#“we can’t have him reconnecting with his mom either because she’ll try to apologize and we can’t have that either”

[only-one-brain-cell]

Why in the actual fuck was Carmy not at the hospital when his SISTER WAS IN LABOR??????

[thoughtfullyyoungduck]

I’ll never let you down

Summary: Can you do one where Richie has a daughter and she comes to derry after her dad leaves because she doesn’t want to stay with her mom and someone tells her where he went so she goes and when she gets there Richie is terrified about something happening to her so he makes her stay at the hotel but pennywise gets to her and takes her and Richie won’t stop till he gets her back

A/N: I’m so sorry this took so long! I hope it’s worth it! 

‘Mom, I’m back at the hotel now okay? Yes I know I shouldn’t have gone without letting you know, I’m sorry.’

Mia drops backwards on the bed, bouncing as her body makes contact with the matrass. Her mother’s voice droned on in the background, lecturing her on what she called running away. In actuality, all you did was follow your father to his home town, a miserable, petit town filled to the brim with people even more miserable than the place they lived in.  

It’s a bit crazy to think that your father, with all his charm and energy, was born in a place that sucked the life out of every good thing it had going on. In the day Mia explored, the only interesting thing she stumbled upon was a carnival, located on the outskirts of town. Any other buildings were overgrown with local vegetation and compilations of dust, including Mike’s library, even though he did his best to maintain it.  

‘No, he’s back with his friends and told me to stay put in the hotel, so I am. I’ll call you tomorrow okay?’ With one last goodbye, she ditched her phone off to the side, careful that it didn’t bounce off the bed. Her mom is not happy. She can’t stand Richie as it is, resents how well the relationship between father and daughter is compared to her relationship with Mia, but the running off ass more fuel to the fire.

This sucked. Her father dumped her by the hotel to reconnect with friend he hadn’t talked to in years, yet he practically locked her up and tied her to the chair to ensure she wouldn’t sneak off. An inclination about her possibly going to the fair set him off, his hand digging into her shoulder and shaking her, yelling in a way he’s never expressed himself towards her before. He apologized for it, but the behavior turnabouts floored Mia, shocked her dad has it in himself to turn into someone so scary.

She’s under strict regulations, is forbidden to set one foot of the threshold of the hotel, and even exiting her room is only allowed if she’s ordering food or a soda in the lobby. He didn’t even give her an explanation, waving of her concerns with an; ‘I’m fine as long as you stick to the rules.’

Mia thought rules weren’t apart of Richie’s vocabulary, since he trusted her with his life and in turn gave her the freedom to be herself and make mistakes, but evidently this town uncovered a sensitive vein in her dad, and caused him to divert from his usual path.

The problem is that Mia gets bored so easily, whether she’s home or somewhere else, if she doesn’t have a few things she can alternate between, she’ll get stultify. Here, in a hotel room with only an out of function television and a phone that was near dying, Mia felt compelled to break Richie’s rules and head out, disobeying his wishes. But she couldn’t, not after seeing firsthand how horror-stricken her father turned after spotting her for the first time.

To speed up the time, Mia hops in the shower, the scorching streams of water warming her skin and burning its way through the time. It’s surprising the warm water doesn’t cut off after a few minutes, something Mia had frankly expected in this town where time froze over in the 80s, so she drags the shower out for a longs as she can, stopping in the nick of time to avoid her skin blistering.  

She uses the body wash and shampoo she packed when leaving her mother’s house, unsure how long she was going to stay away for. As she’s dousing her hair in the sweet scented soap, she closes her eyes to prevent any suds to irritate her eyes, searching blindly for the shower tap. The water hasn’t changed temperature, so Mia leaves it as it is and proceeds to remove all the remnants soap.

A coppery smell fills her nostrils, so thick and omnipresent she can nearly taste it in the back of her throat. Confused, Mia opens her eyes to see what’s happening and bellows, tearing the shower curtain as she slips onto the tiled floor. Her whole body sops in blood, not the water Mia thought she was showering with, red liquid leaking from her hair and adding to the mess on the floor.

She begins to rub away the red spots, scrubbing so hard her skin rashes, yet the blood doesn’t budge and persists on sticking to her skin. With a garbled gulp she tries turning on the faucet of the lavabo, but that water too tints a dark red.

