The Akuma in this chapter replaces the episode Ladybug. Lila and Marinette will still have an interaction with each other just not with Lila attempting to expel Marinette because they're in different classes.
I also want to state that while people with an antisocial personality disorder do commit criminal acts and can hurt people, it is actually very rare for one of them to commit a violent physical attack on another individual.
Also, as a reminder, in canon, I know Kwamiis and their wielders can't communicate with each other when they're transformed, but it wasn't known at the time when I wrote my first Miraculous story that they couldn't. So in this story, they can.
It was Friday during the second week of Ning's visit. At Fox Burrows, Lila was in her room doing homework. Her parents were in the kitchenette having some coffee as they talked about something that was of no interest to her.
As for her homework, it wasn't anything related to her schoolwork. She was preparing the final steps of her plan. She was going to trounce her enemy and gain all the power she needed to make her life perfect. She deserved nothing less.
Her problems had all started when she first came to Collège Françoise DuPont. She had control over her class and during the period both classes had been merged to study for exams, she had gained control over most of Ms. Bustier's idiot students.
Somehow, during that time, something happened that caused her and her family to forget two weeks of their lives. They had all been out at the private woods all nine families owned.
In the old days, it had been used as a hunting ground. It now served as a recreational area for all nine families as well as a camping ground where families were taught how to survive on their own because of a disaster.
When the police had investigated the area they had found what appeared to have been an explosion caused by one of the gas tanks near the clubhouse being overheated. This also explained some of the wounds and burns family members had received.
The doctors had surmised that the combination of the explosion and the trauma caused by witnessing such an event had given the families retrograde amnesia and they might never regain the two weeks they had lost.
Lila had slowly started to suspect there was another reason for it after seeing footage that she had been akumatized on the day of the explosion. She couldn't remember what had caused her akumanzation but strongly suspected it had to do with Marinette. The girl had interfered with her other schemes so it would stand to reason she would be behind her becoming Volpena.
Over the last few months, her body had remembered how to do things she wasn't aware she knew. She knew how to fight and subdue a person. Her skills with a short-bladed weapon were surprising. When she looked at a person her eyes seemed to figure out the best way to take something without being noticed.
When she slept, she had fragmented dreams that she was sure were memories just out of her reach. These fragments eventually came together and showed her how to disable a camera or switch the angle of it without being noticed.
She was going through her recent notes of observation concerning Marinette. She had failed to get her hands on Marinette's purse for weeks now. Since the disgusting goody-goody carried it with her everywhere, the Italian girl knew had to contain something valuable.
She tapped her pen against the notebook. "What could you be hiding in there Marinette? A family heirloom perhaps? Perhaps you have a secret credit card you're not supposed to have? Medicine for a disease? Oh, how delightful it would be if she was HIV+. Then I could ruin her life forever!"
Whatever was in the purse, she needed to get it. It would be the perfect item to bait the ugly bluenette with. Since she didn't appear to be taking the threats she had been sending to heart, it was time to show Marinette you didn't mess with Lila Rossi.
The best way to get that purse would be to break into Marinette's room to steal it, but her face was too well known to get into the bakery and she didn't have any equipment to scale to the top of the residence.
The school would be tricky because if she took it there. Too many witnesses and the school had finally been taking security and welfare of the students seriously. The other problem was she didn't want Marinette to know it was her who took the purse.
"Maybe I should mug her? It wouldn't even be a challenge against that klutz. The timing has to be perfect if I want to get away without being caught."
Setting her notes to the side she picked up a binder and started pulling out pictures of places and several drafted threats written in a dozen of different students' handwriting.
For weeks now, she had been snatching notes from other classmates and tracing them onto a clean sheet of paper. Her imitation of the handwriting was nearly perfect. The best way to succeed in ruining Marinette's life was to make her allies into her enemies. Just as she had done to Lila by taking away her minions.
"The City of Love will show Marinette how loveless she is. Hawkmoth has to come for her than to turn her into a willing Akuma again. If he doesn't, well I'm sure I can think of some way to blame him for whatever happens to her."
Laughing manically, Lila continued to plot the demise of her enemy.
Unaware of what was going on with Lila, Marinette and Adrien were at Master Fu's for another lesson. Ning was in the back working on a top secret project and didn't want to be disturbed.
This time, they were discussing a unique trait of the Miraculouses. Namely, expanding on their abilities to communicate with their Kwamiis when transformed.
"As you know, it takes an extremely close bond to hear your kwami when they are inhabiting their Miraculouses. The Kwami Charms work on the same principle. What you didn't know is the bond can go even further to locate a fellow wielder if they are in extreme danger."
Marinette blinked her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" They battled Akumas all the time and sometimes got separated. Akumas were dangerous so why hadn't they been able to do this before?
