"So you're saying you come from a long line of royalty but no one can claim you because then the country would have an uprising just to claim you, and you don't want that because you don't know how to lead a country?" Chloe stood with her hands on her hips, looking down at the new girl, Lila.

"Exactly," the brunette said, a fake smile on her face.

"Bullshit," Chloe snapped before she looked at everyone else in the class. "How dumb would you have to be to believe this shit?"

"Why would she lie?" A short geek with huge glasses spoke up. "She gains absolutely nothing from sharing this with us."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Of course she has something to gain! Popularity!"

"Not everyone is like you, Chloe," another new girl spoke up. This girl had darker skin, with red at the ends of her beautiful brown hair. "People don't just go around lying to make themselves look better."

Chloe grit her teeth. "You're buying everything she says?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Lila Rossi questioned. "It's all the truth." Chloe wanted to smack that smug look off her face. Where was Marinette Dupain-Cheng when she could be useful?

"Oh, it's all the truth, is it?" Chloe took a step closer to the girl's desk, and Rossi didn't even seem to care. "So your mother flies you to whichever country you want when you're craving their food?"

"Only when I'm sick," she 'corrected.' "Otherwise, that would get a little expensive."

"And you had backstage tickets to the Jagged Stone concert?"

"Of course!" the girl grinned. "I've known him my whole life. Avril loves me, and treats me like the sister he never had."

"Um, I thought Avril Butler had a sister?" Nino Lahiffe questioned. Chloe had always found him a little annoying, and slightly pathetic. Usually she couldn't wait for him to shut up. In that moment, though, she could listen to him talk for hours.

"An older sister," Rossi said after the briefest of pauses only Chloe seemed to pick up on. Dupain-Cheng would have noticed it, too, if she had been there. "I'm like his little sister he never had."

Lahiffe nodded, like that bullshit made any sense at all, and she mentally smacked herself for expecting anything from the little nuisance. She turned back to Rossi.

"And you've won national competitions for lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball?" Chloe grinned down at her. "I've seen you at PE. You're not very good. You're not even on any teams."

Lila looked down for a moment, sniffing away a fake tear. "I tore my ACL a year ago," she said. "I can't play sports again-at least not physical ones. I have a doctor's note and everything. I can play video games, though."

"Oh, come on!" Chloe stamped her foot, wanting to rip her hair out. "You're such a liar!"

"Chloe, knock it off," Mylene Haprele said shakily from her seat. She looked to Ivan Bruel and the giant nodded at her. "She's new, and she's cool. You're just mad because she seems to have more experiences and friends than you."

"That's not true!" Chloe denied. "She's just lying!"

"Since when do you care about liars?" Le Chien asked curiously from his desk in front of her. Chloe rolled her eyes.

"If you hear Dupain-Cheng's speech about honesty and integrity enough times, it sticks with you. It's annoying as hell that I've heard it so many times I've almost got it memorized, and this bitch hasn't heard it even once."

"Calm down, Chloe," Adrien stood up, reaching towards her. "You're really worked up. There's no need to call her names."

Chloe shook his hand off and stared at him. "You don't believe me!" She was shocked. This was Adrien, her best friend, the person who knew her best in the world. He was supposed to be on her side no matter what, and here he was, trying to be a white knight in shining armor for the new girl who would probably go after him for his money and his father's name. This was unbelievable!

"You said you play video games?" the geek addressed Rossi. She grinned at him.

"Oh yeah, all the time. I mainly play Ultimate Mecha Strike-I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it. It's a pretty niche game. I like it, though. I've broken a ton of records and high scores!"

"Really?" The geek was excited, but Chloe was focused on the name of that video game. Where had she heard that before? "There's a UMS tournament this weekend-would you like to be my partner?"

"Over my dead body!" called a voice from the front of the room. Chloe had never been more happy to see that short Asian girl in her entire life. "Max, you said I was going to be your partner!"

