Note: the italicized portions at the beginning of each chapter are adapted translations by Project!Hello and 赤月の輪 of songs from the musical Lilium Shoujo Junketsu Kageki. They serve to set the tone of each chapter. In addition, Lilium Shoujo Junketsu Kageki is the musical that I'm basing this story off of. While the general plot is the same, I've changed stuff up, and I do not intend on following the original story exactly. I especially don't intend on taking any dialogue directly from the musical. You do not have to be familiar with Lilium Shoujo Junketsu Kageki to read this story. In fact, it might be better if you haven't seen it, so you're not desensitized the plot twists that I kept in. But if you have, then you'll see in the following chapter that I've changed stuff up and added stuff in. This entire chapter, actually, was never a scene in the original musical.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: When you read this chapter, you'll see that I have named Felix in this story and not Adrien. Before you freak out, I just want to tell you that it's just a name. I have actually never watched the original Ladybug PV in its entirety, so what I actually know about Felix's personality is just superficial. For this story, he's going to be a mix of Chat Noir and Adrien with Felix's name slapped on top. The use of "Felix" is intended to mirror how the main male protagonist in Lilium Shoujo Junketsu Kageki used the name "False." Take that as you will.

P.S: Anyone that does happen to be familiar with this particular musical is free to help me plan the prequel (The Morning Glory).

The Forget-Me-Not Chapter 1: Don't Forget Me

Deep in a forest that had lost all color, there was a secret garden that no one knew about.

A lone gardener reached out quietly, and picked one of the countless, nameless small flowers that had all wilted.

Even the most beautifully blooming flower will wilt, and because they all die, they all bloom beautifully.

But that lonely gardener never gave up, and tried to create a flower that would never wilt, that would forever bloom eternally in this world.

But that was an impossible wish, and so the flowers said unto the despairing gardener with all their heart, "Don't forget me."

This the story of the Forget-Me-Not.

There was a dull pounding in her head, a constant hum that made Marinette groan from discomfort. For a moment, she wondered why everything was black and why her head hurt, before she realized that she had her eyes closed. Marinette didn't bother to open them, and continued to lay there with the pounding in her head until the sensation began fading away.

Marinette could feel the cold, hard cement beneath her body, small raindrops dropping from the sky, and the coolness in the breeze. With a start, it was clear that she was outside somewhere, and Marinette was confused. Why would she have fallen asleep outside of all places? That coupled with the strange headache she had, and it was apparent that something had happened. She could not have simply fallen asleep outside, on the ground, when it was raining, and then wake up with a headache and not have it be suspicious.

Marinette pondered more on what she had been doing before falling unconscious, before realizing that she just couldn't remember. She then realized with a slight panic that she couldn't remember where she was. Yes, she was outside, but where outside? What part of the world? What was her last name? Did she even have a last name? Were last names still a thing?

Did she have a home? Friends? Family? What was her life like? What was the world even like? She couldn't remember.

Then, the last aches of Marinette's head pain faded, and it all came rushing back to her at once.

Her name was Marinette, just Marinette. Her hair was dark, her eyes were blue, and she liked wearing her hair in pigtails. She also liked sewing and drawing pretty clothes. Her childhood was a blur, she couldn't remember anything specific.

She was an akumatized human, or just akuma for short. Akuma were humans who were corrupt by negative energy. This negative energy manifested itself in a butterfly that would be possessed by it. This butterfly in its entirety, negative energy and all, would be absorbed by the vulnerable human and turn them into a being with a single superpower based on their personality.

What made the human vulnerable to this negative energy would be, naturally, extreme negative emotions. Jealousy. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. Often times something horrible would happen to someone that would completely devastate them, and then the corrupt butterfly would do its job.

Akuma created in this way were purebreds.

Marinette was a purebred. Her superpower was the lucky charm, which allowed her to summon a yo-yo that was red with black spots. She could then use this yo-yo to summon random small objects that were always red with black polka-dots. This power also came with some extra good luck.

Once turned, there was no cure, and no way to turn back into a human. They were like the vampires from myths: mostly human, but very clearly not.

After humans got used to the presence of they called monsters, scientists discovered little details that made these akuma different from humans, all originating from the butterflies that corrupted them. The most obvious of these differences were the superpower granted to them, which could vary between time travel and talking to pigeons.

Other differences include feeling negative emotions more powerfully than a human would, and chaotic tendencies as a result. Akuma could also be identified by their drastic change in appearance, which could include strange new skin colors, bizarre hair, and an outlandish uniform that could be summoned at will.

Marinette's uniform was a red full-body suit with black polka-dots and a mask over her eyes. But she usually wore a plain white tee and a pair of khaki capris instead of her akuma uniform.

What was common to every akuma was initiative. Akuma could summon the same negative energy that corrupted them in the first place, and use it to target humans or other akuma. This would, however, leave the user extremely fatigued depending on how strong their will was.

