#lila taking five's hand in the end was her acknowledging that she loved him too that her CONTINUING to wear his bracelet showed that

[stephsageek]

[cardigan-ns]

Wandering Star

Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x Reader

Summary: Your parents helped run the commission with the handler, Reginald hargreeves somehow caught wind of this and invited you to help on missions with the umbrella academy as a child. You befriended the Hargreeves, becoming one with the group, you fell in love with Diego, even though it was never technically good for either of you. Later to find out you don’t have a marigold, your power is something much stronger.

Synopsis: HERE. PART2. <- here

A/N: PART 1 - this will be a series, lemme know what you think of it, I’ll have it on Ao3 soon.

On the first of October 1989, 43 women gave birth, having not been pregnant when the day first began. Reginald hargreeves adopted seven such children, Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, Ben and Viktor. He trained them up to be an elite academy, to save the end of the world, and to bring his wife home from the moon, that last part they weren’t in on. They’d go on missions and save people, causing some destruction in the meantime.

That was until on their 13th year, Reginald called them down to the grand foyer, alerting them he had someone he’d like to show them. The seven kids stood confused as there was a strange suited man with a young girl at the door. The man was holding a briefcase and the girl holding a small bag, looking annoyed to even be there.

“Children, this is your new comrade. Y/N Bardot.” You looked up at the old man introducing you to a bunch of wannabes. You could fight miles better than them, you’ve time travelled and assassinated multiple people fucking up the previous timeline. Yet the hargreeves think they’re something special. Your eyes scanned each and every one of them, each of their emotions similar, that, you could feel. Except for one of them, he stood second in line, flipping a knife, trying to intimidate you, only making you roll your eyes and laugh at how dull his tactic was, yet you had to take one more look, he felt different than anyone else your powers picked up, he wouldn’t shake from your mind.

“Is she even capable?” He chirped, angrily, typical boy, you thought, you been exposed to too many rageful assassins in your time, Diego was on his way to being another stuck up prick. You looked at the boy, flicking your hand and suddenly he started crying, your power made him see his worst fear, needles, making you hold back a little amusement. Reginald looked at you excited, he was proud. You acknowledged his approval, while Diego stormed off to the kitchen.

You’d been brought here by your father, Peter. He was a head organiser at the commission, along with your mother, Eliza. They had you unexpectedly on the same day the hargreeves came along. Just like the umbrellas, you had powers, extended empathy. It was a lot more than intuition and premonition, you could warp, ripple and even freeze someone’s emotions, sometimes causing them to be in a loop of anything you’d like them to feel. It was amazing, you had the world in your hands. Their world. Your parents were horrified yet proud at your arrival, immediately declaring that you’d continue the Bardot name, and that you did, being the youngest assassin on the entire commission. Except for Lila of course, but she can’t use her power unless you’re there. That brightened your ego significantly, being raised to believe you’re better, which was going to make staying here for the summer a difficult ride.

“Where’s she staying?” Luther asked his father, he seemed stuck up, you coined. You’d declared he hated this predicament. Reginald gave Luther a look of bewilderment at this question, as if he was being very rude. “Why boy, she’s staying here for the summer. Keep this up and she’s taking your room.” Their number 1 immediately kept quiet, now annoyed and guilty that he made his father mad.

“I’ve heard you have 43 bedrooms, I’m sure there’s room for me to squeeze in.” You spoke sarcastically to Luther, which made Five let out a dry laugh at how high strung you were. You looked at the gelled haired boy, he had a smirk painted on his face, as if he respected you, you liked that. But you looked at your father who now gave you a stern look, you just nodded, it was his ‘be nice’ look, god you wished your mother had brought you, your father was way too nice to strangers, made you wonder how he came so far. You huffed and started swingling your back slowly, a little bored of just standing at the front entrance.

Allison then walked over to you, she touched your hand and it glowed a little, that’s never happened with you before, you froze up a little at the sudden lilac highlight to your fingertips. Your power was usually invisible. But as soon as she spoke the glow dimmed and your apprehension eased, “Come on, I’ll show you around, it’s good to have another girl around.” Reginald dismissed the children and he then took your father into his office for a meeting. You knew how they usually went, you were debriefed on it already, you’d visit here every summer and winter, and spend fall and spring at the commission, a season swapping between lives, for the foreseeable future. You didn’t like that arrangement at first, but you were a weapon who didn’t have a say, causing you to see this as something to hate.

The boys retreated to their rooms, Allison giving you a tour of the entire house, around 20 minutes went by, you got very irritated all of a sudden, then you looked to where the girl was taking you, down the bedroom halls, you’d be across from Diego, great. What a joy. You walked into your new room, setting your bag on the desk, a lady was there already making your bed, the room smelt like fresh paint and air freshener. You looked over at Allison wondering who this lady was. “That’s our mom, Grace, she’s a robot.”

She taught you of their parental situation and you soon clocked that they have never met their birth parents, that actually made you sad, for once since you got here, you didn’t know if that was just because you picked up on Allison or that you realised were going to suffer being in a shoebox room for 3 months at a time. “Purple” you looked at the wall, making Grace turn to look at you, a simple smile on her robotic frame. “I had a feeling you’d like it, dear.” She was wonderful, she was correct, it was your favourite colour. “Thank you.” You thought it was only right to be kind to her, after all she had no choice but to be a machine, following orders, just like you.

You and Allison left your room, your heart feeling heavy suddenly as you walked closer to Diego’s room. Why the hell was this happening, you could usually just project emotions onto people, now it’s affecting your actual body. Not in the way it usually worked, you’d feel empathy obviously but not just randomly out of nowhere, you knew it wasn’t Allison feeling this, and not Diego, you could differentiate. And you weren’t going through anything to enable this. “This is Diego, whom you’ve made your stance clear on…” Allison spoke, a little humour in her tone as she found you making Diego cry funny. Allison left the room, seeing to that you spend some time with each sibling, her tour over.

“What’re you bringing her in here for?!” Diego spoke loudly at an exiting Allison, he threw a knife at you, tad bit aggressive, it hit the wall, he didn’t actually want to physically impale your brains. You gave him an angered look, you just got here and now he’s being violent, you took everything within you to not use your practiced training on him, you’d win of course. But as your father said, “They’re your equals. Not your enemies.” You just walked to the wall and yanked the knife off of it, suddenly, your eyes glowed white, making you halt, seeing him imagining throwing it right at your head, you falling to the ground. Your eyes went back to normal and Diego gave you a concerned look.

“Why’d you go all thriller?” He stood from his bed yanking the knife from you, the contact with both your skin causing his fingertips to glow a purple colour, just like yours did earlier when Allison touched your hand, only now it actually lingering, not vanishing, it was now rushing up his veins, and his face grew more and more pissed of as it retreated up his arm. “What the fuck?” You were concerned until you then felt it too, you looked at your arm, the purple glow absorbing into your skin. You looked up at Diego a little defensive. “Look I didn’t do this. I don’t know what’s happening.” He just gripped the knife and pushed you out of his room, slamming the door. You just stood in the hallway, hearing Ben and Viktor talking in Bens room. You’d hoped to god your father hadn’t left yet, you were scared.

You ran through the academy and down into Reginald’s office, getting stopped by a chimpanzee, this wasn’t the weirdest thing you’d ever seen, your board of directors for the commission was a man with a fish for a head. “Uhm, I need to see my father.” You looked really petrified at what just happened between you and Diego, hell, even you and Allison. What was wrong with these kids? “Madam Bardot, I’m afraid your father has just left.” Your face contorted into heartache, which is what the chimp was feeling, why? “Wha- he didn’t even say goodbye. I’m gonna be here all summer.” Usually you didn’t care but today you felt especially homesick. “Please, come with me.” He ushered you to walk with him downstairs further into the kitchen which lay in the basement.

Klaus was in there, sleeping on the sofa across the arch, you coined that he’d crashed out from lack of sleep from treacherous outings in a mausoleum. Pogo poured you a cup of apple juice and sat by you. “You’re different than the rest, dear.” He just immediately broke the news, causing you to become angry. “The hells that supposed to mean?” He put his hands together. “Your power isn’t the same source as the hargreeves children. Yours is a Durango.” Your eyes questioned him, you didn’t truly know much about how you got a power but it was called a Durango? That was cool you figured. “The hargreeves have what’s called a Marigold. They aren’t meant to mix per se, but when they do, its effects may mean trouble.” Its effects may mean trouble. Wow great. So why on earth did Reginald scout you knowing its dangers. “So I’m a fucking time bomb as long as I’m their presence.” Your language was sour for someone of your age, and that made pogo wince. “Language, madam.” It made you shut up, and let him speak. “Only if you make contact with one another. Some marigolds are okay, some are more severe of an impact. 5 percent have a reaction.” Hence why you felt calm with Allison and hostile with Diego, yet through that hostility brought you unbearable magnetism. “You’re fine with contact with all but Diego. Master Hargreeves noticed that when you walked through the door. He alerted your father of its danger in their meeting. I’m only telling you now because nobody else had the decency to.” As pogo concluded your debrief, your mind wouldn’t shake Diego. You craved to be around him or atleast just see him ever since he kicked you out of his room, but it was easy to push back for now, but it wouldn’t be for long. You rose from the table and ran up to your room.

The sheets now on, the room still pulling your senses with the fresh paint, you lay there, unknowing of what to do.

How were you meant to go forever without accidentally bumping into them. What if the longer you stayed here you became friends, you wouldn’t be able to hold hands, hug. It’s vile. A life of torture that you’re not allowed to become close to them in extended amounts. Even though the rest of them could handle your durangos presence, It still meant that your relationship would be more extreme than an average one. It’s almost making you want to more.

You remembered when you sparred with Lila, at commission training, nothing severe happened, she mimicked your Durango power hence cancelling out her marigolds effect. So you thought to yourself, Diego’s the only problem. But he wasn’t a problem. Maybe befriend him, maybe then he won’t hate you so much.

Feeling bored, you stuck a cassette in the player you brought with you, and put your headphones on, listening to some music to calm yourself down but no matter what, that heaviness in your heart and soul were still there. Usually you loved music, you could feel what the singers were feeling when they portrayed the lyrics but now your own absence was taking over, your own emotions, you’ve never had to feel them, usually intellectualising them and shoving them away, but now that you didn’t have to worry about shooting someone in the head everyday, your mind was whirring. You angrily yanked the headphones off and screamed firing the cassette player on the ground, hearing a crack. You immediately snapped out of whatever frenzy you were in and scrambled to the ground to pick it up, as if what you just did wasn’t in your own doing. “Shit shit shit.” You picked up the cracked player and sat back down in defeat, resting it on the bedside table.

It was late anyways so you just laid down in your bed, and slept.

Morning came and you heard a faint alarm ring, Reginald had planted mini speakers in each room to ensure everyone woke up on time, you looked at your door and found a navy boarding school uniform hanging from your door, with a domino mask dangling from the door handle, Grace had left them there, so you were prepared. You’d groggily got changed and immediately you had a vision, Diego and Luther arguing in the living room, then your eyes adjusted back to your room, you were confused at this new ability, it startled you, you hesitated putting your tie on, knowing that after that you were one step closer to walking into the living room and being the new kid who nobody cared about.

As you slipped on and tied your brogue shoes, you flattened your skirt and looked at yourself in the mirror. “Pull yourself together. It’s pathetic how miserable you’re being.” You gave yourself a not-so pep talk and ran briskfully downstairs. Reginald sat at the table, eating his breakfast, starting at you. They’d moved a dining table in here. That was new. “Number 8 you’re unbelievably tardy to breakfast.” He sounded astounded at your rudeness to his meal. You nodded and took a seat beside Viktor at the head of the table, it was chilling how he had you all sit in numbered order. “Sorry, sir.” You corrected your lateness and he just shook his head.

You noticed all of the kids doing their own things which made them individuals. Your stomach churning from hunger and unknowing. Grace handed you a plate of pancakes, with a smiley face on them, it made you smile at how positive your food was. Diego just looked at Grace, wondering why he gave her smiley faces too. That wasn’t fair. As klaus rolled a joint, Ben read a book, Diego carved the table, Allison and Luther mimed a conversation to one another, you and Viktor sat and jumped when five slammed his own knife on the table, begging to time travel. You’d done it many times, your favourite decade was the 80s that past was extremely entertaining and you just wish the hargreeves could fully see it. Having only been born on the last year of it.

Reginald and number five argued back and forth which you figured was an average breakfast thing. But then five stormed out. And that was the last you’d ever see him.

His disappearance confused you greatly, time travel was not to be messed but you messed with it almost bi weekly. They held a local search lookout for him, and you wondered where he’d got himself stuck. He definitely wasn’t here, not in this year at least, any object of his you touched didn’t make you see where he currently was. It worried you.

It’s been 4 weeks since you arrived and 3 weeks and 6 days since five disappeared. You haven’t really spoken to many of the hargreeves except for Allison. You two realised how similar your powers were and just how much chaos you two could bring. She was, and you hated to admit this, your first true best friend. You both adored having another girl around and it made life a little easier admitting things to each-other that you couldn’t tell anyone else. Diego hasn’t spoken to you since your Durango mishap, not a single word, you’d slipped a letter under his door, an angry letter, pleading your innocence, and after you did it, yet again you felt like it wasn’t your own emotions, it must’ve been him causing you to reach those angered states, but you still weren’t so sure why this was causing that effect.

As you and Allison laid on her floor reading magazines; which she rumoured the both of you to get on the front cover of. You were painting each-others nails you got startled when the door burst open. “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Diego yelled and you just looked confused but also your hand glowed a little at his closeness to you again, you haven’t really seen him, he’s got another cut on his face, on his eyebrow, it looked deep, like it would scar.

“What are you talking about?” Allison chimed in now standing up to confront Diego’s forward entrance. Diego just scoffed and pulled up his sleeve to show his arm glowing again, he had a cut on the area where it glowed, as if trying to cut it out. “Ask her!” Diego looked at you and you stood up slowly, looking at the damage that’s been done. “You should stitch that up Diego, let’s go get your mom.” You tried to get him out the door but he just looked at you, “Why’re you even here, nobody wants you and your freakshow.” He spat out and stormed out slamming the door, Allison just pulled you into a hug, seeing how his words hit you, but you pushed her off after a brief comfort, storming out and finding Diego. You pushed him, this caused a rise out of both of you, both extremely volatile in emotions. “I told you, this isn’t just my fault! It’s also yours!” The way you spoke to him, he didn’t like that. He pulled his sleeve down, grabbed your hand, yanking you back to Allison. “Rumour her!” He spoke demandingly. Allison immediately shook her head and got protective over her friend. “Are you crazy?” She shouted at her brother, disgusted that he would suggest she use her power on her. “Do it. Rumour her to go home!” Diego pushed you towards Allison, and she caught you. You just flicked your hand and made Diego locked in a trance of yesterday, making it repeat highlights of his day in his mind, his eyes glowed white and you left allisons room.

These outbursts continued over the years, eventually getting worse and worse until Reginald had to bedrid you guys and forbid you from participating in missions and dinners together, making you take turns with the family, having you train in separate rooms, and eat dinner in bed. Some days were better than others but Reginald couldn’t predict how they would go so he did this as precaution.

You were now 16, it was the 1st of December and you were back from the commission and at the academy, it was a free day and Reginald figured that the power sources in your bodies could calm down for one day. Due to you being away for 3 months prior. He let you see Diego for longer than 15 minutes at a time, that was nice. You sat in the kitchen with the 7 hargreeves, you all sat around playing monopoly, as Ben asked you a question. “How was your fall?” You looked at number six with a ‘god why did you ask this’ smile and you told him, “Gained about 7 more bodies on my kill count.” They all laughed thinking you were fooling them, all laughed except Diego, he’d been having visions of you assassinating people left right and centre with the commission, not bringing it up, in case you admitted to seeing what he’s been up to when he’s alone. Which you’ve seen but won’t admit for the same reason. The hargreeves thought you’d just be home with parents when you weren’t with them, little did they know.

As the night died down, some of the hargreeves retreated to hang out separately, Viktor, Klaus and Ben went to the garden to chill and watch the stars. Allison and Luther both just went to sleep. Diego stayed though, wherever your eyes looked his did too, you said you wanted to stay in the kitchen, he did too. His connection felt different somehow yet still the same. “Thought you were boxing tomorrow? You said you needed an early night.” You relayed what Diego had told the group when you first walked in here earlier that day. “It’s not happening right now, is it?” He was sat beside you just staring at the abandoned bored game. You peered your eyes over to him, he seemed off, as did you when you thought about it, maybe the marigold and Durango had wore off from the both of you. Thankfully. You hated being angry, even though you’ve virtually always felt that way, you wanted the academy to be a calming focus on your life, knowing that after 3 months you’d need to go back to getting blood on your hands again, at least the blood here was minimal and it was mostly rescue missions and retrieving artefacts.

“What’s up your ass?” You spoke in a more bantering way than angry, which made him confused. Obviously it’s been three years since your first big argument but he still always assumed and theorised that it was all your doing, in making him so hostile, even though it wasn’t. Diego chuckled at your question anyways, “Nothing, I’m just sick of not being able to talk to you all the time.” You gave him a pondering look, as if you’d thought he was joking, he despises you why would he miss seeing you. The more you thought on it, you couldn’t really say much, you missed Diego when you’d go back home, non stop talking about him to your parents. You’d miss Diego when Reginald locked you away from one another and you also missed him when he was right in front of you. “Me too. It’s seems like when we’re told to stay away it makes us want to actually talk.” You looked around the room, as you spoke, not exactly wanting to make eye contact in case that send another anger spell through each of your veins. You noticed him nod along and proceed to pull out his favourite knife and start flipping it, it was his comfort thing to do, helping him get through conversations of great thought. You’d noticed that everytime you’d watch the group train outside while you were conditioned to train in the gym upstairs. He did the same with you when it was his turn to do isolated training. He’d look out the window and notice that how every-time you use your power on someone your veins become a little more prominent. Not that he cared or anything…

“Why’d you decide to stay up?” He asked you as he kept flipping the knife as he stood and walked to get one of the cookies that Grace made earlier. He bit into it as you began to speak. “I like the silence.” He narrowed his eyes, his face going a little sour as he didn’t agree. “Don’t you think you get enough of that?.” Yeah, Diego also loved and craved being alone but somehow he missed the human interaction with literally anyone when he got it again. Now that he’s been trained to be alone he wants to refuse it. You just shrugged, your power never really leaving you with much muted mind time, your thoughts always raging, peoples thoughts always raging and their emotions impacting your own down time. “No, I don’t.” You were honest, standing up to get a cookie too, he made you want one by savouring his bites on it, as if it were going to turn into cardboard if he didn’t appreciate it.