"But Lila's broken multiple high scores, and set new records on the game!" Max said excitedly. Marinette snorted, and Chloe sat down, grinning at Rossi triumphantly. The cavalry was here-Rossi was going down.

"Which records?" Marinette asked. "And which high scores? The entire high score board is dominated by me, my dad, and my uncles. Even you haven't broken one of our high scores. And you want me to give up my spot in the tournament to a known liar just because she said she had some new high scores and broke some records?"

"Lila, why don't you tell Marinette which records you broke?" Max tried to play the peacekeeper. Chloe took her phone out and snapped a picture of Rossi's shocked face.

"Chloe!" Alya scolded. Chloe made a face.

"Like you weren't dying for a shot of that face."

Alya looked away, and Chloe continued to watch the show.

"Nothing to say, Lila?" Marinette taunted. Oh, the little Asian girl was so perfect Chloe could just kiss her. She turned back to the liar, giddy with delight at how the whole situation was going. "Why don't we meet in the library at lunch? We can have a quick match, and whoever wins can decide who joins Max's team for the tournament."

Lila wasn't looking too good. Her face was pale, and she was biting her lip. "I'm not feeling too well,"

"You were craving American food, weren't you?" Chloe called helpfully from her seat. "Why don't you call your mom, and we can hear her offer to fly you to New York?"

"What?" Marinette glanced at Chloe. Chloe took great joy in explaining the ridiculousness of Rossi's claim to seemingly the only other level head in the classroom.

"Rossi here was telling us earlier that she was craving American food, and told us that when she was sick, her mother flew her to the country of her choice to enjoy the food."

"What kind of idiot would believe that?" Marinette questioned, and Chloe couldn't agree more.

"Come on, Marinette," Alix Kubdel called from across the room. "She's new, and she's making friends. Don't get so jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Marinette frowned.

"Of course you are," Adrien rolled his eyes. "You're jealous because she's making friends because she's nice and cool, and doesn't have to rely on childhood relationships because she grew up to be mean and grouchy."

"Hey!" Marinette barked at him. "Stay out of this. I'm supposed to be nice to you."

Chloe felt conflicted for a second. This was her best friend: Adri-cat. He had been there for her through her mother's continual abandonment, her parent's divorce, and every single birthday and hardship since. She was supposed to be on his side no matter what. She pursed her lips.

"Fat chance," Adrien threw back. "Be nice to Lila and I'll leave you alone." He actually had the nerve to look at her for support. Chloe sniffed.

"Adri-cat, I think you'd better listen to Dupain-Cheng and sit down."

His mouth dropped, and he couldn't do anything but lower himself in his seat.

"Traitor," he mouthed.

"Pot meet kettle," she mouthed back.

"Don't think we've forgotten about you," Marinette turned back to Rossi. "Are you going to call your mom for a trip to New York, or are you going to meet me in the library at lunch?"

"Leave her alone, Marinette," another new girl piped her. This one was short, blonde, and way too pink for Chloe's eyes to handle.

"Don't you think this has gone on long enough?" The teacher at the front of the room sounded like she was about to cry. "You kids have been at it for half an hour." Marinette and Chloe both turned to her, and the teacher rushed out of the room, mumbling something about a bathroom. She really needed to get a new excuse.

"I'm not actually feeling sick," Rossi tried to bring the situation back under control. "I just haven't played U...MC for a while. I might not be at the top of my game."

"Playing UMS is like muscle memory," Marinette waved off Rossi's concerns, heading for her seat. "You'll do just as good as you would've done if you actually knew the game's abbreviation."

Damn the girl, but Dupain-Cheng knew how to end an argument.

The teacher timidly stepped back into the room and stumbled over her lecture about polynomial factoring.

Lila just had one of those personalities which rubbed Marinette the wrong way. Somehow, she had bothered her and Chloe enough that the two of them had almost teamed up that morning to bring the girl down. Marinette wasn't sure what problem Chloe had with her, but this, the scene in front of her, was exactly why Marinette couldn't stand the girl.

