Who Needs Love?

Episode 14

Darkblade: Bow Down to Me

"Once again, Ladybug and Chat Noir have saved Parisians from danger."

"And once again, Marinette is interrupted while she's fixing up her box," Marinette says under her breath as she grabs for her screw-driver nearby.

"What's it for, Marinette?" Tikki asks, flying over to the box Marinette is currently fixing. The box is the shape of a half moon, and its color is bright pink with white polka dots all over. Inside of it is a book of the same shape and pattern, and a little black pen is attached to its cover.

"It's to lock up my diary," Marinette explains as she continues to twist her screwdriver to tighten the grip of his hinges. "This way, no one will be able to read it."

Marinette repeatedly opens and closes the box to check if it works. "But what if they manage to get your diary out of the box?" Tikki asks worriedly. "What if someone finds out you're Ladybug?"

"That's not going to happen," Marinette says confidently. "Try it, Tikki."

The kwami flies into the box and tries to lift up Marinette's diary, but the box closes over her, trapping her inside. Tikki lets out a little squeak, and then proceeds to pound the roof of the box. Laughing, Marinette unlocks the box with a key to free Tikki.

"It works!" she exclaims, holding up her key. "And only this key can open it."

"Yesterday, Mr. Bourgeois was re-elected as mayor of Paris for fourth consecutive term. Here we see Mr. Bourgeois, with his daughter."

Marinette looks up at the screen to see Mayor Bourgeois and Chloe on the news. The blonde is waving at the people with (an obviously fake) smile on her face. The camera zooms in on her, and she waves to the camera and flips her long ponytail.

Marinette rolls her eyes. "Ugh, look at Chloe—acting as if she were the mayor of Paris," she scoffs. "Oh, which reminds me, Class Representative Elections are tomorrow!"

"What's so bad about that?" Tikki asks, floating over to Marinette's eye level.

"That means Chloe is running for class rep," Marinette grumbles. "Of course, the one person who cares the least about the students, and the most about herself, is going to be class rep again. "

"Why don't you run?" Tikki asks, throwing her little hands up in the air. "I think you'd make a great class representative!"

"Not going to lie, I would, but," Marinette sighs. "Don't you think I've got enough to do with my duties as Ladybug and all my schoolwork? I barely even get some sleep because Chat Noir and I are on patrol late at night."

"Yes, but, if you truly believe in something, you have to try and make it work. It's better to fail trying than not having trying at all," Tikki says encouragingly. "I know you can do it!"

"We'll see if I change my mind…" Marinette sighs.

"Armand D'Argencourt, one of Bourgeois' opponents and fencing instructors of École secondaire Francoise-Dupont, was pummeled in the polls. In fact, D'Argencourt acquired the least number of votes in all of Paris' History."

Marinette looks up at the screen in pity. "That's also why I'm kind of scared to run for class rep…" she says. Her eyes trail down to the bottom of the screen, and she screeches at the time. "I'm going to be late for school—again!"

She quickly grabs her school bag and dashes out of her room, hoping to see someone new run for class representative this year.

Marinette barges into the classroom, panting heavily. "I'm sorry I'm late!" she exclaims as she runs to her seat. "There, uh, th-there was a disturbance." The second she sits down, she asks Alya, "What did I miss?"

"Chloe's running for class rep," Alya tells her. "By the look on people's faces, she's been class rep since when? Kindergarten?"

"Why don't you run as candidate?" Marinette asks with a grin. "You'd make an awesome representative! "

"No can do," Alya shakes her head in disappointment. "I've got my hands full with my two blogs!"

"Alright, I'll give all of you until the end of lunch to decide if you'd like to be a candidate," Mme Bustier tells her class. "Anyone is welcomed to be one. Don't be shy."

Out in the courtyard, Marinette and Alya watch Chloe go around talking to each of their classmates. By the looks of it, it doesn't seem like anything friendly.

"What is she telling them?" Marinette asks with a glare. "Don't tell me she's threatening them."

"It's Chloe," Alya says, stressing the blonde's name. "Of course she is."