You snatched one off the plate, now you took a bite. “So why are you letting me invade your quiet time?” He stood close to you. And as if a dying lightbulb were there, your wrists flickered, the Durango taking shape again, but not fully, you haven’t touched. “Because you won’t leave me alone.” You spoke with fake annoyance, finished your cookie now. His eyes gazed on yours, lingering glances all night left him no other choice, and he thought ‘fuck it’ and pulled you in for a kiss. It was a little awkward seeing as it was both your first kiss, but also felt like you were destined to do it. His hand cupped your cheek and yours wrapped around his waist. It didn’t last too long but the spark was there, he pulled away hastily and sat down, running his hands through his hair. “I shouldn’t have done that, fuck.” You stood there, not angry and not happy, just a middle emotion you’ve never seemed to feel, definitely not like this. “Then why’d you do it?” You asked a little pissed now, there we go, you’re back on track. The Durango reminding you it’ll never leave. He looked at you, tilting his head, taking in your every movement of the face. “I needed to.” He spoke now completely dazed, knowing that he wanted and craved doing that since you left to see your parents again in the fall. “Ah, but you said you shouldn’t have done it. Sounds pretty mixed, can you make up your goddamn mind?” Your words made him bothered, but you didn’t know what to think, you’ve never gotten along, you’ve been moral frenemies and now he kissed you and is giving you two reason as to why he should and shouldn’t have done it. He stood up, slinging his knife back in its holder and pointed his finger to you, “I’ll make up my mind when you learn to fucking see me.” He seemed hurt by that, as if he’s been trying to signal he’s liked you for a while, but he hasn’t. “I’m not a mind reader, Diego.” He scoffed at your excuse, grabbing your wrist. “You are, actually.” Signalling that he knows you had visions of him while you were gone, just like he had of you, he wasn’t stupid so why on earth were you making this so difficult on him.

“You were right. You shouldn’t have done it.” You pushed him away from you and made your way to your room, you knew in the morning you’d beg Reginald to keep you away from him again. Not ready to admit your drowning feelings.

Note: okay this was part one, an introduction before the season one part, part 2 will be them when they’ve left the academy at 17.

Tags: @shadowbriar @total-lunareclipse4 @vesper4seance

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

"Him guilting Ladybug into staying quiet is why Lila is able to maintain her power for 4 more seasons."

I mean, I would blame more the writers for taking way too long to have Adrien realize his advice was bad.

(Post the quote is from)

Reminder that I am never actually blaming the characters, they are not real people. That's why this is explicitly a writing blog. In the context of the writing, yes, the pacing of everything Lila was terrible and is the real source of the issues. That doesn't change the fact that Adrien is the main narrative tool used to keep Marinette in line, thus me "blaming" him.

As you said, Adrien looks bad here not because he didn't understand how to handle the situation and gave bad advice, but because it takes him so long to realize that his advice was bad and apologize.

During Lila's first appearance, we see Adrien chastises Ladybug for being too mean to Lila, never once acknowledging that it was valid for Ladybug to be upset (S1E26). She is painted as fully in the wrong even though Lila was actively manipulating him and Ladybug arguably protected him here:

Adrien: Wait! Lila! (Lila runs away) Hey, what was that all about? Uh, I mean, weren't you kinda harsh with her? Ladybug: I...I don't put up with lies, especially when they're about me. (yo-yos away)

During Lila's second appearance (or, at least her second appearance where she actually interacts with the cast) he further drives that message home by telling Marinette to let Lila lie to people because he's more worried about hurting Lila's feelings than he is about removing Lila's power (S3E01):

Adrien: Are you going to tell everyone? Marinette: 'Course I am. Lila is— Adrien: (interrupting) A liar. Yes, I know. But do you really think exposing her will make things better? If you humiliate her, she'll just be hurt more. Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy. Lila: Ladybug and I are like two peas in a pod. Marinette: So we just stand by and let her lie? Adrien: As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter? Marinette: You're right, maybe it's not such a big deal.

We'll circle back to how terrible this advice was in a second. First lets finish off going through the sequence of events.

And finally, at the tail end of season five, Adrien openly acknowledges that he's been giving terrible advice (S5E20):

Adrien: I'm sorry, Marinette. I was wrong. I shouldn't have told you to not act against Lila. If you give the slightest opportunity to people like her, they'll grasp at it and cause disasters in no time. And now, you're the one who looks like a bad person. Marinette: (reaches out to hold his hand beside her) You thought you were doing the right thing. Just like with Chloe. That's another reason why I love you, Adrien. You always want to see the good in other people. But sometimes, the good we think we see in some people is just a reflection of our own, and we end up being fooled by our own kindness. (They squeeze each other's hands.) But we'll find a way to expose Lila eventually.

If we look at these three moments in a vacuum, this is honestly a good character arc for a character like Adrien. He's a peace keeper, which is a wonderful match to Marinette's blind justice approach. It's good that Adrien is there to balance her out! It's also good for him to learn that his approach doesn't always work and that you can't always keep the peace.

The problem is that Adrien didn't actually get a functional character arc where he learned those lessons. The episodes are so drawn out that it doesn't feel like we watch him grow and learn. His apology is almost three full seasons after his second bit of bad advice, leaving us to wonder when he changed his mind because Lila does a lot of awful things during those three seasons. What moment made him realize that he was in the wrong here? We don't know, so this feels less like growth and more like the writers throwing in a scene to shut up fans who were still complaining about Adrien's terrible advice even though it had been four real world years since he actually gave it.

There's also the issue that Adrien tells Marinette, "making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy." This line implies that Adrien's goal is to help Lila change. The problem is that we never see him do that. He doesn't try to help Lila. The most we get is him making a deal with Lila to protect Marinette, but that's not him helping Lila change. He doesn't approach that conversation as if he's trying to help Lila see that what she did was wrong. He approaches it as if he knows that she won't change. It's less trying to make Lila a better person and more a deal with the devil:

Adrien: (sits next to Lila) I warned you once already, Lila, but you didn't listen. You hurt my friend Marinette, and that's not okay. Lila: Me? Hurting Marinette? But she's the one who- Adrien: I don't know how to prove you lied, Lila, because you're good at it. So you'll just have to come up with another lie, just as convincing. Only this time it's gonna prove Marinette's innocent. Lila: Why would I do that, Adrien? Adrien: Because we're friends, aren't we?

Minor Chloe rant incoming:

This is yet another situation where it would be so much better for the show if Adrien had actually done something to help Chloe change and succeeded. If he did that, thought it was a good path for everyone, and then tried to do the same thing for Lila, then this could have been a really great way to set him up for dealing with his dad. To teach him that you can only help people who want to be better without having everyone he tries to help stay "evil" as that's pretty depressing. As-is, we've literally seen him say that Chloe will never change so why does he believe that Lila can change? They're not portraying him as an optimist, they're portraying him as delusional. Terrible writing. Zero stars.

Rant over.

By the way, the above quote was the 24th episode of season three, roughly two seasons before Adrien's apology to Marinette. If he's viewing Lila as the devil here, then this should be where we get that apology. Or Adrien should approach this as him trying to make Lila better and Lila should play along, making Adrien think that he's right and that he's helping her change. Either approach would be better than the nonsense canon gave us.

In a well written show, this would all go down over the course of a single season or even just a few episodes. As-is, the season five apology feels like too little too late. What little kid is going to be able to follow this "character arc" and learn the lesson that Adrien maybe sort of learned? Casual viewers will likely not even remember that Adrien gave Marinette bad advice back at the start of season three because why would they? This is not how you do a good subplot. It's almost as drawn out as the Gabriel plot and that's insane! A subplot is supposed to be a short story within the story so that things feel like they're moving forward.

[sassyduckqueen]

The Price of A Wish

Villain Luka au done! It was fun to write and surprisingly no Lila salt in this lol Anyway hope you enjoy it :D

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

Tears rolled down Luka's cheeks as he just stared blankly at the wall. He was sat on a bed in the small room of the Orphanage that he and his sister had been moved to after his father's arrest five months ago. Not even a week later, his mother fell sick and ended up in a coma which she hadn't woken up from. Luckily, Juleka and him hadn't been split up and he had a plan in motion.  As soon as he turned eighteen, he would get custody of Juleka and they would change their names and leave Paris forever, However, she began to show signs of schizophrenia, claiming that this world wasn't real. She had been drugged up to her eyeballs and babbled about the "real" world. Luka had tried to calm her down and tried to tell her that she was sick but she insisted she wasn't. Over the last few months, she just got worst. She told him a bad cat had made a wish and how a bug needed to save the world but he didn't understand what she meant. However, that no longer mattered because Juleka was gone. A week ago, she had managed to escape and had gone missing. Luka had tried to find her but he couldn't. Every day he looked for her but never found her. Today had been no difference at first. However, he had seen a crowd gathered around the Eiffel tower. Curiosity got the better of him and he walked over. He regretted it. Lying on the floor and in a puddle of blood was Juleka. He screamed and broke through the crowd, rushing to her side. The police had grabbed him because he could reach her as he screamed her name. They took him aside and he told them who she was. That was six hours ago but as if that wasn't bad enough, he got even worse news. The hospital had declared Anarka dead and switched her off life support. In less then a week, he had gone from having a loving family to losing everyone. His mother and sister were dead and his father was locked away in a secure prison after been arrested for terrorism. Luka didn't understand it. Jagged wasn't a perfect man but he was definitely not a terrorist. He was a rockstar for crying out loud or at least that what he believed... but apparently, he was the man who was the supervillain Hawkmoth. Luka didn't want to admit it. He really didn't but the evidence was there and Jagged had admitted it himself. As a result, Luka lost everything. His friends turned their backs on him, saying they couldn't be friends with the son of a supervillain and his grandfather, the only living relative he had left, refused to adopt him for the same reason after his mother's death. It's how he ended up here with Juleka but part of him wondered that if Jagged been the supervillain was part of the reason why Juleka killed herself, though she insisted he wasn't. Either way, it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore. It didn't matter that he was eighteen in a month's time or that he was alone. It didn't matter that his friends were gone and he had no family. Nothing mattered anymore and it would never matter again. Someone knocked on the door as he continued to stare. It opened and a woman walked in, frowning a little as she saw him. She didn't want him there but he had no where else to go. However, seeing him just staring with tear stains on his cheeks made her heart hurt a little. He didn't even acknowledge her as she walked over, holding a parcel.

  "Luka..." She stated, hoping for some reaction. Nothing. He didn't even blink. He just stared at the wall. He hadn't eaten or moved from that spot since he got brought back by the police. "You have a parcel..."

  Again, nothing so she sighed and put it on his bed before walking out and closing the door behind her. Luka slowly moved his head and looked over at it before picking it up. He tore off the paper and opened it, revealing two hexagon shaped boxes. Once again, curiosity got the better of him and he opened one of them, causing a purple ball of light to appear. He dropped the box as he stared at it before it formed a small butterfly like creature. He glanced down at the box and picked it up, seeing a butterfly shaped brooch inside. He looked up at the little creature and blinked.

"What are you?" He asked in an emotionless voice.

  "My name is Nooroo," It replied quietly. "I'm the kwami of transmission and I grant the power to create superpowered heroes..."

  "Heroes," Luka stated bitterly. "There are no heroes,"

  Nooroo looked at him as he put the box on the side and went back to staring at the wall.

  "M-Master?" He asked, causing Luka to glance at him. "A-Are you ok?"

  Luka blinked in surprise. No one had asked him that. Not when his father got arrested, not when his mother fell ill or when his sister killed herself. No one cared about him but this little creature was asking. He sat up and cupped him in his hands.

  "No... I'm not ok, Nooroo," He answered as his eyes filled with tears. "But thank you for asking me. You're the only person who has... and please don't call me Master. My name is Luka,"

  "Luka..." Nooroo repeated before gasping. "As in Luka Couffaine?!"

  "You... know me?" Luka asked, confused. Nooroo nodded. "How do you know me?"

  "You were Silencer, Truth and Viperion," He answered, making Luka blink. Silencer, Truth and Viperion.... why didn't they sound so familiar? "My old master Hawkmoth made you into Silencer and Truth... which I'm sorry about,"

  "My father made me into them?! What about Viperion?" He asked, wondering if this could get any worst. However, Nooroo looked confused. "Nooroo?"

  "Viperion was your hero name... but Gabriel Agreste is your father?!" Nooroo gasped, surprising Luka as well as himself. He shouldn't have been able to say his name but he had been able to. Did that mean he was no longer under the Agreste family's control?

  "No... my father is Jagged Stone. He was arrested for been hawkmoth and admitted to it," He explained, shocking Nooroo, who began to mumble. "But... Nooroo, are you saying Jagged wasn't Hawkmoth?"

  "He wasn't Hawkmoth," Nooroo gasped. "Duusu can confirm that too,"

  "Duusu?" Luka asked before grabbing the other box and opening it. A blue light burst free and moved around before a peacock like creature appeared. It stretched and looked at him.

  "Hello, new master!" It chirped, making Luka blink. "I'm Duusu, the kwami of emotion!! I can grant the power to make senticreatures!!"

  "Ok but I need to know something," He stated, making Duusu blink at him. "Who was Hawkmoth?"

  "Oh, well that was Gabriel Agreste and his assistant, Nathalie, was my master. She became Mayura. Oh and Hawkmoth became Shadow Moth when he merged me and Nooroo!"

  "... My father is innocent!" Luka gasped, standing up. "We can clear his name and I can live with him!"

  "Luka," Nooroo stated, making Luka look at him. "We can't,"

  "Why not?"

  "Because he admitted it," Nooroo explained, causing Luka to stare at him. 

  "But you can tell them he isn't!" He gasped before frowning as Nooroo and Duusu looked guilty. Like they knew something he didn't. "Nooroo? Duusu? What aren't you telling me?"

  "Something doesn't feel right," Duusu whispered, looking around fearfully. "This world feels..."

  "Wrong," Nooroo added in, making Luka frown before he fluttered over and lifted Luka's wrist. "You're not wearing your miraculous..."

  "My what?"

  "The snake miraculous. It was entrusted to you by Ladybug," Nooroo replied, making Luka frown. What is a miraculous? And who is Ladybug? "You... don't know what I mean do you?"

  "I don't..." Luka replied, frowning. "Who is Ladybug? What's a miraculous?"

  Nooroo sighed and turned to Duusu, who was playing with their flippers.

  "It must be the wish..." She gasped, worried. "But surely, Hawkmoth didn't win? I'm sure he was defeated,"

  "Gabriel was... maybe someone else made a wish...." Nooroo gasped, looking down before shaking his head. "We need to restore his memories,"

  "My memories?" Luka asked but before he could say something else, Nooroo and Duusu flew over to him and placed their hands on the side of his head. His eyes glazed over in purple as his mind began to flood with images. He reminded his time as Viperion, as Truth and as Silencer. He reminded his mother's akumatization and his sister's. He remembered Heroes day and seeing Hawkmoth on TV. And that was definitely not his father. His mind filled with all of the experiences he had forgotten. Kitty Sections, Been a hero, Miracle Queen, playing his violin in front of a crowd, making friends with Kagami and Marc and Marinette. He had forgotten Marinette. Tears filled his eyes as he remembered the love he held for her and how she loved him but then a new memory surfaced and it was the worst. Rage filled him as he saw Adrien Agreste overpower Ladybug and take her earrings, revealing Marinette. He broke free from the akuma and when to reset his timer but the akuma grabbed him as Adrien stated that he could fix the world now, his mother would be ok and his father would be free from been Hawkmoth. He had the nerve to smile as he said they could finally be a family again and that he and his lady would be together forever. Marinette begged him not to but Adrien ignored her, stating he would take away all of her burdens. They could finally be together like they were meant to be... but she was with Luka. She was his girlfriend and Adrien intended to steal her but worst then that, he intended to make a wish to bring his mother back and to free his father from been hawkmoth. Marinette begged him still, telling him a price would be paid but then Adrien said something that hurt everyone. He stated that he didn't care. Luka screamed as he watched Adrien combine the two miraculous and make his wish before a light engulfed him and everyone in the room. He gasped as Nooroo and Duusu pulled away, tears rolling down his cheek. "He... Adrien... He betrayed us..."

  He let out a scream and just began to destroy almost everything in his path, trashing the room before he finally sunk down to his knees and sobbed. Nooroo and Duusu flew over, hugging him.

  "H-His wish... it was for his mother, his father and for Marinette to forget wasn't it?" He asked, looking up at them as they nodded. "Is that why my mother is dead, my father in jail and my sister driven mad from memories of the real world?"

  "I'm afraid so," Nooroo replied, looking down. "A price must be paid for the wish to come true... Adrien got his family back but you lost yours,"

  Luka shook from the tears and anger before he stood up, making the two kwamis look at him.

  "Can it be undone?" He asked in a cold voice. Nooroo slowly nodded. "How?"

  "You would need the miraculous of the ladybug and the black cat. The kwamis could reverse the wish and restore the world to just before it was made," He explained, making Luka nod. "But we don't know where it is. They're properly with the guardian who may or may not be in Paris. That's why Hawkmoth created supervillains. He wanted to force them out,"

  "Then we'll do the same," Luka declared, making Nooroo and Duusu gasp before he looked at them. "But I won't force you... I'm not Hawkmoth,"

  Duusu looked at Nooroo, who bit his lip. Part of him didn't want to be used by a villain again but they could also fix the world back to how it was. It wasn't fair that Luka lost everything so Adrien could regain what he had lost. That was cruel and not a solution. It was just passing on his pain to someone else.

  "We will help you..." Nooroo declared, making Luka nod and whisper thank you. "But what about Adrien?"

  "Well... it will take awhile to get the miraculous right?" Luka asked, smirking as they nodded. "Then I'll use that time to torment him. This is his fault after all,"

  He picked up the pins and put them on.

  "Now... how do I transform?"

  Six Month Later

  "Don't be bemused, it's just the news," Nadja Chamack stated as she smiled at the camera. She was stood outside of a parade celebrating one year of been free from Hawkmoth. "It's been exactly one year since Jagged Stone was arrested and found guilty of been Hawkmoth and since our heroes retired. Earlier in the week, a fluke happened where Miss Bourgeois once again somehow ended up Akumatized but this seems to be a one time thing. Experts have theorized that it might have been a stray akuma that Hawkmoth left behind but luckily new heroes Harlequin and Kuro Neko turned up and saved the day. However, one does wonder what happened to the original Ladybug and Chat Noir-"

  A huge roar suddenly echoed, cutting her off before a beast of a creature landed on the balloon of Ladybug, making Nadja and the film crew look over. It resembled a giant snake that seemed to be themed around the snake hero.

  "Um is this part of the parade?" She asked as the figure jumped down from it and stood up straight. He didn't look like part of the show either. He was tall and had a blue hooded cape that faded into peacock green. It also resembled a peacock's tail. Under his hood, Nadja could make out blue and purple hair. His skin was a cold shade of blue and he wore a purple and black butterfly mask. His shirt was a dark purple and his waistcoat was a lighter purple that resembled butterfly wings. His pants were a midnight blue and his boots were black combat boots. His eyes were the worst though. They were pink with lilac  sclera but they were completely void like he had no soul. In his hand was a cane and attached to his hip was a feathered fan. He spun his cane down as his cape flapped in the wind.

  "People of Paris!! Listen carefully!! Queen Wasp wasn't a fluke or a stray akuma from Hawkmoth! She was merely a test run for me!" He shouted, causing everyone to film him. "I am Aglais, Hawkmoth's successor!! Harlequin, Kuro Neko! Give me your miraculous and bring me Adrien Agreste! Do this and I'll ensure the safety of Paris! You have five minutes to give into my demands or I'll make Paris wish they only had to deal with Hawkmoth again,"

  "Nadja Chamack here and first on the scene! A new supervillain calling himself has just turned up, threatening Paris if the miraculous of the ladybug and black cat aren't delivered to him, along with teenage heartthrob Adrien Agreste!" She gasped as Aglais stroked the snake's neck. He knew five minutes wasn't enough time and he knew that the heroes wouldn't give in to his demands but that was the point. He smirked as the two heroes landed on the building opposite as the cameras filmed.

