#adrien redemption

[marinettesaltprompts]

We Can Grow Up Without You (Two-Letters inspired Anti-prompt)

Inspried by a post of @broadwaycutie16

Marinette had snapped one day. She was done with being a hero.

She had a plan all figured out. She would trick Chat Noir into an ambush so that she could take the ring from him. She would trick Lila into thinking that the ring was secretly in space, all while she secretly kept the ring for herself as leverage, then give the Miracle Box to Lila so that she could be "the Ladybug that Paris deserved", one that would also ensure her former friend's misery. With her memories wiped, Marinette could be with Luka, the only person who cared about her, all the while holding onto the ring so that she could go after Lila, in case she ever needed the Wish to ensure Luka remained loyal to her.

Clearly, this was the best plan, an insane Ladybug thought.

So imagine the chill in her blood when a year after she done her plan, she went to go check on the ring, only to find it missing.

It didn't take long for Marinette to find the news about Chat Noir seemingly betraying the new Ladybug, revealing her to the world as Lila Rossi. She (alongside Felix, who was also unmasked as the new Hawkmoth) were both arrested on charges of essentially staging akuma attacks, while the "Chat" that was Lila's partner was revealed to be a Sentimonster in disguise. All the miraculouses were collected by the real Chat Noir, then he too disappeared.

Marinette knew exactly where he went, however.

Snarling, a livid Marinette went to the office tower of Agreste (renamed from the well known Gabriel brand) where Adrien was located, having returned from a month long vacation. She was unexpectedly let in without resistance however, as Adrien was supposedly expecting her.

Smiling an empty smile, Adrien stared at Marinette, sporting not only a familiar ring, but also a familiar set of earrings.

"Hello Marinette, its been a while, hasn't it?"

Naturally, Marinette was anything but polite. She ranted and raved about how Adrien wasn't supposed to have the ring (nor the earrings). She was outraged, horrified, and most of all confused.

Despite not needing any reason to tell her, Adrien obliged Marinette's demand for an explanation and told her his story.

About a month after Marinette went through her plan, Adrien took a lot of time to think about things. What he had went through regarding losing his miraculous, what he had felt at being tricked by Ladybug and Marinette. He wanted to scream and shout, to let go of his anger and blame everyone around him. Yet he had remembered one of the wise things Plagg once said (during a time he wasn't asking for cheese), and decided to reorient himself by focusing on one step at a time. Adrien messed up by letting his guard down around his former crush, but decided to make up for it by going after the new Ladybug, who at the moment was causing trouble for Paris.

Through some detective work (with the help of Max Kante) and using his head for the first time, Adrien tracked down Felix over the course of a week and managed to catch the latter off guard. Stealing the Peacock Miraculous from his cousin, Adrien created a sentimonster to track down the other miraculouses while pretending to be his cousin (to keep Lila unaware), including his former ring and the butterfly miraculous, which Felix had kept in a safe for when he was causing villainy as "Hawkmoth". He also learned from Dusuu the truth about himself, that he was actually a sentibeing created by his mother, and that her using the then broken miraculous was the reason for his passing. Despite the revelation shaking him, Adrien kept going, focuing on one step at a time.

From there, it was easy to take care of Lila (who grew so arrogant that she didn't expect Adrien to have any way to take her down) and get the rest of the Miracle box back. He also managed to track down the pieces of the Rabbit Miraculous and repair it again, after Marinette was able to destroy it.

With all the Miraculouses returned, Adrien finally used the opportunity to finally figure out what went wrong with his former partner and what caused her to give up being a hero.

Through evidence provided by Tikki and Plagg and a little help from the Rabbit Miraculous (through windows in time), Adrien had learned what went from with Marinette and why she had snapped. She saw how other people used her for granted, Adrien included, and how the responsibility overwhelmed her to the point she felt she had to leave.

However, Adrien also saw that Marinette had also ended up blaming other people for why she was like this (despite having other options to fix her problems), including blaming her partner for being supposedly unreliable (when she had pushed him away from helping with her plans or choosing the wielders) and for being unknowingly tricked by the Sentimonster Ladybug (which he admitted was stupid at the time, but he couldn't have imagined a sentimonster posing as a human at the time). Worse still, Marinette had started to blame the people of Paris for being akumatised, refering to them by their akuma names, despite it clearly being Hawkmoth's fault.

It was Marinette's mention of "Chat Blanc" that got Adrien's attention. Through a window in time, he learned of the alternate timeline in which he was akumatized by Hawkmoth, and learned the truth about his father: he was secretly Hawkmoth this entire time. Adrien was traumatised from this, but kept going.

This eventually led to learning of Marinette's plan to quit, having snapped and deciding to leave the fate of Paris in Lila's hands because "that's what Paris deserved".

Adrien spent a whole week going through all the information, every memory, every significant event, every bit of the life of Marinette Dupain Cheng, then another week to take it all in.

By the end, Adrien was horrified, but he was in a way grateful for what he had learned. Adrien felt sympathy for Marinette and why she felt she had to quit, but at the same time he could not condone her plan to leave Paris to Lila, nor her insults towards her former friends and family, especially with how she blamed them for being akumatized. He also realised that he did in some way play a role in her downfall (especially with his flirting and not trying harder to reach out more), and he did feel somewhat ashamed with himself for not noticing Marinette's feelings until it was too late (though given that Marinette had been somewhat possesive of himself with her stalking and attempts to control his love life, maybe it would have been a toxic relationship that was best to not have happened).

With all that being said, Adrien decided he would take matters into his own hands. With the Miracle Box now in his hands and with the Guardianship belonging to him (after threatening Lila with being Cataclysmed), Adrien decided he would make a new Order of the Guardian sect in Paris, with himself as the leader. He would use the recovered Miraculous to make a team that could not only help Paris, but all of France, choosing people that could handle the stress of being a hero since he could pay them for their services. Since Marinette no longer wanted to be the Guardian due to stress, Adrien would use what he had learnt to ensure he wouldn't make the same mistakes as the former Ladybug. He apologised to Marinette, but told her that he would be taking care of the Miraculouses now.

Of course, this all passed through the increasing erratic Marinette's ears. All she wanted were the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous back so she could make her wish and bring everything under her control, all while ensuring everyone suffers. Plain and simple (to her broken mind at least).

Adrien, of course, politely refused, since Marinette had no right to them considering her plans threatened the very reality they were in and that she had given up the box to someone untrustworthy. It was only once Marinette attempted to attack her former partner that Adrien transformed (without uttering phrase, having mastered his powers by this point) and restrained the insane former heroine, at which point he gave up being polite and threatened Marinette with ruining her newfound life with Luka. Adrien did not want to do so, but he would if she kept going with her foolish quest. Marinette wanted her peace? Fine. But she would not threaten others into acting the way that she wanted.

"...Screw you Chat Blanc" Marinette uttered, having finally lost whatever mask of sanity she had before, eyes growing increasingly erratic. "Just like last time, you tried to destroy me and all of Paris to get the wish, now you'll do it again because I walked away from you, right?"

"Now that was just a low blow..." Adrien replied tersely, the comment about the akumatization getting under his skin. "But since we are going for low blows, what gives you the right to blame others for being akumatized? Prin-cess Jus-tice?"

"Th-that wasn't real! YOU'RE LYING!" Marinette yelled.

Smiling a sad smile, Adrien pulled out the Rabbit Miraculous, quickly showing a window in time before Marinette could react. With no words being spoken by the Agreste, Marinette could only watch as her former self fell under the sway of Scarlet Moth, having no means to resist the akumatization, being moments away from removing her earrings before the akumatization process was cancelled, not by Marinette's own strength, but by the slim chance of Nathalie falling ill.

"Of course, you wouldn't be so quick to judge others if you remebered being almost akumatized. But you gave up your memories, didn't you? All so you could be happy."

Marinette fell to her knees, having gotten cataconic from the truth.

"You know ... that apology I said to you before." Adrien continued "I don't think I mean it anymore. Not to this version of you at least. The Ladybug... the Marinette that used to be before you was someone I considered a friend, a person that ended up being broken by the responsibilities of things she couldn't handle on her own. Yet at the same time, she tried to push people away because of it out of a belief she had to sort things on her own. Had I apologised earlier, had I tried harder to reach out to her... perhaps this entire debacle wouldn't have happened, and she could have retired in peace rather than in anger. Then again, I'm not the same person I was before. I grew up. But you didn't, did you? You're just someone who has no idea about what Paris has gone through. You only saw the last letter of a broken woman and decided to take her words to heart, laughing at the suffering of those who once relied on her to feel safe against a manipulative man, blaming them for their own akumatizations despite having no control over themselves, feeling like what they deserved was justified despite having no memory of what they did to you. You're just some echo of Marinette, an echo that has no memory of anything except her hate, her suffering, and her desire for revenge. You didn't grow up. You just ran away while getting to enjoy the spoils of doing so. You didn't grow up. You didn't change."

Marinette could say nothing, having gone entirely blank. Adrien called security into his office and had her escorted off the premises.

Sighing, Adrien went to a portrait of his mother and pulled it back, revealing a small mural of photos, the main one being a smiling picture of a younger and more innocent Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien did not know if the emotions Ladybug showed in that photo were real, but he would cherish them regardless, even after she was gone.

Adrien left inside the mural a single yellow rose, before getting back to work.

[trashyangelic]

𝟬𝟵𝟭𝟬𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 : ᴍʟʙ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ ʀᴇᴏ̨ᴜᴇsᴛ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢs - Felinette, Chlorina, Adrigami sᴀʟᴛs - Lila Salt, Bustier Salt, Damocles Salt, Alya salt ʀᴇᴅᴇᴍᴘᴛɪᴏɴs - Adrien Redemption, Chloe Redemption, Akuma Class Redemption ᴏᴛʜᴇʀs - Nino Sugar

Due to Alya the consequences are bitting her back and her parents are furious due to her blog so her parents were able to withdraw their daughter into a new school for discipline after hearing complaints from Sabine the most that their daughter harm her daughter for listening to a two faced harlot who lies too much.

Chloe gave Adrien a full-set nagging on him about enabling Lila and letting the class to torment Marinette even she has morals she doesn't ruin Marinette like Lila did. She hinted one thing about Lila threatening Marinette that got off his rockers and forget about the advice he gave to Marinette and decided to join in with Chloe. Chloe also told him that Marinette is with Felix right now who goes as Agros. She even brought Kagami into this to reason with Adrien he shouldn't be a bystander and be a rebellion against his father.

Every single student in the Akuma Class finally realize that Lila is a liar thanks to Luka who had pointed out to Juleka, Ivan, and Rose as for Rose she was talking to Prince Ali yesterday and found out something. Nino had help from Marc who had dragged him and Nathaniel in an empty classroom.

Felix keep Marinette company but also help her destroying Lila with some of his friends that is Allan, Allegra, and Claude but he does spend time alone with Marinette to get to know her after that video he saw in his cousin's phone which was a confession. But Marinette told him she didn't like him anymore after he told her to take a high road advice.

Lila has no idea what she has done with Marinette. But what she doesn't know is that her kingdom started to crumbles bits by bits leaving just Caline Bustier and Principal Damocles by her side..

[adriensaltprompts]

Submitted prompt: An Immortal Black Cat

Not sure if this counts as a true salt prompt but here it goes(up to author interpretation to prevent Mary-sueing of the OC)(Can drop stuff as wanted)

A previous Black Cat wielder ends up moving to Paris. Thanks to magical related shenanigans(whether or not it was Miraculous related or not is up to the writer), she is immortal, with the appearance of an young teen around the age of the main cast. She is understandably alarmed when the Bubbler incident occurs, and more so when she starts piecing together that Adrien is Chat Noir.

The problem she sees is that she used to be a lot like Chat Noir when she was first starting as a wielder. She harassed her partner to the point that he snapped on her, and their team bond never recovered. She has regretted it since. Later on, she was a Ladybug as well(not particularly skilled but she was decent enough to get the job done.) During this mess, she had to deal with the exact same treatment from her partner, which made her feel even worse about her behavior with her first partner, especially when she had to kill her partner in self defense when she refused his advances one too many times.

After a few more akuma attacks, she quickly becomes alarmed about Chat when she realizes that he’s way too similar to her past self for her to ever be comfortable with, and her mind is worried as this boy could easily end up like her. It gets even worse when she starts realizing that Marinette is Ladybug, and her behavior is sliding from crushing dangerously deep into stalker territory, reminding her of herself and her past Black cat partner way too much.

Only one issue, she doesn’t want to alert anyone she’s present. Only a few councilors know she exists, and she’d like to keep the Council and Order of Guardians from learning of her existence. (She’s been so determined to avoid the Order less they decide to use her for something, she hasn’t been keeping track of them. As a result, she has NO idea that the Order has been wiped out by Feast. Her belief was that they were merely becoming more isolated as the world got more globalized, global threats that needed the Miraculous were dropping and the Council was growing better equpped to deal with those threats. Even if she did have suspicions, she wasn’t about to go to Tibet to check in case they were waiting.)

Well, she decides that she needs to step in, and hopefully steer these two back onto the right path before it gets out of hand. Only issue is doing so without alerting the Council and (Currently destroyed but doesn’t know it or Wang Fu). She also can’t meet with Marinette less she is transformed about Miraculous Magic. The reason is Tikki is too loyal to the Guardians, and she’d likely inform the Guardian about her. She has no such problems with Plagg, as he could care less about telling Fu.

Not sure where else to go from here…we go into Fix it somehow and possible Adrien Pepper if you really want to fix him, same with Marinette if you’re hoping for some Marinette salt and pepper. I’ll add more in the comments if I can figure out how specifically this OC fixes it.

---

Edit by prompter:

Clarification: I forgot to mention this in the prompt. Like in Fairy Tail, there’s a magic council responsible for protecting the world from magical threats and dealing with magic incidents. They’re incognito though as a public organization called the Organization of Magical Occurrences and Affairs, supposedly just as a group to help people cope with any losses or injuries caused by supernatural incidents or for people to report supernatural stuff to someone who won’t laugh them out of the room.

They’re like this as they’ve been persecuted a lot by secular and religious authorities during their history. They also worked with the Guardians before they vanished, but couldn’t ever figure out why they vanished.

[sayuricorner]

Rage-Jin - A Miraculous Ladybug X Magic Kaito story: Part 2

Part 1

Warning: English is not my first language so sorry if it’s confusing.

Warning 2: This one-shot content salt don’t like don’t read!

Part 2 of the ML / Magic Kaito crossover one-shot!!! ^^ for @lupsss1412

“-I can’t believe he got away! And with the gem no less!”

If a word could describe Marinette’s mood right now, “frustrated” would be the best choice.

Chat Noir and her had been so close, SO CLOSE! To stop Kaito Kid and arrest him but of course of all the night Hawkmoth had to choose to akumatize someone it has to be this night.

Yes! Fighting akumas was Chat’s and her main priority, she even told Chat herself… 

But thinking about all what happen last night:

-The thief stealing the gem despite the security organized by the police.

-Chat Noir having been unbearable, again, during the whole thing despite her telling him more than once to take this seriously and not lower his guard.

-Climatica attacked when they were about to capture Kaito Kid giving the thief the opportunity to get away.

-And most of all Chat Noir thinking that attempting to capture a thief for his ego was more important than fighting an akuma who would have more than certainly hurt a lot of innocents, leaving her to face the akuma all alone before he finally decided at one point to let Kaito Kid go and help her.

All those accumulations of misadventures in one night just added frustration to Marinette, she was angry, at Kaito Kid for having stole the gem, at Chat Noir for having complicated things, at Hawkmoth for having akumatized Aurore that night and more importantly at herself for not having been able to handle the situation better.

If she actually handled the situation then maybe she would have captured Kaito Kid before he even left the museum, maybe she’d have been able to be a better partner with Chat Noir they would have been able to work as a team…

And maybe this whole night wouldn’t have been a mess…

“-Oh Marinette!” Her kwami told softly, looking at her with sad eyes.” Please don’t be so hard on yourself! Sure this thief got away but you had to do what’s important as Ladybug: to fight the akumas and protect the innocents! And it wasn’t a failure, you did defeat Climatica and saved Aurore before things turned worse and this is what matters so please don’t say such things about yourself!”

Ah… She didn’t notice her speaking her thoughts…

She knows Tikki was right, defeating akumas and protecting civilians from them were her top priority, if an akuma is on a rampage she must go take them down, even if it means letting a petty thief escape into the night.

But still, she wishes she could have caught Kaito Kid and taken back the gem in addition to desakumatizing Aurore.

Speaking of her, apparently, the reason for her akumatization was because she was under a lot of stress lately at KIDZ+ and Alec unintentionally made her stress worse to the point she had a breakdown last night.

