I’ve seen a few fics where Lila reports the bakery to the health department and then plants bad pastries and pests just as the inspector arrives and gets the bakery shut down. I started wondering, what would happen if she got caught doing that? Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!
Lila kept watch as she waited for the health inspector to finally arrive. She had made multiple fake reports about the bakery over the past week to get someone to come out, but no one had come yet. And she had found the perfect spot to make sure she saw the man arrive, too! She was in disguise in the park, on a bench that had a clear view of the bakery entrance, the side entrance that went to the Dupain-Cheng home, and still let her stay hidden. She didn’t have to worry about school at the moment since her stupid class and teacher thought she was visiting the royal family in Spain, and her gullible mother thought school was out for another akuma attack. Both of which gave her an alibi so no one would suspect her when Maribrat and her goody-goody parents were humiliated and lose everything.
She was almost too distracted by her daydream of Marinette crying and homeless to see a very professional looking man step out of a taxi in front of the bakery. He looked at the display with a very critical eye before writing some things down on his tablet. That had to be the health inspector she had been waiting for. Once she saw him entering the front, Lila hot footed it to the side entrance to sneak in.
The door was locked, but she had come prepared with a lockpick set she had gotten a couple years ago. It was really too easy to get inside. In fact, it had been much harder to get the fake evidence she would need to shut the place down. She discovered while going through the dumpster for old pastries that the bakery didn’t throw away much of anything. They sold out most of the time, and the things that didn’t were donated to a local homeless shelter. It took three days of dumpster diving to find anything, which ended up being a single batch of croissants that had burned in the oven. Heck, collecting some cockroaches from a restaurant dumpster down the street had been easier; albet, a lot more disgusting.
Once inside, Lila crept towards the door as she heard Mme. Cheng speaking to the man. He was, in fact, the health inspector. A malicious grin stretched across her face as she put the first moldy croissant on the counter next to the-
“What are you doing here?” A deep voice growled behind her.
Lila froze for a moment, suddenly realizing that she had heard Mme. Cheng speaking with the inspector, but not M. Dupain. She couldn’t let herself get caught! She was facing away from him and he hadn’t seen her face yet, so there was still a chance. Grabbing the first thing she could, she didn’t even look to see what it was, she swung it around at the towering man before trying to run past him.
Despite hearing him curse in pain, Lila didn’t make it two steps before the man grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and lifted her off of the ground. She swung her object at him again, only for the enraged man to grab her wrist and twist, forcing her to drop it with a shout as it clanged to the floor.
The noise drew Sabine and the inspector to the back where they say Tom holding Lila off the ground. Furious and still trying to escape, she tried kicking at him only for him to release her wrist, grab her ankle, and then release her jacket so she was hanging upside down. More items hit the floor as her hat fell off, a couple of croissants and the tupperware container of cockroaches fell from her pockets, and landed next to a bloody knife…
Uh-oh.
Looking up, she saw that his right arm was bleeding from where she had slashed him with the knife, which had her fingerprints all over it. She was going to be in so much trouble unless she could think of a way out of this!
“What happened, Tom?” Sabine asked, worried when she saw her husband’s bleeding arm and was slightly confused by the girl hanging upside-down in their kitchen. It took a moment before she seemed to recognize Lila as the girl that had gotten her daughter expelled a few weeks before.
“I was coming down to meet Inspector LaStare with you and caught this girl putting bad pastries with the others.”
“That’s not it!” Lila yelled in a panic and she wiggled in his grip, resembling a fish on a hook. “I-I-I was- I was getting rid of them! I was taking them off the counter to throw them away!”
“And your container of cockroaches?” Asked Sabine, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring dubiously at the girl.
“Those aren’t mine! I swear! If you would just let me explain-”
“I’ve already heard enough to recognize your voice, young lady,” the inspector snapped as he stepped closer to glare at Lila. “I bet you weren’t paying attention when you called the health department all those times and the recording told you that your call would be monitored and recorded. And when a single business gets over twenty complaints in less than a week, it gets some attention. But when we listen to the recordings and hear the same voice for every message, we figure it’s someone with a vendetta against the establishment. Still, we do our do-diligence and inspect the establishment, but I had no idea how stupid a person would be to attempt to plant fake evidence while I was here, in full view of the security cameras.”
She couldn’t help her surprised gasp as she, while still hanging upside down in the hulking baker’s grip, looked around the kitchen ceiling until her eyes landed on the cameras. One pointed at the side door she had picked open and the other pointed at the counter where she had put the moldy pastry.
Sabine leaned in close, glaring straight into Lila’s upside-down eyes. “Young lady, what is your mother’s phone number?” It was clear that it was more of a demand than a question, but she was still trying to think of a way out of trouble before Sabine grabbed her face and forced Lila to look at her. “You can either tell me her number now, or you can tell the police so she can go pick you up at the station while they tell her all the crimes you’re being charged with.”
Angry at being caught and forced to call her mother, Lila thought of what she could do as she tried to look and sound pitiful as she recited her mother’s number. Not difficult since she was red-faced from hanging upside-down for so long. She might not be able to get out of trouble, but she’d be damned if they didn’t pay for humiliating her.
After Sabine stepped into the front of the bakery to make the call, Lila tearfully looked up at Tom. “Can you please put me down? I’m getting really dizzy.”
She could tell that the man was tempted to drop her on her head, but he was too much of a goody-goody like his daughter and he eased her gently to the floor. As soon as he let go of her ankle, Lila’s uninjured hand snapped out and grabbed the tupperware of cockroaches, ripped off the lid, and flung the insects across the floor.
Tom and Inspector LaStare yelled in surprise and disgust as Lila attempted to escape, this time running for the front of the bakery. She actually made it out of the kitchen, but ended up face to face with Sabine. Without a word, the woman grabbed Lila’s by the arm, flipped her over her shoulder to the floor, and twisted her arm to where she couldn’t move.
“Are you okay, Tom?” Sabine called, her voice eerily calm to Lila’s ears.
“She flung those cockroaches across the kitchen! They’re everywhere!” Tom yelled as he and the inspector scrambled to try and kill or capture the insects.
“I’ve already called her mother and the police, they’ll be here any minute.”
Lila’s struggles doubled when she heard that. “You said you wouldn’t call the police if I gave you my mom’s number!”
Sabine merely twisted the girl’s arm a little more, halting her struggles rather than letting her arm break. “I said no such thing. I only said you could choose whether to talk to your mother here or at the police station. And I promise you, young lady, your mother is going to hear everything you’ve been up to. Including what you’ve been doing Marinette.”
~oOo~
The fallout had been epic after the police and Lila’s mother arrived at the bakery.
Greta Rossi had been in denial at first, not wanting to think that her daughter was capable of such terrible behavior. But it was hard to argue with the video evidence and eyewitness accounts of Lila attempting to plant moldy pastries, vindictively releasing the cockroaches in the kitchen, or attacking Tom Dupain with a knife, which would require stitches.
It got even worse when school let out for lunch and the majority of Lila’s classmates came rushing over when they saw the police and ambulance at the bakery. Mme. Rossi had asked them why they were all out when there was an akuma on the loose. The class asked her why they were back in Paris since she was supposed to be in a meeting with the royal family of Spain. It became apparent after a few more minutes of back and forth that Lila had been lying for the entire time they’d been in France and Greta would have to meet with M. Damocles and Mme. Bustier soon about her daughter’s absences and failure to contact her.
When the police were placing handcuffs on Lila, she started shrieking. “You can’t do this to me! I have diplomatic immunity! Let me go or I’ll get you fired and Italy will invade France for what you’re doing to me!”
“Wrong!” Greta spoke over Lila as she approached her daughter. “I’m a secretary at the embassy, not a diplomat. Only I have immunity, you don’t. I was lucky to even be able to bring you on assignment rather than leave you with your Zio and Zia in Italy. But I see that was a mistake, and now both of us will have to pay for that mistake!”
Lila continued to shriek and curse as she was forced into the back of the police cruiser and taken to the police station.
In the end; Lila was charged with corporate sabotage, breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, and slander by Tom and Sabine. She was also charged for truancy, forgery, bullying, slander, and cyber bullying for what she’d done to Marinette at school. Lila’s mother was forced to pay for an exterminator to take care of the cockroaches, as well as all of the supplies and pastries that had been at the bakery and had to be thrown out due to the infestation that Lila had attempted to cause. But the worst was having to pay restitution for the time the bakery was closed. Turns out, Tom and Sabine’s bakery really was the top bakery in Paris and had the receipts to prove it.
There had been some worry that the temporary shutdown would hurt the bakery’s reputation, but Inspector LaStare, with the help of Nadja Chamack, had seen to it that none of the problems would blow back on the Dupain-Chengs. Inspector LaStare had gone on record stating that it was a rare occasion where an establishment was completely innocent of the accusations brought against it, but this was one of those times. He then showed footage of Lila planting the moldy pastry, assaulting Tom with the knife, and flinging the bugs into the kitchen before attempting to escape. He also stated that he was personally working with the Dupain-Chengs to make sure that the bakery was up to code and open as soon as possible so all of Paris could get back to enjoying their favorite pastries.
Viewers all over Paris were appalled at the actions of the teenage girl,discovering her vendetta was against Marinette since she knew about Lila’s lies. While laughing at her as they watched Tom hold her upside-down by her leg and Sabine flip the fleeing girl over her shoulder via security footage. The footage ended up being shared by people all over YouTube and gained millions of views, showing their support for the Dupain-Chengs and humiliating Lila on a now global level.
There was also sympathy towards Marinette and outrage towards the Francois Dupont administration when Nadja reported how Lila had also been bullying Marinette without receiving any help from the school. This would result in both Damocles and Bustier being suspended from their jobs until they completed training in regards to handling bullies.
With all the publicity against Lila Rossi, Gabriel Agreste had been left in a difficult position since Lila had only recently been named a new spokesmodel for his brand. Adrien, however, offered a solution to save face and help the brand in the future. So, when Nadja was doing a followup on the story the following week, Gabriel did a video interview where he very publicly announced Lila’s termination from the company for her actions and announced that he had offered Marinette an internship and a scholarship to the fashion university of her choice, so long as she was accepted. This caused a slew of universities to scout Marinette themselves, as it wasn’t every day a fashion mogul does a public shout out to a girl in college. And just like that, sales and public opinion of the Agreste brand went up.
Lila watched all of this unfold from her prison cell outside of Paris. She had been tried as an adult and was caught committing perjury during her trial, which prompted the judge to give her the maximum sentence for her crimes. She couldn’t even enjoy the pleasure of being akumatized anymore since she was so far out of the city. All she could do was sit in her cell eating moldy bread with cockroaches as her only friends as she sulked on the fact that she had failed, and the entire world was laughing at her.
I read a short story on AO3 a while back about a teacher or adult sending a letter to the Board of Governors about the teachers of the school and how terrible they were, and decided to write a story about the person who was assigned to look into the accusations. Got some salt and justice coming along. And I must say, this was very therapeutic to write. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!
Inspector Walters had a bad feeling about the Francois-Dupont College since the moment he’d received the assignment. The Board of Governors had been debating conducting an investigation on the school since one of the classes had been nicknamed “The Akuma Class” by social media and a few news sources. It became a necessity when a complaint had been filed by the Dupain-Cheng family about their daughter’s expulsion.
That complaint had surprised him. Only the Board of Governors had the power to expel a student after an investigation, and they hadn’t expelled the girl. The parents claimed that it was done on the same day as the accusations against the student, and was then retracted the following day. Again, something that only the Board of Governors had the power to do.
Looking over the incident report, the details were slim at best. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was accused of cheating on a mock exam and the answer sheet was found in her backpack. When looking at the schedule, he saw that the mock exam had been taken the day before and the teacher only noticed that the answer sheet was missing afterreceiving the exams. A fact which bothered him a bit, but he’d seen a few scatterbrained teachers, as well as students make the mistake of not getting rid of the evidence. However, he also saw from her student records that she was one of the top students and always got high grades, so there was some doubt that she would have cheated.
The next thing was the accusation that she had pushed another student, Mlle. Lila Rossi down the stairs, injuring her right knee. However, there was no mention of an ambulance being called or even a trip to the nurse’s station. It was also suspect that there was no mention of other injuries that someone would have received after falling down stairs; no recorded cuts, bruises, or anything. So either Rossi had the most well placed fall that kept her from major injury, or she was lying.
The last part of the report was that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng had stolen a necklace from Mlle. Rossi and put it in her locker. Again, he was a bit skeptical considering that the same two girls had been involved with a separate incident on the same day. There was a picture of the locker, but Walters quickly noticed that there was no actual lock on the locker, something that he shouldbe seeing since the Board had funded upgrades for lockers months ago. There was also no CCTV record attached to the incident report, meaning that the system was down and not reported, or the principal never checked them and only went by the word Mlle. Rossi.
Looking over the rest of the file, it was even more suspect when he saw that only Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s parents had been called in. Mlle. Rossi’s contact, her mother, had been listed as “unavailable”. This was yet another thing that didn’t sit well with him. Following his gut, M. Walters set aside the Dupain-Cheng student file to look more closely at the Rossi student file.
Not five minutes in, he knew that things were not right. The disabilities she had listed in the current file were not consistent with the files from her previous schools, and there were no doctors notes to support them as being recently discovered ailments. He attempted to call the number listed on the current file, but it kept going straight to voicemail. Comparing the number to the previous files, he noticed that the number did not match.
Finding himself very unhappy with the incomplete file provided by Principal Damocles, he decided that he would have to go to the school in person the following morning and see for himself what was really going on.
~oOo~
First stop he made was to the principal’s office. M. Walters had not alerted him of the inspection so that the man would not have a chance to change or hide specific documents, he’d seen that happen more than once. What he had not expected was to see a grown man playing with dolls/action figures behind his desk. Damocles quickly straightened up, hiding the dolls in a drawer before scowling at him. “What is the meaning of this? You can’t simply barge into my office without-”
“Actually, M. Damocles, I can,” he interrupted, pulling out his identification. “Inspector Walters, I’m with the Board of Governors, looking into a recent complaint filed against the school.”
“Complaint? What complaint?” He asked, sputtering a bit in surprise.
“The expulsion of Mlle. Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” he glared at the man.
“Oh, that incident has already been handled.”
“Is that so? Then please, explain to me how the incident was handled.” Pulling out a chair, Walters flipped open his notepad and clicked open his pen. Some of his colleagues considered the whole pen and paper thing to be a little old-school at times, but it had its purpose. He waved a hand at Damocles to begin.
“Well, Mlle. Lila Rossi suffers from a rare disease that makes her lie uncontrollably when she is stressed-”
“I’m going to stop you right there, M. Damocles. We will get to the reason why you reinstated Mlle. Dupain-Cheng in a moment. First, I want you to go through everything on the day of the incident.”
“Oh, of-of course,” he was beginning to fidget. “I was sitting in my office when I heard screaming outside of my door. When I came outside, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was standing at the top of the stairs and Mlle. Lila Rossi was at the bottom of the stairs, crying that she had been pushed.” Walters wrote this down and waved a hand for him to continue. “M. Harpele and I brought her upstairs and wrapped the knee that was injured, and then contacted Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s parents to talk about the incident, seeing as Mlle. Rossi had been badly injured.”
Walters finished writing that down before looking back up at Damocles. “And is that when you called an ambulance to look over Mlle. Rossi’s injury and check to make sure there were no other injuries?”
It was no surprise to him when Damocles mouth did an impersonation of a fish for a moment. “Well, um, no. I did not call an ambulance-”
“Then I can only imagine that you called the school nurse to your office to look her over and deem whether or not a trip to the hospital was necessary?”
Again, he began impersonating a fish. “I-I didn’t think it was- Mlle. Rossi claimed that she was fine and that only her knee was injured.”
“You just told me that you believed Mlle. Rossi was, and I quote ‘badly injured’, and yet she received no medical attention?” Walters hummed in a disbelieving manner as he looked down at his notepad and wrote down his thoughts. “That was quite irresponsible of you. I’ve read your personnel file and nowhere does it list that you have a medical background. Yet, you thought yourself qualified to treat and diagnose a girl that claimed to have been pushed down the stairs and could have underlying injuries, such as a concussion, broken bones, or internal bleeding?”