She’s not yet crying, though it won’t be long before she lets loose, a pending headache pounding in her skull, while she’s scanning the bathroom for a towel to smear the gore away. Mia finds one in the closet, dries her face first, all the while she’s hyperventilating, and scrapping every last inch. Bending down, she tracks the fabric down her legs, and finds that all the blood has gone missing.

Astounded, she stares at herself in the bathroom mirror, finding that there wasn’t any blood at all, just plain, regular water. The tub is spotless, and the water streaming down the showerhead is completely see through, like the blood she saw wasn’t real. The only evidence that something went down is the blotchy spots she developed from scouring.

The fear from before lingers around as she gets dressed, her fingers trembling violently. She suddenly can’t stand to be in the room anymore, aching to get out and go anywhere else but here, but the promise she made with her dad forbids her from that. If she explains the situation, maybe he would permit her to go out and tell her where he is so they can regroup. Then she’ll have a laugh about it with him, and it will just seem like a bad dream that got a little too real for her liking.  

She tracks her phone on top of the plaid where she left it, and unlocks it. She’s shaking so hard she misses the call icon multiple times. When she finally does manage to connect the call, Richie doesn’t answer, too caught up in what he came to do and deemed to inappropriate for Mia to know. Normally, Mia would let it go and try back at a later time, but she’s skittish after the bathroom incident and the room creeps her out. She waits for three rings, then ends the call and chimes back again. Again, no answer is giving, so Mia deems it necessary to leave a voicemail. Anything to get her to leave and be near someone.

‘Dad? When are you coming back? I know you warned me but I think you might be right. This place is really eerie and I don’t like being alone. You made me promise not to go anywhere but I really think I being in a place with more people will make me feel better, can I please explore the town or something? Do you have a dinner here? I-‘

A knock on the door captures her attention, knocking on the beat of a nursery rhyme her and her father always do before entering a room. ‘Oh, well I guess you’re here already’, she terminates the call without so much as a goodbye, allowing entrance to her supposed father. Except, the door entry is empty, and a glance towards the hallway informs Mia that he’s not hiding there to spook her either. Puzzled, and a little put off, she closes the door, and turns on her heels, to come face to face with the one thing her dad wanted to protect her from.

Mia’s screams carry over to the other rooms, but in true Derry fashion, no one bothers to go to go and take a look at the teenage girl begging for help.

A few minutes later, a pent up Richie Tozier checks his phone, and listens to his daughters voice mail.

  -----

Richie speeds along the corridor followed but a breath away by Bill, Mike and Eddie. He’s never run in his life, period, not even in high school during P.E, ditching every time they had to do track, but he’s barreling so fast Bill is heaving breaths.

He loses time trying to grab his keys from his pocket, agitation him to the point he simply kicks down the door instead of gently opening it. The words painted in blood are a blast from the past, ‘You’ll die if you try’, being written on Bev’s wall after Pennywise abducted her as a child. A red balloon taps to the ceiling, a signature as if it wasn’t obvious it’s Pennywise.

‘Richie’, Mike pants, sounding insanely guilty to Richie’s ears and turning his name into an apology,  but that’s not what he wants right now. He recites the sentence over and over again, his breathing sloppier with the second and his thought spiraling into an angry frenzy.

‘I am so sorry. Richie I’m so sorry’, Mike says, finding himself extremely culpable. A finger is jabbed in his chest, Richie thrusting his finger so grating Mike is forced to take a step back. Mike lets him, baring his head to side so Richie has easy access for a punch.  

‘This is your fault’, he spits, hands vibrating to strike, preferably a wall, but in the haze of rage Richie is experiencing, it might as well be Mike.

‘Rich, stop’, Eddie lulls, daring to inch closer and grapple at Richie’s fist. ‘Mind your business Eddie’, he barks, teeth grinding together, but he rest his fist in Eddie’s hands.

‘Is it your daughter that’s missing? No, it’s not, you don’t have a child at all and you wanna lecture me on how I should respond?’

He’s entirely too brash, he’s never been anything but potent towards Eddie, but he has a point. Eddie can’t comprehend how difficult this is and desolating Richie must be feeling, but what he knows is that if they continue to fight one another, they’re wasting time and energy they could be spending on saving Mia. He swallows down his vulgar response and moves in between Richie and Mike.

‘This isn’t helping anyone. Calm down so we can look for her.’

Richie and Eddie set off in a staring match, that Eddie wins, and Richie shrinks down, eyes watering.

‘I’m not leaving ‘till I find her. I’m not leaving. I can’t loose her Eds’, he whimpers pleadingly, dropping his head to Eddie’s shoulder.

