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ggomos-maribat · 1 year ago

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1 | a perfect day

Part 1 of Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Dead | Masterlist

The place they reserved was beautiful: the greenhouse-type of dining with ferns and orchids hanging from the glass ceiling and walls, a lush green against the pristine white of their chairs and table napkins. The day was blessed with fair weather so just the right amount of sunlight was cascading down on them which fit the light hum of the festive music from the speakers. Even the hostess herself was a sight to behold—a flowery off-shoulder dress, curled brown hair, and pastel manicured nails.

Sabrina truly felt she was in another world.

Their hostess stood up, holding her wine glass in one hand. "I'd like to make a toast." She beamed. "To everyone here, who accepted my invitation for a humble reunion."

She looked at them on by one, first at Alya who seemed to cling at her every word, then moved down the table to Nino, Rose, Juleka, Max, Kim, and so on. These were faces of now acclaimed people, successful in their respective fields. "It seems it was just yesterday when we were only students in Ms. Bustier's class," she continued, "But in reality, we've been through a lot. Ups and downs, pains and losses. But I'm proud of us for sticking together, for keeping in touch after all these years."

A star in the social media field, and a proud founder and CEO of her brand. Lilia Ross. That was the alias she had been using when she was stepping into fame. But to Sabrina, she'll always be Lila, the charming girl who once was a transfer student in their class.

"To us!" Lila cheered, raising her glass up in the air. They all followed suit, some laughing a little and others bursting into lively conversation.

Sabrina took a sip of her drink, turning to her left. "It really has been so long, hasn't it, Chloe?"

The blonde appeared to be in some kind of stupor, but her friend's words shook her out of it. "Huh?"

"I said it's been so long."

Chloe rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Uh, yeah, you're right."

"Are you okay?"

She gave a smile of reassurance. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, it's just . . . stress from work."

Sabrina was about to suggest she get some rest first when the wooden doors opened, revealing another familiar face from their teen years. Large sweater over a collared piece. A priceless watch. Golden hair fixed to look stylishly unkempt.

The man greeted them, "Hey, I hope I'm not too late?"

At the head of the table, Lila's jaw dropped open. "A—Adrien?"

"That's me," he chuckled lowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Long time no see, everyone."

The others, too, couldn't mask their shock—understandably so. Adrien Agreste had been out of the public eye for the past seven months, halting his modeling career and laying low in god knows where. Even Sabrina couldn't remember when she had last seen him.

It was Alya who stood up, grabbing a seat for their new guest. "It's been so long!" She said. "Come here, sit. Where have you been and why were you so unreachable?"

"Yeah, man, I even tried visiting your old house in Paris. They said you weren't there." Kim, meanwhile, passed a plate to him.

"I'm really sorry for that." Adrien gave a sheepish look. "I was too focused on taking time for myself. I'm on hiatus from modeling—I didn't mean to cut everyone off. But I wanted to make it to this reunion!"

At that second, Sabrina's phone began to buzz a notification.

"It's alright to take a break sometimes," Mylene consoled. "Are you going back to modeling soon?"

Adrien shrugged. "I'm not sure yet; I might try out other things and see what works for me."

The phone vibrated again, a few times in succession this time.

"What about working with me?" Alix offered. "I need some extra hands around the museum. Minimal experience needed! I'll teach you everything I know."

The nth buzz sounded and Sabrina pulled out her phone from her purse to completely silence it but then she caught a glimpse of Chloe. She looked pale as a sheet, staring down at her unfinished plate.

Sabrina leaned. "Chlo—"

Buzz. Buzz.

Frowning, Sabrina unlocked her phone to check what the incessant ringing was all about. There were tweets, articles, posts, and messages filling up the screen like something had blown up. And something might as well have.

Her eyes widened when she tapped on an article.

Alya's voice rang out. She, too, was looking at her phone. "Hey, Lila, what's this all about?"

"Hm? Is it about my magazine feature?"

"No, it's not," Sabrina whispered.

There in bold letters the words were summoning up a storm: 'The Truth About Lilia Ross: She's Not Who You Think She Is' .

