth@justanotherweirdo277@irisfox@thestrangestofthemall@plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw@certainmuffinbagelcalzone @the-fandom-girl @wisecolorthing @mewwitch@luxurioushellgirl97@seraphichana@fantasiame@whydoexamsexist@wispyrainbow@legodetectivemalsblog@kindasoundslikealien@shadowangelreborn@kazedancer@unmaskedagain@7-sage-7@irontimetravelflower@ghostmaster83@izang@ulmban@plushbookworm@corabeth11@darkened-flame@caffeinetheory@iamablinkmarvelarmy@raiderofthelostbooks@cheshire5210@chocolateherringtacofan@city-of-all-tunas@aadnrsstar@kitten12113@interobanginyourmom@pandacatxd@nerd-nowandforever@jesussavedevenme@zoiechance@the-smallest-kittenz@wonderbat91939@maskedpainter@tazer6787@that-girl-sakea@seesea22@with-forward-motion@ola-is-dead@thecrazyfantrollshasmoved@bayball@2confused-2doanything@queen-in-a-flower-crown@sabrina1414@ceres-zephyr@if-you-give-a-chat-a-cookie@zalladane@tails-and-scales@rumbelle18@sam-spectra@collegefae@pale-lady-dreamer@animegirlweeb@evaraux@consumeconstantly@iz-bell-saiah@puspa-san@wishing-to-be-a-fictional-chara@sassakitty@miraculous-ninja@fandom-trapped-03@idontfuking@sillyfishrubberducky@anonymousreviewer-t@i-am-fallen-angel@zotinha456@throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen@chocolatecatstheron @crypticsabbat @startouchedqueen1318 @para-dox-normal@marinettepotterandplagg@incredulous-reader@professionalfangirl1738@fangirlnerd001@redscarlet95@sixtyeightdays@iamtotalfandomtrash@tazanna-blythe@animehime94@mysticsoulgirl@miraculouspenta@local-witch-of-mn@roseinbloom02@senpaiweird@iggy-of-fans@tropestropestropes@sleep-deprived-aroace@comteqfr@neromerp13@prudencerika @galaxylightmoon @c-s-stars

MLB Caline Bustier Salt Prompts/Fics Recommendation

Let Her Eat Cakeby@stormiclown

Theories began floating around that she was Mayura. The fact that she looked eerily similar to the peacock themed villain.

It was then that a dam burst. Students and teachers alike who had witnessed Bustier’s teaching methods revealed her tendency to gaslight or outright punish victims of bullying while letting the aggressors off scot free.

Happy Birthday, Miss Bustierby@unmaskedagain

“And why should I apologize,” Marinette asked. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“We talked about the Marinettes of the world, remember?” Caline smiled. “You have to be the bigger person; be an example for the other students. Show them the right way to act.”

“No.”

Attitude - [Bustier Salt] by @aliensunflower-fics

“This attitude of yours is getting out of control Mari-“

“What attitude?! Mme Bustier? The one where I sat quietly in class taking notes? Or the one where I calmly answered questions when asked? Or maybe the one where when the class got disruptive I didn’t do your job for you?” Anger filled Bustier’s eyes and her smile twisted into an ugly look.

“Don’t you think your going a bit far. Marinette.” Bustier’s voice was sickly sweet barely hiding the venom behind it.

Taste of your own medicineby@mcheang

Marinette reminded Ms Bustier, “Smile and forgive, Ms Bustier. Isn’t that what you told me? To be a better example.”

Caline had forgotten that mantra when she was a teenager, the teachers actually did their job so she wasn’t punished. The rule breakers were. It was easy to be on the high road when she wasn’t the one punished. Sure she wasn’t popular with her class, but it’s not like they would stay friends upon graduation.

And now here was, a teacher, while her bully was a socialite. It wasn’t fair.

Paycheckby@sturchling

This doesn’t actually have a title

Mrs. Bustier went to the school board the next day to ask about her pay. She didn’t expect to hear what she did. “Why haven’t I received my most recent pay checks? I haven’t received my last two checks, and I need to pay my rent. What is going on?” The board just looked at her with bored expressions. “You haven’t been paid, because you haven’t been doing your job.” Mrs. Bustier was shocked. “What do you mean? I show up everyday, and I teach my pupils all day. I am doing my job.” The head of the board just rolled their eyes.