"Forgive me, I should clarify. This ability only activates if there is a chance the wielder could die during battle or when they are in a life or death situation as a civilian."
He looked at the two teenagers and smiled. "Both of you have a strong bond with your Kwamiis. Your Kwamiis have also bonded with you strongly as well. You are also partners and also lovers as you explore your budding romance."
The two teenagers both blushed. No matter how Master Fu said it, they still felt embarrassed when he talked about their relationship. He had taken on the role of the embarrassing grandparent who didn't know when to stay quiet.
Plagg giggled at the sight of his wielder blushing up a storm. Tikki poked him in the shoulder and cat kwami frowned before whispering, "Killjoy."
"Ahem, continuing. When you share this strong of a bond your life energy, quintessence, starts to sync together to the point you can feel when the other one truly needs you by their side."
Master Fu used Tikki and Plagg as an example. Tikki was the first kwami and loved her ability to create things out of thin air. Plagg had been born soon after and when he appeared next to Tikki they both knew they needed to be close to each other.
By being able to sense each other, no matter the distance, Plagg could destroy a dangerous creation to protect Tikki. In turn, she would always find him and create something from the ashes of destruction.
"Creation cannot exist without destruction. Destruction cannot stop unless there is creation. When something threatens that balance, the synced energies pull towards each other."
"So, we have built-in GPS transmitter. When it goes off that means drop everything and get there as soon as possible, right?" Adrien asked.
Master Fu smiled."Correct. When I was studying to become a Guardian my master would tell me of stories about the tragedies that occurred when a bonded pair ignored the distress signal coming from their partner.
Many of those stories ended with the death of one wielder. If the wielder lived, they were always broken in a way that made them have to give up their Miraculous. There was one story in particular that he told me that haunted my thoughts for days."
He went over to the bookcase and returned with an old journal. The leather was cracking and the embossed cover was fading. He blew off a thin layer of dust before carefully opening it. He breathed in the scent of paper and ink, remembering his mentor fondly.
"As you know, I was only able to escape with a few things before the Order of the Guardians Temple fell. One item I managed to grab was the journal of my mentor Master Zhu. He had given it to me a few days before to help inspire me in deciding what type of journal I wanted to keep."
He flipped through pages until he came to the right one. Master Zhu had been a decent ink brush artist so he had drawn an illustration of the story. Turning the journal around as he showed it to the teenagers while he told them the tale.
"Seventy years before Master Zhu became my mentor his own master, Master Azul, was a wielder of a Miraculous. He wore the Tiger Miraculous and his partner wore the Dragon Miraculous."
Passion and Focus, opposites, but you can't achieve either without the other Marinette thought to herself.
"One day, the two partners were sent to fetch a new recruit for the temple. This recruit lived far away and it would be a difficult journey to bring the boy back before the mountain pass froze for the season.
Master Azul and his partner were confident they could make it back in time. The whole way to the recruit's village Azul's partner set the pace and decided what route they would take to get there."
Tapping the illustration the two heroes followed the story. The partners had made it to the village in good time and retrieved the boy. They had been making the return journey when a rockslide cut off the best way back to the temple.
The partners took a different route which made the journey longer until they only had two days until the pass froze once more. The partners decided to transform and take turns carrying the recruit.
They made it to the pass, but it had started to freeze early. The ice was expanding at an alarming rate. There was only enough time for one of them and the boy to get through.
Azul's partner was given the child to take to the temple. He would remain behind and return to the boy's village to live until the pass opened again. On his way down the mountain, Azul had felt the distress call coming from his partner.
"Master Azul thought his partner had called out to remind him not to stress about being alone for the season. When he returned home in the spring, he was shocked to learn both his partner and the child had frozen to death.
They had made it through the pass before a hailstorm had struck. They took shelter in an ice cave. The Dragon Miraculous alone hadn't been enough to keep them alive. Instead, they became permanent ice statues in the cave."
Master Fu let that sink in. How horrible it would be to know your partner was dead but preserved perfectly that you could almost swear they were still alive.
Neither one of the teens wanted that to happen to them. They promised each other that they would always come to help their partner if they felt the distress call in their minds.
Monday rolled around and school was back in session. Today, Adrien was carrying around Stella, the last kwami who needed to be out in the modern world. It was decided that he would do it because his bag had more room to accommodate her wings.
Stella was ecstatic to finally see what a modern school was like. She knew these places were hotbeds of different emotions. She hoped that she could find people who were happy at school.
Ms. Bustier was giving a history lecture about how France was once made up of smaller countries that were eventually absorbed into France. Today she was discussing Brittany.