To his satisfaction, the principal began to sweat, but he was nowhere close to finished yet. “I can imagine that Mme. Rossi was upset when you called her to the school for the meeting with M. and Mme. Dupain-Cheng.” Just as he suspected, Damocles wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You have contacted Mme. Rossi about the incident, have you not?”
“Well, Mme. Rossi is an ambassador and is very busy-”
“Are you meaning to tell me that you failed to alert a parent that their child was injured while in your care?” When the principal looked away again, Walters glared before double clicking his pen and writing down more notes.Taking his time as he wrote to allow the man to sweat and worry about what was being written.
“We will return to your failure at contacting parents and guardians later. Now, tell me what you observed when you reviewed the CCTV footage of the stairs at the time of the incident.” Just as he suspected, the man became flustered and refused to meet his eyes. “Are you telling me that you did not, at any time, look over the footage to corroborate whether Mlle. Rossi was pushed or accidentally fell?”
Hesitating again. “I, um, thought it unnecessary. It was clear that she was pushed-”
“And you know that for fact, how, exactly?” He glared as he kept writing.
“As I said, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was standing at the top of the stairs while Mlle. Rossi was at the bottom of the stairs, crying that she’d been pushed-”
“You also said, and I quote ‘I was sitting in my office when I heard screaming outside of my door’. Meaning that you did not actually see whether Mlle. Rossi was pushed or simply fell. Am I to understand that you believed one child over another without gathering evidence to prove or disprove the claim?”
Walters watched as the man’s parlor turned a pale green while muttering multiple failed excuses, which only served to anger him further. So far, Damocles had failed to show him, in any way, that he was qualified to run this school and had let an innocent girl suffer for his mistakes. “You are going to pull up that footage right now, and have it prepared for a meeting I will be setting up with Mme. Rossi later today. And not just the stairs, but the footage of the classroom to see exactly who stole the test answer sheet and the lockerroom to see if the accusations of Mlle. Dupain-Cheng stealing Mlle. Rossi’s property is at all valid. And allow me to make something very clear, you are already looking at being brought up on negligence and abuse of power, seeing as you expelled and reinstated a student, something that only the Board of Governors has the power to do. If I find out that the footage is somehow ‘missing’, I will have no choice but to assume that you have purposefully erased it to protect yourself and will have you brought before the Board by tomorrow morning. Am I clear?”
The man gave a shaky nod, as he immediately got on his computer and began pulling up the footage from that day.
Getting on his phone, Walters called the number that Mme. Rossi had listed in the previous files and it went straight through. He easily scheduled a meeting for later that day and hung up.“I will be sitting in on Mme. Bustier’s class for the rest of the day, until Mme. Rossi arrives at 1pm for our appointment. Have all the footage ready by then.” Without another word, Inspector Walters left the office and made his way down to the Akuma Classroom.
~oOo~
Lunch had finally come and Walters was anything but impressed by what he had seen. To her credit, Mme. Bustier had been polite and understanding towards his presence in the classroom and seemed to go about teaching as usual. She was also a very upbeat type of personality, something needed in a city plagued by akumas. But that was the extent of his compliments towards the teacher.
During the first half of the day, he witnessed the woman allow her students to become disorderly multiple times. Three of which stood out to him beyond the normal rowdy teenage energy that is normal for a classroom.
The first was how a boy in the front of the room kept flinching and curling into himself whenever another student, who just happened to be Mlle. Lila Rossi, touched him. She was sharing his desk in the front, sitting inappropriately close, clutching his arm in a possessive manor, and ignored him when he asked her to let him go or give him space. All this was done in full view of Mme. Bustier, and she did nothing.
During the literature lesson, they were studying Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mlle. Rossi interrupted and began telling a story about being a descendant of Vlad the Impaler. A complete falsehood since Vlad’s only child had been killed as an infant. This was a fact that the teacher should have corrected or told the girl to pay attention to the lesson, but she did nothing. Allowing the girl to prattle on for close to 15 minutes before returning to the lesson.
The worst though, was when Mlle. Rossi, made another scene when she began complaining about how her leftknee was still hurting from when Marinette pushed her down the stairs. The other students proceeded to glare and speak harsh words about the girl. It was at this time that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng stood from her seat in the back and attempted to defend herself. Mme. Bustier did intervene this time, but she did not reprimanded the other students that were ganging up on the one girl. Instead, she reprimanded Marinette and told her that she was not setting a good example for the class. Then forced her to apologize to Lila for upsetting her. Blatant victim blaming, right in front of him, and the teacher had the nerve to smile at him as if to say that she had handled the situation.
Walters had written everything down, already deciding that he would need to call the Board at the first possible moment to alert them to the incompitent administrative practices of Damocles, as well as the toxic teaching methods of Bustier. It was now little wonder why this class had produced so many akumas. It was a miracle that there were any students left in the class that hadn’t been akumatized. But seeing as one student was clearly being bullied and the other was being sexually harassed, it likely wouldn’t be long.
He was just barely able to fit in the call and look over the CCTV footage before his meeting with Mme. Rossi in M. Damocles office. That had been interesting, to say the least. Before the meeting had even started, Mme. Rossi was voicing her worry about the amount of time that the school had been closed due to akuma attacks…
Oncethathad been cleared up, M. Damocles got to the matter at hand. Beginning with requesting information and doctors notes at her earliest convenience pertaining to her daughter’s injuries, disabilities, as well as requesting more information about her lying disease. Again, that had been a very interesting conversation that resulted in the woman yelling at Damocles in French and Italian about how incompetant he was and why hadn’t he gotten ahold of her sooner?
But the worst reaction came when Damocles told her about the day of the incident. They showed her the footage found of Lila, and yes it was Lila, stealing the answer sheet off of Mme. Bustier’s desk and then slip it into Marinette’s bag on her way back to her seat. Then the footage of Lila breaking into Marinette’s locker and planting the necklace. And finally, Lila smiling at Marinette before walking down the stairs and sitting on the ground before she started screaming.
By then, another inspector from the Board of Governors had arrived to assist in the situation that he had reported during his earlier phone call and the students had returned from lunch. Walters requested Mme. Bustier to join them and to bring Lila along. When the girl entered the office and saw her furious mother and principal, she paled immediately and started lying.
Even when Walters, Damocles, and her mother tore apart every one of her lies, she kept trying to turn things around and make herself a victim. And to Walters’ horror, Damocles was actually buying her lies! It was at that moment that he decided that the man had no right being a school administrator and would be put on leave, pending the end of his investigation and the Board of Governors decision.
Bustier attempted to side with Lila as well, claiming that the girl suffered from a disease and shouldn’t be punished. Completely ignoring that Mme. Rossi told her that her daughter suffered no such ‘disease’. The other inspector, Marchand, looked on in disgust before pulling out his phone and calling the Board of Governors right there, relaying his support of Walters’ recommendation against Damocles and Bustier.
Walters took charge of the situation, forcing Damocles out of his chair to take his seat. “Mme. Rossi, as an inspector of the Board of Governors, I must ask if you fully understand the situations that your daughter has caused?”
The woman took a deep breath before slowly letting it out, all the while retaining a firm grip on her daughter’s arm after she had attempted to flee the room earlier. “If you would, please go over everything from the top.” The woman requested, her voice a bit hoarse after yelling at the principal, the teacher, and her daughter.
Giving the woman a sympathetic nod, he flipped open the notebook and went over his notes while Marchand kept Damocles and Bustier quiet and standing in a corner. “I have personally observed your daughter disrupting class, bullying a student named Marinette Dupain-Cheng, lying to her peers, leading them to also bully Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, and sexually harassing another student who verbally asked her to stop. We have video evidence of her committing theft, harassing the same student I witnessed her bullying, framing that student for assault, as well as framing that student of theft and cheating. All that, as well as your testimony of her lying to the school administration about different injuries and illnesses, fraud in regards to changing your contact information, and four months of truancy.
“At this point, the school has no choice but to suspend Lila, pending an investigation to be completed by the Board of Governors,” he said, handing her the paperwork to sign, which she did right away. “At the time the investigation is complete, she will have the opportunity to plead her case to the Board. However, I want to make it clear that, from what I have seen, it is very likely that your daughter will be expelled.”
To her credit, Mme. Rossi held her head high as she nodded and handed back their copies of the suspension papers. “I suspected as much. However, I do request that a meeting be scheduled with Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s parents so that Lila may apologize in person. I also want her to apologize to the class and admit her lies to them so that there won’t be any backlash on that poor girl.”
Lila turned to her mother in a panic. “No, Mom! Please don’t make me-”
“YOUNG LADY, you are going to tell the class everything you lied about, apologize to that girl, and admit that you have been bullying her. Am I clear?” Walters was impressed that the girl simply nodded as she curled into herself before Mme. Rossi looked back to him. “I will not allow Lila to escape her punishment, that includes telling the truth to the people she has wronged.”
He nodded in understanding. “I’ll see about arranging a meeting. However, the suspension will be taking effect immediately, if you wish to have her confess to the class, I suggest doing so right now before school lets out.” Walters then turned to give the teacher a hard look that had her wilting under his gaze. “I’m sure Mme. Bustier would have no problem with that, I will also accompany you. M. Marchand, would you mind keeping an eye on M. Damocles?”
“Of course, I would like to word with him in private, myself.” He said, sending the man his own scathing look.
Mme. Bustier quietly escorted the Rossis and himself back to the classroom. The gym teacher, M. D’Argencourt had been watching over the class while Bustier had been in the meeting. Walters asked him to stay, and that they would only be there for a moment before turning to nod at the other teacher.
“Students, may I have your attention, please?” She waited a few seconds as the students put away what they were doing, likely hearing the tremor in the woman’s voice. “As you know, M. Walters, from the Board of Governors, has been sitting in with us today. It has been brought to my attention that one of our students has not been honest with us and has been causing a fair amount of trouble.”
Looking back at the girl and her mother, Mme. Rossi forced her daughter to step forward while keeping a hand on her shoulder. At first, she didn’t say anything. Then her mother leaned forward to whisper something in her ear, causing her to slump and tears to fall down her cheeks. “I-I lied, about everything. *sniffle* I don’t know any celebrities. I’ve never helped charities or been to Achu. *sniffle* I don’t have tinnitus, arthritis, or anything like that. I’m not Ladybug’s best friend and I’m not related to Vlad the Impaler. And-and…”
“And…” Mme Rossi said in a forceful tone, ignoring the stunned looks they were receiving from the class. Lila tucked her chin to her chest, muttering the rest of her confession under her breath. But her mother wasn’t going to allow that. “Speak up so everyone can hear you, unless you want to be grounded for twice as long with no allowance at all.”
The girl’s hands fisted at her side as she spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “Marinette never bullied me. I-I bullied her. I told her that I would take her friends from her. I pl-planted the answer sheet in her bag. *sob* I put my necklace in-in her locker. She never pushed me down the stairs either, I faked it to get her expelled.”
“Andwhydid you do all of this to that girl, Lila?” Her mother asked, making it clear that she had to answer.
“Be-because sh-she knew that I was lying *sob hiccup sob* and I wanted her gone.”
“And what do you have to say to Marinette?”
Lila lifted her chin, glaring dangerously at the girl sitting in the back. “Sorry,” she snapped.
Mme. Bustier looked up at the girl, giving her a kind smile. “And do you accept her apology, Marinette?”
That really pissed him off, that woman had no right to put that girl on the spot after Rossi had done everything in her power to ruin that girl’s life. Before she could say anything, Walters stepped in front of Bustier. “Marinette, you are under no obligation to accept her apology, that is completely up to you.” Waiting a moment he saw the absolute relief on the girl’s face before quietly shaking her head and settling back in her chair.
Walters then instructed M. D’Argencourt to continue with the class while he escorted Bustier back to the office while Mme. Rossi took her daughter home.
There was still a lot to do in this school, it was clear to him that the two educators, and he used that term loosely, needed to go. There was paperwork to fill out, more CCTV footage to go over, interviews with the students of Bustier’s class, and calls needed to be made to the Dupain-Chengs and the Agrestes about Lila Rossi and what she’d done to their children. The investigation literally had weeks of work to do, but it had to be done. But Walters knew, by the time they were done cleaning house, the students and school would be better off for it.
~oOo~ Four Weeks Later ~oOo~
Walters was working on the last of the paperwork having to do with the Francois-Dupont College debacle, greatly relieved that it was over.
Lila Rossi had been officially expelled after the investigation for bullying, harassment, theft, sexual harassment, cheating, destruction of property, fraud, and truancy. During her trial before the Board, the Dupain-Cheng family had been present and she had been forced to apologize to them for what she had done to her daughter. From her file, he saw that the Dupain-Chengs, as well as the Agreste family, had placed restraining orders on the girl. The Agreste family were also pressing charges for sexual harassment. Mme. Rossi had mentioned a reformatory school for delinquent children in Italy, stating that she had already enrolled her daughter, despite the outcome of the Board’s decision. He was glad that the woman was taking everything in stride and seemed to be doing the right thing.
The investigation into M. Damocles had uncovered even more skeletons than Walters had expected. Negligence and abuse of power, those were easily confirmed. They also uncovered proof of favoritism, taking bribes to ensure that certain students were not punished for offenses or that they passed their classes, despite failing grades. But the nail in the coffin was when Walters tracked down the money that was supposed to go to upgrading the lockers, Damocles had embezzled it to fund his vigilante superhero activities. He had officially been fired and blacklisted from ever working for the educational system or any branch of the government. The new principal was a vice principal from another school, well versed in bullying situations and had degrees in accounting as well as education. She would be going over all the books to see exactly how much money Damocles had embezzled over the years, so the Board of Governors would be able to sue for the proper amount of restitutions.
The issue of Mme. Bustier turned out to be an interesting matter. While looking into her qualifications, it had been revealed that her teaching license had been suspended beforeshe had been hired by Damocles to teach at the school. Not trusting her file, Walters contacted her previous school and found out that they had fired her for much of the same reasons he had put her on leave. She had enabled bullies, blamed the victims, and pressured her “star pupil” to take on the work of a teaching assistant. When that same student complained and refused to help anymore, Bustier had told his parents that the boy was a troublemaker, refused to follow instruction, and was talking back. The boy had insisted on talking to the principal, who had cleared things up with the student and his parents. Bustier had been fired for her behavior and her license suspended until she completed anti-bullying classes, which she never attended. She simply applied to a new school, where the principal didn’t look too closely at her paperwork, and resumed her toxic teaching methods. Because of this; Bustier had been fired, blacklisted from ever teaching again, as well as arrested for teaching without a license.
The whole of Bustier’s class had been assigned counselling sessions for the foreseeable future until the toxic habits that the teacher had instilled in the class could be rectified. Though Walters was pleased to see that there seemed to be progress, as none of the students had been akumatized since the day he had gone to the school. A new record for time between akumatizations. The substitute that had been hired was stern, well versed in squashing bullying habits, but was sympathetic to the victims. That was what that class needed for the time until the Board could find a suitable, permanent replacement.
All in all, Walters felt that he had done his job with investigating the Dupain-Cheng expulsion, and was happy to hear that the girl was doing much better. Her record had been cleared, her grades were still at the top of the class, and she had given the Board a basket of baked goods on the day of Lila’s trial, which had been like eating little bites of heaven. She had even given him a custom notebook cover, that he was pretty sure she made herself, and a matching pen. It was a very kind gift, and might have thought it was a bribe if anyone else had given it to him, but he could tell that she was just grateful to him for listening to her and making her school life better.
This story was inspired by the idea of a what would happen if a civilian tried to go after Ladybug or Chat Noir’s miraculous and it got caught on video. Origially, I was going to have Alya be the one recording, but I decided someone outside of the Akuma Class needed some love. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!
Aurore Borell considered herself a dedicated weather girl and journalist. She paid attention to leads, always checked her sources, listened to witnesses after akuma battles, and always minded her safety when there was an attack. The akuma of the day was a boy from her school, she didn’t know him personally but he was going by the name Stillshot. Aurore had heard on the news that he had the ability to freeze people in place if he took your picture.