“-I know Tikki, stopping akumas is my priority as Ladybug, as a miraculous holder, heck that what I was telling Chat over and over again, but… with everything which happened last night, not to mention Chat’s behavior during the whole fiasco… The fact is that I let everything get out of hand and I wasn’t able to manage the situation… It’s just so frustrating…”

“-I understand, but sulking about it and beating yourself over it will not do anything! And maybe you’ll have another occasion to catch Kaito Kid? Who knows, maybe he will still be in Paris for a time and you’ll get a new opportunity to catch him and this time without an akuma attacking with a bit of luck!”

Honestly Marinette wasn’t really sure about the last part, for all the “lucky moments” she could have, having a day without akumas or not having an attack at the worst times weren’t a part of them, there wasn’t a day nor a moment without Hawkmoth creating an akuma.

Really, one wonders what kind of creepy shut in Hawkmoth must be to have so much free time to be able to send akumas everyday whenever he wants. Maybe he was one of those strange rich guys that are secluded in their mansions and his real wish was to cause chaos just because he could.

But on the other hand Tikki does have a point, sulking will not change anything all she can do right now is making sure Kaito Kid wouldn’t steal in Paris again, keep on fighting the akumas, and try to had a word with Chat Noir if there’s an opportunity, and like she said, maybe she will be able to catch the thief before he leaves the town! Who knows? Anything could happen!

“-You’re right Tikki, thanks!” Marinette told her kwami with a little smile.

The tiny goddess happily nobbed at her but quickly realized something and turned her gaze toward Marinette’s alarm clock before turning back to Marinette nervously.

 “-Hum… Marinette, aren't you supposed to join Kaito and Aoko at the park this afternoon?”

Her eyes wide, the young girl quickly looked at her alarm clock before panicking and quickly grabbing her purse, in which Tikki fled.

“-OhmygoshIcompletelyforgotthankyouTikki!” Marinette quickly said before sprinting out of her room.

(Time skip)

After a hasty departure Marinette gets, thankfully, at the park on time to meet up with Kaito and Aoko.

The day was sunny and no akuma was rampaging the city, a perfect day for hanging out at the park in Marinette’s opinion.

“And hopefully, this outing will go smoothly and peacefully!” The bluenette thought, hoping no one and nothing will come and ruin this day, whatever it would be an akuma, her classmates or even Lila, she lives very close to the park after all.

She found the two Japanese students on a bench near the fountain and without wasting any time joined them.

They spent a long time talking about everything and nothing.

Until the subject of Kaito Kid’s last heist was put on the table, which Aoko profited from to rant about the thief.

Turns out Kaito Kid and Aoko’s father had a sort of “history”, and the latter dedicated his life into trying to arrest Kaito Kid.

“-People back in Japan may see him as a japanese Arsène Lupin and look up at him but honestly he is nothing more than an obnoxious petty thief, he even makes my dad’s life hard with his crimes!”

Marinette couldn’t help but agree with Aoko’s rant, from what she saw during her “encounter” with Kaito Kid, the infamous thief was indeed very obnoxious and his flirting which remind her way too much of Chat Noir’s flirting didn’t help to make her think otherwise.

Kaito, Marinette noticed, was silent and looking at them with a strange smirk on his face…

As if he was laughing at them in his mind or something.

“-Eeeh… I agree, he is not bad at magic and all but we know who is way cooler than him right Aoko?” Kaito asked his childhood friend, his smirk still on his face.

This only makes Aoko roll her eyes in annoyance.

“-Oh please, don’t flatter yourself you’re both equally annoying Bakaito!”

“-Oh?”

Kaito stood suddenly in front of Aoko, looking at her with a smiling face and suddenly his head began to shake before twisting around in a way which is impossible for any human.

“-What.. Is… The… Color… Today?” Kaito asked in a weird automatic voice.

Then suddenly, Kaito’s head popped up out of his body and landed in Aoko’s hand before throwing serpentines out of “his” mouth to an exasperated Aoko.

Marinette looked at the scene dumbfounded, a robot? What? How?

Her confusion was interrupted by Kaito’s voice, which strangely seemed to come from the robot’s legs.

“-Ah-ha! It’s pink!”

“-KYYAAAAH!”

Here upside down was Kaito’s head between his legs and looking right under Aoko’s skirt.

Laughing at Aoko’s reaction, Kaito standed up revealing that his body was in fact upside down this whole time and hid it with a very good disguise.

Marinette was torn up between being dumbfounded and amazed, just how in the Kwamis’s names Kaito managed to stay upside down on his hands this long?

“-A feminine color uh? You know that putting on you feminine things will not make you look more sweet or cute right “Ahoko”? Kaito teased his embarrassed friend.

“-I should have known… THAT YOU WOULDN’T BEHAVE FOR VERY LONG!!!” Aoko screamed angrily before beginning running after Kaito, the latter running away and avoiding any punch and kick from Aoko, keeping on teasing her at the same time.

“-See? Just like I said: no matter how many cute things you use you’re violent as always!~”

“-SHUT UP BAKAITO!!!”

Meanwhile, Marinette could do nothing but staring at the two japanese students with a deadpan expression, any other person would be surprised and puzzled by the exchange student's behavior but in Marinette’s case, let’s just say that after having spend times with them ever since they get to know each other, she end up to be used to their particular “lover quarrels”.

… This and the akumas attacks may have made her immune to the oddities she witnessed in her daily life.

  Kaito suddenly stopped moving, making Aoko stop in her tracks and looking at her childhood friend in confusion.

“-Now now Aoko, you know I’m just teasing you! No need to act like an enraged ape!”

“-Why you-”

“-Ooh! Look at that! Looks like there’s something behind your ear!” Kaito interrupted her.

The young man moved his hand to the confused girl’s ear and with a snap of his fingers, a little lighted candle appeared.

Still smiling, Kaito took the candle in front of Aoko.

“-One… Two… Three!”

Realizing what was going on, Aoko quickly blew out the candle as soon as Kaito finished counting and to her and Marinette’s surprise, the candle exploded into a little gift box.

“-Ta-da here you go!” Kaito told Aoko while giving her the gift.

Curious, Aoko opened the gift and was amazed to find a beautiful pair of earrings inside.

“-Kaito they’re amazing!”

“-He he I know! See this as a little apology gift!” Kaito responded to her while winking at her.

Marinette looked at the duo with a tender smile, despite all their fights, arguments and shenanigans it was easy to see that Kaito and Aoko genuinely cared for each other and had each other’s back despite their flaws.

A series of beeps were heard, bringing Kaito’s intention and making him take out his cell and looking at what seemed to be a notification, his eyes widened a little before he quickly put away the cell in his pocket.

“-Welp! Sorry you two but I’m expected somewhere, see you later!”

And just like that, Kaito quickly left the park, leaving a puzzled Marinette and an exasperated Aoko at Kaito’s shenanigans.

“-Hum Aoko, if it’s okay to ask, where is Kaito going like that?” Asked a still confused Marinette.

“-Ah! That's right, you’re not aware! Remember when we told you about Kaito’s mother traveling around the world? Well currently she’s in Paris and when she learned that Kaito and I were going to be in Paris at the same time as her, she arranged with Kaito a moment to meet up and spend time together!” Aoko explained.

Ah, yes she remembers the two japanese students talking about Kaito’s mother’s travels to her in a conversation during which they were getting to know each other better.

The notification in Kaito’s cell was most probably to remind him of his meet up with his mother then.

Meanwhile, Kaito walked through Paris’s streets, after a while he got to his destination which was a little café.

Looking at the occupied tables, he spotted a brown short haired woman, who happily waved her hand at him when she noticed Kaito.

Smiling, the young man got to the table and took a seat.

“-Heya mom!”

“-Kaito! It’s so good to see you!” Chikage tells her son with a smile. “How are you and Aoko doing? How is your stay in Paris going so far?”

“-We’re both good as usual! Paris is not bad so far, of course if you don’t count those akumas.”

“-Ah yes! I heard about them, luckily I wasn’t in the area whenever an attack happened! Oh by the way, when I got to Paris a few weeks ago I met an old friend I haven’t seen in ages!”

This sparks Kaito’s curiosity.

“-An old friend?” 

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette carelessly threw herself on her bed while sighing happily, today has been a good one, no akuma, no Lila, no nosy classmates, just a nice peaceful day she spent with Aoko and Kaito.

It felt so good to spend a simple and calm day, when was the last time she had a day like this?

She doesn’t really remember, most of the time her days were filled with akuma attacks or when Alya and the other girls roped her in another scheme to get her to confess to Adrien.

Others would have argued that she didn't seem to mind during those times and while she would agree that this was the case at the start, her pink stained glass mind even justified it by seeing those moments as her friends genuinely trying to help her.

But recently, ever since she began to hang out with Kaito and Aoko she couldn’t help but compare her relationship with them with her friendship with the class.

“ If you could really call it a friendship ” A little voice in her mind said, which she tried to ignore.

“-Something is on your mind Marinette?” Her thoughts got interrupted by Tikki.

“-Ah! Nothing, don't worry about it Tikki!" The young girl reassured her kwami."I was just thinking back about how today has been a peaceful one for a start!"

"-True! You looked like you had a lot of fun and were very relaxed!" Tikki agreed."It was even a relief to see you so at ease around some friends to be honest!"

This statement confused Marinette who stared at the tiny goddess.

"-What do you mean?"

"-Well…" Tikki hesitated."As you know us kwamis don't have a total understanding of human feelings so take what I say with a grain of salt but… I couldn't help but notice that you seem more comfortable around Kaito and Aoko than when you're with your friends from your class! And before you begin, I know Alya and the others aren't bad people and, normally, mean well, but… What I mean Marinette is… Even before Lila came you seemed tense and stressed around your class, always anxious to do something which could offend them or disappoint them while with Kaito and Aoko you're just being… you, relaxed and spending time with friends without being worried about anything…"

Marinette stared at her kwami thoughtful.

She knew Tikki wasn't wrong, she herself noticed it for some time now…

Before this seemed normal for her, the classmates were her friends after all, so it was normal to do favors for them…

It seemed normal for her to be constantly anxious about doing something which could disappoint them and losing them as friends, she was the class’s representative and their “everyday ladybug” she couldn’t let them down…

With Kaito and Aoko however, it was… Different… She wasn’t the “everyday ladybug” always ready to do favors without asking anything in return, she wasn’t the class representative who must be a model to the rest… Or even the center of a “Adrinette ship scheme”...

With the Japanese students she was just… Marinette…

A clumsy girl who loves fashion…

A simple middle school girl doing simple things like hanging out with friends…

A girl who lives her daily life without worrying about what her next step will be…

And she was… Feeling good about it…

When was the last time she actually felt that way with her class? When was the last time she actually spent time with her friends without involving favors or her crush on Adrien?   

 When was the last time she was around people who made her feel like she was just herself?

Just be Marinette?

“-I think I get what you mean Tikki… When I’m hanging out with Aoko and Kaito I feel great and don’t feel gnawed by my problems like Lila, the class, the akumas or the gem-...” 

Marinette stopped on track, her eyes widening in horror.

“-Oh kwamis the gem!” She whispered in horror.

How could she have forgotten about it?

“-How can I be there like that all relaxed when Kaito Kid still had the gem?!” She exclaimed in panic.

“-Marinette…” Tikki tried to call her without success.

“-What if he tried to leave the city with it? What if he tried to leave France with it? What if he decides to sell the gem to some shady people or something?”

“-Marinette!” The kwami tried again but the young girl was way too deep in her panic.

“-And… And with the powers the gem hides, who knows what he could do… Ooooh this is a disaster! I-I must transform and find Kaito Kid and take back the gem before-...”

“-MARINETTE!!!” The tiny god screamed startlingly at the dark haired girl who looked at her kwami with shocked wide eyes.

Sighing at her holder’s antics, Tikki looked at Marinette and spoked in a reassuring voice.

“-Marinette, we already talked about it: Don’t worry! You will catch Kaito Kid and take back the gem! It’s not very easy to leave a city or a country with something precious which was stolen, it takes time and a lot of organization so I’m sure this will give you enough time to find him! As for the risk of him using the gem’s “powers” you don’t have to worry about it either! He will not be able to do anything even if he wanted to!”

Okay, now Marinette was confused!

“-What do you mean?” Marinette asked her.

“-Well…” Tikki begin.

(Elsewhere)

“-So this confirms it then!” Kaito Kid said as he put away the still purple-ish gem from the moonlight.

“-This is not the pandora!” The magician thief concluded.

“-It unfortunately seems like it, master Kaito!” Jii confirmed with a sad sigh.

Kaito stared at the gem, a beautiful but ordinary gem, unlike what the media claimed.

While it was a bummer that, once again, he got the wrong gem, it was also a relief.

The gem not being Pandora, just a common precious gemstone, means that Kaito will not have to worry for the Black Organization to try to steal it, the obvious lack of magic in the gem even mean that the ones like Hawkmoth will not be interested in it.

Yes, while it was a shame he didn't get Pandora, the fact the gem is not magic will not get the intention of any potential threat.

 "-Well, it's a shame!" Kaito said with a Fake sad sigh."But at least we will not have to worry about the organization coming to Paris!"

"-So what do we do now, Master Kaito?" Jii asked him.

"-Now?" The thief said as he turned toward the old Man with a smirk."Kaito Kid will find a perfect moment to give back the gem and After that Kaito Kuroba will profit from the rest of his stay in Paris!"

"-I understand Master Kaito!" Jii nodded in understanding."I will look out after the gem until you give it back!"

"-Good idea Jii-chan ! Welp, I should go now! If I don't come back soon Aoko will be wondering where I could be! Good night!" Kaito declared as he left.

"-Good night Master Kaito!"

—--------------------------

"-THE GEM IS NOT MAGIC?!"

Tikki stared at her holder in amusement.

"-Nope! No magic at all!" The kwami of creation confirmed."So rest assured when I'm telling you that the thief using the gem's so-called "powers" is the last of our worries!"

"-B-But the legends about it…" Marinette stuttered in confusion.

-"Marinette !" Tikki laughed."While many legends are true, that doesn't necessarily mean that ALL of them are real! You know how humans love to tell stories to create magic out of common things and to want to believe in those stories, this makes the Magic of those myths! You'd be surprised by how much of those stories exist compared to the number of actual magic beings and artifacts!"

"-So…" Marinette hesitated."The gem is truly not magic and we don't have to worry about Kaito Kid trying to do… kwamis know what, with it?"

"-Exactly!"

Marinette reflected on what she just learned, all this was… a relief to be honest.

With the gem being a normal gemstone, all Kaito Kid could get out of it would be money and the safest way to do that would be to get the gem out of the country to sell it on a black market in another country, which is not an easy task.

That means she still had time to have the occasion to stop Kaito Kid and take the gem back before he could even leave the city!

"-You know what Tikki?You're right! Worrying about the gem being used for magic is the last of our worries since it is not magic! And if Kaito Kid stole it because of the myths around it then he will more than certainly have a bad surprise which will give us time to bust him!" Marinette said with determination.

"-That the spirit Marinette !" Tikki cheered.

Smiling, the young girl looked at her kwami before turning a determined look at the starry Sky through her window.

Kaito Kid will be stopped and the gem will be retrieved, she as Ladybug will make sure of it.

—---------------------

The next day things were very agitated at Françoise-Dupont, only one thing was in the students’s and some teachers’s lips: the latest heist of Kaito Kid.

Miss Bustier’s class wasn’t excluded and were actively talking about the heist’s events.

While most of them were very excited, some were reacting differently.

Aoko’s face was wearing a scorn expression being, like usual, very annoyed at the mention of the magician thief.

Kaito was just sitting at his seat ignoring the whole ruckus and being completely indifferent to the whole thing.

One girl among Bustier’s students was trying her best to not make herself noticed in the form of Sabrina.

The young girl was keeping her head down and was as silent as a mouse feeling very uncomfortable at the mention of the heist, a feeling which is very understandable with the media having relayed how her father was played and ridiculed by Kaito Kid during the whole night.

Two students, however, were irritated and were trying to not show it.

Those two students were Marinette and Adrien.

Even with her newfound determination to catch Kaito Kid next time, the weight of the failure from the heist was still there in her and being reminded about the night during which she and Chat Noir failed to catch the thief wasn’t pleasant.

As for Adrien, he was fuming inside at the mention of Kaito Kid, he was still upset about the thief having flirted with Ladybug and pass him for a fool so let’s just say that Kaito Kid isn’t on his favorite persons list currently.

“-I’m still shocked that Ladybug and Chat Noir weren’t able to capture him!” Alya said to the classmates, her voice showing her obvious excitement.

“-Yeah! But on the other hand Kaito Kid had been stealing for years so he must had gained skills into escaping anyone who would try to catch him!” Max explained.

“-You know an uncle of mine had been a victim of Kaito Kid!” Lila exclaimed, not supporting that anything or anyone beside her get the class’s intention.

“-WAIT REALLY?!”

“-What happened?”

“-Nobody was hurt I hope!”

“-What did he stole?”

