It had been a couple of months now since Marinette had transferred to one of the boarding schools on the other side of the city. Class was finally peaceful. Peaceful but gloomy. Why was every one so sad? It was only Marinette, did she really bring that much joy to the class? Even when she was trying to convince everyone that Lila was lier?
These days it seemed that only Lila smiled. But that was different, it just didn't have the same warmth as Marinette's.
Akumas in their class was almost a daily occurrence now, and Ladybug seemed to be taking her time to get to the fight. More time than usual. Alya noticed this was becoming a reoccurring pattern. Akuma would show up calling for the hero's miraculous and revenge on someone, then Chat Noir would appear and try to distract them until Ladybug showed up. It was taking her between 10-30 minutes just to show. Alya wondered why.
She posted an article on her blog, pondering why and asking for an interview for answers. She wasn't exactly expecting one, but it was worth a shot. Ladybug had started to become detached from the Ladyblog lately.
A few days later Alya was sitting in her room talking over the phone to none other than Lila, who was saying she was sure she could set up an interview with Ladybug for her, when there came a tap at the window. When Alya saw it was Ladybug, she quickly finished her conversation and let her in.
"I saw your post about my tardiness and requesting an interview. Well, here I am." Ladybug stated calmly as she climbed through the window.
"Wha- no way! For real?" The brunette squealed.
With a nod from Ladybug, she began rushing round her room, gathering her phone a note book and a pen. Finally she sat down on the bed, leaving the chair for the hero.
"So, its been a while since I last interviewed you. Lady bloggers have been wondering about the latest akuma battles, most have noticed that it's taking longer each time for you and Chat Noir to de-akumatize them, why is that?"
"Well with each battle Hawkmoth seems to be getting more and more desperate, therefore he is making stronger and deadlier akumas. Of course it doesn't help that it's taking me longer than in the past to arrive."
"Speaking of which, why is it taking you so long to turn up to akuma attacks these days?" Alya asked now in full reporter mode.
"Oh, um, you see I had to transfer to a different school." The heroine replied nervously.
"Oh, I know this is a little personal, but do you mind if I ask why?"
"Well, you see this new girl joined my class, and lied to everyone about her amazing life. I didn't believe it for a second, and when I tried to disprove her, she turned all my friends against me."
"Wow, I didn't know. I'm so sorry, I hope things get better."
"I'm sure they will. I mean I have much better friends now."
"That's good to hear,"
"I'm glad you think so. Can you please turn your phone off for a minute? I want to tell you something very personal." Ladybug sounded dead serious.
"Um, sure," Alya turned her phone of and rested it on the bed beside her. "But what could you possibly want to tell me?"
"The truth. Alya I chose you for the Fox miraculous because you were my best friend at the time. The fox miraculous is the miraculous of illusion, and in a way lies. You being that holder should be able to spot lies, but you can't."
"What are you..."
"Tiki, spot's off!"
A flash of pink later and there sat none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng, right where the famous hero of Paris, Ladybug had been sitting. Across from her sat a very shocked and horrified Alya. The room was silent for a few seconds as Alya began to realise the true weight of her words.
"Mar-Marinette, wh-what just happened?" Alya was not usually a stutterer, but finding out her supposed best friend was also her idol was a shock to the system. Then Ladybug's words really sank in. It hit her like a tone of bricks.
Ladybug had had to transfer schools because of the new girl being a lier. Ladybug had her friends turned against her, for trying to disprove the lies. Ladybug was Marinette. Alya and the others had been Marinette's friends.
"Oh-oh my god, M-Marinette, I sorry, y-you hate L-Lila, a-and you're Ladybug, s-so L-Lila..."
"...Isn't my best friend. You were Ladybug's best friend, even if you didn't know it. Why do you think I favoured the Ladyblog so much? Gave you the exclusive interviews?" She paused to take a quick breath, "Tell me, why-o-why was I so adamant that she was a lier from the very beginning? I'll tell you why, because she was lying about me!"
Alya just sat there dumbfounded as the bluenette continued her rant.
"I told you to check your sources. I asked you where was your proof. You just asked me the same questions, and when I made a scene about to disprove her, she would start with the whole sob story! Then no one would even listen to me! Me, who the whole class has known for at least a year, in same cases since childhood. No, you all believed the new girl over your "everyday Ladybug". Do you honestly believe that I would threaten someone in the bathroom? That I would do all of this out of jealousy? You and the whole class disgust me! And Adrien is not much better. He knew! But he told me to let it go, because her lies were not hurting anyone! Well I'll tell you what they were hurting me. But I'm the one expected to hide the pain. I'll tell you what, it was her who threatened me in the bathroom, I almost got akumatized! But no, I can't afford to be akumatized, I have to stay strong, even if no one knew why. Did you really never wonder "Why has Marinette ever been akumatized"?
It's not because of my sweet nature and happy attitude, it's because I'm Ladybug!"
By the time she was out of breath, Alya had tears rolling down her cheeks. She had never ment any harm to the pigtailed girl. She could not even imagine the amount of suffering Marinette had been through. She had been a terrible best friend. Was she even that any more? Before she had de-transformed, Ladybug had said she had "much better friends now" did she mean it?
