Chapter Twenty Eight – Playing Games
Marinette's eyes dart around the room, looking for an escape route, but Lila's blocking the door and the window she goes out as Ladybug is one of those small, rectangular ones at the top of the wall, right underneath the ceiling. She has difficulty getting out as Ladybug, as Marinette it would be next to impossible. Lila's eyes are shooting daggers at her as she continues to smirk.
"I didn't expose you as a liar." Marinette says, but there's no fight behind it. Only fear. And Lila knows it.
"No, but you didn't stop it." Lila moves towards her and Marinette moves back until she's pressed up against the wall and Lila's towering over her despite them being almost the same height. "That was a bad decision." Her eyes flash dangerously and Marinette swallows nervously. She can feel the pressure of Tikki and Wayzz against her leg, trying to give her strength. Or trying to calm her down so Hawk Moth doesn't send an akuma. Either one.
"Can you just tell me what you want?" Marinette mumbles, eyes flicking down to the ground so she doesn't have to look at the fire in Lila's eyes. "I'm sick of playing your games."
Lila laughs unhumorously and leans her hands on the wall on either side of her head, leaning in close so she can hiss at her and no one will overhear. "The game has only just started, Dupain–Cheng." Marinette's lip trembles. "Do you think lying is the only card I've got?"
Marinette tries to swallow, but her mouth is dry and her throat has closed up. Still, she is determined to ask, to know. "What are you going to do? No one will believe you."
Lila raises an eyebrow and uses one hand to flick her hair over her shoulder, the other still blocking Marinette from escaping. "Like they believed you? Yeah, right." She snorts bitterly. "Your stupid little classmates are so gullible all it will take is one piece of evidence against you to have them crawling back to me."
"N–No, it won't." Marinette's voice wavers, because even she knows that that could very well be possible. Just because the class knows that Lila lies doesn't mean that they know what Lila's truly like; what she's capable of.
Lila smiles sardonically. "Your faith in your classmates is adorable." Lila drops her arms but doesn't step back from her. "Do you actually think that just because they apologised for not believing you this time they'll automatically believe you next time?" Lila doesn't wait for her to answer. "If I was you I'd fuck off, because it's only going to get worse." She smiles again and Marinette shivers, curling in on herself even more. Lila spins around and flounces towards the door. When she reaches it she stops and looks back at Marinette, eyes flashing dangerously and self–satisfied smirk pinching her face. "You may not want to play, but you don't have a choice. I'm better than you, and you're not going to forget it. So, either fuck off or start playing."
She half expects Lila to slam the door shut, but instead it shuts softly and plummets the bathroom into silence. Silence save for the deep, erratic breaths Marinette is taking. Her eyes fill with tears, making her vision go fuzzy, and she slides down the wall and hugs her knees to her chest. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. She squeezes her eyes closed, digs her fingernails into her palms, holds her breath, but still the tears come and all she can do is hold a hand over her mouth so no one overhears. I'm a superhero! I shouldn't be scared of Lila! I battle akumas and almost die doing so every day, this shouldn't be making me cry!
"Marinette?" Her eyes shoot open and she lifts her head to come face to face with Tikki. "It's going to be okay."
Marinette nods and wipes her cheeks. "Yes, I should calm down."
Tikki frowns, concerned. "That's not what I–"
"Do you think we could go for a run? I–I need to clear my head." Tikki sighs and nods meekly. There will be time to talk to her holder later.
. . .
Mum, Dad, Cat Noir, Tikki, Wayzz, Plagg, Master Fu, Grandma, Grandpa.
Mum, Dad, Cat Noir, Tikki, Wayzz, Plagg, Master Fu, Grandma, Grandpa.
Mum, Dad, Cat Noir, Tikki, Wayzz, Plagg, Master Fu, Grandma, Grandpa.
Ladybug repeats the list in her head like a mantra. Her feet barely touch the roofs beneath her before she's swinging off, going faster and faster away from school. Away from Lila. She's never travelled this far or this fast before, not even when fighting an akuma. The sun is beginning to set and she knows she has to turn back, go home, come up with some excuse to her parents and finish her homework. She needs to come up with an excuse for Adrien as well, she realises, and she can almost feel her heart grow one pound heavier.
She finally stumbles to a stop and almost falls onto the roof beneath her. She places her hands on her knees and ducks her head, trying to catch her breath despite the lump in her throat and erratic beating of her heart pounding in her ears. There's a tsunami of emotions inside her and she has no idea when it's going to come crashing down.
Mum, Dad, Cat Noir, Tikki, Wayzz, Plagg, Master Fu, Grandma, Grandpa . . .
Nino.
