Fallen
Marinette scowled at the sky. Ever since Lila came back, everyone's IQ had fallen to single digits, Max included. Alya had brushed Marinette's concerns off a jealousy, but Marinette didn't have any proof, aside from her own word and Adrien, who wanted to go with the high road approach.
Marinette inwardly snorted, Adrien had a heart of gold, but he seriously needed lessons on social skills. Marinette glanced down at the stub in her hand, if her parents found she had started smoking, they would flip. Marinette didn't actually intend for smoking to become a habit, but another one of the class presidents had noticed she was stressed and given her a cigarette, it happened a few more time and it eventually stuck, Tikki always tutted and gave Marinette a disapproving look. Thankfully, no one came on to the roof to look for smokers, they always looked on the ground. Marinette stubbed the cigarette out and put it in a disused flowerpot.
"Well, well, well," Crooned a sickeningly sweet voice, making Marinette spin around, "what do I have here? Why, if it isn't Marinette, breaking a school rule."
Lila smirked smugly at Marinette, Marinette looked behind Lila and spotted Alix, Kim, Chloe and Sabrina.
"Can I help you?" asked Marinette, tiredly.
"You weren't at lunch." Said Lila, faux sweet voice lacing her words.
"Well, here I am," Waved Marinette, "you can go now."
"Oh, but Marinette," Said Lila, sweetly, "I don't want to go."
Marinette sighed, hauling herself to her feet, "Okay, but I don't want to know what you're doing up here."
"But Marinette," Lila's smirk went cold, "I want to talk to you."
"How unfortunate, because I don't want to talk to you." Said Marinette, plainly.
Lila took a few steps closer, "I told Alya that I could help you start your fashion career, I told her I could introduce you to so many people."
"I'm not interested in your lies, Lila," Said Marinette, folding her arms, "your stories don't work on me, it'll only be a matter of time before everyone else cottons on."
Alix went to advance toward Marinette, but Kim held his arm out.
"Let's see how this ends." Kim whispered his voice quiet.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Lila grit out, fuming.
"It means, stop lying, once everything comes to light, the class, hell the school, will turn on you like a pack of dogs," Said Marinette, "And believe me, they will tear you apart."
Marinette stopped at the edge and looked across the City, for some reason, she felt oddly calm.
Lila let out a yell and charged at Marinette, her hands pushing Marinette's back away from her, causing Marinette to topple over. Marinette let out a scream as she fell, abruptly cutting off as she hit the ground with a sickening crack-thud.
"Marinette!" Screamed Alix, as she ran past Lila and gawked over the edge of the roof.
Alix stood still for a moment, before she rushed back down the stairs, the others following after her, leaving Lila alone on the roof.
*/*
Adrien laughed as Nino imitated an elephant.
His father allowed him to have lunch at school, which gave him the opportunity to introduce Kagami to his other friends. Kagami had brought some of her classmates with her, Adrien presumed for moral support.
"Didn't you say Marinette was going to be here?" Asked Kagami, looking around for the blue-eyed girl.
"Yeah, I think she's caught up in something." Said Adrien, making Alya snort.
"The girl is turning into a workaholic, one day she's going to run herself into the ground." Commented Alya, "She said someone wanted to speak with her and she'd join us as soon as she was done."
Kagami hummed in response.
Alix suddenly burst into the courtyard.
"Lila just pushed Marinette off the roof."
*/*
She was dead.
Lila could only stare at the body of the class representative that she had pushed off the roof. In hindsight, the push had been a bit much, she hadn't meant to push her off the roof.
Lila could see her classmate slowly gather around the body, someone screamed and there were more than a few wails. Adrien looked up and made eye contact with Lila. She had never seen such hatred before and now she was witnessing it, all because Lila Rossi had murdered Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
She didn't think she could lie herself out of this one. She knew she couldn't lie her way out of it when the class began hunting her down.
Lila started frantically looking for a way to get down without having to use the stairs she used to get up here. She spotted a fire escape, and ran for it, hastily rushing down the steps and into the alley that it let out into. Lila wasted no time in running home and hiding away in her room, she needed a way out of this mess without getting arrested.
*/*
They'd moved Marinette into an empty classroom. It had been an hour and the whole school had heard, and everyone was quiet when they were informed. Everyone was told that it was probably planned by Lila, as Kim, Alix and Sabrina had told the staff. The Art teacher had donated a sheet so her body could be covered. The Police and Ambulance were arriving, paramedics being taken to Marinette's body.
An officer was questioning Marinette's classmates when one of the Paramedics rushed in.
"We have to move her." Said the Paramedic, gasping for air.
"Why?" Asked the Officer, "The Coroner's van will be here in a minute."
"She's still alive, she's being loaded into the Ambulance now." The Paramedic then rushed out of the room, the Officer looking back at the class, before following her.
The classroom was silent, before Alya made a shuddery gasp.
"She's alive." Gasped Alya, her arms wrapped around Nino, "She's still alive."
"But for how much longer?" Came Adrien's response, his tone dark.
No one wanted to give a thought to that possibility.
*/*
Tom and Sabine were in the middle of the lunch rush, when Police cars and an Ambulance arrived at the school across the road, one of their usual patrons entered, babbling about how someone had been pushed off the school roof.
The poor person left without collecting their change. Shortly afterwards, a Police Officer walked in, quietly asking to speak with them.
"I think you should sit down." Said the Officer, as soon as they were somewhere private.
"Is something wrong?" Asked Tom, as he closed the door.
"I am afraid something has happened, concerning your daughter." Answered the Officer.
"What's wrong? Has she been arrested? Is she hurt?" Sabine threw a fast flurry of questions.
