Author's Note: This chapter contains a trigger warning for domestic and emotional abuse. I have tried to address it as tactfully as possible without downplaying the reality of these real-life situations. If you wish to skip this section, you can begin reading at the large paragraph break, and please feel free to PM me for an abbreviated version of the section if you would rather.

Marinette was utterly unsurprised to hear the topic of conversation as she waited table that evening.

"I can't believe it! The King's own seal?" Lila was saying, looking at the formally-embossed letter in her hand. "And delivered straight to us by personal carrier? I mean, the king does know my family name, but I never expected anything quite so personal… Do you know what this means?"

Chloé looked as disinterested in this as in everything else, but Sabrina filled her well-established role and shook her head expectantly.

"It means that the royal family wants us to be a part of their happy occasion!" Lila said happily. "I mean, who could blame them? I did once save the prince from a runaway cart, so of course the king would remember little old me - and to think that my daughters are going to meet a prince!"

Marinette turned away to hide her expression at that, remembering Alya's predictions about the reason for the festival. But despite that, she was seriously irritated at Lila's insistence that she knew the royal family, especially for such an outlandish reason as the one she had cited.

"I knew the royal family better than she ever has, and I didn't even realize it until after they left!" she thought snidely, not noticing Lila's eyes on her, cold and calculating.

"Marinette?"

Her attention was quickly drawn back to her stepmother, who was looking at her in that simpering, sweet way of hers that always preceded an outlandish request.

"Marinette, darling, you know money's tight these days, correct?"

Marinette nodded, not knowing what was coming and not liking it one bit.

"Well, since that's the case, I know you've got so much to do around the house, but do you think there's any way you could piece together some clothes for the girls? I know it's a lot to ask… but really, it's not much. Just a gown for each? Good."

Knowing it wouldn't do any good to protest, Marinette nodded again - she really did enjoy sewing, and perhaps this would be a good way to prove to her stepsisters everything she did for them. If she was busy making things for them, the housework might suffer and it might make them think for themselves about Marinette's role in the house. Perhaps, Marinette thought, they just needed a little bit of a push to help themselves!

Chloé, however, had other plans.

"Mother!" she pouted in protest. "I don't want something made by a servant! We've always had DeVanily gowns, and if I'm going to meet a prince, I don't want to be wearing something made out of reworked curtains!"

Lila looked condescendingly at her daughter.

"I understand that it's beneath us, but we just don't have the money right now! Between the repairs on the house, the funeral expenses and mourning gowns last year, the doctor's visits and my poor health… it's just too much. We'll simply have to make due with whatever Marinette is able to cobble together. As much as it pains me, all we can do is hope Marinette's sewing isn't too abysmal and pray that no one asks who made the gowns - can you imagine having to say it was a servant?!"

Marinette clenched her jaw and balled her fists. Didn't Lila know that she'd been sewing her own clothes for years? One of her favorite hobbies in childhood was designing dresses for herself and Alya. She'd sewn most of the linens in the house, created entire outfits, she'd even made herself and her father mourning clothes when her mother died, knowing that her father wouldn't be emotionally capable of providing them himself.

"My sewing is perfectly fine!" she said hotly, "And I am not a servant! At least I wasn't until you all came into my house! So I'll thank you not to treat me like one - unless you want everything on your gowns to be six inches too loose."

Lila locked eyes with Marinette, a warning expression in them as she rose to her feet. Marinette felt her heartbeat increase as she took a step back, realizing her mistake instantly and knowing what was coming. She hadn't always been this submissive toward Lila, and she recognized the look on Lila's face as the one she had held anytime someone crossed her. Sabrina gasped and clutched her own hands in fright, while Chloé just sighed and pursed her lips, as if her stepsister's plight was nothing to her own happiness.

"Marinette, Marinette, Marinette… I thought we'd had done with this after the last little episode of disobedience?" Lila cooed, her face still wearing the expression that made Marinette's blood run cold. "Tell me - do you still remember the terms of your father's will?"