Shaking her head, Marinette gets up from her seat and walks over to Kim after Chloe's done talking to him. "Hey, Kim," she greets kindly. "What did Chloe say to you this time? She offered to go on a date with you?"

"She already isn't happy that I didn't tag along with her during that whole Horrificator event last week," Kim says with a frown. "Now, she threatened to tell everyone I'm afraid of spiders if I run for candidate."

"I see," Marinette says. She then approaches the scared and sad Rose a few feet away. "Hi, Rose. What did Chloe say to you?"

"She told me that if I ran for the election, I'd get kicked out of scrapbooking club," Rose cries. "I love scrapbooking and all the bright colors and stickers and glitter—I'd rather not run for candidate if that's the consequence!"

After nodding her head, Marinette spots Chloe talking to Alix, who's sitting on the stairs. The pink-haired girl rolls her eyes at everything the Queen Bee tells her. When Chloe leaves, Marinette jogs over to her. "Did Chloe threaten you not to run for class representative too?" she asks.

"I wasn't interested in the first place—I couldn't care less about being a candidate," Alix says boredly. "Why don't you run? What's your excuse?"

"I-I'm… busy," Marinette says with a sheepish smile while scratching the back of her head. "I've got my hands full with—"

"Hands full with what—oversleeping?" Alya laughs as she approaches her best friend. "Why don't you just go for it, Marinette? What can Chloe threaten you with anyway?"

"You're right," Marinette says, nodding her head. "I guess I'll run if no one else is… I just don't want Chloe to be class rep again."

After lunchtime, everyone goes back to class, eager to see if anyone would finally step up to Chloe and become a candidate.

"So, any new candidates who would like to run against Chloe and Sabrina?" Mme Bustier asks and nervously looks around the classroom, her eyes almost crying out for someone to raise their hand.

Marinette eyes Kim, who only turns away and whistles innocently. She then looks up at Rose, who's hiding behind her History book. Marinette bites her lip, battling her thoughts.

Mme Bustier sighs, "Given that Chloe and Sabrina are the only candidates, there's no point in voting. So, Chloe and Sabrina—"

"I'll run!"

Everyone turns to the person who screamed to see a confident Marinette with her hand raised up high. Chloe shoots a death glare in her direction, but Marinette only ignores her. She's not letting Chloe ruin the school year for everyone again. When a classmate needs help, someone should be able to help them and not brush them off.

Mme Bustier's face lights up. "Wonderful!" she exclaims. "You'll need to develop your campaign and have a speech ready by tomorrow. We'll have the vote then!"

"Way to go, Marinette!" Rose exclaims.

After class, Marinette's classmates flooded her with thanks and praises for raising her hand. They're all so relieved to have a brave and dependent person go against Chloe—finally, someone who isn't afraid of the blonde's wrath, threats and blackmail. This just goes to show that Marinette cares a lot about her classmates. She's already the better choice.

"Th-thanks, Rose," Marinette laughs. "Thank you, all of you. But it's nothing, really."

"It's not nothing," Nathanael says quietly. When he and Marinette have eye contact, the redhead looks down and tries to fight the burning of his cheeks. "You put all of our happiness before yours. You're very admirable."

"He's right," Kim grins. "Chloe will do whatever it takes to win, but you did this even knowing that!"

Marinette blanches. She didn't even think of that. She's going to have to watch her back.

"When you win, can we get more comfortable chairs?" Rose asks sweetly. Marinette smiles when Rose said when and not if. "They're so uncomfortable; I can barely concentrate in class. Maybe pink ones?"

"Oh, I-I don't know if—" Marinette begins.

"And it'd be cool if we could listen to our beats while we study in the library!" Nino exclaims, touching his headphones.

"Oh, uh—"

"And… you know…" Juleka says, shifting nervously in her spot. "Yeah?"

Marinette blinks. "Um, sure, Juleka?" she says uncertainly.

While Marinette continues to be bombarded with questions and suggestions, Alya spots Adrien walking down the stairs.

"Adrien!" Alya calls out. Adrien looks up, and nods at Alya in acknowledgment. The auburn-haired girl points to her best friends and asks, "Marinette can count on your vote, right?"