“-Oh my god! Girl you MUST tell us!”

Lila smirked, satisfied, the effect she wanted was immediate.

“-Well, it’s happened some times before I moved to Paris!” Lila begin to explain taking a fake soft uncertain voice.”I have an uncle in Italy who is the CEO of a successful company, the biggest in the country. In fact, he earned millions with his work! My uncle was also very sceptical about banks so he always kept his money in the most secured safecase in the world inside his mansion! But one night, Kaito Kid had broke in and begun to stole my uncle’s money after managing to open the safecase!”

Seeing that most of the class was captivated by her story, Lila kept going, adding a bit of sadness to keep her audience on her.

Marinette just ignored them and was focusing on her sketchbook and Adrien just shook his head.

“-He… My uncle tried to stop him and got into a fight… He fought as much as he could but things have gone really wrong and he… He… He was severely injured and Kaito Kid just left with the money and… Since then, my uncle has never been the same!” The liar sobbed while opening the waterworks.

“-Lila this is awful!” Alya said while comforting her.

“-I’m really sorry for your uncle!” Rose said with tears in her eyes.

“-What Kaito Kid has done is horrible! I hope someone will end up caught him so he could finally pay for what he had done!” Alix exclaimed in anger.

“-Yeah! He deserves to be in jail!” Kim agreed.

The class was now surrounding Lila, altering between comforting her and cursing Kaito Kid.

The liar couldn’t help it but smirk secretly in satisfaction, it's just so easy!

“-Oi! Did you finish your little act already?” Kaito’s annoyed voice interrupted the moment.

The class, Marinette and Adrien included, turned their intention toward him, he and Aoko looked extremely annoyed.

“-Hum… What do you mean?” Lila nervously asked, trying to feign confusion.

“-I mean your little drama queen acts as fake as your face!” Kaito said while staring at her clearly annoyed, and this time he wasn’t even going to bother and hide it under some poker face

“-Because there’s no way everything you just said is true as 1) It’s a worldwide known fact that Kaito Kid only stole gems, not money!”

“-2) In his whole career, he never intentionally injured anyone! In fact if something like that ever happened my father would have been one of the first informed since he is fixated on arresting him!” Aoko added annoyed as well, she might hate the thief but she could at least acknowledge he has morals. 

“-3)Kaito Kid NEVER had done heists in Italy! Outside of Singapore and Paris, he exclusively steal in Japan!” Katio finished, the last hit on the nail knowing that it would be something he could prove without exposing himself “since every single one of his heists have been announced before happening”

“-And finally 4) It's impossible that something like that happened and wasn't relayed at all by any kind of media, reporters, paparazzi or bloggers! A story like this would have been spread all around the world if it actually happened!” Both japanese students concluded, aoko nodding along with Kaito.

The whole class was silent, Marinette winced knowing about the storm which was about to burst out.

She know it will happen, she had been in this type of situation before after all.

"-And what do YOU know about it uh?" Alya asked Kaito and Aoko with an accusatory tone."How would you know this story is fake, which ISN'T the case, just because "no any type of media talked about it"? For all we know, Lila's uncle's story could have passed unnoticed. This kind of things Can happen!"

The other classmates nodded in agreement and stared angrily at the two japanese students while Lila was hiding a smirk.

Alya crossed her arms and frowned at Aoko and Kaito with defiance, thinking she had won the argument. Completely ignoring the predator’s gaze both teens were giving him.

"-One can't just spew any affirmations without proofs to back it up! So I'm waiting! Where's your proof, huh?" she pointed at them.

From her seat, Marinette was making the best she could to not groan in frustration. She couldn’t believe it was HER talking about getting proof.

Here we go again!

"-Whoa! The kettle calling the pot black aren't we? And didn't Rossi say her supposed uncle was the CEO of the most prestigious company in Italy? How the media couldn't had relayed that a very important CEO had been severely injured by Kaito Kid during a heist?" Kaito commented, unimpressed, irritating Alya even more.

Aoko then suddenly got up from her seat and walked toward Alya and the rest of the class and put in Alya's hands her phone, which was showing a bunch of tabs.

"-You wanted proof? Here's the proof!" The japanese girl announced coldly."Those are all the info websites, blogs and tabloids which had archived Kaito Kid's heists! ALL his heists are archived on those websites from his very first one many years ago in Paris to his latest one, again, in Paris! Even his most obscure and less known heists are archived, fans follow him just like a celebrity, so, if Lila's uncle's story actually happened it will be in one of those websites's archives!"

Shooting an angry stare at Aoko, Alya looked at the phone she was actively searching through the websites, but as the minutes passed, Alya’s face slowed and deflated in shock.

“-Nothing…” She said in a whisper, her eyes looked haunted the more she read

“-What?” Nino asked, worried.

“-There’s nothing about Lila’s uncle…” Alya said in shock “nothing about a sinlge heist in Italy either…”      

The class stared at her in shock, the young “reporter” then passed the phone to Max who looked and searched in silence.

No one said anything, staring in apprehension and after five good minutes, Max slowly left up his head and said in a whisper.

“-I can confirm… There’s no article about Kaito Kid stealing money nor about an italian CEO having been injured during one of Kaito Kid heist!”

The whole class was now silent, all of them turned their heads toward Lila, starring at her in shock and confusion waiting for a logical explanation.

The liar looked at them, her eyes wide in panic, trying to find an excuse, until she decided to play her last but most efficient card:

Opening the water broke.

"-I-I'm not lying! Why did you two persist on passing me for a liar? What did I ever done to you? Especially you Nadoko, I know you don't like me but do you had to go After me like this?" Lila asked as fake years were rolling down her cheeks.

The results were immediate as the other classmates began to glare at the two Japanese students.

"-She's right! You can't just talk to her like that!" Alya snapped as she was comforting Lila.

"-Yeah! What give you the right to act like this?"

"-Honestly Aoko that's not cool at all!"

Marinette just wanted to bang her head on her desk in frustration, it was like this everytime! Lila just had to cry and everyone turned into a Guard dog!

Aoko and Kaito, as for them, seemed completely unfazed.

"-Honestly, do you even hear yourself?" Kaito asked, annoyed.”We were just stating facts to correct what was obviously misinformations! No insults, no nasty remarks, just facts! We even showed you proofs to back up our statements, but you just choose to ignore all this and simply view this as a personal attack against your “precious Lila”! You want to do that? To paint us as the “bad guys” despite we just proved facts? Fine, be that way! But don’t expect to go far in life with this immature snowflake attitude!”

“-EXCUSE M-”

* Bang *

The sudden loud sound interrupted everyone in the classroom and made all of them, Marinette included, turning their intention toward the source of the noise which turned out to be Adrien who had clapped both his hands on his desk to get everyone’s attention.

The blond boy was looking at Kaito and Aoko with his usual “sunshine smile” despite the sudden and unusual action he had done a few seconds earlier.

“-Aoko, Kaito can I talk to you in private for a moment please?” Adrien asked them.

Both japanese students stared at him confused before nodding and following him.

From her desk, Marinette could only stare and sigh as she look Adrien, Kaito and Aoko get out of the class.

She knew exactly where this was going…

—---------------------

“-So, what did you want to talk to us about?” Aoko asked Adrien once she, Adrien and Kaito were in the corridor in front of the class’s door.

“-I wanted to ask you if you could just stop?” Adrien asked frowning.

“-Stop what?” Kaito asked, folding his arms.

“-Debunking Lila’s stories! You’re not helping anyone by doing that you just make things worse so stop it!” he said, exasperation on his tone and almost wanting nothing more than to scream.

“-Right! Because things weren’t already bad with all the lies she was already spewing!” Kaito told sarcastically.

“-Listen! Lila’s stories are just little tales! They’re not harming anyone so it’s better to just let it go, it’s better to avoid getting Lila akumatized because you would had upset her!”

“-Oh? So it’s very important to be aware of Rossi’s feelings but if others are getting akumatized it’s less important?” Aoko asked, narrowing her eyes at Adrien and frowning

“-I never said that!” Adrien said frustrated, relaizing he might have misjudged the situation thanks to his mind being clouded by last night’s events.

“-But you still implied it unintentionally or not! And you said those “tales” don’t harm anyone, but they are already causing harm! Not immediately, but the longer those idiots believe those lies, the bigger they will become and may end up becoming outright dangerous!” Kaito sais, anger in his tone as he rolled his eyes wanthign bothing more than to tell the blond just how stupid he was.

“-But Marinette and I know her stories aren’t true!” Adrien countered.”As long the both of us know it’s gonna be alright! Just like I told her times ago!”

“-Oh yeah, great advice! Too bad this doesn’t seem to work since Rossi keep on passing Marinette for a bully despite the fact she didn’t try to debunk her lies! Oh but silly me, since protecting Rossi’s feelings is so much important, Marinette’s well being and the risks of her getting akumatized probably matter even less right?” Aoko commented sarcastically, her eyes moist about to get overthown by frustrated tears.

“-Oh come on, Marinette is our everyday Ladybug she-”

“-Is a human just like you, me, Kaito and everyone else in this city!” Aoko cut him, now completely mad.”A human with feelings, fears and struggles! You can’t just expect her to just take everything this pest is throwing at her like she was her emotional punching ball while staying all happy and smiling! This kind of treatment had bad impact on anyone’s mental state, even the most happy, optimistic and kind one! Seriously, are you this egotistically blind that you would rather throw Marinette under the bus like a scapegoat and put your other friends safety at risk just to keep your so called “peaceful ambiance”?”

“-It’s not true! I care for my classmates and I care for Marinette’s well being!” Adrien encountered but even to his ears, that sounded fake and weak

“-Really? Because with how you seem to let Marinette face Rossi’s antics alone and how you stay silent everytime this liar spew a lie it doesn’t look like you do, you insensitive jerk!” Aoko screamed from the top of her lungs, Kaito immediately got on guard it had been very few times since he had seen Aoko lose it like that. 

Aoko was about to keep going when she felt a hand on her shoulder and noticed Kaito looked at her.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Aoko calm down and nodded at Kaito who then turned his intention toward Adrien.

“-Agreste, while your “high road” logic is not a bad one in other circumstances, in this situation it doesn’t work!” Kaito explained with a serious tone.

“-What do you mean?” Adrien asked, confused.

“-What I mean is that your logic would have worked if EVERYONE in the class was aware that Rossi’s lies weren’t true! If this was the case, they would just listen but not give to those stories too much attention and by so those “tales” would stay tales! But here, outside of you, Marinette, Aoko and me, none of our “classmates” are aware that those tales are just tales and this is why it’s could be dangerous! With how most of the class believe her, this gave Rossi a feeling of power and confidence to tell more bigger lies and one day she will tell lies this serious and big that it will seriously harm them! Hell, it could also harm you! How would you feel if she tell a lie, for example, about someone very close to you?”

Adrien just stared at them in silence, not knowing what to answer.

“-Just think about what we told you, Agreste!” Kaito sighed as he pulled Aoko to his side making them go back in the classroom, leaving an extremely confused Adrien lost in his thoughts.

—-------------------------------

Aoko looked in the mirror in front of her with satisfaction at the dress she was wearing.

It was Saturday in the morning and Aoko wanted to profit from it by trying a clothes store nearby she and Kaito’s studio and that Marinette recommended to her.

She was wearing the earrings that Kaito gifted her and wanted to find a few dress which would go well with the earrings. She couldn0t help but smile whenever they glinted in the light.

So far she wasn’t disappointed and found some dresses which fit perfectly, the one she was wearing included.

But as she was about to go back to the dressing room, she got interrupted by an awfully annoying voice calling for her.

“-Akako! What a surprise, I didn’t expect to see you there!” an unfortunate known voice said with a sacharine tone making Aoko want to gag.

Here was Lila, coming right to her with a clearly fake friendly smile on her face.

“-I’m sorry but my name is Aoko Rossi-san…” Aoko gritted her teeths in annoyance but do as much as she could to remain polite, wanting nothing more than to get out of there.

“-Oops silly me! Sorry for not getting your name right!” The liar apologies still in a fake way, anyone would be able to see it ”I mean, let’s be honest, you’re not very noticeable and just… plain! No offence!”

“-Not at all!” Aoko said, a fake smile on her face trying to get away from the auburn girl

“-But of course you must be aware of it! Why then would you try so hard to make yourself pretty by buying from a store which is obviously way out of your league!”

Aoko felt her anger becoming bigger the more the liar was speaking, she needed to remain calm or else things will end very badly!

Must stay calm… Must stay calm…

“-And I must say, I really pity your friend Kaito! A boy as handsome as him should have by his side a true woman instead of a kid without any kind of femininity!”

Stay calm! Stay calm! Stay calm! Stay calm!

“-On the other hand I understand why Kaito even bothers to be your friend, you seem to be the loner type and he must pity you! That’s quite sad really!”

Calm!Calm!Calm!Calm!Calm!Calm!Calm!Calm!

“-Oh well, not that I don’t like our little conversation but I must go! Have a good day Nadoko!” Lila said still with a fake kindness.

“-Good day to you too Rossi-san…” Aoko answered calmly, doing her best to hide her distress.

As the italian girl left the store, Aoko stayed in front of the changing room shaking.

She knew everything Rossi said was not true, she knew she shouldn’t listen to her lies.

So why? Why does she seem so affected by her words?

—---------------------------

Marinette, as Ladybug, was on the roof of a building, waiting.

It was late in Paris and Ladybug was waiting for Chat Noir to come for their night patrol, she was also hoping they could profit from tonight patrol to find clues about where Kaito Kid could be hiding and , hopefully, take back the gem as quickly as possible.

“And with a bit of luck, no hiccup will happen and it will not end in a mess!” Ladybug thought.

Now if Chat could hold back on his antics just for tonight…

“-Good evening my Lady!~”

Welp, speaking of the devil!

Ladybug turned around to find Chat Noir a few steps behind her, his iconic smirk on his face.

She frowned in annoyance, she was still upset about Chat's attitude back at the heist’s night.

They’re going to need to had a serious talk once all this was over.

“-Chat Noir.” Ladybug greeted him with a neutral tone.

“-So, what’s the program for tonight’s patrol?”

“-Like usual: we patrol for any akuma activity! But we’re also on the look out for Kaito Kid! We must find and arrest him before he could leave Paris with the gem!”

“-Got it my Lady! Don’t worry about it, we’ll got him in no time!”

“-... Yeah… Hope so…”

Chat Noir frowned at the spotted hero’s tone.

“-Ladybug, what’s going on? Don’t tell me you’re still upset about Climatica’s attack when we were chasing the thief? It’s going to be okay, we’re going to catch him next time!” Chat tried to reason, optimism spewing from his words as he tried to lighten up the mood.

“-That’s not it Chat!” Ladybug answered irritated.”While I’m upset we didn’t managed to catch Kaito Kid I’m more upset about your attitude from that night!”

“-My attitude?! I was trying to catch Kaito Kid that what we were supposed to do right?”

“-Not when an akuma is attacking the city! I told you this that night and telling you it again: Akumas are our top priority! If there’s an attack we must intervene before the akuma do too much damages, which mean that even if we’re chasing a criminal we must fight the akuma when there’s an attack! And most of all, we must fight the akumas TOGETHER!” Ladybug raised her voice, annoyed about how little Chat seemed to care about what had been happening lately.

“-But everything ended well in the end! And beside, even if anything bad happened the cure would have brought everything back to normal again!” Chat said, trying to appease his lady, unfortunately it wasn’t really effective

“-Not in this situation! I was in a very dangerous position! A dangerous position which could have incapacitated me and could have made me unable to use the cure and all this because you decided to play solo for a matter of ego!” Ladybug screamed, now fed up with Chat’s antics

“-I was doing my hero job! And it’s rich to call me out on “playing solo” with all the secrets you hide from me!” Chat exploded, his anger taking the best of him.

“-... Okay, I give you that, we both need to work better on our team dynamic! But still, there's a big difference between not telling everything and leaving your partner to face an Akuma alone because of your ego!" Ladybug conceded, even if she knew that all of those secrets were to protect her partner.

“-Whoa! Aren’t you two a great team?” 

The heroic duo got startled and turned their attention toward the sudden sarcastic voice.

Right before them was standing Kaito Kid looking at them with his iconic smirk.

At the sight of the thief, both Ladybug and Chat Noir get into position, ready to fight at any moment.

"-Now, now! No need to be like that! I Come in peace!" Kaito Kid said in a playful tone.

"-What do you want?" Chat Noir demanded angrily, his baton pointed at the magician wanting nothing more than strike.

"-Oh, just coming for a friendly visit! I wanted to thanks you two for the show back at Le Louvre, despite the poor finale of "some people"!" He added while throwing a mocking stare at Chat Noir, who growled in anger."It's not everyone who manages to pursue me this long during a heist, very impressive! Especially you Ladybug! Brave, strong, intelligent and, in my opinion, very cute! Yes, you're truly up to your reputation!~"

Ladybug clenched her teeth in exasperation.