Marinette swallowed hard and nodded. Lila didn't wait for her to speak, just continued walking toward her slowly, Marinette maintaining the distance between them as she walked backwards toward the edge of the room.

"It was that I, as your father's second wife, was to be given full control over all of his assets and possessions, including you, his beloved daughter, who are under my guardianship until the day of your marriage. Now, I know how much you loved your father, and you wouldn't want to deny his dying wish, now would you?

Lila was almost on top of her now. Marinette tried not to trip over anything. Lila just kept coming nearer and nearer.

"And as your guardian, it is my responsibility to make sure you understand the authority of my guardianship."

Marinette blinked hard, trying to get these terrible, terrible thoughts out of her head. Her brain was shutting down, her hands were shaking, her breath was coming out short and sharp. Lila just kept walking toward her, eyes still locked on hers.

"By any means necessary. And if that means drastic measures again, well… It's only what your father would want, isn't it?"

Marinette managed to keep her balance as her foot caught against the edge of the carpet. She felt desperately behind her for any way out, but she couldn't escape Lila's gaze. Her foot hit the wall behind her - she couldn't go any further, and Lila still kept walking toward her. Marinette couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. She felt lightheaded and seemed to see spots at the edge of her vision, but she wouldn't allow herself to show this to Lila. If it was the last thing she did, she would remain standing. Lila might know of the nervousness Marinette felt, but never the abject terror.

"Now then. Are you quite clear on all of this, Marinette?" Lila said sweetly, her face only inches from her stepdaughter's. Marinette nodded mutely, not speaking for fear of her voice shaking and allowing Lila more ammunition. Lila looked her dead in the eye and slapped her hard across the face, then turned and walked back to the table as if nothing at all had happened, saying brightly

"Well then, that's all right. You'll have to take their measurements, and of course the fabric will have to be approved by me - none of this slipshod cotton like you wear."

"Mother, will we get to choose what the gowns look like ourselves?" Sabrina asked in a small voice, clearly trying to change the subject to something innocuous.

"Why of course, my angel. But it can't be too difficult, or else Marinette won't be able to finish it in time, what with all the housework she still has to do. The dust in the parlor is absolutely unspeakable! If anyone were to come into the house I'd die of shame!"

She turned to Marinette, just moving away from the wall for the first time.

"You will take care of all that for us, won't you, Marinette?"

Marinette could only nod and stumble from the room. She felt rather than saw her path down to the kitchen and it took everything she had not to pass out against the tabletop. She managed to remain standing and fight off the black vision threatening her, but it wasn't enough. She stumbled through the kitchen on shaking legs and opened the door to the tower stairs. It took all of her strength to keep walking up and not to collapse as she reached the second landing. Finally, after what seemed a thousand near misses, she reached the room that had been allotted to her by her stepmother.

In reality, it was an attic which Marinette had cleared out to make room for a small bed and an even smaller dresser. But it was the one space in the house where Lila and the girls would never come. At any other time the possibility of Chloé traipsing up three flights of dust-covered stairs would have brought a smile to her face. But right now, she couldn't think. She couldn't. She stumbled forward and collapsed down onto the threadbare quilt lying on the bed, still shaking from Lila's threats. She should have known. Lila hadn't made more of a fuss about the jewelry theft - she should have known something more was coming.

As she lay on her side shaking, her subconscious took charge. Just like every other time, she allowed her brain to wander, searching for something - anything - to make her forget the encounter downstairs.

...

She felt herself mentally traveling to another time, reliving her own memories, yet not quite as they had happened. She was eight years old again. She was lying sprawled on the ground as she saw her father running over to pick her up.

"What happened, Marinette? Did you fall out of the tree?"

Young Marinette nodded, tears falling down her cheeks. Her father wiped them off gently and then lifted the tiny girl in his arms.

"I've got you. Why don't we go on in and see if we can't patch it up?"

