"My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I have been an akuma."
Dupain-Cheng Bakery
"Are you sure you will be ok today? I can swing over."
"I will be fine, don't worry."
"That's like asking me not to breathe. I am gonna be concerned whether you like it or not."
"I won't be alone all day. Father is here, in his own way. And Natalie and the Gorilla are here too."
"I just want to be there for you. I will break into your house. Been there, done that."
"Really?" Adrien looked both surprised and impressed, "Father always prided himself with having a security system capable of keeping rabid fans out."
She smirked at him, "They don't have superpowers or the ability to think straight around you."
He was about to retort when a knock sounded at his door. "Adrien," Natalie stated in her plain unemotional manner, "Your Father requests your presence in the dining hall."
"Guess that's my cue. Talk to you later?"
"You bet. Unless I break in first."
With that, she hung up. She looked around her room. Tikki was looking at her new website Adrien helped her make to advertise her designs, chowing down a plate of cookies. A finished sketch of her dress was sitting on her desk, along with her sketchbook. She thought back to the conversation she and Adrien had earlier that week, about seeing a support group. Support groups had always existed, but when Paris was first attacked by Hawkmoth, they multiplied. Many were focused on the victims he akumatized, helping them deal with the guilt that came after they were purified.
They talked about going to one together, but Adrien had never been an akuma. That may lead to some unwanted drama, so Marinette decided to go to one herself. This was a lesser-known one, hosted at the skating rink owned by Philppe. A few people met there, Mr. Ramier, André Glacier, Jagged Stone's assistant Penny, and a couple others she had saved over the years.
Grabbing her bag, she called Tikki over. She would try to figure herself out.
Alya
She was walking to the Dupain-Cheng bakery, intending to hopefully catch Marinette. All attempts to bring Lila to justice, but the principle royally screwed that up. Ambassador Rossi had Lila removed from the school, looking for an alternative school. She was convinced that the school was infested with akumas, but she was sent out the country so Lila was safe from the wrath of her classmates.
Now she was going to try and apologize to Marinette for not being a good friend and abandoning her. Not to mention also participating in the destruction of her life's work. This is not going to be good, the event of the bowling alley still fresh in her mind. Marinette may not even want to see her.
Alya saw her just down the street, walking casually alone. Following her, she intended to try and confront her at her destination. When Marinette entered the ice rink, Alya was surprised. But when she saw Marinette enter the conference room, she read the sign next to the door: Counseling support for akuma victims. She sat outside the door, listening. A few shared their experiences, how they felt guilt despite having no control.
"My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I have been an akuma. But when the heroes purified me, I remembered everything." Alya felt her heart breaking. She never knew the full extent of how damaged her friend really was. "I was akumatized out of anger and despair. A new girl at my school had been spreading lies about me and when I tried to prove my innocence, no one listened. It got to the point where they tried to destroy my sketchbook, which was really a fake but I didn't know that. I lashed out at the ones who hurt me. Toyed with them and tortured them. And I remember every second of it."
Her sketchbook was switched out for a fake? How? It didn't matter, the most important possession of her friend's life was still in existence. "After I was purified, the people who I used to friends with yelled at me, told me I was a horrible person." How did she know their identities?
Suddenly, everything came together. Ladybug not being available for the Princess Justice fight. Almost all the back-up heroes were from their school. Marinette knowing their identities. Ladybug no longer trusting them after the fight. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug.
Any other day she would have posted this find on the Ladyblog. Now she just wanted to cry.
Agreste Mansion
"Sir you should go talk to Adrien." Gabriel looked out at his some in the garden, sitting in front of the statue of Emile.
"I guess you are right. Natalie, how do you think he will react when he finds out I am Hawkmoth?"
"I don't know sir. But there is really only one way to find out."
"You are right." Gabriel walked outside, sitting next to his son. "Adrien, I have something I need to tell you, something I have been considering to tell you for some time."
"I think I already know."
"What? How?"
"It's kinda obvious." Gabe couldn't believe it, Adrien knows he is Hawkmoth? "You and Natalie. I noticed how much closer you two are gotten and I always considered her a part of the family."
Gabriel took a deep breath. Then another. "Absolutely not. Natalie is just a friend." He glared at Adrien, stating sharply, "No one can replace Emile. Ever. Now get ready, we have guests coming over." With all thoughts of sharing his secret with his son, Gabe strode back in the house. How dare he suggest that he move on from the love of his life. With Natalie of all people. She is just an assistant.
The former friends of Adrienette
The group had met at the Couffine boathouse to discuss Alya's findings. Luka was sitting on the deck in an awkward one-sided conversation with a blushing Kagami when they started pouring in. In order to keep Kagami from beheading them, he had dragged her away from the group of offenders against Marinette and off into the city.
