A/N

Hi everyone! I'm back! Sorry for the wait, it was the end of the semester and had a lot of work to do! But it's over now... Although the summer semester just started, but that's a problem for tomorrow.

I hope you're gonna love this chapter! This is a very characters-centred chapter, instead of an action one so... I hope you'll like it! It's pretty important for the plot moving forward. :)

Hold on, I still want you
Come back, I still need you
Let me take your hand, I'll make it right
I swear to love you all my life
Hold on, I still need you

Chord Overstreet, Hold On

"Honestly kid, you're so calm it's freaking me out. And I don't like freaking out because now I can't fully appreciate my cheese."

"Plagg…"

"I'm serious! Shouldn't you be having some sort of mental breakdown?"

Adrien was seriously considering throwing a pillow at his kwami and smothering him with it. He had gone to bed almost an hour ago, but Plagg just wouldn't shut up. Not for the first time, he wished that his little friend came with a mute button.

"Why would I be having a mental breakdown?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

"Because you always do?"

That little...

"I swear to god, Plagg -"

"I'm just saying!" The kwami interrupted him, flying to be in front of him instead of lying on the nightstand. "You're taking this whole situation weirdly well."

"I'm just… Not surprised, I guess?"

"You should be. Pigtails being Ladybug sure surprised me when I first found out."

"It makes total sense. Ladybug being Marinette is just so obvious now that I think about it. I should've realized it a lot sooner. The eyes and the hair are an obvious giveaway, but not only that. Marinette is just as brave, smart and selfless with and without the mask. I even called her our everyday Ladybug! Can you believe this?"

"Don't remind me, I still haven't recovered from this one. Gold, pure gold."

Completely ignoring Plagg, Adrien added, "I told her countless times that I would never be disappointed with who she truly is. I always knew that I would love her anyway. And I was right. It's funny because I told you like two months ago that if Ladybug wasn't around, Marinette would be the one I couldn't stop thinking about, you remember? Looks like I have a type, uh?"

"How could I forget, I almost died trying not to laugh."

"Hey, when did you find out, exactly?"

"Oh, when you guys had to detransform in front of each other while fighting that owl guy. Since then, it's been a blast watching you guys dance around each other. I'm telling you, Tikki and I are having the time of our lives."

"Wait, dancing around each other? What do you mean?"

"Oh look how late it is! You should be sleeping! Good night, kid!"

"Plagg!"

"Shut up, can't you see that I'm asleep?"

"I'm gonna cut off your camembert ration."

"No, you won't."

"No," he admitted, although grudgingly. "I won't."

"Mom I'm fine, I swear," Marinette said for the fifth time the next morning, growing more and more exasperated by the minute.

"I just think that maybe you could take a day off, sweetie. It's Friday, you could go back on Monday and have a long weekend…"

"I'm not the first one in class who got akumatized and they all went back to school the next day. I'll be fine."

"I'm not worried about that," Sabine sighed before backtracking. "I mean, no, of course, I'm worried about that, but I was talking about the whole bullying thing."

That made her daughter freeze. "I'll be fine," she eventually repeated. "I have to be. I won't let her win. Not again."

"It's not about winning or losing. It's not a game. This is a serious problem."

"I know."

"No, I don't think you do," Sabine said, shaking her head. "I need to tell you a story."

"Maman, I'm gonna be late."

"You always are, anyway."

Well alright, fair enough.

With a sigh, Marinette sat down on the couch next to her mother, waiting impatiently. It's not that she was happy about going back to school, not at all, but she wanted it to be over with. She wanted her life to go back to normal.

And honestly, she didn't want Lila to get there before her and fill everyone's minds with lies.

"I've talked to your father about it last night, and he's fine with me sharing this story but don't go ahead asking him questions, alright? I doubt he'll ever be ready to talk about it."

"Ok," Marinette answered, curiosity now spiked. "I won't mention anything at all."