Young Marinette smiled through her tears at her father, strong and brave, protective and kind. She felt nothing but safety in his arms as she wrapped her own around his neck and held on as if he was the only thing that mattered in life.

Now the scene was being reworked in her mind, and all of a sudden she was on the ground beneath a different tree, again as if she'd just fallen. Her mother this time was the one to find her, running over and kneeling at her side with a huffing breath - Marinette suddenly realized just how frail her mother had become.

"Silly girl! Where did you hurt yourself?"

Young Marinette pointed to her leg, where a long scratch could be seen, and held out her hand, also wounded from the fall. Her mother, though weak, smiled and pulled an embroidered handkerchief out of her pocket. She deftly wrapped it around the injured hand, then helped Young Marinette to her feet and lead her toward the house once more.

Again the scene reset. Young Marinette was again on the ground, below yet another tree, winded by impact this time and just getting her breath, when she suddenly heard footsteps from the other direction. Instead of looking toward the house, she turned her head to see a boy with blond hair running toward her through the forest.

"Ladybug? Is that you?"

Young Marinette immediately pulled herself up from the ground as the boy reached her, running to throw her arms around him despite the scratches on her hands.

"Chaton? Chaton! You're back! What are you doing here!?"

"I'm playing a hiding game with my tutor and I saw you fall. What are you doing here?"

She smiled sunnily at him.

"We moved here, silly! We're living here now!"

Chaton looked like he would say something else, but Marinette had finally removed her hands from his and they both noticed the smearing of blood from her scraped palms. Chaton's eyes lit up and he said excitedly

"Guess what!?"

Marinette shook her head, still smiling at him. She smiled even wider as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it out to her to use against her bleeding hand. "You still have it!"

He grinned right back at her.

"Of course I do! It's the first gift you ever gave me - and it's so pretty. I'm so glad I got to see you! You'll never believe it - I made a friend back at home! His name's Nino, and he's so cool! His dad's a knight, and he says maybe I can train with him someday when I'm older! Plagg said I don't need to know how to be like him, but what does he know? He just wants me to study all kinds of boring stuff like history and-"

Young Marinette interrupted him with a hug.

"I thought I'd never see you again! I'm glad you have a friend, but I thought you'd forgotten about me!"

The look of shock on Chaton's face was more than enough to reassure the little girl, and she grabbed his hand again.

"Can I meet your new friend?"

Chaton shook his head.

"He's still at home. He couldn't come with me today. I'm only here because I had to meet some stupid girl my Dad still wants me to get along with. This was Plagg's reward for me not being rude to her"

The tone of voice he used made her eyes widen, partly in shock and partly in anger.

"Hey! I'm a girl, and you don't talk that way about me!"

Chaton stuck out his tongue at her just like he always used to do.

"Of course I don't, silly, you're my friend! But my dad wants me to be nice to this girl I don't like, just because she's from another country."

Young Marinette's eyes lit up.

"Another country! Really! Does she speak another language? Can I meet her?"

Chaton was about to answer when the two heard a voice coming from the house.

"Marinette? Where are you? It's time to come in for lunch."

Marinette's eyes grew wide and she quickly pushed Chaton to the other side of the tree trunk and watched him start climbing, hoping he'd make it far enough up that Tikki wouldn't see him.

"Can't I just stay out for five more minutes?" she called behind her, voice carefully nonchalant. Tikki walked over the crest of the hill to her, long red hair whipping around her as she shook her head.

"You've been playing long enough. You need to come in and have lunch, and then work on that embroidery for your Papa's gift. It's almost done, isn't it?"

Marinette was trapped between two options. First, she could go with Tikki and leave Chaton - again - and never find out whether she could meet this girl from another country, or even whether she would ever see him again. Second, she could refuse and possibly give up the secret of her friend's visit. She was trying to think of a way to put off her nurse when there was a noise from up the tree. Marinette couldn't help an involuntary gasp and glance up, which prompted Tikki also to move forward and peer up into the tree. Then she looked down at Marinette and gave a little smile.