The battle had moved close to where she lived and she hadn’t felt safe in her home, seeing as the akuma was a street level type and she lived in a lower apartment with her parents. So, she had moved to the roof of her apartment building with her phone to record everything she could see from her vantage point.
And boy, did she see a lot.
Ladybug and Chat Noir were barely keeping clear of the beams that were shooting from the camera in Stillshot’s hands. They were even more encumbered because they were carrying a civilian around with them. Aurore recognized her as Lila Rossi, another student from her school. She didn’t know her well, but was pretty sure that the girl was a total liar. She’d once heard her say that she used to be a junior weather girl in Italy, which was admittedly impressive. But when Aurore looked her up, she couldn’t find a single news or radio station that ever listed her as an employee, intern, or even a volunteer; so she was pretty sure that it was a total lie.
Looking down, her phone in hand, she could see Stillshot shouting at the two heroes for protecting the girl. To her surprise, Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t look thrilled by the situation either, but were still doing their best to protect her. When Ladybug called for her Lucky Charm and got a can of hairspray, Aurore was excited to see how the heroes would use it to save the day.
Lila was quickly tossed to the side, Chat Noir used his Cataclysm to destroy the top spray button, and then Ladybug chucked the can at the akuma. Hairspray practically exploded all over him, covering his lens with a thick coat of the sticky substance and making it impossible for the camera to focus enough to take a picture. Then the yo-yo shot at the camera, breaking the lens and freeing the little purple butterfly to be caught and purified.
Seeing the magical ladybugs swarm around the city always made Aurore smile. So much so that she almost missed Ladybug and Chat Noir jumping over her roof and landing on the building next to hers. It was a story lower than her apartment building, which gave her a good vantage point to look over at them. It was a bit surprising to see that they had brought Lila with them… and they appeared anything but happy with the girl.
“Thank you so much for saving me! I was so scared, and I have no idea why he was coming after me-”
“Will you stop lying already? There’s no one here to show off for.” Ladybug snapped at the girl, surprising both Lila and Aurore. “We know that you told that poor boy that you would get him a personal interview with Gabriel Agreste to become one of his photographers, and he believed you because you’re a Gabrielmodel. Then when he went to the mansion, at the time you told him to, he was arrested for trespassing!”
Chat Noir put a hand on his partner’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, but he didn’t look any happier. “This has got to stop, Lila. We’ve heard about all the things you’ve been doing; lying about having disabilities, sexually harassing Adrien Agreste, getting Marinette Dupain-Cheng expelled from school because she called you out on your lies! Do you not care that your lies are hurting people?”
The facade that Lila had been wearing at first faded into a cruel scowl that caused a cold shiver to crawl down Aurore’s back.
“Do I look like I care? I only tell people what they want to hear. If they’re stupid enough to believe me, then that’s their own fault.”
“And what about the danger you’ve put your family in?” Ladybug asked, seeming almost desperate. “What if Hawkmoth sees that fake interview on the Ladyblog of you claiming to be my best friend? He’ll target you or your family, just to get leverage to get out miraculous!”
Lila let out a manic laugh before stepping closer to Ladybug. “Like I would care about that? If anything, I would gladly help him if it meant taking you down!”
That’s when the girl lunged at the red and black spotted hero, her hands reaching for her ears as Ladybug was knocked back onto the roof in surprise. But before she could rip the jewels from her earlobes, Chat Noir had grabbed Lila by the back of her jacket and flung the girl away from his partner. The italian landed hard on her shoulder and Aurore could see scrapes on her cheek and knees from the impact as Chat helped Ladybug to her feet and checked her ears to make sure her miraculous were still in place.
Aurore made doubly sure that she was out of sight as she kept recording, barely believing that someone would dare try to take Ladybug’s earrings while knowing what would happen to Paris and its people without Ladybug. Lila’s smile reminded her of a feral animal as she stood up. “Now I’ll make both of you regret ever challenging me! Everyone saw you carrying me away, I’ll tell everyone that you beat me up.”
“And why would we even do that?” Chat snapped at her.
“I’ll think of something,” she continued to grin. “A few tears, tear my clothes a bit more, you’ve already given me a few marks to make it more believable. By the time I’m done with the two of you, you’ll be just as infamous as Hawkmoth.”
Chat and Ladybug were alerted by their miraculous that they were down to their last minute and had no choice but to flee, glaring at the girl before jumping away. Aurore continued to record as Lila grabbed the sleeve of her jacket and ripped it at the shoulder, then slapped herself across the face to leave nail marks on her right cheek, opposite of the scrape on the left . She paced around for a moment, muttering to herself before she began crying.
“I don’t know why they did it. *sob* They carried me to the roof, I thought it was to make sure I was alright, but then they started blaming me for the akuma, said that they should have just let it have me and then they wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore.*hicup-sob-hicup*I tried to get away but Ladybug slapped-” she stopped crying suddenly, giving her head a shake “No, I can do better than that.” Then she started crying again “I tried to get away, but Chat Noir grabbed me and threw me down, it hurt so bad. Then Ladybug slapped me and said that if she ever saw me again, she’d do worse than just scare me. Chat Noir even said he would gladly use his Cataclysm on me. Please, I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do!”
Then Lila’s face went back to that manic look that gave Aurore the creeps before skipping over to the fire escape and began climbing down. She stopped recording as soon as the girl was out of sight and then played the recording back. She’d never been so relieved to have a good quality phone, the camera had caught everything that happened and picked up every word that was spoken.
She was nearly in a state of panic, indignation, and urgency as she raced inside and down the stairs, calling her producer at KIDZ+ news to call an emergency meeting and get some police there as well. The producer sounded skeptical at first, but when Aurore went on to say that she had proof of someone that was not akumatized trying to steal Ladybug’s earrings, that got her moving.
~oOo~
The entire upper level staff of KIDZ+ and TVi News were present when Aurore arrived. Officer Roger Raincompix had come, along with Mayor Bourgeois. They had been in a meeting when Roger received the call and the mayor insisted on coming, saying that if someone was threatening the heroes of Paris, he wanted to be in the know. She began playing her recording from the beginning, attempting to prove how recent it had been made and that she’d of had no time to doctor the footage. When it came to the footage from the roof… the reaction to her recording had been immediate and about what she had expected; shock, horror, fear, and disgust at the girl’s actions.
“Are you sure this recording is accurate?” Officer Roger asked, looking like he was about to be sick.
“I’m sure,” she said before sliding it towards him. “Check it, put it through every test you can think of to see if it’s authentic. I recorded that video from the roof of my building, it was right by where the akuma battle ended. I’ll give you my address so you can make sure it’s right.”
“I can also say, from a preliminary look, that I didn’t see any cuts, skips, or changes in color or texture which would indicate that this recording has been altered.” Nadja Chamack stated as she restarted the video and looked it over with a more critical eye. “At this point, I’d say that this is authentic, but I agree that we’ll want to run some tests to be absolutely sure before putting in on the news.”
Just then, Roger’s phone rang. He mentioned that it was the station and that he had to answer it. Stepping away, Aurore watched his back go stiff and his brows crease into a deep scowl. “I understand. Are her parents present?” Another pause and he nodded. “Put her in a private interrogation room, and don’t let her talk to anyone else. Tell her that we cannot do anything or properly take her statement unless she has a guardian present. Do what you can to keep her at the station and her mother present. I’ll be in touch very soon.”
Hanging up his phone, he turned back to the group. “Apparently, a Mlle. Lila Rossi has just come to the police station claiming that she was assaulted by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Her injuries that Officer Laurent told me, match the ones that were shown in the video.” He then looked to the President of TVi News. “How long will it take your people to inspect the recording?”
“Since it hasn’t been uploaded to any social media sites and we have the date, location, the phone that recorded the video, and the person who recorded it; not long, maybe a few hours.” She glanced at the clock, reading 11:27am before looking back at Officer Roger. “It could be ready and verified in time for the 6 o’clock news tonight.”
“Get started,” Roger nodded, “I’ll be sending a few of my people from our tech division to observe and double check the work. Once it has been verified, I want copies made for evidence.”
“I will also need a copy,” Mayor Bourgeois spoke up, finally finding his voice after the shock of the video. “If I’m not mistaken Mme. Rossi is employed by the Italian Embassy, meaning this could result in an international incident. If this turns out to be true, I will not allow this horrid girl to remain in my city or to ever set foot on French soil again.”
The TVi President nodded, writing down notes while Officer Roger called his best tech people from the station to drop whatever they were doing and come to the TVi station immediately. Then he turned to Aurore, took her statement, her address, and had her send him a copy of the recording before calling another one of his officers to meet him at that address to compare the video to the scene. As well as sending officers to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery and the Agreste Mansion to get corroborating statements.
~oOo~
Lila was beginning to get tired, she had been fake crying for hours and really wanted to go home and take a nap. It had become even more taxing when she was forced to call her mother to the station or else the police wouldn’t be able to take her statement. At least her mother had bought her story hook, line, and sinker and was already talking about filing charges against the city of Paris for allowing a couple of vigilante teenagers to run around and hurt her daughter.
It was just after 5pm when Officer Roger, Sabrina’s dad, entered the interrogation room along with Officer Laurent. The younger officer had taken her statement not long after her mother arrived at the station but had told them that, due to the serious accusations being made, it would be best to take this up the chain of command to make sure that nothing was overlooked. That had made Lila nervous at first, but she was confident that they would believe her. After all, she was the one that had been hurt and Ladybug and Chat Noir were nowhere in sight to contradict her story.
“Hello Mme. and Mlle. Rossi, I’m Officer Roger. I want you to tell me what happened.” He said as he placed his tablet and a notebook on the table and pulled out a pen.
“Do I have to do this again? Just thinking about what they did scares me.” Lila squeezed her eyes shut as she pinched her inner thigh to draw tears. Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulder in comfort, eating it up.
“I understand that this must be difficult, but I need to hear your statement.”
Giving a shaky nod, Lila went into her story again, making sure that her voice trembled a bit and to keep her shoulders hunched. “I don’t know why they did it. *sob* They carried me to the roof, I thought it was to make sure I was alright, but then they started blaming me for the akuma, said that they should have just let it have me and then they wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore. *hicup-sob-hicup* I tried to get away, but Chat Noir grabbed me and threw me down, he even kicked me. It hurt so bad. Then Ladybug slapped me when I was trying to get up and then grabbed my face, it felt like she was going to crush my chin. She said that if she ever saw me again, she’d do worse than just scare me. Chat Noir even said he would gladly use his Cataclysm on me. Please, I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do!”
Officer Roger nodded as he continued to write everything down. “And you’re willing to testify to this in a court of law?”
Mme. Greta Rossi was already nodding to the affirmative. “Yes, those incompitent vigilantes are going to pay for hurting my daughter. I want to file lawsuits against them for assault and intimidation.”
Roger nodded in understanding but then gave Mme. Rossi a curious look. “I understand that you are upset, but I don’t see how Ladybug and Chat Noir could be labeled as incompitent. They have always defeated the akumas sent by Hawkmoth.”
“That’s not true, my daughter’s school was closed for months, months, because those two couldn’t beat the principal of her school after he was akumatized and damaged the school.”
He blinked at her. “Mme. Rossi, I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but our daughters are enrolled in the same school and attend the same class. There have been days when an akuma will cause the school to open a bit late or close early, but it has never been closed for months. And as for M. Damocles being akumatized, that occurred after school hours, with the majority of the battle taking place off of school grounds, and he was returned to normal before the end of the night. It did not interrupt the school at all.”
Hearing this, Mme. Rossi’s mouth dropped open before turning to look at her daughter, who had gone suspiciously quiet and was ducking down a bit in her chair.
“And as for the lawsuits that you wish to file, you should be made aware that there lawsuits being filed against your daughter by three different parties for assault, slander, intimidation, sexual harassment, and a few other charges.”
“WHAT!?”
“Yes, Madame. Some of those charges are being filed by the city of Paris, itself.”
“How dare you!” Mme. Rossi yelled as she stood so quickly that she knocked her chair backwards onto the floor. “My daughter was assaulted by those two and the city has the nerve to blame Lila? I won’t stand for this!”
Officer Roger stayed calm as he turned on his tablet and played the video he’d queued up. As Mme. Rossi watched the video, her anger ebbed away into surprise at the things the two heroes said and how Lila didn’t deny it; then shock when Lila attacked Ladybug for her earrings only to see that she was injured because Chat Noir had protected his partner; back to anger as she watched her daughter rip her clothes, scratch her own face, and then practice the lines she had told the police, almost word for word. Officer Laurent was forced to come around the table to steady Greta before righting her chair so she could sit down.
“For the record, Mme. Rossi, multiple people have inspected this recording, including TVi News and members of the Paris Police Department, and have come to the conclusion that it is authentic. No tampering whatsoever. Your daughter assaulted Ladybug in an attempt to steal her miraculous, which is designated as a terrorist act as she and Chat Noir are the defenders of Paris, and currently our best defense against the known terrorist, Hawkmoth.”
Lila had been silent since giving her statement again, she hadn’t expected her mother talking about the school being closed or Officer Roger destroying that lie so easily, but that was something she might have been able to recover from if given the chance. But now with that recording, actual hard evidence that proved that she’d been lying, had attacked Ladybug, and had faked her injuries and lied to the police… there was hardly a single thin straw for her to grab at, but she had to try.
Lila turned up the tears as she desperately gripped her mother’s arm. “Mom, you don’t actually believe them, do you? You know I would never do the things they’re saying I did. That video has to be a fake! Please, you have to believe me!”
To her dismay, her mother removed her grip on her arm, stood from her chair, and began pacing the room. “Who are the other parties that are filing lawsuits against her?”
“Mom!”
“Be quiet!” Mme. Rossi snapped at her daughter, glad that her mouth snapped shut before slumping lower in her seat. “Who else has she hurt?”
“M. Agreste is planning on filing lawsuits for sexual harassment and slander. The Dupain-Chengs are filing lawsuits for slander, intimidation, and harassment. I have looked into the school and found that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was indeed expelled after your daughter accused her of assault and theft, but later recanted her story while claiming that she suffered from a disease that makes her lie uncontrollably. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng also claims that your daughter has been bullying her by spreading lies and rumors about her to isolate her from her friends.”
“She’s lying! Marinette’s the one that’s been bullying me!”
“I SAID BE QUIET!”
Lila jumped in her chair that time before cowering, she’d never seen her mother this angry before. It was actually kind of scary, but even worse… she was sure that her mother wasn’t going to support her or back up her lies. She was on her own.
~oOo~
When the news broke an hour later, Mme. Rossi had never been more humiliated in her life. The Embassy had called her as well, saying that she would be on leave pending an investigation, meaning that she would be lucky to still have her job by the end of the week. After leaving her daughter at the police station to face the charges against her, Greta had made a beeline for the school, demanding to know why they had never contacted her about the truancy, the disabilities, or her daughter’s supposed tumble down the stairs. The teacher and principal had given her less than satisfactory answers like “Lila said you were busy and we didn’t want to disturb you” and “she promised that she would get us those doctors notes”. She was on the phone with the Board of Governors before she was off the property. Since they had also seen the news, she could easily say that they were almost as upset as she was and the two incompitent educators would be lucky if they were still employed at the end of the week.
The visit to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery was even more enlightening. From the stories Lila had told her during the past few months, she expected Marinette to be cold, callous, and rude. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Sabine Cheng had invited her up to the livingroom to speak and Marinette soon joined them. She was a shy but sweet girl that offered to get her a glass of water and whatever she would like from the bakery. To be honest, she had wanted to try the pastries from the shop months ago, but had made the mistake of believing her daughter when she said that they were terrible. So she asked for a berry scone and Marinette gave a kind smile before going down stairs and coming back up with the scone, a few different macaroons, a croissant, and a chocolate chip cookie.
When Mme. Rossi looked at her in surprise, Marinette gave her a kind smile. “You look upset, I thought having a variety of sweets might help cheer you up.”