She's forgotten Nino. How could she forget Nino? Ladybug forces herself upright and grips her side where a stich formed long ago but she ignored. Now the pain almost makes her double over, but she refuses to fall. How did I manage to forget Nino? She shakes her head and drops her face into her hands, groaning. A cold wind blows, cooling her already numb cheeks even further, but her suit keeps her otherwise protected. Because I wanted to forget school, she realises and it's like a weight has been removed from her shoulders. Her knees buckle and she collapses onto the roof, hunched over as if to hide her face from the stars emerging above her.
"Milady?" She jumps at the sudden voice and spins around. Cat Noir is doubled over a few meters behind her, and he holds up a finger to ask her to wait a minute while he catches his breath. "Lord, you're fast." He groans, using his staff to hoist himself upright. He sends her a crooked smile and shuffles closer. "Please tell me there isn't an akuma," He collapses next to her and leans back on his hands, still inhaling deep breaths to replenish his oxygen levels. "I am way to knackered after that sprint. Geez, where are you going?" He smiles at her easily, but his eyes are concerned, begging her to answer the question.
"I–" Ladybug's voice comes out crusty and she swallows. "I . . . I don't know. I just . . . I don't know." She shakes her head and drops it back into her hands, tears pricking her eyes as if she hasn't already cried enough.
"Hey," Cat hesitates for a moment before putting an arm around her, his need to comfort her overriding his fear that she'll push him away. Or throw him off the roof. "It's okay. I get it." He doesn't, but hopefully she can't tell. "We all need to run to the other side of Paris sometimes."
Ladybug lets out a weak giggle and lifts her head from her hands, sniffing. She wipes her nose on the back of her hand. "Yeah." She lifts her gaze to look over the horizon in front of them. Their backs are to the sun set, so their shadows stretch across the entire roof of the building they are on. Stars have begun peeking through the setting sky in front of them. She counts six without turning her head. "How'd you find me?"
Cat shifts slightly and he removes his arm from around her. She shivers at the lack of contact but doesn't say anything. She's not Marinette right now; she can't get close to him; can't let him in. "Your tracker. I saw you and transformed, thinking there was an akuma, but then you kept going so I decided to follow you." He looks at her profile and smiles. "You move way too fast, though. I thought you were trying to run all the way to Switzerland."
She snorts. "No. Not today."
The sit in silence for a moment, watching more and more stars emerge. It's peaceful in a way that she hasn't felt in a while, and she finds herself relaxing even more, copying Cat's position with her legs laid out in front of her and leaning back on her hands. The sun sets even more and she feels Cat shift next to her and glances over to see him checking the time on his staff. He bites his lip anxiously and jiggles his leg, as if anticipation to move is running through him but he can't bring himself to actually get up.
"What time is it?"
"Late," Is all he says and she frowns, even more concerned when the anxiety in his voice is as clear as day. She sits up fully and tucks her feet beneath her, turning to face him fully.
"Do your parents . . ." He shakes his head. "Oh."
"Yeah. Oh." He tries to smile but it wavers. He reaches up to scratch the back of his neck. "My dad has probably contacted the police and sent out a search party by now."
Ladybug hums and glances down at her hands. "Mine too." She swallows nervously before spinning around so her back is to him. "I'm going to detransform and give them a call." She hears his sharp inhale behind her but she ignores it. "Maybe you should do the same."
Cat swallows anxiously and his heart pounds even harder in his chest, even as he mirrors her position with his back to her. Once he might've leant back against her in an effort to maybe, possibly, get some kind of hint into who she is, but now he keeps a distance between them. She wants to detransform? And she wants me to detransform? "Are you sure?"
"No. But it'll be worse if we don't." With that she says the words and then a pink light shines around him, illuminating the roof and creating a shadow in front of him, not just beside. He follows suit quickly and squeezes his eyes closed on instinct. "You good?" Her voice sounds different without his enhanced hearing, but still the same.
Adrien nods stupidly and Plagg snorts. "She can't see you, dumbarse."
"Plagg!" A high–pitched voice chides and Adrien smiles, knowing it's Tikki. "Ignore him, Cat Noir. And you can open your eyes." He does so to find that the sun has set even further and he can barely see to the end of the roof now. The last rays of light shine from his right side and makes black spots dance in front of his vison as his eyes strain to adjust. He supposes that's yet another advantage of the suit, one he never realised before.
"I'm okay." He answers.
Marinette smiles. "Good." Plagg comes into her line of sight and nuzzles into her cheek before ducking into her purse with Tikki and Wayzz, where it's warmer. "I'm going to call my parents, so . . . try not to listen."
Adrien swallows nervously and reaches into his pocket to pull out his phone. "You too, LB."