  "No Agreste I see!" He shouted back as the two heroes jumped over to him. "Pity. I didn't want to terrorize anyone,"

  "Surrender your miraculous and you won't have to," Harlequin stated, holding out his hand. "You don't have to do this,"

  "Cute," He chuckled, smirking. "But I do. Agreste needs to pay for his misdeeds. Basilisk, you know what to do,"

  The snake hissed and jumped over the heroes, making them look at it as it fell to the ground. Kuro Neko rolled her eyes as they turned to the villain.

  "Your pet just killed itself," She stated, making Aglais smile a little. "You lost your advantage,"

  "Did I?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as they heard a cracking noise. "Unlike my predecessor, I have a much more creativity mind. Did you know senticreatures can grow and evolve?"

  "Senticreatures?" Kuro Neko asked before her eyes flicked down to his brooches. She gasped and turned back to Basilisk who had been growing and reforming. "He has the peacock miraculous!"

  People began to scream as Basilisk tripled in size, roaring out.

  "A sentimonster!" Harlequin gasped.

  "No, it's a senticreature," Aglais corrected, making them growl. "And the nightmare is just beginning!! Hydra! Attack!!"

  Hydra growled and began to fire beams at people, freezing them in place and causing more people to panic and scream as Aglais laughed like a maniac. The two heroes jumped down and started to fight it. They managed to cut off it's head but to their horror, two more grew back, allowing it to attack them and freeze more people.

  "Another interesting fact! I can create more than one senticreature. Monarch!!! Come to me!!" He declared as a large butterfly flew over. He jumped up and landed on it. "You see... while I planned all of this, I made sure to learn all that I could about my miraculous. Something Hawkmoth didn't do. And as a result, I learnt how to do things he couldn't! Such as creating a swarm of akumas!!"

  "What?!" Harlequin gasped as Aglais lifted his cane, causing a humming sound to echo before a swarm of akumas descended on them and the crowd. They entered items of the frozen victims and panicked people, turning them into villains.

  "Capture the heroes!" He ordered, causing the villains and Hydra rushed at them. Aglais smirked as the heroes to fight them. With them distracted, he directed his butterfly over to one of the tv stations helicopters. He stepped inside and smirking as the passagers shook in fear. "Now for the one person who can get me what I want! Come here!!!"

  He roughly grabbed the camera man as he filmed and smirked at it.

  "Agreste!! Calling Adrien Agreste!!!" He laughed, holding him. "I know you're watching, Adrien so I have a deal for you! Meet me where it all began and I'll spare Paris!! You have six hours to do this and if you don't.... well, I think you can imagine what I'm gonna do to Paris if you refuse my demands. Oh and bring Marinette with you!! She deserves to know what kind of monster she is with! See you soon, Kitty Cat!!!"

  He shoved the camera man back against the seat and jumped back on his butterfly before it flew off with him looking down at the battle. Harlequin and Kuro Neko were doing well but he couldn't let them win. He opened the connection with a sentimonster as he stared at them.

  "Rosier, time to grow," He ordered, causing a number of vines to suddenly burst through the roads, wrapping around anyone that wasn't akumatized. A number of large flowers appeared and began to shake, creating a pink smog to appear. Those who weren't akumatized or captured began to fall down asleep, including the heroes. More vines and flowers burst through, wrapping around the heroes and dragging them inside two large roses. The petals wrapped around them and pulled them underground as Aglais smirked. "Capture Adrien's friends as well. I want him to know what he did,"

  Rosier grew more large roses before capturing the rest of Miss Bustier's class, dragging them underground as well. With the parade in chaos, supervillains running around and the heroes captured, Aglais laughed and opened a connection to every villain he had created.

  "Descend on Agreste manor!" He declared, pointing his cane in his direction. The arm of villains headed towards there with Hydra following as Aglais placed his cane onto his back and moved so he was sat on the butterfly, flying it towards the manor. It was where it all began after all.

  ~Adrien's POV~

  "Are you sure about this Adrien?" Marinette asked as he walked into the manor. He turned to her and gave her a soft smile. "We shouldn't give in to a villain's demands,"

  "It will be ok, mi'lady," He stated, taking her hand in his. "I promise. Remember me and you against the world,"

  "Of course," She smiled, having no idea what that once meant to her. Now it was just part of her relationship with Adrien. She linked their fingers and followed him inside. The two of them walked through the empty manor. Adrien couldn't help but worry for his father and mother as they had lived there, meaning that they were in direct danger. He let go of Marinette's hand and rushed to his father's office, pushing open the doors. He was hoping to that his father was in there, designing with his mother but he wasn't. Marinette caught up to him before placing her hand on his shoulder as he began to release the seriousness of the situation. He glanced over to his mother's portrait and gasped as he saw a massive hole in where Hawkmoth's secret lift was. He walked over to it, followed by Marinette and saw a staircase made from vines going down into darkness. Taking a deep breathe, the two of them walked down into the butterfly garden. Marinette gasped as she looked around. It made sense that this garden belonged to Hawkmoth but why was it underneath Agreste Manor? That made no sense. "Adrien, where are we?"

  "Father's butterfly garden," He replied, looking around. He had hope that he would never find himself here again. It was a place that he never wanted to see again but it was almost exactly the same as the last time he saw it. Only this time instead of one casket in the middle, there was two and there were huge roses and vines everywhere. Adrien frowned and subconsciously stroked his ring, wishing he had kept his miraculous now. A hissing noise made him and Marinette gasp as Hydra came out from the shadows before Monarch fluttered down towards the caskets. Marinette instantly grabbed onto his arm as a number of akumatized villains walked out of the shadows before a black rose burst from the ground and opened up, revealing Aglais sat on it like a throne. "I'm here so let my family go,"

  "All in good time, Adrien," Aglais replied, standing up. Vines moved over and turned into stairs as he walked down them. "But first... let's catch up,"

  "Catch up?" Adrien asked, confused. He didn't know this villain. "Why would I want to catch up with you? I don't even know you,"

  "Oh but you do," Aglais replied, walking over to them. "You and I go way back, Adrien. In fact, we use to be on the same side... until you decided to betray everyone,"

  "I.. I don't know what you're talking about," He answered, failing to notice the vine slipping around his ankle and getting closer to his wrists. "And I don't know you! I don't get what you want with me. I haven't done anything to you!"

  "You haven't done anything to me?" Aglais repeated, making Adrien look at him in slightly annoyance before Aglais began to laugh. "Adrien, Adrien... if only that was true..."

  "What?" Adrien gasped, not expecting that answer. "I'm not lying! I didn't do anything-"

  "You are the reason why my family are gone!" Aglais suddenly roared, causing the vines to suddenly wrap around Adrien like a snake. Marinette gasped and stepped back in fear as they tightened around him, cutting into him and causing him to gasp in pain. "Painful, isn't it Adrien? Well, that is nothing compared to the pain you have caused me,"

  A vine moved down to Aglais, causing him to stroke it.

  "Do you know what it's like to lose the people you love?" He asked, glancing over to him before Adrien cried out in pain. Physically, he wasn't injured but it felt like someone had reached into his chest and tore out his heart before crushing it. "It felt like that, Adrien and it was all because of you!"

  "How did I-"

  "You took everything from me when you made that damn wish!" Aglais screamed, shocking Adrien. No one should have known about that wish apart from him. "That's right, Kitty Cat. I remember the world before this one,"

  "H-How?"

  "Nooroo and Duusu restored my memories," He replied, walking over to him. "But... I am nothing but a fair man so I will give you a chance to prove to me that you don't deserve to be punished. I will ask you two questions and you answer them..."

  "Fine. I'll answer your questions but you have to answer mine too," Adrien replied, making Aglais smile coldly.

  "I forgot how much the little kitty likes to play with his games," He teased. "But very well, I'll play your game. We both get two questions. If you answer mine correctly and I'll let your family go,"

  "You will?" Adrien asked, hoping to distract him until Ladybug and Chat Noir got there. It was one of the things about this new world that he was beginning to regret. When he shaped it, he gave the miraculous to someone else. He thought they would never appear again because there was no hawkmoth in this world. Well, Hawkmoth had existed but he had made sure his father didn't get arrested for it. Aglais chuckled and pressed his cane against Adrien's neck. The expression on his face was unreadable as Adrien nervously looked around.

  "How cute.... You think Harlequin and Kuro Neko will save you?" He asked, smirking. "They won't. I already captured them,"

  Two giant roses burst from the ground and unwrapped showing the two heroes asleep inside. Adrien frowned to himself. That wasn't suppose to happen.

  "They weren't the same as the originals," Aglais sighed. "First question...

  "Wait what do I get if you answer my questions correctly,"

  "My real identity," He grinned, making Adrien frown. "So did you know about the price when you made the wish?"

  "I... I didn't..." Adrien lied, causing Aglais to narrow his eyes. He wouldn't know he was lying... right? "I swear I had no idea,"

  "Liar," He snarled, clicking his fingers. The vines tightened, cutting into his skin and causing him to scream and gasp for more air. Marinette gasped in fear as she watched but made no move to help him. Adrien, however, just assumed she was scared. "Really, Adrien. I knew you were dumb but you should know better then to lie to an empath,"

  "E-Empath?!" He gasped, making him chuckle. "You're an empath?"

  "A natural gift but it's amplified by my miraculous," Aglais replied, flicking the butterfly lightly. "Now for question number two and don't lie this time..."

  "Wait but I didn't ask my first question!"

  "Actually you just did," Aglais replied, smirking. "Now for my second question... did you think of anyone but yourself when you decide to make the wish?"

  "I t-thought about my family and mi'lady," He replied, making Aglais narrow his eyes again. "I'm telling the truth!"

  "I know," He replied before hitting him with his cane. Adrien coughed up blood from the hit. "You are a selfish bastard, Agreste. You only thought of yourself and your family. You didn't think about what Ladybug wanted or what price would be paid. You didn't care that she didn't love you or want to be with you. You had to erase her memory just to make her love you but that's not even the worst thing you did. No, the worst part is you took everything from me! The girl I love, my mother, my father and my sister! All of my friends turned against me. My own grandfather wants nothing to do with me and it's all because of you! All of my pain can be traced back to you!!"

  He stopped shouting and smoothed down his waistcoat.

  "Looks like I win the game," He muttered, making Adrien gasp. "Now for your punishment,"

  "Wait!!" Adrien gasped, making him look at him. "I still have a question! How did my wish affect you?!"

  "You really want to know?" Aglais asked, glaring at him. Adrien nodded. He knew about the price but he thought it would affect some random person on the other side of the world. Not someone in Paris. Part of him began to wonder if he knew who Aglais really was. The only person he could think could be him was Luka since his sister had killed herself recently but it couldn't be because of him and his wish. "Fine. I'll tell you. You wished for your mother to wake up so someone's mother had to go in a coma instead! And guess who's mother it was?! Mine! Of course then you wished for your father to be free from been Hawkmoth?! So my father took his place! He's in a secure prison for a crime he never did! And the last part of your wish? The part where you wished for your lady to forget everything but you so she would only love you! Well, someone else had to remember and that someone was my sister! It drove her mad, Adrien. It drove so mad that she threw herself of the Eiffel tower!! Because she couldn't deal with the burden of knowing that this world wasn't natural!"

  Adrien was speechless. He had no idea that his wish would cause this but Aglais wasn't done.

  "I remember how Ladybug begged you not to do it but you did anyway. You betrayed her and you betrayed me!" He snarled, making Adrien look at him. "I really believed you were my friend and instead you steal my girl, my life and my family! You are responsible for the pain I have suffered in this world and all because you decided to make a wish at the expense of others. You must be so proud of yourself, Adrien,"

  "I did it for my family!" He screamed suddenly, causing Marinette to gasp in shock. "I did it for her and if you were in my position, you would do the same thing! That's exactly what you're gonna do!"

  "Oh, no, Adrien. I'm going to make a wish," Aglais replied, smirking. "I am going to undo it but first... I just want you to know that your little life isn't perfect,"

  He held out his hand, causing Marinette to walk over to him. She took his hand and he smiled at her. 

  "She... you..." Adrien gasped in surprise. "She has been working with you?!"

  "No, Adrien..." He replied as another rose burst through the ground and opened, revealing the real Marinette asleep inside. She looked so peaceful as she slept. "I got to her months ago, Adrien and replaced her with Nettie here. She was the first senticreature I created when I got my miraculous,"

  Nettie looked over at him with an emotionless expression.

  "And you didn't even notice," He stated, making Adrien blink. "So much for loving your lady hm?"

  "You bastard!"

  "Yes but only because you made me this way," He replied, turning on his heel and walking over. "Now it's time to undo all of this... I hope you enjoyed what little freedom you had, Adrien, because it is over now,"

  He plucked the ring and earrings from Harlequin and Kuro Neko, turning them back into Kagami and Marc before he walked into the centre and put on their miraculous, causing Tikki and Plagg to manifest. Adrien flinched as Plagg glared at him with hatred before turning to Aglais.

  "The wish comes-" Tikki started but he shook his head.

  "No, I don't want to make a wish," He stated, making her blink. "I want to undo it. I have gathered everyone who was there when it made and we're in the same place where it originally happened.... so please... undo it..."

  "If that's what you want," Plagg replied before the two of them spun around together and merged, becoming one kwami. It had three eyes and was black and white in coloring.

  "I am Null," It stated. "Tell me your wish,"

  "I don't wish for anything," He stated, causing Null to stare at him. "Instead, I ask you to undo Adrien's wish..."

  "Is that what you want?"

  "Yes," Aglais answered, nodding.

  "Very well," Null replied before glowing. Adrien screamed as the light consumed him and fell forward as he dropped the two miraculous. Marinette was reaching out to him, along with the other miraculous holders but they were completely still, like time wasn't moving. Aglais was gone and Viperion stood in his place, looking angry. All of them looked black and white before Null finally appeared in front of him. "Your wish has been undone,"

  "No! Please!" He gasped but Null disappeared and everyone began to move again. He looked up at Marinette as she moved over to him. He went to say something but to his surprise, she punched him and grabbed the miraculous from him as Viperion freed himself from the akuma and grabbed his arms, restraining him. "No! Let me go!"

  "How dare you betray me like that?!" She screamed, tears in her eyes. "How dare you?!"

  "I was just trying to save my family!" He screamed back but his mind flashed back to the previous world. "I didn't know it would cause so much pain! I'm sorry!"

  Marinette narrowed her eyes.

  "Sorry isn't good enough," She declared, ripping the butterfly miraculous of him as well. "As guardian of the miraculous, I hereby revoke the miraculous of the black cat and the butterfly from you,"

  "No! Please, mi'lady!" He cried, begging her. "I did it for us!"

  "There is no us!" She screamed, making him blink in surprise. "There never was! I never loved you and I never will! I'm with Luka! Not you!!"

  "B-But we're-" She punched him, knocking him out before he could say anything more. When he woke up, he found himself in a small cell. However, small rose vines appeared in the walls, making him gasp before a butterfly appeared in his cuffs.

  "Hello, Adrien..." Aglais' voice muttered, making his blood run cold before nothing but pain raided his body. His nightmare wasn't over yet. In fact, it never would be. Not for him.

[majorsoapfan]

Umbrella Academy Season 3 Wish list

This is a long one so buckle up:

Let Klaus and Allison take centre-stage this season in leading the plot. Both are incredible characters and deserve the chance to shine. And I can think of several reasons why they deserve the chance to take centre-stage: out of the whole Academy their powers are some of the most fascinating and in Klaus’ case he has so many that haven’t been revealed yet. They’ve both suffered and lost a lot as well, particularly in season 2 and their hardships tend to get ignored by others. Their relationship together is already really interesting and supportive and they would be an awesome team up. There’s more but I’ll be here forever if I tried to list them.

No Apocalypse. The world ending in eight days was a great plot driver in season 1 and again in season 2 with the reveal that the end of the world actually followed the Umbrella’s back in time. But if the same thing gets repeated over and over then I’m worried that the show will lose it’s edge as a result. In order for the characters to develop new crisis's need to take its place.

Let Five have a rest. Even if it’s just for an episode or two so he can get a solid eight hours sleep if nothing else. For the last two seasons Five has been running around non-stop trying to stop the end of the world and save his family. Without that Five can grow as a person and get a literal break that he really hasn’t gotten in 45 years.

Oh course that doesn’t mean I want Five out of the drama entirely and I do expect to see Reginald and Five scenes in season 3. Five is the only one of his original children that the bastard seemed to tolerate and he did seem to have some form of twisted respect for Five as well. And I wouldn’t put it past the monocle monster to have some twisted plans in store for the eldest member of the Umbrella Academy. He’s had fifty years to plan for the Umbrella’s return after all.

The Sparrows. I just saw the line up of the Sparrows for season three and I am honestly so interested. I can’t wait to see what their powers are like and I already have some ideas. They have so much potential and hopefully they’ll be done well. And so far they seem to be written as the Umbrella’s foils. Marcus is a natural leader who loves his family, while Luther forces himself into the role and alienated his family as a result. Both Ben and Diego long to be the leader but while Diego is more emotional, Ben’s more strategic. Five is driven by his love and desire to protect his family, while Sloane feels held back by hers. Vanya was treated as an outcast and betrayed her siblings trust while Christopher, a literal Cube, is said to be loyal and is treated as a loved family member 

That being said though, I don’t want the Sparrows to be the main focus this season or have the attention split between them and the Umbrella’s. Because while I do want to see the Sparrows and their family dynamic and how they interact with the Umbrella’s, I would prefer to see how the Umbrella Hargreeves’ cope with their existent and how this impacts them and how they move forward with this. Or a team up between Sparrows and Umbrella’s would be fine. Or multiple team ups, I’m not picky.

There is a really good fan theory out there about Klaus and Five being twins and while I know that in the comics it’s Luther and Five, the fan theory in season 3 would be so much better in my opinion. And in all honesty it makes so much more sense. Physically they are strikingly similar, especially as children. Their powers both concentrate in their hands and emit a blue glow when they use them. Their powers themselves are literally time and death, which are linked and they have additive personalities, which can be inherited between family members. And I can’t help but feel that this moment:

lends a new level to their relationship then what we see with them as adults. Look at how alike they are! And that fond smile that Five is giving Klaus? Making them twins opens up a wide range of possibilities for Klaus and Five both character and plot wise.

Give Luther a proper love interest. And I can’t believe that this even has to be said but his sister does not count! Literally all of siblings have have romantic interests, all of them so important in the Umbrella’s life in some way or another. It would be nice too to see Luther form a healthy romantic connection for the first time in his life.

While I’m on the subject of Luther and healthy relationships, it also brings me back to the Sparrows and how their number one Marcus seems to be Luther’s foil. And it would be interesting for the show to explore just how seeing the Sparrows and someone so similar to Luther might just affect him. He did spend thirty years of his life after all being Reginald’s little solider and believing that his position as Number One made him the family leader only to find out it was all for nothing. Only Marcus seems to be respected in his position as leader and loves his family dearly, while Luther was mocked and seems to have driven all of his siblings bar Allison away from him because of it. This has incredible potential for Luther’s character arc this season especially if it makes him acknowledge his behaviour to his siblings as they were growing up; particularly to Klaus and Vanya who probably got the worst of it. Allison after all was his closest companion, Diego was his rival (more or less), Ben seemingly got on with everyone and Five would have bitten Luther’s head off if he tried anything. But Reginald’s disappointments Klaus and Vanya? Luther, wanting to impress their dad and follow his orders probably didn’t treat them the best. And I want Luther to admit that and apologise and make the next step in becoming a better person and brother. He’s made incredible progress in season 2, but I don’t want his past treatment of his siblings to be swept under the rug. It needs to be acknowledged and Luther needs to admit it was wrong so he can grow. 

