Thanks for reading, everyone! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Disclaimer: This show and its characters belong to Thomas Astruc. I do not own anything.

Let chapter 3 commence!

Marinette couldn't even describe what she was feeling at that moment. She couldn't even move. A wave of numbness had swept over her body, disabling all connections to her limbs.

She had watched as Adrien crumpled to the ground in a heap. Watched as he sat up in a daze, a look of befuddlement and hurt in his eyes as he put a hand to his now-red cheek. Watched as he looked around before eyeing the phone on the ground next to him and picking it up in confusion.

The phone that had become a projectile as a result of a stupid tugging battle between her and Chloé Bourgeois.

What she was now feeling went deeper beyond guilt, beyond shame, and it clenched at her very soul.

She was mortified.

Adrien's questioning eyes made another sweep of the courtyard, until his gaze came to lock with hers. Marinette quickly closed her own eyes and bowed her head, unable to take the pressure his gaze held.

"Adrien, are you okay?!"

"What happened, dude?!"

Marinette looked up again as students began to flock to the model's side, the first of them being Lila and Nino. She watched as they helped him up and brushed the dirt off his shirt, handing him his book bag that had been dislodged from his shoulder when he fell.

Regaining some feeling back in her arms, Marinette unsteadily pushed herself up to sit on her legs, thinking that she couldn't feel any lower, until Chloé spoke up again.

Of course Chloé had to speak up again.

"Way to go, Marinette," Chloé jeered, loud enough to draw the attention of nearby students, including those surrounding Adrien and the boy himself. "The walking disaster zone strikes again."

Marinette turned to glare at Chloé, her throat a little too choked up to bite back a response.

"Wait, so the one who hurt Adrien was Marinette?" Lila asked, tone accusatory, as she stepped forward. With her question, the students began to mumble among themselves.

"Well, Marinette?" Chloé prompted, a smug smile on her face. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Marinette sighed. She felt so drained. She might as well agree so that the blonde could just leave her alone—

"No, it wasn't!"

All mumbling instantly ceased when the new voice spoke, and everyone looked in surprise to see the student whose phone Chloé had snagged in the first place come up beside Marinette.

"It wasn't her," the student declared with an air of shaky composure and confidence, bending down to help the blue-eyed girl up. "It was an accident. I had something important in my phone that she"— the student gestured towards Chloé —"wanted me to delete. And if I didn't comply, she would have had me expelled. Marinette was just trying to help me."

Marinette gave the student a grateful smile as she was pulled shakily to her feet, just now regaining the feeling in her legs. She regarded Chloé with her head held high, radiating confidence even though on the inside she currently felt like crumpling into a ball.

As everyone processed the student's account of the situation, the mumbling started up again, and everyone's stares slowly turned to the blonde.

Chloé's smug expression slowly fell as she realized her plan of publicly shaming Marinette had backfired, all thanks to the courage of a student she had wronged.

"Got anything to say, Chloé?" Alya's voice sounded. Marinette turned to see her best friend come up on her other side, her phone held up on video camera.

Chloé looked at the camera in surprise, before her face morphed into a mixture of anger and disgust.

"You're all ridiculous!" she finally spat, turning in a circle to address everyone. "Absolutely ridiculous!"

She then promptly spun on her heel and stomped out of the courtyard, Sabrina staggering out of the crowd of students to follow her.

With the drama coming to a close, everyone else went back to what they were doing.

"Come on, man. We should get your face looked at."

"I'm fine, Nino, really. It was just a bump."

"I'll believe that when the nurse says so, dude."

Marinette turned to see Nino escorting Adrien out of the courtyard to the nurse's office, the former sending a brief glance their way. She was unaware, however, of the neutral stare Lila was giving her before the brunette turned and walked away in the opposite direction.

Next to her, Alya returned Nino's glance with a hand held up in a sign of reassurance before turning to the student.

"I think this belongs to you," she said, holding out the phone that had been in Adrien's grasp earlier. He must have given it to Nino, who gave it to her in turn.

"Oh, thank you!" the student gushed, taking back the phone with a grateful bow of the head. "Thank you so much!"

The student then turned to Marinette with a look of admiration. "And thank you, Marinette! For sticking up for me! You're really strong!"

