Author's Note: Sorry that I made you guys wait so long for this! I hope it was worth it. I did a lot of thinking for this story and how I want it to proceed. It is actually a lot harder than I thought but I am making the most of it. I probably made some errors about how french schools work before. Gonna try and fix that here
Marinette had been up for most of the night. She couldn't get the events that had transpired out of her head. The image of the Cat Noir getting impaled on Monarda's weapon would haunt her for her entire life. She placed her hands over her eyes, Tikki not having said a word since she arrived home. Marinette wondered what went on in the Kwami's head. She could only hope that she wasn't feeling bad about the situation.
Marinette looked at her phone, seeing it was about 5 in the morning. She let out a groan, sitting up and rubbing her face. She slowly made her way out of her bed and to the bathroom, looking at her face and the bags under her eyes. She pulled down on them gently, turning on the water and beginning to splash her face.
"I just hope that Cat Noir will be fine in his civilian life. If anything were to happen to him…" Marinette quickly shook her head and smacked her cheeks to get that thought out of her head. "No, I can't think like that. Cat Noir will be fine. He will be fine. He is strong. My strong little kitty..."
She decided to spend the rest of the morning working on some designs for when summer rolled around. No matter what she did though, she could never seem to get any design just right. Checking the time again and it would be around 8:15. For once she wasn't going to be late to class and actually make it on time. Marinette gathered her purse and signaled to a silent Tikki to hop in her bag. With a kiss for her parents and a danish in her mouth, she was on her way to school.
When Marinette got to the gates of her school the other students were acting weird. Many were huddled together whispering amongst themselves. They had distressed looks on their faces as if something horrible had happened. She found Alya, who was frantically talking with Nino near the stairs.
"Alya, what the heck is going on here? Everyone seems like they saw a ghost or something." Marinette asked with a raised eyebrow.
Alya looked up at Marinette and took a deep breath. She put her phone in her pocket and cracked her knuckles.
"Ok so don't freak out about what I am about to tell you ok? But Adrien was mugged last night and was stabbed in-"
"WHHHHHHAAAAATTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!"
Alya winced at her screaming, closing her eyes as she waited for her to be done. She opened one eye and continued to talk. "Yes, we just found out this morning," Alya turned to Nino who
had his hat in his hand as he nodded. "But that's not all that happened last night. I saw this butterfly 'hero' so I followed her around last night. I saw something terrible and-" She turned back to Marinette only to notice that the baker was nowhere to be seen.
Marinette had dashed up the stairs faster than when she ran 100 M for gym class. She arrived at the nurse's office, seeing that many girls had huddled around the door. What surprised her was Chloe, Sabrina, and Alix were in front of the door, blocking off access to every girl.
"Come on let me see him!"
"You should understand how much we care!
"No, I seriously need to get in there. I cut my arm pretty badly on the stairs. I am bleeding like crazy and now I am seeing black spots!"
With the exception of the girl with the gash on her arm, which Chloe made Sabrina do a test to make sure she was actually bleeding, no one was getting in there. When Chloe saw Marinette though, she grew a smile on her face.
"Dupain-Chang. You are allowed here by special request. So come on in." Chloe moved out of the way and presented the door to her like she was a guest of honor.
Several of the girls just moved as Marinette had a look of shock on her face. 'Why am I getting special treatment?' She slowly made her way to the door, getting several jealous looks, death glares, and one wink from a random girl.
Marinette walked inside, blushing the moment she saw Adrien. He was shirtless with several bandages wrapping around his abdomen. He looked at Marinette, his own face turning a deep red, but having a smile on his face.
"Marinette! They let you through! I am glad that they did so-" He winced in pain for a moment, but only because he had a pair of arms wrapped around him tightly. He looked down at Marinette, seeing her face get scrunched up and a few tears appeared in her eyes.
Marinette felt surprisingly safe at this moment. The two most important people in her life were hurt last night... She could easily blame herself. Anybody else who knew her situation could, but for some reason, she couldn't right now. All she could think about was how Adrien was safe and in her arms. In her arms. Adrien. Shirtless. Injured. Shirtless. In. Her. Arms. Shirtless.
Marinette quickly jumped away, her face completely red as she stared down at the floor. She shuffled her feet a bit, her hands behind her back as she swallowed.