Can we get Diego’s season one hair back too? I wondered just how it got that long considering that he was only in the sixties for around three months. Klaus makes sense as he was in the sixties for years. Plenty of time for him to grow it out, not really for Diego. But I really prefer his season one hair so can it make a comeback please?

What I want to see for Vanya this season is for her to realize that she doesn’t need powers to be special. I kinda noticed that she seems to have defined her worth on her powers and that’s not healthy. So a potential scenario: Reginald seems to have made the power-suppressing drug himself, so he may still have it in season 3. Imagine Vanya getting a dose of it that knocks her powers out for a good chunk of time and in the meantime some of her siblings are in danger (I’m picturing Luther and Diego here the himbos) and she ends up saving them. Not with her powers but because of her intelligence and other skills that she has and she realizes that she doesn’t need her powers to be special or to save the day. A logical step in character growth.

Getting some closure on season 2 character like Sissy, Ray, Grace, the Cult (which I really didn’t like) and the Swede and what happened to them once the Umbrella’s left the sixties. And maybe finding out what happened to season one’s characters since the Umbrella’s didn’t exist in this timeline: Agnes, Patch, Leonard, Pogo, Claire.

For Klaus and Umbrella Ben to talk about their issues and make up. I know that our Ben is now up there with the little girl in the sky but that has not stopped Klaus from visiting heaven before. And I think that if Klaus and Ben do not get at least one final conversation to talk through their issues next season then I will sue. They both did crappy things to each other in season two but they both love each other dearly and they deserve the chance to get the closure they both need. I think that Klaus will definitely need it in order to move on completely.

I know I said no Apocalypse but I’m still going to be expecting some major crisis to happen during the last few episodes. An alien invasion or Sparrows trying to kill the Umbrella's maybe? But no matter what the problem is, I really want Klaus to get his moment to shine by being the one to save the day. Reginald said himself that Klaus has untapped potential and we know thanks to the comics what other powers he has. And thanks to Ben’s antics at the family dinner the old bastard has probably written him off as useless and not a threat when making plans to deal with the Umbrella’s. Which means nobody is going to be looking at Klaus or considering him a potential threat to their plans, leaving Klaus relatively safe to start exploring and enhancing his powers. He was supposed to be the one to have done it in season one with the moon and his abilities were brushed to the side completely in season two or used for Ben’s benefit so I think he’s long overdue his moment to shine. And maybe then will the rest of his siblings stop seeing Klaus as a joke.

Lila. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her, her story felt unfinished and she does have a briefcase. She could pop at any moment in the story. She has so much potential and I did love her actress. Imagine her and Five forcing to team up or something? Or maybe her and Allison?

Another character I’d like to see return is Hazel. He’s someone who really grew on me. And there is a chance that he could return and maybe team up with the Umbrella’s this season. Potential scenarios: Five on the hunt for allies to help him restore the timeline hunts down Hazel who in this timeline is working with the Commission and because the Umbrellas don’t exist hasn’t met Agnes yet. Maybe something happened to her because of the Sparrows?

Finally Dave. I’m a huge Dave fan but I really don’t want him to show up in season three. Or if he does then for the smallest amount of time possible just to give Klaus some ‘closure’. Time travel is in the Umbrella Academy universe after all and it’s possible that by Klaus warning Dave about his faith and causing him to enlist earlier and in a different branch as a result he’s saved Dave and opened up the possibility of seeing Commission!Dave later. Which is the perfect storyline for season 4. Season three is only 10 episodes long and there’ll be a lot going on already so shoving Dave into what will already be a pretty packed season won’t give Dave the attention he deserves and will take away from the other focus. Not only that but Klaus’ motivation for the last two seasons is doing something for either Dave or Ben. I want to see Klaus train his powers either for himself or to help someone else. Also, Dave deserves the chance to grow as a character as well and making him a part of season 3 would take away from the main focus of the Umbrella’s and Sparrows. Making him a main focus in season four instead if we get one will give a great opportunity story-wise to develop both him and Klaus as individuals and as a couple.

[cassava-49]

Death 6

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 7

Marinette stood in shock when Allegra and Lindalee brought in a slowly fading Kenya. This made her run to aid her fallen friend. "No, no, please, please don't die. Wake up please, please," Marinette said as tears began rolling down her cheeks. The three girls gathered around their friend hoping for the best. With that, the door burst open to the two boys who were both in shock at the sight of their friend.

"What happened?" Claude asked with concern as he rushed to the girl's side. "We stopped Cerberus, but, but he clung to her and, and dragged her down with him," Lindalee explained in between sobs. Kenya slowly turned her head to face them all and have a weak smile, as tears trailed down her face she finally disappeared back to her body for her final moments. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Lindalee apologized as she curled herself into a ball and continued crying. "It's not your fault, honey. Calm down and take a deep breath," Allegra tried to calm the blonde down as she engulfed her into a tight hug. "It's not your fault Lindalee. It's my fault, I shouldn't have let you guys protect me, I can protect myself," Marinette claimed.

"We are helping you because we want to, you never asked us to," Felix said to her. "It's no one's fault," he added. This made Marinette stand up and looked at her friends. "Please, go to the south of the building, I'll be fine," she said sternly. "This is my fight not yours. I'll take care of myself, you take care of yourselves," she added as she looked at everyone in their eyes, channeling her long forgotten Ladybug, no, Marinette courage and confidence. "I don't want anyone to die at my cost," she told them. Everyone stared at her teary eyed, not knowing what to say or do. Felix stood up and stood in front of Marinette looking down at her with his stoic face.

"No," he said to her face without hesitation. Marinette glared at him and was about to speak until he goes first. "Listen, we know that you want us to leave you, so you could protect us. How much have you've done that? All the time you'll sacrifice yourself time after time again, until to the point where you break and no one is there to help you. We are here to help you like how you have helped us, please let us," Felix lectured. "You don't have to face this alone, like what you have been enduring for a long time," he continued as he placed his hands on her arms. "Please, we aren't going to leave you and let you sacrifice yourself. Please, I don't want to lose you too," he added as he pleaded to her.

"We're with him, we aren't letting you do this on your own," Claude supported. "You don't have to endure this by yourself. We're you friends and were here for you," Allegra added. "We will stand with you to the end, like what you will do for us. Let's not waste Kenya's sacrifice," Lindalee joined. "Please, we're not them, if that's what you're fearing," Felix added. He opened his mouth to say something, only to be tackled into a hug, stumbling slightly backwards. "Thank you," she mumbled as she held on tightly. Felix smiled and returned it.

...

Allan continued the cat and mouse chase as he tired Geryon more and more. "Come back," Geryon called, getting a little exhausted. Noticing his moves were getting weaker, he immediately phased through a wall leaving Geryon panting as he tried to catch up. Allan began laughing at its predicament, but what happened next, he couldn't expect. He watched one of its paws went through each room trying to find him. Realising his mistake, he tried to get out only to nearly get caught. He continued running through the hallway, pass the rooms that held no patients.

He continued running forgetting about something, he was getting closer to Allegra's room. He continued forward trying to find the right time to escape. He began dodging, jumping and escaping from its clutches. It finally dawned to him when he passed her room. He came to a complete stop upon realising his mistake. "No!" Allan screamed as Geryon's hand went straight into the poor girl's room.

...

"Allegra!" Claude shouted as he caught the poor girl in time. "I-I feel cold," Allegra stuttered trying to stay awake her eyes slowly closing and opening. "No, no, look at me. Don't, don't," Claude pleaded as he cupped the girl's cheeks and tried to force her to keep her eyes open. "It, it hurts. I-I... ca-can't... bre-breath," Allegra said, each word coming out breathier than the other. Her soul slowly fading and coming back. Everyone began gathering around to her and tried to give her comfort in her final moments before returning back to her body one last time.

This suddenly enraged them all. "New objective," Claude said. "We're going for the head," he said grimly. "No, we are here to-," Felix tried to reason. "No problem with me," Marinette agreed. "Wait, wasn't our-," Felix tried to reason again. "No, not anymore. Marinette has given her consent," Lindalee interrupted. "But that's-," Felix tried again. "No, Lila's been hurting too many people that I love, I'm not going to stand by this time," Marinette argued. Felix then conceded as he nodded and agreed. "She's not like any other akuma. She's vicious, quick, powerful and definitely knows her objective," Felix stated.

"So far, she doesn't know anything about the soul and their ability outside of the body, mostly if they're dead. But our biggest challenge would be her goons. Since they're demons, they can see us and kill us. I don't know how far the miraculous ladybugs could go, but let's just try not to get captured," Claude stated. "Claude and I are going to take on the Furies, keep them far from her to cut off their communication. From what we could observe, she can command and control them from a 10m radius. And given how effed up Paris is, seems like she released all the monsters she can. Since we haven't seen her create new ones," Felix began. "On our way here, we saw the heroes were close, so they're probably already battling right now. So Lindalee and Marinette, this is where you factor in. You have to make openings for the heroes. Make sure that they would be able to defeat her. If possible, take her sceptre and you would be able to end this mess. If some monsters are still there, Lindalee, I would want you to distract them and take them far off the 10m radius. Make sure that you don't get caught though. And Marinette you are going to continue helping the heroes, if possible cause a few misfortunes to her," Felix added. "What about Allan?" Marinette asked. "He's busy taking care of Geryon. He'll be fine," Claude commented.

...

"You can just give me your miraculouses and everything would be over. I have a prior arrangement after this," Castigare offered again as her furies did the dirty work for her. "Look who's asking?" Lady Luck threw back. "On your left Lucky," Monsieur Noir called. Acknowledging it, she immediately threw the demon, that was tied in her yo-yo, to the incoming one sending them both away. "We need a solution fast," Monsieur Noir commented. "We can do this, we'll just end this in five minutes," Lady Luck responded as they nodded to each other. "Lucky Charm!" she called as a box of macaroons appeared. She began looking at her surroundings only to find a blank slate.

"Hey, red heads!" Claude called. "Aren't you supposed to bring souls to hell? Well you missed some!" Felix added. This enraged them as all six eyes glared at them. "What are you idiots doing! Take their miraculouses!" Castigare shouted, getting pissed off by, yet another subordination. "There's no one there! Take their miraculouses!" she demanded.

"All souls must be thrown into the cold, dark abyss called hell," Megaera called out. "Well, I guess you have to play tag first before you take us to hell," Claude taunted. Before any of them spoke Felix shouted, "One, two, three, go!" With that they were off, the Furies chased them in hopes of giving them to Minos for judgement, leaving Castigare, who was already thrusting a temper tantrum. "Idiots! There's no one there! Why are they all chasing things that aren't there!" she screamed.

With them away, Lindalee and Marinette went to place. They casually began throwing buckets of paint at her. But for them, it seemed like out of no where all the materials began flying towards Castigare. "What kind of new miraculous is this?" Castigare demanded as she tried to shield herself from the attacks. The two heroes shrugged as if it was nothing. "Invisibility? Telekinesis? What is it?" she urged. "We didn't release any miraculous for this battle," Monsieur Noir replied. She continued glaring at him. She then realized that Lady Luck was not there. "Where is she?" she asked. He shrugged and began to run towards her with his staff ready. Noticing this, she immediately countered with her sceptre. They began to fence with each other, unaware of the their invisible allies.

Castigare kicked Monsieur Noir to the ground throwing his staff away. She pointed him on the ground, and setting her sceptre on the side and reached for his hand that had the ring. With an immediate turn of events, Geryon came flying in with Allan riding him from behind, guiding the monster towards them. This made her curse as she was thrown to the side, her back hitting the building. This knocked three monster out giving Allan ample time to get off. As he got off he looked at Marinette and Lindalee but turned away as they made eye contact. He can still feel the guilt surging through him. He had indirectly killed their friend and he can't help but feel guilty.

As he pondered he didn't realize that something was approaching from behind. "Allan! Look out!" Lindalee cried as ran towards him full speed pushing him out of the way as Geryon's swift paw crushed the young girl.

...

On the far side of the battle field a group of Furies continued to chase the two souls, who continued separated them from their master. "Stop running you damned souls!" Alecto screamed at them as she tried to claw Felix, who swiftly dodged it. "Do not make us call on Medusa," Megaera threatened as she cornered Felix. "Don't think that we don't know that you are the protectors of that beast who haa wronged our Queen," she added. "Couldn't care less," Claude retorted as he guided some dust towards the fury's eyes.

"Nice shot!" Felix complimented. Taking this as an opening, Alecto got hold of his arm and threw him to the building. This almost knocked him back to his body, and just as he thought he could move Megaera immediately restrained him by twisting his arms and placed it firmly on his back with his face on the warm cement. "Got you now you little shit," she grunted out pressing him further more into the wall.

This enraged Claude more as he shouted, "Let go of him!" But just before he could move, he felt like his heart was being torn out of his chest. He fell to his knees wheezing as he was going in and out of consciousness. He glared at the furies angrily as he saw Tisiphone flying down in front of him grabbing a fistful of his hair making him face her. "What? You didn't think that we didn't have ways with souls like you," she said with a sinister grin. "Find the body then attack, very simple isn't it," she added adjusting his head. With that she dropped him and went to the squirming Felix.

Light headed and nauseous, Claude forced himself to stand up but continued to fail miserably. No, I can't let anyone get hurt again when I can do something, he thought to himself rebidding him of his accident more and more. Get up, get up, he told himself as he continued trying to push himself up but to no avail. Losing hope he looked around and thought of the risks.

"Stop squirming you. You know that it's hopeless. Your little friend will die, Castigare will revive her and turn her to stone using Medusa and grind her into dust after we're fine torturing get," Megaera said explaining Lila's plan. "It's a shame to ruin such a pretty face," Alecto said as she was about to leave to do some damage to his unconscious body. As she was about to lift off the ground, she felt it shake. The trio then felt it get stronger but missed the debris that was about to fall onto them. They were too invested at the thought of the ground splitting open only to realize the danger was from above, as they looked up they were unable to fly away as the debris fell on top of them. This made Megaera let Felix go to cover her head. With no living matter holding onto him, he was able to phase through the building to avoid the rubble toppling over them.

Once the furies were covered with heavy construction material, Felix phased out of the building only to find Claude on his knees slowly fading away. He looked at him with wide eyes, but before any of them could saw anything, Claude's soul slowly disappeared leaving his ghostly smile etched into Felix's burning heart. He felt himself tear up as he looked down whispering, "You idiot, you wasted your final energy on me instead on yourself. You such an idiot." With almost all of his friends dead, he turned to the direction to where he left Marinette and Lindalee. With a determined look on his eyes he immediately ran towards them to save them from anymore danger.

...

"Lindalee! No!" Marinette screamed at the scene in front of her. She immediately ran towards them taking Geryon by the wing, she used her new found strength to break it. This made the beast screech from the pain as it stumbled backwards, taking its paw of the poor girl, and fell on the fence of the hospital. With it on its back, she ran to the two with a painful twist in her stomach.

"No, please don't, please survive," she said as she took the little girl's slowly fading hand. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Why did you push me out of the way? I could still live unlike you," Allan stated as he pulled her frail soul close. "Oh right, I forgot about that," Lindalee said laughing lightly. "I guess I didn't want any of my friends to die on my watch by another monster again," she replied remembering Kenya. "What do you mean?" Allan asked confused about the situation. Marinette looked at him with a bleak expression saying, "Kenya's dead, Cerberus killed her. Allegra's dead, too." This made him fuel with rage as he gave Lindalee one last look as he got up and went to Geryon with a murderous look in his eyes. "Look away you two. I don't think I would be able to do this if either of you are watching," he stated as he aimed for Geryon.

"Get up, you lazy sack of meat. Get up and protect me," Castigare commanded once she got hold of her sceptre. But to no avail, the creature was unable to move for that matter. It seemed as if he was stuck in his place slowly choking as if a noose was around its neck. "You worthless minion!" she shouted as she stalked her way towards Marinette's room. "You'll get your jewels Hawkmoth, just let me do this while those two trouble makers are out of the way, for now," she told him coldly.

Hearing this Marinette turned her head as she watched the akuma ever the building. She felt a tug on her sleeve to find Lindalee smiling softly at her mouthing, "Go, I'll be fine. I'm not alone, I can feel Kenya and Allegra with me. Go now, before it's too late." Marinette nodded as she felt the tears flow down her cheeks. She set the girl on the ground as she faded back to her body.

"Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The time of reckoning had finally arrived," Castigare said as she entered the said person's room. "Who are you? Get out," Rolland said to her. "You must be her grandfather, a pleasure to meet you," she answered with a sickening voice as she pushed the old man away. But to her displeasure, she found the bed empty. She glared at our as she turned to the old man, "Where is she?" she asked menacingly. Rolland spat on her face and said, "Over my dead body. I'm never going to tell you where my granddaughter is."

This enraged her more, but as she was about to punch the old man, a yo-yo wrapped around her hand stopping her from hurting the man. Enraged by this intrusion, she pulled it towards her. Bad idea, since Lady Luck is very much armed with knowledge of almost all of the martial arts, instead of being limply dragged towards her, she got hit in the nose by the the girl's feet. "You want Marinette? Follow me," Lady Luck offered. "Why should I? For all I know it could be a trap," Castigare retorted cautiously. "Your loss," the hero taunted. "No tricks, no games," Castigare stated. "No tricks, no games," the girl parroted.

...

Felix arrived at the area only to find it completely deserted, expect for the passed out Geryon and an out of breath Allan. "Allan," he called out. "Where's Lindalee and Marinette?" he asked. Allan walked down the beast and approached the blond asking, "Where's Claude?" Felix looked the other way and said, "Gone, sacrificed himself for me." This made Allan twitch as he looked at the spot where Lindalee was. "Where's Marinette and Lindalee?" Felix asked again. Allan looked at him with a blank expression saying, "Lindalee got crushed by Geryon."

This made Felix's eyes widen with the news of another death. "And Marinette?" he asked looking down contemplating. "In the morgue," Allan replied. This made him face the boy and grabbed his shirt. "Wooh, wooh, that's not what I meant. I heard the doctors and nurses say that they had to keep her there since they got a call from Lady Luck and she has a plan," he quickly explained. This made Felix relax as he let him go, but quickly remembered the fury's words.

"I almost forgot, Megaera told me Lila's plan," he said as he continued to explain. Allan began to contemplate on it trying to find a solution. "I have an idea, I don't care about the risk any more," Felix said as he told him the plan. This made Allan's eyes widen as he looked at his friends with disbelief. "No, no, I'm not going to let you do that. I'm not going to risk it, not to mention almost all our friends are dead," Allan replied. "It's the only way I could think of. Please trust me on this, it's the only way. And I have nothing to lose," Felix stated. Allan sighed and gave in as he said a silent prayer. "Alright, let's try it," he finally said.

The two boys then went to Felix's room, which was luckily empty. "Are you sure about this?" Allan asked hesitantly. "Just do it," Felix demanded. With that Allan possessed Felix's body making him wake up, but sadly, he woke up in pain. Trying to stay awake without altering any of the nurses. He felt Felix's presence as he caused a swift breeze passed the IVs he has to remove. Allan painfully removed them and sat on the bed with all of his strength. He closed his eyes as he tried to feel Felix's presence.