Nope! No way! Not now! Not tonight! Just. No!

As she was about to say something only to be beaten to it by Chat Noir who snapped angrily at Kaito Kid.

"-CUT IT OUT! JUST TELL US WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!" Chat growled, his eyes wseemed to glow a toxic green as he stared at the magician.

"-Chat is right!" Ladybug added, trying to hide her annoyance."Your little flattery will get you nowhere so how about just get straight up to the point? And can you PLEASE stop with the flirting? It's very annoying and I'm getting sick of it!"

The thief looked at the duo in silence for a few seconds before nodding in acknowledgement.

"-Very well, I'll stop then! It wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable!"

This surprised Ladybug a bit, it was rare when someone actually listen to her and respected her requests for boundaries.

"-As for why I'm here…" Kaito Kid added as he walked toward Ladybug."It was to give you this!"

He handed his hand toward Ladybug, in the palm was a little purple gift box.

Looking simultaneously at the gift and Kaito with a lot of warryness, Ladybug ended up going ahead and opening the gift.

She barely removed the ribbon that the gift exploded in a little cloud of smoke and, to the heroic duo's surprise, revealed a beautiful purple rose. 

"-A little gift as a token of respect for your wonderful performance!" Kaito Kid playfully said as he offered the rose to Ladybug, who took the rose after moments of hesitation and looked at it uncertain.

If Ladybug was confused, Chat Noir, as for him, was getting more and more frustrated with the thief’s antics.

“-Okay! Cut it out! You better stop your little act, turn yourself in without any fuss and tell us where you hide the gem right now!” the cat hero screamed

To Chat Noir’s frustration, Kaito Kid smirked and had a little laugh at his outburst.

“-It would have been with pleasure but, unfortunately, I’m needed elsewhere! As for where the gem is, well, its location is closer than you think!”

On those cryptic words, Kaito Kid began to walk away toward the edge of the building, the heroic duo was about to go after him when the thief suddenly stopped.

“-You know Ladybug, I really meant what I said back at the museum!” Kaito Kid said with a serious tone much to Ladybug’s surprise.”And I think you deserve better for everything you are going through! Maybe you should begin to realize that too!”

He then jumped from the building, startling both Ladybug and Chat Noir who ran toward the edge but when they looked they saw no one, as if the thief disappeared in thin air.

“-Shoot! He got away!”Chat Noir cursed, frustrated.”Ladybug, you think we can find him?”

“-He may be out of our sight, but since he doesn’t have actual magic powers he must not be far away!” Ladybug nodded as Chat Noir ranted in his breath against Kaito Kid.” So if we go after him immediately and if we’re lucky enough we could manage to catch him!”

“-Uh Ladybug?” Chat suddenly interrupted her.”Look, the rose…”

Confused Ladybug looked at the rose in her hands and much to her shock the flower was suddenly losing all its petals.

But the most shocking was the presence of a shiny purple object inside of the flower once all the petals had fallen.

A shiny purple object which turned out to be the gem that Kaito Kid had stolen nights ago.

…

“-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!”

—---------------------------

̎ -Don't be bemused, it's just the news ! New update on the stolen gem’s case! We just received the news that the gem stolen by the infamous thief Kaito Kid nights ago, had just been found by Ladybug and Chat Noir! According to the two heroes, the gem was given to them by none other than Kaito Kid himself!

This isn't the first time Kaito Kid gave back a gem he had stolen as it's part of his modus operandi! Why he does this, however, is still a mystery to this day!

Currently, the gem has been brought back safely to Le Louvre, much to the researchers' delight who hope to be able to study it soon!

This was Najda Chamack reporting and now, back to the studios ! ̎

—----------------------------

Plagg stared at Adrien in annoyance as his holder walking back and from in his bedroom like a lion in a cage, which when you think about it and taking into account where the boy lives this doesn’t make the comparison too far-fetched.

Ever since they have gone back from last night’s patrol, Adrien have been ranting non-stop against the thief, Kaito Kid.

This have gone for hours and all Plagg could do was to go take a camembert and half-listening his holder’s ramblings.

Which bring to the current situation with the kwami of destruction still half-listening his holder’s rants as he was slowly eating his last piece of camembert with a bored expression.

“-And seriously who does he think he is to criticize my dynamic with Ladybug! Ha! As if some thief would know something about relationships or team work!”

“-Not to try to start an argument, kid.” Plagg interrupted Adrien, his mouth full of camembert.”But this Kaito Kid is not wrong you know?”

“-WHAT?” Adrien screamed, appalled Plagg had just agreed with a criminal

"-None offense, but it's true your behavior with Ladybug is not the best!" he exclaimed, it was too much from what he had seen whenever they would interact.

"-I don't behave badly toward Ladybug! I even show how much I care for her!" Adrien exclaimed, his arms moving around widely trying to understand just when everyone had turned on him

"-Uh, it's one thing to show affection toward your "lady" but there's times and places and that's the problem: it's the fact you flirt with Ladybug at the worst moments! And didn't Ladybug told you COUNTLESS OF TIMES to stop flirting with her anyway?" PLagg deadpanned, amused when he saw the shocked expression of his holder

"-I'm just showing my affection to and trying to make her see that we are perfect for each other, is this bad ?" Adrien asked, his voice low and barely more than a whisper.

"-This is how YOU feel and what YOU want, kid!” Plagg continued, flying around Adrien until he ended up infrot of him “But did you ever once think about how Ladybug actually wants and truly feels about it? Listen, I know being Chat Noir is the only way for you to be your true self and feeling free but that doesn't mean you can just put aside everyone else's feelings and safety to do so! You hate when your dad makes decisions for you without taking your opinion into consideration and acts as if he owns you, so why do the same thing to other's?"

At the silence of Adrien, Plagg just keeps going.

"-And it's not just in your hero life! That's also apply for your civilian life with how poorly you handle the "liar situation"!" Plagg continued to press, the kwami knew it wasn’t the best but he needed to make a point.

"-How many times do I have to explain? Lila's stories are harmless!" Adrien said annoyed.

"-Oh sure, totally harmless!" The Kwami of destruction answered sarcastically."So harmless that Pigtails and those two Japanese kids aren't victims of them!"

This only exasperated Adrien who let out a frustrated scream.

"-Oh come on! This is an exaggeration! You know it's important to avoid Lila to be akumatized again! Punishing her will not help her to be a better person and will only contribute to her akumatization! Things would be better for everyone if Marinette, Aoko and Kaito stopped taking this situation this seriously!" Adrien huffed, trying his best to make Plagg understand

"-Oh? So when those two Japanese kids explained to you how Lila's lies could become harmful to everyone, you included, they were exaggerating too?" Plagg asked with sarcasm.

Once again, Adrien became silent, looking at his Kwami in a very awkward silence at the reminder of his conversation with Kaito and Aoko.

Plagg just sighed and shaked his head.

"-Look kid! I know you mean well and you just want everyone to be happy! However, you must realize that not everything can be solved easily and be all sunshine and rainbows! And bending to everyone’s will and being a doormat will even less help! It's only making things worse and will truly hurt others! Heck, I wouldn’t be even surprised if Pigtails or one of the two japanese students end up akumatized because of that liar!" Plagg said, not wanting for it to happen but knowing it was a high possibility.

Adrien stayed silent as Plagg was speaking, his expression becoming incertain and thoughtful from what Plagg was telling him.

"-Just think about what I told you, okay?" the kwami sighed, knowing they were young but knowing that it was a time for everythig to change.

In those words, Plagg flew away to his sleeping spot, leaving Adrien alone in his thoughts.

To be continued

[simplyanotherartist]

What do you think of Adrien redemption fics, and would you ever write one?

Most of what people write for Adrien salt is usually aligned with cannon, unless they decide that he needs to go off the deep end in crazy town for the plot(similar to how I did for him in Mar'inette), but in realistic salt fics, Adrien is still capable of Redemption.

In reality, when it comes down to it, Adrien's main salt factors are that he is too pushy and lowkey sexually harassing and pressuring Ladybug, he is unknowingly assisting Lila, and not aiding Marinette when she is being isolated or bullied. However, Adrien is one of the few characters who get to use the excuse of being oblivious... and it "kinda" works.

Not entirely, but enough to give him a redemption when he realizes and fixes his mistakes.

We say Adrien was homeschooled his whole life, but we need to remember it goes deeper then that; his dad is a control freak that only wanted him to be perfect, he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and his only friend was a snobby little spoiled brat that he believed was a good friend for a long time and didn't know was actually bullying others at her school.

Adrien had terrible role models in his life, wasn't used to being told no for things he wants(there's a difference between being told no by his dad and by kids his age), most likely thought social problems and liars like Lila were like paparazzi liars and the issues would fade away when ignored, and doesn't understand really how friends should really treat one another.

He doesn't get a full pass, because he's been in school for a while and should have picked up on enough social cues, but he gets the excuse of not really getting it all through his head.

I'm not really planning any fics with an Adrien redemption yet, but it might happen? Far off in the future? If not, I might have some stories where he just didn't have any salt to begin with really, but not much for redemptions.

[bvgxboo]

Now that its been a couple weeks and we’re in a hiatus until what I assume to be next year, LETS TALK ABOUT JUBILATION !!!

For starters, this episode is big in it if itself, it literally flips the fandom’s idea of what everyone believed to be “Ladybug doesn’t have feelings for Cat Noir” despite the TRUCK TONS of evidence suggesting otherwise including HER OWN WORDS being used against her in her diary.

But I digress, the importance of this episode to me at least, is the deakumatization of Principal Damocles re run of the Dark Owl.

Coming out of the dream, Ladybug is visibly upset, she too wanted to stay in this love sick dream and carry on her life with her kitty, but she chooses to push onward. The part that gets me is Cat Noir’s reaction. IMMEDIATELY after coming out of the dream, he’s RAGE filled, throwing himself onto the villain and taking over control instantly, drastically different from the past where its been a visible struggle for both hero’s to take control over the situation. we know the motivation for this here.

The kicker for me is this scene, when he summons the cataclysm, almost pushing down and being held back from Ladybug’s reaction and his own morality. He KNOWS what a cataclysm would do to a person, we’ve seen the effects of it from the mlb nyc special.

But the biggest part of it all is his decision making here. To me, this SCREAMS Cat Blanc. The face. The music. It’s so ominous. It’s like he was helpless, he wasn’t himself when he summoned the cataclysm, completely emotion driven, JUST like Cat Blanc.

Then when the butterfly flys off, we see the regret. We see Adrien sorta come back to his senses and Ladybug repairing the damages like always.

WE EVEN SEE HER HOPE THAT THE DREAM IS REAL WHEN SHE CHECKS HIS POCKETS.

What I’m basically getting from this is we are in the endgame. They feel helpless. They’re tired. They WANT a happy ending. This season to me, has a theme of closure. We are finally getting an ending for every part of the Love Square early on to focus on development for Adrienette, we get closure when it comes to Marinette’s REAL feelings, but most important, we get closure on the big bad, Cat Blanc.

I think the fandom is fully aware what a HUGE episode it was judging from the MULTIPLE times hes made a comeback since his debut episode. He’s made a SEVERE mark on ladynoir when it comes to their dynamic and that’s apparent from the end argument in Risk.

Even from the end of that debut episode, we didn’t ever get her ever telling him head on what happened. she just showed up, held him close and left him confused.

Strap in because I think Season 5 is HIS season.

[comics-and-fanworks]

What do you think of Adrien redemption fics, and would you ever write one?

Hello! Thank you for the ask!

Even though I primarily write Adrien salt, I like some Adrien redemptions although I am pretty picky about them. I'm a slow-burn redemption kinda gal, so I love stories where he slowly grows to realize that his behavior was wrong, apologizes, and works to do better. I think redemptions can be done well, especially if they show Adrien learning and growing as a person.

I definitely have an Adrien redemption planned over on AO3. My friend @miraculouswolf99 helped me plan out a Monster High Crossover AU with Adrien`redemption! Over here I tend to write shorter stories, and I'd be more than happy to write an Adrien redemption for you if you'd like!

Again thank you for reaching out! I'm always open to questions and suggestions!

[jellysnail-draws]

🐞

[certifiedducky]

i KNOW im beating a dead horse but we were so robbed and i could genuinely talk about this for hours. THE DYNAMIC OF CHLOE BEING ADRIENS CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND/ONLY FRIEND. they both have shitty parents, they ARE each others family. she thinks she's in love with adrien but realizes it's familial, not romantic. she's marinettes bully but grows as a person with ladybug & adrien's encouragement. SHE CHANGES BECAUSE SHE LOVES ADRIEN LIKE A BROTHER AND SHE BEGRUDGINGLY WARMS UP TO MARINETTE BUT THEY NEVER TRULY BECOME FRIENDS UNTIL AFTER ADRIEN AND MARINETTE GET MARRIED BECAUSE SHE THINKS MARINETTE WILL HURT HIM LIKE HIS FATHER. SHES THE MOST OVERPROTECTIVE SISTER TO HIM. SHE STAYS THE SAME UPPITY RICH GIRL WITH A HEART OF GOLD BECAUSE SHE ADMITS HER FLAWS AND STRUGGLES BUT STILL KEEPS A MASK UP MOST OF THE TIME. SHE LOVES LADYBUG AND CANT STAND CHAT NOIR UNTIL THE REVEAL BECAUSE THATS HILARIOUS. THE POTENTIAL KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT. i will NEVER accept what we got.

BECAUSE WHAT A WASTE OF A WONDERFUL CHARACTER. SOMEBODY SEDATE ME.

[apridotz]

SADIE ADLER ‼️‼️💥💥

[cardiac-agreste]

Here are some thoughts on why I think Chloe's character arc makes perfect sense.

Chloe has a real bad hangup about power. She needs to feel it desperately.

she idolizes Ladybug, who is powerful

she wants a Miraculous to feel powerful

she orders her dad around to feel powerful

she mis-names her butler to feel powerful

she bosses Sabrina around to feel powerful

she is cruel to Marinette to feel powerful

she is dismissive of Chat Noir because he is subservient to Ladybug and therefore weak

When Adrien stands up to Chloe regarding her treatment of Marinette, she perceives this as him ordering her to reign in her power. To restrict her power.

In response, she re-asserts her power: she cuts him out of her life. Similarly, Ladybug denies her a Miraculous, so she turns on Ladybug, again lashing out at someone who has diminished her power. She then aligns herself with someone who promises it to her.

Then Zoe shows up, and Zoe gets attention and affection (and therfore power) from Andre, who isn't even her real father! She's spent more time with their mother, which is another form of power.

S3 through S5 is a systematic stripping away of the thing Chloe holds most dear: power. In response to this, she exerts power every opportunity she gets: she tries to take over the movie, she bosses Adrien around, she revels in her cruelty toward Marinette, she aligns herself with Lila (who Chloe recognizes has the power to fool everyone around them), she is cruel to her sister, and eventually she "leads" a fascist takeover of Paris (of course, not realizing that she's fourth banana in the takeover after Evil Gandalf, Slightly Less Evil Elon Musk, and Lila.

Her character arc makes perfect sense.

Uhh, umm, in this powerpoint presentation I will

[trashyangelic]

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 || ғᴇʟɪɴᴇᴛᴛᴇ (1)

·       ❝ 𝓣𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 ❞    · ·                chapter one                 ·

🌷⁺.  [ ♡ ]  — MASTERLIST | NEXT

Marinette gotten up from her bed that she made a makeover of her bedroom its no longer pink but its pastel pink mixed with white colors instead of hot pink all over her room it doesn't look good when she first saw it. Instead of sleeping on the top where she normally sleeps in. 

She can finally sleep on the side of her room that she never touch at all after moving her computer and desk from it but she bought an extended cord for the plugins into her computer but she place them near the empty spot just at the corner instead it has the plugin there for her storage it before fixing her computer. The desk that is in front of her bed is for her study desk. 

She even place all her school stuffs on the shelf above her desk. She even have a storage for the kwamis to explore around. 

It took her three whole weeks to make over on her closet now that has enough room for her clothes that she makes of her own with some help from her mother to make it more roomie even her mother approved it. As for her fabrics are stored inside the drawers at her closet with the sewing machine included. But on the other side of her room is quite empty she might need to buy something to fill that in possibly a dream box that she saw on pinterest. 

That she had help with from her father to place it down so she can fix it herself. She make it look like from the picture she saw on pinterest when she was on her computer last couple weeks before remaking her room.

She replace her old computer into a new computer but she puts her pc drive on the desk. But she might need to build her own high-end gaming PC to fit most of her designs sketches and her games she normally play but she tends to play other ones besides UMS 3 they are Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, Elsword Online, Roblox, and Minecraft. Along with her mic that is near her computer that she finally done with it. I might need to make a new password for my social accounts along with my website as well. She thought to herself so that way her so called classmates won't be hacking into her computer for it.. 