Remember some chapters are longer than others (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

Taglist:

@the-dumber-scaramouche@255940g@epiclazershark@kitsunekat9@smartlanceisreal@bookssetufree@gingerdaile@mewwitch@caffeinetheory@dragonkings444@alicesangelofmusic@bee-a-garbage-shipper@northernbluetongue@turiankitty@finnishbookmark@ml-fanfic-comp@khoughme@773hell@zenarella@rabbitholefor-anymediailike@adrestar@fandombetch@mysticsoulgirl@dagnysdawn@madd-kwami@secretlawyercolorscissors

Jagged’s song

It was happened one day, in a late afternoon a little accident stirred up a butterfly effect.

Jagged had had the day off and was playing with Fang, his pet crocodile he teased him a bit too much and in response the croc decided to jump on him. Neither expect the force in which the crash occurred but jaggeds arms were bruised and was unable to continue trying to make music.

So he decided to post an apology to his fans by posting a song that didn’t fit in with any of his new albums. No one had any idea that this song had been inspired by his personal designer and the struggles she faced.

The song was called “Grateful” (by Neffex).

He had been inspired by the way Marinette was always demanded of things with no one ever helping her and how she seemed to always smile through everything. This included her teacher who deemed her the star student who’s job was basically the same as a teachers, friends who demanded clothing and banners and what not for free, and getting things pushed on her with no warning like babysitting.

He had remembered asking her if she had wanted him to outright dismiss the ladyblog and Lila but she had said no and replied that if she did that that it was possible for an alumna to come for one of the two girls or even cause a mass akumaization. She said she would figure something out but that everything will be fine because she will find a way to love what she is doing and she will never give up and will continue to believe in herself and those she can still call friends. She won’t let them break her, she’ll keep her head held high and not look back because she has nothing to be ashamed of.

Jagged knows that she is strong but that doesn’t mean she’s invincible. He sees her push herself to be the best and beyond that he sees that she tiring herself out. He sees that things are different from the past that she’s lonely because the Lila girl took mostly everyone away with the honey coated words. But her way of coping or her medicine with it was to be busy and with that she was always doing something like baking, designing/ making new clothes, babysitting and more.

Jagged wanted her to see that not everyone can be saved and that she shouldn’t hurt herself to please others. That sometime all the good that you do out of the kindness of your heart is all for not because some people buy into the fools gold and leave the actual treasure to be forgotten. That now she knows who she can call her friends because through everything they believe her and have sided with her and have let her into their hearts.

He wants her to show the world what she can do. He knows that she can take the world by storm because she is akind girl who has exordinary talent in the artistic world be it for clothes to food to even traps and that she deserves real friends who want her in their lives just because and not for what she can do for them. Her hard work should not be used to give them fame if they don’t want to put any effort in. Instead they would rather take the easy way out with nothing to back them up. For example Alya did this she wanted fame yet didn’t put in any of the hard work for what made her famous. Aka no research to prove for any of lilas stories that she keeps posting on her blog.

It was later that same week when he went and got interviewed by Nadia. He told them that he was inspired by his main designer and that she had changed his life in many way and that he considered her family. He started to brag about them and their deeds looking so much like a father or uncle who is talking about family. It was then they questioned jagged by using comments from the q&a section. It was then seen that multiple accounts were spamming what about lilas song and recounting why she should have a song. Jagged then goes to discredit both the ladyblog and Lila by saying he has a pet croc who was the one that bruised his arms and that whoever this Lila is she is a lier and gives her the nickname lie- la.

Soon before the show was over Nadia asked one question “Is your designer who I think it is? She’s the one that made your special glasses and the cover for one of your albums.” He replies “Yup, it my honorary niece Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She a rocking girl whose too kind for this world.”

Later that same day the ladyblog lost its reputation and Lila was official seen as a lier by all of Paris. She was soon expelled from school due to her missed days and the bulling she insited.

@iglowinggemma28@hansa-12@loveswifi

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They ate mostly in silence with Ladybug refusing to look at any of them. The Kwami were all cuddled up against her obviously trying to offer emotional support. Every time she managed to calm herself down Selina would look over at the girl and her rage would build up again. She was going to have to find an outlet for it in order to stay here.