Felix, on the other hand, looked at his physical face and tried to touch it only to have his hand of through it. He sighed and took a deep breath as he looked at himself as neared this fist face to his physical face. His ghost lips and physical lips touched to give breath to his body, with that the transfer began.

Felix opened his eyes only to squint at the light. But slowly he opened them and took in his surroundings and took a couple of breaths as he savoured the feeling of being alive. He began feeling pain but only smiled at the thought of feeling it again. He slowly got up, ignoring the pain, he walked out of the room. He stepped out and started to walk, he then started to get faster until he's already running towards Marinette's body.

...

Marinette followed the two into the morgue. "We're here," Lady Luck said as she opened the doors. Both of them stepped in to find Marinette's sleeping body still hooked to the machines. "What kind of hero you are. You led me right to her," Castigare stated as she placed the sceptre right above the girl's head. Marinette then felt her soul slowly reunite with her body. After a bright light of the unification, Marinette found herself surrounded by two heroes who told her to be quite. She nodded as they both whispered the plan into her ears.

Castigare smirked as she looked at Marinette's confused face at being awaken. "Where? Where am I?" the young girl asked. "Get up, you bitch," Castigare said with much rudeness to a newly awaken coma patient. "Lady Luck, what's happening?" Marinette asked with confusion. "It's alright Marinette, trust me right now. We have to do what she says so, please get up," Lady Luck reassured. Marinette nodded as she got up and looked at Castigare with sad eyes saying, "Lila, why did you do this to you? You know that this will not make you a lik-."

"Shut up," Castigare butted in. "Now you'll do as I-," she continued only to stop when she saw a second Marinette appear. "What? What is this? An illusion?" she asked taken completely off guard. "Yup," Lady Luck replied as she aimed for the sceptre, missing it by a few centimetres since Castigare caught up. "Hide Marinette," Monsieur Noir instructed as he appeared. He immediately extended his staff aiming for her knees.

Castigare tripped but had a tight grip on the sceptre. This enraged her and cursed Medusa for being late. "Give it up, Lila. Don't you see, your hurting a lot of people," Monsieur Noir tried to reason. "My name is Castigare, not that powerless Lila! Medusa turn them to stone!" she demanded as the doors opened to reveal the snake haired mythological woman. Medusa entered and immediately opened her eyes. "Close your eyes everyone!" someone shouted from behind.

Recognizing the voice, Marinette unconsciously turned around almost meeting the monster's eye. "Felix?" she asked in a quiet voice. Realising her mistake, she felt a pair of hands quickly cover her eyes. She felt warmth and suddenly the cold touch of stone. "Felix? Felix?" Marinette asked repeatedly as she touched the stone hand covering her eyes, the stone arm that held her close, and the stone body that shielded her. She felt tears run down her eyes realising that she was unable to every feel his warm skin on hers. To smell his natural scent that she yearned to know. To touch his smooth looking blond hair and run her hands through our as she pleased. Now, he is nothing but an emotionless statue with a stone heart.

"Please, don't go. The miraculous ladybugs will fix you, it's going to be OK," Marinette said trying to calm down. Speaking too soon, she felt something go through him and started to feel the statue crack. With one swift tug Felix's statue crumbled into rubble. "Did you really think that you could escape me? Even this boy's sacrifice is useless," Castigare remarked.

Marinette gritted her teeth with closed eyes. Using her sense of hearing that had been enhanced by her training as Ladybug, she was able to land a good blow. This caught Castigare off guard, stumbling back by the force, still stunned. Red eyes staring at the ground, Marinette looked at Felix's stone face that was still intact. She immediately recognised his expression as a caring and protective one despite the scowl that he gave Medusa and Castigare.

"You don't care who you step on, don't you?" Marinette asked in a low voice. Rubbing the blood off her nose, Castigare looked at her with cold eyes. "You know the answer to that. I don't care about anyone or anything, as long as I win in the end," she replied as she neared Marinette. "You don't even know how many you've killed just for a petty revenge, don't you?" Marinette asked raising her head looking Castigare in the eye. "Kill, ha! No one dies because during an akuma attack. With the miraculous ladybugs everything would be restored," Castigare replied as she stopped in front of Marinette placing her sceptre under the girl's chin. "Who told you that? Hawkmoth? Wanna bet?" Marinette asked menacingly.

This made doubt cross Lila's face, taking this chance, Marinette quickly snatched the sceptre and threw it across the room. This made the two begin their cat fight. As Castigare tried to run to her sceptre Marinette immediately grabbed her arm and tossed her overhead. Despite not having any ability or miraculous, Marinette has always been good at hand-to-hands combat, courtesy of her mother. Collecting herself, Castigare for up on her arms only to be roughly pushed back down on the ground. Noticing her near defeat, Medusa quickly left the two miraculous users to aid her.

"Wait," Lady Luck said as she placed a hand on Monsieur Noir's chest. "Lucky charm!" she called as the ladybugs hand her an adamantine sword, the same one that Perseus used to cut off Medusa's head. She began looking around and nodded at her cat and fox. Noir and Vulpes went to the hospital bed taking the blanket and getting strips of our, tying it over their man's covering their eyes. Now that their eyes are covered it would be difficult for Medusa to make eye contact with them, not knowing where they are looking.

Medusa quickly pulled Marinette off Castigare and pushed her on the ground, pinning her down not giving her a chance to escape. Marinette immediately closed her eyes, not wanting to open them. Castigare grinned maliciously as she looked at the squirming victim. "Not so powerful now, are you Marinette," Castigare taunted as she gets on on one knee and nears her face to Marinette. Marinette glared at Lila through closed eyes as she laughed and got up. "Turn her to stone," she said forgetting about the others in the room.

Medusa nodded as she turned Marinette to face her. She neared her face to the girl awaiting for her eyes to open. "Won't you open your eyes for me," she said with an enchanting tone trying to convince her to open her eyes. But before she could force her eyes open she heard a scream. As she turned the other way she felt her head being separated from her body. With that Medusa's head was kicked out of sight. "It's gone, you can open your eyes now," Lady Luck said as she pushed Medusa's body off Marinette and engulfed her into a hug they both desperately needed.

"Cataclysm" Monsieur Noir called on as he destroyed the sceptre while Vulpes had the blanket around Castigare's head. With that the little butterfly escaped and Lila detransformed, making Vulpes let go. "Stand down now, Lila, it's over," Vulpes said noticing the girl twitch to attack either of them. Lila complied and remained docile.

Lady Luck began to purify the akuma and cleansed the mess using the miraculous ladybugs. But with this Marinette was again back in her coma, given that she was awaken by Lila's magic. Buildings were fixed, wounds were healed, chaos turned to order. But the stone statue that turned into a boy didn't wake up. Vulpes approached Felix's body and looked for a pulse only to gasp at the occurrence. All the heroes looked at each other in horror as she announced, "He doesn't have a pulse."

"Miraculous ladybug has its limits," Lady Luck said quietly. Lila stared in shock at the thought of those she had possibly killed. But instead of regret and remorse, she felt vengeful as she got up to her feet and grabbed the closest pair of scissors and went straight for Marinette, while the heroes were distracted by the boy's body. She dug it into Marinette's neck, hitting the carotid artery. The heroes sprung into action and apprehended her, but as Vulpes tried to pull Lila from Marinette, only making Lila able to cut through it more. Lady Luck quickly removed the scissors, while Monsieur Noir placed a towel on it putting pressure on the wound. Lady Luck's fist collided with Lila's face as she instructed, "Vulpes, Noir, get Marinette to the ER now, she still had 10 minutes left and call some nurses to come down here. Go, I'll take care of this rat." Without being told twice, the two heroes pushed through the doors to deliver Marinette.

Lady Luck got to Lila's eye level. Lila on the other hand was glaring back at her saying, "You're as worse as Ladybug. But at least Ladybug would never hurt a civilian." This struck the last nerve, she wrapped the girl in her yo-yo and dragged her out.

Marinette, on the other hand, was starting to have a difficulty to breath. If crying was already obstructing her breathing, now she felt like she was drowning. She had hitched a ride on her hospital bed as the nurses pushed it into the ER, Vulpes and Monsieur Noir long gone because she had less than a minute to detransform. She still can't believe that Lila would go that far just to kill her. She can see that her whole being was slowly fading away ready to reunite with her body. With one last look, she could see her family's faces outside the room, she smiled and happily rejoined her body.

[armandyke]

I'm curious - which of diego's dynamics in the show are your top 3? i rly liked his dynamic w/ klaus n eudora in s1 but i haven't watched S2 yet bc brain broken cannot focus, so id love to hear your take

I think across both seasons my favourite dynamic is probably between him and Luther, and it’s probably my favourite relationship arc across the show so far because they really went from enemies to awkward coworkers to besties hakdsja. Just the whole Number 1 vs Number 2 and Diego’s inferiority complex and constantly picking fights with Luther in s1 and at first it comes across as “oh this guy’s a bit of an asshole and resents Luther for being Number 1″ but then you rewatch it and listen to what he’s saying and realise he’s not angry at Luther for being Number 1, he’s angry at him for not realising how badly he was treated and is like... trying make Luther acknowledge his abuse but doesn’t really know how to do it. It’s so sweet in a bizarre way and kinda goes back to what I was saying about the self-serving thing because Diego’s reaction to his trauma was anger, so from his point of view Luther should be angry too (when actually Luther’s response to the trauma was denial and dissociation), so he constantly tries to goad him and get him to feel angry about what happened and that’s his way of trying to connect with him and I can’t carry on with this train of thought because I’ll start crying but anyway the development of that into s2 when Luther HAS acknowledged the trauma and Diego has had some bad therapy and is starting to try and connect with his siblings and starts acknowledging Luther’s actual feelings instead of just projecting his own onto him and they end up bonding and being best bros I just 🥺

I spent way too much time talking about that HKJADSKA but anyway my other favourites are him and Klaus in s1 because of the implied continuation of their relationship after leaving home in e1 (Klaus seeing Diego leave and asking “are we leaving” implying Diego was the one who drove him there in the first place, knowing about Diego’s vigilante thing and not being happy about it at all, Diego saying he would drop Klaus at the bus stop which again implies he had at least a vague idea of where Klaus had been staying before they came to the house), and just... Klaus getting into a bar fight and Diego being like “alright guess I gotta kick this veteran’s ass now” and then twenty minutes later Diego going off to avenge Patch and Klaus being like “alright I guess I gotta kick these time travelling assassins’ asses now”. The ride or die dynamic these two have. I live for that shit. 

Third is probably Lila because there was a lot that went on in a relatively short space of time and I want an entire spin off show just showing the three months they spent in a psychiatric ward together because I wanna know more about how she gained his trust and what the relationship development was there. But the whole relationship was great because it did a lot to show Diego’s character development after her betrayal. If that had happened to s1 Diego he probably would have just tried to kick her ass or something but instead he could stand there and have a conversation with her about his trust issues and why her betrayal hurt and even after she betrayed him AGAIN he was still able to empathise with her after he found out what The Handler did?? And talked her down from a fight?? DIEGO??? I love that for him. And Lila on the other hand just going through the entire cliche “falling for your hit” storyline that I will eat up absolutely every single time and him listening to her when she opened up about her past and caring for her when nobody else had before and hhhhhh. Also this whole dynamic kinda solidified me diagnosing Diego with bpd because their relationship was literally him going from “I can’t stand you” “actually I’m bringing you with me and introducing you to my family” “you are literally dead to me” “I love you” in the space of about five days like hkajdskh can someone PLEASE give him some therapy.

[spooky-z]

Field Trip

Maribat is from @ozmav​

I want to make two things very clear:

Near the end there are homophobic and racist lines. So, please, be careful.

This is almost 9K.

That was D-Day. The day of the field trip at Wayne Enterprises.

Marinette knew she shouldn't be so excited, because please, she knew that place like her palm. But that didn't stop her from being excited to be able to introduce her friends to the employees there.

Every time she promised to take them to meet each other, but there was never a good enough opportunity for that to happen, since Adrien's father, Gabriel, was the biggest problem of the equation.

She was in the bathroom, finishing getting ready and had shared the hotel room with Alix, who from what she could hear, was jumping on the bed like crazy.

“Al, don't you get tired?” Marinette sighs as she leaves the bathroom.

The pink-haired girl - dressed in denim shorts, a black shirt with Batman logo, jacket tied at the waist and a black hat - stops jumping. Laughter ready to go out.

“It depends.” She replies. “Will you stop letting the rest of the class step on you because of that snake?”

"Al..." The warning tone clear in her voice.

Alix rolls her eyes and gets off the bed. She, like Kim, kept debating that Marinette should stop bowing her head to the class antics because of Lila. The girl had arrived in Dupont and destroyed the brunette's reputation just because of Adrien.

“Okay, I get it. I don't say anything else…” She says grumpy and Marinette smiles “For now.” And laughs at her best friend's frown.

“… I don't know why I still try. Really. You guys are a pain in the ass.” Marinette complains.

"It's love." Alix countered. "Let's go now. Those losers must be waiting in the lobby.”

Marinette picks up her bag from the bed, ready for the trip.

She was wearing black jeans, sneakers (they would walk a lot) and a big white long-sleeved sweater. Her hair was messed up on purpose.

Alix put on her old traditional all-star and opened the bedroom door for her friend.

When they were inside the elevator, Marinette turned to the girl. The high finger, like a mother lecturing her children.

“Remember: no trying to compete with Kim inside the building. If you don't behave, I will end you.” She warns. “And you know I can handle it.”

The pink-haired girl rolls her eyes but nods in agreement.

“I will behave myself. Promise."

"Great."

"Nice."

"Good."

"... You are unbearable." Alix says.

"I know." Marinette winks and they both burst out laughing.

They keep laughing until the elevator arrives in the lobby and bump into their friends, separated from the rest of the class, talking about something.

Alix pulls Marinette into the group, catching the attention of the rest of the class.

They ignore the scornful glances cast.

"Hey, losers." Alix nods when they get to them.

"Good morning, guys." Marinette smiles.

Adrien looked like he'd been kicked out of bed - his hair was messier than usual, a black sweatshirt with little cats, ripped jeans and the orange all-star he wouldn't let go of - his eyes barely opening to nod in acknowledgment, almost lying upright in Kim's arms.

Kim dressed similarly, except for the sweatshirt, which was several bats and the jeans were black, as were the sneakers. His hair was like Adrien's. Soft.

“Good morning!” He replies, holding Adrien with his right arm and waving his left hand.

"It's about time." Chloe complains. "I thought I would have to send Mr. Robot here to wake you up."

She was wearing light jeans, caramel UGG boots. The yellow jacket was open, giving a view of the white - which Marinette was sure was Alix's – shirt with Wonder Woman print underneath. Her blond hair was loose and her makeup minimal.

Max was wearing something Marinette never thought she'd see him wear before. A large hoodie - from Adrien, we should make clear - with Naruto print, black jeans and black vans too. He had the dreadlock — had grown since he was twelve — pinned to the top of his head.

"We took so long because Marinette was getting ready for her sweetheart." Alix teases.

Marinette feels her face burn.

"ALIX!"

Sabrina laughs. "Good morning, girls."

She wore a long green pleated skirt, white sneakers without a sock, a white shirt and an open button-down denim jacket. Her hair was tied in a braid on the side of her head and her makeup was minimal too.

Max looked like he was going to say something when Ms. Bustier appears, a man by her side.

“Class, let's go. The bus has arrived. This is the driver, Philip.” She points at him.

Marinette glanced quickly at the class and her eyes met Lila's. The smile the Italian sent her was freezing her blood.

“It looks like today is going to be interesting.” Adrien, who seemed much more awake, says.

The seven friends couldn't help but agree.

×××

The bus ride had been fun.

As they were many, someone would be left to sit with someone in the class and that was something that Alix did not allow to happen. Then she squeezed herself between Marinette and Sabrina, while Max sat next to Chloe and Adrien continued to use Kim as a pillow.

Marinette was wiping out her cell phone memory by taking pictures.

Proof, she says. Blackmail, replies Chloe, who was also taking pictures.

Alix and Sabrina were busy with the landscape, Max was studying about WE and Kim was playing something on his cell phone.

As the bus pulled up in front of the huge Wayne building cluster, Marinette felt anxiety bubbling in her stomach.

She had promised Dick she would not pretend to know anyone - Marinette didn't like to draw attention - so when she saw any of them, she would have to act like herself.

It had been a long and tiring conversation. The Wayne complaining that she never introduced them to her friends or that she always pretended not to know them.

Jason had even teased that she was ashamed of Damian and Damian retaliated by saying he was ashamed of his brothers. The two started fighting and it took Selina to intervene for them to stop.

Anyway. She had promised and Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not someone to break her promises.

She just wished her classmates were quiet and said nothing... graphic. Otherwise, she couldn't defend them from Wayne's fury.

Caline Bustier gets up from her seat and turns to the class, still sitting in their seats.

"We're here," she begins. “But before we get in, I want to make some things clear. IW has tough rules that should not be disregarded for anything.” Says “I know many should not have read the permission paper I gave their parents to sign, so I will warn them: they signed an NDA along with the permission. If you break this agreement, you can and will be sued. They don't care if you're seventeen.”

She looks each other in the eye, serious. Wanting them to understand the seriousness of the situation.

“Now I'll go over the rules.” She takes a piece of paper from her purse and starts reading it. “It's not allowed to take pictures, walk around the building without the guide or someone authorized, enter forbidden places and most importantly: do not disclose anything you saw inside. If a person breaks any of these rules, they will be banned from any Wayne buildings and prosecuted.” Caline lowers the paper. "Let's go now! We have a lot to learn.”

And get off the bus, followed by the excited class. The seven friends right behind, putting a certain distance.

"I'll finally meet the famous Timothy Drake." Max says, his face serious as if on a mission.

Marinette feels the warnings ring in her head. Max had built a rivalry since Tim figured out in a day how to solve a riddle that had left Max sleepless for months. That had been almost a year ago, but the flame of rivalry still burned in the boy's chest.

"Look, I don't know if the boys will be here." She says "I know Dick will be here, because he told me he would be the guide, but I don't know about the others."

Kim pouting, Adrien joins him and Alix too.

"But I thought I would meet Jason in person."

She shudders thinking about this meeting. No. Nope. That would not happen. Otherwise, she thinks Gotham wouldn't be whole.

"Neither Duke?" Sabrina question.

“I really think it's just Dick today, guys. I'm sorry."

The five sighs in dismay. Marinette sighs with relief.

"Let's go. They're leaving us behind.” Chloe says and points to the group ahead of them, already entering the building.”

"Shit."

And they run to catch up.

×××

As much as Marinette has spent much of the past two years walking these corridors, getting into the WI building was always breathtaking. The architecture was out of this world.

“… Thank you so much for getting this tour, Lila!” She hears Rose squeal excitedly.

Adrien snorts at her side, annoyed. He knew very well that the one who had made the trip had been Marinette. Lila was lying again and Ms. Bustier made no effort to dismiss the girl.

Marinette tightens the blonde's hand, trying to distract him from class.

“It was nothing!” Lila brags. “When I told Brucie that the class needed a trip as a graduation gift, he offered it to us. You know, he likes me a lot, since I'm his daughter-in-law.”

The class begins to praise her as a strange kind of cult and Marinette rolls her eyes at the familiar scene.