‘You won’t. I promise. We’re not leaving either. Losers stick together,’ he whispers assumingly. Then, addressing the others in a louder, convicted tone; ‘None of us are leaving.’

Mutters from agreement rise from the group, and Mike face clears up, full attention on spreading his knowledge on how to defeat IT to the others.

Richie studies Eddie’s expression, trying to filter out any lies. It was only moments ago that Eddie was planning on separating from the group with Richie and evacuating town faster than lighting. But now Mia has gone missing, a child that someone he cares for holds dear, there’s not a sliver of doubt about staying.

Richie nods relieved, a shaky breath escaping. ‘Thank you.’

‘Guys, Pennywise is not going to let her go without a fight, there is a chance we might die,’ Mike warns, compelled to reveal part of the truth at least.

Richie merely waves off the warning. ‘As long as I get my daughter back, I don’t give a fuck.’

------------------

Mia is tired, terrified and hungry, but surprisingly still alive. She had though for sure that her time on earth was over when the clown wrapped one of it’s hands around her neck and squeezed the life out of her, only to woke marooned in an underground part of the sewers by herself.

The clown never returned, thankfully, and in the evening she began wondering around the drainpipe, discovering that she is in fact lost. Going in a left or a right tunnel makes no difference, they all mount to the same, original space she woke up in. She can tell because of her phone she left, useless this far underground with no reception.

Her calm demeaner is slowly ebbing away, the starvation a black empty pit in her stomach, swirling up anxieties. What if she starves to dead, will her corpse ever be found? Will her dad torture himself with the idea that she was in his care when she disappeared? Is he even out there searching for her now? Or is he convinced she left the room and upset with her for doing so?

It’s getting increasingly harder to stay levelheaded, and sometimes she almost wishes that the clown would reappear so she had a shot of pleading with him to let her go. She dismisses the notion as soon as it’s formed, the thing, she refrained from calling it a person, had shown no mercy while kidnapping her, so surely it wouldn’t now.

The rhythmic dropping of a single stream of sewer water drives Mia up the wall, so insanely that she almost cups her hand under the stream to stop it from contacting the floor, but she holds back. She’d rather not get dirty on top of everything else she needs to worry about.

‘Are you sure you know where we’re going Eds? He could have hidden her anywhere.’

‘I’m sure dickwad, I know what I’m doing.’

The head of one of Richie’s friends, Eddie she’s pretty sure his name was, poked out of one of the ways, spotting her and grinning a lopsided grin.

‘See’, he said preening, ‘I told you so.’

Richie rushed from behind him, stepping in the space so Mia could see him, tears filling up in his eyes at the imagine of his daughter sitting on a pile of rubbish, so timidly and apprehensive.

Mia regarded her dad, dark smudges under his eyes, ichor oozing a wound on his jawbone, and promptly ran to him sobbing.

‘Dad’, she cried out, colliding with him none too gently, clinging to her father like a man in the desert to water.

‘Mia’, Richie sobbed, rocking the two of them back and forth to pacify his hysteric daughter. His entire form embosomed Mia, a security blanket from all the evil done to her by his childhood monster.

‘The bl-blood’, Mia stuttered, trying to make her dad understand what she was referring too. ‘The water.. it was blood.’  

‘Shh,’ he shushed her, continuing to sway them back and forth. ‘I know, It’s okay. IT can’t hurt you anymore.’ Richie stared ahead, protectiveness rearing its head. ‘Nothing will ever hurt you again.’

The purple bruises on Mia’s neck told him all he needed to know, and if he hadn’t killed it already, he wouldn’t have a problem with it now.

‘You came for me?’ 

‘Of course I did, your my daughter and I love you more than anything in this world. I won’t be able to survive if you go missing again.’ 

‘Someone needs to keep their pops in order’, he joked, caressing Mia’s hair. 

‘Guys’, Eddie interrupted, ‘We need to go now. This place is collapsing.’

With a final clutch, Richie pulled away from his daughter, catching her tears before they could roll down her cheeks. ‘Let’s go home.’

[waltzofthewifi]

Kota Chapter 21: Threat

Beginning | Table of Contents | Next

Juleka knew not every pair of siblings were as close as she and Luka. Alya only seemed to mention her siblings when talking about babysitting duties, Nathaniel barely mentioned his sister at all, and Alix was still angry at Jalil over the whole "aliens built the pyramids" thing.