"No, she hasn't been arrested," Said the Officer, "at 13:47 today, one of her classmates had lured her up to the roof of her School and pushed her off. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid the chances of your daughter dying is more likely than her survival."
Neither spoke, before Sabine let out a shuddering gasp.
"Where is she?" Demanded Tom, his tone a mix of grief and rage.
*/*
The doctors were rushing around when the trolly came in, a doctor rushing over to them.
"Okay, what've we got?" Asked the Doctor, matching the pace of the paramedics and trolly.
"15-year-old female, Caucasian-Asian, was pushed off her schools' roof." A paramedic listed off, "The Police will want to question her if she wakes up."
"When she wakes up." Said the Doctor, looking down at the girl, "Anything else?"
"Severe trauma to the head and spine, possible punctured lung, her right arm is broken." Came the response, "There's also suspected internal bleeding, so there is a chance of there being other punctures."
"Right," Said the Doctor, before calling out, "Can someone prep her for surgery?"
*/*
By the time class had been released Marinette had been released from surgery, with Tom and Sabine sitting by her bedside.
"How is she?" Asked Alya, as she entered the room, Nino and Adrien trailing along behind her.
"They say she's stable, but they don't know if she'll wake up or not." Came Tom's reply.
"Who did this?" Came Sabine's quiet demand.
"Mrs. Cheng, I don't think we're allowed-" Sabine cut Adrien off mid-sentence.
"Who did this to my daughter?"
Everyone was quiet, before Alix piped up behind them.
"Lila pushed Marinette off the roof." Said Alix, quietly pushing her way to the front.
"The girl with the lying disease?" Questioned Tom, as Adrien shifted slightly.
"Mr. Dupain, I don't think that was a disease," Said Adrien, "the only thing that would remotely match that is a compulsive lying disorder, which isn't a disease."
The room was silent, before Tom got up and muttered about how he needed to get outside. No one stopped him from walking out of the ward, while Sabine was gently stroking Marinette's head.
*/*
Lila cowered under her desk in her room, she had heard someone knocking on the door to her home, Lila was desperately trying to think up something to get her out of this mess. She couldn't fall back onto the lying disease, because there had been witnesses to Marinette's murder and they all saw her push Marinette. She couldn't claim self-defence, because Marinette was facing away from her. Lila was stuck in a corner, both figuratively and literally.
Lila stopped. She could say Marinette jumped and her push was actually her trying to save Marinette. Yes, that should work, it would take a few well-placed lies to get the class to believe her, but she might be able to get it to work.
Lila nodded to herself, she could work with this, and maybe, she could ruin Marinette as well.
There was a splintering sound as the front door was kicked in.
"Lila?" Came the voice of one of Paris's heroes, "Come out, come out, wherever you are."
Lila clamped her hands over her mouth to prevent ant sound from escaping.
"Come on, Lila," Whined Chat Noir, his claws scraping against a wall, "I only want to talk."
Lila was breathing as quietly as possible, unwilling to remove her hands, lest she makes a noise, tears were streaming down her face. Lila's door was kicked open and Chat Noir walked in.
"There you are." Grinned Chat, as Cataclysm glowed in his hand.
Chat then rushed towards her, his cataclysm hand outstretched.
Lila woke with a gasp, sweat rolling down her body. She was in her bed; how did she get here? Then it all came crashing back to her. She pushed Marinette off the roof of the school and she planned on twisting it to make it seem Marinette was the aggressor.
Lila was drawn from her thoughts by the front door slamming shut.
"Lila!" Yelled her mother, making the girls heart sink.
"Y-yes, Mum?" called Lila, hoping her mother hadn't already heard.
The sound of her mother stomping towards her room put a dull feeling of apprehension in her. Her door slammed open and her mother looked livid.
"What's this I hear about you pushing someone off a roof?!" Demanded Lila's mother.
*/*
"She's lucky, I'll say that much." Said a Doctor, looking over Marinette's file, "She's going to need to rest to get the bones in her arm and leg to heal properly. Although, we're going to want to keep an eye on her lungs for a while."
"Why, was one of them punctured?" Asked Sabine, making the Doctor frown.
"Yes, but they're just showing signs of smoking damage." Said the Doctor, "It might be an idea to see if she has been smoking, just to be safe, since it could be smoke inhalation."
The doctor finished up and left the room.
"Well, now we know why she was on the roof." Said Sabine, looking over at her daughter, "Do you think we've been pushing her too hard?"
"I think it's been a gradual thing, she started to struggle with things, and someone gave her a stress release." Replied Tom, watching Marinette as she breathed in and out.
"We'll have to talk to her about it when she wakes up." Said Sabine, as Marinette shifted a little.
Both adults went silent as they watched Marinette wiggle around, before rolling over onto her side, her broken limbs resting on top of her non broken limbs. Marinette gave a little sigh and soft snores started coming from the bed.
"Well," Said Sabine, her eyebrows raised, "at least we know she's not in a coma."
There was a flash and shutter sound at Tom took a picture.
*/*
A couple of weeks passed since Marinette woke up and was forced to come clean about her new habits, now she was sitting awkwardly, trying to take down notes from Ms. Bustier's class. Her classmates tried to do it for her but stopped after Marinette made it clear she could manage. Marinette was avoiding Adrien's gaze, she didn't want to look at his smug face.
"Are you sure you're okay, Marinette?" Asked Adrien, leaning towards Marinette, "It's not to late to ask for help."
"Bite me, Dracula." Retorted Marinette, before swearing as she dropped her pen.
Ms. Bustier stopped and sighed.
"Adrien, please take Marinette's notes for her, that's the twenty-sixth time she dropped her pen." Said Ms. Bustier, before continuing with the lesson.
Adrien looked beside himself, while Marinette pouted.