Adrien smirks. "Do I have another choice?"

Marinette furrows her eyebrows. "What'd you—hey, I was talking to you! Get back here!"

Adrien is fencing against a strong opponent during fencing club. He falls to the floor after being pushed down with incredible force, and his weapon flies out of his hand and way beyond reach. His enemy pokes his chest with the ballpoint top of their sword, and Adrien takes his mask off, accepting his defeat.

"Wow, Mr. D'Argencourt, I've never seen you on fire like this," Adrien says. His fencing opponent takes their mask off to reveal a middle-aged man with a brown mustache and a straight expression on his face. "That was some attack!"

"It ought to be," Mr. D'argencourt says, picking Adrien's sword up with his own. "This particular maneuver was developed by my ancestor, Darkblade."

"Darkblade?" Adrien asks, catching the fencing sword thrown at him.

"In the days of yore, Darkblade conquered Paris and ruled over it with an iron fist, until he was overthrown by a wealthy Frenchman who used his dirty gold to buy the loyalties of the common people," his fencing teacher explains. "To think that not so long ago, my ancestor's flag was waving above Paris…"

"Is that why you ran in the election, Mr. D'Argencourt? To seek revenge on your ancestor's behalf?"

Adrien and his instructor turn around to see Nadja Chamack—Paris' news reporter—with her cameraman following closely behind.

"I beg your pardon?!" Mr. D'Argencourt exclaims, offended.

"Nadja Chamack," she introduces herself. "Don't be bemused, it's just the news! Do you have anything to say about your quote un-quote landslide defeat?"

"Hey, how'd you get in here?!" the school's security guard screams, running towards the news reporter and her cameraman.

While she's being chased away, Mr. D'Argencourt turns to Adrien and says through gritted teeth, "Here ends today's lesson."

In the dressing room, Plagg flies out of Adrien's bag with a nice, gooey slice of Camembert cheese in his hands. "Why the long face, kid?" the kwami asks. "Would a bite of my cheese make you feel better?"

"Mr. D'Argencourt's really upset after losing the election," Adrien frowns. "And he lost just because Mr. Bourgeois is rich."

"You humans and your money," Plagg says, swallowing his cheese whole. "But if I think about it and replace money with Camembert, I can see why he lost."

"I figured you'd make a comparison like that," Adrien sighs, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I just hope he feels better before his negative emotions draw in an aku—" His eyes widen, and he runs right out of the boys' locker room.

Adrien makes it outside in time to find a black-armored knight with a black and crimson sword in hand. "Darkblade! The lord of Paris!" the villain declares. He holds his sword out, and a red streak of lightning flies out of it and into Nadja and her cameraman's eyes. They fall to one knee, and after Darkblade taps both of their shoulders with his sword, they rise and turn into knights. "Thou shalt become my knights! Soon my army shalt be immense and unstoppable! We shall take City Hall by storm and reclaim the throne from Bourgeois the usurper!"

Adrien immediately runs back into the school and transforms right behind the entrance doors. "Time to transform!" he exclaims, punching the air. "PLAGG, TRANSFORM ME!"

When Adrien turns into Chat Noir, he jumps to the roof of his school and watches as Darkblade turns several innocent civilians into knights. He follows the akumatized victim by jumping from one roof to another, and before his army could grow anymore, Chat Noir jumps off the roof and skillfully lands in front of Darkblade.

"The people had their say, and they chose Bourgeois over you, D'Argencourt!" Chat Noir says, taking his staff out and pointing it at him.

"Thy peoples matter not to me. D'Argencourt was defeated, not Darkblade!" the villain says, pointing his sword at the hero.

"I hope you still know how to fence," Chat Noir says, extending his weapon. "En garde!"

"I'm pleased to welcome you all to the official launch of Chloe's electoral campaign," is the first thing Marinette hears when she runs inside City Hall. Mayor Bourgeois continues, "And a special thank you to world-famous popstar Jagged Stone for endorsing her."

Marinette's mouth falls open. "You can't be serious," she says quietly to herself.

