Chat stood still. A high pitch ringing through his ears, consuming his senses, allowing him to blank out almost everything happening around him. Going back into his memories of the past few minutes, he relayed back to himself what he had witnessed.
"He's a person, with a family Chat. We need to help him."
Understandably, he had been reluctant to help Hawkmoth, convinced Marinette was still being controlled by him and leading them into a trap. Avenger was so adamant, hysterical in some moments, as she scrambled Hawkmoth into her arms, carrying him away from the scene. The box containing Tikki was still clutched in Chat's hand as he reluctantly followed with Bee.
"Chat I need you to focus."
Avenger had lead them through a dark tunnel, into an empty room with a smashed window. Laying Hawkmoth down, she had looked into Chat's eyes, pleading for him to help.
Tikki zipped to Avenger's side as soon they had reached their destination. Looking over the broken Miraculous, Tikki was thankful Avenger had not broken the Akumatised item.
"Marinette, you need to transform now. The enhanced state with the Akuma will allow you to heal the Miraculous."
"Tikki I need to save him-"
"It will Marinette, I promise."
"What do I do?"
"When you transform, touch the Miraculous with your yo-yo, I will take care of the rest."
"But-"
"The longer he's like this the harder it will be."
"Spots on."
At this point, all Chat was able to do was look on. Bee gasped while they watched Avenger transform as Tikki's power washed over her. The difference was subtle, except for the red glow emitting from her body. Her eyes had also started to glow red, as Tikki's power merged with the Akuma.
Chat watched his lady, as she carried out the actions Tikki had instructed. The yo-yo made contact with the broken Miraculous, causing a white light to engulf the room surrounding them and shoot out a ripple effect through Paris. Bee and Chat stepped back from the light, shielding their eyes in the hope to see what was happening. Chat did not know how long it took for his eyes to readjust after the brightness which had just flooded his pupils, but the sight that he laid his eyes on, churned his stomach.
The light faded, leaving just Marinette and a newly revived Hawkmoth stood facing each other. Tikki in Marinette's outstretched hand, and the fake Dragon Miraculous, no longer discoloured around her neck.
"I thank you Marinette."
Hawkmoth's gaze rested fondly on her, as she looked over Tikki.
"You are very welcome Hawkmoth."
Marinette did not look up to Hawkmoth, but stayed focused on an exhausted looking Tikki.
Chat's body shook with unfiltered rage, as Marinette finally looked over to him, worry etched on her face. Neither of them noticed him removing his newly repaired Miraculous, the pair did not notice his detransformation.
"No longer am I Hawkmoth. Nooroo, I renounce you."
Bee gasped, causing both Chat and Marinette to look at him.
"G-Gabriel!"
This is when the ringing in Chat's ears had started, and the anger bubbling through his body reached its height. Hearing Chloé gasp his fathers name, caused the fast thumping of his heart in his chest, and the clammy fists balled at his sides. His breath picked up pace.
"Father!"
"Son?"
Adrien's last vision, before he blanked out and his mind went dark, was his fathers apologetic and mortified look, as his hand reached out for him. The only sensation being felt by the black cladded hero now, was the high pitched ringing, still resounding in his mind.
Alya made her way back to school after contacting Sabrina and Alix to see where they were. Alya had been surprised that, like herself, Sabrina had remembered everything from the battle. Similarly to Alya, once Sabrina had become less disoriented, she had broken down, and spilled everything she could remember from being Akumatised and controlled by Lila.
Miss Bustier had completely disregarded her spy camera now, as it had become null and void after the admissions from Sabrina. They had written down Sabrina's memories from the Akuma attack, and once Alya had come back, they had compared the video she had taken of herself containing the details she remembered.
The students had made their way back to Miss Bustier's class, as the school had cancelled classes due to the Akuma having had such an impact on multiple students. Miss Bustier wanted to sit her class down, and talk through the recent events, providing them with support where needed.
"Nette needs to know why Lila did this to her," Juleka was the first to say in the strangely silent class. A tense atmosphere hung over the room, as the people within shifted uncomfortably. There was no structure to where the occupants had seated themselves, with Sabrina taking comfort from Max and Rose. She silently wept, going through the thoughts which had been shared with her by Lila's sick and twisted mind.