Alya told them everything. Well, except for the part where she figured out that Marinette is actually Ladybug. And her sketchbook, if they knew it was okay, they may feel less guilty. They were shocked to find out that Marinette was at a support group for her akumatation. "How long had she been going?" Rose asked tears in her eyes.
"I don't know, it seems like this is the first time." Alya took a deep breath. "We got to do something to make it up to her."
"But what?" Nathaniel spoke up. He had a crush on Marinette, who was kind to him and introduce him to Marc. Then Lila came and sweet-talked him, lying to him and turning him against Marinette. He was so under her spell, his crush on Marinette turned into his crush on Lila. Tomato boi was hit hard when he learned the truth. "We hurt her more than anything Chloe had ever done to her."
"He has a point," Mylene commented. "We completely shattered her into pieces."
Alya shook her head furiously. "No. I have to believe there is some way we can make this right."
"Babe, she blocked all of us. Her parents don't let us in the bakery anymore. She literally turned tail and ran when she saw us at the bowling alley."
Alya put her head in her hands. This was getting frustrating. Alix spoke up, "What if we record apologies, then send them to Adrien to show to Marinette?"
"He didn't block all of us so someone can send it to him." Rose seemed to brighten at that. They all took turns using Alya's tablet, recording their own personal apologies. Once they were all complied by Nino into a message, Ivan, the one person who never had Adien's number sent it. Now they wait.
Agreste Mansion
Adrien stood in the front foyer, waiting for his father's guest. The door opened, was that his mother? Nope, the fake horrible laugh revealed the copycat to be his Aunt Amelie. "Gabriel, how good to see you!" Adrien cringed as her fakeness radiated across the room, powerful enough to kill all joy. That is if there was a joy to kill here. "You still wear your wedding ring! You wouldn't happen to still have Emile's? I would really like to have the rings back." So she is just here for the rings, makes sense. She never bothered with them before. Yet if she wanted the rings so bad, did she have to ask on today of all days?
"Yes, but I will be hanging on to the rings. They are important to me."
"They are important to me too, they should stay with the family where they belong."
"They are already where they belong." Gabriel gave her a cold stare as she glared venom back at him. Adrien shuffled uncomfortably as Felix entered, hands clasped behind his back. An almost identical copy of Adrien, he would have looked like the perfect son standing next to his Uncle Gabe.
"Felix!" Adrien brightened, as Amelie pushed him forward.
"Adrien, why don't you and Felix go to your room." Gabe's tone was cold, anger hidden below it. Clearly, he and Amelie were going to have yet another argument over the rings. Adrien simply gestured for Felix to follow him upstairs to his room.
Once they were alone Adrien hugged his cousin. "I'm sorry for not coming to your father's funeral. I got locked up again." Felix's father had died years before, not long after Adrien's mother and before he became Chat Noir. He didn't have any means of leaving the house while locked up then.
"It's alright, I understand. What were you locked up for?"
"I got an A-. Father was not happy."
"Seriously, what a bummer." As they pulled apart, Felix swiped Adrien's phone. Asking to be allowed to used Adrien's shower and borrow some clothes, he left his oblivious cousin alone. Once he was in the bathroom, he turned on the shower and pulled out the stolen phone.
Turning it on, he immediately saw a picture of Adrien and a bluenette girl, both clearly very happy. "Losers." Breathing on the phone, he noticed the smudges indicating the pattern. Unlocking it, he opened his pictures. Two albums stood out, Marinette and Ladybug. One had more pictures of the bluenette girl, some with Adrien and some without. The Ladybug one was filled with almost every photo of Ladybug in existence. Felix smirked. Adrien was probably only dating the girl for her similar appearance to Ladybug. "I wonder how much havoc I could bring to his friendships if I send her a few messages."
But before he figured out which contact was the bluenette's, a video message from an unknown number came in. Opening it, he found a redhead, stating that if the video could be passed on to Marinette. A whole group of people took turns, each apologizing to Marinette for something about Lila. Pathetic. He deleted the videos and dressed in the borrowed clothes.
"I saw the videos you guys made and all I just gotta say is thanks. Thanks for making me deal with your problems on the day of my mother's death. If you guys really cared, then you wouldn't be so rude. No one wants you. You're all pathetic!" Perfect. Sending it back, he walked back out, leaving the phone on Adrien's desk. Time for a show.
Couffine Boathouse
The group was shocked, every single one feeling angry and hurt. A butterfly landed on the tablet in Alya's hands, but everyone had the Hawkmoth symbol in front of their faces. "Lady Wifi, Princess Fragrance, Reflecta, Bubbler, Horrificator, Stoneheart, Timebreaker, Evilustrator, Dark Cupid, Gamer. You all tried to apologize to your friends but were met with only anger and rudeness. Bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous and I will grant you your old powers."
"Yes, Hawkmoth!" Clouds of dark energy absorbed each of them.