A/N: Sorry about the late update. There will be two chapters this month to make up for last month and this month. Finals have been taking up most of my time. Thank you and enjoy!

.

Previously on Destruction. . .

The cat hero scooped Nathaniel in his arms. "I'm taking you back to school. Unless you want me to bring you to the police station."

The redhead shook his head. He quietly thanked the superhero. He was relieved, but at the same time, the rage was still bubbling up inside of him.

Ladybug landed carefully on the hospital building. So much for being gone for less than fifteen minutes. She didn't want the hospital staff to be checking on her every fifteen minutes to see if she had potentially harmed herself or even tried to take her own life. At least she gave them the excuse that she was going to take a shower. Now, the tricky part was sneaking in. Thankfully, Tikki managed to help her sneak in with a cloaking spell that all Miraculous holders had, but only the kwamis decided when it was really necessary to tell their chosen or holder about that.

She quietly de-transformed and wet her hair a little to make herself look the part. Marinette apologized to Tikki and promised to get her something to eat as soon as she could.

Marinette thought the hospital staff was friendly. They sympathized with her instead of pitying her. The little details she gave them about why she tried to take her own life, they took their notes and gave her a smile. A couple of hours before the akuma attack occurred, she met up with a licensed psychologist who was going to check on her overall well-being even though she was barely in the first twenty-four hours of her 72-hour suicide watch. The morning team of nurses and doctors was kind to her too. She was surprised about the good. And maybe once she got out of there, she was going to deliver some treats for them from her parents' bakery as a thank you.

The patients on the other hand... well they were all around her age or somewhat older. At first, she didn't really want to talk to anyone. But one activity made her smile just a bit. It was when they were all sitting outside to talk about what their goals were today. From what she could remember, there were about eight other girls/women who shared their ideas. Some ideas involved at least smiling a bit or taking care of themselves. Her goals were a little more complicated. Like designing in the journal she was given and calling her parents and the one friend who cared about her. That one friend being... Luka.

Unlike everyone else, he was there for her. He messaged her every night and asked how she was. He was the one who first found out that she had begun to self-harm. He was the one who worried about her. She couldn't ask for someone better than that.

Marinette took another soft sigh. She wrapped a clean white towel to dry her wet hair.

Seeing Chat was nice. She had missed him and longed for the evening so she could go on evening patrol with him, but she was nervous. She couldn't keep making the sake excuse that she needed to go to the bathroom or take a shower every time Shadowmoth decided to attack. It was exhausting. Couldn't he just see that all his efforts were in vain? He was doing all of this for nothing and practically wasting his time.

Since she was already dressed in her patient hospital scrubs, she didn't really need to get dressed. At least the hospital scrubs were comfortable. She was given the option to wear either a short sleeve or long sleeve scrub top. None had strings or anything rather harmful to them.

As Marinette looked around the room more, she also realized that her roommate Loona may have been released. She sort of kicked herself as she wanted to wish the girl good luck.

Loona, even though she didn't know Marinette told her that things would get better. She told the younger girl that there was always a light that would guide her out of the dark.

Though, with the pain still fresh, those words couldn't hit her very well. Those words couldn't be heard in her mind or heart.

Marinette knew she had at least thanked Loona before she felt Tikki tug in her hospital scrub top that danger was nearby. So, she had excused herself, asking if she could take a shower, and managed to sneak herself out with Tikki's cloaking spell.

With the towel in hand, she rushed out of the room to see Loona saying her goodbyes to everyone. Loona spotted her and smiled. "I didn't think you'd be out by the time I left, sweetie."

"I'm sorry. I was thinking a lot about what you said and I'll continue to fight for myself. I wanted to say thank you for what you said to me when we first spoke. I wish you luck in your journey with your life."

Loona was a black woman who was about twenty-three years old. She had quite the afro and sparkling brown eyes that were filled with joy. She was no longer wearing her hospital scrubs. Rather, she was wearing a pair of black open-toed sandals with silver jewels lining down the center. Some blue skinny jeans and a white shirt that said 'peace' on it. She gently grabbed both of Marinette's hands and smiled softly. "Never apologize for something like that, darling. I wish you the best. I hope to see you become a famous fashion designer!" She gently let go.