She also removed the posters of Adrien along with her classmates pictures then burn them outside last night. Then replaced it for music she adores and listens to they were Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, BLACKPINK, TWICE, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, BTS, Aespa, XG, Seventeen, Lee Felix, Taeyang, Jay Park, Vinida Weng, Mao Yanqi, and NCT. But leaves the bulletin board with the tracking of akumas to the main source. She didn't forget to add a sound proof in her room so that way her parents won't have to hear her music going on loud.

Felix went to pick up Dupain-Cheng since Chloe has been nagging him this morning since she got held back by her butler and her father about something. So he arrived to the bakery, "Oh welcome Felix. What can I do for you?" Sabine said at him she is betting on her husband if Felix confess his love to her daughter for 150 euros.

"Is Marinette awake? Chloe has been nagging me to pick her up since she couldn't do it. But I would like a coffee and a crossiant please." Felix stated as Sabine nodded and went to make the coffee but also grabbed a crossiant. 

"Marinette is upstairs you can go up there." Sabine told Felix who nodded. He got his breaksfast and walk up the stairs to Marinette's room. As soon he reach the door then open it he saw the room changed this must have take weeks to finish this. So he sat on the chair to eat his crossiant but also drink his coffee. 

Marinette is in her closet changing but also she changed her hairstyle instead of wearing lower pigtails everyday. She made her hair into a bun but leaves the rest of the hair down as she use the hairpin and bobbypin to make it stay still. 

The door creak open revealing Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Felix was speechless how Dupain-Cheng look good its way better than her old clothes she wears every single day. But he already knew that Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug it wasn't hard to figure it out despite of her hairstyle from before and her eye color is the same. "Oh hello Felix." Marinette said with a smile causing him to blush as she giggle at his expression.

"I came to pick you up since Chloe has been nagging me. Oh before I forget Chloe manage to change your class to Mrs. Mendeleiev instead so you are coming with me in my class with Kagami, Adrien, and Luka." Felix said firmly as she nodded. Instead of wearing that purse she bought a backpack online last week. 

"Say didn't Mrs. Mendeleiev say anything about field trips yet?" Marinette asked him. "She did but we need to do the fundraiser first to get the money you know." Felix stated as they both left the bakery to school follow by Chloe who scowl but ate her croissants with cream inside along with some coffee of her liking.

Arriving to Francois Dupont, Marinette is still chatting with Felix while Chloe follow behind still munching on her snacks that she got from the bakery. She is mostly welcome in the Dupain-Chengs household after apologizing to Marinete for bullying her for years. Then Kagami came by and kiss her girlfriend Chloe as Chloe gave her a coffee and her snacks as well. 

"MARINETTE! HOW DARE YOU PUNCH LILA?!" Alya screech causing her to cover her ears quickly as she remain calm but the demeanor changes from calm to icy cold quite a level to Kagami. As Alya raise her fist at Marinette but she caught it which surprised her then she twist her arm as she scream in pain. 

"Where's your proof huh? I just came to school with Kagami, Felix, and Chloe. Get that in your thick skull. You stupid wannabe reporter." She snarl coldly with so much malice and venom in it caused her to shiver down her spine and backed away. Just before she release her grip on Alya's hand she slapped her in the face hard causing her to stumble to the ground. As to there was a gasp behind Alya's back and a few from Marinette who had no idea she could that.

"You dare hit me?" Alya said while holding her cheek and stared in shock at Marinette who seem calm but glared at her with her death cold eyes. "What wouldn't I dare?" She said to her in a calm simple way with a hint of sickly sweet tone that turned out to be a malice tone. 

"By title as we are students. But by rank, I am the great-granddaughter Head Ambassador of China. Who gave you the audacity to strike a court-appointed official? Do you really want my great-grandfather to declare war with Paris right now." Marinette said calmly although Kagami and Felix didn't know this information except Chloe.

"Bullshit! What kind of court-appointed official are you?" Alya exclaimed as Rose gasped, Bad Move Alya. Rose thought to herself. Until Marinette slapped Alya again causing her to fall down the ground.

"Marinette, you're pushing it too far!" Adrien butted in as Lila went to aid Alya holding her up. "Alya. Based on your insults and attempted assault, you could be punished severely. If you don't believe me, feel free to report it to the police or your lawyer. I'll wait and see to it." Marinette said coldly to them then walk away back to her group as Kagami stared at her speechless.

"Oh and one more thing, Alya... Grow up. And stop acting like a child. Your in high school. You act like a kindergarten." She said coldly then walked away with Felix, Kagami, and Chloe to Mrs. Mendeleiev's class. That tone in Marinette's voice gave chills across the Akuma Class. Nino gulped of how scary Marinette can be if she is near a limit. Lila shudder when she saw Dupain-Cheng glaring at her.

 🌷⁺.  [ ♡ ]  —  Tagged: (to get notification for the next chapter) --

 🌷⁺.  [ ♡ ]  —  i took one of the quotes from a historical chinese drama if you haven't guess it already. its actually What's Wrong With My Princess (Episode 26).

[mattw83]

Miraculous Tales Chapter 16 - Cover to Pg05

Sometimes a little sweetness goes a long way to temper the vinegar within.

A tale of how Chloe’s many false starts in life were just the beginning to a real redemption of heart and hero.

The night is closing, yet still holds more for to come...

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 -   Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 -   Chapter 10  - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 -

Cover - PG05 – PG06-PG10 – PG11-PG15 – PG16-PG20

>>> PG06

[sayuricorner]

Rage-Jin - A Miraculous Ladybug X Magic Kaito story: Part 1

Part 2

Warning: English is not my first language so sorry if it’s confusing.

Warning 2: This one-shot content salt don’t like don’t read!

Hey everyone! ^^ Here's a reward for @lupsss1412 for her participation to my ML salt crossover contest on tumblr! ^^ She asked for a ML X Magic Kaito one-shot! :) This one-shot will consist of 3 parts, for now the first two parts are posted in waiting for the final part, hope you'll like it all! ^^

And as for @lupsss1412, thank you again for havin participated to my contest, I hope you like your reward! ^^

̎ -Don't be bemused, it's just the news ! In today's headlines, Le Louvre is organizing a big exposition for the discovery of a rare large red gemstone. According to researchers, this gemstone is nothing like any of the gemstones known to this day, there are probabilities that this gem is a new undiscovered kind.

There's also rumors and theories that this gemstone could be linked to some ancient myths, all of them talk about a red gemstone which could grant immortality. What a discovery don’t you think?! But are those rumors true ? And is this gemstone really the one cited in those myths? According to the team of scientists who are currently studying the rare gemstone there are no solid answers, merely a few speculations for now but maybe one day they will be able to give us a response. 

I am currently in front of the museum where, as you can see, everyone is working non stop with the preparations for the new exhibition of the gem! This event will take place in a few weeks, the date is yet to be determined but we hope it’s soon! Various guests have voiced their wishes to come as well as others who have confirmed their attendance, the list goes from world wide famous celebrities to avowed names in the scientific community! Also... huh ? What's that ? Is that... Fireworks ? In daylight? Wait ! They are forming a message ! This is incredible! Unknown fireworks have been launched, leaving a message from the one and only ….Kaito Kid !

For those who don't know who he is, Kaito Kid is a thief known for stealing priceless jewels ! His first heist, in fact, took place in Paris many years ago ! In his message, Kaito Kid announced his new heist will be the gemstone which is the center of the future exposition at Le Louvre ! From what the message say, the heist would happen the night before the day of the exposition.

What does the mysterious thief Kaito Kid have in store for this heist? Could this be a sort of return to his roots after almost a decade? And with our local heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir keeping the city from any crime, will Kaito Kid remain with the title of the world wide known elusive thief ? Only time will tell us, this was Najda Chamack reporting and now, back to the studios ! ̎

̎ Kaito Kid's new heist at Paris, all police forces on guard ready to intervene ! ̎

This was the headline which occupied all Paris's newpapers's first page for days. Kaito even spotted a man reading the article sitting a row beside him when he was in the plane, much to Aoko’s annoyance. 

To be honest, ever since he became Kaito Kid, he expected a lot of things, but going back to Paris years after his first visit with his parents when he was 5 wasn't one of them. 

But one thing pushed him, or rather Kaito Kid, to go back to the French capital after all this time. A certain newly discovered red jewel which news about it being the center of the new exposition at Le Louvre in France, or at least what jewel he thought it was.

There weren't any pictures of the gemstone yet, but the description and the rumors about it being a powerful stone from old myths gave Kaito big suspicions about the jewel, maybe this time this actually was Pandora ?

This could be the gemstone, but it could also not. The young man was awfully aware of that ,however it was better to be safe than sorry. He can't just let it be and give the organization the opportunity to get their hands on what could be the Pandora gem.

Also, he heard stories about Paris about a deranged man calling himself ̎ Hawkmoth ̎ who brought fear to their city by turning citizens into magic villains, with actual magic according to rumors, by using their negative emotions.

At first, Kaito didn't believe those rumors, to him the idea of true magic was laughable, after all, like his father always told him ̎ all magic had always a trick but a good magician never reveals them ̎.

Yes, the whole “Akako incident” with her being a witch proved him that real magic does exist, but there was a big difference between seeing an actual witch performing actual magic and finding rumors about the existence of a magical criminal who seemed to come right from a magical girl anime or a comic. 

But when Aoko showed him actual videos of those magical villains, he was forced to admit that those rumors seemed to be true. Unfortunately that meant the Organization wasn't the only threat Kaito had to worry about now, after all, with this gemstone at Paris and this villain in the same city and the rumors surrounding the gem about its potential powers... who could guess that this ̎ Hawkmoth ̎ wouldn't be interested into stealing this gem too ?

And speaking of Akako, when she notices his interest in the mysterious gem, the witch gave him a rather cryptic warning about it.

“-Having an interest on this gem can lead you to troubles, not directly from the gem but more from the city its currently located, the situation there is more than meets the eye and if you keep this interest for this gem, don’t underestimate the forces which are in play or else you could meet a unfortunate fate!”

Akako seemed really serious with her warning, however...

If this gem turned out to hide Pandora, then the situation could be more critical than he thought. Kaito knew that he, or rather Kaito Kid, must steal the gem as soon as possible.

So he searched for a way to go to Paris and organized his new future heist. Fortunately for him, as lady luck loves him, the solution came in the form of a student exchange program held by his school as a companionship with a school in Paris. Kaito didn't lose any second and registered himself to join the program, he thought this was the best solution to go to France. Soon enough he also found out that Aoko joined the program as well which meant that not only he would be able to do the heist and to enjoy his time in Paris with Aoko as a bonus.

So with a new found determination, Kaito settled everything and took the plane with Aoko for Paris. Of course, not before sending with Jii’s help, a little message from Kaito Kid to the Parisians.This in order to let all the city know that the magician thief's new heist would be in Paris.

Yes, everything was going smoothly and without any problem.

… Or this is what he thought.

The school Aoko and him were assigned to go was called Françoise-Dupont, they got a small tour of the school by the principal who introduced them to some of the teachers and show them most of the school while giving them a quick presentation and from what they saw the school seem not bad: most of the students and teachers were welcoming, the lessons seemed interesting, the school was near a lot of touristic places.

But then they met their new class.

The class seemed to be fine at first but things begin to do downhill very quickly, they barely introduced themself that a girl apparently named ̎ Lila ̎ begin bragging about having been in Japan and how she met a ridiculous number of celebrities, gaining immediately her classmate's intentions.

“ Welp… This is going to be fun! ” Whispered sarcastically Kaito in japanese, a small chuckle scaping him as he watches Aoko’s face turn in disgust at the sight of the girl

“- Kaito don’t be rude!” Aoko scolded him, whispering in Japanese as well, as well as delivering a small slap to his arm

“- Honnestly, if anyone is rude, and stupid, at the moment it’s this class!”  Kaito uses a hand to motion the whole class immersed in the green eyed and sausage hairstyle auburn girl that was still talking “ I mean come on, how could anyone believe that a 14 years old girl could have done all those things and know all those celebrities AND remain completely anonymous from any press or tabloid? ”

“- ... Okay you’re not wrong, “ Aoko concedes, crossing her arms and looking at the girl expectantly one of her eyebrows raising “ but still this isn’t a reason to give a bad first impression and who knows? Maybe they’re not that bad, so for once in your life, behave “Bakaito”! ”

“- Whatever “Ahoko” , I’m still standing on my point! ” Kaito answered her back while looking annoyed at the ruckus.

To Kaito it was surreal, it was obvious that all the things this girl was telling was nothing more than fairytales but for some reason this class was believing every single thing which was coming from her mouth.

If they were five years old he would have understood, very young kids tend to believe a lot of things, even the most absurd ones. However those were 16-17 years old teens who were supposed to have learned to be critical ! Seriously, just how gullible those people are ?

And the teacher, he thought she would say something to make her students calm down, but no...!

She was just standing there smiling at her students and at both confusing Kaito and Aoko, as if the agitation in the class wasn't happening. 

Strangely this display made Kaito give more credit and respect to his teachers back home, sure they had a hard time to stop the ruckus HE created when messing with Aoko, but at least they tried... Unlike this so-called teacher. 

This display of stupidity and incompetence wasn't even the worst in this whole situation. The worst of it all, was that since the school doesn't have any obligatory uniforms, Aoko decided to profit from it and to wear pants as well as most of the girls in the class. Almost all of them were either wearing pants, shorts or leggings, which meant no panty peeks for him !

Internally sighing, Kaito went to find a seat with Aoko, away from the ruckus. He scanned the room until his eyes traveled and found two seats in the back of the classroom beside a petite girl with dark blue hair and blue eyes who, unlike her classmates, was ignoring the Lila girl's blabbers and was more concentrated on something... she was writing ? Drawing maybe? In a sketchbook.

“This..” Kaito thought as he pulled Aoko along to their new seats  “is going to be a LONG stay...”

When Marinette first heard about the two students from Japan coming to Françoise-Dupont for a student exchange program, she got… mixed feelings about the whole thing.

A part of her was curious about those exchange students. After all, having students from other countries and learning about other cultures was always an interesting experience.

Adding to this the fact Chloe was among the students from Françoise-Dupont who joined the exchange program to go to Japan, giving to Marinette and the whole school some times of tranquility, this should have put the young girl in a very good mood.

However, another part of her reminds her about one annoyance who will more than probably turn this potential good experience into a succession of headaches and frustrations: Lila Rossi.

Ever since the Italian girl’s return, she had been lying non-stop to gain attention. With her classmates being awfully easy to falling for said lies, and seeming to have made their mission to make Marinette’s life a living hell by making everyone believe that she was an awful bully to the poor italian girl.

She tried to “take the high road” and ignoring her lies just like Adrien advised her to do, in hopes of Lila leaving her alone. This seemed the wrong approach now, as it had managed to create the opposite effect making Lila have the desire to torment her even more and see how far she could drag it. 

Marinette groaned, as if being the guardian of the miraculous box and dealing with Hawkmoth and his akumas weren’t enough.

Regarding the two exchange students, she believed there would be two scenarios that could happen: either they will fall to Lila’s lies and become another sheeps in the liar’s herd or they would not believe her and because of that Lila would try and make life hard for them.

But whatever the outcome could be, Marinette’s mindset was the same: she felt bad for those two students for having to go to the same school and being in the same class as Lila.

This feeling got confirmed seconds after the two students from Japan introduced themselves. Lila didn’t waste any time to once again spill stories about her having been in Japan in the past and immediately getting the class’s intention with Miss Bustier doing nothing to stop her, as usual, much to the two japanese student's shock.

“And believe me this is just the tip of the iceberg...” thought Marinette sighing, returning to her design, trying to drown the sound of the lies spilling from Lila’s mouth.

Yep, she really feels bad for those two.

Class passed without any ruckus, the classmates even getting to know more about the exchange students as it progressed. As the last bell rang Marinette could only hope to be able to get home peacefully after school, without any akuma or Lila’s shenanigans, and working on the commissions for Jagged.

“-Marinette? Please give a tour of the school to Aoko and Kaito, would you?” Miss Bustier asked her, well more like demanded her to do so, interrupting the young girl’s mental reflection as well as ruining her plans to walk peacefully home and have a nice evening.

“-Hum, miss? It’s not necessary we already got-” Aoko tried to talk to the teacher only to be interrupted.

“-Non-sense!” the teacher interrupted Aoko, a smile on her face “You only got a short tour of the school when you arrived! You should have had a complete and informative tour of the grounds and Marinette is the best student for that! And she’s our class representative and model student so it’s her duty!” Madam Bustier started pushing both teens towards the small blue eyed girl who looked very much resigned with her fate.

Any other person would had go explain to the teacher why they couldn’t do it this time and any other teacher would have been understanding and ask someone else, but if there’s one thing Marinette learnt after years of being in miss Bustier’s class is that when she wants you to do something you must do it and nothing you can say or do will change her mind.