“So why haven’t you asked for help from the European Justice League?” The full body flinch she got in response gave her a target for that rage. She mumbled something that Selina couldn’t hear. “What was that?”

“I don’t think they believed anything was happening. Eventually they just told me that if I couldn’t handle butterflies I shouldn’t consider myself a hero. They had real problems to deal with.” Oh she was definitely sicking Bruce on those idiots once she figured out what was going on. “In their defense once I cast my cure there’s no visible damage so unless one of them had been here during an attack it really doesn’t seem real.” Great, now she was making excuses for heroes who absolutely should know better.

“I don’t care what they thought, that’s unacceptable behavior. You mentioned something about others that were helping you?” She flinched and curled in on herself.

“You should tell them. Plagg’s right, I think they can help.” Most of the other Kwami looked surprised at Tikki’s words. Ladybug somehow just seemed to get smaller.

“Kiddo, the three of us are the last to judge, trust me. We just want to help.” Harley’s voice was gentle and the girl peeked at her before looking back at her hands. Plagg flew up to her shoulder and was whispering in her ear. Eventually she took a deep breath and pulled her knees into her chest.

“At first it was just Chat Noir and me. It was okay for a while. He was always goofing around and flirting but he was there. But things happened and he didn’t want there to be secrets even though it was for our own safety. The Guardian chose what information we got when and he trusted me more than he did Chat, especially the more he pushed. He let me choose temporary holders and that just pissed Chat off more. He started becoming unreliable. Not showing up to fights, spending patrols trying to convince me to reveal my identity. Then he revealed himself to the other holders and got them to do the same. I refused and he convinced the others that I wasn’t trustworthy. I had to take his Miraculous. Too many people knew who he was. After that I couldn’t use any of the others even if they had been willing and I didn’t know anyone else I could trust. Then the Guardian… he got sick and turned his responsibilities over to me. So now I use whichever Miraculous I need for any given battle.”

“And what about your living situation?” She shook her head but it seemed more like an automatic reaction than an answer.

“That could compromise my identity.” Plagg and Tikki both flew in front of her face with their arms crossed.

“You need to tell them. Keeping your identity from Chat and the others was necessary and as we’ve seen showed good instincts on your part, but this is different.” Tikki’s voice sounded encouraging but strained. Their worry was obvious.

“But-”

“No buts Kit.” Plagg pointed to Selina. “She’s one of mine and there’s no malice toward you in any of them. We’re done watching you suffer alone. Not to mention you haven’t had a chance to breathe in months let alone grieve properly.” Selina shared a confused look with the other two. Plagg referring to her as theirs was odd but she was more worried about the grieving comment. Tears welled in Ladybug’s eyes and she shook her head again.

“I can’t.” The words were choked and the rest of the Kwami cuddled further into the girl while Plagg and Tikki just looked at each other.

“Will you let us tell them?” She hunched in further on herself but before she could say anything Tikki let out a string of what sounded like curses. Selina had no idea what language it was in. “There’s an Akuma.” Ladybug let out a tired breath.

“What time is it?”

“School just started. Which one do you think it is this time?” Plagg’s snark just got annoyed noises from all the Kwami. Ladybug stood and started towards the window. “Kit you’re not transformed.”

“Oh right.” Tikki disappeared and there was another flash of light around the girl.

“Why don’t we go with you? I’d like to see exactly what’s going on.” She frowned in thought.

“If you want, but I need you to stay back and not interfere. It’s bad enough trying to keep the others out of harm’s way and I really don’t have the energy to look after anyone else and still defeat the Akuma.” As soon as she said it she was out the window.

“What do you think she meant by others?” Harley sounded like she had a guess at the answer, but wanted someone to give her a different one.

“I have a bad feeling that her former help are still trying to pretend they’re heroes. That or they’re actively trying to sabotage her. Or possibly both.” Given what had been said about Chat Noir, she wouldn’t be surprised.

“We should head out and find a good vantage point.” Ivy was just staring out the window but it seemed like she was looking inward.

“I just need to grab my jacket. And for now we respect her wish for no interference, unless it’s a matter of life and death for her, agreed?” Harley and Ivy both gave a nod but neither looked happy about it. Ten minutes later, as they stood on a roof watching Ladybug taking hits for a bunch of idiots who wouldn’t leave the area, Selina wasn’t either. As soon as the fight was over they moved in closer to see what the morons had to say for themselves.

