The next morning, Marinette awoke to a blaring alarm, again. Another day. But today there was no arguing with Tikki, no begging for a few more hours of sleep. She just got up, took her shower, got dressed and came downstairs for breakfast.
"Well, look at you, sunshine!" Sabine smiled at her. "Uh oh, what happened to your cheek?"
Marinette had practiced her lie and explained that she had fallen out of bed, and hit her cheek on the corner of her desk, and yes she dressed the wound all by her self, wasn't she very clever?
"I'm proud of you," Sabine said, as she wrapped up her breakfast. "You've taken this very well."
Well of course. She's very clumsy, she hurts herself all the time. Why would a scratch on the cheek be any different? "Thanks mom, love you!"
And she hurried off to school.
The moment she stepped on school property though, she was suddenly aware of wary glances in her direction.
That's right, everyone hated her.
"Oh shit." She said aloud.
"You forgot about that, didn't you?" Asked Tikki.
Marinette sighed, and continued on. "Yeah, but it's nothing compared to what I'm actually worried about. Honestly, I'd rather deal with this."
Tikki zipped back in her bag, as Marinette went inside and up the stairs.
Not a word of greeting. Not a friendly face. Not that she had been expecting one, of course.
In the classroom, Alya, Adrien, and Nino were all talking, and when she entered, they all gave her a surprised look.
"You came!" Adrien chirped.
"Yep."
Alya turned away, still disappointed.
Nino saw the exchange, shrugged and stood. He gathered his things and moved to sit next to Alya.
Marinette looked at the vacant seat. "Can I...do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, please, be my guest."
She sighed in relief. "Thank you, Adrien." She set her book bag down and relaxed into the seat. Who knew how long she'd have it before Lila concocted another lie and get her moved?
"What happened to your cheek?" He asked.
"Uh, I fell. I got my feet tangled in my sheets and hit my face in the corner of my desk. I'm such a klutz."
He gave her a look, one she was unfamiliar with, but then he just smiled and said, "I'm glad you're alright."
"Thanks."
His cheeks tinged a slight pink. "I actually have a gift for you."
Her eyebrows rose. "Really?"
"Yeah, I was going to bring it to you at lunch, but since you're here..." He dug around in his bag and pulled out a black portfolio, handing it to her. Inside were the most beautiful and high quality prints of various shoots. Some that were never even released to the public.
"Adrien…"
"You took down all those other photos, and I know you really do like fashion. So I put this together. We had some extra prints at home."
She flipped through them, her cheeks warm. Then she closed it and hugged the book to her chest. "Thank you so much! This means a lot to me."
He smiled in return. "Anything for my friend."
The 'f' word didn't even sting anymore, because it was such a sweet and thoughtful gift.
A few moments later, Lila came in. She looked at Marinette, and opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it and went to her seat. Possibly preparing the next stage of her master plan.
Marinette and Adrien talked briefly, as the bell wrung and Miss Bustier came in.
She noted the changed seating arrangements, and then stated, "Marinette, I'd like a word with you after class."
Marinette sighed. "Yes ma'am."
—
True to her promise, Marinette stayed behind while her classmates went to Ms. Mendeleiev's class.
All except Adrien.
Miss Bustier looked between them, but didn't ask him to leave. "Marinette, Lila told me something pretty concerning yesterday..."
"If it's about me taking pictures of Adrien in the locker room, it's not true. She's lying."
"Marinette..." Miss Bustier said with a reprimanding tone.
"I'm serious! I didn't do it! She told the whole class that I did, and I had to get up in front of everyone and admit that I had a crush on Adrien! She told everyone first! Just to humiliate me!"
"I'm sure that's not her intention. But she should have told a teacher first."
Marinette groaned. "But I didn't even take any photos! She's lying!"
"It's true, Miss Bustier." Adrien added, bless his heart. "I even went through her phone. She had some pictures, but none of me changing."