So, with reluctance, Marinette just nodded at the teacher’s request and silently went back to her sketchbook under the glare of her classmates, Aoko’s uncertain look and Kaito’s pensive glance. Kaito mused if they were the only ones that could see how uncomfortable and sad the girl was.

And so, after gathering their things, Marinette went on giving the tour of the school to Aoko and Kaito. At first the atmosphere was awkward with Marinette being very nervous, stuttering sometimes and not daring to speak about anything other than talking about the school and Paris as if she was talking in a commercial or informative video.

Marinette knows she should say something, begin a conversation, or something like that, to break the ice and make both japanese students at ease. Especially after Lila’s “little show” in class.

But what could she talk about with them? She doesn't know them after all, is her discussion of common subjects okay? What if they get bored? Was starting with a joke okay?What if they end up finding her annoying? What if…

“-Hey! You’re alright?” A voice with a japanese accent interrupted her thoughts, a male one to be more precise.

The boy of the duo, his name is Kaito if she remembers well, with the girl whose name is Aoko were looking at her. Kaito, looked a little concerned about her, and worry was expressed in Aoko’s eyes.

“-O-oh yes I’m fine, I was just lost in my thoughts sorry!” Marinette nervously answered to the duo, her awkward laugh making it all worse when she saw both of them frown, glancing at each other and then returning their gazes to her. 

Kaito kept looking at her with a concerned face when, suddenly, he perked up a little bit. However, before Marinette could process anything it was gone, his face devoid of any emotion once again. Marinette looked at him confused, but before she could ask anything Kaito made a deck of cards appear from nowhere. Slowly he mixed them before making a perfect fan and showing it to Marinette, talking to her while his face remained stoic.

“-Come on, choose a card!” Kaito said not before watching Marinette’s hesitation, he let a smile form in his lips easing the little bluenette into taking a card from the fanned deck.

Marinette was now confused, what was he doing? A magic trick? Was this a joke? 

Seeing Marinette’s confusion and hesitation to take a card from Kaito’s hand, Aoko quickly  shakes her head, letting an exasperated sigh escape her lips. Aoko just knew Kaito would never let someone feel that down for so long, he would always do his best to make people smile. 

“-Sorry, Kaito tends to do magic tricks to people out of the blue, especially when said people don’t seem to be okay.” Aoko playfully shoved Kaito who just stuck out his tongue at her in return.

“-Oh… I see… Well, I guess a magic trick would be fun!” Marinette said with a little smile.

Marinette bit his lower lip, this could be either an elaborated prank or it could be genuine. Her instincts were telling her to go along with it but her mind was already forming a hundred scenarios where this would end badly. 

Taking a deep breath she threw caution to the wind, looking at the two people in front of her she decided to take a leap of faith and trust them.

Marinette looked at the cards, thinking for a moment before picking one of them and taking a peek at it. She was surprised as the card she drew was a queen of hearts.

“-Okay, now put the card back in the deck without showing it to me!” Instructed her Kaito with a little smirk, his gaze turned to the side with Aoko smiling at his antics

Marinette shook her thought out of her head while doing as Kiato had instructed, as soon as she put the card back, Kaito shuffled the deck once more. To Marinette's amazement, his card shuffling was very advanced, the kind of card shuffling she only saw being made by professional magicians or those videos from youtube.

Once his shuffling was done, Kaito taped the deck before fanning it in his hand, showing every single card to Marinette.

̎ -Now look at all the cards very well, do you see your card among them ? ̎ Kaito asked 

Marinette stared at the cards for a moment, before ending up frowning a bit and shaking her head. She had been sure her card had been there. Besides Kaito was wearing short sleeves now, there wasn’t a place where he could have hid it without her noticing, right?

̎ -No... The card I chose isn’t in the deck ... ̎ Marinette answered, very confused and amazed by the fact that the boy had such an amazing talent.

̎ -Hum... You're right, it looks like a card is missing... ̎ Kaito said, tapping his chin as he pretended to think before smirking once again. ̎ But by looking at it I can tell you where the card went ! ̎

The young man held out his hand and slowly directed it to one of Marinette's pant pockets, snapped his fingers and, to Marinette's surprise, she could notice something was there. When she reached inside the pocket she was surprised to find something, slowly she took out a card from her pocket. It was folded, but as she slowly opened it she couldn't hold back her surprise, it was the Queen of Hearts! The exact same card she took from the deck!

̎ -And here's our missing card ! So, is that the one you chose?” Kaito said while making the cards jump and do even more complicated stunts than before while winking at her. 

Marinette, too shocked to even speak, managed to nod weakly.

“H-How... How ? That was incredible ! How did he do that ?!” Marinette couldn’t stop her thoughts from running, she hadn’t seen him come near her, she didn’t even feel the weight of something else in her pocket until Kaito pointed it out. 

Kaito smiled in victory, he looked at the card, his smile stretched wider when he saw the wonder in Marinette’s eyes and her genuine smile.

̎ -Ah ! The Queen of Hearts “ Kaito’s smile grew even wider as he turned to his best friend “Hey Aoko ! If I'm not mistaken, in the language of the cards the Queen of Hearts symbolizes people with a good heart right ? ̎ He asked his best friend, who also nodded while rolling her eyes at his antics.

̎ -Yes, if I recall well, the exact symbolism is : ̎ The Queen of hearts represents sincere and loving women of tender heart. ̎  ̎ Aoko told Marinette with a smile, and shared her amused smile with Kaito.

̎ -Exactly ! And a queen with a tender heart... ̎ Kaito turned his hand upside down and quickly turned it up once again, a yellow rose appearing between his fingers  ̎ Deserves amazing friends ! ̎ He announced holding the rose towards Marinette who accepted it even more amazed than before.

She had received roses before, as Ladybug from Chat Noir, red roses, always as ̎ a proof of his love for her ̎, a gesture she at first didn't mind, even finding it adorable and nice. But the endless repetitions of those ̎ proofs of love ̎ from Chat Noir, at the most inconvenient time, despite refusing them over and over…made the gesture she once saw as something kind and thoughtful turn into a source of annoyance and frustration.

She couldn't even look at a red rose without thinking about Chat and his reckless behavior, or his constant declarations of love.

But this rose, this gesture, it felt different from Chat Noir's. Unlike the Black Cat hero's gestures ,which were pressuring love declarations and bothersome, this gesture felt nice, comforting and was a friendly gift. Slowly Marinette reached for the flower, the sweet smell filling her nose and the soft cold stem making her fingers clench more around it. 

Because she knew very well that yellow roses are the roses of friendship in the flower language, and Kaito had made his intentions clear while handing it to her. They wanted to be her friends, no ulterior motives.

Staring at the flower in her hands, the bluenette turned her eyes to the two japanese students, a smile on her face and tears already forming in her eyes.

̎ -Kaito, Aoko... Thank you it's- ̎ Marinette started to talk, her stutter gone and she could feel at ease but before she could continue someone interrupted her. 

̎ -Marinette ! What are you doing loitering around with the exchange students ?” the annoying voice of the liar interrupted her, she could feel herself tense as the italian came near her  “Aren't you supposed to give them a tour of the school ? You're not slacking are you ? ̎

… And here it goes, goodbye good mood.

Marinette couldn’t believe Lila would dare to come here to cause a scene. Right there, in the school corridors, Lila was starting to do her ̎ innocent act ̎, as usual, with some of the infamous ̎ akuma class ̎ following close behind her.

Marinette got a bad feeling about this...she took a step back, holding the rose closer to her chest.

̎ -I mean, really Marinette,” Lila kept on going with her fake sweet voice dripping with honey and venom “I know you haven’t been THAT reliable lately but you could at last be able to do a task this simple ! ̎ Lila dramatically sighed while shaking her head in disappointment with an evil smirk on her face.

Marinette, while trying to not be too upset about the accusation, then noticed Lila was walking toward the two japanese students, Kaito specifically. Both students looked disgusted and with a hint of annoyance in their faces. 

She got a REALLY bad feeling about this...

̎ -Kaito and Akako right ?” Lila turned to them, smiling as sweetly as she could and leaning into their space “I realized we didn't get properly introduced, I'm Lila and I hope we can get along ! However, I want to warn you, Marinette is not the best person to hang out with, she seems to be nice but in fact she's really mean and jealous. Especially with me and I fear she will only bring you trouble ! I know she's giving you a tour of the school and you're supposed to stay with her during the tour, buuuut... Once you're done with it, you two can hang out with us ! It will be really fun and I'm sure you'll love hearing about all the things I do and about the celebrities I’ve met during my travels ! ̎ The liar told to both Kaito and Aoko with a false sweet voice.

The two Japanese students looked at Lila completely unimpressed. Eyebrows raised and both crossed their arms over their chest in a sign of annoyance.

̎ -First of, it's ̎ Aoko ̎ not �� Akako ̎ ! ̎ Answered Aoko, very angry now with this girl ̎ and secondly, thank you for the ̎ offer ̎, but we don't mind Dupain-Cheng-san's company and unlike what you were thinking, she was giving us the school's tour, we just stopped for a little moment to talk a bit ! ̎ Aoko stated as a much annoyed Kaito nodded in agreement by her side.

Marinette was getting tense at the situation, if there's one thing she knows about Lila it's that the italian girl HATED IT when people don't do things her way and that is what the two japanese students were doing right now.

As for Lila, her smile became tense and her hands were twitching, it was barely noticeable but Marinette knew the signs.

Oh no…

̎ -O-oh ! It's very nice of you, but I don't think you understand !” Lila said trying to defend herself as more of their school students walked near the commotion she was causing “Hanging around with Marinette isn't a good idea at all, she can get very jealous and hurt others because of that and is a manipulator and I'm scared of what could happen to you if you keep being around her ! So why not hang out with me and the rest of the class ? I-I’ve gone to a lot of amazing places like Achu and personally know a lot of important and famous people, even people from Japan ! Like... Like... Oh ! Like the magician Toichi Koruba ! ̎ The liar nervously said while trying to keep her ̎ nice girl ̎ image.

This got Kaito's and Aoko's attention, the two were looking at Lila stunned before Kaito spoke.

̎ -... What ? ̎ Kaito asked in total disbelief, his gaze now firmly in the Italian girl, his fist clenched and shoulders tense. His voice came out relatively calm, but Aoko just knew how dangerous that tone was.

̎ -I happen to know Toichi Koruba !” Lila said, dismissing the cold tone of Kaito���s voice and confusing his disbelief for confusion “I met him 4 years ago when he had a magic show in Italy ! My mother and I were at this magic show and there was an accident, the bunny he was going to use for one of his magic tricks escaped, it was a real mess and the magic show was almost cancelled because of it ̎ Lila blaberred, not noticing Kaito's and Ahoko's faces becoming somber minute by minute.

 ̎But by chance, I found it wandering around and give it back to Mr. Koruba, he was so relieved and after the magic show he invited my mother and me to the best restaurant in Italy to thanking me for saving his show ! And during the diner I even give him the ideas for what is considered nowadays as his best magic tricks ! ̎ Lila commented as the classmates of the Akuma class surrounded her oohing and awing at the story.

̎ -Really ? That’s absolutely amazing Lila ! ̎ Alya told her awestruck by Lila’s supposedly feats 

̎ -You personally met Toichi Koruba, the best magician in Japan, even in the world? Oooh that's incredible ! ̎ Myléne praised Lila with sparkles in her eyes “My father once talked about him, you’re so lucky!” 

Marinette looked at her classmates now surrounding Lila, throwing praises at her, with an exasperated expression on her face. As usual they listen to her stories and believe her before regarding her with adoration, honestly this was really becoming old.

She then looked at the two japanese students and what she saw made her very tense.

She saw Aoko looking at Lila, scandalized, her mouth being covered by her hands and as for Kaito...

The young man seemed to be very angry, his hands clenched and his whole body was nearly trembling in anger. He was frowning at Lila, his eyes cold and his smile gone and if looks could kill she could bet that Lila would’ve dropped dead in that moment. 

This confused Marinette, what did Lila say to make them upset like that ? She tried to remember something that could’ve angered Kaito like that, that is when she looked at the rose and she realized something...

Lila pretended to have met Toichi Koruba, and if she remembered well Kaito's complete name was...

Kaito Kuroba... Oh no, could it be ?...

Marinette’s eyes went wide, she glanced around in panic. If those emotions Kaito was feeling were that strong Hawk Moth would never let such an opportunity pass. She could only stay on guard and pray it would all be resolved without it becoming a catastrophe. 

“Please don't attract an akuma, please don't attract an akuma, please !” Marinette begged in her head while searching for any sign of a black butterfly.

̎ -What the fuck is wrong with you ?! ̎ Aoko screamed at the liar, interrupting the thoughts and compliments of the classmates surrounding the italian girl.

This startled Lila a bit, who immediately tried to regain her composure.

̎ -W-what ? ̎ Lila asked, turning to see the furious Japanese girl “I-I just …”

̎ -I agree with Aoko ! What makes you think you can say things like that ?” Kaito interrupted  whatever the liar could be about to say to defend herself  “Because from what I heard, everything you are saying about Toichi Kuroba is nothing more than mere fantasies ! ̎ Kaito pointed out, visibly making his best to stay calm. 

Kaito’s arms were now over his chest, 

̎ -But-but it's true I really met and sympathized with Toichi 4 years ago ! ̎ Lila spluttered trying to maintain her lie, eyes widening in panic

Aoko narrowed her eyes on her, she could see the liar starting to sweat.

̎ -Oh really ? Then explain to us how you could have met him 4 years ago when he is supposed to have died 8 YEARS AGO ?! ̎ Aoko demanded, her voice rising as Kaito’s hand came to rest on her shoulder.

̎ -Uh... um... well... Oh !” Lila glanced around in panic “Now I remember, I in fact met him 9 years ago ! I must have mixed up with someone else I met 4 years ago ! Ah ah, silly me ! ̎

Everyone started to agree with her and comfort her until Kaito’s voice interrupted them.

̎ -If I'm not wrong you're 16 right ?” Kaito spoke, his voice cold and calculative yet it had a feral tone  “So, if you met Toichi Koruba 9 years ago then... that means you were around 7 during that time !”

Kaito smirked, and Marinette couldn’t help but feel shivers running down her spine watching how dangerous Kiato actually looked. Taking a step forward to the liar Kaito advanced, his eyes glued on the auburn Italian as she took a step back.

“You seriously want to make us believe that a 7 year old girl could easily have a full conversation with an adult, who she barely knew for only one day…” Kaito paused and chuckled, it was cold and it made everyone perk up “no, barely hours of one evening, and give useful ideas to a professional magician? ̎ Asked Kaito with a mocking yet serious tone.

Lila was now panicking, obviously not knowing what to do.

̎ -Hey ! Don't talk like that to Lila ! She did nothing to deserve to be treated like this ! And besides, what does this matter to you anyway ? ̎ Alya angrily interjected, jumping to defend her bestie.

This intervention was what got the domino effect going on. Quickly, the other classmates from the akuma class intervened too, looking at the two japanese students in anger. Most of them turned to scream at the duo.

̎ -Yeah ! Stop being mean to Lila ! ̎

̎ -She's an awesome girl, you have no right talk to her that way ! ̎

̎ -Bullies ! ̎

̎ -Who do you think you are ? ̎

Kaito stared at them with a stoic face. He approached them slowly, his steps calculated and with grace. 

̎ -It's matter to me when someone is slandering my late father's name just to be the center of intention ! ̎ Kaito exclaimed, his face never betraying his emotions, everyone who looked at him could tell how pissed off he was.

Many of the students that had wandered around when hearing the commotion, gasped and murmured about what just had happened, most of them angrily whispering about how horrible the Italian girl was.

This statement put the class in shock, and Marinette too. It was one thing to think about a possibility, another was having it confirmed in such a way. Especially when Kiato had revealed that his father was dead.

̎ -Right, as if I would believe that ! That doesn’t tell us you aren’t lying ? ̎ Alya asked while throwing at him an accusatory look.

The rest of the class agreed, trying to throw accusations at Kaito and Lila started her fake crying. Slowly moaning and lamenting herself about how those students could be so mean to her. 

̎ -Oh I can prove it to you, alright. ̎ Kaito answered, he walked slowly to Lila and lifted his hand to her ear. ̎-Ah ! It looks like you have something behind your ear ! ̎ And in a moment, a card appeared in his hand, much to everyone's surprise.

̎ -Look at that ! It's my ID card !” Kaito smirked while handing it to the Italian girl who was just  dumbfounded by the spectacle presented by the boy, yet his smirk was making her feel even more nervous “Can you read my name on the card please ? Please speak loud enough so that everyone can hear ! ̎

With a puzzled look Lila turned her intention to the ID card.