“What a nasty little girl we have here.” A voice purrs in Marinette's ear.

The girl jumps in surprise, a little scream escaping her lips. Everyone turns to look at her and she turns to find out who she was.

“SELINA!” She shouts excitedly.

The latin-looking woman smiles. Black hair in a pixie cut, plump lips and green eyes. She wore a black pencil skirt, a white blouse with lace at the shoulders and Louboutin high heels.

"Hello, kitten." Marinette hugs the woman.

They had not seen each other for a long time. Selina and Bruce were traveling a lot on their honeymoon, to make up for the times the marriage had been postponed.

“I missed you.” She pulls back, the firm smile on her face. “How was the honeymoon?”

“Wonderful.” Selina responds. “And how have you been?”

“Great.” She turns to her friends. “Guys, this is Selina Kyle.”

And then turns to Selina again.

“Selina, these are Adrien Agreste-” He smiles. “Chloe Bourgeois-” She waves. “Sabrina Raincomprix-” She says hello. “Max Kanté-” He waves. “And Lê Chiến Kim. My friends.” He winks charming.

The woman analyzes each one, nodding in approval in the end.

"They seem to be good people, kitten." She says. "I hope they can come to dinner with us tonight."

Marinette's smile gets impossibly bigger.

"Of-"

“Who is this, Marinette?” Lila's voice cuts the girl off. And the good mood of before changes to a sour one.

Selina looks away from the girl and looks at the rest of the class with Lila.

The girl had a despicable look on her face, a fake smile and sharp eyes. The class around her wasn't much better, since they didn't even pretend for politeness.

The woman observes the situation. At how once happy friends came together as if they were forming a barrier between Marinette and the other girl. How tempers became exalted.

Selina takes the lead, wanting to avoid a scene.

“Selina Kyle.” She replies. “And you? Who is it?” Question. The sharp tone leaves no gap for jokes.

Lila takes this as an opportunity to lie. Again.

“Lila Rossi. Damian Wayne's fiancée.” She extends her hand. “I’m the one who arranged the class trip.” Selina squeezes her hand.

"Damian's fiancée?" She hisses in displeasure. "Interesting."

Caline Bustier watches the commotion, unsure what to do.

She was sure the intrigue in the class would calm down over time, but it had only gotten worse. Worsened to the point that the Dupain-Cheng threatened to sue the school and report to the council, as no one seemed to see the toxic situation that became the classroom.

They were being dark days for Dupont. For Caline

All were under investigation. Mostly her, since she was the one that suffered the most accusations not only from Marinette's family, but also from Max, Kim and Sabrina as well. This trip had been an excuse for everyone - her - to get away from Paris and the rabbit hole they had gotten into.

A man dressed all in black - button-down shirt, slim-fit pants and oxfords - with styled hair appeared with the driver.

Caline guessed it was Richard Grayson, the guide they had informed her.

He smiled at her and held out his hand to greet.

"Good morning, I'm Richard Grayson." She squeezes the offered hand, feeling her cheeks heat up.

She could be a teacher, but she wasn't dead.

“Good morning, Richard. I'm Caline Bustier, the teacher.” She drops his hand, kind of disappointed to have to.

Ms. Bustier turns to the class and catches everyone's attention. She watches the Latina woman kiss Marinette's cheek and leave the building. The security guard waving respectfully at her.

“Guys, please.” And their attention turns to her.

Marinette's group still distracted by something the girl said.

"Good morning, Dupont." The man says. "My name is Richard and I will be your guide on this field trip."

The class cheers up again and Marinette turns her head so fast that Chloe is sure she heard the bone crack.

"DICK!"

The whole class chokes. Lila takes the opportunity to make a scene.

“Oh my god, Marinette! Have a little decency.” She whines shrilly. “Apologize to Richard right now or I will make arrangements.”

Dick raises an eyebrow at the Italian.

“Now there is no need-”

“There is a need, Mr. Grayson.” Lila cuts off the man. “She's being disrespectful to you and as I am the most influential person around, I must place order.

Alix and Sabrina snort, hands over their mouths trying to hide their laughter. Chloe doesn't care about hiding. Kim and Max were obviously filming. Adrien had such a big smile on his face that Dick knew it must be hurting.

Marinette was frozen. He knew that expression.

"... not necessary, Miss." He says again. Already losing patience with the girl. “Minette didn't disrespect me. She just called me by my nickname.”

Lila looks like she's just been slapped. Bewildered.

"The what?"

“Do you know Marinette?” Alya asks, her nose twitching with the scent of an exclusive.

Dick tilts his head, his arms crossed and a teasing smile on his mouth.

"Of course. She is my sister in law."

... What?

Adrien was right. That day would be interesting.

×××

"This is where Wayne Technologies starts." Dick says, pointing to the floor where the elevator stopped. “You'll see our specialists at work, so avoid distracting them.”

The class walked the floor marveling at the technology and the scientists at work.

Adrien was practically drooling next to Max.

"Dude, close your mouth." Alix jokes.

The boy's cheek burned in embarrassment and he closed his mouth in a loud snap. The hand rubbed his face just to make sure there was no drool.

Marinette laughed at her friend, but stopped abruptly as she watched the red tuft of hair in one of the tech rooms. That was when she remembered that she had promised Adrien to introduce him to one of the smartest people she had ever met. And a physics freak like him.

She takes the boy's wrist and drags him away from where Dick was leading them all.

“Come, Adrien. I want you to meet someone!”

“Wait-Don’t you need authorization-” He doesn't finish, as Marinette puts her palm on the hi-tech lock and the light flashes green before the door opens. "Oh."

The brunette pulls him into the room until she comes across a woman, not much older than 30, who was fiddling with a metal plate.

"Carmen." She calls and the woman looks at her, a lively smile appearing on her face.

“Mari! How long!” She gets up and gives the girl a quick hug.

“Yes, yes!” They laugh. “Remember I commented on a friend of mine who was a physics nerd?”

Adrien protests softly. He wasn't a nerd... just very passionate.

Carmen looks away at the boy and he nods shyly.

"I suppose this is the physics nerd?"

"Himself. Adrien Agreste.” Marinette replies. “Adrien, this is Carmen Leonhart, WI's head of technology research.”

As they begin to talk about numbers, statistics and many other things Marinette didn't care to know, she turns around, ready to leave the room.

Just to face the whole class, Ms. Bustier, her friends and Dick, standing in the doorway. Dick with the biggest fucking smile on his face.

"... what?" She asks. Confused with the audience.

Chloe gives a mocking smile.

"I didn't know you were allowed into these rooms, Dupain-Cheng."

Marinette realizes what she has just done and the embarrassment only gets worse.

She had been so excited to introduce Adrien and Carmen to each other that she had not thought about what she was doing in front of her classmates. Sure, she had promised not to hide her relationship with the Wayne family, but that didn't mean she liked to show off like this.

Lila doesn't seem to like the attention Marinette was getting at all. Her face in a sour frown and the fists clenched.

She sent Marinette a warning look before masking her dislike with a sweet expression.

“Oh, that's no big deal.” She says waving her hands in disdain. “I asked Brucie to authorize our class. He was generous enough to include Marinette on this list.” The scorn barely masked by the disinterested tone.

The class seems to take this as truth (as always) as Nino puts his hand on the girl's shoulder. A proud expression on his face.

“Thanks so much for all this, dude.” He says. “You didn't have to go that far for us.” And the class agrees. Raining compliments on the Italian.

Chloe doesn't disguise the grimace and Alix rolls her eyes so violently that for a moment, Max fears she was injured.

The class leaves the room, following Lila like sheep being herded, leaving the group of friends and Dick behind. Ms. Bustier didn't take long to leave either, which left them finally alone.

"Ok... Now where is my hug, Minette?" He turns to the girl and she runs to hug him. "Much better."

Marinette laughs, the hug lasting a few more seconds before they let go. Dick turns to the other five - Adrien and Carmen too distracted by whatever it was - and extended his hand in greeting one by one.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

"The same." Sabrina smiles.

“Now we have to go. There are a few more things to see and a surprise.” He winks at Marinette and the girl feels the danger in that expression.

One thing Marinette was sure of: There was no anxiety to know what this surprise was about.

Anyway, getting Adrien out of the room had been difficult because the blonde didn't want to leave. Carmen had to promise that she would give him a free pass so he could visit her while the trip to Gotham lasted.

The friends had no doubt that the blonde would live in the building and never leave the scientist alone.

Going on.

The rest of the tour had been less dramatic around Lila and her minions. Of course, she continued to lie about everything. How Bruce Wayne and his wife Selena loved her; the fact that Ricardo Wayne - the eldest son - had died in an attack on Wayne Mansion by the feared villain, Clown; that Jackson - the middle child - was an award-winning scientist; Thomas was unfortunately an addict, but Bruce tried with all his might to rehabilitate; and finally, that Damian was an angel in love with her, very sweet and romantic.

Marinette never thought she would have trouble controlling herself, but it was hard not to laugh at the Dick’s expressions and her friends laughing openly.

But apart from The Tales of Lila, the class left them alone.

As they passed the corridors of WI, Mari was being recognized by the staff and she made a point of introducing her group of friends excitedly. That didn't include the rest of the class and Lila, of course, could make some excuse for them.

Honestly, Marinette was surprised that no one showed distrust in the Italian. It was obvious she was lying.

But that didn't last long. Someday the lies would have to be revealed, and apparently that was the day.

They took a break to eat in the cafeteria.

Dick had gone out with Ms. Bustier to talk somewhere which, in Marinette's opinion, would not be a very good conversation. Or happy.

Adrien, Sabrina and Mari with a classic burger and fries; Max settled for a fettuccine; Kim, Chloe and Alix got pizza (not very healthy, but one day just wouldn't hurt). They were seated at a table separate from the rest of the class, but close enough to hear a word or two.

Marinette was chewing on her burger lazily while her friends talked when Jason Todd and Timothy Drake showed up. Both with expressions that said everything but good intentions.

"Oh my god." She whispered; the eyes wide. The cheeks full of food.

They scanned the cafeteria, probably looking for Marinette, and when they turned toward her, Mari used Adrien's height as a shield. Trying to keep them from seeing her. Which didn't work, since Adrien was shaking (laughing) and the conversation at the neighboring table (her class) had been cut short.

“Why are you hiding, Maribug?” Jason asks, his voice malicious.

Marinette sighs before surrendering to her destiny.

She stepped out from behind Adrien, face was red.

The girl swallowed the food.

“Hi Jay. Tim.” A smile appears on her face despite the embarrassment.

Tim raises an eyebrow at her, clearly amused. Jason doesn't disguise the shitty smile growing on his face.

"She hid, but at least she didn't pretend not to know us." Tim points out.

Marinette rolls her eyes, the shame already forgotten.

"I don't break my promises." She says.

She pushes Adrien aside to make room and points them both.

"Sit down and introduce yourself to those you didn't know yet."

They waste no time quickly pulling two chairs off an unoccupied table and placing them in the open place. As they sit down, Jason throws his arm around Marinette's shoulders in a hug.

“We miss you, Nette.” He says. “Demon spawn has been unbearably unbearable.”

She elbows his ribs for talking about Damian and he groans in pain.

"Even though you're a pain in the ass, I missed you too, Jay." Marinette laughs at the offended face he made, before squirming so she can look at Timothy. "And you too, Timmy."

Tim winks at her before turning to the rest of the table. The family (but Selina, since she spent more time traveling than at home) already knew Adrien, Kim and Chloe from past visits, but this was the first time they had met the other three: Sabrina, Max and Alix.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Timothy Drake, Damian's brother.” He reaches out first for Sabrina to shake, then Alix and lastly Max, who narrowed his eyes defiantly and squeezed his hand a little harder than usual.

Tim knew that the boy had a certain rivalry against him over the puzzle. Which was good, since he enjoyed a good and healthy competition.

Jason throws his idle hand on the table, startling the others.

“I'm Jason Todd. The best boy.” He says excitedly. “Nette's favorite!”

Chloe seems to be offended by the man's words.

"I doubt it." Sneers. "Everyone knows I'm her favorite."

Adrien chokes around a fry.

"Now, we know I'm the favorite." He chews loudly.

It was kind of gross, being honest.

"Oh, shut up, Agreste!" Alix throws a potato at the boy. “It is common knowledge that I am everyone's favorite.”

The boy looks scandalized at her, but doesn't take long to throw the fry back at her in revenge. Alix dodges and the food ends up hitting Kim in the forehead.

He narrows the eyes irritably, Tim and Jason laughing, Marinette wanting nothing more than to go back to her hotel bed and sleep 12 hours straight.

Damian chose that moment to appear with Titus and Dick. And as much as Marinette was happy to see him, this was the worst moment ever.

She knew her friends. Knew well enough to know that the cafeteria had become a war zone and that they would be bombed at any moment.

As soon as he opened his mouth to greet her, Kim got up ready to pounce, but before he could, Titus ran and jumped on Marinette. Almost making the girl bang her head against the table by his strength and weight.

There was a general panic at their class table, probably afraid of the dog, but she ignored everything in favor of giving all the attention and love Titus deserved. Because he was the best boy, not Jason, thank you very much.

"Who's the handsome boy, huh?!" She pampers the dog excitedly, which licks her face. "I missed you too." His tail looked like a whip.

Tim and Jason turn to the brothers.

"Yo, Dick." Jason nods lazily.

"Demon spawn." Tim says.

Damian frowns in annoyance, but doesn't respond to Timothy's provocation. The attention fully turned to Marinette with Titus. Dick waves back.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asks.

"We came with father and Cass." Tim replies.

Marinette jumps at the conversation.

“Are your father and sister here?” She shouts.

God! She was not prepared to handle all Wayne and the class at the same time.

"Duke too." Jason adds.

Marinette moans in pain and buries her face in Titus's soft fur. She would not come back alive to the hotel or Paris.

Damian approaches the girl, ignoring the prying eyes of her class. From what he managed to find out (both from Marinette's friends and what he investigated) if he had to interact with any of them, the no-kill rule would probably have to be broken.

"Angel." He calls, crouching in front of her and placing his hands on hers in Titus.

Marinette looks up to look at him.

"Hey, Dami."

She stretches over the dog (who was calm, almost asleep in her arms) and kisses Damian's lips tenderly.

"I missed you. Too much.” She whispers against his lips before pulling away.

"Me too." Damian answers and pecks her lips. "And-"

"Marinette, aren't you going to introduce us to your boyfriend?"

Alya's voice scares Marinette, who jumps away from Damian and Titus. Which makes both Wayne and the dog growl in irritation.

He gets up and Marinette follows him. Her friends comfortable in their seats, Dick standing (without Ms. Bustier) and the class waiting for an answer.

She sighs and turns to face the class. Damian was firm by her side and she also knew her friends would be supporting her.

Alya had her arms crossed. The rest of the class was not much different and Lila's expression soured, since everyone's attention was solely on Marinette.

"This is D-"

"Mari!!!" A shriek interrupts the girl.

They all turn to the source of the voice, only to find Bruce Wayne, a black man and an Asian girl running toward them. More specifically towards Marinette.

The little girl's hair was black, combed into familiar pigtails. She was wearing a red, black polka dot dress, with a black bow around her waist. On the feet were ballet shoes.

She jumped into Marinette's arms, which squeezes her into a warm hug, grinning.

"Hey, young lady." The little girl squeaks as Marinette kisses her cheek.

They watch the brunette put the girl down and start a... peculiar conversation. Where the child signed and Marinette responded verbally.

"You're so cool, Cass!" Kim compliments excitedly, apparently understanding what the girl was talking about. She smiles proudly at the compliment.

They (Marinette and co) continue to talk to the little girl while most of the class remain stunned by Bruce Wayne's presence.

Alya jumps excitedly and looks at Lila.

"Girl!" She practically screams "Did you get Bruce Wayne to meet us?!"

The Italian loses at least half the blood on her face. Increasingly pale with the situation. Her lips were almost sickly and her eyes wide. She swallows hard before letting out a clumsy laugh.

“Y-yea… very kind of him!” The voice comes out weak even to her ears. “B-but let's not disturb his conversation. You know how important he is.” Mumbles.

Lila's hands were shaking. She needed to get out of there, needed a plan urgently.

Alya's excitement diminished, taking Lila's words into consideration, but she kept staring at the men, holding back not to scream.

“Guys, I'm not feeling-”

“Papa, Duke!” Cass shouts again, the dog barking along and Bruce Wayne, with the other man, looks at her. “Mari!” She points at Marinette, jumping and twirling her dress.

Both Bruce and Duke(?) smiled before approaching them and Lila panics. Everything could go wrong at any time!

She turned to the class, making the most innocent expression and trying her best not to let despair overtake her body.

“Guys, please, I'll pretend I don't know him so as not to attract unwanted attention from the staff.” She whispers. “It's something we always do when we're around strangers, so don't be scared.” No one noticed Timothy's disgusted look toward them.

"Stay calm. We get it.” Nino soothes her, the class nodding in agreement.

She sighs with relief, having managed to avert a catastrophe.

"Good afternoon, Dupont." Bruce greets, the serious stance of a businessman. "I'm Bruce Wayne and this-" He points to the other man. "It's my protégé, Duke Thomas."

Duke nods in acknowledgment, then soon mutters something in Richard's ear, laughing at the other's disgusted expression. He made no attempt to approach the class to introduce himself.

Nathaniel felt that what has been said to the guide, was not something minimally pleasant. He felt that the class was the subject of comment and did not like it at all.

Rose, being the most outgoing, reaches out to greet Bruce Wayne.

“It's a pleasure, Mr. Wayne. It's a dream to be here!” She says. “We were very lucky to get this trip.” And tilts her head to wink at Lila, who smiles secretly.

He shakes her hand and waves seriously, pretending not to see the exchange between them. When they release their hands, Bruce turns to Marinette, a soft look on his face.

"Hello, Maribeetle." His tone softened before smiling.

"Hi, Dad." The obvious laugh on her face.

There are choking sounds, but neither pay attention.

She doesn't wait for him to say anything more before she comes closer and hugs him. He returns the hug, making the girl disappear into his arms and kisses her forehead.

"I see you had a welcome committee." He raised an eyebrow, looking his sons.

Dick is the only one who looks minimally embarrassed, while the other three (Jason, Tim and Damian) pretended the issue wasn't with them, looking around.

The class (without Ms. Bustier, who was missing) frozen in shock. Lila was about to pass out. She could hardly believe what was happening.

"Hey, Mr. B." Adrien nods.

"Bruce, what's up!" Kim says.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne." Sabrina greets.

“Wow, B! You look soft.” Alix teases.

"By my calculations, Alix is right, Mr. B." Max straightens his glasses. "You've lost some muscle."

“Congratulations on the adoption. Cassandra is a sweetie.” Chloe says.

Bruce snorts and releases Marinette, who bends down to take Cass in her arms again.

The boys not even trying to hide their laughter. He could see the tears in Jason's eyes, Tim was bent over Dick while they both laughed, Damian had the hand over his mouth hiding a smile and Cassandra imitated the two older ones.

Duke bit his lip trying to contain himself.

"It's good to see you again." Bruce says, hands firmly on Marinette's shoulders. "I remember the last time, Adrien and Jason got into a fight with the police and were almost arrested."

Adrien feels his cheeks heat up and Jason stops laughing, feeling attacked.

"I really thought it was a fantasy." The blonde mutters.

The class begins to whisper, clear confusion on their faces.