"I wish I had believed her." Alya was somber. Defeated, she failed to make eye contact with anyone, focusing on the step she had sat on. Nino pulled her in for a hug from behind, unable to fathom why Lila had gone to such extremes against Marinette.
Ivan was looking over the sheet of paper they had written Sabrina's account on. "I don't get why she had gone after Marinette though?" He looked up to his friends, "I know Nette never believed her but she did this to herself!"
Before anyone could answer, a white flash spread through the classroom. Most of the occupants merely felt the need to shield their eyes, but Alya and Sabrina got to their feet suddenly.
Looking to their class, they wore questioning looks while wondering what the hell had happened.
"What's going on?" Alya was the first to speak, as her and Sabrina faced their classmates. Their backs to Miss Bustier, Sabrina touched her face feeling the dampness on her cheeks
Nino stood up, approaching Alya cautiously. "You were Akumatised, you both were." Looking at the two girls, he gestured to Ivan to pass him Sabrina's account of the incident. "This is what Sabrina remembered, and you have-"
Sabrina took the sheet, and glanced over it, "Alix is this true?"
An interrupted Nino gestured to Alya's phone. Hoping she would listen to herself, he gave her his headphones to use.
Their pink haired class mate nodded up at her, "We were all just pawns in Lila's sick revenger plot."
"Surely she didn't plan on getting Akumatised?" Alya skeptically questioned. Raising her eyebrow and cocking her hip, Alya crossed her arms across her chest, "anyone could have written this! Where's Lila? I'm sure she can clear this up for us." She had already discarded the phone and headphones on the table.
"Alya," Miss Bustier drew the attention of the class to focus on her, as she sat behind her desk. "Why is it that you are so readily able to trust Lila's word, and not the word of your fellow classmates?"
"I-I uh..." Alya was caught off guard. The answer to the question did not fit in her mind. The look on her face showed the doubt in her own words, furrowing her brow, Alya explained: "I never had any reason not to believe her Miss Bustier."
Miss Bustier could already see the cogs turning in Alya's head, as the rest of the class watched their exchange. Pursing her lips, Miss Bustier asked, "do you really think Marinette, being the type of person she is, would go out of her way, to be nasty to another."
"Miss Bustier," Ivan interjected, "Alya is not the only one who has been duped by Lila."
Alya cautiously picked up her device, not making a sound. Nino watched as she silently and privately listened to her own account, as talk in the class continued.
"I understand that Ivan, so why did any of us, myself included, ever believe such tales about an exemplary peer and student?" She gestured to the entire class with both arms outstretched. "We were all guilty at one time or another."
"Because she was so appealing," Alix started.
"She told us what we wanted to hear," Nino continued.
"Lila was new, and shiny like a toy," Juleka mumbled reluctantly.
"She was convincing, and perfect almost," Max chimed in.
"We wanted to believe her."
Everyone looked back to Miss Bustier. "At least at first," Miss Bustier looked at their quizzical expressions with her knowing and disappointed eyes. "Lila was appealing, she said everything correct, she was exotic and we wanted to believe her stories." Miss Bustier rubbed her forehead with her fingers tips. "Remember at the beginning, the tales could have been stretched truths, she had been everywhere and anywhere, she had met so many people... we forgot that just in this class, we had the mayor's daughter and a world famous fashion model, who had their own connections." Miss Bustier walked to the front of her desk and perched on it.
"So why did we believe the tales she told about Marinette?" Miss Bustier asked the room.
No one answered.
"Did we want to believe?"
"Chloé didn't." Sabrina said meekly, "Chloé and Adrien supported Marinette, and now...I, I have lost my oldest..."
Rose guided the redhead back to a seated position, while rubbing her on the shoulder, "I'm sure Chloé will forgive you."
"Sabrina," Miss Bustier started kindly, "Adrien and Chloé, as I have said, have their own connections, they had probably been in the situations Lila was talking about. They have also established a very strong connection with Marinette, who hates liars. They were not clouded by Lila and her tales, mainly I feel, because they were already living part of the life she was describing."
"What?" Ivan rolled his eyes and stated sarcastically, "like saving Jagged Stone's kitten off the runway?"
