So, yes. This plot has been done before, but I do not care. I love it and want to have my own take on it. This will be largely diverging from the actual plot of the show, but it will have references to events that happen within the show.

That being said, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Implosion

There's a certain morbid beauty to someone's entire world collapsing. Even when it was her own life, Marinette couldn't help but marvel in awe at the sheer level of destruction that Lila had caused. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Lila was destroying her own life in the process of destroying Marinette's, that one day Lila would get that sweet, sweet karma that Marinette so longed for. She could find solace in the fact that one day all of Lila's lies would come back around to bite her in the ass, however the time in between that sweet moment was nothing short of torture, despite how it may ease the pain.

Marinette had long been contemplating becoming the very person that Lila made her out to be. Take revenge on the people who had betrayed her and violently torn her heart into shreds, take away Lila's power, and let the crushing guilt and despair consume those who had abandoned her when they finally realised that Lila had been lying; they would come crawling back for forgiveness, only to find a destroyed, hollow shell of the person they'd created.

But the guilt from so much as having those thoughts always held her back. If she felt like such scum over even thinking about it, she could only imagine how utterly terrible she would feel actually acting on the thoughts.

Even still, she knew she was only one incident away from giving in and throwing all guilt to the wind.

It was a wonder she hadn't been akumatised by now. She was strong, as Master Fu and Tikki always said. For now, she could believe them.

Hearing her phone buzz, Marinette looked over at the notification that had popped up, seeing a message from Alya, her former best friend. She was inclined to ignore the message, until more popped up from her other former friend's, all saying similar things – things they'd said to her and questioned her about many times before hand.

Curiosity, along with a sinking feeling of dread, had her unlocking her phone and looking at the first message from Alya.

Alya: I can't believe you would do this to Lila! Actually, I can. I really shouldn't be surprised at this point, since this has become quite typical of you. I just can't understand why you would treat her so horribly when she's done nothing to you!

Marinette paused her reading of what was looking to be a mini essay to scoff at such a ludicrous statement. Lila doing nothing to Marinette? Alya truly did have no idea. She went on:

I bet you thought we wouldn't find out about you harassing Lila, oh but we did! You should have seen the way she cried when she finally had the guts to send us all of those sickening screenshots. She was absolutely petrified to show us. How dare you. How fucking dare you do this to her. You are truly despicable; I can see that now. Lila has opened all of our eyes and showed us your true colours – you are no 'every day Ladybug', you are perhaps the furthest thing from being anywhere close to being like ladybug. You are no hero. You are Hawkmoth. No, that's an insult even to Hawkmoth. You are worse than that monster. You are worse than a literal fucking supervillain. That is who you are. Lila isn't the one who needs to go hang herself – you are.

Marinette's eyes burned with tears that slowly tracked fire down her cheeks, dripping down and making her phone screen wet, distorting the text on her screen.

Was she being framed for death threats? Holy shit.

It was almost beyond physical comprehension. She couldn't process it.

And the things that Alya had said tore barely healing wounds wide open. Her heart had completely shattered in those moments it took her to read the text. No, not shattered. Exploded.

Through the tears, sobs and the trembling in her hands, Marinette somehow managed to type out a desperate message.

Marinette: I have no idea what you mean or what I'm being accused of. Please. You have to know me well enough to know that I would absolutely never hurt someone in the way you're implying I have. I would never hurt anyone, end of. You've known me for 2 years now, I was your best friend. Why don't you trust me? Why did you never believe me?

Marinette had never been able to understand the crippling betrayal. Alya knew Lila all of a month and was so quick to believe that liar over her best friend, whom she'd known for a lot longer.

But no.

No one had.

The people she'd known for most of school.

Not one of them.

None but Adrien, even if at one point he, too, had believed her about other things, even if they weren't targeted at tarnishing her reputation. It had taken Ladybug exposing Lila for Adrien to see through everything.

At least having Adrien was a true blessing. That made things at least a little bit better – not a lot, not enough, but it was something. Marinette wasn't sure how she would have functioned if the boy she'd pined after for almost as long as she'd known Alya thought she could do the horrible things that she'd been accused of.

Her phone went off again.

Alya: Save it. You'll only make it worse for yourself, so don't even bother.

Another desperate sob shook Marinette's small frame.

Hopeless.

Helpless.

Suffocating.

Drowning.

Defeated.

Marinette eventually convinced herself to read the other messages as more eventually flooded her phone.

They were all just as scathing and hurtful, just not quite as long. She tried to reason with them, but they all gave her similar dismissals.

When she eventually cried herself to sleep, her head throbbed from the strain it had put on her body, only made worse with the little hiccups that jolted through her body every minute or so. She was completely exhausted, and welcome to temporary bliss that sleep offered, dreading when her alarm would force her awake. She wanted to stay in that blissful state forever, but time was not on her side and woke her up at 7 that morning.

She couldn't bear to think of what school would bring in the next half an hour. So, Marinette, fueled with anger, despair and hopelessness, with no options left, she gave in.

As expected, the moment she stepped on to the school grounds, people stared and hurled insults, pointing and shooting glares.

Some of them took in the new look, and their talk changed into something different, wondering what the hell had happened.

Marinette's hair had lost the pigtails that people had long associated Marinette with, used to seeing her hair up into the easy style. No, now it had been chopped off with scissors, left cut close to the nape of her neck, not at all a neat cut.

Her entire style had also been changed. Long gone were her little gray jacket and cute white shirt, instead replaced with a red cropped halter top, which she'd been working on as something to expand her comfort zone from a few months prior. Her pants had been changed to black jean shorts with fishnets, her ballet flats now black heeled boots.

She'd decided that her usual outfit wouldn't cut it for the entire personality shift she had now adopted. Exactly as Lila had made her out to be: a bully, a bitch, a two-faced manipulator.

Marinette took a deep mental breath to prepare herself for the things she was about to do, knowing it was far too late to back out now. She wasn't even regretting it, the more she thought on it. She had to protect herself, and show people the mistake that they'd made. It would be worth it. And, who knew, maybe it would even be...fun.

Marinette stared her classmates down as soon as she stepped into the classroom, daring one of them to be the first to speak. About what, she didn't care, but whoever did speak first would be her first practice target. She was pretty sure it was going to be Alya.

It was Chloe.

Even better.

"Look who it is! Miss Dupain-Cheng, looking tackier than ever. I can't believe you thought that that hair would look good, not to mention those clothes!" Chloe cackled to her red-head lackey Sabrina, thinking that what she'd just said was so smart and mean.

"And I can't believe you're so up your own ass that you think I would care what a plastic bitch like you thinks about the way I look." If there was anything good that was coming from this, it was the chance to stand up to Chloe and knock her down a peg or too. And, the strange sense of confidence, however fake it may be, that she had. She didn't feel scared or nervous for what she was doing, like she had before, and getting to Chloe first was probably the best starting point she could have.

"Really, Marinette? Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Chloe said, clearly surprised and slightly unsure of herself now, not used to anyone standing up to her, let alone Marinette (just a little note, as I said before, I'm diverting from canon, so those times that Marinette and others have stood up to Chloe haven't really happened).

"Nice come back there, Chloe. Too reliant on your daddy to buy you a good comeback? Might want to work on that, hm?" Marinette walked to her seat in the back, her old seat next to Alya being taken over by Lila – Alya had unofficially kicked her from that spot a while ago.

People were understandably shocked by the short confrontation, some of them giving her weirded out, surprised looks, others looking horrified. They were all momentarily too stunned to speak, but Marinette was more than happy to wait it out and let it all sink in. Besides, they'd better get used to it, might as well get used to it now.