Chapter 13: The Dress
As the day of the ball arrived, everyone was tense with excitement.
Marinette had given Alya her gown a few days prior, and was hastily putting the finishing touches on her own dress just a few minutes before the carriage was to arrive. Finally done, she slipped it on and pinned a Rose in her hair.
"Ta-da! What do you think?" She asked the hamsters. "Well, I love it," she told them when she didn't get a reply.
Looking out the attic window, she saw the carriage approaching and hurried down the stairs.
Sabrina stood with Chloe, waiting for their mother and Marinette. Lila strode dramatically into the room, but stopped at the sight of her daughters.
"Look at you!" She beamed, gesturing to Chloé and Sabrina. "My two beautiful daughters! Oh, seeing you like this makes me think that one of you might just snare the prince!"
Yeah... Sabrina rather doubted that. Their dresses were rather... hideous. Why couldn't Marinette pick out their dresses for once, instead of her mother and Chloe?
"And to think that I have two horses in the race!" Wow. Okay, that's... Sabrina didn't even want to marry some dumb prince she'd never met! Besides, what about Marinette? That's three, not two...?
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, the three of them looked up. It was Marinette, wearing an old-fashioned, though quite pretty, pink and red dress.
"Mari-trash, what do you think you're wearing?!" Chloé demanded as soon as Marinette came into her stepfamily's view.
She bristled at that remark, but was quick to reassure them. "Don't worry, it cost you nothing!" She said, putting her hands up. "I made it myself, from my mother's favorite dress." Seeing Lila about to say something, she hastily went on. "I don't even want to meet the prince! I just want to see-" she blushed- "a friend..."
"Oh, there is no question of your going," her stepmother replied scathingly.
"B-but every maiden in the land is invited, by order of the king!" She had to go! Her Kitty would be there, and she needed to see him again! She might never have another chance!
"It... is the king, whom I am thinking of!" Lila said with fake concern. "It would be a disgrace to him for you to show up at the palace, dressed in these... old rags."
Marinette seethed. How dare she! "This dress was my mother's!"
"I'm sorry to say this, dear, but your mother... had questionable taste," she replied in mock sympathy. Marinette would have burst out laughing if she wasn't so furious. Questionable taste?! Lila wouldn't know a decent dress if it hit her in the face! "I mean, look at the old thing! It's practically falling to pieces!"
And then, Lila Rossi reached out and, grabbing the red outer layer of her stepdaughter's skirt, she yanked- and the fragile seams that Marinette had stitched delicately by hand ripped apart, and the red fabric crumpled to the floor. "Oh, no! The skirt ripped!"
In shock, Marinette hesitated for just a second, and as her stepmother moved away, satisfied, Chloe lunged forward and grabbed her sleeve. Already moving away, Marinette couldn't stop, and her left sleeve tore off the bodice, trailing threads. Chloe dropped it and stepped back. "Oh, look at that! The sleeve fell off!" She mocked.
Lila stepped forward once more, and Marinette instinctively took a step back. The heel of her shoe caught and ripped out the two inches of skirt she had hemmed up, breaking the heel and making her trip backwards onto the stairs. Her stepmother leaned down and glared, her face inches from Marinette's. "Now mark... my... words," she said, pointing her finger at Marinette threateningly. "You shall not go to the ball!"
Stepping back, Lila yanked the rose out of Marinette's hair. Marinette silently sat up, watching her stepmother slowly shred the rose petal by petal, smirking at her triumphantly. Her eyes followed the last petal as it fell to the floor on top of the heap of red and pink. Keeping from crying by sheer will, Marinette stared at the red petal, refusing to let Lila see the tears forming in her eyes.
Lila whirled around, beckoning for her daughters to come. For a brief second, Marinette's watery blue eyes met Sabrina's teal ones in an imploring gaze, but just as quickly Sabrina looked away in shame, not daring to say a word.
Halfway through the door, Chloe fired one last parting shot at Marinette, who had stumbled to her feet and was clutching onto the bannister to keep herself upright. "See ya, Mari-trash!" She gloated.
The door shut with a resounding bang, and Marinette collapsed, sobbing. "I-I'm sorry!" She gasped. "I'm sorry, mother! I said I'd have courage, but-but I don't! How-how can I be kind to them?! I-I just can't do it anymore! I-I-I don't believe anymore!"
A/N: *bursts out crying* I'm so sorry, Marinette! So, so sorry... I hate making my characters sad! But, of course (and unfortunately), I have to at some point...
This chapter was hard to write, and I don't have any more written after it, so it might be a bit before I post again... but hey, this was a lot sooner than you expected, right? Probably not... I know, I'm sorry, but I've been distracted by school and my forum, and then distracted from those by my making of the Gacha video version of my next fanfiction story! I'm not gonna start writing it until I'm done with this, but I couldn't resist starting the video! In case you were wondering, yes I did make a Gacha video version of this story (actually I basically finished it before I even started writing), but I'm not sure if I'll, like, put it on youtube or anything, if I do I'll let you know. Anyways... favorite, follow, and/or review please!
Sn0wk1tty: Yay, someone else reviewed! Yeah, that part was pretty funny, I'm sad I forgot to put it in :( This story isn't just going to be Marichat, there's actually... everything but Ladynoir (sad, but it wouldn't really fit into the story, would it?). Of course, there's way less obliviousness... hooray! Obliviousness is annoying, though I just love the irony... Yeah, Alya and Nino are gonna be back... I mean, I've got to make them get together at some point!