Miss Bustier sighed. "Well, Lila also had witnesses to corroborate her story. I don't know who to believe."
"That's impossible! I didn't do it in the first place! And yesterday she said she was the only one that saw me! Her witnesses are lying!" Marinette was growing more and more frustrated as the conversation went on.
Miss Bustier rested a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Marinette, you're a good kid. You always have done good and made sure there was justice for all. But this is it."
It felt like the floor opened up beneath her and swallowed her whole. "W-What?"
"You're becoming increasingly more absent from my class. And when you are here, you fall asleep half the time. Your grades are slipping, and Alya has had to fill in for a lot of your duties as President."
"That's—that's just because I'm—I'm always helping in the bakery! I have to wake up early to help and—"
"Marinette, I'm sorry." Miss Bustier smiled at her so sadly. "But if you're this busy, then having you as President isn't helping. We'll find someone else."
Her mouth felt dry, but her eyes welled up with tears and her vision blurred. "But…but I worked so hard…"
"I know you did."
Adrien tried to say something, anything to help, but there was nothing to say.
Marinette clenched her fists and then stormed out of the room without a word.
Adrien was quick to follow after. "Marinette…"
She stopped walking and turned to him. "This is stupid!"
"I agree."
"I don't need this right now! I'm dealing with a lot! It's not—It's totally unfair!" Tears escaped. "I didn't take any pictures…"
"I know you didn't, Marinette. I believe you."
"Are you sure? Because every time someone doesn't believe me, I start to think that you're only here for pity. That you're trying to keep me from becoming an akuma."
"I don't want you to become an akuma," he confirmed, "But I also believe you. You're our everyday Ladybug. I still believe that."
She rubbed under her eyes. "Thank you, Adrien. I'm sorry, if…if I'm causing you trouble."
He waved her off. "Don't even worry about it." He placed a warm hand on her back and steered her towards the next class. "Once she trips up, you'll have people lining up to apologize, and I'll be right next to you, smiling."
He opened the door for her, "After you."
She grinned. "Thank you, sir."
The second they stepped in the room, Mendeleiev was shouting. "Adrien! Marinette! So glad you decided to come to class! Where were you?"
"We were talking to Miss Bustier." Adrien supplied.
"Oh that's it? Do you have a pass then?"
Marinette paled. "Oh…no…I walked out before—"
"Detention. Both of you."
"What!" They both cried out indignantly.
"If you're late for class, at least don't lie about it!"
"I'm not lying!" Marinette cried out.
"Yeah, like you're not lying about taking photos of Adrien." Alix muttered under her breath.
"Miss Mendeleiev, Miss Bustier held us back after class, everyone heard it. Right?" Adrien asked the room.
No one came to their rescue.
Marinette was at her wits end. She balled up her fists and trembled. "Anybody else want to drop anything on me?!" She cried out. "Anyone else want to be my enemy!?"
We're enemies now, Ladybug. You're going to regret that for the rest of your short life.
She suddenly felt nauseous. "I need to go…"
"You've missed enough of my classes. If you don't want to have another detention, sit down."
"But—"
Chloe snickered, "Well, do you want her akumatized in the room, or outside?"
Marinette wanted to cry. "I'm not going to become an akuma!" She shrieked.
"Sit!"
So she sat, in the front of the room, where Nino usually sat. He had taken her spot again, and that was fine with her. If Alya wasn't going to be helpful, then good riddance.
She glanced over to Adrien, who had his head in his hands and looked absolutely devastated. "You okay?" She whispered.
"I've never had detention before. My dad's going to kill me…or at least pull me out of school."
She exhaled, dejected. Today really was the worst day.
But it's not like it could get worse.
Right?
It came quite suddenly. A large boom from across the street. Debris and shrapnel flew across the street and crashed through the windows, ending class for the day.
"I would have thought Dupain-Cheng would have been our akuma." Chloe said, just loud enough to be heard as they all evacuated the building.
Marinette ignored everyone, the teachers, her old friends, and even Adrien, and ran.