"And, when you vote for me, you'll get free tickets to Jagged Stone's next concert!" Chloe announces. When her eyes land on Marinette, she shoots her a victory smirk and mouths, "You lose." Marinette's shoulders droop—how is she going to beat this?

Alya notices the depressing aura flowing out of Marinette, and she approaches her warily. "If you haven't noticed already," she begins. "Battle's on."

"Yeah, I can see that. She's trying to buy student votes with autographs," Marinette says, looking down. While her eyes slowly trail down to the floor, she catches sight of two CD's in Alya's hands. "What… are those?"

Alya holds one out for her best friend. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself," she apologizes. "If it makes you feel any better, I got you one too."

Marinette doesn't accept the CD and marches right up to her classmates, who are in line for autographed CD's. "Do you realize that you're all being bribed? Concert tickets are awesome, but they aren't going solve classroom problems!"

"What's your campaign, then?" Alix asks, stuffing the signed CD in her bag.

"Well, um, I'm, um, thinking that cushions would be more realistic than buying new chairs," Marinette says, winking at Rose, whose face brightens. "And I'll see about listening to music in the library—through headphones, of course. Also—"

"Remarkable." Marinette turns around to find a snickering Chloe standing just a few feet away. "You actually sound like a class rep. Too bad you don't have a chance of winning." Chloe approaches her and says, "A word?"

Marinette follows her and gasps to find her half-moon-shaped box locked between Sabrina's wrist. "Where did you get that?!"

"You don't need to know," Chloe spits. "If you don't pull out of the race, then all your secrets will be revealed."

"Don't—" Marinette pauses. "I mean… what secrets?"

Chloe snorts. "I guess we'll find out as soon as I get my hands on a chainsaw—"

Trumpets suddenly cut her off in the middle of her sentence. Confused, Mayor Bourgeois, Chloe and Marinette and a handful of their classmates crack the door open and poke their heads out to see what's going on outside. A knight with black and crimson armor stands in front of an army of knights in black and emerald green.

One of the green knights walks forward and declares, "Oye, oye! Darkblade shalt speak now! Listen or be imprisoned!"

The crimson knight—Darkblade—pounds his sword against the concrete. "Henceforth, my flag shalt fly over thy kingdom! Bourgeois, pathetic knave, come hether and do battle!"

"What did he say?" Mayor Bourgeois asks.

"Basically," Alya begins. "He's going to bust you up."

Without another word, Mayor Bourgeois slams the City Hall's doors shut. Marinette quickly runs over to the window to see what's going on.

"Bow down to Darkblade, or feel the wrath of mine sword! Attack!" Darkblade screams, pointing forward. His army charge at the door, ready to battle, when Chat Noir jumps in front of the army.

"Chat Noir!" Marinette exclaims, eyes lighting up. She wants to transform into Ladybug right at this moment to join her rival, but her classmates are in trouble, and she just can't leave them behind. Not when the knights can barge right through the door any second.

"We meet again, Black Feline," Darkblade says, drawing his sword.

"Yeah, nice to see you again too," Chat Noir says, extending his staff. "I believe we didn't get to finish our match."

"Seize him!" Darkblade commands to his army. The green knights charge at their threat, who takes this as an opportunity to crack a pun.

"Guys, do you only know heavy metal?" Chat Noir grins. From her place by the window, Marinette slaps her forehead.

She continues to watch the battle and finds herself watching in amazement as the black cat superhero defeats every knight thrown his way. He flawlessly dodges each one of their attacks and sends a flurry of them flying with just one swipe of his staff. She's never seen him with such skill before—he must know a thing or two about fencing. His perfect stance and swift strikes are what gives it away.

"That was a nice warm-up," Chat Noir says, stretching his arms.

"Allefer!" Darkblade cries, striking his sword at Chat Noir with all his might. The hero manages to block it with his staff, and for a second, they're Adrien and Mr. D'Argencourt fencing in the school's courtyard.

Inside City Hall, everyone is watching the fight through the windows. Jagged Stone perks up when he hears the sound of swords clashing.

"Wait, do I hear the sounds of crazed fans? I can totally get them under control!" Jagged Stone exclaims, grabbing his guitar and dashing out the door.