̎ -Uh ? Kaito K- ! ̎ The liar suddenly stopped, looking back and forth at the card and at Kaito completely shocked before continuing with a trembling voice. ̎ K-Kaito K-Koruba ! ̎

Kaito nodded, his smirk widening as he took back the card. The rest of the group were dumbfounded and barely able to process the information they had received.

̎ -There you go ! You wanted proof, well there's your proof !” Kaito exclaimed before clapping his hands together and smiling at the rest of the people  “Now if you could excuse us, Aoko, Marinette and I have a tour to finish ! Oh and before I go ! ̎

 The young man gave a hard look to the liar before pointing at her, as well as the rest of the class

“Never say any lies about my father or my family ever again ! I hate people who slander my family, especially to get attention ! ̎ And with those words, Kaito turned and left the shocked group and went back to Aoko and Marinette, the latter was shocked to the point she was speechless.

As for Aoko, she and Kaito exchanged one look before she nodded and turned to Marinette.

̎ -Come one Marinette ! We are going ! We have a tour to finish after all ! ̎ Aoko exclaimed, slowly reaching for her as she linked her other arm with Kaito’s “And we have to make sure that Bakaito doesn’t try anything funny!” 

Hearing that Kiato fake whined before shoving playfully his best friend,Marinette said nothing and just left the japanese girl to bring her by her arm with her and Kaito away from the class.

Her brain was disconnected and only one question was stuck in her mind.

What the heck just happened ?

̎ -How dare they ? How dare they humiliate me like that ? No one can talk to me like that, no one ! And where's Hawkmoth when you need him ? ̎ Lila thought seething, it was all crumbling down before her own eyes

After the shock passed, Lila excused herself from her classmates, saying that was so hurt by this obvious misunderstanding that she needed some time alone, another lie of course.

Currently she was in her bedroom, back at her home, grumbling in her breath and cursing against the two exchange students for the humiliation from earlier, cursing against Maribrat and cursing against Hawkmoth for not having sent any akuma.

Why did they have to expose her story ? Sure telling a story about some magician guy who she heard the name only one time without doing any research first hadn't been her best idea, but to the point those two losers ridicule her in front of her “fellow” classmates ? This was unacceptable !

They were going to pay ! They will understand who rules this school ! Who made the rules ! And they will have no other choice but to follow her lead or have their lives become a living hell !

After all most of her classmates and miss Bustier were stupid enough to believe everything she says without any question, so with some lies and a few fabricated evidence she could accuse them to bullying her and like she did with Maribrat they will believe her.

Maybe before that she could try something else first, like she could try to ̎ sympathize ̎ with this Kaito guy, with her good looks it will not be difficult, by charming him, telling him what he want to hear.

And once he is under her thumb, she could use this to turn him against this ̎ A-something ̎ girl with some little stories and act like the poor sweet girl who is bullied by his jealous friend.

After all, as they say, ̎ Divide and conquer ̎.

Ever since their first true ̎ interaction ̎ with Lila and the rest of the class, Aoko's and Kaito's opinion about them wasn't the best, and as days passed said opinion didn't change, in fact, it was even degrading.

Everyday at school, Lila would try to make life hard for them... Okay more for Ahoko, the liar would fabricate a good bunch of lies to accuse Aoko of bullying her.

Of course Kaito didn't believe it for one second, but the same couldn't be said for the class who jumped on calling Aoko a bully without any hesitation.

And things were not easy for Kaito either, for some reason Lila decided to set her sights on him and didn't miss one occasion to throwing herself at him, gripping his arm, trying to sweet talk to him and flirting with him while acting as a victim to him when she accuse Aoko of tormenting her.

As for the classmates... Kaito didn't even want to get to start on them, to him ̎ annoying ̎, ̎ stupid ̎ and ̎ sheeps ̎ would be the best words to describe them. That being the most simple yet derogatory terms he could muster.

̎ Nosy ̎ would also fit them, like this Alya girl who pretend to be a journalist and who seem to be determined to get every info from him about his family, his father and particularly about the latter's death.

And as he feared, the teacher, miss Bustier, was very incompetent.

She had no hold on the class, doing nothing about their behavior, especially Lila's, she even scolded both Kaito and Aoko when she noticed they weren't very much socializing with the rest of the class and why.

̎ -It's not nice to isolate yourself from the others like that ! They just want to know you and be your friends ! I understand as you're from a very different country and as such it can be difficult to adjust to the ways of another culture, but you need to make efforts too ! ̎ the teacher had once told them, very angry at their behavior

̎ -But miss what about Rossi-san ? You're aware what she does is also bad right ? ̎ Aoko had tried to reason with her, Kaito just wanted to let loose his prankster side so that they all could end up being traumatized for good

̎ -Aoko ! You and Kaito must understand that Lila has a bad condition, she can't help telling all those stories, there's no need to punish her ! You and Kaito need to be the biggest people here, just apologize to Lila and the class, be nicer with them and everything will be fine ! ̎ Miss Bustier told them, as if they would actually listen to such bad advice and obvious plan of manipulation.

Absolutely. Incompetent !

There was also a boy in the class, Adrien Agreste, who seemed to be okay but the fact every time the liar pulled a stunt to cause trouble he just looked at it while shaking his head gave Kaito doubts.

Well, at least Marinette seemed to have more brain cells.

To be honest the girl was rather nice to hang out and talk with, especially compared to the rest of the class, she was also aware of the liar's lies and tried to exposed her, without any success and ending up to be see by the class as a ̎ bully ̎ for tormenting ̎ poor Lila ̎.

Just like she was doing with Aoko.

So in the end, Aoko and Kaito hang out most of the time with Marinette.

Through the time they spend together, they get to know more about each other and get to talk about a lot of things.

They eventually talked about Kaito Kid and his future heist in Paris, Marinette confessed to them that she only knew the famous thief by name only, most of the celebrities she really know are in the fashion or music industry.

And after being explained, the young girl was having mixed feelings about the magician thief, on one hand she kinda get why Kaito Kid was popular with his gentleman thief persona reminding of a Arsene Lupin, but on the other hand he was still a thief and to the parisian girl looking up to a thief was, well, a bit weird.

A reflection that Aoko didn't miss to agree with, even expressing with eagerness her annoyance about the magician thief, with Kaito looking at her with a jaded look. Knowing the main reason why Aoko was like this toward his other identity was because of her father's obsession to arrest Kaito Kid and as such being the cause for his absence at home very often.

They also talked about Paris's ̎ akuma problem ̎ and Marinette give them more information about it.

Just like the rumors were telling, a villain named Hawkmoth use magic to use people's negative emotions to turn them into ̎ villains ̎ with magic powers and there's a duo of heroes called Ladybug and Chat Noir who always stop the attacks and save the day.

She also warned them to be careful with their emotions and to be on guard because people being akumatized happen very often and there's a high risk they end up in the crossfire of an akuma attack.

Crossfire which happened pretty quickly as Kaito and Ahoko ̎ met ̎ their first akuma in the form of M. Pigeon, an akuma who, according to Marinette, is a recurrent.

Both of them found a shelter to be safely away from the akuma when they noticed that Marinette was nowhere to be seen and they didn't have the time to try to find her when the city's heroes showed up to defeat the akuma. As well as the ton of pigeons interrupting their efforts to find the small girl.

This was something really shocking for Aoko and Kaito, sure they have seen some videos of akuma attacks, but to be actually face to one was something else... In the ̎ Oh my god ! This is terrifying, get me out of here ! ̎ way of course.

Was that the kind of ̎ troubles ̎ Akako warned Kaito about ?

Fortunately, the akuma was quickly defeated by Ladybug and Chat Noir and the two japanese students found Marinette safe and sound, although a lot farther than where they had lost sight of her.

According to the young girl, with the agitation of the attack she was separated from them but thankfully was able to find a safe place somewhere. Kaito thought he had seen her being nervous but it could be talked about by the nerves of being in the middle of the attack , still he tried to keep an eye open. 

This attack made Kaito thoughtful, if those attacks are that ineffable and happen randomly and whenever at day and night then he must be really careful when he will go steal the jewel as Kaito Kid.

After all, what makes him sure that someone will not get akumatized the night of the heist and will not attack him and the police during their rampage ?

So kaito prepared himself, planified everything for any possibilities, especially in case of an akuma attack.

Whatever those precautions will work or not he doesn't know, it could actually work as it can end up in a disaster, you never know with an akuma.

In any case as days passed, the night of the heist came and akuma attacks or not Kaito Kid was ready for the show.

“-My lady, do we really need to be here? This does not involve akumas after all, I don’t see why we should get involved!”

“-Chat Noir! Don’t forget as heroes we have the duty to protect the city from any kind of crime, by so akuma or not if there’s trouble we must be there!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir at the top of a building near Le Louvre, observing all the police officers gathered at the museum.

Tonight was the night of the infamous thief’s, Kaito Kid, heist at the museum to try to steal the gem and the whole police forces of Paris were ready to stop the thief and arrest him.

The heroic duo were also present, Ladybug had been preparing for apprehend Kaito Kid and, thankfully, tonight no akuma was in sight which give to Chat Noir and her a golden opportunity to stop the thief without any “complications”.

However, Chat Noir wasn’t very eager to participate in the whole thing, according to him, he and his lady helping the police to arrest a “petty thief” was a waste of time, that the police could do it perfectly without them yadda, yadda, yadda…

And he didn’t stop expressing his displeasure about it, much to Ladybug’s frustration.

“-I get it! But it’s just a petty thief! Why not letting the police handle it by themself and rather go on a date together my lady?” Chat Noir suggested with a flirtatious tone.

Ladybug threw him an exasperated tare.

“-Chat Noir, no, we will not because 1: Even if the thief don’t have powers he is still a potential threat to the town and by so as the protectors of Paris it’s normal that we are here just in case and 2: I already told you over and over that I love someone els-”

“-LIEUTENANT ROGER! LOOK UP THERE!”

The policeman’s scream bring the two heroes’s intention and the duo turned their gaze to the museum.

They were welcomed by a shocking sight.

Up there in the sky was a big white airship, flying toward Le Louvre.

And abroad said airship, proudly standing in his iconic white suit and cape was non other than Kaito Kid.

Going out of his shock, Roger Raincomprix picked up his megaphone to try to apprehend the thief.

“-Attention, attention Kaito Kid! You are surrounded and have no way to do your little heist! Just land your airship and surrender, the “show” is over!”

A few minutes of silence passed, several long minutes during which the airship just stay where it was not making any move to land or to fly away.

Getting impatient, lieutenant Roger warned once again the thief.

“-I repeat! Land your airship and surrender! If you do not comply, we will open fire against your airship to make you land!”

A few more minutes passed before the airship finally seemed to move to land and as soon as the airship touched the ground, Lieutenant Roger without wasting anytime rushed toward it and roughly tackled to the ground what seem to be Kaito Kid.

“-Kaito Kid aka “ The Magician Under the Moonlight”, you are under arrest for the thief aptempt of the new found gem!”

“-Hum… Lieutenant Roger?” One of the agents said, trying to get his attention.

“-You have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you!” Recited Lieutenant Roger while putting a pair of handcuffs on the apprehended, not listening to the other agent.

“-Lieutenant Roger!” The other agent tried once again, without any success.

“- You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future, but quite honestly, with all the crimes hold against you it’s very unlikely that any attorney would be able to defend you in court!” 

“-LIEUTENANT ROGER!!!!”

“-WHAT?!” The Lieutenant, finally, turned his intention to his colleague, annoyed to be bothered while doing the arrest.

“-The… hum… “person” you are arresting… It’s not Kaito Kid…” The agent explained, embarrassed.”It’s a dummy…”

Lieutenant Roger suddenly stopped on his track, a long silence passed, the lieutenant digesting the information. 

“-A… What?”

He turned his gaze once again on “Kaito Kid” and to his shock, what he thought to be the infamous thief was indeed in fact a simple dummy which look like Kaito Kid.

The police officers barely had the time to wonder what was going on that the dummy’s head fall down from it body and inside said dummy’s body was what seemed to be sparks.

Sparks which are usually signs of a lighted fuse.

Now alarmed, the police officers who were near the dummy quickly back away from it while screaming in warning to everyone else.

“-HIT THE DECK! HIT THE DECK!”

Every police officer didn’t waste any minute and throwed themself on the ground far away as possible from the potential explosion, Ladybug and Chat Noir were also about to jump into action.

But what came next completely stunned everyone: instead of an explosion, big tray of lights were blowing from the dummy and were flying up to the to the sky with a piercing sound before exploding.

To their surprise, and relief, what was inside the dummy wasn’t something life threatening like a bomb but simply fireworks.

Said fireworks were so bright that everyone was blinded by them for a few seconds before realizing that the fireworks weren’t just exploding, their explosions were also showing symbols.

Some of the fireworks were exploding into the infamous Kaito Kid’s logo and others were revealing a message in big bright lights “ Welcome Paris “city of lights”! May the show officially begin! ”.

This made Lieutenant Roger clenched his teeth in anger, this thief had lured them and had the nerves to mock them!

“-Don’t let yourself be distracted! Kaito Kid probably profit from it and is in the museum! We must stop him from getting to the gem!” He yelled at his men with authority.

“-You!” He instruct to a group of police agents.”split into two groups and block all the issues possible, if Kaito Kid is indeed in the museum, he must not be able to get out!”

“-YES SIR!” The police agents replied before splitting to get in position.

“-Agent Marcel! Call the central! Tell them to send more back up!” Lieutenant Roger told to one of the agent who was near a police car.

“-Already on it sir!”

The lieutenant then turned to a few other police agents.

“-Agent Leroy! Agent Simon! Go to the room were the gem is exposed! Make sure that NOBODY SUSPICIOUS get near it!”

“-YES SIR!”

Meanwhile, both Ladybug and Chat Noir were looking at the police agents scattering around.

“-Welp! Look like they handle “purrfectly” the situation!” Chat Noir commented nonchalantly before being once again flirtatious with Ladybug.”So… How about we call it a night and go to that date my lady?”

“-Not the time Chat!” Ladybug groaned frustrated with her partner.

“-But my lady!” Chat wined.”The police is all over the museum and probably will catch up this thief in no time!”

But as soon as Chat Noir finished his sentence, the angry voice of the Lieutenant Roger draw the two heroes’s attention.

“-AGENT SIMON! I THOUGHT I GAVE YOU THE ORDER TO GO SECURE THE GEM WITH AGENT LEROY WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?!”

Said agent Simon was looking at him completely confused.

“-I’m sorry Lieutenant Roger but I just get there with other agents who were called as back up as we were among the agents who were the nearest of Le Louvre! I wasn’t there before!”

The Lieutenant and some other agents were now looking at their colleague with wide eyes.

“-Hold a moment!” Lieutenant Roger ask with a trembling voice.”If you just got there, then who was the agent I ordered to go secure the gem with…”

Realizing he have been tricked, Lieutenant Roger was now frantically running to the museum while shooting orders to a group of agents.

“- YOU! COME WITH ME! WE MUST GO TO THE GEM’S ROOM RIGHT NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”

Meanwhile, the agents Leroy and “Simon” were guarding the gem.

“-Stay on guard, we don't know when Kaito Kid will strike!” Agent Leroy warned his colleague.

“Agent Simon” nobbed in agreement.

“-Agree! Who knows what that thief planned? For all we know, he could take us by surprise at any moment- Ah!!”

“Agent Simon” barely finished his sentence that he feel someone tackling him on the ground and was shocked when he realized that the person who tackled him was Lieutenant Roger.

“-What the? Lieutenant Roger, what are you doing?” He asked the lieutenant, completely confused about his actions.

“-Drop the act Kaito Kid! You thought you could fool us by passing for the agent Simon, but you were wrong!” The lieutenant stated proudly while making his best to keep “agent Simon” on the ground.

“-WHAT?! Have you gone crazy? I’m not Kaito Kid!”

“-Right, right! Keep on with your little masquerade all you want, it will not save you!”

“-There’s no masquerade! I. AM. NOT. KAITO KID! I’M THE TRUE AGENT SAMUEL SIMON! SO FOR HECK’S SAKE LET ME G-”

*BOOM*

The agent didn’t had the time to finish his sentence that he was interrupted by smoke bombs exploding and the room finding itself invaded by the smoke and blinding the police agents.

When the smoke finally faded away, the police officers got an awful surprise:

The showcase in which the gem was exposed was now empty, the gem being nowhere to be seen.

Completely confused, Lieutenant Roger frantically looked in all directions, trying to understand what was going on.

Someone stole the gem? How? He captured Kaito Kid, the gem was supposed to be secured! So why?

These were the questions which were endlessly repeating in the lieutenant’s panicked mind, until, by quickly staring at a corridor, he caught the sight of a white cape and a white hat.

And at the enter of said corridor was, on the ground, the police uniform of the one he thought to be the real agent Simon.

At this moment, things were now clear for the Lieutenant, he didn’t caught Kaito Kid, he never did, he and the rest of the police have been played.