Marinette was taken aback by the compliment, unsure if it was in a good or bad way.

"N-Not really," she stammered out, finally finding her voice again.

"Really! Your courage is something to look up to! It's what inspired me to speak out against Chloé! Thank you!"

The two girls could only look on in surprise as the student bid them goodbye before running off in another direction. Alya then smirked and lightly nudged Marinette's shoulder with her own.

"You're becoming the face of a revolution, girl!" she joked proudly.

Guilt suddenly squeezed Marinette's heart, as if to remind her it was still there, and she looked down at her hands dejectedly. "Guess so…"

"Hey, are you okay?" Alya's tone immediately turned concerned. She put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really. It's just… nerves?" Marinette gave a weak grin.

Alya was unconvinced. "Marinette, Chloé failed in trying to frame you. That student did say it was an accident, right? Why are you worried?"

"…Because Adrien still got hurt." The words felt heavy on her tongue as she said them. That phone shouldn't have flown out of their hands like that through normal means. But when magic was involved, nothing ever goes normally.

And that did actually make it her fault.

Before Alya could even respond, Marinette took a step away, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry, Alya. I, uh, gotta go to the bathroom. Again. I just need some time alone to sort out some… personal feelings. Could you tell the teacher that I might be late?"

Then she was gone before Alya could call out after her.

"That was stupid of me. So stupid."

"You were only standing up for what was right, Marinette," Tikki told her. "You couldn't have known that Adrien would get hit."

"No, but it was thanks to this… aspect that he did!" Marinette looked down at her hands with a mixture of fear and disgust. "This was exactly what I was afraid of! I should've kept the phone away from Chloé somehow! Shouldn't have yanked on it so hard! And now Adrien is paying the price for it! Adrien, of all people!"

She clenched her fingers tightly into fists. "This power has been nothing but trouble. It hasn't even been a full day yet, and I'm already tired of it!"

"Marinette, please give it time," Tikki begged. "Every Ladybug that manifested a secondary aspect has had a hard time during the adjustment period, just like you. Don't give up on it just yet."

Marinette looked up at the Kwami before looking away with a sigh, her hands falling to her sides. "I'm sorry, Tikki, but I don't want to see anyone else get hurt every time I express my emotions. As of right now, I don't want anymore to do with this aspect."

She looked up at Tikki again, eyes grave. "I don't want it."

The moment the words exited her mouth, she suddenly felt cold. An unfamiliar type of cold that felt akin to empty. It spread throughout her body, all the way down to her toes, as if she were being dumped in ice.

Something within her was receding, withdrawing, and it left her bare. She felt it retire to where it came from, felt as it was sealed off behind an internal barrier.

Like a dam had rebuilt itself back up.

Marinette staggered slightly at the sudden feeling of loss, as if a part of her had been taken away. She looked up at Tikki, alarmed.

The Kwami had an unsettled look on her face before it turned into a look of sadness. "… It has respected your wishes."

Marinette's eyes creased but her mouth was set into a firm line, finality in her expression. She gave a solemn nod in response before she quickly turned to exit the bathroom, Tikki wordlessly diving back into her purse.

She had already missed half of the class, after all.

After school…

"Alya, I'd like to apologize to Adrien," Marinette proclaimed as they exited the classroom.

According to Nino, Adrien couldn't return to class. He had to stay in the infirmary since his cheek needed ice, and he couldn't exactly go home telling his father that his model son had got himself bruised.

Hearing the update had only made Marinette feel worse.

Alya turned to her in surprise.

Marinette's hand tightened around her backpack strap. "Even if it was an accident, I'd like to apologize… for getting him caught up in it all."

Alya suddenly reached out, wrapping her arms around her best friend's shoulders and pulling her into a hug. It took a moment for Marinette to register before she happily returned the gesture, feeling her warmth.

"You're amazing, girl. You know that, right?" Alya asked, pulling back to look at her.

Marinette smiled and gave a light-hearted eye-roll. "So you tell me."

Alya laughed and gently pushed her in the direction of the nurse's office. "Go get 'em, girl. Let me know how it goes later, okay?"

"Alya!"

The blogger only laughed again in response before waving goodbye and walking off, leaving Marinette on her own.