"I'm sorry I lied," Lila cried, hugging Max and looking at everyone else who had showed up at the library to see the match between her and Marinette. "I just...saw how popular Marinette was and I wanted to be like her! I thought if I said I was good at video games, you guys would think I was cool and would want to be friends with me!"

Lila kept heaving and sobbing, and Marinette's friends kept looking at her like she was some sort of bully. Marinette rolled her eyes. Lila was lying-the name was almost like a warning. She was sitting there, garnering everyone's attention by manipulating them into feeling sorry for her, and turning someone else into a bad guy.

Alix came over and put her hand on Marinette's shoulder.

"We've been friends for forever, and you know I'm always going to love you," Alix started softly. Marinette's stomach clenched, and she felt like she was going to throw up. "But that was really harsh, don't you think? She just wanted-"

"Don't," Marinette said. "Somehow, it seems like the only one who sees the truth, other than me, is Chloe-you're not going to change my mind on that. I'm not going to apologize, so you should just leave it before we hurt each other's feelings."

Alix stood there for a second before nodding and walking away. Marinette wandered to Chloe's side. This was a day she'd never seen coming.

"This is so stupid," Marinette mumbled, and Chloe nodded in agreement.

"It was funny when you killed her that first time," Chloe grinned. "I took a picture of her face." Marinette didn't even need to ask, and Chloe showed it to her. "Oh, and this is a short video of the time you kept toying with her-when you let her heal just so you could beat her back to an inch of her life."

Marinette wheezed. "Send this to me. Please!"

"Number?"

Marinette punched it into Chloe's phone, and they kept talking, Chloe close to gushing over the moments of Marinette crushing Lila like a bug. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice a certain brown haired, green eyes girl eavesdropping on their conversation, or a small, white butterfly entering the library.

"Butterfly! Akuma butterfly!" Kim yelled. Everyone in the library started to evacuate. Marinette didn't move. Neither did Chloe. Both of them saw the butterfly land on Lila's jacket, and they both saw the change occur.

Hair sprouted from the girl's arms, and wings burst from her back. Her face was covered by a red glow, and a fox-tail curled around her ankles.

"An Akuma?" Marinette said. Lila-the Akuma-turned towards her and screamed. Marinette screamed back. She turned, grabbed Chloe's arm, and ran. The Akuma flew after them. It was screaming.

"Laugh at me, huh? I'll show you humiliation!" The Akuma's fox-tail flicked through the air, and Marinette pulled Chloe to the ground. Where they had been standing was now simply a charred piece of carpet.

"Maybe it works differently on people?" Marinette guessed as she continued to pull Chloe to safety.

"She was so embarrassed she got possessed by an evil butterfly?" Chloe gasped. "How much more pathetic can you get?"

"You're still laughing at me!" The Akuma screeched. It flew forward, and tried to grab the girls. Marinette grabbed the closest thing to her-a hole punch-and smacked the Akuma's hand. She heard the bones break, but didn't stick around to see how the Akuma reacted.

"Hey, Chloe," Marinette panted. "Let's leave her alone until she's not an Akuma anymore, alright?"

"Good idea," Chloe gasped. The two girls ran through the library doors and into the sea of high schoolers trying to escape the premises.

"Chloe Bourgeois! Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

"I hate this one," Chloe almost fell behind, but Marinette pulled her along. "I hate this one so much!"

"Well, it hates you, too!" Marinette rounded a corner and almost ran into a wall. No, not a wall. A person. A very tall person. A very tall, handsome person, who was looking like he was waiting for something.

"Cat Noir!" Chloe rested her hands on her knees. "Thank God. We're saved."

"No Ladybug, though," he said. "Where's the Akuma?"

"Uh, it's, she's-you see, we were," Marinette cursed herself. Chloe looked at her like she was an idiot, and Cat Noir ran off without even bothering to listen to any more of her ramblings. "She's down the hall," Marinette finished lamely. Chloe cackled, and Marintte glared at her. "Come on, let's go."