"Perhaps not quite that, thank you Ivan," Miss Bustier acknowledged, "but we probably were ready to believe any of her tales no matter how unbelievable, because we were fascinated by her. As Max stated, she was almost perfect. It was obvious Marinette had an issue with her," Miss Bustier paused in thought, "but I for one do not believe it had anything to do with Adrien." She was hoping the class would use their young minds to come to the same conclusion she had. "Unfortunately, we believed Lila's lies because we wanted the amazing ones to be true, we didn't want to doubt her-"
"But we then doubted our friend who was looking out for us." Alix quietly spoke out. "I don't understand why Marinette didn't believe her though." She looked to Miss Bustier, who sombrely looked to the floor. Troubling her bottom lip Miss Bustier was wondering how she had allowed this to go so far.
Alya also looked to the floor, "I think I know why Marinette was able to see through her lies instantly."
"And why do you think that was Alya?" Miss Bustier prompted her.
"Lila lied about Jagged Stone, he is close to Marinette, he raves about her." Alya started tallying the points on her fingers, "Marinette needed to move seats because of her, I should have gone with her, Lila said she was best friends with... Wait."
Looking at her phone, Alya had one headphone in, listening to her own admission of the Akuma attack of what she had remembered.
Alya's reporter instinct was kicking in. The way she, herself had described Lila's thoughts weaving between revenge against Marinette and Ladybug, gave her the inclinations that lead to her placing other pieces together. How Ladybug was late when Marinette had been under watchful eyes. How Marinette was never around during Ladybug sightings. The way Adrien had always labelled her...
"Oh my god!"
Alya watched the class gaze upon her, waiting for an explanation.
"Lila's first lie was about her being friends with Ladybug wasn't it!" She exclaimed more to herself then the rest of the room's occupants. "I can't believe I never saw it before."
Alya looked pointedly at Miss Bustier, who nodded knowingly back to her. Miss Bustier had made the connection during their trip to the theatre. She had her suspicions about Marinette and Adrien for a while. Their flimsy excuses for turning up after Akuma attacks, their mannerisms towards each other, and the fact Ladybug never showed at today's attack, while Marinette was Akumatised, all but confirmed it for her.
"Miss Bustier," Rose put her hand up to speak. "I think we should all agree," she looked around to the rest of the class, as she continued in her high pitched voice. "Whatever is or isn't confirmed today, should strictly stay between us."
"We owe Marinette that much," Mylène agreed, as the class collectively nodded and hummed in mutual acceptance of the notion.
Alya's voice started to crack, as tears streamed down her face, "I honestly think we owe Marinette much more." A sob escaped her lips as she let the tears flow freely. Looking up to the ceiling, Alya struggled inwardly with herself. "What have...I...girl, I'm...sorry."
Nino embraced her, cupping the back of his girlfriend's head, bring her face into his neck. "I'm sure whatever happens now, we can find a solution," he whispered into her hair.
Lila sat in the principal's office.
Indestructi-shell and Red Mane had taken her to the school, as they had no idea where else to take her. After explaining everything to Mr Damocles, the heroes stood waiting for further instructions from their allies. Mr Damocles was impatient but complied as they waited for her mother to join them. Mr Damocles, being a bit of a hero himself, thought it would only be fair to agree to the heroes request, however ludicrous they may seem. He was certain, all of this would be easily explained by the young Italian girl before him.
The heroes stayed with Mr Damocles and Lila, to prevent the easily swayed principal from releasing her. After all, he had played a major part in the fiasco, which had in turn, delivered the final blow to Marinette's Akumatisation.
Lila sat facing Mr Damocles with her best face on show. Portraying sadness, uncertainty, fear and last of all, innocence.
As the door opened abruptly, a white light swept through the room, causing the inhabitants to shield their eyes. Although Lila felt a shift within herself, as usual, her memories from being empowered by the Akuma stayed.
She now had an angle to use.
"Lila!" Her mother's voice sounded from the doorway. Two arms flung around her from behind in an emotional embrace. "What is the meaning of this!" Mrs Rossi demanded to Mr Damocles, "how dare you not let my daughter return home to me!" The dark haired woman was livid. Anger in her eyes, Mr Damocles cowered under her stare.
"I-uh-they-"
Smooth Damocles, Smooth.
"I will be taking my daughter home at once! Be sure, you will hear from our lawyers!"
She slammed the door on a spluttering Mr Damocles, as she guided a now smirking Lila towards the exit of the school. For Lila, it was only a matter of time before she would get her next opportunity to destroy Marinette.