AN: This chapter took longer than I wanted to upload because I was busy being held hostage by a very aggressive plot bunny. Like I think I wrote nearly six chapters on this plot bunny over about a week. It's not ready to post yet (of course) but I think it'll be the next thing I publish. Honestly, I think you guys will like it. It's another Lila takedown fic but it takes a different approach (with Marinette switching schools, multiple points of view, and of course, a canon compliant backstory for Lila (it's SO salty my eyeballs are nearly preserved) and it seriously brings the drama). If you guys would like to see the actual synopsis for the fic, just ask in the comments or PM me, I'm really not fussed.
This chapter will be a bit longer I think. I went back and edited the title because I just realised that I'd done a massive typo, and nothing is more off-putting to me than not even being able to spell the title.
Anyway. Some notes on the previous chapter:
· Chloe's shown in the show resisting akumatisation so we know that's completely possible.
· Chloe and Marinette aren't friends, Marinette's just a darling who's willing to help Chloe change her perception of herself as a person.
· Mental breakdowns are fun :)
Replies to Guest Reviews:
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Jk there were none.
Question of the Chapter:
Recently watched Watership Down for the first time. It was pretty good, definitely gonna find a copy of the book to read, not sure why I thought it was a kids book though…
Who else has seen/read Watership Down and what were your thoughts?
Old Habits Die Hard
Chloe stared at Marinette across the table. She fiddled with the edge of her bob while Marinette worked on her homework. The maid Chloe had called in had already been and gone, removing both Chloe's hair trimmings and the ash pile, but the smell still lingered. Now the two girls sat in silence, broken only by the scratch of Marinette's pencil on paper.
"This is due tomorrow, Chloe," Marinette said. She glanced up from her page and saw Chloe admiring herself in her phone's camera. Chloe rolled her eyes and set her phone aside.
"I've been thinking, Dupain-Cheng," Chloe began. Marinette bit her tongue to keep from commenting something nasty. "I know why Sabrina turned traitor."
"Okay." Marinette sat up and put her pencil down, meeting Chloe's eye. "What's your theory?"
"She was weak." Marinette stared in disbelief. "Sabrina wasn't cut out for my lifestyle, never was. Good friends stick with each other no matter what. What's the saying? Birds stick together?"
"Birds of a feather flock together," Marinette replied dully, still processing Chloe's words.
"Whatever." Chloe sniffed, lifting her nose in the air. "Point is Sabrina's just like Rossi. Inferior. Our friendship was never going to work."
"Is that what you think that was?" Marinette asked quietly, calmly. More calm than she'd felt in weeks. "Friendship? You honestly think what you did to Sabrina is friendship?"
"Obviously." Chloe considered Marinette with pursed lips. "I just picked the wrong person to be friends with. If she was meant to be my friend she would've been able to take it." Marinette snapped her notebook shut, the sudden noise made Chloe jump.
"I've known you two a very long time, Chloe. I've seen you bully and belittle Sabrina almost every day for years." Marinette shoved her things into her backpack but stumbled on the zipper. Her hands were shaking with barely contained anger. "You took advantage of her, you used her like a slave. It's no wonder she picked Lila over you." Chloe's face started turning bright red and she sputtered and seethed as Marinette stood and continued. "You're a bully. You're mean and and cruel and you know what?" Marinette let out a slightly hysterical laugh. "You're a witch."
"A witch? You can't be serious," Chloe tittered.
Marinette scowled. "I don't like swearing." She marched towards the door and paused, her hand inches from the handle. Marinette looked over her shoulder at Chloe, who wasn't even looking at her. "You would know that if you paid attention to anyone except yourself."
With that final statement Marinette pushed through the door and fled, taking the nearest elevator down to the ground floor. Marinette left the Grande Paris as fast as her legs could carry her, righteous fury fuelling her steps.
"Marinette, you need to calm down," Tikki soothed from Marinette's purse. "Deep breaths, in and out, in and out." Marinette reluctantly did as Tikki suggested, pausing in her march to do so. Clarity and calmness settled on Marinette's shoulders like a shield, fending off the anger that nipped and gnawed at her skin.
"Is there an akuma nearby?" Marinette asked. Tikki poked her paw towards the sky in reply. Above Marinette's head a purple butterfly paused and changed direction, fluttering upwards. "Tikki, I have to catch it!"
Marinette darted into a nearby alleyway and immediately transformed. Once amongst the rooftops of Paris, Ladybug peered into the sky for the little purple butterfly.
"There!" Ladybug exclaimed to herself. The butterfly was flying dangerously close to the Grande Paris' top floors. In one swing of her yoyo Ladybug was on Chloe's balcony, facing down the butterfly. With a flick of her yoyo, the akuma was captured, purified and released, and Ladybug was more than ready to go home and pass out on her bed. She was stopped in her tracks by the sound of a cleared throat.