The sincerity on the girl’s face nearly brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t believe that her daughter had been tormenting this sweet girl just because she had called her out on her lies. She asked the girl honestly, what her daughter had done to her. And although hesitant, Marinette told her everything; from the threats and lies, to acting like she had been pushed down the stairs and planting her necklace in Marinette’s locker; if it could even be called that since it didn’t lock.
After that, Marinette asked to be excused and Greta proceeded to speak with Sabine. She admitted that she’d had no knowledge as to what Lila had been up to, that the school had never contacted her about any of the incidents, she had already filed a complaint with the Board of Governors, and recommended that they do the same. Despite Lila’s terrible treatment of Marinette, Sabine accepted the advice with gratitude but informed her that they would still be filing the lawsuits against Lila. Greta stated that she hadn’t come to change their minds, but to hear Marinette’s side of the story.
Just before she left, Marinette hurried down the stairs with a small white silk square with royal purple flowered embroidery. In one corner, the initials G.R. were stitched in elegant script and looked to be hand sewn. “It’s a handkerchief, my way of saying ‘thank you’ for hearing me out. Other than my parents and the police officers that came by this morning, you were the first person to really listen to what I had to say about Lila. Thank you.”
Not bothering to hold back tears this time, Greta accepted the gift and asked the girl for a hug, which she easily gave. Then turning to Sabine, she told her. “You are wonderful parents, I am so sorry that my daughter has put you through so much. I just hope after this, she’ll learn that actions have consequences.”
After that, Greta jumped in a cab and made her way over to the Agreste Mansion. This was a completely different experience compared to the Dupain-Chengs. She never actually spoke to Gabriel Agreste, only Adrien and Gabriel’s assistant Nathalie. Adrien explained that he discovered that Lila was lying on the first day when she claimed to be best friends with Ladybug and the descendant of the wielder of Fox Miraculous. That was when Ladybug had shown up and chastised her for lying about her. Adrien agreed due to the danger of tempting Hawkmoth.
He went on to say how Lila claimed that she was traveling the world with her mother and was friends with all sorts of celebrities. If Mme. Rossi wanted a more complete list of her lies, to check out the Ladyblog, as she had done several interviews. Adrien also went on to talk about how during their first photoshoot together, Lila wouldn’t keep her hands off of him and it made him uncomfortable. Lila had told him that unless he wanted Marinette to suffer even more, he’d stop complaining.
When Greta mentioned that she was told that the photoshoot was a relationship announcement between the two teens, and that she’d had no idea that she was a Gabriel model, Nathalie pulled up Lila’s contract on her tablet. The one that Greta had supposedly signed to grant her underaged daughter permission to work as a model. Mme. Rossi told the assistant at a glance that it wasn’t her signature and Lila had never shown her any such paperwork. To which Nathalie informed her that Gabriel would also be adding forgery and fraud to the list of charges being filed against her daughter, Greta simply nodded in acceptance. After all, forgery and fraud weren’t nearly as bad as assault, sexual harassment, or terrorism.
~oOo~
When her daughter was brought to trial two weeks later, Greta Rossi sat dutifully behind her daughter but refused to testify on her behalf, not that it would have helped her. Between all the charges that were filed against her by the city of Paris, the Agreste family, the Dupain-Cheng family, and the investigation into the school and Lila’s actions by the Board of Governors; her daughter had no leg to stand on. She also made the mistake of lying to the judge on the first day and committing perjury, which only added to the charges.
The trial lasted for three days due to all the evidence and testimonies brought against her and the fact that Lila was the daughter of a diplomat. However, the evidence was overwhelming and the Italian government had already revoked any immunity that Lila might have had. The jury found her guilty and the judge declared that the sentencing would lie in the domain of the Italian government. Although it was decided that Lila would not be permitted to return to France.
Mme. Rossi made it clear to the court that she was already preparing to send her daughter to a juvenile corrections center in Italy, where she would remain until her 18th birthday and the courts would decide further sentencing.
Lila had screamed at her mother, accusing her of betraying her only daughter and that she was not her mother anymore. She had also hissed and attempted to attack Marinette for “ruining her life because she couldn’t keep her nose out of her business” and “why couldn’t you have just killed yourself”. Greta did her best to ignore the cruel words, but found herself pulling out the handkerchief that Marinette had given her. It was a small comfort, but it was more than what she deserved after Lila had hurt so many people.
When Ladybug and Reine Nuit slip through the window into Gabriel Agreste’s atelier, they’re greeted with the sight of framed pictures and broken furniture strewn everywhere, as though a tornado had torn through the room.
“Looks like someone had a tantrum,” Ladybug comments. She gasps. “Adrien!”
“Here!” hisses a voice. A dishevelled blond head pops out from underneath Gabriel’s desk, face chalk white and green eyes wide.
“Are you okay?” Ladybug helps him to his feet. His hand is warm in hers, and she’s strangely reluctant to let it go once he’s standing.
“At least I’m not a drawing,” Adrien says glumly. “I shouldn’t have taken that book. My father’s been akumatised, and it’s all my fault.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Reine Nuit says. “It’s nobody’s fault but Hawkmoth’s. Besides, your dad’s pretty cold anyway. Seems like nothing you do can make him happy.”
“Now’s not the time,” Ladybug says when Adrien’s face falls. “I’m sorry, Adrien. If I’d known taking that book would cause this, I would’ve come up with another way to get the information.”
“Now you’re being ridiculous,” Adrien says. “I can deal with it…I have to. If that book gets you the information you need, I don’t regret it one bit.”
Ladybug smiles and hugs him. He’s warm and smells of citrusy cologne, and when she lets go, Ladybug can’t figure out for the life of her while she feels warm and content, like she’s just drunk a mug of hot chocolate and snuggled up to a fire.
“Okay, if you’re done?” Reine Nuit says with crossed arms. “Ladybugreste, you get somewhere safe. We’re gonna go look for your dad.”
“He’s here in the mansion,” Adrien says. His eyes dart to the door. “That’s why I was hiding. I thought this room was the last place he’d look. I’ve tried going for a door, but he knows whenever I do that. It’s like he can somehow see my every move. With the cameras and security system, he probably can. I had Felix connected to my phone and he was keeping an eye on the Collector to give me warning, but…that was before Collector caught him.”
“Well, stay here then,” Ladybug says. She grabs his hand and squeezes it. “If he hasn’t looked here, he won’t find you if Reine Nuit and I keep him busy.”
Adrien nods and squeezes her hand back. “Be careful, Ladybug. You too, Reine Nuit.”
Reine Nuit salutes. She and Ladybug then burst out of the atelier and into the lobby of the mansion. Ladybug prays that they can catch Collector off-guard, but whoever’s out there seems to not be listening today, because he greets them from the staircase as soon as they enter the lobby.
“Mr Agreste, you need to stop this!” Ladybug says. Her heart sinks at the confirmation that Gabriel’s been akumatised. He can’t be Hawkmoth then, can he?
“There is no more Gabriel Agreste!” the akuma snarls. “There is only…the Collector!” He throws the notebook in his hand at Ladybug, who yelps and darts out of the way. When the notebook hits the mansion front doors, they vanish in a flash.
“Run!” Reine Nuit grabs Ladybug’s hand and vaults them up to the walkway around the lobby’s right wall. They leap back down, trying to knock the notebook out of Collector’s hand, but he’s too quick and easily forces them on the defensive to avoid being touched.
“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug calls in desperation. She receives a pair of bike pedals in return.
“Cool, we’ll drive him up the wall!” Reine Nuit says, leaping behind a chair when Collector throws his book at her. Ladybug’s head whips around, taking in the entire lobby, but she can’t figure out what the heck to do with the pedals! With a sigh, she tries to snatch the book with her yo-yo, but Collector simply uses the book as a shield. Her yo-yo vanishes just like the front doors, and she topples to the floor, suddenly unbalanced.
“No!” she cries. Before Collector can suck her into his book, there’s a crash from the depths of the mansion. A wide grin spreads across Collector’s face.
“Adrien! My son!” he calls, sprinting off in the direction of the sound.
“Why can’t that boy just do as he’s told?” Reine Nuit complains, helping Ladybug up. Before Ladybug can answer, Adrien pops above the railing of the upstairs walkways and waves to catch their attention, and she’s slammed with a sudden sense of déjà vu; only this time, it’s not the Louvre, and there’s not a shiny, sword-wielding akuma after them.
“Quickly! In my room!” Adrien says. “We can block off the doorway and buy you a bit of time.”
“What happened to staying hidden?” Reine Nuit says, but she and Ladybug follow Adrien to his room anyway.
“You’re welcome for the help,” Adrien says sarcastically as he carries his computer chair over to the door to help barricade it. By the time they’ve used up half the furniture in the massive room, they hear the footsteps of Collector pause outside the door.
“You cannot escape from me!” Collector cackles, kicking the door open and using his notebook to suck up all the obstacles in his path. “Adrien, come to your father!”
“You’d take it out on your own son?” Ladybug exclaims.
“That book was my inspiration!” is Collector’s reply.
“…You could have just said yes. Gah!” She tackles Adrien to the ground and rolls him behind his massive TV, out of the way of the boomeranging book.
“I feel so loved right now,” Adrien deadpans. “Really. Don’t akumas usually leave their loved ones alone?”
“You can have your neglected teen crisis later, Adrien!” Ladybug says.
“Does he have an unlimited number of pages or something?” Reine Nuit complains, leaping up to Adrien’s massive wall of video games and DVDs. Ladybug gasps.
“That’s it!” She peers around the TV and quickly concocts a plan with the wall of discs, Adrien’s foosball table, and her partner’s belt. “Reine Nuit, I need ammo! We’re gonna complete his collection!”
“Look out!” Adrien pulls Ladybug away just as the TV is vanished by Collector.
“Before I immortalise you, allow me to seize your Miraculouses for Hawkmoth!” Collector growls.
“Adrien, keep him busy!” Ladybug orders. Adrien nods and runs to his trophy cabinet to occupy Collector’s attention. Ladybug leaps up to Reine Nuit to grab her partner’s belt, then returns to the foosball table and uses the belt and bike pedals to create a makeshift hurler. “Ready, kitty?”
“Ready, angel bug! Cataclysm!” Once she’s got a pile of discs at her feet, Reine Nuit starts throwing them down onto the foosball table, which Ladybug uses to hurl them at Collector. He’s forced to abandon Adrien and use his book to scoop up all the discs that fly at him; by the time they run out of discs to throw, Ladybug once again prays, this time that Collector has no more pages. For once, her prayers are answered.
“No! It’s full!” Collector growls. Before he can erase a page, Ladybug kicks the book out of his hands for Reine Nuit to catch and release the akuma. Ladybug then tugs her Lucky Charm free of the foosball table to cast her Miraculous Ladybug, which rematerialises her yo-yo in her hands.
“No more evildoing for you, little akuma! Time to de-evilise!” Ladybug swipes the akuma out of the air and purifies it, then sends it flying off. On his knees, the Collector is enveloped in purple-black bubbles and reappears as Gabriel Agreste.
“Pound it!” Ladybug and Reine Nuit sing.
“Are you okay, Father?” Adrien rushes to kneel next to Gabriel, who frowns up at Ladybug and Reine Nuit.
“Ladybug? Reine Nuit? What happened to me? Why am I in Adrien’s room?”
“You were akumatised by Hawkmoth,” Ladybug says. “But don’t worry, it’s over now!”
“Thank you. Thank you, both of you.” Gabriel accepts Adrien’s helping hand up, then pulls his son into a tight hug. Adrien gasps, not hugging back at first. “Adrien…I’m sorry I was akumatised over a book. Did I hurt you?”
“Uh…n-no…I hid…”
“Good.” Gabriel grasps Adrien’s shoulders and looks him in the eye, then turns to Ladybug and Reine Nuit. “Thank you for keeping my son safe. He’s too precious to me. He’s…all I have left of my wife, apart from the book he lost.”
Ladybug’s about to reply to that, but her earrings beep loudly. “Oh, we’re going to transform back!” she says. “Goodbye, Mr Agreste. Bye, Adrien!”
“Later!” Reine Nuit salutes and follows Ladybug out of Adrien’s window.
.
“Wait, what?” Marinette says when she’s returned to Master Fu’s place after school. “But why can’t Reine Nuit know about you?”
“You weren’t even supposed to know about me,” Master Fu says. “Not for a while longer, until I’d deemed you truly trustworthy.”
“What, and Reine Nuit isn’t?”
“These are extenuating circumstances, Marinette. The book and Duusu forced our hands, otherwise Tikki would never have brought you back.”
Marinette blinks. “Wait,” she says slowly. “So, you were just going to leave me and Reine in the dark? Hawkmoth’s growing stronger – he can make akumas with any powers he wants – and Reine and I are still stuck on timers and don’t have any clue about our Miraculouses beyond Lucky Charm, Miraculous Ladybug, and Cataclysm.”
“I had to exercise caution.” Master Fu doesn’t even look annoyed or irritated, which is honestly just hacking Marinette off even more, because he’s not been the one out there, risking his life against Hawkmoth! “If Hawkmoth was to get wind of me –”
“So, you’d rather stick two teenagers out there with exactly what Hawkmoth’s after?” Tikki says, crossing her tiny arms. “With no support, since they don’t even know each other’s identities, and no guidance?”
“Tikki!” says an aghast Wayzz. “You can’t talk to Master Fu like that!”
“I can and I will!” Tikki retorts. “I get that Master Fu’s old and can’t transform anymore without hurting himself, but MarinetteandReine Nuit have been the ones out there fighting to save Paris. Do you know how many times Marinette’s gotten into trouble because she’s had no support? She’s been grounded, she’s had to lie to her friends time and time again, she’s had to lean on someone whose identity she doesn’t even know –”
“You were one of the first to agree that secret identities were a necessity!” Wayzz shoots back.
“Because we’re up against the Butterfly! Not every Ladybug and Black Cat has had to keep their identities a secret, but the ones who have had to do so had a harder time, didn’t they? Do you want to unbalance the partnership between the Ladybug and Black Cat?”
“Oooh!” Duusu’s tail feathers flutter as they observe the kwami fight from between Tikki and Wayzz. “Drama!”
“You’re not helping, Duusu!” Tikki and Wayzz snap.
“Enough!” Master Fu holds up a hand. “Tikki, I understand where you’re coming from. But you must agree that it would not have been wise for me to reveal myself too soon. I had to be sure of these two –”
“If you weren’t sure of them then why did you give them our Miraculouses?” Tikki throws her hands up. “You know, the two most powerful ones in existence? Plagg and I should hope that you were sure enough to give us away to –”
“Stop!” Marinette cries, shaking her head. “Stop it! I didn’t mean to start a fight! I’ll keep it a secret from Reine Nuit!”
“No, you shouldn’t have to!” Tikki zooms down to nuzzle against Marinette’s cheek. “And you didn’t start this fight, Marinette. You have every right to ask these questions. You weren’t even initiated into this like previous Miraculous holders. You were just expected to step up and take on the mantle of Ladybug; no wonder you freaked out at first!”
“You did?” Master Fu frowns at Marinette and Tikki.
“She tried to give me up, Master,” Tikki says. “Perhaps it would have been a tad wiser to stop and explain the situation to her instead of expecting her to react well to a creature she’d never seen before?”
“Can we just move on?” Marinette says. “Master, can Gabriel Agreste still be Hawkmoth even though he was akumatised?”
Although Master Fu’s still frowning at Tikki, he thankfully seems to agree that it’s best for all of them to just move in instead of squabbling, because he nods and lets his brow smooth out. Good, because Marinette so isn’t in the mood to deal with this right now; not after the day she’s had.
“A Butterfly can’t akumatise themselves,” Master Fu says. “Well, that’s not entirely true. They can’t akumatise themselves when transformed. They can detransform and akumatise themselves, yes, but it’s a risk. They’re essentially removing the safety net of the Butterfly holder.”
“Safety net?”
“A kwami using their power without a holder can have devastating effects. It’s not quite the same thing with the Butterfly, but the holder does act as a safety net for their champion’s psyche. A buffer, of sorts, between the champion and the raw power of the akuma.” Master Fu sighs. “We learned about a past Butterfly in one of my last lessons before the fall of the Guardian. When he akumatised himself, his negative traits were amplified until he eventually went mad. No Butterfly with anything worth losing would try it.”