The two started moving again, and all seemed well, until the ceiling collapsed in front of them. Chloe screamed. Marinette saw Cat Noir wrestling with the Akuma. This was not good-the Akuma was going to grab him and do...whatever it could do to him. She ran forward, shoved Cat Noir out of the way, and roundhouse kicked the Akuma in the face. Lila screeched.

"Ladybug?" Cat Noir called out.

"Nope, just me!" She tried to smile at him. She had a feeling it looked more tense than she had intended it to be. The Akuma was already standing back up. Her mother's training kicked back in. Always strike first. Always strike hard. Always strike to win. Marinette did just that. She knew she wasn't as strong without the suit, but she had years of martial arts training behind her. She could still hold her own in a one-on-one fight, and Cat Noir had seemed like he was struggling.

She readied her stance and lunged forward, faking a punch to the face while actually spinning around to the Akuma's back. She needed to get rid of the wings. She grabbed them and twisted them. Breaking them was her best bet since she wasn't sure she would be able to completely detach them. The Akuma screamed in pain and turned to face her. Cat Noir pulled her back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Cat Noir was usually so patient and kind-that was something she really liked about him. Being on the receiving end of his sharp words hurt, but more than that, it irritated her to be treated like a child.

"Let me go!" She shrugged his hands off of her. "I'm helping when you're obviously not doing so hot!" She pushed him out of her way and looked at the Akuma. The red glow around her face was brighter than before. Whoever had made the Akuma was trying to get it to do something.

"No!" the Akuma screeched. "I don't care about the Makara-Chloe and Marinette need to be destroyed!"

"Get out of here!" Cat Noir yelled at both girls, shoving Chloe down the hall. He didn't get to Marinette in time.

She jumped forward, taking advantage of the Akuma's distraction, and kicked it in the head. The Akuma was knocked off balance, and Marinette kept advancing. All the training she'd received from her mother and uncles ran through her mind and body. Kick, punch, dodge, fake-out. She spun around and kicked the Akuma behind the knees; the Akuma fell to the ground. Cat Noir's staff came out of nowhere, hit the Akuma on the head, and it was out cold.

Marinette didn't risk looking at Cat Noir. It would have ruined her stream of competency. She needed to transform-her partner needed her. She spun on her heels and ran.

"Hey, wait!" Cat Noir called after her. "Ah, whatever-get to a bunker!" She scoffed. Going to a bunker? She wished.

"Spots on, Tikki," Marinette said, and she swung as fast as she could to the scene of the Makara. The cops were there, trying a new technique to slow the Makara down. They stood in a line with fire extinguishers in their hands. They blasted the Makara's legs with the compressed carbon dioxide. It barely seemed to affect the Makara, but even the slightest change was a blessing in a situation like this.

"Any progress?" she dropped down next to Officer Madeline. "Or anything strange about it?" Marinette looked up to observe the Makara. It was big, like a bear, but it had six legs. Each one was thin and spindly-they didn't seem like they would have the strength required to hold the beast up. Its head connected directly to its torso and looked exactly like a salmon head. She couldn't tell whether it had a tail from her vantage point.

"Nothing to report. Cat Noir brought the unconscious Akuma to us a few minutes prior. He's up there by the Makara's neck right now, and seems to need assistance."

Marinette nodded and took a deep breath to prepare herself. She swung her yo-yo and tried to tangle the Makara's legs. Like her Lucky Charm, her yo-yo swung where she visualized it, and soon the Makara's spider legs were trapped in the string. She braced her feet on the concrete and pulled. She needed more power.

"I need more strength, Tikki!" She growled, pulling harder. The police around her hesitantly moved closer, their fire extinguishers almost out of gas. "Now, Tikki, I need to be stronger!"