"Ladybug?" Chloe asked tentatively, shyly. Ladybug resisted the urge to groan and turned around with her most professional smile.
"Chloe, how can I help you?" Ladybug asked through a tight jaw.
"Am I a bad person?" The question took Ladybug by surprise, as did Chloe's sullen, subdued demeanour.
"How do you mean?" Ladybug managed to ask. Chloe sighed and passed Ladybug to perch on a lounge chair, glowering down at the picturesque view of the city streets.
"Dupain-Cheng said I don't pay any attention to anyone but myself. And Sabrina abandoned me today," Chloe replied dully.
"I see."
Chloe pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them, still not looking at Ladybug. Ladybug leant against the nearby railing of Chloe's balcony, and considered her next words carefully.
"I don't think anyone is born bad. But I don't think anyone is born good, either." Ladybug peered at Chloe, who still stared across the city blankly. "I think you make that decision yourself. You have to decide whether you want to be good or bad."
Chloe nodded and her throat worked as if she were trying to speak but nothing came out. Ladybug stood straight once more and unhitched her yoyo from her waist.
"I have to go now, Chloe, but think about what I said. I think you have a lot of potential to be a good person." Ladybug threw her yoyo and soared away, leaving Chloe to her thoughts.
Ladybug could only hope that what she said would stick with the other girl.
-Line break-
Marinette de-transformed in an alleyway near her home and ducked inside the backway. She greeted her parents as she passed them in the bakery, trotted upstairs, grabbed snacks for both her and Tikki, and settled into her room with her homework. Marinette considered her homework, absently chewing on an apple as she did so.
"Can you hear what we say when we're transformed?" Marinette asked. She turned away from her homework to consider Tikki perched atop her dresser. The little god nodded and swallowed her mouthful of cookie.
"Most of the time. If you're wondering if you said the right thing to Chloe-" Marinette cut Tikki off with a frustrated groan "-you've started her on the right track. She looks up to you, Marinette. If anyone can make Chloe change for the better, it's you."
"Thanks, Tikki." Marinette held her hands open and Tikki swooped in to cuddle against Marinette's cheek. "I'm so lucky to have you."
"I'm lucky to have you." Tikki giggled.
Marinette's phone chimed with a text so she fished it out of her purse to read. It was a text from Alya.
Al: 'OMG! Girl U have to check out this Akuma!' A picture followed the message: a woman with frazzled green hair ran across a square in brightly coloured footie pyjamas. She was waving a giant rattle.
Marinette wrinkled her nose. "Hawkmoth's Akuma just keep getting weirder and weirder. And would it kill the guy to look through a fashion magazine occasionally?"
Tikki hovered over Marinette's shoulder, frowning at the picture. "He has no taste." Another message came through, this time accompanied by a selfie of Alya, the Akuma caught mid-stride in the background.
Al: 'Calls herself The Babysitter!'
Marinette groaned and set her phone back in her purse. "Alya's going to get herself killed chasing Akuma one of these days, and I'm not entirely sure I won't be relieved."
"Marinette!" Tikki scolded with a laugh.
"I know, I know. Tikki, spots on!" Ladybug was back in action and immediately yoyoed herself across the city in the direction of the loudest screaming.
Ladybug perched behind a chimney and peered down at the square below. The Akuma flitted about on foot, shooting beams of green light from her giant baby rattle. When the light struck fleeing civilians they immediately turned into bright green, baby shaped statues.
A breath and the scrape of boots on tile alerted Ladybug to her teammate long before he spoke.
"She's a bit old for a baby, isn't she?" Chat chuckled. Ladybug rolled her eyes.
"She's calling herself The Babysitter." Ladybug darted to the other side of the chimney, following the Akuma with her eyes. The Babysitter was now collecting the baby statues and stacking them together like some sort of macabre art piece. "I'll eat my yoyo if her akuma isn't in the rattle."
"Your yoyo doesn't look very appealing though, how about, if you're wrong, you give me a kiss instead?" Chat teased. Ladybug could hear the smirk in his voice.
Ladybug turned to Chat, her eyes half-lidded and a smirk twisting her lips. "That sounds even less appealing." Chat's face dropped in disappointment. "Don't worry, Chaton, it won't come to that."
The Babysitter had attached her rattle to her back and appeared to be quite preoccupied, arguing with Hawkmoth and making her baby statue art. It was almost too easy for Ladybug to leap to the ground and lash out with her yoyo. With The Babysitter neatly trussed up, Ladybug deposited her in front of Chat Noir.
"Do your stuff, Chat." Ladybug waited for the magic words to destroy the tainted item. And waited. She looked up from The Babysitter to see Chat pouting back at her, his arms folded. "What are you waiting for?"