“I think I understand what you’re saying,” Marinette says glumly. “I was so sure! Maybe Mr Agreste really is just an eccentric enthusiast who collects Miraculous stuff…”
“You had a very solid lead with good evidence, Marinette,” Master Fu says. “Don’t doubt your instincts or your intellect.”
Marinette nods and smiles, but her smile quickly vanishes. “So…what can we do about the book? We can’t give it back, but if I don’t give it back then Adrien won’t ever be able to come back to school! And I know he said that he’d choose us over himself, but I can’t just do that to him! Not Adrien! He’s…one of my best friends.”
“There isn’t a single problem that can’t be solved, Marinette,” Master Fu says with an understanding smile. He leads Marinette over to the low table where the spell book is resting next to a plate of plump grapes. Duusu squeals and dives down to start tucking into them.
“Of course!” Marinette facepalms when Master Fu starts photographing each page of the spell book with his phone. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“These modern inventions really are quite incredible,” Master Fu chuckles. While he works, Marinette wanders over to the phonograph, where Tikki and Wayzz are taking turns jumping over the phonograph arm like a hurdle as the record spins. Marinette giggles when Wayzz trips and gets wedged between the record and the arm, and she lifts the arm to release him.
“There.” Master Fu closes the book. “You can take that back to Gabriel Agreste now. Also…” He crosses over to a drawer and pulls out a familiar peacock brooch. “As convincing as I could find. So long as Gabriel doesn’t touch it, he shouldn’t notice the difference.”
“Thank you,” Marinette says, tucking the fake brooch into her bag. “Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome, Marinette. Also…I think you’re right.” Master Fu sighs. “This isn’t something that should be kept from Reine Nuit. Tikki was right to say that I would be unbalancing the partnership between you and Reine Nuit.”
Marinette’s face lights up. “Then you’re saying –?”
“Yes. Bring Reine Nuit here tonight and I will properly introduce myself to her.” With a rueful smile, Master Fu adds, “I suppose I forget that I never actually completed my training and I’m only the Guardian out of necessity.”
“Really? What happened?”
“A story for another time. Good luck, Marinette. I hope that Gabriel Agreste is fooled.”
.
“You’re gonna do what?” Alya says when she and Marinette are outside the Agreste mansion gates.
“I have to do it,” Marinette says. “If I make Mr Agreste think it was me who took the book, maybe he’ll let Adrien go back to school!”
“Or you could avoid validating Lila’s lies?” Alya says. “Look, just give the book to me. I got this.”
Marinette bites her lip but still hands the book over to Alya, who presses the doorbell on the gates. While she’s approaching the mansion, Marinette slips behind a tree to transform into Ladybug, then swing to the roof of the mansion. Once she finds an open window, she slips inside and creeps down to the ground floor, taking as much care as possible to not be seen.
“…was worried about this Lila girl once I saw her take the book,” Alya is saying to a stone-faced Gabriel Agreste as Ladybug jumps off the walkway on the left lobby wall and ducks behind a pillar. “So I followed her to the park, and I overheard her and Chloé Bourgeois planning to frame my best friend for it – Marinette, you know, the girl who won your hat contest?”
“Hmm.”
“Look, I’ve even got footage. I’ll show you.”
As Alya plays the video for Gabriel to watch, Ladybug sneaks into Gabriel’s atelier and detransforms underneath the desk. She hands the brooch to Tikki – who, Master Fu explained, as a kwami, can’t be seen on camera – and Tikki zips around the edge of the room to deposit the brooch at the foot of the painting of Emilie Agreste. There. Now it’ll look like it had just fallen out; hopefully, Gabriel hadn’t noticed its absence until now. Once Tikki’s returned, Marinette transforms back into Ladybug and makes her escape.
“So…will you let Adrien come back to school? Sir?” Alya’s saying as Ladybug slips out of the atelier.
“Well, considering that he didn’t actually lose my book, as this Lila girl stole it…yes, I will,” Gabriel says. Ladybug punches the air and resists the urge to hiss in victory.
“Yes! Thank you, Ga – uh, sir!” Alya bows awkwardly and follows Nathalie to the front doors.
“Thank you for returning it to me, Miss Césaire,” Gabriel says before Nathalie can close the doors on Alya. “It was a gift from his mother. I’m glad to see that Adrien has made good friends.”
Alya just smiles and waves. Once the doors close, Ladybug decides that it’s about time she made her escape.
.
“I don’t understand!” Gabriel hisses, combing through the safe. “Where could it have gone?”
A glimmer at his feet catches his eye. He sighs in relief when he realises that it’s the peacock brooch, and he pulls out a handkerchief to pick it up and place it back into the safe, just to be on the safe side. Hmm. It must have fallen out when Adrien had gone rummaging through the safe. But never mind. Everything is back and as it should be. And one day, the earrings and ring will join the brooch, and he’ll be able to make his ultimate wish.
I remember reading this fic in AO3. I’m not sure if it was a Daminette or if it was Bio Dad Bruce or Marinette getting adopted by the Wayne Family. I just remember that the BatFam knows about Mari being the Guardian and then they end up talking about the Lazarus Pit and the effects it left on Jason and Damian. Mari offered to heal them but she’ll have to make positions and the healing needs to be private for each person. Mari first heals Jason and she uses the mouse miraculous to use multiple miraculous and one of them was the Cat. She uses it to cataclysm Jason on the chest and his last thought went smth along the line of ‘Why?’. After that, I think she revives Jason? I don’t remember much about how she brought them back. I do know that she uses her blood for the potion because it needed the blood of someone who is intimate with death or maybe the word was someone who understood death very well. Ofc BatFam doesn’t know this until she heals Jason and starts healing Damian. With Damian, it went a little differently. She kills him and pulls/takes the Chaos Shard from his chest and makes a clone of hers jump into space so that the chaos shard can explode in a safe area, which ends up killing clone her. BatFam finds out what she had to do after that and were devestated.
And that’s pretty much all that I remember of that Fic. Put a link in the comments below if you know what fic it is. Or at least the title and author of it. Thank You very much.
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.
“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.”
“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.
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.
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*.✧
She looked and saw an open mouth Chat Noir and was surprised to see him there already but then saw everyone looking towards a nervous looking Lila and a girl she didn’t recognise. “Wait, you’re not Milady? Did you use the Mouse Miraculous to multiply yourself or something? Please tell me this wasn’t a lie!” Chat Noir demanded and Marinette demanded someone explain what was going on.
“The new student is Sara and she is Lila’s best friend; they had been telling us that she was you.” Sabrina spoke up and Marinette had her mouth wide open and was growing angry. This had gone far enough…
“Then why won’t you help the class,” asked Adrien. Lately, he’d been on Lila’s heels. Her former crush was another name on a long list of betrayals.
“It’s simple, I’m always willing to help my friends. Now, please leave, I’m busy.”
They left the art room, her words sinking in. Oddly enough, it was Nathaniel who broke the news. Telling Alix, who told Kim, who told Max, and so on and so forth until it got to Alya.
Marinette shook her head, “Fifteen thousand dollars of work you were going to get for free, gone.”
Most of her classmates’ faces had drained of color at the price, at realization of how big of a screw up they made. They had no idea just how much work Marinette did.
Lila was seething because it would be too hard to turn this around.
“What’s your best friends name? And can you describe them.”
Marinette froze and stayed silent. Tikki suddenly felt a strange twist in her tummy. Sabine and Tom looked at their daughter uncertainly. Finally after a long pause. Marinette spoke with a strained laugh.
“I uhh dont remember having one sir.” Sabine felt her stomach suddenly drop, hidden away behind a plant Tikki felt the same thing.
“I suppose there’s nothing left to say then.” She told them, before she turned away from them, heading to the back of the class. She sat down and refused to speak for the rest of the class despite the confused looks she got and the annoyed ones. Even a few hurt ones.
I actually just red this recently but I wasn’t able to finish it cause of wifi problems and I couldn’t find it again. This is a tumblr fic btw. Marinette is actually an Al Ghul and she ran away around 5 and some years ago because smth bad was gonna happen to her. Talia didn’t know why and thought it might’ve been because she was a girl and thought her father as a hypocrite. After her father died she started searching for her with the League (cause they weren’t hypocrites) and found her in Paris, she was gonna give Mari a chance to be a heiress or not and if she didn’t want to then she was fine to stay in Paris. She entered Paris with the League and noticed the Miraculi magic, she and the others didn’t mind because all they were here for was her daughter not knowing they were gonna come across a war. They came across the Miraculous Team fighting Hawkmoth, throwing his staff at Ladybug, that was turned into a sword.
That’s pretty much where I ended before I accidentally lost it. Pls help me, the fic was interesting as far as I red and I want to finish it.
In which Adrienne Agreste considers Dupain-Cheng to be her favorite fashion designer; Marinette, however, refuses to work with the famous model who had everything handed to her.
It was the beginning of August. The two girls were at a table outside a coffee, waiting for Alya’s order and hoping that the wind wasn’t going to blow Marinette’s hat away for good. Around them, tourists took pictures of every single building, Parisians were taking their dogs on a walk, and an old woman complained about the quality of the service— which really wasn’t so bad. The topic of the girls’ discussion was one they kept going back to: Marinette’s refusal to design for Adrienne Agreste.
Alya held Marinette’s hands, pleading for the hundredth time even though the latter had already made up her mind. It was kind of a running joke between the two so Alya wasn’t totally serious but, gosh, the fashion designer could be so stubborn sometimes. Refusing partnerships, unfollowing people whenever they posted a picture with her rival, and now even subtweeting her rival, Marinette kept making her distaste pretty clear.
Of course, it’s not like the girl lacked any reasons to dislike Miss Agreste and the other clowns that were her friends. But did she have to pick a fight with the most popular model in all of Paris?
“I don’t like her,” Marinette took a sip of her coffee. “A simple tweet is not gonna change that.”
Notes: I thought I was being so clever with the last chapter. “They’re gonna think I uploaded the wrong chapter,” I thought. “This is gonna be such fun!” And not even twenty minutes later Quick’s like “so how long is it gonna take Ver to realize she’s tricked herself back into the Loops?” Y’all’ve got my number.
(Itried doing this as a sprint fic, bc I was using the “You’ve Got Mail AU” prompt from a few challenges ago, but around 5-6 sprints in I gave up and just wrote the damn thing. Also desperately trying to convince myself this doesn’t need to be a full-fledged AU – at least not before the three other AUs that came first get done. )
Inspired by Ella Enchanted. I thought Caline should be the fairy godmother but her sending Marinette to the ball just didn’t seem to fit.
Meet Alya, a powerful, good and unfortunately naive fairy. She just loves to grant wishes, not really thinking through the consequences.
When Marinette was born, she was crying.
Alya took no note of the parents’ protest as she immediately bestowed upon Marinette the gift of obedience, telling her to be quiet.
Immediately the squalling baby’s lips were sealed shut, unhappiness clear in her eyes.
Alya beamed as if she had done something good, for who wouldn’t want an obedient child?
If only she could see just how much Marinette suffered when Chloe made Marinette her new best friend. Aka someone to help Sabrina answer all of Chloe’s requests and assignments.
Marinette was determined to find Alya and get her to break this curse!
She happens to find Prince Adrien, running away from the castle and his admirers.
Marinette immediately shuns him. She already has to deal with one pampered and bossy noble. She does not need another!
Adrien is intrigued by Marinette, her reaction is so different from everyone else’s. Not terrified they might be imprisoned, not batting their lashes. No, Marinette just looked annoyed and exasperated. How refreshing!
Marinette finds Alya at a party celebrating Lila, the kingdom’s self-proclaimed golden girl.
Hearing Lila admit that it is a struggle to balance her personal life with all her charity work, “I wish I could do more.”
Alya pipes in, “No worries, I hereby bless you with the gift of giving. From now on, you will be able to do just as you have always done, just more efficiently.”
To Lila’s horror, the first thing she did was to use all her stolen charity funds to actually donate to charity! Then she sold off mostly everything she owned, except for the necessities and even then, she made sure they were all plain. What the hell!?
She was lucky Alya didn’t make her truthful since Lila was also so “modest”.
Desperate to lift the curse, Lila quick-thinkingly persuaded Alya to check on her previous blessed friends (victims). She hopes they are more ostentatiously miserable than she!
Alya finds Marinette slaving away for Chloe, looking miserable. Chloe decides to take Sabrina to the ball since she looks happy, but leaves Marinette behind.
Alya is horrified that her blessing has such a consequence. Marinette begs her to undo it but Alya confesses she cannot. Hoping to make amends, Alya foolishly suggests Marinette go to the ball, but her wording makes it an order.
Marinette arrived at the masquerade, annoyed and planning to leave ASAP but then she met Luka and did not mind spending a bit more time with him.
Then someone had to cut in and remind Marinette that everyone has to greet the prince and she has not.
When Marinette greets Adrien, he recognizes her immediately and asks her to dance, wanting to know this mysterious girl. Throughout the dance, he tried to engage her in small talk but her answers were always curt and unfriendly.
And again, poor Marinette has no choice but to obey his suggestions to “Dance with me” or “Wait, one more round!”
By the time midnight rang, Marinette saw Chloe fleeing and abruptly pushed the prince down and fled herself, before he could “ask” for another dance.
She also ditched her heels because who can run in them?
Marinette made it back in time, pleased to see Alya had magically finished her chores for her too.
Chloe sulked over not dancing with Adrien. Then cheered up when she heard that he would marry whoever could wear the red shoes.
Thanks to the magic, even those with the same size feet as Marinette could not wear the heels.
When the shoes arrived at Chloe’s estate, she threw a tantrum over these ridiculous shoes.
Nathalie asked for the other females to try them next.
Chloe: don’t bother with Marinette. She didn’t even attend the ball.
Nathalie: regardless, the prince’s intended has displayed some aversion to being found. So all maidens are to try the shoes.
Surprise, surprise. The shoe fits.
Nathalie: wonderful. Let’s go.
Chloe: Marinette, i forbid you to go.
Nathalie: and I forbid you from forbidding her. Who are you to counter a royal order?
Chloe: I’m her best friend!
Marinette: no, you’re not. And I don’t want to marry Prince Adrien.
Nathalie: orders are orders. I have to bring you to see him, so let’s go.
Marinette was miserable as she looked out the carriage, her heart breaking as she caught sight of Luka strumming his guitar on the river bank. She would have dated him months ago but Chloe found out and didn’t want any of her friends to be engaged before herself.
If only Alya had broken the spell!
But no! She can’t. The spell has grown too strong with time passing.
There has to be something stronger than Alya’s Magic. But what?
Love.
Wasn’t that what the fairy tales said was the most powerful magic of all?
But if that were the case, shouldn’t Marinette’s love for Luka have broken the spell already?
What else did she know about magic? It’s tricky because it’s all about the wording. And Marinette has to obey every order ever given to her, no matter who gives it.
No matter who gives it.
Marinette suddenly felt like hitting her head. How could she have been so obtuse. The answer had been literally staring her in the face for as long as she could remember.
Focusing on her reflection in the carriage window, Marinette said firmly, “You will no longer obey any command unless you wish it.”
Nathalie: who are you talking to?
Marinette wanted to leap out of the carriage right away. But she supposed she has to face the prince sooner or later.
When Adrien met Marinette, he did not look like the arrogant, controlling princeling she had expected. He almost looked shy, naive.
Adrien: it’s you! I knew it!
Marinette: you must already know I don’t want to marry you.
Adrien: i know. I wasn’t going to force you, but I did want to be your friend.
Marinette: won’t the king be upset about this arrangement, after all the fuss about finding me?
Adrien: my father will be relieved, I assure you. He didn’t want to throw a party at all. The whole engagement thing was to make sure I would be as miserable as he was. He’ll be fine.
Marinette: good. Now if you would be so kind as to excuse me, you can find me at the bakery…
Marinette spun and fled for the riverbank, throwing herself into Luka’s arms and asking if she is too late to accept his courtship.