How it worked was that first the akuma had to summon the negative energy in their dominant hand, and then aim it at the intended target. Targeted humans would be so overwhelmed that it would draw a corrupt butterfly to them and they would be immediately be akumatized.

Using initiative on an akuma, however, was like branding them, laying claim to another's mind. Initiative could not grant anyone the use of someone else's superpower, but the spreading of the negative energy would penetrate the mind of the akuma targeted and it would sit in their mind. The user of initiative would then be able to control it at will.

More than one akuma could control the same akuma.

An akuma could control more than one akuma.

This quality, more than any other quality of the akuma, was shamed by humans for being despicable. Using initiative would get an akuma in jail for life, and they were sometimes taken straight to execution depending on the extent of the damage done.

With how akuma had superpowers, chaotic tendencies fueled by heightened negative emotions, uniforms that could be summoned by will, and initiative, it was no wonder humans feared them. Before, just being an akuma could get one sent to jail.

Since then, humans had developed a system to keep akuma in line without having to resort to jailing them all. Families would send underage akumatized humans to their local asylum until they became adults. There, they took remedies to ensure that they would not be causing too much trouble after they were released. Akuma that caused trouble as adults would receive appropriate punishment, and then be sent to a rehab center to properly correct their behavior.

Despite the fact that akuma were viewed as monsters, sending their children away to asylums was still heartbreaking for most families. Oftentimes, akuma that came out of these asylums as adults would never choose to return home to their families, since they had no obligation to do so as adults. This would only serve to create more tragedy among families.

But, without time in an asylum, adolescent akuma would rampage across the world. At least this way, they would be taught to control themselves properly. It was for this reason that the use of asylums for akuma became an accepted practice.

Marinette went to the Françoise Dupont Deux Asylum. It was located in the middle of a dense forest, where it was always cloudy and rained nearly every day. This meant that everyone at the asylum had to wear a rain-jacket and rain-boots, which were provided. These jackets were made specifically for the climate of the forest, and were minimalistic and always black.

While the rain jackets were provided, other clothes and items were not. To get them, there was an office in the mess hall where patients could place an order, and the items would shipped to the dorm room immediately free of charge. Food was, of course, provided, though akuma did not need to eat as often as humans did, a single meal a day would suffice, and it would take place when the akuma would take their medicine.

All of this settled into Marinette's mind, and she became more aware of what was going on around her as she lay on the ground, eyes still closed.

"Oh, I can't believe that I've been sleeping on the roof of all places! Look at my clothes! Ugh, they're soaking wet thanks to this stupid rain! Sabrina! What were you thinking?"

That was unmistakably Chloe's voice. The girl was insufferable and was the cause of more akuma rampages than Marinette could count. Her superpower was called anticharm, which allowed her to summon a threatening object. As long as she was at the asylum, however, she and the other akuma would never be using their superpowers.

"I'm so sorry, Chloe! I promise I'll give you a massage later to make up for it."

That was Sabrina: Chloe's lackey, her assistant, her follower, her minion, her partner. Marinette vaguely recalled Sabrina's superpower to be something along the lines of invisibility. Chloe had used it to threaten people more than once, despite the mandatory medicine suppressing everyone's abilities.

"Hey, Marinette, you okay? Get up!"

That was her best friend, Alya, who was really into gossip. Her superpower had everything to do with wifi and smartphones, which was practically useless at the asylum, where there wasn't such communication.

Marinette groaned and blearily opened her eyes to see Alya in a crouch next to her. Slowly sitting up, Marinette rubbed her eyes with a yawn, and looked around to see that she was on top of the roof of the girls' dorm. The boys' dorm was the building to the right, and the mess hall and recreation center were both behind her somewhere. All around the campus was the thick foliage of the woods.

Marinette wearily stretched before slouching again and facing her friend. She sighed, feeling rather sluggish, and replied, "Hey, Alya. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Alya raised an eyebrow and moved to sit down, not quite believing Marinette, and replied, "You look really tired."

Marinette blinked at Alya a few times, and noticed how weary her friend looked, and deadpanned, "You're one to talk."

Alya raised her arms in surrender with a chuckle and said, "Guilty as charged." The conversation stopped then, Alya sobering up with a tired sigh, and Marinette silently looking around at the others on the roof.

Ivan stoically stood off to the side with his arms crossed, though Marinette could tell that he was troubled from the look in his eyes.

Alix was standing a few feet in front of him, prodding an unconscious Kim with her foot.

Max, the gamer, stood beside Alix in worry as the skater girl gave a swift kick to Kim's side and woke the athlete up with a world of pain.

Nathanael was alone as usual, huddled up in the corner. His hands were constantly shifting, twitching, extremely anxious with nothing to channel his nervous energy into.