"Brittany was united together under King Nomino in 845 who ruled until 851. He was considered to be the Father of the Kingdom, which simply means he was the one found the country.
His son, Erispoe secured Brittany's independence by winning the Battle of Jengland against Charles the Bald. The Bretons won another war in 867, and the kingdom reached then its maximum extent: it received parts of Normandy, Maine and Anjou, and the Channel Islands.
Brittany was heavily attacked by the Vikings at the beginning of the 10th century. The kingdom lost its eastern territories, including Normandy and Anjou, and the county of Nantes was given to Fulk I of Anjou in 909.
However, Nantes was seized by the Vikings in 914 and was eventually liberated by Alan II of Brittany in 937 with the support of his god-brother King Æthelstan of England. Alan II expelled the Vikings from Brittany and recreated a strong Breton state. He paid homage to Louis IV of France, who was Æthelstan's nephew and had returned from England in the same year as Alan II, and thus Brittany ceased to be a kingdom and became a duchy."
The lecture was interrupted when the phone connected to the office rang. Ms. Bustier strolled over and picked it up. "Hello? Alright, I'll send her over. Marinette, Mr. Damocles wishes to speak with you in his office."
Alya started to get up with Marinette to escort her when Ms. Bustier told her to sit back down. "Mr. Damocles wants to talk to Marinette privately. I'm sure Marinette can get across the courtyard by herself."
So Marinette left the classroom and headed for the headmaster's office. As she was coming down the stairs she felt her purse snag on something. As she removed it from the railing she felt someone watching her.
Her head turned to look behind her and to the sides, but she didn't see anyone. While she was looking around someone snipped the strap for her purse and it fell to the ground with a hard thud.
She resisted calling out for Tikki, knowing the school had upgraded with new cameras that had enhanced audio. To protect her identity, she just hurried down the stairs to pick up her purse.
As she knelt to pick up the purse, someone rushed up from behind her and pressed a certain nerve cluster. Marinette went down in seconds not knowing what was going on.
Lila smirked as she bent down and collected the purse. She opened it up and hissed in anger. "Nothing? There's nothing in here? Then why is she so protective of it?" She wanted to tear the purse in half, but she couldn't just yet.
First, she needed to set her plans into motion. She pulled Marinette closer to the staircase to make it look like she fell. Before she headed to the locker room, she gave the bluenette a good kick to the side.
With the clock ticking against her, the liar quickly ducked into the locker room and started opening different lockers, planting threats and pictures of locations around Paris with Marinette photoshopped into them. "After I place my anonymous note under Mr. Damocles's door, he and the teachers will be far too busy interviewing suspects to speak to Marinette. Once she's sent to the nurse, phase two can begin."
Placing the last bit of evidence in Chloe's locker and locked it tight. Leaving the locker room she hurriedly pushed the note under the door and made it back to the library where her class was without anyone realizing she had been gone for the last seven minutes.
In the headmaster's office, Mr. Damocles was reading the new school policies the School Board approved of. Every member of the teaching staff had passed the new evaluation after the training course was completed. The administration was working hard to implement any changes the School Board had asked for. For example, there was a new policy when it came to bullies.
It was the three-strike system. A first offense would be given a day of detention and a warning. A second offense would be a week of suspension and a phone call to the parents. A third and final offense was expulsion from the school.
"I wonder if we can give the person threatening Ms. Dupain-Cheng all three strikes at the same time?" he was about to turn the page when he noticed something sticking partially under his door.
He opened the door and reached down and that's when he saw Marinette at the bottom of the stairs struggling to pick herself up. "My word! Ms. Dupain-Cheng are you alright? What happened?"
"I was coming oh," Marinette stumbled over her words as she started wobbling on her feet. The man hurried down the stairs to steady the teenager. Marinette wobbled a few more times but remained standing.
"Thanks. What did you whoa," Marinette said as she pressed her fingertips to her head trying to eliminate the headache coming on. "What did you want to talk to me about in the office?"
The headmaster blinked his owlish eyes in confusion. "I never asked for you to come to my office. Who told you that?"
"Ms. Bustier got a call from the office telling her to send me to your office." The wobbling had stopped and she felt sturdier on her feet. That's when she realized she didn't have her purse.
"Where's my purse? I know I had it when I came to the office!" Marinette fretted as she scanned the courtyard, but didn't see it anywhere. "I have to find it."
Mr. Damocles told her she could look for it later. He wanted her to go check in with the nurse while he investigated what was going on. Once he was sure she was able to get to the nurse's office by herself he opened the note and read it.
He couldn't believe what he was reading. Surely, this had to be a mistake. Going back to his office he started making phone calls. First, to Marinette's parents. Then he called for both Ms. Mendeleiev and Ms. Bustier to meet him in the girls' locker room with their female students in ten minutes. The last call was for the police to be on standby for assistance.