"Ah. I see."

She leaned down and spoke up toward the top of the tree.

"Would you like to come down and have lunch with us?"

Marinette was about to launch into an explanation involving a baby squirrel to explain the noise when she heard a small voice from above her say

"Yes please, Ma'am."

Chaton climbed down from the tree and stood next to Marinette, both of them staring sheepishly up at the nurse. Marinette didn't know what they'd done, but something told her they might be in trouble for hiding something as important as a friendship. Tikki looked sternly at them for a moment, then started to laugh. But not in a nasty I-caught-you way. Rather, it was in a kind, let's-play-a-game way.

"It's nice to finally meet you." she said to Chaton. "What would you like me to call you - since I assume Marinette still doesn't know your real name?"

Chaton opened his mouth to reply. But before he could, a moment of deja-vu struck. From the trees, a male voice called out

"Where on earth are you? ADRIEN!"

Chaton's eyes widened just like the first day, and he turned in the direction of the voice. Then he turned back to Tikki, who simply smiled at him and called out in a loud voice

"He's over here!"

Chaton grinned at Marinette as a man in a white shirt and black vest jogged through the forest toward them.

"Adrien! I had to put off the dragon for you again - you can't keep doing this to me, kid, you're putting years on me! You can't go running off like that! How'd you even get all the way out here, anyway?" He came to a stop by the group, panting slightly, and looked down at Marinette. "Nice to see you again, young lady. And to officially meet you. Who's your friend, kid?"

Marinette gaped up at the man, who seemed to be perhaps as old as Tikki - which is to say, not very - and saw a kind face with messy black hair, green eyes and a pronounced nose. He was grinning down quite a way at her and her friend - he was remarkably tall, particularly for a little girl just over four feet. Chaton grabbed Marinette's hand, pulling her toward the newcomer with a grin.

"This is my friend Ladybug, Plagg! I didn't know, but she lives here now! She and I used to play together all the time when we lived in the manor house and she lived next door! Ladybug, this is my tutor Plagg."

The man squatted down and took the hand Marinette held out, shaking it gravely, then he stood and turned to Tikki.

"Good to see you again, Tikki. How are you holding up with the little bug?"

Tikki laughed.

"Nice to see you too, Plagg. As you can see, the bug is just about as independant and sweet as ever. And how are you doing with your kitten?"

Chaton's tutor ruffled his hair fondly.

"Oh, about the same. This is the third time the rascal's tried to get away from me in the past month - and I can't say I'm surprised. But did you really have to sneak away quite so elaborately? And how'd you even get out here, anyway? Honestly, Adrien, you're driving me to an aneurysm!"

Marinette grinned at her friend.

"So that's your name! Adrien?"

The boy glared up at the man at his side, muttering

"She wasn't supposed to know that! Now she'll figure it out!"

"I think it's about time you told her anyway, kid. She's got a right to know."

Chaton still looked doubtful.

"But I don't know if she'll still want to play with me when she knows!" he said, his voice low and sad. "Even Nino doesn't play with me the same way."

Marinette saw her duty clear in front of her. She resolutely set her hand on her hip in an imitation of Tikki's stern demeanor, but she couldn't hold up the act for long."

"It's not fair for one of us to know the other's name and not the other way around. It wouldn't be..." She looked up at Tikki for confirmation as she said "Appropriate."

Tikki nodded gravely, and Marinette allowed herself to grin broadly at her friend as she continued in her usual tone. "Of course I'll still play with you, Chaton! We have to play Rescue today, and I can show you where the best tree for climbing is! And… you don't have to tell me what your name is, but I really do want to know."

Chaton looked up at his tutor, then at Tikki, then lastly at Marinette. Then he gave a little smile and bowed, saying in his most formal tones:

"Good afternoon, miss. My name is Prince Adrien - it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Might I have the honor of your name?"