Rose and Juleka were speaking in hushed tones with Felix and Nino by the doorway leading back into the building. Nino was frustrated, arguing with the others while Juleka was quick to firmly reply in her trademarked monotone voice. Rose was worried and trying to keep the peace, though Marinette could tell she was on Juleka's side. Felix appeared to be calm, though Marinette couldn't read the seemingly haunted look in his eye.

The conversation between Rose, Juleka, Felix, and Nino stalled as Chloe stomped over to them with Sabrina following behind her. The four of them exchanged a mysterious look before Nino angrily huffed and marched over to stand beside Ivan.

All four of them were prefects, peer leaders who were in charge of taking care of the others and reported to the director of the asylum. The director was never around, but he kept in constant contact with the prefects. There were no actual janitors, teachers, staff members, or other adults at the asylum. While janitorial duties were filled by akuma patients with nothing better to do, all the other roles of teaching and managing the asylum were filled by the prefects. Even the role of taking care of the younger children at the asylum was also handled by prefects as well.

All prefects were, of course, also akuma who had to take medicine just like the rest of them. They just had the added responsibility of taking care of their peers.

Wordlessly, Juleka crossed her arms and moved to stand in front of the door, saying to the approaching Chloe, "Its medicine time." She then addressed everyone on the roof as she said in a louder voice, "All of you are to report to the mess hall for your medicine at once." She looked over at Chloe as she added, "Do you understand, Chloe?"

Chloe cried out in exasperation, "But I look like a wreck!" She grumbled and crossed her arms in anger, before Sabrina tentatively poked her arm, panicked at the idea of angering Juleka. Chloe sent Sabrina a glare, before turning back to Juleka and sighing in resignation, "Ok, fine, whatever, I'll eat my damn medicine."

With that, Rose moved to open the door and held it open as she said, "Come on, off to the mess hall you go." Juleka went through first, leading the way as Chloe, Sabrina, Ivan, Nino, Alix, Kim, Max, and Nathanael followed. Rose looked back at Felix, who stood off to the side, her eyes briefly flickering to Marinette and Alya before she turned to go inside as well, shutting the door behind her.

Marinette watched them, counting them one-by-one, and feeling as though someone were missing. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down, thinking hard, but not being able to think of just what was missing. Marinette looked over at Alya with a contemplative look on her face, wondering just what had happened. Why were they all on the roof? Why did she feel like she was forgetting something?

"Alya," Marinette started slowly, "Do you have the feeling that we're forgetting something important? Why are we up here? Where's My-" Marinette cut herself off then, a frown taking over her face as she began wondering just what she was going to say. A name? She couldn't remember, but, for some reason, her mind associated the words "don't forget me" with whatever she was going to say.

Alya watched Marinette carefully as the half-Asian went back to thinking. Alya sighed, feeling too emotionally exhausted for this, and simply stood up and offered Marinette a hand, "C'mon, Sherlock, we'll talk about that later, it's time to- whoa, oh hey, Felix!"

Felix had silently walked over to them, and placed a hand gently on Alya's shoulder. This got the attention of them both, as he said, "You go on ahead with the others, Alya. I'll help the princess up."

Alya looked over at Marinette with concern, to which the dark-haired girl responded with an unsure shrug, and then Alya was leaving with a cautious, "Alright, Marinette, I'll see you at the mess hall."

Felix, about a head and a half taller than Marinette herself, had vivid green eyes and blonde hair that flopped on his head in a way that was messy yet still slightly brushed back. He held out a hand to Marinette with a weary smile, as if he were weighed down by the burdens of a thousand years' worth of misery.

Marinette took his hand, and he pulled her up to her feet, steadying her with a hand on her arm before Marinette gently pulled away. "Thanks for helping me up, Felix," Marinette offered with an awkward smile, not sure what to say in response. A faint blushed danced across her cheeks as she wondered if he had wanted to spend time with her alone.

Felix's tired smile wavered as he replied, "No problem." He then took a deep breath in and out, as if trying to keep his walls from falling down, before adding, "I just wanted to tell you that if there's anything you need, you can come to me, and I'll be glad to help. And, hey, the rain jackets are more than a little bland, and I'd be grateful if someone as talented as you could help us out with giving them a little more flair. There's also some extra room in the recreation center if you want to start a sewing thing."

At the prospect of a new project and being able to customize her rain jacket, Marinette brightened up, as she responded with an excited squeal, "I'd be happy to! Thank you so much!"

As she walked back inside the girls' dorm talking about designs with Felix, Marinette's troubled thoughts were pushed to the back to be dealt with later.

The concept of time at the asylum, however, was skewed. "Later" could be anywhere between two days or ten years, and none of them would've noticed.

Marinette would've never known.

As Marinette gushed about how cute a ladybug pattern would look on the rain jackets, she missed how Felix watched her with suspicion before looking away, biting his lip with a pained expression on his face.

Felix quickly schooled it back into a practiced smile and turned back to Marinette, reminding himself of who he was now, and what he had to protect.

He couldn't afford any more losses.