"Good. Gosh, how do I start? Ok, hmm… When your father was a kid, he had this childhood friend. They met through your grandma, who was friends with her mom. I was lucky enough to meet her a few times after meeting your father. She was two years younger than him and your father always told me that she was like the little sister he never had."

"Okay, what's the-"

"Hush, I'm getting to it. Your father used to say that she was like a young sunflower," Sabine smiled fondly at the memory. "Always looking to the bright side of things. God, don't you remind me of her! Of course, not physically. She had long blonde hair, freckles that she hated for no good reason and warm brown eyes. But you're just as vibrant, smart, kind and beautiful as she was. She had the most lovely soul I'd ever met and the more you grow up, the more I see her in you."

"What happened to her?" Marinette asked with a small voice, fearing what was coming next for this girl she had never met. She didn't miss how her mom was talking about her using the past tense.

"She stood out in every crowd," Sabine continued without answering, her eyes fixed on the window. "Her aura, her light was so bright, just like the sun. No one could ignore her. She could've conquered the world," she looked at Marinette, "But she didn't tell your father how bad it was at school. Didn't tell anyone. She thought she could handle it by herself. Until she couldn't anymore."

"Mom..."

"Every day, this group of horrible girls would bully her relentlessly. They would pick apart all of her flaws and slowly but surely, they became the only thing she could see about herself. She stopped seeing herself as a human being and started seeing herself as a mistake. This loud and beautiful girl disappeared and all that was left was this broken soul."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Because she wrote it down."

"Wrote it… Oh."

Her mom nodded, tears building in her eyes. "She turned away from the sun. They found her in the bath. They tried hard, but there was nothing they could do to save her. She was only sixteen at the time. Your father was… He was a mess. He tried not to show it yesterday, but when Chat Noir told him what had happened, it opened up old wounds. He cried all night. He always worries about you, we both do, you're our only child, but this hits close to home. He blames himself for not seeing how bad it was for his friend, and now he blames himself for not seeing how bad things are for you."

"I'm sorry," Marinette started saying before Sabine interrupted her.

"No, no, no, don't you dare! Nothing about this is your fault, do you hear me? Nothing. But I need you to understand that we can't let this go. We will stand by your side all the way. We won't let you deal with this alone. But you need to let us in, alright?"

Marinette thought about it. She knew she couldn't tell them everything, but…

"I'll try," she eventually said. "Maman?"

"Yes?"

"What was her name?"

Sabine smiled sadly. "Clara."

"That's what I thought."

"Marinette Clara Dupain-Cheng… It seemed so obvious at the time. You know how you were born."

"Yes, the car accident. But I don't understand..."

"They rushed us to the hospital, but the accident had provoked your birth and you were already almost out by the time we got there. The collision was on my side of the car and well… The doctors weren't hopeful about you. Your heart was slowing down way too fast. They told us to expect the worst. And then you were born and I saw the doctor's face. I knew right then that you were gone and that they couldn't do anything," she let out a sob. "I took you in my arms and just started crying. You weren't breathing. You were so little and blue. But then a hit of sunlight hit your face and you just… breathed. You got all pink and started screaming hysterically. I remember your father thinking Clara out loud. Everyone said it was a miracle and we knew who we had to thank. Because of that, we decided to honour her somehow, show that she wasn't forgotten and that we were so grateful for everything. And now I'm pretty sure her soul lives through you. She's your guardian angel if something like this exists. It wasn't your time to go, just like it wasn't hers. She knew you had so many amazing things to accomplish first."

With one hand, Sabine tenderly wiped away the tears that had run down Marinette's cheeks.

"You are our miracle, our little sunflower, so please ma chérie, don't let anyone turn you away from the light."

Over at school, Marinette's class were chatting loudly, even though the bell had rung ten minutes ago. Miss Bustier was busy trying to set up the movie they were supposed to watch today and thankfully didn't mind them talking in the meantime. She didn't even seem to notice that one girl was running late. Or maybe she was just used to it.

"Do you think she's gonna come?" Alya asked, looking at the door expectedly.

"I hope so! Dudette needs a big hug from her friends," Nino answered.