Still, it was hard to imagine having a sibling you didn't even tell your family about.

(Sure, her classmates were surprised that she had a brother too, but that was less of a didn't-talk-about-him and more of a didn't-talk-much-at-all situation.)

"Wait, doesn't that make him your uncle?" Rose asked. "Isn't that cool?"

"Totally. Why haven't you mentioned this before?"

"Well, you see, we had a little bit of a falling out," Anarcha explained. "We got in a fight and - anyways, I cut him off."

Luka frowned. "Was it because of..."

"Because of your dad?" Anarcha finished. "Yes. Jared has-"

"Jared?" Juleka questioned. "His real name is Jared?"

Anarcha nodded. "Jared Stone and Anna Couffaine." She smiled fondly. "We were wild as kids. There was this camp in New York we went to everyone summer - it's where he learned to play guitar - and people learned to fear us. When we were about, oh, fifteen, we started a rock band - Anarchy and Jagged Stone. And that's when I met your father."

Juleka nodded. She had heard that story before. Her father was in a band with her mom, and when they met, he was the coolest guy ever. He was seriously laid back while they were dating, and she liked him so much they eloped.

And then he changed, and ruined her life.

"Jared disliked him the moment they met," Anarcha said. "Said there was something like an aura around him. I didn't believe him. The night before we eloped, me and Jared had this big argument."

"He probably set it up," Luka noted.

"Who? Jared? He's not that smart."

"No, I mean Dad."

"That... does sound like him," Anarcha admitted. "I feel like all my friendships fell apart after we got married."

"If your argument was about dad, how come you never made up?" Juleka questioned.

Anarcha shrugged. "Don't have time. I have a houseboat to run, you two to look after - I can't just run after a teenage fantasy like that. Besides, Vivica deserves her chance in the spotlight."

"She is really cool," Juleka agreed.

"Not as cool as you two though," Anarcha countered. "Anyways, enough with the touchy feely stuff. We have a dinner to finish."

.

Mylene plopped on her bed and tucked her legs up underneath her. Ivan sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close.

"Akumas suck," Mylene eventually said.

"At least we know that Ladybug and Chat Noir will always be around to help us," Ivan replied. "And their allies."

Mylene nodded, remembering her promise to Ladybug about keeping her identity secret. Still, she found herself unable not to ask.

"What do you think of Souris Rose?"

Ivan was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. Didn't really get a chance to see her."

"Everyone else seemed to like her," Mylene whispered.

"She did save us," Ivan replied. "And being a superhero must be rough. Having to keep a secret identity like that, even from the ones you love. I'm sure whoever that is would understand, of course."

Mylene nodded. Ivan and her parents would understand.

But on the other hand, Mylene felt more and more pressure to just talk. To tell someone, anyone, about what just happened.

She had just been given a miraculous, and now she found she couldn't pretend it never happened.

Mylene looked up at Ivan. "Do you want to know a secret?"

Ivan looked at her and Mylene leaned up to his ear.

"I'm Souris Rose."

"Do you want to know a secret?" Ivan replied.

Mylene nodded.

"I knew that the second I saw you."

.

Lacy opened the fridge for the third time that night, sighing when the contents hadn't changed.

"I'll be going to the store tomorrow," her father assured her. He was sitting at the table, reviewing a French online lesson.

"That doesn't help me now," Lacy complained, closing the door again. She was starving.

Or maybe just bored. Either way she wanted food.

Lacy sighed again, leaning her head against the refrigerator. Her eyes slid shut.

"Are you asleep?"

"Didn't sleep well last night," Lacy replied. "Stupid akumas." She yawned. "And then if that wasn't enough, I had to deal with Rocker interrupting dinner."

Sleep was one thing, but Lacy had a right to eat her dinner in peace.

Grabbing a bag of chips, she headed back to the table where she had her homework laid out in front of her.

Her father reached out and grabbed her hand. "Don't worry about your homework, Squabbie. Why don't you go to bed early?"

Lacy nodded. That made sense - and nothing was due tomorrow, anyways.

"Yeah, okay."

She cleaned her books up, making sure her bag was ready to grab when she no doubt overslept in the morning.

Lacy didn't bother to change in pajamas, but she did make sure to dig out her phone and plug it in. It was only then that she noticed two voicemails.

The first one was from Sadie. Lacy couldn't help but smile as her friend ranted on about an argument her and Carter had where Walt had taken Carter's side (horrible idea). Reconnecting with her was definitely a good choice.