Naturally, Marinette's parents were the first to arrive. Mr. Damocles met them at the entrance to the school. They were understandably very upset.
"What happened to Marinette? Why was no one with her when she left the classroom?!" Sabine demanded to know.
"How badly hurt is she? Please, you must have some idea whose been threatening my little girl," Tom pleaded.
The headmaster explained what he knew about Marinette's condition and what he was planning to do next. Sabine left to check on Marinette in the nurse's office. Tom followed the headmaster as he was joined by both teachers and their female students into the girls' locker room.
"Listen up students. One of your classmates has been repeatedly threatened by a fellow student for about two weeks now. Today, I found out someone tricked not only the student, but the teacher as well to come to my office alone.
While I don't have all the answers yet, this student ended up needing to go to the nurse's office for a possible head injury. Before I found her, someone slipped this under my door." He held out the note for everyone to see.
"According to the anonymous note, the identity of the person or persons who has been doing this has stored evidence in their school locker. Because this note is anonymous I am asking you to open your lockers and show me what's inside.
If evidence is found you will be asked to wait by my office. I will listen to each of you individually to determine if you're telling the truth when you say that the evidence was planted. Understood?"
The girls all nodded and each of them stood by their lockers. One by one they opened their lockers. Most of Ms. Mendeleiev's students didn't have anything inside them. The trouble started when they got to Kagami's locker.
Kagami opened her locker to show them she had nothing incriminating to hide and when she stepped aside to show the headmaster that his eyes narrowed. "Ms. Tsurugi, why do you have this picture of Ms. Dupain-Cheng in your locker?"
Kagami blinked in confusion. She didn't have a picture of Marinette in her locker. She peered into her locker and frown appeared on her face. Stuck to the back of her locker was a picture of Marinette watching Fencing practice. She was circled with a red marker with a slash mark created by a weapon of some kind.
She didn't say anything. She just gathered her books and went to wait by the headmaster's office. The other students started to whisper among each other. Kagami was a good friend of Marinette. Would she really try to harm her?
The next one up was Lila, but the only thing in her locker was her books for classes after lunch. The headmaster and Ms. Mendeleiev inspected every inch of the locker but found nothing so they moved to the next one belonging to Ondine.
This time they found a picture of Marinette by the Seine and there was a shadow of someone approaching her from behind to push her in. Ondine babbled in confusion as she left.
Every time a friend of Marinette's opened their locker they either had an incriminating photo or rough drafts of threats in their lockers. The most damming piece of evidence was Marinette's purse being found in Chloe's locker.
Tom glared at Chloe in anger. Marinette had mentioned how Chloe was slowly redeeming herself, but it looked like it was just an act.
"I didn't take Marinette's purse! She had it on her when she left the classroom and I didn't leave at all. Ms. Bustier can testify to that!" Chloe insisted. She looked at her teacher pleadingly.
Ms. Bustier was already nodding. "She's telling the truth. Chloe never left class. I don't know how the purse ended up in her locker, but she couldn't have taken it."
"That doesn't mean she didn't pay someone to take it," Tom countered. Still looking at the mayor's brat he added, "You have bullied Marinette every school year. I find it hard to believe you're not behind this."
Mr. Damocles cleared his throat. "Calm down Mr. Dupain. We'll get to the bottom of this. The rest of you can return to your classes."
Ms. Bustier returned to her classroom without any students as Ms. Mendeleiev left with her remaining students. Neither of them noticed Lila enter the classroom and then slipping back out before the door closed.
She headed to the nurse's office, ducking about to keep out of the line of sight at all the girls sitting or standing by the headmaster's office. When she peered through the door she smiled.
Marinette's back was to her as she dozed and she spied Sabine and the nurse in the adjoining room as Sabine filled out some paperwork to sign off that she was taking her daughter home.
Tiptoeing, she pulled the adjacent door shut and shoved the chair by the cot under the doorknob to keep it locked.
Of course, this motion awakened Marinette. Before the bluenette could scream Lila pinched the nerve cluster again rendering her unconscious once more. Hefting the girl on her shoulder Lila took her to the basement to begin her fun.
Marinette slowly came to and found herself handcuffed behind her back with her legs were tied tightly together by plastic restraints. There was a gag in her mouth. She struggled on the floor uselessly.
A small light lit up forming a spotlight on her. "Don't bother. I made sure to make your restraints extra tight. You're not going to be wiggling away from me this time Marinette." Lila said with an evil smile on her face. The look on Marinette's face was priceless. The girl laughed out loud. "This is the look you should have been wearing for months now. It's good you finally know your place."