Luka laughed. “Not at all, Ma-Ma-Marinette!”
Chloe was disappointed to lose Marinette, but not for long. Apparently Lila was so generous to take Marinette’s place and help Sabrina. This time Lila couldn’t even fake a smile. “Where is that blasted fairy?!”
Marinette knows her occupation as Ladybug is more important than Alya’s blog. She does not need the added stress of being class representative.
Bonus, if Alya is busier as Class representative, perhaps it means she will be less able to chase after akumas, consequently running into danger, if she is herding the class to safety.
As a result, Marinette insists Alya be Class representative. Downright standing down when Alya nominates Marinette.
When Dark Knight attacks, Marinette is tempted to start ordering the class what to do, but she instead asks Alya out loud what they should do.
As Alya directs everyone, Marinette rushes away to transform.
Alya is elected class representative since Marinette does not exactly inspire confidence in them.
Later when it is Ms Bustier’s birthday, and Chloe ruins Marinette’s gift, it is Alya who is called away
Caline encourages Alya to forgive Chloe, but Alya is stubborn and quotes that people who do nothing are just letting bad people win. If people keep forgiving Chloe for her misdeeds, she won’t see any harm in continuing to do them.
Alya is not as swayed by Ms Bustier’s authority because she is disillusioned with the staff after Damocles suspended her and is outraged on Marinette’s behalf. If Ms Bustier forgives Chloe just like that without punishing her, she is hurting Marinette’s feelings.
They see an akuma and it is unclear whether it is more attracted to Ms Bustier’s fear for her students or Alya’s feeling of injustice. But since Ms Bustier puts herself in front, the akuma goes for her. Alya refuses to believe herself guilty as Ms Bustier can’t just force people to forgive bullies when no justice has been served. If that is the case, should they just forgive an unrepentant Hawkmoth in the hope that he will turn over a new leaf?
When Zombizou is defeated, Ladybug gently advises Ms Bustier that she cannot force people to forgive their bullies. And that she needs to think of the victims, not just the bullies.
Later when Lila arrives, Alya is fascinated by her tales and wanted an interview about her time as Volpina. Due to class President duties making her less likely to have direct footage, Alya has instead learned to post video and reports from multiple sources.
Alya is disappointed when Lila claims her mother was so alarmed by her akumatization that she is taking her with her to Achu. It is rather sudden for the Italian Ambassador to stay in Paris for just two days, but a mother’s love knows no bounds.
Alya wishes Lila a good trip and informs Ms Bustier, who acknowledges this when an email comes from “Mrs Rossi” addressing Lila’s leave of absence.
Meanwhile, determined to make a post on Volpina, Alya reviews all the various footage people have on Lila.
To Alya’s dismay, she sees a recording of Ladybug exposing Lila as a liar in front of Adrien. And Alya can understand after the recorder repeated Lila’s claims of Ladybug not being a top tier hero.
Apparently the recorder wasn’t at first interested in Lila and Adrien but was appalled to see Marinette stalking the couple, then recognized the celebrity nearby and recorded him instead, wondering how much he could get paid about Adrien’s secret girlfriend.
Alya is understandably upset at being lied to. And if Lila lied about this, what else has she lied about? She forwarded the footage to her class, editing out Marinette stalking Adrien, asking them to double check what Lila claimed.
While the class is outraged at Lila insulting Ladybug, and kind of annoyed with Adrien for not telling them, even if his plea that Lila was already upset and humiliated enough that he did not want to upset her further; Alya tells Marinette that she was recorded stalking Lila and Adrien.
Marinette is alarmed but relieved the recorder might not have seen her transform. Alya admits that she might encourage Marinette to pursue Adrien and even look on as Marinette steals his phone to delete her unintentional message. But seeing her actions on video, Alya admits that if Adrien were to ever find out, he might be creeped out. Alya suggests that Marinette tone down her crush. Even though Marinette followed Lila to steal the book, she agrees.
When the class report that Lila’s claims are either impossible or false, Alya decides to try calling Mrs Rossi.
(Considering that Damocles had her number, Alya should have it too just in case.)
Mrs Rossi answered and was curious why Alya the class President was calling her. If this is about the school being shut down, she already received an email. If this is about online classes, she should be calling Lila.
“Mrs Rossi, may I inquire as to why Lila will suddenly be leaving school when her first day was just today.”
Mrs Rossi: hasn’t anyone told you the school will be shut down due to the akumas?
Alya: Mrs Rossi, do you know who was akumatized today? We only had one akuma, Volpina, and Ladybug and chat Noir defeated her already.
Mrs Rossi:…who was akumatized?
Alya: your daughter. I’ve asked around. Apparently Lila has been claiming some outlandishing feats from saving a rock star’s cat to being best friends with Ladybug. As a matter of fact, after she was defeated, she called me to say that you were horrified by her akumatization and were taking her out of Paris to go to Achu.
Mrs Rossi: I see…thank you for informing me of this, Alya. I promise you, you will see Lila tomorrow.
Lila was in so much trouble. Her mother had seen the interview on the Ladyblog and knew how much she had lied to her class.
Knowing Lila would not want to show her face after her insulting Ladybug is now on the Ladyblog, Mrs Rossi does not ground Lila. Instead, she stopped her allowance.
The next day, Lila keeps her head down at class, ignoring the glares and hurt looks.
Rather than let Lila be isolated, Alya feels guilty and instead asks Lila if they can start over.
Lila grits her teeth, blaming Alya for exposing her to all of Paris, forces a smile and fakes an apology.
Chloe is insulted that Alya can even consider forgiving Lila after she insulted Ladybug! and refuses to do so.
Marinette feels guilty as well and also chooses to give Lila a second chance. Mostly everybody else follows but this time whenever Lila tells them stuff, they’re just gonna double check.
Of course Lila is going to exact her revenge on Alya somehow. But in the meantime, she needs to be careful. If she wants the girls to like her again, she needs to stay clear of Adrien.
As it is, Lila is Chloe’s new target for insulting Ladybug and going after her Adrikins.
Lila is a parasitic friend. Always taking and “asking” from her classmates.
She skipped Marinette’s party during her supposed trip to Achu. But of course she loves parties.
There is a crowd of admirers waiting for her to arrive, along with a buffet of free food.
Of course, it would have been better had this been Lila’s birthday party and not Juleka’s. As technically the twins were to claim the spotlight on this day.
However, with Juleka’s shy nature and Luka’s preference to speak through music, Lila is sure her voice will dominate.
As Marinette rushed to comfort Juleka and Luka expressed his disappointment, Lila was quick to take advantage. Turning, she put on a chiding face. “Guys, we should have known better. Juleka doesn’t like being in the spotlight.”
The others all looked downcast, but hearing Luka’s sad song, they all put aside their negativity and sought to cheer up Luka. Like Lila said, they had to think of others first.
They all offered excuses for Marinette and Juleka. Lila couldn’t help adding in her poisonous words. “We should probably let Marinette come to you when she is ready.”
And knowing baker girl, that will be never.
Lila internally smirked at the thought of Marinette’s friendship with this cutie being officially over. And really she didn’t have to do much this time. Marinette practically declared they aren’t friends anymore with her absence.
To give Juleka and Marinette assurance that no one was waiting for them to come back into the spotlight, Nino started playing his music and everyone began to dance.
Lila chose to dance closer to Luka, keen on getting to know this handsome boy better.
It was then that a certain celebrity boarded the boat.
Jagged Stone had arrived, and so had Fang.
Lila squeaked, her own horror and shock lost in the surprise of the others.
“Jagged Stone? What’s he doing here? Did Lila invite him?”
“Maybe he wants Marinette’s help with a design project?”
But Jagged wasn’t here for either girl. He was here for his son Luka and daughter Juleka.
To say everyone was shocked when father and son greeted each other would be an understatement. The class, especially Kitty Section, thought they were pretty good friends with the twins. Close enough to know that their parents was a celebrity!
Lila panicked. If Juleka knew Jagged Stone personally, she might spoil everything!
As it was, when Jagged went downstairs with Luka, the others thought her shocked frown was because Jagged Stone had not acknowledged her.
“Don’t be upset Lila,” Rose assured. “I’m sure Jagged is focused on his kids only today.”
Lila forced a grin. “I understand. Don’t worry, I adore family relationships and I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
The others cooed over how thoughtful Lila was.
Then, thank you Hawkmoth, the divorced couple were akumatized and everyone fled.
Lila was relieved and opted to skip the party. Better to be absent then have Jagged actually meet her and ask for her name. She can claim to be busy donating her clothes or something.
She even texted the class this in the group chat.
What she never considered was that some students just were not that interested in checking their phone over every alert, or that their phone was on silent mode.
As a result, as the party resumed, someone in the crowd asked, “Where’s Lila?”
“Oh, she was asked to help with an emergency meeting with Prince Ali.”
Jagged stood on the stage. “Any requests?”
Adrien raised his hand. “The song you wrote about Ladybug!”
Mylène: what about the song you wrote for Lila?
Jagged blinked. “Who’s Lila?”
Alix: the girl who saved your kitten, remember.
Jagged: I’m afraid you must be confusing me with someone else. I never owned a kitten and never will.
Nodding towards his children, he added, “Not that kittens don’t rock. My allergies just don’t get along with them.”
Juleka paused and mumbled, “You never had a cat? But Lila said she saved your cat and that’s why you wrote a song about her.”
Jagged: like I said, maybe she was talking about someone else.
Except no. Everyone knew this story was about Jagged Stone.
Kim: Lila lied to us.
Alix: not cool!
For Alya, it was as if the dots were finally connecting. Marinette was Ladybug but Lila said she was best friends with Ladybug except Marinette can’t stand her. So…wow, Alya just wanted to crawl into a hole. How had it taken her this long to figure out Lila was lying?
Seeing how upset everyone was getting, Marinette took charge. “Ok, so now you all know Lila is a liar. But this is Juleka and Luka’s day. And we’re not going to let a liar spoil it, are we?”
Everyone: no!
And so the party continued. Yet once all were back in their bedrooms, Lila’s deceit was once more brought to the forefront of their minds. Laptops and phones were brought out. Search engines fired.
Time to see just how much of a liar Lila Rossi is.
The results were disheartening, and students outside Ms Bustier’s class began receiving texts in the middle of the night.
The next day, Lila knew something was wrong when everyone began whispering as soon as they saw her.
Not the good whispering kind where people gossip about her supposed connections.
This whispering was indicating that Lila was involved in a scandal.
She paused. Perhaps she had been outed after all at yesterday’s party….if that was the case…she immediately turned around and began walking back home, texting her mother that the staff had been akumatized again.
The school may have finally caught onto the truth but her mother might not have. It was imperative this was so, if only so Lila could convince her gullible mother to transfer her to another school.
Meanwhile, Lila’s departure was talked about widely. The class felt disappointed, wishing to confront her.
Caline noted her absence and said Mrs Rossi texted her to say Lila was feeling ill.
Alya: is this the same Mrs Rossi who texted you about their sudden leave for Achu? Because Rose confirmed with Prince Ali that Lila was lying.
Caline paused. Is it possible she had been given the wrong contact number?
The answer is yes.
Thanks to Markov, a new number was produced to call the Italian embassy.
At the embassy, a receptionist called Mrs Rossi. “Your daughter’s teacher wants to talk to you.”
“Disconnect the call! My daughter told me the whole staff has been akumatized!”
The receptionist was puzzled. “But there have been no akuma alerts. And besides, the teacher was not addressing herself with an akuma name.”
“I don’t know! But I’m not taking the call from an akuma.”
The receptionist sighed and switched calls. “I’m sorry, but my colleague is under the impression you are an akuma and refuses to pick up.”
Caline was not amused. “I see. Well, please let Mrs Rossi know that Lila is currently skipping school and that we urgently need her to inspect Lila’s file in person to double check that her medical ailments and contact information are correct.”
The receptionist promised to do just that and told Mrs Rossi the teacher’s message.
Mrs Rossi: I am not going to an akuma’s lair!
Receptionist: I don’t think there actually is an akuma. Hang on.
She goes to a secretary. “Hi, Mr Fontaine. You have a son who attends Dupont College now, right? Mrs Rossi is told by her daughter that an akuma is taking over the school, whereas the teacher told me her daughter was playing truant. Would you mind calling your son?”
Mr Fontaine: not at all
He made the call. The receptionist patient and Mrs Rossi embarrassed.
“Ah, hello Alain….nothing much, I just wanted to check if your principal or anyone has been akumatized at your school…no? That’s good.”
Mrs Rossi began to feel uneasy. “He might be under the control of an akuma!”
Mr Fontaine raised a brow at this woman. “Hang on, for a moment son. Mrs Rossi seems to think you’re under an akuma’s influence….oh my. I see. Yes, I’ll tell her right away. Have a good day, son.”
He ended the call and turned to Mrs Rossi. “Alain had something rather remarkable to say about your daughter. Apparently she has a reputation for lying.”
Mrs Rossi huffed. “Well, he’s under an akuma’s control. We can’t trust what he is saying.”
Mr Fontaine continued, “One of her lies includes a trip to Achu that took place a couple of months ago. Did your daughter stay at home then too?”
Mrs Rossi was not deterred. “Yes, but-“
“Did you also know your daughter has been akumatized at least twice? Both of her akumatizations involved deception in one form or another.”
Mrs Rossi faltered. “What?”
Mr Fontaine looked at the receptionist. “Volpina and Chameleon,” she was already using images from the Ladyblog to show the pale mother. “In fact, I remember Lila was interviewed as Ladybug’s best friend the same day she got akumatized.
When Mrs Rossi saw the interview of Lila claiming to be best friends with the heroine she also claimed to be lousy, her cheeks flushed with humiliation and anger.
“Do you still have the teacher’s number?”
Needless to say, Mrs Rossi and the staff were both ashamed in their discussion at having been duped by Lila Rossi. And considering the situation with Marinette Dupain-Cheng, with the footage finally watched, obviously she cannot stay in the same class. And she will need to serve detention and retain a year.
Mrs Rossi took it one step further though. “I have to take her out of Dupont. It will not do for her to be the pariah when Hawkmoth is at large.”
Later that day, Lila had rehearsed what she wanted to say to her mother when she finally came home. “Oh mother! With all these akumas interrupting my education, how will I ever graduate? Do you think I should transfer? I’ve been doing some research and it seems like Dupont College is a hotspot for akumas. Although with the daughter of the mayor bullying everyone and the Teachers not standing up to her, that is no surprise.”
Mrs Rossi was firm. “Actually, that is a great idea. I’ve been thinking that you should leave Dupont immediately. And I’ve found the perfect school for you!”
Lila: is it Sinclair Academy? Because their credits are almost as good as Dupont!
Mrs Rossi: nope. I’m sending you to military school!
Lila: ….what?
Mrs Rossi: although it looks like you will have to stay beyond school hours to catch up on your studies. I’ll arrange everything.
Lila: military school! Why?
Mrs Rossi: you didn’t think i would never find out about your lies, now did you, sweetie?
Lila stood up. “Mom, you can’t trust the akumas.”
Mrs Rossi finally glared at her daughter. “Oh, but I can trust you? Your opinion about Ladybug seems to be quite contradictory when I compare what you told me to what you tell your classmates.”
“They’re fans! You don’t badmouth their idols in front of them!”
Mrs Rossi: but you can lie and say you’re best friends with said idol?
Lila: I wanted to make friends
Mrs Rossi: friendship built on lies? That is a new one. Cheer up, Ma Bella. You’re transferring, just like you wanted.
Lila: I didn’t want to go to military school!
Mrs Rossi: would you rather stay at Dupont where everyone hates you? Those are your only options.
Lila gritted her teeth. “Fine!” she snapped. “I’ll transfer.”
“Good. And I’ll be sure to inform your teachers about your compulsive lying, just so you don’t try to skip classes again.”
And certainly no one was falling for Lila’s grand tales now.
I finally started watching Transformers! And then I came across this request by @the-delta-42 to write a crossover but I still can’t write it, so I wrote my own outline
Here are the Autobots.