Besides, it's not like she could really get mixed up in her life - they were on opposites sides of the ocean.

The second voicemail, to Lacy's surprise, was from Chloe, telling her to call her back as soon as possible.

Not seeing any reason not to, Lacy called back.

"Ugh, finally," Chloe said when she picked up the video call. She was standing in her room, hair down and messy, with her closet in the background. "Started to wonder if you actually had a life."

Lacy rolled her eyes. "I do. Did you need something?"

"Fashion advice," Chloe replied. "I thought I'd get Sabrina a present, since I'm trying to apologize to everyone and I did miss her birthday this year, but I can't decide which sweater to give her. And since you're the closest thing I have to a friend with an actually decent fashion sense, I thought I'd call you."

"Alright. So which two sweaters were you debating on?"

Chloe moved her phone to show Lacy the sweaters, and Lacy could see the dilemma. One was a really nice, designer-type sweater with intricate designs. The other was simpler, a little uglier, but looked a lot more like what Sabrina liked to wear - a purple and black striped sweater.

Lacy hesitated a moment - the first one was really cute - before telling Chloe to go with the second choice.

Chloe pursed her lips. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Always good to get a second opinion though," Lacy said. "I'm sure she'll love it."

"She should," Chloe said. "I've spent all afternoon picking it out for her." She flicked her hair.

Lacy chuckled.

"Anyways, I'll see you in school tomorrow," Chloe said.

"See you."

Just as Lacy hung up her phone, someone knocked on her window.

Please not another akuma.

Lacy pushed herself out of her comfy bed to let Ladybug in, brightening when she saw that, instead of her miraculous, she brought treats.

"As a thank you," Ladybug said, placing them on the table.

"You didn't have to," Lacy argued weakly. Those were from the Dupain Cheng bakery, and Lacy was plenty happy having them.

Ladybug seemed to recognize it. "It's no big deal. You were a great help last night - or this morning? - and you deserve some treats."

Lacy picked up one of the macaroons from the box, noticing that Ladybug had even guessed her favorite flavor.

"Favorite bakery, favorite flavor." Lacy stuffed one in her mouth. "You are good."

Ladybug laughed. "I'm glad you like them. I have to head back on patrol, but I'll see you around."

Lacy nodded, giving her a wave as she left back out through the window.

.

"- an eighty two percent chance that Kim will win," Max read off.

"Never tell me the odds," Alix quoted, punching her fist into her hands.

Lacy exchanged exasperated looks with Nathaniel, the two trotting behind their three friends as they headed down the steps to lunch.

"Max is right," Kim taunted. "You don't have a chance."

"Watch me." Alix turned and slid down the rest of the railing, nearly knocking into another student when she landed.

Max sighed and readjusted his glasses.

Around them, the courtyard was buzzing as students headed off to lunch - some heading out, others heading towards the cafeteria. The constant motion pulled at Lacy's attention.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lacy spotted a figure.

She frowned and tapped on Nathaniel's arm. "Hey, didn't you say Marc was eating with his classmates?"

"Yeah, why?"

Lacy gestured over to the corner of the courtyard, where Marc was sitting by himself.

Nathaniel frowned.

Lacy watched him a moment. It was hard to tell from a distance, but she had a feeling that he was not alright.

Nathaniel headed his way, and Lacy followed behind.

"Marc, are you okay?"

Marc startled, blinking at them in surprise.

"I'm fine," he said. "Why?"

Lacy wasn't convinced.

"You said you were hanging with your friends," Nathaniel explained.

"Oh." Marc looked back down at his sandwich. "That... didn't work out."

Lacy watched him for a moment. There was definitely something wrong, but if he didn't want to say...

"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to," Lacy said. "But you don't look like you want to eat alone."

"Why don't you come to the park with us?" Nathaniel suggested.

Marc perked up. "That does sound a lot better than this."

"There you guys are." Alix came up behind them. "Oh, hey Marc. Are you joining us for lunch?"

Marc nodded as he started to repack his lunch.

"Sweet! Come on, Max and Kim are waiting for us."

Marc smiled as Nathaniel helped him stand up, and the four of them headed out.

Alix paused, glanced over her shoulder, and scowled.

Lacy followed her gaze to see Lila talking with a group of students she didn't recognize.

"She already has another class wrapped around her fingers," Alix complained. "Who knows what lies she's telling them."