Marinette struggled even more as Lila removed a dagger from her pocket. How she had managed to smuggle that in without anyone noticing was beyond her. All the bluenette knew was she was in trouble.
"I should have been ruling this school since the time I enrolled. I always wondered why fate decided to keep the classes the same this year, but now I know why. It was so I would have my chance to take you out of the game."
Lila monologue about everything that leads up to this encounter. How she knew Marinette had to be the reason behind her akumanzation. That she should have known her place wasn't by Adrien's side because he deserved the best in the world and not trash.
That because of her goody-goody act not only had she lost her pawns, but she was in the class with a monster of a teacher and a bunch of nobodies who thought they had the right to police her.
She blamed Marinette for her parents punishing her for having a little fun with Alya because she didn't know when to leave something alone. How infuriating it was to have to do community service for pathetic weaklings.
Lila ranted a bit about her quack of a therapist she had been forced to see. How nagging he was about her doing her therapy assignments or making amends to the family members she hurt.
Lila confirmed that she had been behind the attempt to get her expelled and the sabotaging Markov with help from a dark net hacker. There was no remorse for putting hundreds of people's lives at risk by letting that virus spread all over the arrondissement.
She finished her monologue with recent events in her life and that nothing would go back to the way it should unless the person who ruined it wasn't in her way anymore. She put the dagger back in her pocket and looked down at her victim.
Hearing all this, made Marinette even more afraid. How evil was Lila? Could all this be the result of a mental disorder or had she chosen to become this diabolical?
Once more, Marinette tried to free herself only to be kicked hard in the chest. She screamed into her gag as the immense pain traveled through her body. Before she could brace herself the next kick slammed into her chest once more.
She could hear the sound of bones cracking and her heart was going crazy. Then she endured two kicks to the abdomen. She could not remember ever being in this much pain before and she took Akuma attacks on a fairly regular basis.
Lila was just getting started. She grabbed Marinette by one of her pigtails and dragged her across the basement floor before she tossed her rival next to a pipe. Poor Marinette wasn't ready for her back to make contact with the pipe.
"Oh did that hurt? Well, you only have yourself to blame. It was your actions that caused all this," Lila reasoned as she pulled out more plastic restraints She pulled back her right fist and slammed it into Marinette's face giving her a black eye.
While the bluenette was crying from the pain, the sausage hair girl wrapped a few restraints around her victims pinning her to the pipe. "I need you to hold still Marinette. It won't be my fault if your face looks uneven."
Using her long nails, Lila clawed at Marinette's face leaving several thin red scratches all over the cheeks and forehead. Those sharp nails dug into her forearms and legs.
Marinette screamed for help, but the words couldn't get past her gag. Lila rolled her eyes. "I told you, nobody's going to hear you scream. The staff is preoccupied with interviewing your so-called "friends" who have evidence against them as the person or persons threatening you. No one saw me sneak back into the hall or lock your mother and the nurse inside the office. With everyone else in the class, it will take forever for them to be heard.
That monster of a teacher has probably noticed I'm missing, but all I have to do is go back to class saying I forgot something at the library and it took a little while to find it. I'll get detention, but that leaves me more time to play with you after everyone leaves."
Marinette was scared, angry, and hurt. She couldn't let this assault continue. She saw Lila twirling the dagger in her hand. She had a strong hunch that Lila planned to use it before returning to class.
If I don't stop this now I might now survive Marinette thought. She needed to block out Lila's voice, who was now talking about ways she would use Marinette's eventual akumanzation against her.
She appeared to be ignorant of the fact that Hawkmoth had stated he wouldn't akumatized the young designer a second time. With Lila muttering how difficult can it be to get Hawkmoth attention so he could akumatized her rival, then she truly didn't know.
Pouring every bit of energy she had, Marinette sent out a mental distress call. "Adrien! Tikki! Plagg! Help me! Lila's holding me in the basement and is trying to kill me! Help me please!"
Back in the classroom, Adrien was still taking notes on the history lecture. In his bag, Plagg and Tikki, who had left the purse earlier in the day so she could talk to Stella, were chatting amongst themselves, when Stella covered her bat ears.
"Did you hear that?" Stella asked. Her "cousins" looked at her confused. "I heard someone crying out in terrible pain."
Tikki was about to suggest Stella was hearing something from outside the school when she heard something inside her head. A few seconds later so did Plagg.
At his desk, Adrien froze. He could hear someone's voice screaming in his head. "Adrien help me! Lila's going to kill me in the basement!"
Adrien stood up so abruptly he almost fell over his desk. He dashed out of the classroom ignoring his teacher as he raced down the stairs. In the courtyard, a majority of girls were still waiting outside the headmaster's office.
