PLEASE NOTE:
This story starts out kinda rough, but in oncoming chapters, there will be graphic torture of the physical, emotional, and mental nature. But I WILL NOT be writing anything sexually graphic. It would make sense, in terms of story, but I just don't want to.
Also, I haven't seen all of season three. I've just been cherry picking. It should be pretty obvious which ones are included. The main five (six with Hawkmoth) are the only Miraculous users appearing.
(Crossposted on Ao3 and Tumblr)
Three years was a long time to fight against one man. Hundreds of Akuma, thousands of frightened citizens, and yet they were no more closer to finding Hawkmoth than day one. He came out when it was convenient for him.
Because of the continued attacks, Paris was starting to grow concerned. It came out on forums and political talks on TV.
What was taking Ladybug and Chat Noir so long? What were they doing? Why haven't they stopped him yet?
It started out slowly, and just in the most radical groups. But as time went on, more and more jumped on the band wagon.
Ladybug's saving grace was the Ladyblog, that always reported every detail of any Ladybug related news. And Alya, reporter that she was, was quick to remind everyone that Ladybug fixed all damage that was done, and criticizing them wasn't helping.
Still, concern and restlessness persisted in the back of minds.
But Ladybug and Chat Noir persisted in their promise to protect. They patrolled more often, and started to branch out into other crime fighting. Thieves, muggers, carjackers, pickpockets, any sort of criminal was taken care of.
But since they weren't the police, there was no arrests made. It was mostly just a slap on the wrist and making them return what they've stolen. It was effective in the moment, and helped ease some minds about the heroes.
Then came Edward Savauge.
If there ever was a god on earth, it was Mr. Savauge. A man who held no qualms about doing what needed to be done in business. He held all the cards, could pull any string, and had a lot of people wrapped around his fingers.
By trade, a drug dealer, a pimp, and a casino owner. And he excelled in all of those areas. Ask most people, they had either never heard of him, or pretended not to.
The most powerful man on earth, and his existence was only a rumor.
Until that fateful night when Ladybug and Chat Noir did their evening patrols.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start in the morning, when Marinette and Adrien had to face what would become a minor problem.
Yet felt like the world was crashing down around them.
Marinette's alarm blared some awful tune at maximum volume. She jumped, flailing, not knowing where she was in her sleep addled mind.
"That's one way to wake up." Tikki snickered, having also been startled.
Marinette sat up, her hair a tangled mess, and her legs twisted in her sheets. Blearily, she blinked to wake herself up. What a crummy night's sleep. It was too hot with the sheets, too cold without them. The bed was just a little lumpy. And there had been an firetruck at work down the street. (Ladybug had checked in. It was just a false alarm) but the truck had remained there for at least an hour with its lights on.
"The point of setting the alarm was to make you actually get up and get to school on time." Tikki chastised.
Marinette turned her bleary eyes on the floating red dot, and tossed her blanket over it.
"Hey!"
"Snooze."
"I don't work like that Marinette! Come on!" She phased through the comforter. "Don't you want to see Adrien?"
Marinette smiled. "Adrien…" Then she groaned. "Fine!" She actually got up, throwing her blankets off, and got out of bed. Her hair took too long to untangle, her clothes were just a little too tight, or a little too itchy. And despite waking up early, she was still running late.
She threw her hands up into the air in the courtyard. "Anything else wanna go wrong today!? Go on! Take your best shot!"
Oh, how she regretted that.
She walked into the classroom, five minutes before the bell, and the room fell absolutely silent. Lila was sitting on a desk as everyone was gathered around her, but as Marinette entered, they all turned to look at her. The other thing of important note, was that Adrien's face was bright red and he looked absolutely mortified.
This was very not good.
"G-Good morning?" She asked, tactfully, hoping to break the silence.
"Girl…you're not serious…"
Marinette looked down at her clothes. She wasn't wearing her pajamas, right? She didn't have any embarrassing stains on her clothes, nothing on backwards. "Um…what?"
Alix crossed her arms with a 'hmph,' "You know very well what we're talking about, pervert."
Pervert? That was really really not good. "I'm…I'm sorry? I'm not sure what you're talking about?"
Kim backed Alix up. "Lila just spilled. She said she caught you taking pictures of Adrien while he was changing in the locker room."
Marinette's eyebrows flew up to her hairline. "I would never do that!"
Alya couldn't meet her eyes. "I don't know, girl…you tend to go overboard when it comes to Adrien…"
"But I didn't!"
"I'm sorry Marinette," Lila said, pathetic little snivels between words. "I saw you, and I wasn't going to say anything, because it's none of my business, but…Adrien is my friend. He deserved to know. Everyone deserved to know."
She dared to look at Adrien, who still was red and extremely embarrassed. "I would never do that to you." She told him.
"I believe you." He assured, but his eyes darted away.
Lila had hit hard and right in the weak spot. Adrien couldn't support her here, because how would he know?
"Everyone knows you're basically a stalker," Alix said again. "Everyone has seen all of his pictures all over your walls."
"And don't forget that you have his schedule all written out." Added Mylene. "And all those plans you made so that you could just be alone together."
"Marinette, you're obsessed. And you definitely crossed a line here. You need serious help." Alya said, concern in her features.
Marinette frowned, her chest unbelievably tight, and her eyes prickling with the tears of betrayal. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Fine." She took off her bag, and placed in at her desk, then she stood in the front of the room, and addressed her peers.
"I'm in love with Adrien Agreste." She announced.
Adrien looked to her, his mouth opening slightly. He didn't know how far this lie went, but it seemed pretty steep.