***

Saturday morning saw Jason Todd at the Wayne manor's dining table, munching on a piece of toast with jam. He stayed the night after patrol upon Alfred's insistence, and then remained for breakfast after some more badgering.

The second eldest raised an eyebrow when Bruce strolled into room wearing office clothes.

"Event at WE today," Bruce explained, making a coffee for himself. "Tim, feet off the table please."

Tim, who was stuck to his phone, let out an incoherent mumble before putting his feet down.

"Lilia Ross," uttered Bruce. "Does that name ring a bell?"

"French-Italian, founder and CEO of Lilia Designs, sells clothing and cosmetics," Tim supplied in a monotonous voice. "She's more famous as an influencer though. In the past few days, there have been a lot of rumors popping up about her. Why do you ask?"

"PR at WE asked me. They wondered if I knew her."

"What does she have to do with Wayne Enterprises?" Damian chimed in.

Celebrities and trends never piqued Jason's interest—he focused on eating, debating internally if he should purchase more handguns to replace a couple that he lost.

"She's been promoting our products even if she's not legally affiliated with WE," Tim explained whilst gulping down his daily dose of caffeine. "She's just trying to fish for a real sponsorship or partnership. Her brand's getting famous in Gotham, you know."

"It's not much of a concern for the company then. Our lawyers will be able to handle it if her so-called scandals affect WE," said Bruce.

"True, but it's still weird. This is her first major backlash on the internet and there's a lot of—" Tim did air quotes with his fingers, "—'anonymous witnesses' coming forward to show her 'true colors'."

"How is that different from the usual celebrity rumors?" asked Damian.

Okay, maybe Jason was a little curious.

He discreetly pulled his phone out to check the articles popping out online. And there were many, as if testimonies were spewing from a never-ending fountain.

'eiffelparis12: don't fall for it. she bought all those views and likes. fake *****'

'coffeecake: I worked as a stylist in a studio once. She was at our show...I didn't expect her to be so two-faced! She was so rude to the producer's assistant and kept bossing her around. The poor guy didn't even get to eat.'

'seaasss: her products arent even that good. lol.'

'venusred: she bought her way to be in our blog's feature. i'm pretty sure she has an anonymous sponsor.'

'harpyre: OMG! does she even pay her employees enough?'

'silverberry640: no way, lilia doesn't deserve this! there's no proof.'

'ngc5195: this is what fame does to all of them......sad.'

Jason looked up again when Bruce spoke. "For now, WE isn't obligated to proceed with legal action and we're not actually involved anyway. I'm sure this will pass on its own."

He wasn't wrong. Scandals came and went; people liked to throw stones at one person then move on to the next after the damage was done.

"Or not," Tim suddenly said, staring at something on his phone "Shit."

"What is it?" asked Bruce.

Tim read the words aloud. "Influencer Lilia Ross, accused of murdering former classmate."

#maribat fanfic #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #maribat #maribat fic #character death #major character death #angst #MDC is Dead #dc x miraculous

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ggomos-maribat · 1 year ago

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2 | a girl named Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Part 2 of Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Dead | Masterlist

Tim came rushing into the Batcave with an armful of papers which he dumped by the computer in front of Jason. "I remember now. Why her name was so familiar."

"Lila Rossi's?" Jason looked up at him. Ever since the news blew up, Tim had been visibly restless, like the whole ordeal was a mind-boggling case. Though Jason, too, couldn't quell his own curiosity.

"No, that girl she supposedly killed. Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Tim pulled out a folder from the bottom of the pile and slapped it on top. Jason caught the same name on the case's title. "Her death two years ago was a cold case I found. Damn it, why didn't Damian tell me?"

"And you solved it?"

Tim huffed out. "No, I didn't have the time to go back to cold cases again and it kind of got buried with the other ones."

Jason opened up the folder with one hand and skimmed the content. Both Lila and the 'Marinette' girl were from Paris—he remembered how the media was raving on about the death being a mystery, and Lila, Lilia Ross, must've been involved in it. Of course, there wasn't definite proof as all rumors went.

On the corner of the paper, there was a stapled photo: a girl of East Asian descent, with dark hair and blue eyes. She wore a knit sweater, beaming at the camera with her hands clasped on the strap of her bag.