Alya was choking on surprise; Nino looking at Adrien as if the boy had grown two heads; Rose had retreated to Juleka's side, not liking the situation and Juleka was the same; Nathaniel bit his thumb uncomfortably; Mylene and Ivan looking lost; and Lila... Lila could see her world crumbling slowly and with frightening rapidity.

The dog barks once more, waking Alya from her mental confusion.

She swallows hard, her throat aching from the action.

“What's going on?” She asks, her voice breaking through the dryness in her throat.

Everyone stares at her. The confused Wayne family, Marinette and friends with the neutral face and Duke... Duke was fiddling with his cell phone.

“Why do you know Bruce Wayne? Why did Marinette call him ‘dad’? What's up with everyone greeting her and who is this boy she kissed?” She looks straight at the girl, her eyes accusing.

Damian frowns at her, his fist clenched, ready to say something that Marinette or his father probably wouldn't approve of, but Bruce stops him.

"What don't you understand yet, Ms. Cesárie?" The question was blunt. "I think if Marinette was kissing Damian, that means the two are together."

Alya gets annoyed with the answer.

"And why did she call you ‘Dad’?"

Chloe sneers in the background. Alix rolls her eyes, Adrien tilts her head, Kim swears under his breath, Max stares in disbelief and Sabrina was busy talking to Timothy.

"They can't be so dumb, can they?"

Jason's attempt to whisper didn't work, as everyone listened to what he said.

Alya's cheeks burn with humiliation.

“That's a fair question!” Nino goes to his girlfriend's defense and Damian rolls the eyes sarcasticallyy.

"Answering your question, Ms. Cesárie, Marinette calls me that because she's engaged to my son." Bruce says. "My son Damian." He adds as he notices the confusion.

Lila sucks air between her teeth. Panic rushing through her body.

“But…” Mylene looks at Lila. “Damian Wayne isn't dating Lila?” She asks.

The Italian freezes when everyone looks at her.

“Lila? What Lila?” Damian asks venomously. "I don't know anyone by that name."

Alya grit her teeth. The anger clear in his expression.

“How not? She grew up with you in the mansion. Bruce Wayne practically adopted her!” She shouts. "Explain it to me!"

“Wow! This is kind of impossible, since demon spawn came to live with us only after he turned ten.” Timothy says.

Alya feels a dizziness start in her muscles.

"But Lila said that..." She mumbles. “She said Selena Kim, Bruce's wife, was her aunt. That you were a family!” Exclaims exalted.

“Look, I'm sorry you and your friends were fooled, but that's the truth: We don't know her. Selina Kyle has no nieces, Jason is not an award-winning scientist, Timothy is not an addict, Damian is anything but a sweetie. And the main thing is, I didn't die and the Joker never attacked Wayne Mansion.” Dick ends a little breathlessly.

The class is at varying levels of shock. No one daring to say anything, Lila wondering how to get out of that mess and beside her, Alya looked like she'd been slapped.

Marinette wanted to feel sorry for her classmates, but failed. She had tried, so had her friends, but no one would listen.

"So, you mean everything was a lie?" Nino asks. A dangerous edge in his tone.

Lila shudders, moving away from the class and almost falling in the process. She was afraid she wouldn't lie about that, but the class had a murderous expression in her direction.

“N-no! Of course not!” Babbles. "Can't you see this is Marinette's plan to make me look bad?!" She points to the girl, who was playing with Cassandra and Titus, no longer paying attention to the drama.

The class seems to believe at least a little, as they turn to the girl, probably to fight.

Adrien, Alix, Kim and Damian form a human barrier to stop them. The look on Adrien's face was no less deadly than Damian's.

"Don't even try." Adrien says. “I'm sick of you. Mostly from you, Alya.” He looks at her. “You can be worse than Lila and her lies. I thought you were smart enough to figure it all out, but it seems I was wrong.”

The girl's eyes was wet with tears, but she kept her posture steady, noting that her friends were no better off.

“You only say that because Lila didn't want you!” She screams. "You who can be worse than Marinette, Agreste!"

Sabrina and Chloe chokes before bursting out laughing. Max and Kim not far behind.

"Oh my god!" Sabrina moans "Is that what she said?" She sighs trying to control herself but failed and laughed again.

"That's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard!" Chloe says, wiping her eyes.

Nino is offended on behalf of Alya.

"What?" He asks.

Adrien feels his cheeks burn because he didn't want everyone to know, but if it was to help Mari, he would do that.

"Mm..." He begins. "I've been dating someone since the first year."

Lila looks shocked. More than their classmates.

“What?!” She shouts, forgetting the situation she was in.

The blonde scratches his head uncomfortably.

"Did you finally surrender to Chloe?" Ivan asks.

Both Adrien and Chloe made a face of disgust.

"Ew, no!" Chloe protested. "I'm fine and happy with Kagami."

“So, who is it?” Lila demands. "Who are you dating, Adrien?"

"Me!" Someone says.

And everyone turned to look.

Was a tall, well-built young man. Hair was black and messy; the eyes were incredibly blue. He was wearing torn jeans, a red vans, black Star Wars shirt and prescription glasses.

He was behind Bruce, probably coming in during the mess.

“God damn it, this became an event and I didn't know?” Duke whispers to Bruce, but the man doesn't respond.

"What the fuck are you doing here Ken-"

“Jon!” Adrien cuts off Damian and runs to Jonathan, who picks him up.

They kiss passionately and Marinette puts her hands in Cassandra's eyes, trying to protect the little girl's innocence. The group of friends moan in disgust. The Wayne family too.

"OK! I think everyone already understands.” Marinette says. “Now let go. Cass is here too!”

"That was horrible." Max mumbles.

Adrien releases the boy, his face red. Redder than Ladybug's uniform. And the other boy smiled, not at all embarrassed.

“Are you gay?!” Lila asks, the accusative tone clear in her voice.

"What-"

"I can't believe I did this all because of a fa*got!" She snarls, venom dripping from her words. “You owe me three years of my life, Agreste!”

There is a shocked silence from everyone. Even from Marinette and friends. They didn't think Lila could be so rotten and ugly inside.

Marinette puts Cassandra on Damian's arms and walks slowly to the Italian. She seemed to be marching to war.

"What the hell did you say?" The voice came out dangerous.

"What? That he's a fag—” A slap popped on the girl's cheek before she could finish.

The force of the blow caused her to become unbalanced and fall to the floor.

They all walked away giving them both space.

"I dare you to repeat that."

She approaches once more, but Damian stops her. Cassandra in Dick's arms.

"Don't do anything you'll regret later, angel." He whispers and she sighs, moving away from the Italian on the floor. “Drake, do something useful as a CEO and call security. I want this person out of here as soon as possible.”

“You'll pay for it, Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” Lila growls, the hand gripping her bruised cheek. "If you think you're going to get rid of it, you're very wrong!"

Bruce, who remained quiet, bent down to pull the girl by the arm. Fed up with all the drama.

"Enough!" He says. “Ms. Rossi you will do nothing. Otherwise, I will be required to report you.”

Lila snorts offended and tries to release her arm from his grasp.

“Do you really think that just because you have money, will you get away with it?” She attacks, the eyes wide and crazy. “I have diplomatic immunity! You just became complicit with this disgusting muso giallo*!”

Marinette notices Bruce's knuckles go white from the grip and decides to separate the two.

“Dad, please let her go.” She grabs his arm, stepping between Lila and Bruce. "If you keep going, it might be worse later." But he doesn't even blink. Lila begins to moan in pain.

Five security guards enter the cafeteria, all huge and serious.

“Father, the security mans are here. You can let her go.” Damian puts his hand on the man's shoulder and only then does he move again, releasing the Italian's arm.

She drops to the floor, crying while holding her arm.

"I'm sorry, I blacked out for a second there." Bruce sighs, patting his head.

Marinette hugs the man, comforting him. She knew he had some problems after years of fighting crime, especially fighting the Joker. Sometimes he was a little more blunt and rude, unaware of it. It was sad for her to see him in this state.

But unfortunately, it was a side effect of having to save the world every time.

"Mr. Wayne, we were asked." One of the security guards says. "Who would be the person to be escorted?"

Timothy points to Lila who was still on the floor, but this time Alya was by her side, helping her.

"She." Answer. "The sausage hair."

The security guards do not hesitate to pull Lila away from Alya, dragging the Italian out when she strained and stood still.

"HEY! Let me go!” She leaves screaming. WI employees don't even look twice at the scene, seeming used to it.

"You can't do this to her!" Alya complains. "Where is Ms. Bustier?!"

“We can and are doing it. It amazes me that you're defending her after finding out that besides being a liar and a racist, she's homophobic.” Jason says, no humor in his tone. "And your teacher is already on a plane to Paris."

The whole class chokes on surprise. The whole class.

“What?!” Adrien shouts and Titus cries at the loud noise. He quickly caresses the dog, apologizing. "Sorry buddy." Jon smiles, in love with the blonde.

“She had to go back to Paris for an audience with the minister of education.” Tim replies. “She and Dupont's principal have been charged with negligence and cover-up. If they are found guilty, both will face the law “

"And they'll be fired." Damian adds. The morbid pleasure shining in his eyes.

"But why? She did nothing!” Rose complains. Her face was red from crying.

“Exactly, Tinker Bell. She did nothing.” Duke says. “She saw bullying, witnessed it and never did anything to help or try to stop. She just threw all the responsibility on one person thinking she was making the choice of the year.”

"And what does the principal have to do with it?" Nino asks. He was the only one who seemed to have understood the gravity of the situation, but was slow to believe.

“Dupont's principal has been a coward for a long time. He left a lot behind the scenes because he didn't want problems with people bigger than him and that was his mistake.” Bruce replies.

Everyone in the class is silent for a while. Each in their own thoughts, digesting everything that had happened. Meanwhile, Marinette and her friends were talking animatedly to Jonathan, who had his arms around Adrien like a koala.

“So… did Lila really lie to us all this time?” Mylene asks, her voice barely coming out.

"Unfortunately, Ms. Haprèle." Bruce says. The solemn face.

Nathaniel puts the hands to his mouth, the eyes wide with dread and everyone looks at him.

“I-I didn't send my portfolio to the university I wanted to get into because Lila had promised me an interview with a famous comic book author!”

And there is a mass reaction of the same kind.

Apparently, Lila had promised to help them in their careers, with their supposed connections in high places. Which now, they saw how fake it had been, since Lila had promised to introduce Nino to Steven Spielberg since Dupont's sophomore year, but it was years and she always made an excuse for not having happened yet.

Alya fell to her knees, devastated.

"T-that's why they turned me down." She says tearfully. “They said they couldn't accept someone who published gossip and lies, but I never understood what they meant. Until now. "

Marinette felt bad for them. She didn't think Lila had clenched her claws so deeply that it would damage their future. She knew Alya would have complications to be taken seriously, but she didn't think it would be to the point of refusing her university entrance.

"I-" Alya mumbles and looks up at Marinette. "Mari."

Marinette shakes her head.

“No.” She says. “I'm so sorry for you guys. Really. I hope you can follow your dream, but I don't want your apologies.”

“But-” Juleka protests.

“I spent years being trampled and scorned by you because someone you barely knew accused me of bullying and being a jealous bitch. I will not accept your apologies. I'm glad you finally opened your eyes, but that's all.”

“Are you going to throw years of friendship in the trash just to punish us?” Nino attacks.

“What friendship?” Marinette says. “All I remember about this supposed friendship, is to do everything for you and you not repaying even 1% of it.”

"You forgave Chloe after all she did, so why not us?" Nathaniel points out.

“Because she was honest with me. Because she sought help. Because she got better and was genuine for it.”

"And we're not?" Rose whimpers.

"No. You're apologizing because you saw your golden ticket was false.” Growls and everyone shuts up.

They shut up because she was right. They were not genuinely sorry for what they did. They didn't feel guilty about it because it was Lila's fault! Only hers. She deceived them, she who lied. Not them. So why feel guilty about something they didn't do?

But they were guilty. Lila only gave the wick, but they came with the lighter, set it on fire and sat down to watch the candle melt. She didn't force them. They did it willingly and with unprecedented excitement.

"I think we're done for today." Bruce Wayne interrupts the moment. "They'd better be taken back to the hotel." He was talking to Duke, who quickly put the phone to his ear and spoke to someone.

"Come on, I'll take you back to the bus." Dick says, helping Alya to her feet.

The class begins to move, following him out of the cafeteria, but they notice the absence of the others.

"Mr. Grayson, aren't Marinette and the others coming too?” Ivan asks.

Dick glances over his shoulder before looking forward again.

"No. They will stay with the family for the rest of the trip.”

Because Bruce Wayne was so protective of those he loved and Dick doubted he would let Lila Rossi get close to Marinette again. Not when he had the power and influence to prevent it.

But then he would have to face Damian in the witch hunt. Dick was sure the young man already had at least two plans underway. One fatal and one less fatal.

Because that was how their family was.

And Lila Rossi was nothing more than a gum stuck in the sole of their shoe.

EXTRA 1:

"Okay, whose idea was it to bring everyone to WI?" Marinette questions idly.

"Dick." Damian replies without bothering to toss his brother under the bus.

“DAMIAN!” The eldest complains.

"What? I'd rather you angry than Marinette.”

"Okay, fair." Dick sighs. “But the idea was not mine. I just passed it on.”

Marinette raises her eyebrow, demanding.

"And who did?"

"Tikki."

"WHAT?! I'LL KILL TIKKI!” Marinette shouts and everyone runs away from her fury.

×××

In Paris, more precisely in the box of the Miraculous, the kwami of creation stops playing with others to sneeze.

"Wow, I think I'm getting sick."

"Or maybe someone is talking about you." Mullo answers.

“But who-” She widens her eyes in panic.

Plagg begins to laugh wildly.

“Looks like we'll have kwami barbecue soon.”

“PLAGG!”

×××

They didn't have kwami barbecue, but it was pretty close.

EXTRA 2:

"Do you think she would have gone crazy right there if I said you're not my only boyfriend?" Adrien asks.

"... It would have been awesome!" Jonathan responds dreamily.

"Can you pay attention to me? I'm feeling left out." Luka complains.

"Sorry sweetie!" Jonathan smiles.

Adrien thinks he wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. Not even if his lady showed up asking him in marriage.

... Which would not be a bad image. The four together.

×××

Probably Damian would kill him if he accepted.

×××

But still a good image.

[glossary]

Muso giallo – literally "yellow muzzle". It is an offensive term used to refer to Chinese people, sometimes to Asian in general, with intent to point out their yellowish complexion as an indication of racial inferiority. The use of the word "muzzle" is in order not to consider them humans, but animals.

I searched for racial slurs, but I was so pissed off at what I found that I needed to scream at the pillow.

[tag list]

@spicybelladonna​ @mystery-5-5​ @captainmac6​  @theatreandcomicfreak  @politelyvicious  @thepeacetea  @violatiger8  @vixen-uchiha  @officiallyathiana  @beautym3  @slytherin-heartthrob  @bluerosette23   @g-arya  @sassdowflame  @sunkenshipsanddreams @magicalfirebird @miraculous786  @emjrabbitwolf 

[nobodyfamousposts]

Felix July - Contest (Demon Felix AU)

@felixmonth​

Saved this for the release of the Felix Episode. Just to see if I could make mine worse than canon.

Felix did not get angry. He was a being of logic and poise. He was the master manipulator, the one watching from behind the scenes as the puppets danced and flailed to his hidden strings. Barely a footnote in the course of history but with his hand in everything.

He did not get frustrated. Being frustrated would suggest that things were not going as planned. Being frustrated meant he was not in control. And he was always in control.

No. What he got was annoyed.

He was annoyed when his new contractor kept asking questions nobody had considered to ask before and caught on to what his true plan was.

He was annoyed when his new contractor refused to make any wishes.

He was annoyed when his new contractor decided she was going to try to help the very person who tried to kill her.

He was annoyed with his new contractor.

Impressed, admittedly. But annoyed.

______________________

“There has to be something you want.”

“Well, hello to you, too. Good morning, Mister Demon. Nice of you to drop into my room unannounced at the crack of dawn. Thankfully I’m not changing or anything or that would be downright awkward.”

“Oh please, your physical assets mean nothing to me.”

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to be reassured or insulted here.”

“Then be neither. It really makes no difference to me.”

“And what does then?”

“Your wish, of course.”

“Of course.”

“...And?”

“Shame that’s not happening today.”

“It could. Surely there is something I can give you?”

“Nothing I want from you, thank you very much!”

“Money is fairly common and always useful.”

“Pass.”

“To get through all classes with the best grades?”

“But would I actually learn the material that way? I think I do well enough on my own.”

“Yes, ‘well enough’ says the student who comes to classes late and sleeps through them regularly.”

“Hey!”

“Eternal youth and beauty?”

“Oo, a classic.”

“Is that a yes?”

“No.”

“Chloe to get hit by a car?”

“I’ve been imagining ways for her to get into some sort of ‘accident’ over the years. If I was going to do it, I wouldn’t waste a wish on it.”

“Lila to spit up snakes whenever she talks?”

“Tempting, but no.”

“Hawk Moth’s Miraculous?”

“I am a hero specifically to do that on my own. I don’t need you cheating for me.”

“Cheating? Please. You say that like this is some math test instead of a supervillain.”

“A supervillain I already have powers and the means to stop. So no.”

“How about his identity then?”

“Still no.”

“More personal then? What about fame?”

“I already have enough trouble with that as Ladybug!”

“But what about as Marinette? You still need to get your name out there.”

“I’ll manage on my own.”

“In what—five? Ten years? Why wait when you could have your own clothing line? A fashion company?”

“I’m still a teenager! I want to get through school before even starting on that!”

“Adrien’s heart?”

“A heart not freely given is not worth having.”

“Oh come on, you don’t really buy the ‘true love’ nonsense, do you? It would be true love as far as he would be concerned.”

“I do NOT want you mind-controlling Adrien into loving me!”

“I don’t even have to control his mind to accomplish it. The right time, the right place, and a few well planed ‘coincidences’ could make him see you in an entirely new light.”

“I am not hearing this!”

“Just a few nudges here and there.”

“But it wouldn’t be genuine.”

“Then why not use a Wish for him? To make his life better?”

That actually made her pause.

“Less photoshoots and more free time. Which equates to more time with his friends and thus more time with you in particular. That would certainly allow you more opportunity to endear yourself to him.”

“I can do that on my own.”

“You’ll just have less chances to do it.”

“Then that’s a sacrifice I’ll have to make.”

“But is it one he would appreciate?”

“…”

“Or you could do the selfless thing and make a Wish for him. To give him something he’s missing. Something he would truly be grateful for.”

“…”

“I could even work it to have him find out it was thanks to you. After so many instances of your gifts to him going unrecognized and unattributed to you, wouldn’t it be nice for him to acknowledge what you do on his behalf for once?”

“And what could you even do that would be so great?”

He hummed to himself, considering.

“I could bring his mother back, if you like. Of course, it wouldn’t be her anymore, but it’s not like Adrien needs to know that.”

“Oh my GOD, no!”

“Or I could kill his father and let him inherit everything.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“He’s an old recluse. It’s easy enough to set him up for a heart attack.”

“FELIX!”

“Nobody would even know any different.”

A book slammed into the wall where his head had just been.

“GO AWAY, DAMMIT!”

“Is that a wish?”

The second book flying at his head was enough indicator for Felix to vacate the premises.

