Sabine sat on the steps leading up to the apartment watching as her husband installed hidden security cameras around the bakery with a determined, yet grim expression on his face. Of course they called the police when they learned somebody had broken in and not only stole some of the things they had set aside to donate to the homeless shelter, but someone had stolen some of her daughter's things from her room. Sabine could overlook the food, heck she would happily give someone food if they needed it. She just couldn't forgive them for taking her daughter's things like that.

Of course they called the search off, the storm that blew through the city the night of her daughter jumping like that most likely would have carried anything in the water miles away if now out into the sea. It was logical that the rescue would want to reallocate the resources somewhere else after searching for so long without coming up with anything at all. The woman knew they wouldn't find Marinette's body though as Sabine knew her daughter wasn't dead meaning that there was no body to find. She refused to give up hope of her daughter walking through the door announcing that she was home. Marinette was too strong of a girl, as well as way too resourceful, to let a little choppy water get the better of her.

The fact that somebody had sneaked into their home and business the night before without waking them and leaving evidence behind of their entrance and exit did worry the couple. Tom had wondered if it was perhaps Marinette who took the things, but Sabine couldn't believe that no matter how much she wanted to. If Marinette came home last night she would have stayed, wouldn't she? And if Sabine's hunch was right, whoever had come in last night likely used Marinette's terrace entrance meaning it had to be one of the super heroes or an Akuma. It scared Sabine thinking about that, but it angered her husband even more.

"Almost done with this one." Tom said as he wiped his brow. They had decided not to open the bakery today seeing what had happened last night. Not that it really would have mattered seeing how Tom had lost a lot of his passion since they learned about Marinette jumping as he blamed himself for it. Much like Sabine blamed herself. It showed in their cooking and even day old stuff that tasted just as fresh as if it came out of the oven before started seeming as if they were a week old.

"Is this really necessary?" Sabine sighed, a part of her was against the security cameras as they promised themselves they would never use them. If someone needed food enough to steal a muffin or a croissant, then the two believed they could have them. Yes, she was rattled over knowing someone was in their home, but this seemed like losing themselves even more than they had.

"I don't like it anymore than you do, honey." Tom grumbled, his eyes watering even as fury flashed across his visage. "I don't even care that they took the food, but they crossed a line when they stole from our daughter! If they come back for more of Marinette's stuff, I want to see who it is!"

"She will come back, Tom." Sabine snifled herself as she rose and crossed over to her husband and buried herself in his embrace. "They are right, the storm was pretty bad that night. Maybe she grabbed some driftwood or something else floating by and grabbed onto it. It could have carried her miles away and she is working her way home as we speak."

"Y-Yeah, I'm sure she is." Tom said, his voice sounding broken. Sabine could tell that the conviction in his voice was dying out every time he agreed with her. Every day it seemed as if he was closer on giving up hope that their daughter was okay and it was taking a part of him with that dying hope.

MLB

Gabriel sighed, the most likely subjects to akumatize was the parents of Adrien's classmate that had killed herself because of the Rossi girl. While he would more than happily take advantage of most anyone's negative emotions, this was different. The girl was the same age as his son and using the grief from the parents was just something he couldn't bring himself to do. He would defeat Ladybug and Cat Noir, of that he had no doubt. He just had to have a little patience until he found the type of negativity he needed to finally get what he needed to make his family whole once more.

MLB

Marinette sighed as she stepped out of the shower and dressed in a set of clean clothes much like the ones she normally wore before all of this started. It felt almost good to be in the familiar outfit, basking in the little warmth they provided after the cold shower. Of course she couldn't go out in them as that would be like wearing a neon sign that read, "Hey, dead girl walking, look at me!"

"Aren't you going to try and at least eat a little of what you took last night?" Tikki asked, floating towards the girl who was checking what had become her normal outfit as it provided even more warmth and helped hide not only her gender, but her entire identity as long as she was careful. She had washed them as best as she could with some of the body wash she had taken from her house in the sink with the cold water. They did seem to be cleaner and actually smelled much better, but she couldn't get rid of all of the stains or the wear that showed. She could have fixed them up a little if she grabbed her supplies, but there would have been too much to carry as she needed to hurry out of the place with stuff she could travel lightly with.

"I'm not really hungry." Marinette mumbled just as her stomach growled loudly making Tikki arch a brow in askance. It wasn't lost on her that she kept telling Tiki, as well as herself, little lies as she tried to pretend that she was okay. Truth was she was far from okay and if it wasn't for her sense of duty as Ladybug she would have jumped for real that night with all of the pain she has been in. She was a little surprised that she wasn't akumatized before she found out how to create charms to protect the wearer from Hawkmoth's influence and empathic abilities.

"Marinette, if you don't at least finish off that croissant then I will kick your butt!" Tiki huffed as the small kwami crossed her arms while giving Marinette a stern look.

"Fine!" Marinette huffed as she walked over to the couch and dropped into it and picked up the small paper bag on the table next to her. Taking out a macaroon, she handed it to Tikki who slowly nibbled on it while watching as the teen pulled out the croissant she had nibbled on last night.

"Are you planning on going out today?" Tikki asked, finishing her treat off while watching Marinette make slow work of the croissant.

"I don't really want to, there isn't anything for me to do out there or here if I stayed." Marinette said as she pulled her knees to her chest after finishing her own food for the moment off. "I need to figure something out though, you…you're right Tikki. I can't keep going like this, I just don't know what to do. I can't trust anyone but you."

"You can try talking to Cat Noir." Tikki suggested.

"You know I can't, not after finding out who he is." Marinette sighed, "Ever since I caught him transforming before I…before I jumped, I haven't been able to trust him. You know Adrien and Ayla are the two who hurt me the most."

Tikki watched her holder sadly as she knew how much it had hurt Marinette to learn that the boy who put the liar's feelings over Marinette's own was the last bastion of hope she had that somebody was on her side. Finding out that Cat Noir was that same boy was nearly the last straw for Marinette. Overhearing her parents argument the day Marinette was expelled was just the final nail in the coffin for the poor teen girl who had given her all for the people who hurt and turned their backs on Marinette.

"Maybe you should rethink going home." Tikki urged, though she doubted that advice would be taken. It was a shame though as Tikki suspected that Marinette didn't hear everything and took things out of context in the state of mind she was in. She even doubted that the other kids was against Marinette as badly as the girl believed, but their actions didn't help on that front in the least.

"I don't have a home to return to Tikki, I'm surprised that they haven't just thrown everything away out of my room already." Marinette sniffed as she rubbed at her eyes before getting up to go check on her clothes to see if they were dry. True she didn't really have anything to do, no school and no money to do anything with, but going out would at least get her away from the depressing place she called home for now. She dearly wished Master Fu was still around to talk to as she was sure he would know what to do.

MLB

Thank you for the follows, what does everyone think of the story so far though? Does it sound ok so far?