“Looking a bit ragged there M’Lady. Are you ready to admit you were wrong yet? All I want is an apology and a reveal and things can go back to the way they were.” Selina had to grab Harley to stop her from lunging at the boy who spoke but Ladybug shot him a flat look.

“Go back to what exactly? You refusing to respect my boundaries and throwing tantrums during a fight, or you just not showing up at all?” The boy sputtered indignantly and she turned to leave but a different one, the one who’d been possessed started yelling at her.

“Aren’t you even going to ask what upset me so much I got Akumatized? You used to actually care about people.” Ladybug just crossed her arms and waited. “Someone I thought was my friend just moved away without telling anyone! Can you believe that?” That just brought a confused look from the hero as she scanned the others assembled. For some reason that seemed to annoy the girl more. “Marinette! She just up and left without telling anyone!”

“I’m sorry, did you all just now notice she was gone?” Disbelief was the main thing in her tone, but there was hurt there as well.

“What do you mean just now? Don’t act like it’s our fault she decided to bail on her friends.” Ladybug was just staring at all of them like they’d lost their minds.

“Some friends considering it took you six months to notice she was missing in the first place.” There was a blonde girl leaning against a nearby building that Selina would swear wasn’t there a minute about.

“She’s not missing. Her parents sold their business and the family moved.” The blonde looked like she was going to fire back but Ladybug spoke first.

“Believe what you want, you always do. This is not something I’m going to stand here and argue about. I’m sorry you feel hurt but there’s nothing I can do to help the situation.” She tried to leave again.

“Wait!” The blond practically jogged up to her. “I need to speak with you, alone.” Ladybug hesitated. “Please, it’s important.” The hero searched the girls face for a moment before giving a small nod. The others immediately started shouting at her so she grabbed the other girl and headed to a nearby roof. They followed silently and Selina watched as they both stood awkwardly.

“So what do you need to talk to me about Chloe?” There was a wariness to Ladybug’s tone and stance, almost like she expected to be yelled at or attacked. The other girl just seemed nervous.

“A couple things. You knew Marinette was missing, do you know where she is?” Ladybug’s entire body tensed up at the question and Chloe saw it. “I’m not asking you to tell me I just… I just want to know if she’s okay. The police are refusing to look for her, claiming she went to live with relatives out of the country even though her passport hasn’t been used, and she hasn’t touched her back accounts since the day after…” She trailed off, obviously not wanting to finish the thought.

“How do you know she hasn’t… you’ve been using your father’s accounts to check the police progress haven’t you?” She just gave a sheepish shrug. “Why? You hated Marinette.” Chloe flinched.

“No I didn’t. We were rivals sure, and I was overall a bitch yes, but I never hated her. We were just so different and… I mean you’ve met my parents. I was taught from a young age that I was above everyone else and that they should be grateful for my notice. Mari… I couldn’t understand for the longest time why she stood up to me. I know it sounds stupid and I can’t really explain it better.” She sounded frustrated but it actually seemed to calm Ladybug down for some reason. “Look, I understand why she wouldn’t want to come back to school. Those ungrateful peasants made her life a living hell, but it’s like she completely dropped off the face of the earth. I can’t even imagine what losing both her parents in an accident like that must have done to her.”

“She’s okay. She just didn’t want to be sent out of Paris, or put into the system.” It didn’t sound like a lie but Ladybug was refusing to look the other girl in the eye for some reason. Chloe was just frowning in thought.

“If you see her again… tell her I can help if she wants. I know I’m probably the last person she wants to deal with but if she needs a place to stay no questions asked, I’m offering. Daddy has a few judges that owe him favors as well so we can probably get her emancipated so she can at least get to her money without worrying about someone tracking her and putting her somewhere she doesn’t want to be.” Ladybug nodded but from her position Selina could see her fighting back tears. “The other thing I wanted to talk about…”

“Yes?” Chloe still hesitated. She looked worried.

“That comment Adrien made, about you looking ragged… he wasn’t wrong.” Ladybug curled in on herself and Chloe panicked. “I’m not say it as a criticism! Ever since those rejects abandoned you it’s obvious things have been getting worse. I don’t know what you home situation is like but it’s kind of obvious it’s less than great.”