"Jagged Stone, no!" Marinette screams, but it's too late—the rockstar is already out the doors belting out the first song that came to mind. Everyone gasps in fear when Jagged Stone is turned into a green-armored knight.

"What do we do?!" Ivan cries.

"Are we trapped in here?!" Nathanael screams.

"The doors, quickly!" Marinette orders.

Darkblade walks up the stairs with his sword at the ready, saying, "Kneel before thy flag of Darkblade! Bow down before me!" The students push the doors close with all their might, shutting it before the akumatized victim could swing.

"Chloe, what should we do? What would a class rep do?" Rose cries, running up to Chloe, who's hiding behind the front desk counter.

Chloe pokes her head out. "Well, if indeed you vote for me, I'll provide you with an answer," she says. Rose's face brightens up. "—Tomorrow."

Rose's face turns into one of worry. "But we can't wait until tomorrow!"

"Then you're out of luck. You'll have to ask someone else!"

When no one's looking, Marinette runs up the stairs and into the first room on her right. She closes the door behind her gently, and opens up her purse to let Tikki out.

"What are you going to do?" Tikki asks. "The students need you, but you also have an akuma to catch!"

"I know, I'm so conflicted," Marinette says, grabbing the sides of her head.

Tikki flies in front of her eyes and smiles, "Trust your instincts. I know you won't fail either way."

Marinette nods.

She runs to the bottom of the stairs and sees all her classmates cowering in fear as the door is continuously pounded on by the knights.

Marinette puts on a confident face and orders loudly and clearly, "Kim, Ivan, lock the doors! Make sure all the windows are closed too, quickly!" The two strongest boys nod their heads and lose no time following her orders. "Nino, Juleka, Rose, Mylene and Alya, you guys come with me!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Alya says, saluting her best friend. "Now that's a future class representative in the making (cough), Chloe." The blonde hiding behind the counter frowns at Alya's words and only sinks deeper under the desk.

"We have to barricade the entrance!" Marinette shouts. "It'll break down any second now if we don't!"

Everyone takes whatever they can find—Jagged Stone posters, foldable chairs, the autograph table—and throw it in front of the door. The knights continue pounding on the door, and while her classmates and mayor are scared, Marinette stands brave and confident.

"It's time to retreat!" Marinette says. She turns to the frightened mayor and says, "Sir, we have to get out of here!"

Mayor Bourgeois nods. "This way!" he exclaims, running up the stairs. The students all follow him up the stairs, except for Marinette.

"Marinette, what are you doing?! Come on!" Nino cries. Everyone turns around to look at her, and they're all gesturing for her to come upstairs with them.

"I'll catch up with you guys! I'll make sure all the windows are closed first!" Marinette exclaims. They all nod and continue following the mayor. When they're all out of sight, she opens up her purse and lets her kwami out. "Ready?"

Tikki nods.

"TIKKI, TRANSFORM ME!"

"Back off, you tin cans!"

Chat Noir is cornered, and knights in green armor surround him with their weapons pointing at him. A ladybug-printed yoyo suddenly wraps itself around his left wrist, and Chat Noir screams as he's being lifted up and pulled into an open window. He rolls on the floor and makes a painful wail when he hits the wall.

His facial expression goes from being confused to annoyed in a split second when his eyes land on Ladybug (that's a new record). "I had them on the ropes," he tells her.

"I know you did," Ladybug laughs.

Chat Noir's eyes widen when he sees a series of knights forming ladders to try to get inside through the open windows. "Look out!" he cries, extending his staff to knock them over.

"Thanks," Ladybug says when she sees them all fall over.

"I did it for myself, just to let you know," Chat Noir says, shrinking his staff. He walks over to the window and raises an eyebrow when he sees Darkblade appoint two cars, turning them into catapults. "What?! He can do that?!"

One knight climbs onto each catapult and they're launched at the building. Chat Noir and Ladybug watch boredly as they each smash into the walls.

"Are they aiming for us or the roof?" Chat Noir asks in such an unimpressed, monotonous voice it hardly sounds like a question at all.