"This won't be fun, but ok,"

(The Ladyblog would blow up after getting exclusive footage of the following scene: Ladybug was standing, strong as always. Her bright red suit stood in stark contrast with the gray street and blue Makara. It was easy to see she was struggling, and she seemed to be yelling at someone-maybe herself? Her yo-yo's string was tangled through the Makara's legs, but the hero didn't seem to be able to pull the Makara down. Then, Ladybug screamed. Her suit glowed-it started faint, like a traffic light on a sunny day. Seconds passed, and the light grew in intensity until it was impossible for cameras to pick up Ladybug's figure inside the light. The Makara fell to the ground, and Ladybug's figure was covered by the dust of the crumbling street. Beneath the picture was the caption: You Can Lean On Me)

Marinette didn't know what just happened. All she knew was that her body was on fire, and her muscles felt like they would turn to liquid any second. She couldn't let go of the Makara, though. She didn't want to risk it standing up again.

"I told you," Tikki quipped, sounding anything but concerned. "Not fun."

"You finally decided to show up?" Cat Noir grunted as he landed next to her. Behind him, the Makara took a shuddering breath.

Like you're one to talk, where were you last time? Well, someone's gotten snarky lately. Don't start with me, Cat Noir.

"Like you were, someone's-Cat Noir?" She would have been more embarrassed if she'd had the extra energy. Cat Noir actually had the nerve to laugh at her. "What do you need?" She bit out. He sobered, looking back at the Makara. He looked so tired. Marinette's grip on the yo-yo tightened. He should have to look like that, and she should have to feel like this. She wasn't sure about him, but she was seventeen for hell's sake. She should not be regularly risking her life to save her city. What kind of selfish bastard would do this? Marinette wasn't the kind of person to hate anyone, but in that instant, she hated the Makara maker.

"If you could make a spear, we could get it in the Makara's eye and destroy it, and this time we wouldn't have to use our legs." Marinette gagged at the memory. "Right, sorry, I won't mention it again."

"A spear, huh?" Marinette imagined it in her mind. "Ok, hold this." Cat Noir took over holding the yo-yo. He was jerked forward.

"Jesus!" He yelped, readjusting his stance. "How have you been holding onto this?" She ignored him and stood behind him. The police scrambled to get new fire extinguishers. One exclaimed happily that he had found some liquid nitrogen.

"Lucky Charm." Her hands started glowing, and she felt the familiar warmth in her fingertips. She was so glad she's been practicing lately-now she could show off to Cat Noir.

"Think you could do it before next week?" He grit through his teeth. His arms were trembling, and the Makara was starting to pull him forward.

She wanted to glare at him. Oh, she wanted to glare at him and yell at him and tell him to shut up. One look at him, though, had her tripping over a piece of concrete and landing right on her face. A few officers came to help her to her feet. She would have shoved them away from her if she wasn't afraid she couldn't hold herself up by herself. She allowed them to hold her up.

"Give me the yo-yo," She forced herself to stand, almost falling to her knees.

"You're exhausted!" Cat Noir argued. "No way you'll be able to hold this thing back."

"I will-I'll have to. You'll need to get it in the eye," She grabbed the yo-yo with both hands, and an officer handed Cat Noir the spear she had created. "I can hold it, but hurry up, would you?"

Cat Noir nodded and ran off, jumping up the Makara's body, leveling the spear at the creature's eye, and then throwing it. She almost feared he would miss. Her earrings beeped, reminding her that she had eight minutes before she transformed back. The smell from the Makara stung at her nose and only served to intensify her dizziness.

"Jump!" An officer yelled at Cat Noir. "It's starting to dissolve, you'll break your leg if you stay up there!"

He leaped down with the agility of a cat and made his way towards Ladybug. Her arms were jelly, and her fingers trembled as she reeled in the yo-yo's string.

"I have seven minutes left-go Cataclysm the Akuma." He nodded, and Ladybug collapsed, staring at the spot the Makara had just been. It was a crater now, just an empty space which used to hold a monster. A monster which always appeared before an Akuma showed up. A lot of people speculated that Makara were like Akuma, but created from animals instead. There was something about that Marinette couldn't agree with, though. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was that differentiated the Makara from the Akuma, but it was a big difference-more than simply being an animal instead of a human.