"I'd like an apology."
"You're joking." The Babysitter howled with laughter. Ladybug pulled her yoyo string tighter. "This isn't funny."
"You're right, I'm sorry." The Babysitter strained against her bonds. "It's hilarious! A superhero having a tantrum like a baby!"
"I'm not having a tantrum," Chat snapped, his tail flicked agitatedly behind him. "I'd like an apology, then I'll break the rattle."
"Chat, this is really not the time, just break the rattle and we can discuss this when everyone's safe." Ladybug grit her teeth and pressed her foot against The Babysitter's head to keep her down. Chat didn't move. "Chat you're behaving like a child!"
"Like a big baby," The Babysitter agreed.
"Thank you," Ladybug said pointedly. "Even the akuma agrees with me, Chat." Chat Noir lifted his nose. Ladybug snarled and faster than the akuma could react, she unwound her yoyo string, seized the rattle and smashed it on the ground. A tainted butterfly fluttered out and was captured in a blink.
"Bye-bye little butterfly." Ladybug released the butterfly, pointedly not looking at Chat Noir. "Lucky Charm!" In a whirl of light a ladybug-themed object appeared in the sky and plummeted into Ladybug's hands.
"A spray bottle?" She shook it and something inside splashed. "Perfect." She aimed. She fired. Chat sputtered.
"What the hell, Ladybug?" She sprayed him again. Chat glowered and wiped his face dry. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, Chat." Ladybug threw the spray bottle into the air and cured the city, turning all the baby statues back into grown people and The Babysitter back into a frazzled looking teenage girl. They waved her off and Ladybug turned back to Chat Noir who was still pouting like a three year old.
"Chat, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but we have a serious job to do. You can't let your feelings come first." Ladybug sighed and glanced sideways at the gathering crowd. Her earrings beeped for the first time. "Come on, we can talk somewhere else."
Chat huffed out his nose. "Fine." He turned and vaulted onto one of the nearby rooftops, waiting long enough for Ladybug to follow before they hopped together onto another, higher building.
Chat leant back against a chimney, not quite looking at Ladybug. "Chat, you can't keep putting your hurt feelings ahead of our duties as superheroes."
"Oh come on, Ladybug, when have I ever done that?" Chat bit back.
"How about when we fought Frozer? Does Syren ring any bells?" Chat's face pinched guiltily. "It wasn't dangerous this time, but what if it had been? What if she'd been setting things on fire? I need to know that you can prioritise, Chat."
"I can prioritise," Chat said, leaping forward, hands out as if to reach for Ladybug. "I can, just don't replace me with Carapace."
The high edge of Ladybug's mask lifted past her fringe. "Replace you with Carapace? Are you kidding? You're my partner Chat, you're irreplaceable. But I need to be able to rely on you, if you've got a problem, unless it has to be fixed immediately, it has to wait until after the battle."
"Okay, I promise. I promise I'll be better." Ladybug's earrings beeped again.
"I have to go now, Chat, but I do like working with you." Chat raised his hand in salute and Ladybug left, zipping away in a blur.
Ladybug slipped into an alleyway just moments before her transformation dropped. Marinette sighed and collapsed backwards against a wall. Tikki fluttered into Marinette's purse, eager to get to the sweet treats it held.
"I honestly can't believe him sometimes." Marinette threw her hands in the air and looked down at Tikki, face pinched. "What if that had been a dangerous akuma? I mean seriously! Because I said a mean joke? I know I hurt his feelings, and I feel bad, but that doesn't mean he can keep jeopardising things by being petty. I am right? Aren't I Tikki?"
Tikki swallowed her mouthful of cookie before she answered. "I do think that Chat does have a tendency to make himself a liability…but maybe you should calm down a bit before you talk to him about it more. Maybe bring it up when you're not running on hot emotions." Marinette nodded and began walking out of the alley.
"I think you have a point, Tikki. I might have been a little harsh with him." Marinette paused at the mouth of the alleyway and brushed her blazer down before stepping out in the light of the open streets. "I'll plan out what I need to bring up with him."
"That sounds like a plan, Marinette!" Tikki chirped from deep inside the purse. "It looks like you've got a new message from Alya."
Marinette paused in her stride and fished her phone out.
Al: 'Check out my new SCOOP! :O' Marinette groaned and opened the link attached.
"This better not be what I think it is." The Ladyblog's newest post was headed by a massive picture of Chat Noir and Ladybug arguing over the trussed up Babysitter, the pile of green baby statues in the background. The headline was 'Trouble in Paradise? This Blogger Thinks So'. Marinette stuffed her phone back in her purse and made for home, her steps heavier than before. "This day just keeps getting better and better."