Miracle Charm
Alias: Marinette
Terrestrial mode: ambulance
Her original Autobot form is red and black, similar to Bumblebee and Ratchet in appearance. She is dubbed so because she has a variety of tools and gadgets that seem useless, but with her creative mind, are actually quite useful
Her bakery hires Tom and Sabine to run things.
Cataclysm
Alias: Adrien
Terrestrial mode: racing car
His original Autobot form is black with green highlights. Similar to Jazz in appearance. He is especially skilled in destroying stuff.
Cataclysm pretends to be a rich man’s son living alone with no one but his bodyguard (a projection)
Tikki and Plagg
Small bots like Wheelie and Brains
Plagg likes to dive into garbage to search for scrap metal to eat. He disguises himself as a cat.
Hawkmoth
Alias: Gabriel
Terrestrial mode: plane
A purple deception who looks like Starscream, and seeks to turn humans into his cyborg puppets. He sends out his akuma drones to latch onto his human victims when they are feeling vulnerable. He pretends to be a rich old man with nothing to do but tend to his garden.
Story outline: Hawkmoth is attempting to create akuma cyborgs. Optimus has assigned Miracle Charm and Cataclysm to stop him. The creation of an akuma cyborg is quite ostentatious because they go on a rampage. The Autobots must stop the cyborg without killing him or her and let Miracle Charm remove the parasitic drone.
The Transformers are able to blend in among humans because they are Pretenders like Alice, able to disguise themselves as humans, hair and teeth and skin and clothes.
Due to their partnership, people assume Marinette and Adrien are a couple despite their firm insistence they are just good friends
This is more of a fic prompt. I’m not sure how to include class salt
Marinette and Alya split the workload of running the class.
When they have to plan a class party for Lila’s birthday, Alya takes over this time, letting Marinette focus on other things.
However, Alya doesn’t tell anyone else this because Lila is so sensitive and might cry, making others disappointed in Marinette who would feel unhappy and pressured.
Alya gets the usual decor set up. She even asks Lila the usual deets about what likes to eat, her favorite music, food allergies, when she is free. But she does it discreetly, so Lila doesn’t suspect anything. And they are quite common questions when getting to know new friends.
At the party, Alya credits Marinette for it.
Lila then starts to complain. Pretending to wince at the rock music she secretly likes, claiming to be allergic to carrots and cannot eat carrot cake, and she can’t stay for long because she already promised to visit the animal shelter.
Everyone starts to get disappointed in Marinette for planning a party that Lila dislikes. However Alya puts a stop to it.
Alya: wait a minute. You told me you loved carrot cake
Lila: This allergy was recent
Alya: and you told me your favorite band was KISS
Lila: I changed my mind, and moved to pop.
Alya: and you told me you just wanted a relaxing day off on your birthday so you would definitely be free after school!
Lila: and I would like to spend it relaxing with the animals.
Alix: wait, why are you getting so worked up about this Alya?
Alya: I was the one who looked into Lila’s likes and dislikes for this party! I do some class duties too as the Vice President.
Rose: oh, it’s alright. Lila just doesn’t have any fixed interests. That’s how she likes everything.
Ok, fine. So Lila misses out on a party she would have liked as her friends continue to celebrate and she goes off to the “animal shelter”. She cannot even complain about Marinette’s lack of organising the party now.
She also gets the reputation of being rather wishy washy.
For fans of Miraculous Ladybug and Ouran High School Host Club
Adrien is actually allowed to join the exchange program, more like ordered to, really.
He will be visiting Kagami’s old school, Ouran High School, a school for the children of rich and influential adults.
Lila wants to go there too and Gavriel allows it.
Marinette originally was not going because she has to stay behind and protect Paris but Kagami realizes what Gabriel has planned and refuses to let the old man pair Adrien up with that liar.
So she signs up Marinette for the exchange tour too, in secret.
Marinette initially wants to back out, no matter how tempting it may be to get between Lila and Adrien. But Tikki points out she went to New York too. They have Kaalki. She’ll be fine.
At Ouran Academy, Lila tries to sound glamorous and claims to know so many important people.
Unfortunately, the students of Ouran can see the holes in her stories.
For one thing, they actually know the people Lila claims to be so intimate with, and have heard nothing about her.
Haruhi, the scholarship student, is also quick to point out the impossibility of such stories. For instance having tinnitus from standing too close to an airplane.
Kyoya Ootori himself does thorough research on the students. He concludes that while there is merit in befriending Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng for their connections, Lila is someone to avoid.
Tamaki, however, insists that they show Lila she doesn’t need to lie to make friends.
Kyoya pulls out records where Lila’s old classmates have made posts about her, calling her out for being a bully and parasite.
Marinette meets Honey and Mori, popular students who are old friends of Kagami. Honey has an especial sweet tooth and grows fond of Marinette.
Lila is unhappy to be making no progress, she threatens Marinette to help her or she will frame her once again.
Marinette refused to lie.
As a result, Lila pretends Marinette stole her wallet.
But the staff and Kyoya are very thorough and check the security footage where Lila herself plants the wallet in Marinette’s bag.
Lila mentions her lying disease.
Kyoya’s family manages hospitals. He can assure everyone there is no such thing.
Lila is sent back to Dupont in disgrace.
Tamaki notices Marinette’s crush on Adrien and decides to help her out. But no matter how many times the pair are alone in romantic settings, Adrien always sees Marinette as a friend, making her depressed.
The twins find out Adrien has a crush on Paris’ local superhero. Tamaki uses that information to cheer Marinette up, since Adrien likens her personality to the superhero.
This works as Marinette blushes, and no longer feels depressed that Adrien likes someone else, because that someone else is her.
Back home, Damocles was notified that there is no such lying disease and of Lila’s horrible record. He contacts her mother at last. Lila won’t be getting away with this.
Everyone notices Adrien looking depressed about his global trip. This makes it easier for Marinette to rouse the others to stop it from happening.
Lila points out that Gabriel is in control right now and can ground Adrien.
Nina is fed up about Gabriel and actually lashes out, asking how Lila became cool with Gabriel when he hates everyone else.
Lila lies that the photographer insisted she become a model and Adrien was supporting her career, not Gabriel.
On a roll now, Nino decides to finally report Gabriel to the child authorities, never mind Adrien’s reaction
Kagami and Wayhem and all Adrien fans join in by encouraging Adrien to stand up to his father.
Adrien tries to stop the mob forming outside his house, but Nino confronts him about his busy schedule when he would rather just hang out. “You even see school as a form of freedom!!! If that doesn’t raise red flags, I don’t know what does!”
Thanks to Risk’s influence, Adrien temporarily blurts out that he hates modelling and doesn’t want to go on a trip with Lila of all people.
Gabriel: Adrien!
Adrien covers his mouth in dismay.
One fan: This is forced child labour!
Another fan: call the police!
Adrien: no! Don’t do that!
Forced to keep up a front, Gabriel at last said “I thought you would enjoy a trip to see the world. And I never realized how taxing modelling can be. I apologize, Adrien. You and Lila can stay here!”
Catching Lila’s glare at him for ruining her career prospects, Adrien blurts out again, “And Lila isn’t my friend! I only agreed to work with her so she would make sure Marinette got back into school.”
Marinette: so that’s why she took back her charges.
Adrien: i got your back.
Mylène: what was that about Lila?
Under influence of Risk, Adrien exposed Lila himself.
Lila: he’s lying! He’s siding with Marinette!
Alya knows Ladybug is Marinette however and said, “Well, we could always just ask Ladybug herself. And Rose can call Prince Ali.”
Crocodile tears steamed down Lila’s face. “You don’t believe me!”
One fan, impatient from all this drama now, called out, “Just let them make the call so we can all go home already!”
Lila is exposed as a liar by the celebrities.
Gabriel terminates Lila’s contract.
Lila is tempted by Risk to expose Gabriel hiring her to spy on Adrien’s friends and distance them. This lands her in hot water but also paints Gabriel in bad light.
Gabriel: your best friend threw a wild party in my house without supervision! What am I supposed to think? You are literally in the akuma class!
Adrien: Lila was an akuma too!
Gabriel: she agreed to keep you safe from bad influences. And she never threw you an unauthorised party!
Inside his mansion, Gabriel exhales. “So much for taking risks. Ladybug hasn’t shown up and already the police are eyeing me with suspicion.”
It looks as though the earrings and ring are the only way out of this mess.
Nathalie: sir, given the circumstances, how can we trust our own judgment.
….
Gabriel had to admit he had not thought that far ahead.
And if he was compromised, instead of Ladybug finally being defeated, what if he is the one who is finally caught and arrested?!!!
He recalls Risk.
Lila is now a pariah at school and it only gets worse for her because at work, her mother finally blurts out her complaints against the heroes. Before her colleagues had just told her to keep her mouth shut but now thanks to Risk, she just ranted about the incompetence of the popular heroes.
The people at the embassy are shocked by her tactlessness and ignorance. Needless to say, Mrs Rossi is in for a rude wake up call, especially when she connects the dots that her daughter must have been playing truant.
Lila will not be graduating at the end of the year. She will be held back a grade. Her mother is also furious and blames her daughter for making a fool out of her.
Lila: like it’s my fault you don’t even watch the news!
Mrs Rossi stops giving Lila her allowance and forces her to get a job. Given Lila’s record, no one wants to hire her but Chloe decides to get her daddy to hire her as the new garbage girl. (Like how Linguine was the garbage boy in ratatouille.) Mrs Rossi also cuts off cable TV and wifi, and confiscates Lila’s phone. The laptop will have to remain for school but Lila will need to use the school wifi to actually do research.
The morning after Risk was akumatized, Nathalie went to comfort Adrien.
They were alone in Adrien’s room and seeing Adrien look so disappointed and depressed, it made Nathalie sad.
She cared for Adrien. She did.
“Adrien, i thought you would be more excited,” she commented, coming in. “You’ve always expressed a desire for more freedom.”
Adrien: you and I both know this trip gives me no freedom. It’s a business trip. I’ll be leaving my friends behind.
Nathalie knew better than to mention Lila Rossi. She overheard his deal and knew he could not like the girl.
Being stuck with the clingy liar for the whole trip…Nathalie doubted he would even be able to appreciate the scenic landmarks in that frame of mind.
I am froggy
Adrien: and another thing, I hate Lila. Why did father even hire her? She got you and my bodyguard in trouble! Did she make up some story about her celebrity connections? You have to have suspected she was lying at least!
Nathalie pushed up her glasses. “Your father found that Lila’s Italian heritage gave him inspiration for a new line of clothing and he rewarded her with a job.
Adrien did not look impressed.
Nathalie came closer. “Adrien, I know you’re unhappy with your choices being taken away from you. But your father does care for you. The main reason behind this journey was because he wanted to send you away from Paris for your own safety.”
Adrien blinked. “What?”
Nathalie sat down. “With all the akumas roaming around Paris and the never-ending war between the heroes and Hawkmoth, Gabriel doesn’t want you in the middle of that. Nor the rest of us.”
“Then why doesn’t he join us?” Adrien pleaded.
Nathalie gave a sad smile. “Adrien, who is resting in Paris?”
Emelie.
Gabriel would rather die in the city with her than leave with his son.
Adrien did not know how to feel about that. So he settled for, “Why does Lila have to come? We have other models in the agency.”
Nathalie shrugged. “She is your classmate. Your father didn’t want you to get lonely.”
He made a face. “You didn’t protest? We’ll be stuck with her for weeks.” A never ending tale of how many celebrities she claimed to know and amazing feats she really never performed.
That…was a very unpleasant scenario.
Nathalie grimaced as well. “It’s too late to change the details after our announcement.”
After she left, Adrien and Plagg looked at each other. “We can’t leave Paris. Should we ask Ladybug for the horse miraculous?”
Plagg: worth a shot.
Adrien transformed and called Ladybug, telling her to meet him ASAP.
He was busy roaming the streets to broadcast his presence and kept busy saving careless civilians.
Alya noted Chat’s presence and informed Ladybug.
Ladybug: what do you mean you’re going away too?
Chat: too?
Ladybug: never mind. I suppose I have to give you the Horse Miraculous.
However Ladybug soon had another message from Rena. “Adrien’s gone missing again?”
Chat: what?
Oh yeah, he was supposed to go to school in his limo but ended up meeting Ladybug. Oops.
Ladybug: I don’t blame him for running away from Lila. He looked so sad in the news.
Chat perked you as he got an idea to discourage Ladybug from finding his alter ego. “Does that mean we shouldn’t find him? If he doesn’t want to be found.”
Ladybug frowned. “I’m not sure.”
I am froggy
“But if this is what Adrien wants, then so be it.”
Chat never planned to run away but sure!
Ladybug headed to school, with Chat rushing to save some children running across the road.
Everyone was concerned about Adrien. Why would he run?
Marinette: does no one notice Adrien frowning? He doesn’t want to go!
Mylène: but why? I thought Adrien loved to go out.
Nino stared at the phone. “It’s a business trip. He won’t really be having a holiday, not with his schedule.”
Lila frowned and gritted her teeth. She texted Adrien to keep his end of the bargain or she won’t either.
Chat received the text message and hissed.
I am froggy
“I’ve had enough of her!”
He had some visits to make.
Less than two hours later, there was another scandal on the loose.
Chat Noir had made a video post where he interviewed various celebrities from Jagged Stone to Prince Ali about Lila Rossi.
Their answer was always the same: Who?
He even visited Mrs Rossi to ask about her daughter’s visit to Achu.
Mrs Rossi: I’ve never been to Achu. And now please leave. I have to work.
The whole school stared at Lila, exposed.
Bustier: Lila, if you weren’t in Achu, where were you?
Ivan: you’ve been lying this whole time haven’t you?
Lila: it’s my condition. I have a rare lying disease from the time I visited a rural village in the Amazon.
Bustier: lying disease or not, you still missed a large chunk of the school year. I’m afraid it looks like you will be held back a year.
Lila: I can provide the paperwork to excuse myself. Just give me time.
Alix: seriously? Ms Bustier, how do we know she isn’t making up this lying disease!
Caline paused.
Alya: we should at least check with her mother to confirm the story.
Lila: my mother is very busy! You saw that in the video.
Caline pauses. Unsure what to do.
I am froggy
Alya and Marinette transform.
Rena: so Ladybug, are you actually friends with Lila Rossi?
Ladybug: of course not!
Rena visits the embassy while Ladybug helps Chat save civilians.
Rena: Mrs Rossi, is it true that your daughter has some rare lying disease?
Mrs Rossi: what are you talking about? My daughter is perfectly healthy. Why are you heroes harassing me?!
Rena: you might want to visit your daughter’s school.
Rena’s post was watched during lunch break.
Gabriel also made another announcement.
Alec: in light of the recent Liar Rossi scandal and his missing son, Gabriel has cancelled the upcoming trip and fired Liar Rossi from his company.
So much negative emotions. It was a shame he couldn’t become Scarlet Moth again.
Satisfied, Chat returned to school and detransformed. His friends greeted him enthusiastically and congratulated him on a narrow escape
Lila was upset and stuck in the principal’s office. Where was her akuma? She was furious right now!
Gabriel was waiting for Adrien to come home, safe and sound before he created Strike Back.
With the scandal about Adrien gone missing, Felix hesitated in coming to Paris.
Strike Back is unleashed on Paris.
Rena Furtive informs about Risk.
Ladybug rushes to find Sabrina.
Miss Hound retrieves Risk’s toy.
Now they just have to defeat the sentimonsters.
Gabriel feels so defeated.
Ladybug and Chat Noir’s risk was exposing Lila as a fraud, but the massive negative emotions resulting could not be taken advantage of since Nathalie could not become Catalyst.
Even though Alya was receiving criticism for not checking her sources and Lila was still seething, Gabriel felt defeated and not in the mood to akumatize them.
They had their chances at least twice and failed.
He’ll just keep failing.
Nathalie: are you so ready to give up? Perhaps we should try this from another angle.
Gabriel: like what?
Nathalie fumbled. “There are other miraculous out there. What if we were to acquire them?”
Gabriel considered. “An intriguing idea.”
He made a master thief sentimonster, Sneak, then akumatized it to be able to find foreign miraculous.