Ladybug's eyes widen. "That's it! The flag!"

"Tally ho!" Darkblade cries as he's launched to the roof of City Hall. He lands perfectly in front of the flag, and he chops it off with one swing of his sword. "Once thee stripes are suplanted by mine coat of arms, I shalt reign supreme!"

A handful of his army comes marching with a red flag in their arms, which Darkblade plans on putting up to replace the flag of France. Ladybug goes straight to action and flings her yoyo at him, with wraps around his forearm. She makes her way up to the roof by hopping there, and before she could even touch him, Darkblade blocks her with his sword. Ladybug hits the wall and falls between two knights, who grab her by the arms.

"Hey, let me go!" she spits angrily. Ladybug cries out to her rival, "Chat Noir! Use Cataclysm and make this stupid roof crumble."

"No Cataclysm this time," Chat Noir says, making a fighting stance. "I'm beating this guy with skill alone."

"Thou impress me not, villains!" Darkblade announces, holding his red flag up high. "By the blade of darkness, I hereby declare all peoples of this kingdom are henceforth mine!" Darkblade plants his flag on the roof, and a huge void of darkness forms in the once clear blue sky. "Bow to thy king—Darkblade!"

The black hole traps the entire city in a circle that continues to grow smaller with each passing second. Anyone touched by the darkness is turned into a green-armored knight brainwashed into serving Darkblade. Chat Noir knows that there isn't a moment to lose, so he extends his staff and goes straight into battle.

"Soon thou shalt join my army, you venomous feline!" Darkblade cackles. He stops laughing maniacally when Chat Noir hits the edge of his sword with his staff.

"I don't think so," he growls, tightening his grip on his weapon. "En garde!"

"En garde!" Darkblade repeats, getting into a fencing stance.

Darkblade and Chat Noir move around the entire rooftop clashing weapons, and the former yelling out old-fashioned curses whenever he misses. Chat Noir has a smirk on his face the entire time, and Ladybug wants to slap him across the face for being so cocky.

Chat Noir falls backwards when one of Darkblade's sword comes a little too close to slicing his throat. "Surrender now," the akumatized victim begins. "Or shall darkness reign upon thou for all eternity!"

From the corner of his eye, Chat Noir can see the darkness closing in on them, and he's just about to accept defeat, when he briefly remembers Mr. D'Argencourt's special attack earlier that day. Chat Noit rolls out of the way at the last possible second, dodging his opponent's strike. He gets up on his feet and lets out a battle cry when he crashes into his opponent. Darkblade is pushed to the floor and his weapon falls out of his hand, the realization of being defeated by his very own move too hard for him to accept.

"Way to go, Chat Noir!" Ladybug cheers proudly from where she's held prisoner.

Darkblade reaches out for his weapon, but Chat Noir picks it up before he could even lay a finger on it. "Sorry, I need that," Chat Noir grins. He smashes the sword against the wall, sending shards flying everywhere. This makes the circle of darkness fade away, and Chat Noir smiles when the blue sky comes into view.

A butterfly as black as darkness flutters out of the sword, and Chat Noir holds his staff out, which glows green at the tip. He makes a fencing stance and swipes at the insect, trapping it inside the glowing green bubble. There's a flash of bright green that follows, and the butterfly inside fades into one as white as light. He releases the butterfly and pounds the roof with the end of his staff, screaming, "MIRACULOUS CHAT!"

The knights turn back into civilians when the magic dust swirls around them, and Ladybug walks up to her rival when she's released.

"No Lucky Charm and no Cataclysm today," Ladybug says. "You really are amazing, Chat Noir."

"Were you expecting any less from me?" Chat Noir asks, flexing his muscles and striking ridiculous poses. "You should bow down to me as praise for being as pawsome as always."

"I take it back," Ladybug rolls her eyes. "You always ruin it."

"Speaking of ruining things, seeing you today just ruined my year, so I'm going to head out," Chat Noir says, flicking her forehead. Ladybug rubs her forehead to soothe the pain, scowling. "Until next time, My Lady."