Her earring rang six chimes. Six minutes left. Her nose started to run-probably because it was so cold out. She sniffled.

"No!" The Akuma wailed. Apparently, it had woken up just before Cat Noir could Cataclysm her jacket. She was thrashing around, throwing police officers right and left. "I need to destroy them! Marinette and Chloe are dead! They're dead!"

Marinette blinked. That was it. That's what was different. Each Akuma had seemed so unique-so different from the rest. Akuma were almost like humans, with how vastly different their personalities were from each other. Not only that, they seemed to have different goals. Some sped to the Makara and tried to help destroy it. Others, like Lila, wanted revenge on specific people, and weren't afraid to hurt innocents in their journey to the goal. The Makara had none of that. In gaming terms, they were like an npc. They weren't programmed with desires or personalities. They had one goal in mind: walk through the city of Paris and destroy as much as possible. That was it. There were no other goals, no other motivations behind those large, fish-like, emotionless eyes.

"Let me go!" The Akuma continued to fight. "I won't rest until they get a piece of their own medicine!"

Ladybug threw her yo-yo at the Akuma and trapped it in a sort of cocoon. Her muscles spasmed, and she just barely kept herself from falling to her knees.

"Six minutes!" She called to her partner as he touched the Akuma's jacket. It was a shame-that had been such a cute piece. Ladybug purified the butterfly and turned to Officer Madeline. "Get a team to follow that butterfly. It might just lead us to one of the culprits behind this mess."

"One of the culprits?" Cat Noir questioned, moving closer to her. He tilted his head as he looked at her and opened his mouth to say something. His mouth closed. He paused, then said, "You think there's more than one person behind this?"

Five minutes left. She was running out of time to leave, but she didn't want to keep this information to herself.

"The Akuma are so different from the Makara, they can't possibly be made by the same person. Think about it: most of the Akuma try to fight the Makara, and sometimes they're better at it than we are."

"But sometimes they don't," Cat Noir pointed out. "Like the Akuma today. Which you wouldn't know about, since you weren't there."

She rolled her eyes. If only he knew. Four minutes left.

"Sorry," she said flatly. "Listen. I feel stupid just realizing it now, but the goals are different. The Akuma are like people-they have someone giving them orders, sure, but sometimes they rebell and do what they want. The Makara don't seem to have that-they exist solely to destroy, and then be destroyed. Can't you see? They're totally different, and I don't think they were made by the same person. We're looking for two magic-wielding criminals."

Cat Noir shook his head. "I'm with you, I totally understand what you're saying, but it's hard to pay attention when your nose is bleeding so badly."

"My...what?"

Cat Noir gestured to his own nose. "I think it started when you fell over there," he motioned towards the incriminating piece of cement which had tripped her. "Now the blood is dripping...oh, it's in your teeth."

"You saw that?" She was horrified, and covered her mouth with her hands. She squeezed her eyes shut. Her earrings chimed. Three minutes left-the perfect excuse to leave. "I, uh-see you-minutes-going home!"

The pain in her arms as she swung away on her yo-yo was a welcome relief from the sheer embarrassment of that entire exchange.

(That night, there was nothing of note on the official Parisian news channels. The Ladyblog, however, showed a series of photographs ordered by time-stamp. Each picture showed a different street. The police were in almost every shot, following a white butterfly. There were four pictures in the series before the butterfly couldn't be found anymore. Alya Cesaire, the author and moderator of the Ladyblog, had reached out to the police as soon as she was allowed to exit the bunker. Officer Claude, with whom she had corresponded, said that his unit had been tasked with following the purified Akuma in an effort to find out where they were coming from. They failed their mission. After chasing the purified butterfly four streets, it dissolved in front of them. There was no clear video of this event occurring, and the public was left to take their word for it.)