“Go forth, Sneak, and bring me miraculous to counter Ladybug’s own!”
Adrien just wants to stay with his friends. And since Marinette seemed to have something to want to talk to him about, he visits her, in his Felix disguise.
He calls her.
Marinette immediately picks up. “Adrien! Goodbye, I mean hello. I mean, what’s coming?” she facepalmed and groaned.
Adrien gave a slight chuckle. Marinette’s antics always cheered him up a bit. “Is it alright if I hang out at your place for a bit?”
“Sure!” Marinette exclaimed in surprise. “But, did you tell your dad you want to stay in Paris.”
Adrien sighed. “No. My cousin showed up and offered to trade places with me.”
A cold feeling settled inside Marinette’s stomach. Felix is back?
I am froggy
“Better your cousin leaves with Lila than you,” Marinette declared.
“I agree,” Adrien stood up and started walking over. “I just can’t figure out why he’s doing this now all of a sudden. It can’t be for my sake.”
“Maybe he just really dislikes your father. Didn’t your dad turn into the Collector because of him?”
Marinette’s brain spun with all the possibilities.
“I’m glad I can talk about this with you, Marinette,” he said. “I’m almost to your place.”
“Gah!” Marinette was instantly distracted. “I’ll meet you at the back door, I mean the front door!”
Marinette welcomed Adrien into her living room.
Then Kagami called and berated Adrien for not standing up to Gabriel.
He stood up. “Kagami’s right. It’s time I stood up to my father!”
Marinette cheered.
Adrien texted Felix before he dialed the Gorilla, who gaped at the caller ID and then at Felix. Gulping, he accepted the call.
“Hi. I’m at Marinette’s place. Could you come pick me up.”
Normally in this situation, the Gorilla would have just come to get Adrien and send him to the train station, ignoring his order to return him home.
But with Felix present…
Gorilla discreetly texted Nathalie and Gabriel.
Gabriel: pick up my son and send him to the train station. Felix can board the train back to London.
He saw the safe and knew Felix fell for bait.
Adrien and Marinette frowned to see Felix in the limo again.
Nathalie: Adrien, it’s time to go now.
Adrien: no, i want to see my father!
Nathalie: Adrien!
She subtly touched the ring.
His shoulders slumped.
Marinette looked dismayed and disappointed.
Felix: you couldn’t even stand firm for more than two minutes! I can’t believe we’re even related.
I am froggy
Adrien clenched his fists. “I’ll show you.”
He promptly ran off, against the flow of traffic.
Marinette chased after him. “Adrien!”
Nathalie hopped back into the car. “Follow them.”
Plagg: where are we going?
Adrien: anywhere but the station. Plagg Claws out!
Marinette stopped short, unable to find Adrien anywhere. Though why was Chat outside? Never mind. Adrien was running away! Again!
The car drove by. “Marinette, where did Adrien go?” Nathalie demanded.
Marinette: i don’t know
Nathalie: we’ll split up. Call me if you see him and I’ll do the same.
Then she drove off.
Marinette; wait, why am I helping Nathalie find Adrien? I want him to stay in Paris.
Tikki: so what do we do?
Marinette: i don’t know.
Tikki: Adrien doesn’t want to be found right now, Marinette. If he wants you to find him, he’ll call you.
Marinette: yeah, I guess you’re right.
With Adrien still in the city, Hawkmoth can’t create Strike Back yet.
And Chat is willing to take the risk of staying in his hero form for now.
Hours pass and no one can find Adrien.
Nathalie calls everyone for a mass search.
Marinette takes the risk of not joining in.
This reminds her of Santa Claws where she made things worse. She just has to trust Adrien.
Tikki is also very sure Adrien is fine, especially with Chat Noir so ostentatiously present on patrol. He certainly is kept busy since civilians are getting more reckless and careless
Everyone wonders why Adrien would run away and finally realize that he maybe he doesn’t want to go on this trip after all.
With the danger increasing, Gabriel is concerned about Adrien and creates a sentimonster to find him.
The sentimonster fails.
Fed up, Gabriel finally makes a public announcement that says Adrien can stay in Paris if that is what he wants, just come home.
Just like that, Adrien miraculously appears at the mansion gates.
Gabriel: you’re still grounded.
Nathalie monitors Adrien while Gorilla sends Felix to the train station.
Lila is furious the trip is cancelled because of Adrien and calls to threaten him.
Adrien: oh, and what if I ask Jagged Stone and Ladybug to defend Marinette. Wouldn’t that be a shocker to see such famous celebrities calling you a liar in public?
Lila: you would risk me getting akumatized?
Better her than Marinette.
Adrien: i trust the heroes to wipe the floor with you any day.
Lila hung up and scowled.
With Adrien safe in the mansion under the watch of the returned Gorilla, Hawkmoth creates Strike Back.
An akuma alert is sent out and Adrien goes to the bathroom to transform. “I’m gonna take a nice long soak.”
Cue the fight.
With everyone taking risks, Ladybug is unsure what she should do.
As such, she gives Luka his miraculous in case anything wrong should happen.
Ladybug detransforms and merges Baark and Fluff.
She returns back to the present and destroys the akuma and casts the cure, removing Risk’s influence.
She detransforms and transforms again and sends the sentimonsters to the sun.
Rena gives back her miraculous.
Gabriel is absolutely discouraged by this defeat. Even when taking risks, Ladybug still hasn’t made a mistake. What was he expecting when she has good luck on her side?
Nathalie doubts he will give up. This is just a setback, like with Style Queen. Eventually, Gabriel will remember why he is doing this and regain his determination.
Just like how Wayzz was sent to recover the miraculous, Marinette sends Tikki to London to recover any miraculous Felix might have kept. She suspected he has the peacock.
However this time Chat asks that he send Plagg instead. The city needs her more than ever now.
Having learned her lesson, Ladybug agrees to trust Chat Noir, and Plagg.
Adrien gives Plagg Felix’s address, even showing him pictures of the mansion and a map.
They decide to wait a bit to make sure all is safe for the time being and to let Felix actually get home and be less on guard.
Gabriel also agrees to take time off because Nathalie has had another one of her coughing fits and Adrien barely escapes punishment because his recent behavior can be attributed to Risk’s influence.
Lila sulks about not going abroad but silently gloats about Ladybug’s failure.
Plagg finds Felix’s mansion and looks out for any fan-shaped brooch.
Knowing he is a suspect, Felix hides the brooch in a hidden pocket of his vest.
Still, because Duusu is active now, Plagg finds him instead and Duusu silently leads Plagg to the pin while Felix is bathing which he steals.
Back in the hands of the heroes, Duusu still cannot reveal who is Shadowmoth but Tikki points out he can answer indirect questions or give them clues.
Duusu: Shadowmoth and Mayura are very close to Chat Noir.
Given the limited interactions Adrien has, he immediately deduces the culprits.
Duusu nods when he asks if they are the villains.
Ladybug ponders the implications of Chat being a close associate of the Agrestes but decides not to think on it further.
They have to defeat Gabriel very carefully.
Adrien will run a distraction for them while the kwamis attempt to steal the miraculous. There is no way Gabriel keeps all the jewellery on his person.
They are correct. Hawkmoth keeps only the fox, horse and turtle miraculous in his pockets.
Darn it. He won’t be able to be cornered so easily.
Lucky Charm!
Strong-blasting Perfume?
For once Chat has the idea. He plans to ask Adrien to spray the perfume in his father’s face and when Gabriel coughs and is distracted, Ladybug can use venom on him.
Chat will keep Mayura and the Gorilla busy.
Chat detransforms and manages to bustle Nathalie into a room away from electronics under pretense of making sure she gets her rest. He locks the door.
Then he distracts the Gorilla with action figures.
Finally, he barges into Gabriel’s study. “Father, I just invented a new perfume! What do you think?”
He sprays the perfume right at Gabriel who begins coughing from the strong scent and doubles over.
Goldenbug stuns him and immediately frisks him for the remaining miraculous.
I honestly thought the season finale would be the last but then now we know why Shadowmoth won’t be coming back. He’ll have a new name!
Does anyone else think that the yo-yo should have disappeared the moment Marinette detransformed rather than wait for her to transform back into Ladybug again? This is what I see happening if that happened.
Ladybug sees her yo-yo stolen and instantly covers Adrien’s eyes. “Spots off!” she yells. “Don’t turn around Adrien or I will be forced to knock you out.”
It helps to sound strong if she imagines him as Felix. Marinette has no time to let her thoughts stall around her crush. This is a world ending crisis!
Fortunately, for once her Ladybug luck was on her side.
Gabriel had hardly grabbed the watch before it disappeared. “No!”
Now he only has the dog miraculous. A weaker weapon than Duusu!
Ladybug checked her yo-yo, sighing with relief to see her inventory was not missing anything.
With a known thief on the loose, Ladybug has officer Roger assemble the whole police force to arrest Felix for questioning and impersonation.
And this time, Adrien is not going to let his cousin get away with this.
When Gabriel ponders letting Felix get arrested but he risks being exposed
Nevertheless with Felix in possession of the peacock miraculous now…he offers a deal. He will help clear Felix’s name in exchange for the miraculous.
Felix refuses and creates his own sentimonster Scapegoat, a shapeshifter. Keeping possession of the amok, Felix trusts the peacock miraculous to Scapegoat.
When the police find the real Felix, he is tied up. He admits that he lied about being Adrien but there was no way he would miss the chance to be a hero. However, when he returned to the meeting spot to detransform and keep his cousin away, someone knocked him unconscious.
Adrien insists they frisk him but the dog miraculous is not on him.
Felix leaves with his miraculous and Hawkmoth is furious about this deal where he made more of a loss than a gain. He is never taking risks again! Nathalie returns and tries to cheer him up by reminding that Ladybug has one less miraculous too.
Ladybug bemoans the loss of Barkk and Adrien carefully suggests she never let him have another miraculous. He claims he is too traumatised by his time as Aspik to want to be a hero.
I can’t remember if I ever wrote this prompt but wouldn’t it be interesting if Marinette kept saying yes to any request or demand. But she finally snaps when she misses some event she really wanted to attend.
This was inspired by a Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends episode
I finally finished Strike Back and it gave me a lot of fic prompts. Here is one.
Ladybug realises that all humans are likely infected by Risk but kwamis are not. She detransforms to consult Tikki, then transforms into Pegapup.
Together Pegapup and Tikki travel back in time.
When they return to the present, Kaalki swaps places with Tikki.
The day is saved.
Meanwhile Felix is irritated he has been been tricked. And there is no way in hell he is going on a world tour with Miss Blabbermouth. At least he has Nathalie’s tablet. An informative consolation prize.
Gabriel is infuriated by the defeat and orders Nathalie to return home with Adrien. He feels like giving up.
To his surprise, he finds Adrien at home demanding to stay at home.
To Adrien’s surprise, his father immediately agrees to cancel the world tour and even stop his joint photo shoots with Lila. Then asks Adrien to leave him be.
Adrien: but i want to spend time with you, normally. Not just for business dinners.
Gabriel: Adrien, i have to call Nathalie and let her know she is with Felix. Did you even consider what Felix might gain from this? I listened to you already, now you listen to me. Leave my presence immediately.
Without even looking at Adrien, Gabriel calls Nathalie or texts her about Felix and warns her to check that nothing is stolen.
Nathalie discovers her pad and ring missing and demands Felix return them. In a public setting, with Gorilla summoned, Felix sulkily hands over the items.
Lila is dismayed to learn the trip had been cancelled.
Marinette is so relieved and proud Adrien stood up to his father.
Adrien himself feels this is a bittersweet ending. He gets to stay at home but now his father feels like he can’t trust him.
Plagg: cheer up. We can blame this whole thing on the Risk akuma
Gabriel blinked. “A risk. Of course! She never makes mistakes because she never takes any risks.”
Nathalie cut into his cackling. “Actually, Ladybug took the risk to entrust Chloe Bourgeois with a miraculous. And despite our knowing her team’s secret identities, she still gives them a miraculous, when we could try making another sentimonster doppelgänger to steal said miraculous.”
Gabriel blinked again, then grinned. “It’s time for Optigami to make a return then!”
I have only watched Risk, not Strike Back, which will be for tonight. Anyway, rather than risk giving Adrien a miraculous, I rather Marinette expose Lila
The moment Marinette sees the news about the First Love perfume trip, she chooses to sabotage it by exposing Lila as Ladybug, and demands Alya help clarify the situation, never mind the risk of Lila getting akumatized. If the truth was going to be exposed sooner or later, that is going to happen anyway, and she rather it happen before the trip.
Alya turns on her camera.
Alya: breaking news. In light of Lila’s exciting opportunity, I thought I would ask how her celebrity friends felt about it. But instead….
Video recording of Ladybug: Lila? She’s not my best friend. I never even met her before she became Volpina.
Alya: I’d like to officially apologize to my viewers. I should have fact checked.
Considering how popular the Ladyblog is, those who know Lila are now wondering what else she told them is true.
Rose asked Ali and he confirmed he does not know who this Lila Rossi is.
Luka and Juleka confirm Jagged never had a kitten or wrote a song about Lila.
The news spread through the school, with students getting angry at being lied to and given false promises.
Lila is so happy she will going away from school now.
Damocles and Bustier know about Lila’s lying disease and try to calm the student body.
Needless to say, they are not happy the faculty let them be lied to either.
So much negative energy, Shadowmoth creates a Sentimonster to enhance his own powers, becoming Scarlet Shadow.
Now this is what should have happened when Lila framed Marinette!
Lila and Chloe willingly get akumatized into Volpina and Antibug, except the former is hit by Princess Fragrance’s perfume.
The akumatized student body is ready to take revenge on their principal, Ms Bustier and Lila.
Some of Ladybug’s team members are akumatized. But no matter. Ladybug learned her lesson about giving miraculous out during Scarlet Moth’s last attack.
As duo battle against the akumas, Princess Fragrance forces Volpina to tell about all her lies on live TV.
Eventually all akumas are de-evilized or immobilized. But Scarlet Shadow is not done. People are still upset by Lila.
Knowing this, Ladybug decides to finally end this war, and tells Scarlet Shadow she will have Chat cataclysm her earrings. Never mind that he could take out his frustrations by destroying the city, which cannot be fixed by a magical cure now.
Realizing the mistake of making Ladybug reckless, Scarlet Shadow finally confesses about the Risk akuma, if only to get Ladybug to stop Chat from destroying her earrings.
One miraculous cure later….
The news coverage blames Lila for Scarlet akumas.
Now unpopular, her truancy and framing Marinette exposed, Gabriel fires her and gives her money to keep her mouth shut.
Lila manages to persuade her disappointed mother to send her away from her haters lest she be akumatized again. She knows when to cut her losses.
Mrs Rossi agrees but makes sure Lila’s new military school will see to it her daughter attends therapy
Summary: When the fire breaks on the roofs of Notre Dame there’s not much Ladybug and Chat Noir can do. No jewel in Master Fu’s case can assist them today. But then they are reminded that even in the darkest times there’s always hope. Hope as fragile as the wings of a butterfly, yet powerful enough to vie with fate.
A sincere thank you to @tempomental-fanfics for beta-reading this story, as well as to Tempo, @lilaflyy and Remasa for brainstorming with me.
Tears stung her eyes and rolled down her mask and cheeks, marking their path with sooty lines. She no longer knew if they came from the smoke or from her helplessness. Because Ladybug failed Notre Dame, she failed Paris for the first time in years.
Chat grabbed her hand, grounding her firmly in place when she wanted to return to the roof once again.
‘We’re superheroes, my Lady,’ he whispered hoarsely. He got his fill of smoke in the last hour or so. ‘But we’re not fireproof.’
She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears from coming.
‘This is beyond us now,’ Chat Noir said. His thumb rubbed soothing circles over her forearm.
She didn’t notice when she drowned in his embrace, powerless and defeated. He held her and purred softly under his breath until her shoulders stopped shaking and her weeping subsided to the occasional sniff.
‘You’re almost out of time again, Bug,’ Chat whispered into her ear at the fourth beep of her miraculous. ‘Tikki needs to recharge. You both need to rest.’