It was nearing fifteen minutes since they were told to sit there until they were called in. Right now, Chloe was in there with Mr. Damocles and Mr. Dupain trying to prove she was innocent.
Alya was showing Kagami some fan art she was going to post to her blog when they all heard a loud commotion. Adrien was running full out towards the door to the basement.
Upon reaching it, he started to pull with all his might, but it was stuck in place. "Kagami! Alya! Come help me! I need everyone to help me get this door open!" Confused by what was going on Alya and Kagami hurried over trying to determine what was up with Adrien who was still trying to open the door.
"Adrien, what are you doing? Why are you so frantic to get into the school's basement?" Kagami asked rather calmly.
"Look, I don't have time to explain, but I know for a fact Marinette's down there with Lila attacking her and she needs me!"
Alya opened her mouth to tell him he was crazy, but seeing the look in his eyes he fully believed in what he was saying. She also grabbed the door handle and pulled it. Kagami took out her foil and tried to use it as leverage to get the door unstuck.
By this time, a crowd had amassed. Ms. Bustier was hurrying down the steps telling Adrien to stop whatever he was doing. The rest of her class was still up on the second floor watching as the science teacher came out of her classroom to gain control of the situation.
The girls from Ms. Mendeleiev's class were alerting the headmaster to what was going on. Meanwhile, the girls from Ms. Bustier's class, except for Chloe, had rushed over to help Adrien.
Right before an adult could get to Adrien, the door finally opened and he raced down the stairs, followed by Kagami with her foil, and lastly Alya with her phone who turned on the lights to see where they were going.
The adults followed the three and when they got to the northwest corner they were shocked by what they saw.
Adrien was doing his best to restrain Lila, who was holding a dagger in her dominant hand. Kagami was using her foil in an attempt to disarm Lila, who had a very dark and cold expression on her face as she looked past the fencer.
Marinette was still restrained against the pipe. Her face was scratched up and her black eye was starting to swell. She was breathing hard and winced as Alya tried to undo the restraint around her bruised up abdomen.
Sharp indentations were seen on Marinette's arms and legs. New injuries included what appeared to be a broken ankle from trying to defend herself while her legs had been tied together. A section of her hair was missing.
The worst injuries were the two stab wounds in her shoulders missing her neck by less than an inch.
Tom reacted first. He raced over and used his girth to fully restrain Lila so Kagami could finally disarm her. The dagger clattered against the ground as Adrien took off his jacket and quickly picked up the dagger to make sure no fingerprints would be smudged.
The teachers hurried over and helped cut the restraints off of Marinette and looked around for a key to remove the handcuffs. Behind Mr. Damocles, students were coming into the basement and gasped in horror.
"MS. ROSSI, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Mr. Damocles thundered at the girl.
Lila didn't respond at all. Her feral eyes were locked on Marinette who was finally free of her handcuffs and crying on the floor.
Mr. Damocles started to demand another answer when there was a larger gasp from behind him and someone screaming in horror. Turning around he saw Mrs. Rossi and the police.
"LILA! What have you done?" Ms. Rossi cried in anguish. She had received a call from the school earlier that day about scheduling a parent-teacher conference to discuss Lila's attitude in class.
She decided to come in person to schedule it. When she arrived she witnessed the commotion around the basement and had a sick feeling in her stomach it involved her daughter.
She was not expecting what she saw in front of her. Her daughter restrained and looking at the student on the ground, who had been brutalized by Lila's hand. Dr. Rocky had warned her that Lila's refusal to accept she needed treatment might escalate to something bad, but even he didn't predict it would be something like this.
Her emotions were all over the place. Sadness, anger, and fear. She was disgusted at herself for failing to prevent this. Her hopes for her daughter had vanished and she couldn't feel a shred of happiness.
An akuma flew into the basement and merged with Ms. Rossi's necklace. Hawkmoth's mask appeared over her eyes. "Countess Discordia, I am Hawkmoth. Your daughter has caused you so much pain and heartache with her actions.
I grant you the power to make her and everyone else feel your pain. In exchange, all I ask for is Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses."
"I agree, Hawkmoth." Everyone jumped back as the akumanzation started to take over including Tom, who let Lila go. The girl took off just as the black and purple smoke vanished.
Countess Discordia was one of the scariest Akumas ever. Her short brown hair was now long, frizzy, and crimson. Her brown eyes now were dark red and cracks had appeared all over her face. Her lips were black and you could see her sharp jaws inside her mouth.
She wore a Victorian-style red dress, with a black collar and hem. The skirt stopped just short of her ankles and she was wearing tight-fitting black button-up shoes.
Her jewelry had changed as well. Her studs had turned into black diamond earrings. Her necklace was now a jeweled collar. Her fingernails were long, red, and super sharp.