“-That dirty thief! He tricked us!” Lieutenant Roger raged, while getting up and letting agent Simon go.

“-That's what I keep trying to tell you!” The poor agent Simon groaned at him while massaging his sore arm. He was sure he will feel the pain for at least a week.

“-There’s no time to lose! Kaito Kid had stolen the gem, we must stop him before he escapes!” Lieutenant Roger yelled, ignoring the agent’s remark. ”AFTER HIM!” 

The police agents all ran toward the corridor where Kaito Kid was spotted, the run led them into the Egyptian collection room looking for the thief.

“-LIEUTENANT ROGER! LOOK OVER THERE!” Agent Leroy exclaimed, pointing at the other side of the room.

Kaito Kid was standing there, looking at them with his iconic smirk.

A smirk which made Raincomprix even more pissed than he already was.

“-So, you thought you could fool us? Well, too bad for you but the game is over! You are UNDER ARREST!” The lieutenant screamed while charging at the thief.

Meanwhile, the other agents were looking at the scene, agent Leroy particuliary, found that something wasn’t normal.

Despite Lieutenant Roger charging at him, Kaito Kid stayed still, not moving a muscle, as if the police officers weren’t there.

As if he wasn’t real…

Looking closely at the thief, agent Leroy, his eyes wide, finally noticed what was really going on and tried to warn his superior.

“-LIEUTENANT ROGER WAIT! IT’S ANOTHER TRICK!”

But before the lieutenant could register what the other agent just told, he crashed into; instead of Kaito Kid, was in fact a projection screen and found himself trapped under the sheet.

The other agents rushed toward the lieutenant, who was groaning and screaming under the sheet while trying to get out.

“-Lieutenant Roger! Are you alright?” Agent Simon asked his superior.

“-HELP ME TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THERE INSTEAD OF ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS!” Yelled Lieutenant Roger from under the sheet.

Meanwhile, in the room beside the egyptian collection, Kaito Kid was listening to what was going on and judging by all the commotion, it’s mean they had fallen into his trap.

“-Look like my “surprise” for them worked! Though, it’s a bit disappointing, they were very easy to fool!” Kaito Kid commented before smirking.”Oh well, too bad for them but good for me!”

On this reflection, Kaito Kid begined to walk away to find an exit.

He then looked at the gem in his hand, it was big and covered the palm of his hand and, unlike what the media were saying, it wasn’t exactly red, it was more of a purple redish color.

Welp, now he has the gem, all he had to do is get out of the museum, put the gem under a moonlight to check if the Pandora is inside and get back to his hideout.

But his project was interrupted by an authoritative and feminine voice strongly resonning.

“-STOP RIGHT THERE KAITO KID!”

Turning around, Kaito Kid got the, not so, surprise to find in front of him the well known Paris’s heroic duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir.

“-Well, well look at that! Ladybug and Chat Noir! I didn’t expect the heroes of Paris to honor me with their presence!” The thief commented with a smirk.

The heroic duo looked as the thief was walking to them.

“-And I must say, it’s even more an honor to meet you Ladybug!” He said before avoiding a direct attack from the two heroes and taking Ladybug by surprise by abruptly getting in front of her, his smirk still present on his face. “And I see that your fierceness is as strong as everyone says and, if I may add, they forget to mention you were also very cute, ma Dame !~” Kaito Kid complimented Ladybug and even gave her a hand-kiss, much to the latter’s shock.

The shock passed, Ladybug found herself extremely annoyed by what just happened.

“- Oh great Kwamis no! No, no, please no! Not another Chat Noir! ” Ladybug mentally begged.

It was painful enough to have to deal with Chat Noir’s constant flirting, but also dealing with another guy’s flirting and who was a thief, a criminal? It was unbearable.

Someone else wasn’t happy with Kaito Kid’s flirting toward Ladybug, said someone being Chat Noir, he wasn’t only unhappy with the situation, he was angry and jealous!

Who does this dirty thief think he was to flirt with his Lady?

The cat hero quickly put himself between Ladybug and Kaito Kid, staring with anger at the thief.

“-You stop right now thief! Ladybug is the Lady of only one and that is me!”He told the thief while pointing his staff at him.”You had your fun, but now the show is over!”

The first remark made Ladybug clenches her teeths in frustration and was making her best to not snap at her partner that she wasn’t his.

It was always the same thing with him, Chat Noir can’t help it but trying to flirt with her and at the worst times… ALWAYS…

She was sick of it.

Kaito Kid just smirked further at Chat Noir’s outburst.

“-Really now? I think, on the contrary, that the show is still going on, in fact…” The thief looked at the two heroes with a confident look.”I think we just get to the highlight of the show!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir get on guard, ready for whatever Kaito Kid was about to do.

But the next thing he told them really confused them.

“-If I’m not wrong, in France you had a tag game called “Chat perchés” right?” He giggled.”Well how about we play?”

As Ladybug and Chat Noir were about to attack him once again, Kaito Kid opened up his arms and declared in a playful tone. 

“- Chat! C’est vous qui êtes! ”

Without any warning, the thief clapped his hands together and, to the heroic duo’s shock, a thick smoke came out and in no time invaded the whole room.

At first disoriented by what just happened, the two heroes quickly get a grip and Ladybug wasted no time and used her yo-yo to spin it around to get rid of the smoke.

But when the room was once more clear, there was no sign of Kaito Kid as if he vanished into thin air.

“-Where did he go?” Chat asked while he and Ladybug were looking frantically everywhere.

Turning her gaze to the ceiling, Ladybug froze when she saw one of the windows wide open.

“-OVER HERE!” She screamed to her partner, pointing to him the window.

Ladybug quickly acted, grabbing Chat Noir and thanks to her yo-yo made the both of them go through the window from which Kaito Kid escaped.

Once they get on the window, the duo spotted Kaito Kid escaping on a hang-glider and have gone after him through the buildings’s roofs.

But as soon as they were about to closing in on him, they notice to previously clear night sky being quickly covered by dark clouds and heavy thunders were roaming everywhere.

In the roaming of the thunders a how so well know evil laugh shrilled.

“- AH AH AH! CITY OF PARIS! I, CLIMATICA, AM BACK! AND I’LL MAKE PAY THOSE WHO MOCKED ME! LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR, COME AND HAND OVER YOUR MIRACULOUS! AH AH AH! ”

Ladybug was internally panicking.

Of all the nights, of all the times an akuma could have appeared it has to be when she’s trying to stop another criminal and of all the akumas possible it has to be Climatica!

Why dear Kwamis? Why? What did she have done to deserve this? And what she should do now?

Recomposing herself, Ladybug turned her attention to Climatica.

As a hero and protector of Paris it was among her duties to stop criminals like Kairo Kid, but fighting akumas and stop them from hurting anyone was Chat Noir’s and her top priority!

With her newfound determination, Ladybug turned to Chat Noir.

“-Come on Chat! We have an akuma to take care of!”

“-WHAT? But my Lady! We can’t let this thief get away! Didn’t you say earlier that it was our duty as heroes to stop criminals like him?” Chat Noir asked shocked.

“-Yes, I did! And I want to stop this thief as much as you do!” Ladybug explained, trying to stay calm.”But defeating akumas is our top priority and right now an akuma is wreaking havoc and will hurt a lot of people, or even worst, if we do nothing! so we better intervene before Climatica cause even more damages!”

Chat Noir stared at Ladybug for a few seconds before smirking.

“-You know what? You’re right my Lady, fighting akumas is a top priority!” Ladybug relaxed in relief as it seemed like her partner was understanding the situation.”That is why I think the best thing to do is you go fight the akuma while I catch Kaito Kid! Like this it will be killing two birds with one stone!”

… Aaaannnd goodbye relief and hello high anxiety and frustration…

“-What? Chat, no! You know we must do this together! Please, we don’t have time for this, kwamis know the rate of the damages and victims Climatica is doing right now!” Ladybug begged his partner almost desperately.

“-Oh don’t worry my Lady, you’ll manage just fine!” Chat flirtatious told her his smirk still on his face.”And if anything “cat-astrophic” happen, you’ll have the miraculous cure will revert any damages! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a thief to “cat-ch”! See you later bugaboo!”

And just like that, Chat Noir have gone in pursuit of the thief living a desperately frustrated Ladybug behind.

“-CHAT! COME BACK! PLEASE, CHAT!” She was screamed desperately at her partner but he was now far away.

Her fists clenched in frustration, she just wanted to scream at her partner’s behavior, to letting all her overwhelming feelings go without caring if the whole town hear her.

But she can’t do that, she had a her duty as a hero to accomplish, now was not the time to had a break down.

Calming herself down, Ladybug took her yo-yo and took the other way toward Climatica.

It’s time to defeat another akuma.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaito Kid admit it, it was rare to meet someone this determined to capture him during a heist, even inspector Nakamori didn’t last that long during a heist, and with the japanese inspector’s history of his endless determination to arrest him that mean a lot.

Especially after a good chase through building’s roofs after his escape with a hang-glider.

But he didn’t know if in Chat Noir’s case this determination to catch him was based on impulsive recklessness or blatant stupidity.

The fact the cat hero’s partner, Ladybug, seemed to be nowhere to be found and the sound of the rampage of a potential akuma attack far away give him an idea of what Chat Noir was doing.

And if his theory turn out to be right, then it will be official: Chat Noir was an idiot.

“-Look at that, Chat Noir! Fancy to see you there! All alone! Shouldn’t you be with your partner, fighting this “akuma” who just appeared a few moments ago?” Kaito Kid asked him with an inquisitive tone.

“-Don’t get casual with me! You’ll- Wait a minute! How do you know about the akumas?” Chat asked shocked.

This make the thief chuckle.

“-Come on, I may be a thief but I’m a professional one! And as such it’s normal for me to get as much informations as possible about the places of my heist!” Kaito Kid explained with a smirk.”After all anything could happen, so it’s normal for me to be well prepared for my shows and fulfill my role!”

Kaito Kid then get a more serious expression and give the cat hero a judgemental look.

“-And on the subject of “fulfilling our role” I ask again: What are you doing here chasing after a thief when there’s an akuma roaming around and not helping your partner to fight said akuma?”

“-My Lady is perfectly able to manage akumas! She’ll be fine until I join her later! But first I’m gonna put a stop in your little games! And you can be sure that I have a bone to pick with you! No one had the right to talk to my lady that way except me!” Chat Noir hissed at him getting in position to attack.

Which was making Kaito Kid completely unimpressed.

“-So you’re telling me you left Ladybug to fight an akuma, which, if I remember well my sources, is considered as your top duty as heroes, just because of a matter of pride? You’re not really the sharpest tool in the shed about priorities when it came to be a hero uh?”

At this remark, Chat Noir began growling in anger.

“-I don’t have to get lessons about how to be a hero from someone like you! What does a criminal like you know about being a hero more than a hero like me anyway?”

“-... Well, what I’m doing is the opposite of what you’re supposed to do, that's true! But, let’s see…”

Without any warning, he dashed toward Chat Noir, the latter barely had the time to react that in a blink of an eye that the thief was at the other side of the roof.

The cat hero stared at him surprised before noticed he was holding something he didn’t have before and this something turned out to be his own staff and he finally realized Kaito Kid stole his staff.

“-You are inattentive…”

Groaning in annoyance, Chat Noir jumped toward Kaito Kid in a attempt to grab his staff back, but everytime he was about to get it, Kaito Kid counterattacked by using the staff to block and hit Chat Noir, the latter rushing to make another attack hit after hit without any success.

“-You act before thinking way too much…”

“-SHUT UP!” Chat Noir screamed at him, ready to attack with a “cataclysm”.

“-CATACLYSM!”

As he was aiming his attack at Kaito Kid when the thief suddenly get out of the way, deviating the attack’s target from him to the building next door which was right behind Kaito Kid.

Realizing what was about to happen, Chat got no other choice but to quickly throw his attack away to the least collateral damages, which happen to be a billboard.

Chat Noir winced at the damages, it was, thankfully, just a billboard but his actions almost resulted in a catastrophe and he know his lady would had be angry at him if she was here.

“-You are impulsive and reckless…” Kaito Kid commented from behind him with a judgemental look while tapping Chat’s staff on his shoulder.

“-You…” Chat Noir answered angrily before jumping at him and tackled him on the roof’s floor.

But just as he was celebrating for finally having immobilized the thief, he realized too late that what he caught was a dummy dressed as Kaito Kid.

“-And finally from what I see in the situation…” Chat lifted his head at the thief’s voice and spotted him at the top of a chimney with his staff.”You are awfully stubborn and not in a good way!”

“-I’m not!” Chat Noir furiously denied.

“-Really? Then tell me was Ladybug alright with you going after me and leaving her facing the akuma on her own?”

“-I.. Well… Uh… Most of the time it’s harder for her to fights akumas alone and… Well… She might have asked me to drop the chase against you and to come fight the akuma with her and… I… Might have not listened to her?” Chat Noir nervously explained before recomposing himself.”-B-But it’s okay! My Lady is perfectly capable to face this akuma, I’m sure she’s fine!”

Kaito Kid looked at him deadpanned before turning his gaze at something in the horizon.

“-Does she now? Because from what I see she seem like she need help!”

Following the thief’s gaze, Chat Noir found himself face to an alarming sight.

Near the Effel tower was Ladybug fighting Climatica, but what was alarming was that the heroine seemed to had a hard time to fight the akuma and it seem like the worst risk to happen if she didn’t get help and quick.

Chat Noir was now looking in panic, he didn’t expected this to happen, it wasn’t his intention to put his Lady in a such bad situation!

“-Look like you made a bad mistake! And if you do nothing about it I fear your partner will pay the price of your stupidity!” Kaito Kid commented.”But I’m sure if you go right now you could get there in time! But of course that up to you!” He concluded and throwed the staff at Chat Noir.

The cat hero catched his staff and looked at Kaito Kid puzzled.

“-So what is gonna be Chat Noir? Your partner? Or your pride?” Asked Kaito Kid with his arms crossed.

Chat starred at his staff for a moment, thinking, before he tightened his grasp and raced across the buildings’s roofs to his Lady’s side.

As he watched Chat Noir leave, Kaito Kid smirked before turning and leave in the opposite direction.

“-Good choice!” He commented.

He then starred at the sky and frowned at the now heavily clouded night.

The sky was clouded to the point that even the moon wasn’t visible and that mean he will not be able to check to gem to see if it was the Pandora or not.

Kaito Kid sighed at this inconvenience.

“-Well, looks like I’ll have to wait for a more clear night to check! Oh well, it’s just a little set back! The most important thing is that this heist is a success, as always!”

With these words, Kaito Kid jumped across the roofs and in no time, disappeared among the buildings, without any traces, all was left was the noises of the heroes against the akuma and of the police doing their best to find the magician thief, without of course any success.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TO BE CONTINUED

[redfoxtress]

Adrien: Chloé, have you ever considered getting Therapy for your Mommy-Issues?

Chloé: Don't kid yourself Adri-kins, I have issues with everyone, it wouldn't be fair to prioritize the ones with my Mom. It's not like she ever prioritized me.

[aliensunflower-fics]

Dating ‘Prince Charming’ Part 2/3

[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]

[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]

Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.

As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something. 

Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been. 

 So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career. 

 As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.

 Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions. 

 What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.

 Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.

 And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen. 

 Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.

 “Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.” 

 Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.

 “Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”

 Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.

 “Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!” 

 “W-Well I just thought-”

 “Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?” 

 Oof Kim going straight for the throat.

 “B-But shes the class president!”

 “So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”

 Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.

 “Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”

 “But I’m sure if you just-”

 The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.

 A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal. 

 Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.

 Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.

 However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.

 Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.

 As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.

 The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.

 Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.

 However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.

 And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?

 The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.

 Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.

 Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious. 

 Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.

 Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes. 

 Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same. 

 After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band. 

 Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.

 And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.

 Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it. 

 Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.

 The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid. 

 She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!? 

 None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max. 

 Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates. 

 It was perfect. Genius really.

 So then why did it fail immediately?

 Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?

 It was Alya who broke the silence first.

 “You want to run that by us again? Lila.” 

 The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.

 “I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”

 “He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”

 The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.

 Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention. 

 “You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.

 Instead she was met with even harsher glares.

 “Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.” 

 Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.

 “T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!” 

 “Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”

 Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.

 Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.

 Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.

 They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share. 

 Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it. 

 The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.

 Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.

 She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.

 “Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”

 “Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”

 The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen. 

 Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.

 “Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?” 

 “Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.” 

 Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.

 “Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.” 

 The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.

 “By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”

 The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.

 “Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”

 Marinette snorted at that.

 “Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?” 

 The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.

 “You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.” 

 If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist. 

 “Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.” 

 Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them. 

 Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.

 Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.

 The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them. 

 Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.

 Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue. 

 But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.

 Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.

 Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.

 “Marinette?” - “Damian?” 

 They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out. 

 “Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”

 “No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”

 “So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”

 After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well. 

 The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him. 

 But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.

 But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.

 But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.

 A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.

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