Chat Noir bows sarcastically, and with one last cocky grin, he backflips off the roof. Eyes wide, Ladybug runs to the edge to see if he's all right, shocked to see that he's nowhere in sight. She smiles and starts walking away when his words finally hit her.

"Wait, year?!"

"So where were you?" Chloe asks snobbishly as Marinette makes herself down the stairs. "Safely hiding under a rock?"

"Very funny, Chloe," Marinette says, rolling her eyes. "I got transformed… into a knight."

Adrien comes running down the stairs after Marinette's claim, and he uses this as the perfect excuse for his disappearance. "So did I!" he exclaims, jumping off the steps. "What a knightmare—"

"Shut up!" Marinette screams, making him laugh as he makes his way over to Nino.

"Adrien, your Chat is showing," Plagg says from his place in Adrien's pocket. The blond ignores him and greets Nino once he reaches him.

"Now that this is all over…" Marinette begins softly. Her face then becomes serious and she holds one of her hands out. "I want my personal items back!"

The students all gasp at her claim and surround the guilty blonde, who cowers for being exposed. "I… have no idea what you're talking about!" Chloe says, crossing her arms.

Sabrina suddenly bumps into her and runs up to Marinette, holding her hand out—which is indeed trapped in Marinette's diary box. "Please take it off!" the redhead cries. When Marinette takes her key out and unlocks the box, Sabrina exclaims, "Thank you!"

"Got an explanation, Chloe?" Alya says, taking her phone out to film the guilty.

"I told you, I never took her diary!" Chloe says stubbornly despite already being caught. "And I'm offended that you're accusing me!"

"Then how did you even know my diary was in here?" Marinette smirks. Their classmates all gasp and begin whispering amongst themselves.

In desperation to salvage her vote for class representative, Chloe pulls Sabrina and points an accusing finger at her. "Oh, well, uh… Sabrina told me!" she lies, making the redhead's jaw drop. "It was all her idea!"

No one seems to have bought it—Sabrina wouldn't do anything that low unless she was told to.

"At least now we know no one's going to vote for Chloe," Alya grins at Marinette. "You're going to be our new representative!"

Marinette shakes her head. "Not so fast, Alya," she says.

Overhearing this, Chloe turns around and cackles in her face. "Did you hear that, everyone?" the blonde asks loudly. She points a finger at Marinette, exclaiming, "She's undependable! She's already admitting defeat!"

"No, I'm not! I just want to be voted fairly, not because you don't want to vote for Chloe, but because you believe in me!" Marinette tells her classmates. "I'm not going to make promises that I can't keep, and I'm not going to be able to get you everything that you want. But I am resourceful, and I know how to prioritize. I'm a good listener, and a great multitasker. Representing you all is something I truly believe in. And most importantly, I believe in myself," she finishes confidently. "So… vote for Marinette, for class representative!"

Her speech earns her great applause, and Adrien smiles proudly at her. She'd be a great class representative, he thinks.

He knows who he's voting for.

"By majority vote, Marinette is the new class representative, and Alya will be her deputy!" Mme Bustier announces excitedly as everyone (minus Chloe and Sabrina) applauds the new class representative and her partner.

"Thank you, everyone! Alya and I will do our best so that all of you can enjoy this school year!" Marinette exclaims while waving a hand.

The applause continues even after the two take their seats, but it quickly dies down when Mme Bustier starts talking about that day's homework. The bell rings after the teacher's quick explanations, and everyone is packing their bags, ready to finally go home and take a rest.

"I think I can confidently say that you two voted for Marinette," Alya says, making Adrien and Nino turn around.

"Of course," Nino says with a grin. "Anyone's better than Chloe—wait, no! I didn't mean it like that!" He waves his hands while blushing madly. "I-I mean, I voted for you because I trust you, Marinette. Not because you were the only other choice! You could've gone against five other people, but I-I'd still vote for you."

Adrien raises an eyebrow at Nino's sudden nervous delivery, but shrugs it off. He turns to Marinette and says, "Well, I only voted for you because Chloe wasn't a better choice."

"What?" Marinette shrieks, her right eye twitching. "So, unlike Nino, you didn't choose me because you believe in me?!"