“If you’re going to try and convince me to give you a Miraculous-”

“No! No, it’s nothing like that. I just… here.” She pushed something into the hero’s hand and Ladybug just looked at it in confusion.

“What…” Chloe cleared her throat nervously.

“I had part of my floor renovated into a sort of efficiency apartment. That key is to get in through the balcony. The door that leads to the rest of my suite has multiple locks, including bolts that go into the floor that can only be accessed from the inside.” Ladybug blinked at her, not seeming to process what the girl said. “It’s a safe place… if you need it.” There was a long pause then Ladybug lurched forward, pulling the other girl into a hug.

“Thank you.”  The words were soft, almost inaudible, but the emotion behind them was heartbreaking.

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Ko-Fi

Tags

@asrainterstellar@scorchdragon88@arty-shadow-morningstar@toodaloo-kangaroo@solangelo252@smolplantmum@jayjayspixiepop

Setting straight

After exposing the liar, Kaylan had taken charge of taking out the rest of the people one by one. If only there was a medicine for regret, because they actually need it.

Two days after Lila’s exposing, the akuma class was still in shock of what had happened. Everyone was in different amount of shock. The most affected one was, of course, Alya.

Many people starting remembering what they had done to their class president when she stood against the liar and tried to tell them.

Marinette was right. Lila is a liar.

We didn’t believe her.

We hurt her.

Destroyed her things.

Tripped her.

Trashed her website.

Bullied her.

Tore her sketchbook.

Rose was full on crying, even with Juleka comforting her, she didn’t stopped. Adrian didn’t like the atmosphere, just as he opened his mouth, the door opened with a bang and Kaylan walked in like she owned the place.

Without giving any of them the time of the day she walked in the end and sat down, looking exceptionally smug about something. Her eyes gleamed with chaos as she expectedly looked at the door.

In a few minutes, a pale Miss Bustier entered the room and looked at her students.

Class……um…I ……

She fumbled to say something but she wasn’t able to. Another person entered the room. A woman in business suit with a serious face and looked sharply towards the class.

Your teacher has been fired and this is the last time you would see her.

What why?!

Alya was quick to jump up but one glare from the woman sent her back to her seat.

My name is Ana Ramónov, and I’m here to investigate the situation regarding Rossi. The board is absolutely horrified to see the chain of events that had brought the major events and shown concern on why there are so many akumas in this particular class.

With a clap she gestured someone. A middle aged woman entered the class.

The methods of teaching of your teacher are so questionable along with her irresponsible attitude while victim blaming and putting all her responsibilities on one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who was apparently your previous class president.

Bile rose to their throat when they heard that. Not only they bullied her, but they also ignored the pressure that was put on her and expected her to be on their beck and call.

Mrs. Kain will be replacing her. Oh and your principal is also fired for victim blaming, taking bribe and being incompetent in general. Someone will be filling in soon enough. We’ll be taking our leave now.

Ramónov didn’t say more and turned to leave. Behind her, Bustier followed with her head down. Mlle. Kain was quick to change their seating arrangement and shot down any nonsense.

After what type of teacher you have, I have only one thing to say; one toe out of line will land you in detention. You want to ask question, raise your hand; you want to leave the class, you have to get the hall pass; your parents want to pull out of the school for a day, they better provide a doctor’s note.

She stopped before pulling a basket out and putting it on the table.

All phones should be put in this basket at the beginning of the class and will be returned to you during lunch. If it is found on you during class it will land you in detention and your parents will get it from my hand.

Now, I believe we need a new class president; Miss Fox will do the job, the only person competent and strict enough to keep you in line.

The said girl smiled before putting her phone in the basket getting a smile from the teacher. Reluctantly every student put their phones in the basket; even Alya had to put it under the glare of their new teacher.

After all the events that had occurred, the board had decided mandatory therapy for the students of this class with the exception of Miss Fox.

Why is she getting a special treatment?!

Detention, Miss Cesaire. Rule number two; raise your hand when asking question. You’re very lucky no one is suing you for defamation with all the lies on your blog.

Kaylan smiled and raised her hand. With a nod she turned towards the blogger.

My mother is a psychiatrist herself. I’m already in therapy session with her so I have no need to do so. Don’t worry; we’re going to have a lot of fun together.

The smile on her lips didn’t reach her eyes and that made it many times scarier. If they thought that Chloe was bad; then they were sure that Kaylan was pure evil.