Marinette gasped and looked up in astonishment at Tikki, then giggled and dropped a slightly wobbly curtsy and rather inexpert curtsy as she held her hand out and responded in kind.

"How do you do, Prince Adrien-Chaton? My name is Marinette-Ladybug - pleased to meet you."

Adrien-Chaton took her hand and held it nicely, saying

"A pleasure, Princess Marinette-Ladybug."

They tried very hard to keep straight faces, but it was no use, and the two of them burst into laughter. The adults looked softly down at them, then at each other. Something speechless passed between them, and Chaton's tutor, Plagg, nodded. Then he reached down and ruffled the boy's hair once more.

"I think I'll be able to explain things to the palace, kid." he said with a fond smile. "Why don't you stick around here for a while? Play and be a normal kid for an afternoon - I'll come get you before the princess shows up."

Chaton's face lit up even more and he turned to hug his tutor tightly, but Marinette's mind had caught on one thing in particular.

" You're meeting a real live princess! Really, Chaton? I mean, Adrien?"

"I met her last summer." Adrien-Chaton replied in an annoyed tone. "She's boring. She's no fun at all! I'd rather have you as a princess - we could have so much fun!"

For some reason, this made Marinette look down at her feet in disappointment.

"I couldn't be a princess, I'm too clumsy, and I don't look like one. Is the princess you're seeing later beautiful?"

Chaton noticed his friend's change in attitude and quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"You'd make a great princess! You're so nice and everybody likes you. And even princesses are clumsy sometimes. Did you know there was once a princess who tripped down a whole flight of stairs at a formal party? And my great-uncle was a prince who broke his leg because he got his foot caught while he was getting down from his horse and it started to move. And even my Mama! The first time she met one of my Dad's friends, she curtsied and when she came up, she smacked him in the nose!"

Marinette couldn't help her giggles. She noticed that the tutor had turned and walked away, leaving her, Chaton, and Tikki in the woods. She pulled on her friend's hand and led him toward the house.

"C'mon, let's go get lunch! Tikki, are there cookies today?"

Tikki laughed, nodded, and asked

"Do you want me to bring you two a picnic?"

"Yes!" the two chorused, and Tikki smiled and began to walk toward the house, calling out the age-old warning to "be careful". Marientte looked at her friend, then repeated a question she hadn't gotten an answer to.

"Is the princess you're meeting today beautiful? Where's she from?"

Chaton stuck out his tongue again at the thought of her.

"She's pretty enough, I guess, but she's so boring. She doesn't even smile! All she does is sit and sew and play the piano and boring stuff like that."

Marinette bit her lip. For some reason, she didn't want to mention that one of her favorite hobbies was sewing. Chaton's voice of disdain was something she didn't like, and for some reason, hearing him talk about another girl made her feel funny.

"Chaton, do you think you'll ever not be friends with me?"

He looked at her with an expression of utter shock and hurt

"Of course not! I might have to be friends with lots of people just because, but I'll always be your friend, and I'll always be there for you! For always and forever, okay?"

He held out his pinky to her, and she hooked hers around it and shook it.

"Right. For always and forever. But why do you have to be friends with someone you don't want to?"

"Because her Mom and my Dad always have to talk in private, and we're about the same age, so I guess they just expect it. I get that a lot."

"Have to play with people you don't like?" Marinette asked, confused.

"No, people expect things from me because I'm a prince. So I can't do things like climb trees and play pretend with other people. Hey, do you want to play Rescue before lunch?"

Young Marinette nodded enthusiastically, pulling her friend farther into her own life and away from his.

...

Lying in her attic bedroom, Marinette's eyes were closed and filled with tears, yet not a single sob came out. She wasn't asleep, but she wasn't awake, either. She was lost in a beautiful fantasy existence where everything was up to her. Everything could be changed by her. And everything she'd ever wanted could come into existence within her mind. And yet, her subconscious knew, it wouldn't last. No matter how beautiful the memory, it was always just a memory.

And that would never change.