"Bingo," Adrien says, straight-faced. "I mean, really—you're always late to class. Sometimes you only show up halfway through. How can I put my trust into someone like that?"

"Maybe I have other things to do!" Marinette exclaims, raising her voice. He doesn't know how hard the life of a superhero is, that idiot.

"Like what?" Adrien scoffs. He counts on his fingers, saying, "I have fencing, piano, Chinese and photoshoots, but I still show up to class in time!"

"Then, why didn't you run for class representative?" Marinette fumes.

"My schedule's packed, unlike yours!" Adrien argues. As if on cue, his cellphone lets out a ding!, notifying him that he has a photoshoot that evening.

"I don't have time either!" Marinette screams. Neither of them seemed to have noticed that Alya and Nino left—it became an unspoken tradition of theirs to leave silently when Adrien and Marinette start arguing. They're never in the mood to hear them fight. They just want peace and quiet after a long, tiring day of school. "I'm busy—"

"What—tripping over everything?" Adrien asks, earning him a good hit in the stomach with her backpack. "Ow!"

"And here I thought you changed after that little act of kindness you showed me on Valentine's Day," Marinette huffs, stomping out of the classroom. "It seems it was all just for show!"

Adrien slings his bag over his shoulder and chases after her. The two walk side-by-side on their way out of the school, surprisingly not earning any stares while they walked by screaming their heads off. Everyone knows about that couple that never stop arguing—it's just like any normal day.

"At least I got you something!" Adrien retorts. "What does that make you?!"

"Well, unfortunately for you, I only give chocolates to kind, good-looking, civilized boys!" Marinette harrumphs, making Adrien's mouth drop.

"I'm a model!" Adrien exclaims. He knows he shouldn't be so defensive about her words since he did throw a similar phrase at her, but he's still offended nonetheless. "Your claim is invalid!"

"I said kind and civilized too!" Marinette says. "Geez, you focusing on that good-looking part is so expected from you, you conceited jerkface."

"Hey!"

"Hey, what?!"

Alya and Nino are leaning against one of the walls in the courtyard, not the slightest bit offended when their best friends walk right past them. It's no surprise, after all—whenever they argue, it's like it's just the two of them in the entire world.

"And we're forgotten yet again," Alya chuckles, but the boy next to her doesn't laugh. She notices a slight frown on his face, so with a small smile, she says, "Hey Nino… you down to go get some ice cream with me? I heard this new shop that opened up down the street serves great ice cream at a great price."

Nino doesn't tear his eyes off the couple just yet. But when they disappear beyond the doors of the school entrance, he turns back to Alya and says, "Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure."

end card

A/N: NINO'S CRUSH ON MARINETTE HAS BEGUN. Is Alya aware of his crush? Maybe. Does Adrien know? Nope, but he sure as hell noticed that slight change in Nino's behavior. (Oh, and who caught the Spiderman and Captain America references?)

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO VOTED IN THE POLL! According to the results, Rivals has the most votes! This means that Adrien and Marinette will stay rivals up until Volpina! However, since both Awkward Friends and Rivals were pretty close in number (four votes!), it gave me a good idea. I'm going to mix those two up, but ultimately keep them as rivals. If you're confused, you'll see what I mean when I post The Mime. It's actually supposed to be next, but I'm going to post Kung Food and The Gamer first. c:

As I've said before, I already wrote the epilogue to this story (I think I finished writing it sometime after Timebreaker, but it was planned out after I finished writing Origins I & II). And I recently came across a tumblr post that's really similar to how I wanted to end this story. I'm so sad. ;A; I'll keep it the same, but it's just a bit disappointing to those who already came across the post. ;-;

We're more than halfway through this story, so I'd just like to ask you all—up until now, are you on Team Ladybug or Team Chat Noir?

I say it every chapter, but thank you all so much for the favorites, alerts and the wonderful reviews! The reviews you guys leave me never fail to put a smile on my face! I love you all very much! And shout-out to the lovely Artemis173 for being the 200th reviewer!

Thank you for reading!

Akuma Capture:
Ladybug: 8
Chat Noir: 7

Next Episode: Kung Food