This and the next two chapters don't follow chronological order – most of the scenes are occurring at roughly the same time, but explore different aspects of the story.

oOoOo

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Forget me not (because I will)

"How far, do you think, will my grudge carry me?"

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oOoOo

"Lila isn't Ladybug's best friend, is she?"

Alya might have phrased her words as a question when she slipped into the seat next to Marinette, but both of them knew it was a statement.

They were sitting in their classroom – today her parents had given her some pastries for lunch that she was hoping to share with the rest of the gang – Marinette long having given up on entering the common lunch room or lounging outside in the park. Interest had started to wane over the past few days – but Marinette preferred her lunch breaks to be interruption free.

Nervously, Alya started to fiddle with the strap of her bag.

"I'm Ladybug. You're my best friend. No, she isn't."

Marinette bit into her pastry, swallowing hard as she tried to ignore the feelings that were bubbling up in her stomach. It was equal parts anxiety and excitement and Marinette hated herself for it be-because – she-she shouldn't-

(she shouldn't, she didn't!)

-feel happy about-about-

Lila had hurt her. Lila had hurt her and Alya had hurt her and all her other classmates had hurt her – but Marinette shouldn't be happy. She shouldn't feel happy that they were finally having this conversation.

It was Alya who broke the silence first – she unclenched her fists, then she let go of her bag's strap – and then she spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For-For everything. I should have – I don't know, I – I should have fact-checked what she said. What Lila said."

Alya took a deep breath.

"I should have looked more into the things she claimed – I'm a journalist, for crying out loud! – and…"

She bit her lip and finally let her bag fall to the floor.

"I should have believed you. I shouldn't have written your concern off as simple jealousy – I should have listened. And taken them into consideration. But I didn't and-and for that I'm sorry."

Marinette took another bite from her lunch, swallowing hard once again.

She should – but she shouldn't at the same time and-and why did this have to be such a mess?!

"I was jealous, you know?", she eventually said, not daring to face her friend – if she had, she might have noticed the flabbergasted way Alya looked at her.

"I – It wasn't just jealousy, of course! Not just that! But-But I was jealous, too. I-"

Her cheeks started to flush from shame.

"I actually followed Adrien and her one her first day, because-"

Marinette trailed off, hanging her head at the sheer weight of the admission Why had she followed them? It had made sense in that moment.

"I really shouldn't have done that. I really, really shouldn't."

It didn't make a whole lot of sense now – it probably hadn't made a whole lot of sense back then either.

The silence engulfed them once again – and once again it was Alya who broke it, because for all her faults, she was her best friend and-and she was never once to sit in silence and to panic.

""Was", huh?"", she asked, grinning slyly, as she nudged Marinette humorously.

"Not anymore, huh? Any chance that a certain cat managed to change your mind?"

Marinette blushed, entirely unwillingly.

"No."

That was a lie. That was a huge, fat lie. Her entire face was burning and Alya was guaranteed to notice.

Marinette tried to hide her head in her arms – to no avail. Not that it mattered though, because Alya already wasn't looking at her anymore, instead choosing to press her lips together and to share at her nails.

"Is it because of Adrien?"

Marinette didn't dignify the question with an answer.

"You-You know he's dating Kagami, right?"

"Of course."

They weren't. Kagami had told her so herself – just like she had told her about their first date and then apologized, saying she hadn't wanted to make her feel bad but Marinette had simply smiled through the pain.

But that shouldn't matter.

It didn't matter.

And anyway, Marinette was too busy to care for romance anyway (and too traumatized by a blank sky and flooded world).

They didn't talk for a while.

"Why did you never call her out, though?"

Alya's eyebrows were knitted together now – before she started to wildly flail her hands in front of her, as she immediately back-pedalled.

"Not that any of this is your fault! It's mine! Only mine, it was my responsibility to fact check, of course!"

Alya was flailing her hands now, her cheeks blushing ever-so lightly and for a few moments, Marinette was reminded of herself.

"But..."

"But?"

Alya bit her lips, shyly glancing away – she was doing that quite often recently and Marinette didn't like that, because Alya was anything but shy.

"But – why did you never say anything? As Ladybug? We – We knew each other, after all – you remember that one private interview you..."

Alya trailed off as realization dawned – and Marinette chuckled. There were probably a lot of things that made a whole lot more sense now, that everyone knew her identity.

With glowing cheeks, Alya cleared her throat, her eyes glowing with gratefulness – until it was substituted with a guilty consciousness once more.

"Why did you never tell me about Lila's lies? I would have taken that video down without any questions asked!"

"I did call her out – in front of Adrien, actually. It was the first time she ever got akumatized."

"So you thought it wasn't worth it?"

"I thought it'd be weird for Ladybug to seemingly care that much about it – and anyway, I..."