"I am Countess Discordia and you will all suffer the same pain as I am!" She let out a horrible shriek that vibrated against the walls. People were clutching their ears hoping their eardrums wouldn't pop. The jewel glowed brightly as her shrieking got louder and louder. Crimson colored sound waves appeared in the air washing over almost everyone.
Before the sound waves could hit Marinette and Adrien, who had come over to check on his girlfriend a tiny voice squeaked, "Funny Faces!" A shield formed from dozens of funny faces wrapped around the duo.
A few moments later everyone else's eyes were a solid red and they were either crying or shrieking in pain. Countess Discordia was pleased by the results. "Now if you don't mind Hawkmoth, I'm going to go find Lila and let her suffer as much as I have." She strolled up the stairs and headed out on to the street as she screeched about her pain. Civilians ran and if they got in her path she used her extra sharp nails to claw their faces.
In the basement, Adrien was unsure of what to do as he clutched Marinette. His girlfriend was looking at him with a pleading expression indicating they needed to go after the Akuma.
Her boyfriend shook his head and gestured at her injuries. It was very unwise to fight against Akuma while injured.
Despite the enormous pain she was in, she tilted her head up so he could reach her earrings easily. Her eyes held tears as she mouthed that she was giving up her Miraculous. It needed to be done if they were going to find a temporary Ladybug.
Ignoring the pain of having to leave his girlfriend behind, he removed the earrings and gently laid Marinette out on the floor. He got up and ran out of the basement knowing he had to find someone to wear the earrings temporarily and would give them back.
Countess Discordia had left a trail of victims behind her as she finally found Lila. Her daughter was at the Eiffel Tower and she had cornered the girl on the viewing platform.
"You've been a very naughty girl Lila. Spreading strife and being dishonest. You've broken my poor heart," she cooed. "You should know what that feels like."
"Mom, you have superpowers, think of what you could do with them! Instead of wasting them on punishing me, you could use them to get anything you ever wanted!" Lila pointed out to her.
Dollar signs practically appeared in the teenager's eyes. "You can walk into any bank and take as much cash as you wanted. Want a priceless work of art? Just scream security into submission!"
Countess Discordia let out a growl and slashed her nails multiple times over her daughter's face and arms. "HOW DARE YOU! It isn't enough to break my heart, ruin our family's business, and face legal actions for attacking another student! You still want to commit crimes?!"
"We are criminals Mom! Don't you see it? Something happened to us! My akumanzation had something to do with Marinette! That's why I had to get her to talk! We can get our real lives back!" Lila screeched.
How could her mom not see the truth? They could go back to their real lives and have everything they ever wanted. That her behavior was perfectly acceptable in their old world?
"ENOUGH!" Countess Discordia screamed. Her jewel glowed so brightly it nearly blinded both the Akuma and Lila, who covered her ears as the screeching grew higher in pitch. Her screeching sound waves spread all across the city.
Every single arrondissement heard the screeching as their eyes turned red. They felt their hearts breaking and tears streaming down their faces. Some were switching between screaming and crying. Even the animals in the zoo were screaming for help in their own way.
Back at the Eiffel Tower, Countess Discordia was out of breath. The last scream had nearly taken out her vocal cords. The Akuma looked down at her daughter hoping she had finally gotten through to her.
What she saw instead broke her heart all over again.
Lila was coughing as she removed her hands from her ears. The strange thing was her eyes were still the same color and not red. How could she not be suffering from the pain her mother inflicted on her?
That's when Chat Noir and an adult-sized Ladybug appeared on the scene. "Thanks for your bird call. We might never have found you if you didn't," Chat Noir laughed.
"Not the time Noir,"Ladybug chatized her partner.
Turning to face the Akuma, Ladybug looked at her with sadness. "Countess Discordia, I empathize with you. Your heart is broken and you probably feel as if you failed as a parent. That's understandable and I get why you want to share that pain. Trusting Hawkmoth to help you will not heal your broken heart. Please, give us your possessed item so you can start the healing process," the adult Ladybug begged her.
Hawkmoth's mask appeared over his Akuma's eyes, but she just let out sobs ignoring him. "What's the point? You get their Miraculouses, but my pain will never end because my child isn't suffering at all! My attack didn't do a thing to her!"
Before Hawkmoth could reply, Chat pounced on top of Countess Discordia and covered her mouth with his hands. "Hurry!"
The adult Ladybug nodded and snatched the jeweled collar and crushed it under her foot releasing the Akuma. She cleansed it and released the cure restoring the victims to normal.
The adult Ladybug adjusted her stance and sent the yo-yo out and captured a fleeing Lila. "Where do you think you are going? The police are waiting for you at your school."