One month and 12 days were taken for the class to straighten out. Detentions didn’t include the normal punishment of waiting but rather extra worksheets and some hours of community service under the watchful eyes of their class president.

One time Alya tried to run off in the akuma attack, let’s just say she lost two nights of sleep just to finish off her worksheets.

It was easy to trick class with a fake Kaylan, while the real one fought with the akuma. Seeing the amount of workload and pressure, many forced themselves to set themselves straight.

And now four months after Marinette’s departure, Kaylan stood in front of the familiar bakery. A smile on her face was screaming pure destruction making the pedestrian walk off from the said area.

Nova snickered in her jacket and poked her chosen in encouragement. She had used her luck against the liar and the class, now was the time to use destruction to balance it out. With a powerful stride she walked in the bakery and took in the sight.

It was apparently a slow day at the bakery, because both Sabine and Tom were at the counter. Seeing the ravenette, the frown replaced the polite smile as they glared at the girl.

Kaylan ignored it before flipping the sign on the door and walked around like she was at home.

If you do not have anything to buy, you may leave.

Sabine gritted out, but the wolf pretended to think before smiling.

No.

What?

I said no. Or do you have selective hearing, only hearing what you want to hear. Like a certain liar over your daughter.

What do you want?!

Sabine glared at the girl who shrugged nonchalantly taking in beautiful pastries. Cracking her knuckles, she punched the glass, breaking it.

That’s it!

Sabine roared and attacked. It was like she was waiting for this moment, because it wasn’t even ten minutes before she forced Sabine to be on defensive. Every hit was a force that left a bruise. Tom who was a giant couldn’t even follow them with his eyes. Many counters broke and furniture thrown.

The commotion ended with an injured Sabine, a trashed bakery and a tied up Tom in the corner.

What do you want?!

Sabine coughed out. It was embarrassing to see someone so young winning against her. She practiced martial arts. She was black belt and had many years of experience over her but……

Kaylan sat on her toes, to be on eye level with her. The disdain in her eyes was clear as a day.

Did you know that Lila Rossi was arrested three months ago for fraud, defamation, bullying and potential suicide of Marinette Dupain-Cheng as well as sued by many famous people for defamation and salander? She was also found working with Hawkmoth.

What?

And the rest of the class had to go through the mandatory therapy session for making them realize that what they did to Marinette Dupain-Cheng was wrong on so many moral levels?

No.

The teachers and the principal who handled Marinette’s case were fired as well for not doing their job properly and pushing their responsibilities on a student no less.

Sabine trembled under her gaze. If what she said was true, did she wronged her daughter? Tears swelled in her eyes but it didn’t affect the girl in front of her. She talked about all the things the class and Lila had done to her daughter without even flinching. When she reached how Hawkmoth tried to akumatized her, Sabine was sobbing, even Tom was crying but there was no emotion in her eyes except for disdain.

I’m relieved that you have signed your rights to Gina, because she had sent Marinette to her friend where she is actually happy and where people actually listen to her side of story. So congratulation, you have royally fucked up.

With a smile she stood up and walked out without glancing back. The pair cried, regretted their decision. They couldn’t do anything now. It was too late.

Nova peeked out of her holder’s pocket.

Why did you put the barrier around the bakery? Didn’t you hate them?

I do. But they should cry and regret without attracting an akuma which could lead them to have a power to force Marinette back.

……..just say that you’re kind to the fault.

………I’m not.

Whatever you say pup.

Nova sang before diving in the pocket. Pulling a piece of paper, she smiled.

Well then, time to see how, she’s doing.

part 1

part 2

christaspirit:

Notes: I’ve seen many people do the fic where Marinette gets kicked off the class trip, but how mean her classmates acted bothered me, so I made them as in character as I could.

This takes place after season 3 if Marinette got Master Fu’s tablet instead of Gabriel. Uh… that’s all I’ve got to say.

——————–

Marinette’s entire life changed when Lila joined her class.

Adrien insisted they don’t call Lila out. Gone was her friendship with him, and her crush.

The majority of her class believed Lila about Marinette bullying her. Those friendships were gone.

She lost trust with Mme. Bustier, as Bustier believed Lila’s injuries without any doctors records.

So when the school year was drawing to a close, Marinette’s only friends left in the class were Alya, Nino, Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel. 

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