Just then, Jason heard a ping, followed by a curse from Tim.

"Lilia Ross just posted a video." In an instant, he was right by Jason's side so he could see it too. "Looks like she's addressing the accusations."

"Why would she do that?" Jason knew Bruce got all sorts of backlash too, but not once did he ever seriously address all the rumors since that would be equivalent to admitting they were true.

"Honestly this isn't something she can actually ignore. It blew up pretty badly and the online market is important for her business."

Jason looked at the video in scrutiny. Lilia Ross' setup was simple but still put together: there were brand products displayed in her background along with trinkets on the shelves reminiscent of Paris. The brunette's face seemed solemn, but he couldn't get a read if it was forced or not. The title of the video was short, all caps, bordering on being click-baity—'MY MESSAGE TO EVERYONE...'

"Hi everyone," Lilia managed a small smile. "Recently it has come to my attention that an anonymous poster broadcasted that I'm a suspect for murder. I didn't want to talk about it at first, but I decided to tell everyone the truth not for my sake but for the sake of everyone who was affected by that incident."

"Her name is. . ." She paused as if choked up suddenly. "Her name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was my friend and classmate in collége and lycée back in Paris. Two years ago, she . . . she passed away—they found her near Pont des Arts. We were told it was suicide."

Lilia took a deep breath and her eyes glazed over. Jason wanted to think that she actually looked remorseful. "Well, I should say her parents didn't say anything else other than that so we were kind of left in the dark about the details. But all of us—our class was really close—we're still grieving. If I knew she was hurting that badly, I . . . I would've done something before it was too late. Marinette was a kindhearted girl and we all loved—love—her. She was taken away from us too early."

Her expression shifted from sad to silent rage. "That's why I can't stand people using her name for this useless sensationalism. This is hurting her close friends, her family, everyone who knew her. Please don't bring her up again; give her some peace. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. And please think twice before spreading awful rumors about something so serious."

Jason tore his attention away from the video to look at Tim, who had his lips pursed, thinking deeply. Tim set down his phone. "The facts add up with Marinette's case file, but she's lying."

Tim opened up the folder again. "It's true that the police ruled it out as a suicide and there's still a lot of mystery surrounding her death. But based on what I've gathered, Lilia—er, Lila—and Marinette weren't friends."

"What do you mean?"

Tim picked up another folder, showing Marinette's school record. "According to this file, there were some reports of Marinette bullying her classmates, some issues of theft, blackmail, cheating . . . Lila made it seem like she was likable to everyone, which doesn't seem to be the case."

"But if Lila's intention of making the video was to partly clear her own name, obviously she won't badmouth Marinette." Jason frowned.

His brother shrugged. "Yeah, I thought that too. I'm not pointing at Lila as a likely suspect in this, actually. This case is so confusing that if there was actually an answer to it that makes sense, I doubt a then nineteen-year-old girl would've pulled it off by herself."

He sighed exasperatedly. "But then again, anyone could've been the culprit, and that includes Lila."

"Wait, so you're sure it's not suicide then?"

Another presence suddenly entered the cave. Judging by the soft humming, Jason figured that Dick was home from Bludhaven.

The eldest strolled into the room, hands casually in his pockets. "Hey, Alfie told me you guys were down here!" He greeted. "Did you guys see that accusation on Lilia Ross? That was crazy."

Jason stared at him. "You follow Lilia Ross?"

"I see her stuff here and there—I'm not a boomer, you know."

"So you know about everything then." Tim turned to the computer next. "We're investigating the case."

"What case?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng's death," Jason replied. "It's one of Replacement's cold cases and Lilia Ross is tied to it."

"So it wasn't suicide?" Dick walked towards the table, eyeing the papers scattered around. "Hold on, tell us everything. From the beginning."