"S-sorry...I-I'm glad that you are ok Adrien. As soon as I heard I rushed up here to see you." She spoke softly as she didn't dare look up at him. She couldn't believe what she just did. Hugging her crush like that out of the blue. She mentally smacked herself as she let out a small cough.
"Hey, it is fine Marinette. I am just glad that I got to see you. The nurse is just making sure that everything is alright with my stitches and bandages before I head back to class. Do….do you wanna walk with me after I am done here?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked away.
Inside her mind, the Marinette that worked to control her speech just fell over and died. The mini Marinettes scrambled to get her brain working right before she responded. She thought for a moment, thinking that she needed to bring her confidence out. The big bad buff Marinette just strolled over to the brain controls and began to work.
"Y-yeah I would love to. But first, you gotta answer a question of mine. Why did I get special treatment when nobody else did?" Marinette asked, clasping her hands together and twiddling her thumbs. She had butterflies in her stomach, imagining a million different scenarios of how this could go. But before she could play any of them out in her head, Adrien spoke.
"Well, it is because you are special to me. I mean, you are one of the greatest people that I know. And I know you care for what's best for me." Adrien delivered that line with his trademark smile. It was one that he used for the cameras a lot, but this time was 100% more genuine than ever.
Marinette just took in those words and then a deep breath. It took almost every fiber of her being to not freak out or pass out in front of the boy. But her body did seem to move on its own though. Her confidence was shooting through the roof at the model's words. She leaned up to him and planted a small kiss on his cheek. She quickly pulled away, a blush coating her face as she turned her back towards him.
Adrien just looked at Marinette, able to see her face from the mirror on the wall to her right. She had a huge smile on her face and her palms clamped down on her cheeks. She began to wiggle her legs in excitement, doing her trademarked butt wiggle. She turned around, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.
The nurse turned to Adrien, giving him a small thumbs-up as she put down her clipboard. Adrien grabbed his shirt, slipping it on and extending his arm out to Marinette.
"Shall we go to class m'lady?" He gave a small grin as he looked into her bluebell eyes.
"Why thank you, my good sir. Yes, we shall." She grabbed the bottom of her shirt and gave a small curtsey and locked arms with him.
She looked away for a moment, her face completely red as she noted what they were doing. Adrien walked out of the nurse's office with her, being greeted by many gasps as the duo walked on towards their classroom. Marinette looked out the corner of her eye and could see Chloe looking toward her, a genuine smile on her face. She had no idea what happened to the old Chloe, but this was a major improvement to be sure.
They arrived in the classroom, being greeted by everyone as they waited in front of the door. The only ones not standing were Alya, Nino, and Lila. The power couple must have met with Adrien before anyone else, but why would Lila not be down here? She did look exhausted though, barely keeping her head up as she kept trying to keep herself awake.
Just then Miss Bustier walked in and clapped her hands loudly. Everyone looked at her as she gave a look. Everyone began to scramble to their seats, but for some reason, Nino was sitting in her's.
"Sorry dudette, but if I sit next to Adrien then I will just distract him and he is so hurt. I think someone who is more studious should be sitting next to him in this trying time though." Nino gave a wink as Alya gave a coy smirk.
Marinette blushed as she looked down, seeing Adrien's head turn away quickly and swearing she saw a hint of pink on those cheeks. She slowly made it to her new spot, sitting down and feeling very nervous as she sat next to Adrien.
"Ok, class it is time to get started, but first Alya said that she wanted to share something that she had found out last night. So please pay attention." Miss Bustier noted as she made her way to her desk, leaning against it as Alya walked to the front.
Alya took out her phone and gave a deep breath. She scrolled through it, turning on the projector and casting her phone screen on it. It showed the home page of the Ladyblog and an unposted video.
Marinette felt herself stiffen as she saw the video. Her fingers dug into the desk lightly as she felt her stomach feel queasy. Alya had seen the entire thing. She didn't even notice her.
"I was a witness to something awful last night, something that I nor the rest of Paris is prepared to see." Alya tapped on her phone and posted the video. The notifications of almost every students' phone went off at once. "I am going to play the video, as it is hard to talk about in words."