"All right then," Marinette muttered as she took a step towards the infirmary. "I can do this."

"Do you know what you're going to say?" Tikki asked as she popped her head out of her purse.

"Of course I do. Just drop by, check in, ask him how he's doing, and apologize," Marinette listed, bracing a hand on the infirmary door. "It should be that—"

She opened the door, stopping mid-sentence.

"—simple." The last word came out in a whisper.

Marinette quietly closed the door behind her as she walked into the room and nervously headed for Adrien — or rather, the silhouette of Adrien that she could see behind the green curtain situated between the two beds that made up one side of the infirmary.

She hesitated for a moment, then silently sat down on the other bed, gathering herself and rehearsing what she was going to say in her head.

She took a deep breath, willing her nerves to calm down. "A-Adrien?"

Nice stutter.

The silhouette's head jerked up. "Yes? Who's there?"

"I-It's M-Marinette." She took another breath. "I-I came to see h-how you were doing."

"Marinette?" She froze as she saw his fingers grip the edge of the curtain. And as he began to pull it back, her own hand shot out, her fingers tapping against his.

His hand stopped upon contact. Flustered, Marinette quickly withdrew her hand and clenched it tightly together with the other.

"C-Can we l-leave it like it is? Please?"

Silence for a moment. Then two. Then Adrien's fingers moved away from the curtain. "O-Okay."

Another awkward moment of silence passed.

"I-I've heard from Nino," Marinette began, fiddling with her fingers. "Is it… is it bad?"

"Yeah, but the nurse said it'll be better by the time I go home as long as I keep icing it."

"T-That's good." The guilt welled up again. "A-Adrien, I… I'm so sorry."

"Huh?" He clearly sounded confused. "What for?"

"F-For getting you hurt," she admitted, her mouth now moving from what she originally planned. "I-I know it was unintentional, b-but I should've been m-more careful, a-and now you're p-probably going to be here for a while, a-and also—!"

"Marinette," he cut in gently, the sound of her own name halting her. "There's no need to apologize."

She turned toward his silhouette, appalled. "B-But you were—!"

"In the wrong place, at the wrong time," Adrien finished with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it."

"… You're… you're really not mad?" she asked tentatively.

"No. To tell you the truth…" A pause. "… I actually wanted to speak out too. I wanted to agree with what that student said. I knew deep down that it was probably an accident, and the situation might have gotten a little out of hand. I wanted to say that I didn't blame you one bit."

Marinette felt her face grow hot, a light blush tinting her cheeks, but it was brief.

"But…" Another pause, as if he was taking the time to shrug. "… I guess that student has a lot more courage than I do."

Marinette was silent, trying to process his words. Once again, she was unable to decipher their ambiguity.

"Hey, Marinette?"

His voice broke through her thoughts, and she looked up to see part of the curtain bulging outward, the shadow of his hand pressing against it.

Slowly and without thinking, Marinette raised her hand to meet his own, matching her fingers with his and feeling the pressure of his palm as she pressed back against the curtain. She blushed again, as she could feel the warmth of his hand even with the piece of drapery between them.

"…Thank you," he said at last, his voice full of sincerity.

It was Marinette's turn to be confused. "W-What for?"

"For coming here." The smile could be heard in his voice. "I'm really glad you came to see me."

It was then that Marinette gave her first true smile of the day.

"So am I."

Marinette flopped onto her bed, exhausted.

"I was thanked a lot today," she mused, her mind going over the day's events. She was suddenly reminded of the presence of the internal barrier that held back the power she had rejected, but she quickly pushed it away. "Even though I didn't really do anything…"

"That's not true, Marinette!" Tikki hovered over her. "You did a lot, even if you weren't aware of it! That student was right in saying your courage was something to look up to. You've saved the city many times with it, after all!"

The girl gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Tikki. Now if I can just continue my courageous attitude through my homework, my day will be complete. I just hope that nothing happens before I can start—"

"FIGHT MEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The sudden sound of the battle cry that reverberated harshly in her ears and shook the very streets of Paris said otherwise.

I'll leave what the student is like up to your imagination :3

Sorry for these sporadic updates; if I'm inspired, I start writing and I don't stop ;)