Like the cop he was, Jason could tell that Dick was showing interest in the case as well. If it wasn't something Tim could crack right off the bat, it must be that difficult. Tim began typing things into the large computer, pulling out the case files in digital form to show the two of them.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, only child and daughter to Thomas Dupain and Sabine Cheng, who own a bakery in Paris. She died when she was just eighteen years old." Tim presented a few pictures. "Attended Francois Dupont in collége and lycée, the same one Lilia Ross went to . . . they were also classmates with a few other notable people: model Juleka Couffaine, physicist Max Kante, the current director of the Louvre, Alix Kubdel, and others. She had a perfect record up until the end of collége when she started getting tardies and absences, then she had three cases of theft, two of cheating and a few reports of bullying and harassment in lycée. She got suspended twice because of that."

He switched to another file. "And then . . . her death. April sixteenth of their last year in school. Locals found her body in Pont des Arts, near the foot of the bridge. The investigation only lasted about three days, but the police declared it a suicide despite the fact that there was no note found, no signs of tendencies before that day. I don't know if it was her parents' decision, but they didn't investigate any further."

Jason shifted on his seat. There was no clear picture of the body, only a blurry photo taken from far away, showing a motionless figure lying on the bridge, with police tape serving as its barrier. She was still young . . .

Tim's expression turned grim. "Apart from that, here's where it gets weird. Her parents consented for an autopsy and I dug around for the file. They found nothing significant."

"Nothing significant?" Dick echoed.

"As in nothing. No marks on her skin, no sign of injury, no organ failure, no traces of drugs or poison anywhere, no fingerprints, no DNA other than hers." Tim clenched his jaw. "Nothing. Which means . . ."

"They didn't know the cause of death," Jason continued for him.

"Yes, but she was deceased. Only they didn't find out how and they couldn't even estimate the time of death."

"Maybe the coroner faked the report?" Dick suggested.

Jason crossed his arms. "Yeah, but if they wanted to cover up something, then they would've written a fake cause of death, right?"

"Exactly," Tim agreed. "Literally all it says on paper is 'no significant findings. Cause of death unknown'. That's all!"

"So if they don't know the cause of death and there was no note . . . they can't just say it was suicide," Dick concluded.

"Could they just have missed something?" Jason asked Tim.

"That's a possibility, but I'm not convinced it's a suicide with so many things unaccounted for. An accident or suicide would've left some kind of clue, which this case lacks. With evidence this meticulously covered up, it must be predetermined. Homicide."

"Is that why Lilia Ross was accused?" Dick wondered out loud.

"According to the anonymous post, she allegedly tormented Marinette which makes her a suspect in her death," Tim explained. "There's no evidence pointing to her though. Like I said, there's no evidence at all. Since the investigation period was so short, the police never questioned anyone other than her parents so even if her classmates had something to say about it, there was never a record."

"What about the cameras?" Dick said.

Tim looked a tad bit insulted. "You think I didn't check?"

He quickly opened up more files, video feeds of the day of the incident. The cameras didn't quite give a clear view of the bridge itself, only the roads on either side of it. "No sightings of Marinette or anything weird. Before, during and after the body was found . . . just a small crowd from the commotion. Marinette was last seen alive the morning before, but the cameras caught her going home but not going out after."

Jason searched the feed for anything out of the ordinary but unsurprisingly, nothing stood out for him. "What about her parents? What did they say?"

"They . . . they said Marinette was always stressed out and busy but they never thought she'd resort to suicide. She seemed normal the day before," Tim answered solemnly. "They saw her coming back home but didn't catch her leaving, but apparently she had a habit of sneaking out sometimes."

They all fell silent, seemingly at a loss on how to resolve all their questions. Jason couldn't wrap his head around the whole thing because it all appeared like the impossible did in fact happen. How did she get to the bridge? How did she even die? If there was a killer then why would they . . .?

Then Jason noticed Tim looking at him.

"What?"

"Bruce only asked me to look into this. Why are you so invested?" Tim leaned against the table.

"Why does the reason matter?"

"Like . . . I'd expect you to say something like 'leave the dead to rest in peace' or something like that."

Jason snorted. "First of all, as the spokesperson of the dead, I wouldn't say something like that. More like 'the dead need the living to bring justice for them.'" He averted his gaze. "And secondly, I want to know more. No, I want the truth because . . . because I think I've seen Marinette before."

Taglist: @hammalammadamdam

#maribat fanfic #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #maribat #maribat fic #character death #major character death #angst #MDC is Dead #dc x miraculous

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