"I wish the school had done more," Lacy admitted. "What she did was wrong - and hurtful. And now she's going to do the same to another class."

"I have half a mind to go up to her and tell them what happened," Alix said.

"I'd like to see that."

For a second, Alix looked like she was going to, but then Kim called out to her and she deflated. Shaking her head, Alix sprinted to catch up with the rest of her friends, Lacy right behind her.

Neither noticed that Lila was watching them, too.

.

Lacy splashed the cold water onto her palms, wincing as it burned. The girl using the sink next to her winced.

"You should get that checked out by the nurse."

Lacy shrugged. "It's fine."

It was her own fault, after all. If she hadn't tried to climb up on the back of the bench to get a photo, then she wouldn't have fallen and gotten her hands scraped. A little bit of nectar would heal it up quickly, but it was such a small injury Lacy didn't think it was worth it.

Satisfied that the wounds were clean, Lacy dabbed her hands clean and moved to fixing her hair. The door swung open as the other two girls left the bathroom, and someone else walked in. Lacy finished up her braid, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and turned to leave.

And ran right into Lila.

"Lila! I didn't see you there." Lacy stumbled backwards.

Lila smiled tightly. "Obviously."

Lacy blinked. Lila looked... well, like she always did - calculating, mean, and cold.

"Well... I should head to class-"

Lila moved fast, blocking Lacy on both sides with her arms and leaning in so her breath was on Lacy's face.

"No need to rush," Lila said. "After all, I feel like I haven't talked to you since I was suspended."

"Well, we don't really have much reason to talk," Lacy replied.

"Really? Because you seemed to have plenty to say about me," Lila said. "I saw you and Alix talking about me earlier. And don't think I forgot your little outburst last week. Convincing the class that I have magic?"

Lacy wilted backwards as Lila continued to encroach on her space.

"But you do," Lacy argued weakly.

"Maybe I do," Lila agreed. "Or maybe I'm just good at manipulating people. And I don't like it when people get in my way."

"At the moment, you're in my way," Lacy replied, forcing herself to stand back up straight. She nearly collided with Lila as she did so.

"Think I'm a problem now? You should see what I can do to you. After all, Miss Bustier seems to like me more."

Lacy flinched. That struck a chord.

"Yeah, that's right," Lila continued, pushing back into Lacy's space. "After all, which one of us has a record?"

"Wha- how did you know about that?"

"Let's just say I have my ways," Lila replied. Satisfied, she backed up and flicked her hair. "Stay out of my way."

And with that, she turned and walked out of the bathroom.

Lacy stayed, too shocked to move.

What had she gotten herself into?

Lila was right - if it came between her and Lacy, Bustier would easily believe Lila first, especially since she'd been trying to be extra sweet and forgiving of Lila now. It didn't matter if the class didn't believe Lila if she managed to get Lacy in trouble anyways, or even kicked out-

Lacy did not want to switch schools again.

The school bell rang, and Lacy noticed for the first time that she was crying. Shoot. She could not go to class like that - especially if Lila was there, and could see how much her threat was affecting her, and-

Breathe. She needed to breathe.

In.

Hold.

Out.

In.

Hold.

Out.

Lacy could almost feel the anxiety around her loosen.

In. Hold. Out.

Again. And again.

Lacy turned back to the sink and splashed cold water on her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed now, but hopefully no one would notice. Especially not Lila.

Lila.

She had just charmspeaked - well, not charmspeaked, it wasn't that strong, but there was magic involved. And that magic could sway Lacy to believe anything, especially when Lila hit that nerve about her past record. But that didn't mean she could follow through on her threat.

Sure, Bustier wasn't always fair, but she was kind and lenient - Lacy doubted she would jump to conclusions. And even if the worse happened and Lacy did get in trouble - even expelled! - she would survive. Reconnecting with her friends from Brooklyn gave her a support completely not reliant on what happened at school.

And no matter what happened, Lacy knew her dad would believe her.

She was fine.

Lacy took another deep breath, splashing her face with water again. She was fine, but she still needed to get to class.

Leaning down to grab her bag off the floor, Lacy noticed something black in the corner of her vision - like a small bat or a moth or -

Akuma.

Lacy shrieked.

She pushed herself up against the wall opposite the butterfly, breath caught in her throat. But the akuma didn't fly towards her, but instead slid through the crack over the door and out of the restroom.

That was too close.

