Lila was sitting in the middle of the cafeteria, her followers hovering above her and obeying her every command. Marinette was hurt at first that her classmates would ditch her the second somebody new and shiny showed up. But now, Marinette didn't feel hurt, she felt disgusted. Over the years, Marinette thought that her classmates would stick by her side and they would fight for her no matter what. But she realized that all they wanted was the free stuff she came with. Banners, clothes, jewelry, pastries, she could go on. They thought they could suck onto Marinette and they would get anything they desired. Then, Lila appeared. She had all these connections that made Marinette's things look like trash. They chose Lila in a heartbeat because of the promise of all these connections. Prince Ali, Jagged Stone, Ladybug, etc. They thought that now that they had Lila, they could throw Marinette away. They thought that Marinette was just a shiny item that had no sparkle anymore and was useless. They could just leave Marinette to suffer and have no consequences. They had the nerve to thing she would not care and they could keep leeching onto her, how wrong they were.
Marinette ate her lunch alone under the stairs on a Tuesday afternoon. Everyone had such high spirits. Marinette chuckled bitterly as she saw many students sitting next to their friends, gossiping and chattering. She cried softly, tears dripping down her cheeks. "Oh Tikki," Marinette whispered, "I need to talk to Chat tonight during patrol."
"We can arrange that Marinette, but are you okay?"
"Yes, Tikki," Marinette whispered hoarsely, standing tall and wiping tears from her cheek.
The bell rang and Marinette hurried to class, ignoring the glares coming from her classmates as she headed to the back. Mrs. Bustier came in and they started class. It was a fairly normal, but Marinette kept her guard up. She knew Lila would do something to disturb one of these rare, peaceful days. Marinette was right. At the end of class, Lila whimpered loudly. In a second, her classmates were all around her, asking her what was wrong. "It's nothing, not really anything to worry about." She said in a sad, innocent voice.
"You can tell us, Lila!" Rose said sympathetically.
"Yeah, I can beat them up for you!" Kim confidentially said.
"Yeah! Me too!" Alix piped in.
"Oh well, I didn't want to say anything that might ruin your friendship with Marinette. Oops I wasn't supposed to say that!" Lila said, trying to build up the spark that would soon turn into a flame.
"What did she do?" Alya growled with loathing.
"She-she, oh I don't want to say it! It brings back the bad memories of what happened!" Lila whimpered with crocodile tears spilling from her eyes.
"You can tell us Lila! We can make sure she pays!" Kim said, pushing his fists against each other in a threating motion.
"Marinette threatened me in the bathroom and she said that she would turn all of you against me the day I came back from Achu!" Lila cried.
All eyes turned to Marinette. "You are such a jerk!" Alya roared.
All Marinette did was laugh; a bitter, cold laugh.
"You think I would threaten her? That I would bully her? That I would push her down the stairs? That I would put her through this misery when I went through bullying from Chloe? That I suddenly turn evil the second I see a new student that Adrien might have an interest in? That when this new girl arrives, I'm suddenly the bully when I have been nothing but kind to you all? Even Chloe?" Marinette spat; her voice laced with venom.
"I guess the second a new shiny object appears, glittering with fake gold, you throw me away. That's it, isn't it? Years of friendship thrown down the drain when a girl with all these connections comes. Karma will come down to all of you, and it will spare no mercy." Marinette barely whispered, tears forming and sliding down.
Marinette went to the door and opened it, but before she closed it, she looked at Adrien "I had a crush on you, you know? But now that I know the truth about you, all I feel about you is disgust. Enjoy your life being a doormat, Adrien." Marinette said with burning fury.
Marinette ran until she couldn't run anymore. She collapsed at the Seine, sobs erupting from her and her fists hitting the ground. "Marinette?" A voice questioned. She knew who it belonged to.
"L-Luka?" Marinette said and looked up.
"Are you okay?" Luka asked, clearly concerned for her.
"I-I'm f-fine, L-Luka" Marinette lied and her voice broke into sobs.
"Marinette what's wrong? You can tell me," Luka said, comforting her and hugging her.
"Lila lied. She threatened me that I would lose all my friends and she was right." Marinette said, taking a break for sobs. "But now I know their true colors. That they used me and only saw me as an item. They threw me away because someone had all these things to make them famous and it made me look useless. And Adrien is a spineless jerk, he only cares about if Lila is akumatized but what about me? Does anyone care if I'm akumatized?" Marinette said to Luka.
"I do Marinette, my sweet melody. You care about everyone and if they're dumb enough to think that they can keep using you, they are wrong," Luka promised. Marinette closed her eyes and let Luka comfort her. Suddenly, Luka went still.
Marinette looked up and saw a familiar purple butterfly mask on his face. She got up and ran into an alley and then a boom shook the ground. "Tikki! Luka has been akumatized. I have to save him! Spots On!"
After a pink flash, Ladybug appeared out of the alley and swung her yoyo to the sound of the commotion. After a minute, she appeared at the Louvre. "I am Lie Buster! Ladybug, Cat Noir, give me your Miraculouses or everyone's secrets will be revealed!" The akuma's appearance was one of the less fashionable ones. He still had Luka's hair style and color, but his skin was a purple and his eyes a striking pink. He was wearing a suit that looked sort of like when he was Silencer, except there was now a guitar strapped across him and a pink heart the same color of his eyes on his chest. The guitar shot the beams, but Luka needed to touch his heart to get a pick. 'That must be where the akuma is', Ladybug thought.
"Hey Bugaboo!" Chat Noir said as he strutted into the scene.
"Hey Kitty! I have an idea where the akuma is. Do you know his powers?" Ladybug asked.
"No, but I have a guess and I have some secrets I don't want to tell," Chat Noir said.
And the battle between Ladybug and Chat Noir against Lie Buster began…