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, she sure does."

"I can't believe she snapped over a pen!" they heard Lila said from behind them and turned to look at their classmates, all crowded in the back around the girl's desk. "I don't know what happened…"

"She's clearly having some problems that we don't know about," Kim replied.

Rose chimed in. "Yeah, don't take it personally Lila! We've all been akumatized over silly stuff! We just need to show her that we love her and are here for her!"

"Of course, you're all right. We need to be especially kind to her today!" Lila answered with a smile that was so clearly fake, it was a miracle the teenagers didn't see it for what it truly was.

"Please, tell me you guys at least don't believe this girl," a voice suddenly groaned from beside Adrien, making the trio jump.

"Chloe, what are you talking about?"

"Césaire, c'mon. I don't like Dupain-Cheng, but even I know she wouldn't have snapped over a pen. I've been putting her through hell since I've known her and she never reacted in any way. Like, I've been seriously awful at times. I don't even wanna know what Lila said or did to finally break her."

With that, she walked back to her place, leaving the three teenagers speechless.

"Chloe's right," Adrien said after a second. "Hate to say it, but…"

Nino laughed. "Yeah. Hell must've frozen over."

"Okay, what do we do then?" Alya asked. "We know things were bad before the whole Lila thing happened, but we don't know exactly what was wrong. She wouldn't talk to us before, I doubt she'll talk more now. I just wish she would tell us something!"

Oh, well, you know, she's Ladybug, always trying to save Paris and stop Papillon, and not only that, now she's the guardian so you know, obviously, the weight of it all is getting a little bit too heavy to carry. And with Lila's bullying to top it all…

Yeah no, Adrien couldn't say that.

Or could he?

No. Of course not.

"We need to be there for her, no matter what," he said instead. "We need to be her friends. I think we can do that."

Marinette chooses this moment to run into the classroom. She was breathing fast and her cheeks were red... and so were her eyes, as though she had been crying. Eyes glued to the floor, she walked straight to her place, completely avoiding everyone's gaze, although she surely noticed the way everyone stopped talking to stare at her instead.

"Girl, are you -" Alya started.

"I'm fine," she answered, finally meeting her best friend's concerned eyes. "I had a talk with my mom, that's why I'm late."

She was speaking low, making sure that no one besides Nino, Adrien and Alya could hear her. The rest of the class had started talking again in whispers, no doubt about their class president.

"And how did it go?" Nino asked, concerned.

"Good. It was really eye-opening."

"Ok everyone, back to your place!" Miss Bustier shouted, cutting their conversation short. "Nino, can you please turn off the light?"

Adrien turned to look at Marinette who, as always, turned bright red. He still couldn't figure that one out. "I'm glad you're feeling better. We were really worried about you."

"T-thanks. But you're fine - I mean I'm fine now."

"I'm here if you need anything."

Marinette somehow managed to blush even more, although he wasn't exactly sure why. Shouldn't he be the one freaking out? After all, he had just found out that the girl he was in love with and the girl he had a secret crush on was one and the same. He should be the one blushing and stuttering like crazy! Not her! Why was she blushing?

"Thank you," she repeated, looking stunned. "It really means a lot."

He briefly looked at Lila who had her eyes strained on them both and lowered his voice so only she could hear, letting a bit of his Chat Noir persona shine through, "She won't get away with all of this that easily. I'm sorry I let it go this far, but it's over now, I swear. We'll bring her down together, believe me."

"Wha-what?"

Adrien simply winked. There was something in his tone and in his attitude that was oddly familiar, but Marinette couldn't put her finger on what exactly. All she knew is that Adrien was talking to her, siding by her and even winking at her!

What the hell was going on?

In the meantime, Adrien was also panicking. Was he too obvious? Gosh, he clearly was! She was going to figure out that he was Chat Noir and that he knew her secret identity and she was probably gonna be angry at him and oh god he screwed up didn't he?

They both proceeded to freak out for the rest of the period, going over what had been said and needless to say, neither of them had any idea what the movie was about.