Lacy realized the akuma must have been after her originally, while she had a panic attack, but she had managed to calm down just in time.

Way too close.

Lacy collapsed on the floor, and immediately regretted it when the action reminded her how gross the bathroom floor was. Ew.

She pushed herself back up, walking over to the sinks to wash her hands, and splash water over her face again. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, and part of her was tempted to call it a day and go home.

But that would make Lila a little too happy.

The sound of concrete crumbling, and Lacy just barely moved out of the way of a jagged piece of metal coming from the ceiling.

Right. Akuma.

Lacy darted from the bathroom, nearly body-slamming into someone as she did so, and ran out into the courtyard. Around her, more and more students were being pushed out by the pieces of metal.

"I am Lockesmith. I will find the person who stole from me and lock them up!"

Metal plates jolted up from the floor, causing students to scatter.

Lockesmith jumped down from the second floor, landing in a circle of metal. She had a black leather sleeveless top with three gold strips under her left arm, and black leather leggings. She wore a dark purple fanny-bag looking thing over her right leg, and black, knee-high boots. Her hair was bright gold, and hung in a loop over her neck.

All in all, she looked like a lock.

"Who stole from me?" She demanded. "Show yourself!"

Students scattered, but Lockesmith raised her metal slates around the edges of the courtyard, blocking everyone in.

Lacy pressed her back against a column, hoping to stay out of sight of the akuma.

Lockesmith prowled, looking each student in the eyes. She glanced over Lacy briefly before continuing on.

Lacy slumped in relief.

Lockesmith froze, mid-step, and looked up towards the second floor. "Ladyblogger, how kind of you to join us."

Lockesmith jerked her hands up, but whatever that accomplished was blocked from Lacy's view by the column.

Lacy did see when Alya was roughly pushed to the center of the courtyard.

"Making a report for Ladybug?" Lockesmith questioned.

Alya flinched, barely noticeable, before recovering her fearless expression. "Actually, no. I'm here on school blog business." She raised her phone. "I'm doing an article on why we need locks on our lockers."

To Lacy, Alya's lie seemed near perfect - no obvious tells, except for the fact that Lacy could see Alya's phone screen from her angle and it was definitely on the Ladyblog. But Lockesmith still scowled.

"Liar!"

Alya recovered quick. "Okay, okay, maybe I wasn't. But now I will! This is a recurring problem in our school that has been highlighted by the akumas it's caused. The akumas may be awful, and totally Hawkmoth's fault, but they are also highlighting other problems we may not have seen otherwise."

"May not have seen? It's pretty obvious you're supposed to put locks on lockers. They're called lockers!"

"Fair point, fair point," Alya conceded. "But-"

Whatever Alya was about to say was cut off by Ladybug, who jumped onto Lockesmith, completely taking her by surprise.

Lockesmith yelped. A blade of metal came up out of the ground, pushing Ladybug off of Lockesmith.

The two began to spar, with Alya still on the ground filming. It wasn't until Ladybug almost tripped her over that she moved from the courtyard.

Alya slipped behind the column, next to Lacy.

"Are you okay?" Lacy asked.

"Yep," Alya said. "And I have the video to prove it!"

.

The entire battle took about ten minutes, which was just enough time to completely destroy the school with metal spikes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to cancel classes for the rest of the day (something about too many missed classes already?), which meant Marinette had to run back to her class.

Just as she arrived at the door, someone caught her arm.

Marinette turned to see Adrien standing awkwardly behind her.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure," Marinette replied.

Marinette and Adrien walked to a more secluded place in the hallway.

"What's wrong?" Marinette asked.

"Lila."

"What did she do?" Marinette demanded.

Adrien smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "She, well - it's nothing really, we just bumped into each other and-"

"Did she threaten you?"

Adrien paused. "Uh, kinda?"

Marinette scowled. "Oh, that-"

"It's not that big of a deal-"

"- is going down, what do you mean it's not that big of a deal? She threatened you!"

"It's not! She just told me that if I tried to get her fired-"

"Wait, you mean your father hasn't fired her yet?" Marinette questioned. "She must have lied on her resume. Is that what she threatened you about?"

"Who threatened who?"

Marinette and Adrien both jumped, startled to see Chloe had snuck up on them.

"It's nothing, Chlo," Adrien replied.

"It's not nothing!" Marinette argued. "Lila threatened you."

"Did she?" Chloe questioned, sounding cold. "Well, that was her mistake."

"Chlo..."