"You're not the real Ladybug! Even if you were you can't detain me!" Lila yelled at her.
The adult Ladybug rolled her eyes. "I am the real Ladybug. I just adjusted my look to try to reason with a distraught mother, who was akumatized because of her daughter's criminal acts."
As soon as she stopped speaking, she glowed red and returned to her normal look. "See? Now let's get you and your mother to the police. Oh, by the way, Chat Noir and I are legal agents of the French government, which gives us the right to detain you."
Chat Noir picked up Mrs. Rossi and started to head back to the school. Ladybug got a tight grip and also bounced her way back to the school.
Once they arrived, they saw Officer Roger and his team waiting outside the school for the superheroes. The students and teachers were all in the courtyard watching the proceedings.
"Ladybug! Chat Noir, thank you for saving the day once more."
"Always happy to help. I think Mrs. Rossi needs some support right now," Chat replied as he let the woman go. She was still crying and upset.
Officer Roger was kind enough to escort the woman to someplace private to help her calm down. Meanwhile, Ladybug had released Lila into police custody who had handcuffed her and put her in the back of the cruiser.
Since Lila was fifteen, she fell into the third level of minors. A minor between 13 and 18 who commits an offense can have an educational punishment or, in special cases, criminal.
When it came to the juvenile criminal system in France, there were six key requirements. One was that they had their own court system separate from the adult one.
Second and third. Criminal responsibility started at thirteen. Also, the system was designed to educate not to punish offenders. Teach them why their actions were wrong instead of having them spend time in a detention facility.
Requirement four required parents being informed their child was in custody. Furthermore, the same order imposes an examination of the parents before the decision of the tribunal. Also, before the juvenile's police custody, the service for the legal protection of youth must be called.
Five and six were pretty simple. All offenders were required to have lawyers. Until the year 2002, juvenile defenders were placed in detention centers until they went on trial. Now, they were released into their parents' custody who guaranteed their child would show up.
What would happen to Lila up to that was up to the judge. He could place Lila either under freedom supervision or placed into a legal educational facility for five years. Another punishment might be having to make reparations towards their victims who set the terms.
The last punishment was that she could be sent to a facility for half the amount of a time an adult served unless the judge sentenced her to a full sentence depending on the crime and if her personality suggested she was incapable of accepting responsibility for her crime.
None of that matters right now. All that matters, for now, getting to the hospital to check on Marinette. It took some time for Adrien to get there considering he had to persuade his father and Nathalie to let him go visit his girlfriend and canceling his lessons for the day.
When he arrived at the hospital he was directed to a hospital room on the third floor. After being assessed in the ER and having her stab wounds cleaned out and sutured up, the doctors had admitted Marinette for overnight to monitor her and to see how her injuries were responding to treatment.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Adrien asked his girlfriend. He was glad Marinette's parents had stepped out for a little while to give the two of them some privacy. He opened his bag to let the Kwamiis out.
"The swelling around my eye has gone down and the scratches don't hurt anymore. Two of my ribs have hairline fractures and I've got bruises all over my back and abdomen. I was lucky Lila didn't cause any damage to my organs.
Thankfully, my ankle is not broken just severely sprained. My hair will grow back and I'm lucky that my stab wounds looked worse than they actually were. According to the doctors, Lila was trying to make me suffer not die."
Adrien clutched his fists tightly. He wanted to destroy something or even see what Cataclysm would do when used on a person. Plagg flew over and told his wielder to calm down.
"How can I calm down? Lila could have killed her!"
"But she didn't and now everyone knows the length she'll go. She's finally going to be punished to the full extent of the law," Plagg pointed out to him.
"Plus, Marinette's alive thanks to your quick thinking and Mrs. Rossi is not an Akuma thanks to you and Ning pretending to be Ladybug by playing around with the transformation. Hawkmoth will waste time trying to figure out how she did that. That gives Marinette a chance to recover," Tikki quipped after she finished putting the earrings back on her wielder's ears.
Marinette squeezed Tikki tight and then held out her hand for Stella to land on. The little bat kwami snuggled against her hand. "Thanks for protecting us from Countess Discordia."
"You're welcome. I know you don't want to hear this, but you should feel happy despite what happened. You're alive and Lila can't hurt you or anyone else now. Happy that Adrien followed his instincts to help you," Stella remarked ignoring the glare Adrien sent her.
Marinette chuckled. "I am happy. So many people went out of their way to protect me. They believed in Adrien when they didn't have a reason too. I'm happy my parents don't have to worry about me anymore."
Adrien didn't understand how she could be so cheerful after what she went through. Rather than question it, he sat down next to his girlfriend and squeezed her hand. Everything was going to be okay.