Marinette trailed off, before shaking her head.

"Yeah. It probably wasn't really worth it and – I just kind of thought people would catch on to her lies by themselves?"

She wished people would have caught onto the lies. It-it would have saved her so much pain

"Her lies they – they were so ludicrous! They didn't make sense for the most part – she's 15! Like us! I just – I never understood how they could believe all those big lies about getting people private meetings and all that stuff, when all those famous people would definitely be way too busy to just spend an entire day with a student in college!"

Accusingly, Marinette turned to Alya – Alya, her best friend, one of the people she would trust with everything (except for her secret identity, but that didn't really count, did it?) hadn't noticed – had instead branded her as "jealous" and-

Well. She had been jealous.

Marinette tuned back – she just wanted this conversation to be over with already – honestly, Lila's empty threats were so much more comfortable than – than this.

"It – Look, if she lied about one thing – the big one, with the big names and all the connections she promised – then it would call into question everything else she said and – I didn't want to believe that. I couldn't. I just couldn't believe that everything – her life story, our friendship – was supposedly just one big lie. It was just so much easier to believe her – because then all of that would still hold up, you know?"

Yeah. Of course she knew.

She might have been the same if Alya hadn't chosen that one specific lie that exposed her for Marinette.

It was a scary thought, really.

"Will you expose her now? Tear down that castle of lie?"

Marinette shrugged.

"I don't think so – but I won't lie if people start asking questions either."

.O.

Juleka promised to talk to Rose. The shy goth was the first to approach Marinette, eyes cast down and hooded by dark circles.

Whether that was due to a bad consciousness or simply because it was her personal style was still up in the air.

Marinette never completely understood what Juleka mubled, but it sounded like an apology and a promise and that was enough for her.

.O.

Myléne approached her, accompanied by Ivan. It was similar to Juleka – an apology, a promise to be better – and a sweet little beaded bracelet, that spelled her name – her real name, Marinette – and the word "amazing".

It made her tear up, that time and Marinette wore it for the rest of the day.

.O.

Alix never talked to her directly, but Kim did.

"Is it true?", he asked during lunch at some point – Marinette still camped out in their classroom – Madame Bustier had given her a spare key, explaining it was probably for the best if Marinette could lock the door, just in case, and anyway – she was trusted with the entire city already anyway.

"Is it true that Lila is a liar?"

Kim stopped what he was doing – in this case trying to stack as many paper hats on top of his head as possible – worriedly eyeing Marinette.

Marinette shrugged.

She didn't really want to have this talk – it was getting on her nerves by now.

"She is. She lied about being my best friend and she definitely lied on the day I got expelled."

"Oh. Well, Alix said something along the lines of that."

Both of them fell silent for a while – Kim busy trying to stack more paper hats and Marinette using the quiet to get some homework done – it almost felt like Hawkmoth knew her schedule, with all the interruptions she was currently experiencing.

He probably did.

He probably knew so much more as well.

Eventually, Kim dropped his hats and when he had picked them up again he asked:"Do you think she lied about knowing Michael Phelps, too?"

He sounded almost shy when he asked and it gave Marinette whiplash because Kim? Shy?

It simply didn't fit.

"She-She promised me she'd try and get him to give me a private swimming lesson at some point..."

Marinette wanted to laugh at that. She really, really wanted to because – it sounded so ridiculous. Michael Phelps? Private swimming lesson?

"I don't know if she lied about that, Kim – but she probably did."

.O.

Rose – Rose got akumatized.

Marinette felt incredibly sorry for her – it was the second time she had gotten akumaitzed because of Lila and she deserved none of it. It wasn't her fault that Lila had lied. It wasn't her fault that she wanted everyone to be good and-

It was so unfair of Hawkmoth to take advantage of her feelings like that.

Especially because of the aftermath-

(It was always so much more painful when a friend had gotten akumatized and – it had to be a coincidence.)

-the way Rose was almost begging for her forgiveness.

"There isn't anything to forgive. You did nothing wrong."

"There-There is! I should have controlled myself better! You-You have so much on your plate already and then-then I go and get akumatized over something that-that I have no right to be mad about in the first place!"

Marinette didn't answer immediately – because Rose was right.

To a certain extent.

She had gotten mad at her, had been mad at her for an entire day, because Marinette hadn't apologized for something she supposedly did, even though it had been clear as the day that not everything Lila said could have been right. Although everyone should have known to at least call some things into question.

But Rose hadn't. Instead, she had gotten mad at her and made her life even more bothersome than it was.

"It's alright, Rose. You-You aren't in control when you are akumatized."

But Rose shook her head.

"It's not about the akumatization – I just – I feel terrible. For the way I treated you when I wasn't – when you got expelled, or after you talked to Lila or – well – whenever she was there, really..."