An akuma is exactly what she needed right now. Something to fight, something to direct her anger on, and for Marinette to disappear for a few hours.
She snuck into the bathroom and Ladybug escaped through the window.
—
Chat Noir was on the scene nearly the same time she was, surveying the damage.
"This one's going to suck." He said, plainly, his eyes focused on the giant gaping hole in the building.
"Yeah. You haven't seen a glimpse of it yet, have you?"
"Nope, just heard it."
There was another boom a few blocks away, and they both turned towards it.
But someone else was already running towards the sound.
Ladybug groaned. "Alya!"
The reporter perked up immediately. "Ladybug! The Akuma is this way!"
"I know! You need to get out of here!"
"No way! I need to get footage for the blog!"
She had it with her. Ladybug clamped her hand down on Alya's shoulder and forced her to look at her. "Would you listen to me for once?!"
Alya shrank at the anger, completely blindsided by it. "Ladybug...?"
"Go home. This one is too dangerous. Just...please."
Alya swallowed, hurt, but understanding. "Yes ma'am. I'll go."
Ladybug simply nodded and continued on.
Chat caught up with her quickly. "You having a bad day too?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
"Then let's end this quickly so we can get some ice cream and sulk."
She actually smiled. "That sounds awesome."
Around the corner, they found themselves to the back of the akuma. A gargantuan man, with long stringy hair hanging down. Instead of arms, he had long, thick chains that dragged. And at the end of the chains, two massive iron balls scraped against the ground in place of fists.
Each step he took punctured a hole in the street.
"Shit." Ladybug said under her breath.
The akuma stopped, hearing her speak and turned to her.
"Double shit."
It didn't say anything. No grand announcement or introduction, which was standard for most Akuma.
Instead, he simply grunted, and the left wrecking ball came barreling towards them.
Chat hooked her around the waist, and vaulted them away, leaving a crater in their wake.
"Okay, so he's fast too. Great." Ladybug huffed.
The next second, another wrecking ball came at them, prompting them to run farther away.
"Stay away from the buildings," Ladybug reprimanded. "They won't stop him."
"Right."
Ladybug dodged the next attack by slinging out her yo-yo around a flag pole, and then going over the akuma, careful to avoid the arch of his swing.
Ladybug landed next to the last crater, with Chat landing behind her shortly.
"I don't particularly like being a fly when the akuma has such a permanent swatter, My Lady."
"I agree."
The wrecking ball was coming back around, being swung around sideways.
"But I barely have a moment to run, let alone think!" She wrapped an arm around him, and flung them both in the air. The smaller the target, the better.
They watched from above as the akuma stomped his way towards them, the ground shaking with each step.
"So he can swing the wrecking balls really fast, but he can't run, or even walk quickly."
"I can cataclysm one of the chains, so that way we only have to worry about one instead of two."
"That's as good of a plan as any." With that, she released them to fall, just as the akuma was going to take a swing at the building they were attached to.
"Catacls—AUGH!" Mid shout, Chat was struck and went flying backwards and slammed into a building, hard.
"Chat!" Ladybug called out for him.
He laid on the ground, unmoving.
The akuma turned towards him, as the ground started shaking with each step. He wound up to bring his wrecking ball down on him.
"Don't you dare!" Ladybug sent out her yo-yo, wrapping around the wrecking ball, but it didn't stop it. Instead, she went flying, and collided with the building right next to her partner.
Her vision swam, as she tried to move. The akuma was coming their way, and she could feel the ground shaking. Turning to her side, she found her self alone, with no sign of Chat anywhere.
"Ng…Cha—?" She managed to choke out.
Turning back towards the akuma, she saw another figure there instead. They grabbed her arm, and began to drag her away.
"Where…?" She managed again, her head pounding.
"Shh…" said the figure, pulling her up short.
Ladybug would remember seeing her reflection in a pair of sunglasses, and a salty taste on her tongue, before she fell unconscious.