"I figured out his schedule, and made a calendar, so I could know where he was at any given point in the day. Because I wanted to be able to find him if I ever actually got up the courage to talk to him. I think he's super cute, so I hung pictures of him all over my room. And that was easy, since he was a model." She let out a sob, as tears started rolling down her cheeks.
Bless her heart, Rose started crying too.
She rubbed her cheek with her fist, and sniffed, but continued. "I stole his phone once. I called and left the world's most embarrassing voicemail. So I stole his phone and deleted it before he could hear it."
Lila just sat there, looking smug and triumphant. Though no one else saw it, since they were all focused on Marinette.
"Every week, I made a special macaron, passion fruit, just for him. But I never got the courage to ever give it to him. I stole a note he threw away in the trash, that was a love letter for someone, and I dared to hope it was for me, so I responded to it. I even tried to kiss a wax statue of him at the museum…only it turned out it was actually Adrien, and not a statue."
There was some snickering at that.
"So yeah. I love Adrien. I don't always think clearly when it comes to him. But I'm a dumb teenager, and I'm allowed to make mistakes and do cringey things."
She wiped her face and swallowed hard. "But I swear, on all that is good and holy, that I have never taken pictures of him in any context without his permission. I respect him too much for that." Then she took out her phone, unlocked it, and placed it in front of Adrien. "To prove it, I want you to go through my photos. If there's any of you that shouldn't be seen, you'll be the only one to see them."
So the class waited in silence as Adrien swiped through her phone. He checked her recents, and then some other albums, including the biggest one labelled 'Adrien 3'
"There's…a lot of pictures of me…" he said sheepishly. "But none of me changing. They all look like they were saved from shoots. Which…isn't that weird."
"So," Marinette spoke up, evening her glare at Lila. "One of us is lying, and it isn't me."
Lila pouted, and said with an irritatingly concerned voice, "Well, I'm just glad that you recognized what you were doing was wrong, and decided to delete the pictures."
Marinette punched the table, overcome with palpable rage.
Adrien glanced around the room, keeping a watch for an akuma. Doubtless, one was on the way.
Marinette seemed to notice this gesture, and took a massive breath. When she spoke, her voice was eerily calm. "What did I do? What made all of you suddenly so eager to distrust me? Since when did I become a liar?"
"Marinette..." Alya tried to say.
"You doomed yourself, Dupain-Cheng." Said Chloe, speaking for the first time. "If you were willing to do all that other stuff, what's stopping you from doing this?"
"Because it's not only wrong, it's a felony." She returned.
"So is stealing a phone."
"I gave it back!" She nearly shouted. "Yes! I get it! I…I have a problem…but I wouldn't do this. Please believe me, I wouldn't."
"But Lila saw you…"
"She's lying! She's always lying! All she's ever done is lied!"
"Marinette," Lila said, hiding her face in her hands, hiding the fact she wasn't even crying. "All I ever wanted was to be your friend, but you let your jealousy get in the way of it. You need to face the truth."
"The truth?" Marinette let out a humorless laugh. "The truth is that I have done everything I could to help everyone in this room. I bent over backwards to arrange parties, to make banners, give encouragement, talk to teachers, stand up to bullies! And the moment I need support, everyone is gone! There's no proof! No evidence! Just some faked tears from a girl who has lied to get attention."
She snatched her backpack up from her desk. "Congratulations Lila, you made good on your threat. You've turned everyone against me, just like you said you would. But I'm ending things on my own terms." She glanced around the room. "If you ever need me again, think twice." She shouldered her backpack to leave, and then looked at Adrien.
He had tears in his eyes, his heart breaking for her.
"I'm sorry," she said. "For all the immature stuff I did. I…I still love you. I hope you can forgive me."
Then she bolted, without looking back.
—
Back at home, Marinette darted into the bakery.
"Marinette! Why are you home? Oh goodness, what happened?" Sabine noticed her daughter's distress almost immediately.
"Girls are catty and stupid!" She cried out.
Sabine took off her apron and called to her husband. "Tom, I need you to take over the register! Marinette needs me."
"Okie dokie darling!"
Sabine led her upstairs, as she sobbed and squeaked out everything that had happened. Sabine just held her, hushing her silently.
"And-And then I just…I just left! I didn't know what else to do!"
"No, honey, leaving was a good idea. That was a terrible thing for your so-called friends to do." She handed her a cup of tea. "Don't even worry, darling. I'll make sure to pick up any homework you miss. There's no reason for you to have to see your classmates, unless they come groveling and begging for forgiveness."
Marinette managed a laugh. "Thanks maman."
Sabine kissed her on the forehead. "So what do you want to do? Wanna watch a movie? Or play some games?"
Marinette shook her head. "I…I just want to be alone for a while."
Sabine seemed hesitant, the thought of an akuma taking her daughter…
"I'll be okay. I'm just kind of tired from all the crying. I'm going to lay down. Maybe I'll watch some funny videos."
"Okay, honey. but if you need anything, don't hesitate to call for me." She gave her another kiss, and then returned to the bakery.
Tikki appeared the moment they were alone. "Marinette…" She sniveled. "I'm so sorry…"
"Oh Tikki…" She cupped her in her hands, holding her gently to her cheek. "Thank you. I'm so glad you're with me."
"I won't leave you alone for a second." The kwami insisted. "Not until you're smiling again."
Marinette stood and went upstairs, closing the door behind her. "Will you keep watch?"
"Of course."
She hooked up her phone to her speakers, and started blasting Jagged Stone as loud as she could stand. The bass rattled in her chest and the shred of the guitar numbed her skull. Over the next few minutes, she went around and yanked every last picture of Adrien off her walls.
When the song ended, and the walls were bare, she collapsed on her chaise, spent and exhausted.