Marinette smiled back. She waved Loona goodbye and watched her leave. There was still some good in this world. And Loona was one of them.

~҉҉~҉҉~҉҉{҉҉ ҉҉}҉҉~҉҉~҉҉~҉҉

"I rarely share my thoughts with civilians, but I think Lila is a bitch."

Nathaniel's eyes almost shot out of his sockets once he heard one of Paris' superheroes cuss like that. "I thought you guys weren't supposed to really say stuff like that. Do you happen to know her in person or something?"

Chat Noir was silent for a moment. His mind was elsewhere. On a certain classmate and on Ladybug. "Something like that. Sorry about that. We're here." he gently set Nathaniel down. "Your anger is justified, but don't let Hawkmoth take advantage of you like that. There are always better ways for vengeance." with that, the black cat hero in leather lept away, using his baton.

If he really allowed himself to, he would have cataclysmed her long ago. He knew Lila caused great harm to Marinette, but he was expected to sit down and do nothing.

As for society, claiming that a female had touched him sexually, he was afraid his father would simply take away his freedom. That bothered him a lot. He was expected to be strong as Paris' superheroes. He knew that Ladybug was dealing with her own personal things. Her own personal battle, yet he didn't want her to fight it alone. He didn't want Ladybug fighting her own battles because he wanted to ignore his own. He wanted to ignore his pain and feelings and take care of the two most important people in his life as of now. Ladybug and Marinette.

Yet, he wanted to ask his father one thing. Did he trust him? Did he trust Adrien enough to know right from wrong? Because as Chat Noir, that taught him a lot. To most, he may act like a goofy partner or an oblivious person, but he knew more than what he led on.

Chat Noir de-transformed once he was far away enough from the eyes of students or certain people he didn't want his identity to get exposed to. Adrien fed his kwami some cheese and relaxed at hearing Plagg's reassuring words.

"Everything's going to be okay."

"Do you think Ladybug is okay?"

"I'm sure she's doing alright. She said she was going to talk to you later, didn't she? I'm more than happy to transform you whenever Ladybug gets back to you or me about what's up."

"What about when Marinette gets released from the hospital? Would you be up to transforming me so that I can check on her? I don't want her to keep hurting."

"Of course."

Adrien walked into the school. Like Chloe, he could easily get out of school, but most of the time, he enjoyed school. And strongly disliked missing school. What school gave him was the opportunity to socialize and make connections. Something his father stopped doing as soon as his mother died.

The blond excused it as grieving. That's why his father didn't pay much attention to him.

Anyways, he saw Nathanial head straight for the classroom where the E.U. officials were conducting what they called "interviews". He had a hunch that tomato boy over there was going to march in on the next student's interview and let the authorities know what Lila had said.

'Damn,' the blond thought to himself. Words didn't do many actions unless they were recorded. He really hoped Nathanial never got touched by that wicked girl. 'Heh.' he barely just realized that Ladybug nor Chat Noir brought Lila back to the school. He assumed Ladybug still despised her as much as Marinette did. Both girls have seen right through the wicked girl, yet no one was going to listen. It was... It was bullshit!

As much as Adrien wanted to listen to the conversation, he knew it was none of his business as of now. He had a class to attend and most students had already returned to their classes once the akuma fight was over.

He walked into his homeroom and noticed a very irate Alya who was staring down at her ex's seat. Adrien couldn't blame Nino for breaking up with Alya over what Lila had done. He knew Nino wanted support from her, but instead of that, he got lashed at. He got belittled. And honestly? Who would want that out of a relationship?

Adrien took his seat.

Alya angrily whispered to him. "Where were you, Mr. Perfect? Got locked in the bathroom again? Are you conspiring with Marinette to get back at Lila? Because you have no reason to go on attacking her for no reason! She told me!"

He ignored her with no problem. Her little attack on him didn't bother him. Thankfully, it was cut short when Miss Bustier came back in and resumed her lesson.