Alya took a step to the side and began to play the clip.
"This is Alya Cesarie here and I am on the hunt of what appears to be a new hero!" The video showed Alya on a bicycle, the front camera active as it captured her face. "I was just walking around at night, trying to find a gift for my boyfriend when I saw this figure with wings fly through the air!"
Alya swapped the camera, showing the purple winged person soaring through the sky. She wasn't flying too fast as to where Alya couldn't keep up with her. The 'hero' landed on a roof near Cat Noir, approaching him and talking.
"It seems my hunch was right! The woman is meeting up with the Cat and not punching him. It must be nice to see that for once. Oh, and there is Ladybug!"
Looking at the scene again caused Marinette's fingers to push down on the desk further. She clenched her teeth as she tried not to get angry, but she was anyway. Those feelings from last night were returning in full stride.
"Oh man, it looks like there is a new trio out on the prowl now! I wonder if she is an old friend of theirs and they are reuniting for the first time in a long time! Wait, what is she doing?"
Alya zoomed in on the woman, watching as she drew the sword from her cane. She thrusts the blade into Cat Noir's abdomen, causing Alya to almost drop the camera out of shock. "HOLY FUCK CRACKERS!"
There was a collective gasp from everyone in the classroom, with Chloe suddenly standing up and looking on in horror. She could see Adrien's entire body stiffen at the moment. Marinette couldn't hold in her anger. She felt it all bubble up and was about to blow. Then there was a loud cracking sound as the portion of the desk Marinette was holding broke. She had pushed down too hard on it, causing her to almost hit her head on the desk. She immediately sat upright, holding a long piece of wood in her hands as some people turned to look at her.
"Marinette are you ok!?" Miss Bustier yelled out as she looked at her student.
"Y-yeah just fine! I guess this desk was getting worn down and I was a little too heavy for it." She laughed nervously as she sat the piece of wood on the desk.
The video kept playing not having stopped once.
Alya had set the phone in her shirt breast pocket as she tried her best to help Cat Noir. She dragged him off the car, setting him down next to a street lamp and blocking the view of his wound. She took a few steps back, grabbing her phone and resumed filming the battle. She let out a gasp as she saw Volpina jump from the shadows and emerge to block and attack from Ladybug and the beating that followed.
The entire class turned towards Lila, who had stood up in a fit of surprise and screamed. "That is not me! I wasn't Akumatised last night! I was visited by my cousin who has been here all week! I have the pictures to prove it"
"The evidence is right there Lila! The only other person who could possibly be is you! It shows you detransforming in the video! You were there as Volpina and YOU helped out a supervillain almost kill our favorite two superheroes!" Kim had yelled out as he stood up.
"Well, it couldn't have been me! Unlike everyone else I remember all the horrible things that I did when I was under Hawk Moth's horrible influence. I have a very strong will and unfortunately, I
do remember it all. Unless you are saying there is a way that my memory and these pictures are fake." Lila sobs some as she clasped her hands to her chest.
Just as Kim was about to say something Marinette stood up and looked at Kim.
"She's telling the truth, Kim. Why would Lila lie about this? She always told us what happened whenever she was Akumatised, and in the video, the person didn't get De-Akumatised did they? So it obviously can't be her. That person obviously has Rena Rouge's Miraculous. So that means they can create the illusion of Volpina being there. They are probably hiding right now."
Marinette wanted to throw up. She was defending Lila right now. Of all the things that she could have ever possibly done, and it was to defend Lila. She wanted to just run up there and beat Lila senseless, but she couldn't.
She looked over at Alya, seeing a tear being wiped away off her face. Alya must feel horrible because of what Trixx is going through. Marinette made a mental promise to reunite them, never going to let the two separate ever again. The same with the rest of the Miraculous. If Monarda wanted a war, she was going to get a war.
Miss Bustier clapped her hands and got the attention of everybody in the classroom.
"Alright everyone please settle down. This is no time to be pointing blame on others for actions that happened when they were Akumatised. We have all been Akumatised here and know what it is like. Now I did have an assignment planned out for today, but due to recent events, I am putting that on the back burner. For today, we are going to discuss one simple, yet complex thing. How to help Ladybug and Cat Noir catch this villain."