Chapter 2
"Bye bye little butterfly."
"Miraculous ladybug!"
"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir said in unison, grinning at each other, having defeated a villain yet again.
Ladybug's earrings beeped. "Gotta go kitty. Can you take care of him?" She gestured at the previously akumatized guy and Chat nodded.
She waved bye and swung her yoyo over two buildings and detransformed.
She took out her phone and her eyes widened in horror. She was supposed to be at Alya's house to take care of her sisters! Luckily, it was only a few streets away, since she travelled across the city as Ladybug while battling the villain. She called Alya on her phone and started to jog towards her apartment.
It rang several times.
Marinette frowned. Alya usually picks up her phone calls extremely fast.
When she finally picked up, it sounded like she was already talking to someone.
Yeah, wait, let me take this phone call, yeah. Hi Marinette!"
"Hi Alya! Sorry I'm late, I'm on my way now!"
"It's fine girl! I already have someone to take care of it."
"Who?"
"A friend." Alya sounded distracted. "Ok, I have to go, see ya." She hung up.
Marinette was confused about what Alya was talking about. What friend?
She turned around the corner and stopped in her tracks in shock. There she was, Alya, approaching the stairs to her apartment.
Except she wasn't alone.
Lila was with her.
Marinette quickly ducked behind the tree and listened to them talking.
"Thank you for coming! I mean, usually Marinette comes to take care of my sisters, but lately, she's always been cancelling for some reason."
"No problem Alya. I love your sisters, they're so cute!"
"Chris, Nino's brother, seems to adore you too."
Marinette heard enough. She stepped out of the tree and ran to the next street. Away from them. Away from Lila's lies and manipulation. She thought that Alya would be smart enough to see through her. Apparently not.
She ran into the park, the park they were always at, the one where not even two days ago Alya was teasing her for not having enough flow to rap.
She sat down under a tree, wrapped her leg up into her chest, and buried her face into her arms.
Tears silently streamed down her face.
Tikki pressed against her in her bag, offering silent reassurance, since she couldn't fly out in public.
Marinette didn't know if she was overreacting, but the stress of the last few days was starting to catch up to her. Stress of being a superhero, where failure wasn't an option, stress of having missed out being with her friends, and missing school work.
Unbeknownst to her, a black butterfly was circling the tree.
Adrien was on his way home from his Chinese lesson. He was sitting at the back of the car, staring out of the window, when they passed the park.
Immediately, he spotted a black butterfly flying above a tree. An akuma! He thought with alarm.
"Gorilla, stop the car!" His bodyguard did so without comment. He opened the door and ran in the direction of the akuma.
It was heading for a girl. Wait...was that Marinette?
"Marinette!" he screamed. She looked up at him, startled, just when the akuma was about to hit her.
He intercepted and jumped in front of her.
Hawkmoth groaned. That boy! His own son stopped one of his akumatizations. He pinched the bridge of his nose with annoyance. Lila set up a perfect target for him, and this boy had to come along and ruin it.
He called the akuma back. Perhaps another time.
Marinette and Adrien watched the akuma fly away.
"I-I'm so sorry," Marinette sniffed. "I almost got akumatized and put the whole of Paris in danger!"
"It's all right. Besides, everyone in our class has been akumatized before except for you, that's already very impressive."
He pulled her into a hug.
Marinette relaxed into the hug, thinking it felt quite reassuring, and wrapped her arms around him.
She promptly remembered who she was hugging, and squeaked, withdrawing from the embrace.
Suddenly, a revelation came to her. "You've never been akumatized either!"
Adrien froze. He couldn't say that the only thing that was preventing him from getting akumatized was the freedom that came from being Chat Noir.
He laughed bitterly. "Imagine the damage to Paris's poster boy's reputation if he got akumatized."
It was true, his father had once sat down with him and told him that he wasn't to be akumatized.
Marinette's eyes narrowed. "That's foolish. No one is perfect, and your father can't expect you to be!"
"But he does."
It was she who pulled him into a hug this time. "Adrien, if you ever need someone to talk to, come to me, okay?"
She did have a crush on him, but right now she was extremely concerned about her friend, and she would always comfort her friends.
He nodded.
They pulled apart.
Marinette smiled shyly. "Thank you for saving me from the akuma."
"It really was no problem. I-"
Adrien's phone beeped. He was supposed to be home by now.
Gorilla rolled down the windows and gestured for him to get inside of the car.
"I've got to go Marinette. See you tomorrow at school?"
"Y-yes of course." She stammered. She hasn't got rid of it completely yet. She swallowed. "Bye!" She waved.
Adrien waved back and got into the car.
They drove off, and Marinette started walking home.
That boy really is something, she thought.
Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay, my finals are coming up and I have 3 essays that are due. Oops.
As always, please tell me what you think by reviewing!
Thank you all for the attention the first chapter received. I'm blown away.
Until next time, bug out!