Rose bit her lip – before taking a deep breath and grabbing something from her.

"I know it's not a lot – but I made you a flower crown! I – It doesn't really make up for what I did, but – if you ever need anything else, something I can help with, please tell me? I-I will try to get better! I really will!"

And Rose handed Marinette the flower crown – it must have been handwoven and was pretty as the day – the delicate petals just the slightest bit crunched up.

"Thanks, Rose. It means a lot to me."

.O.

Marinette found Lila sitting on the stairs outside of school – and she almost hadn't joined her, but she didn't spot anyone else loitering around.

Most people seemed to avoid Lila these days.

Marinette stood behind the door for a while, simply staring at the other girl, seemingly just having finished her lunch.

She was only half-way through the door, when Lila spoke up.

"What do you want?"

Lila didn't turn around at her question, which lead to the question-

"How do you know it's me?"

Lila didn't answer and Marinette – for a few, silent moments just stood there, wondering what she was supposed to do.

She hadn't planed for this to happen, but it was entirely her own fault. But it felt like she had to talk to her, for some reason.

It didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Marinette stepped closer.

"How-How are you feeling?"

"I don't know – what would you feel like if someone goody-two-shoes takes away all your friends, Marinette?"

Finally she turned around, her expression blank, although her voice was dripping with acid – and Marinette felt her own mood sour.

Why was she even here to begin with?

"I didn't take your friends away – that was all your doing!"

"You didn't have to tell anyone about my – my stories! You could have just let it go!"

"And you didn't need to lie about anything!"

Lila flinched at that – then she got up, screwing up the paper bag she was holding.

"You didn't have to lie! You could have made friends on your own!", Marinette further accused. Emboldened by her own words, she stepped forwards, her own hands curled into fists – and Lila flinched once again.

Then she turned away.

"Yeah. Because it's that easy, of course", she hissed, her knuckles white from all the pressure she was putting on them.

"Because it's all so easy to do no bad and to be universally loved by everyone – not everyone's as lucky as you are, Marinette!"

Then, Lila ran away.

.O.

The next time Marinette spotted Lila, two days had passed.

This time, when Marinette came over, it was entirely purposely.

"Hey, Lila", she said, when she spotted the Italian sitting alone at a lunch table again – in clear view of everyone else.

Marinette was shaking as she walked over, almost expecting people to loudly scream her name and to demand an autograph – but for now, everyone just seemed to wait with bated breath.

Marinette wished their conversation could be more private. Lila deserved better than to be stared at like some alien – and so did she.

But she was here already

"How are you feeling?"

"Good. And I don't need your pity."

Marinette sat down.

They stared at each other.

Marinette was shaking still – unable to find the words she was looking for.

She had a plan.

She had a plan.

"What do you want? Are you hoping your "good example" will make other people come over like some stupid high school movie?"

Surprisingly, Lila'S words soothed Marinette's shaking.

She was rude. She was just a rude, lonely, lying girl-

She shouldn't be scared.

Marinette started shaking again, but this time, she managed to raise her hands and to open her fist, revealing the trinket she had desperately clutched mere seconds before.

"I made this for you", Marinette said and Lila actually raised an eyebrow at that, opening her own hand to receive whatever gift Marinette had made her.7

Murmurs erupted within the cafeteria – Lila frowned.

"...Why are you giving this to me?", she asked, staring down at the bracelet in her hands. It was black and orange and Marinette hoped she'd like it – she had chosen the colours to match her, after all.

"It's a lucky charm!"

Lila rolled her eyes and let out a huff that sounded snarkier than it had any right to be.

"You said not everyone's as lucky as me in life – and you're right! But – I want you to know people care about you – even after everything that happened. And maybe – maybe this lucky charm will help you be a bit more lucky?"

Forcing herself to smile, Marinette extended a hand towards Lila, desperately telling herself not to flinch should she take it.

She felt silly after a while, when Lila simply stared at her with a blank expression.

Marinette took her hand back.

They stared at each other for a bit longer – until Lila averted her gaze, her formerly blank expression morphing into an almost violently angry as she jumped up, glaring at Marinette's scathingly.

Her expression might have been filled with hatred, but her voice was filled with unshed tears.

"I don't need your pity, Ladybug – I don't need anyone's pity! Give me a week – maybe a month and all of you – every single one of you – will beg me to accept you back into my arms!"

Lila left without saying anything else, but neither did she give the Lucky Charm back, nor did she get akumatized after their conversation.

(A few months later, she brought Tiramisu into class, handing it out to everyone and Marinette frowned at the weird way she introduced it.

"It's a recipe taught to me by a famous Italian Five – By my grandmother. It's- It's a family recipe.")

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