______________________

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was…admittedly more resilient than he expected. Though he believed the correct term would be “stubborn”.

She was refusing him for the sake of being defiant more than anything. Usually, such opposition would wear itself down after a time.

Usually.

But his new Contractor was far from the norm it seemed. Both in her circumstances in gaining his service as well as her personal morals. She had said she was going to refuse to make any wishes, and so far, she had held to that.

Commendable, if not irritating.

Part of him felt inclined to try and nudge things in the direction towards his goals. It would have moved things along at least.

But Marinette was a planner. And…frustratingly good at it. For all that she was emotional and easy to take by surprise when it came to her friends and her “love”, she was rather skilled in regards to problem solving.

He very well could have started twisting things in her life to push her to the point where she would HAVE to make a wish. There were so many things that could go wrong for her, after all. Bankruptcy. Expulsion. Social exile. Any number of unpleasant little happenings that he could just as easily come in and save her from with a single wish…

But he had the feeling of being challenged. And it seemed beneath him to stack the odds in his own favor in this way (not that they weren’t already, but there was still a difference between a “one in a million chance” and “downright impossible”).

There was the added complication that Marinette was, as previously noted, stubborn. If it came down to it, he wouldn’t put it past her to do something stupid and permanent out of pure spite.

Not to mention that Tikki was there, constantly watching him and just waiting for the chance to smite him.

So he had to plan instead. That was fine. He hadn’t gotten to really apply himself in the past few centuries when it came to his Contracts. Most people tended to make their wishes and leave it at that. Few actually WANTED him to stick around. And even back when he did, he was usually stuck playing a role of some sort.

This was quite a unique situation. A contest the likes of which he’d never gotten to experience previously.

Felix found himself looking forward to it. He had never gotten to truly play before…

Well…if his new Contractor wasn’t going to tell him what she wanted from him, he would just have to work it out for himself.

And if he could mess with certain persons in the meantime, all the better.

Humans were so easy to manipulate, after all…

______________________

Lila was confused.

Confused and increasingly frustrated.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was still here.

Lila had made her third wish, passing off her contract and all the consequences involved to the unsuspecting target, figuring that would be two problems dealt with.

Killing two birds with one stone, right? Neither an all too observant classmate or a soul-stealing demon to continue hounding her. It was perfect—for her, at any rate. She wasn’t particularly inclined to care what poor Marinette’s fate would be at the hands of that demon. (Well, maybe a little, if only out of a desire to offer some gratitude for escaping that fate herself—read: gloat.)

And yet…

The day after she ended the contract, she had gone to class, fully expecting to hear second-hand of Marinette’s disappearance or some other unfortunate fate. She had been ready to fake tears and spout kind words—and of course to “comfort” her classmates, especially poor Adrien. Hadn’t he just lost his mother recently? It would be such a blow.

Except…

Right when she was about to ask Alya if she had heard anything—to prepare the setup for them to discover Marinette’s fate—

“Sorry I’m late!”

Lila froze.

Sure enough, Marinette had entered the class with all the impact of a whirlwind. She appeared tired and out of breath, red from the exertion of her running.

And…wholly alive.

Lila wasn’t sure she could believe her eyes, but the rest of the class greeted her per normal and Lila barely gathered herself enough to give a wave of her own. Marinette just smiled and went for her desk, acting like everything was completely normal.

This…this wasn’t right. Nothing should be normal for her anymore!

She should be dead! Or soulless! Or panicked about her current situation!

Why was she here?!

Lila watched Marinette for the rest of the day with a close eye, just waiting to see what would happen.

But the end of the day came and went, and Marinette returned home perfectly safe.

This didn’t make any sense! The contract was finished, wasn’t it? Marinette should be gone! So why wasn’t she?

Maybe…maybe the demon was biding his time?

Yeah, he was probably just waiting before taking her soul.

But the next day came and Marinette was still there, acting like nothing was any different from usual.

The same occurred the next day.

And the next.

And the next…

Two weeks passed and Lila was growing increasingly paranoid.

What was going on?

The Contract is for three wishes, then the demon takes the Contractor’s soul.

So why was Marinette still here?

What was he waiting for?

Was he not going to accept the sacrifice?

No, he wouldn’t have agreed to it then if that were the case.

Did Marinette know what was going on? She certainly wasn’t acting any different. And if she did know, she would have confronted Lila immediately—that was the type of person she was.

So why?

It was three weeks in when she got her answer.

“We have a new student with us today!”

Lila’s pen snapped with the force of her grip. She never noticed the way Marinette stiffened.

“Hello, everyone.”

No.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

It couldn’t be…

“My name is Felix Agreste.”

His hair color. His dark green eyes. His complexion and facial features. Everything was disturbingly similar to Adrien.

But she knew…

As the one who summoned him, she of course would recognize him.

The demon in question hiding behind such angelic features merely smiled at the class. But somehow, she knew he was focused on her.

“I’m sure we’ll be great friends.”

It took every bit of acting and self restraint to hold back a scream.

______________________

“Okay, how did you do it?”

“Why, whatever do you mean?”

“Cut the act, Felix. I’m pretty sure Adrien doesn’t have a cousin.”

“Yes, you would be the one to know that, wouldn’t you?”

“Felix.”

“Such accusations! And we’ve only just met one another.”

“Felix.”

“Honestly, it was simple enough. A bit of manipulation here, some ‘suggestions’ there. I’m sure you should already know that human minds are quite simplistic and malleable—they must be if they haven’t caught on to the fact that you’re the one running around fighting butterflies in the equivalent of a polka-dotted onesie.”

“Hey!”

“You’re the budding designer, surely you could have done better.”

“I panicked, okay?”

“Regardless, I simply went to the Agreste mansion and introduced myself as Emilie’s nephew visiting for the rest of the school year.”

“And they believed you?”

“You’ve seen my power at work with Rossi, so you already know I can be quite convincing.”

“Not with everything.”

“Yet.”

“Still, was this really necessary? Setting yourself up as a student here and everything?”

“Of course it was. How else can I ensure my ability to stay by your side at all times?”

“Uh-huh. And how is that going to work out if you’re living in the Agreste mansion now?”

“Are you jealous?”

“It’s a logistical question.”

“No worries, my dear. I will of course make you my priority.”

“Right, because I’m totally the sole reason you chose to show yourself at the school.”

“Well, I of course had to see how my former Contractor has been doing.”

“You really shouldn’t be causing trouble like this.”

“You can’t say you didn’t enjoy the results”

“As funny as it was seeing Lila look constipated all day…”

“Wasn’t it, though?”

She couldn’t help the half smile, but didn’t say anything further.

It was a contest.

The rules were unknown.

The winning conditions a mystery.

But if he was going to be bound here, he was certainly going to enjoy himself in the process.

[dast218]

Days that turned into months and eventually years

Next 

The last few years for the Wayne family had been rough, to say the least. At one moment they were immersed in a terribly even match against the Rogues and in the next Marinette was missing from the face of the Earth. 

“I have 50 seconds left. I need to go, cover for me” the heroine directed towards her husband. Wow, yep husband. She got married at nineteen, gave birth to her currently one year old son at twenty and was surrounded by a loving family. Sure they annoyed the shit out of her but the Waynes were always there when she needed them the most. Marinette still couldn’t believe how much her life has changed. For months she was being bullied by her classmates and was mentally exhausted from keeping a leveled head with all the accusations thrown towards her from her so-called friends. On top of that, her parents started believing Lila’s lies because of her constant absences while Hawkmoth was getting stronger with each akuma. To say the bare minimum if it wasn’t for Tikki’s and surprisingly Adrien’s support, she doesn't know if she would be standing here, alive right now. 

Marinette needed a change of environment, so at fifteen she decided to take on Jagged’s offer to join him on tour, one of the best choices she ever made. She met Robin- actually Damian, totally by accident and might have or not mistaken him as a mugger, flipping him over with ease. Oops, well on the bright side her combat skills made the red traffic light vigilante fall even more deeply in love, with how he puts it “a blue eyed angel.” Unknown to her, the Bats had a night full of laughter afterwards, teasing their little grumpy brother. 

The spotted, mostly black covered heroine was pulled away from her thoughts as she felt a gentle kiss on her forehead. Looking back up at the green eyed vigilante, she smiled. 

“I got you. Stay safe”

“You know it”, kissing him gently on his lips before pulling away to find a place to recharge.  

“Aww. Lil D, get a room already!” 

Robin glared at his brother in return and simply stated with a smog smile, “We already have one.” 

An explosion was heard in the distance and before the bat duo ran towards it Dick chuckled, “Some things never change.”

 Damian vividly remembers their search for Marinette after the Rogues were defeated. The fight lasted for about 30 more minutes with his wife never returning back to the battlefield.

“Alfred, did Marinette return back home” 

“No she didn’t. I can’t track her either, she isn’t transformed.” 

A worried glance was shared between the Bats as Damien rushed to the roofs. 

“Damian!” He turned around and his face said it all. Only once had Jason seen his brother this worried and it was during the birth of Thomas, when he went to check on him in the bathroom. Damian usually suppressed his emotions and before Marinette came along they never even saw him smile. Him openly showing distress just reinforced their already set plan.

“We are coming along.” 

“Yea and don’t you think you are in this alone. Newsflash this is Pixie-pop we are talking about!” 

“We are going to find her,” Nightwing said as he approached Robin placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Let's split up to cover more ground.” 

They ended up searching throughout Gotham with no lead until Tikki came flying straight into Robin and Nightwing as they were rooftop jumping. She recalled what she witnessed and lead  them back to where Marinette was chained against her will, but it was too late. 

“Robin over here!” 

“Tikki! Where is Marinette !?” 

“She landed in an ally to de-transform and while I was eating we got ambushed from all sides.” Her breathing started becoming more forced and she was now rapidly spitting out random sentence fragments. 

“Tikki look into my eyes and count to 10.” Damian knew they had no time to waste but after helping Marinette through many previous panic attacks, especially early on in their relationship he understood the importance of calming down the little goddess before moving on. Tikki followed the commands and slowly started evening her breathing. 

“Marinette defended herself well but there were so many and you could just feel the tiredness radiating off of her. It was a matter of time when the masked man saw an opportunity, hit her on the back and pinned her down.” Fresh tears started to leak but the spotted goddess kept speaking, “I was hiding in her jacket and must have lost consciousness because the next thing I remember is waking up to see my holder chained and beaten up. Blood… she was covered with blood. With a shaky breath she told me that her capturers are after the miraculous, that they still hadn’t figured out that it's the earrings and said that she wasn’t about to let them have it. She forced me to take them somewhere safe. I … I didn’t want to leave her but I heard someone entering in and made the mistake of looking into Marinette’s eyes. I fled with the earrings just as Mari’s screams filled the building.” 

The warehouse was abandoned. Broken glass was spread across the floor, chairs were flipped and strips of metal were everywhere. It was the aftermath of a fight. The vigilantes had arrived too late. All that was left behind was rope and fresh stains of blood.     

“They couldn’t have gone far!”

After days which turned into weeks and eventually months of intense searching, Marinette was proclaimed dead. Damian accepted the reality last, refusing to stop looking and went several nights without sleep. 

“Damian” Burce said as he entered into their library where his son was staring intensely at the map. The map of Gotham and neighboring cities was marketed up, all the possible locations of his daughter in law were triple checked and yet not even a single trace was found.

Without looking up Damian hummed waiting for Bruce to continue.  

“I know it's difficult to acknowledge the … the events that occurred but Damian you can’t just keep isolating yourself from the world around you.” 

“I … I can’t. You can’t just expect me to give up on her… I can’t just give up on her.” 

“Damian look at me” He stubbornly didn’t move and continued staring at the map. 

With a sigh the detective carried on, “Damian, son hear me out”

The addressed man slowly turned his head around, after all it wasn’t a daily occurrence that his birth father addressed him that way. Growing up Damian never really had a strong relationship with his father, sure they had they moments but it was usually just ‘listen, fight and defend.”

“Marinette was special to all of us [Damian didn’t miss the “was” but thought against interrupting him] heck if it wasn’t for her our family wouldn’t be standing the way we are now. She brought us together, showed us what it really means to be a family even though hers abandoned her.  She made me realize that my fathering methods towards you weren’t the best.” He chuckled at the memory of a young Marinette storming into his office not giving an ounce of care that she was yelling at the one and only Bruce Wayne inside his own building. Placing a hand on Damian’s shoulder he went on, “I know you care deeply about Marinette and that you are afraid of losing her but what about your family?  We all care about you but look at yourself Damian. You haven’t been eating, you’re running on zero sleep and didn’t come upstairs for the last few weeks. Heck, your brothers and Alfred have been taking care of a crying Thomas who keeps calling out for his parents. Your son misses you. I know this is a difficult time for you but you’re not the only one who is missing her. Let us be there for you and come out to support your son.” 

For the first time in months, Damian cried. He cried about allowing Marinette to go recharge on her own, about not arriving at the warehouse fast enough, about never being able to hear her angelic laugh again and not being there for his son during his mother’s absence. He decided that from now on he is going to take care of his son just how Marinette would have wanted him to.

It's been exactly four years and here Damian stood staring at Marinette’s tombstone, hugging his five year old son tightly as tears formed around his eyes.   

In memory of Marinette Cheng- Wayne 

A loving wife, mom and in law

20XX  

-------------------- 

I blame all the maribat writers for pulling me into this hole of maribat shippers that I can’t get out of. This is my contribution to the daminette fandom :) 

For now this is a one-shot but I do have some ideas for a continuation.

** English isn’t by best subject so sorry for the grammatical incorrections- I tired 

[purrincess-chat]

Will You Be My (Fake) Lover CH5

It’s here! Finally! Are you excited? Get excited! Canon who? We don’t know her. And truthfully, she doesn’t even really know herself

Read on AO3

Chapter 5

“Has the Prince of Gabriel brand found his Princess? Exclusive interview inside!”

Lila glared down at the magazine in her lap as she sat on her usual park bench waiting. On the cover was Adrien down on one knee fitting Marinette’s foot with a glass slipper. It seemed as though they were more committed to this lie than she originally thought, but she could use this to her advantage. The more people invested in their relationship, the harder they’d crash when they finally fell, and she couldn’t wait to watch.

I: What’s your favorite quality about Marinette?

A: How kind she is. She’s always thinking of others before herself, and I admire that so much.

Lila could gag. All this pretending had to be eating Marinette up inside knowing that none of those things were true. That Adrien didn’t love her. Perhaps if she prodded her enough, Lila could get Marinette to snap. That would ruin any possible chance she had with him after this. Lila may have run into a detour with Marinette’s friends, but taking Adrien away from her permanently was worth the extra effort. That way there wouldn’t be anyone else to save her next time.

“There’s been a change of plans,” Gabriel’s voice sounded behind her. “Many people are quite pleased with my son’s relationship with Miss Dupain-Cheng, so I’m afraid that I cannot hold up our bargain.”

“Don’t worry. I have something else to offer you, Mr. Agreste,” Lila said. “I have reason to believe that Marinette and Adrien are faking their relationship.”

“And what evidence do you have to support such claims?” Gabriel asked, quirking a brow.

“I’m working on it, and I assure you I’ll be able to prove it if I attend the Agreste Foundation gala coming up soon,” she said with a sly smile.

“I’ll put you on the guest list, but I feel your suspicions may be a misguided cover up for your jealousy. If you cannot prove their relationship is a farce by the end of the gala, then perhaps it’s best if you and I cease negotiations,” Gabriel said, and Lila whipped around to face him.

“But-”

“I have no need for petty schoolyard drama especially at the expense of my son’s reputation. You have until the end of the gala in three weeks to prove your claims, Miss Rossi,” Gabriel said with a finality before rolling up the window.

As the car drove off, Lila’s jaw clenched, her hands gripping the magazine so tightly the sides crinkled between her fingers. She glanced down at the pages of her spread to find them overrun with Marinette and Adrien’s adoring smiles, the singular image of herself caught in the folds of the page. Rage boiled from her core up to her throat, and she tossed the magazine with a scream.

Gabriel wanted proof? She’d get him proof.

***

“Good evening, beautiful.”

Adrien smiled at Marinette as she entered his bedroom, seated at his piano while his fingers moved across the keys and filled the room with a soft melody. Nathalie stood off to the side to supervise, but Marinette found her attention drawn to the bouquet of roses resting atop the piano.

“They’re for you,” Adrien said, following her gaze, and she blinked, cheeks heating up.

“What for?” She asked, trailing her fingers over the petals.

“Do I need a reason?” He chuckled. “You deserve them, that’s why. You’re smart and kind, and you make me happy. That’s all the reason I need.”

She knew he was hamming it up because Nathalie was in the room, but she couldn’t help the smile on her lips. Fake or not, it was the first time anyone had given her flowers, and she had a feeling they carried a message of genuine gratitude for helping him as well.

“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” she said.

“They have tough competition.” He winked, his fingers trilling out a new melody, faster, lighter, sweeter than before, and Marinette bit her lip. “They’re also an invitation.”

“Oh?” Marinette quirked a brow.

“The Agreste Foundation has a formal event coming up soon, and I was hoping you’d be my date,” he said. “It’s a lot of boring adult stuff usually, but if you were there, it would be way more fun.”

“Of course, I’ll go with you,” she said, and Adrien relaxed a little, a content smile curling on his lips as he flicked his gaze back down to the keys. “I actually have an invitation for you too. My parents want to have you over for dinner one night when you’re free since you’re my first ever boyfriend.”

“Really?” Adrien stopped playing, his hands freezing on the keys as discordant notes squealed, and Nathalie cleared her throat, urging him to continue playing. “Sorry. Can you check my schedule, Nathalie?”

She scrolled through her tablet without looking up, the blue light reflecting off the lenses of her glasses.

“You have free time on Thursday after dinner, so I will let the chef know you will be dining elsewhere that evening,” she said, and Adrien perked up.

“Thank you, Nathalie!” He beamed, and Marinette offered her a small smile of thanks. Nathalie nodded in acknowledgement before flicking her gaze back to her tablet, and Adrien continued playing.

Marinette took a seat on the bench beside him, closing her eyes as the melody echoed around the room. Even if it wasn’t real, Marinette was happy getting to spend so much time with him. In a way, she felt like they were closer than they’d ever been, and most of her nerves had been squashed from the very first time they kissed. Knowing that Adrien felt comfortable enough with her to go through with all of this in the first place said enough about their relationship. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

She blinked her eyes open at the brush of skin against her own as Adrien reached an arm around her to play the keys at the end. He smiled at her as he trailed his fingers along, pulling her in closer, and she giggled as he nuzzled his nose against her cheek.

Moments like this made her wonder if his feelings would ever change. The softness in his eyes as he plucked a rose from the bouquet and offered it to her seemed so real, and the tender way he touched his lips to her cheek made her heart skip at the thought. She loved him so much, and more than anything, she wanted him to love her too. And why couldn’t she? There was no harm in wanting or hoping. In the end, she’d only hurt herself, so why not?

“You have five more minutes,” Nathalie said, and Adrien flicked his gaze back to the keys, seeming a little disappointed.

“I feel like time moves too quickly when I’m with you. I always find myself wishing we could have just a few more minutes,” he said as the song came to a close. “I don’t feel like a very good boyfriend.”

“I don’t mind. Whenever I get to see you and for however long, I treasure every moment,” she said, turning his chin to face her and cupping his cheek. “You’re an amazing boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He frowned, leaning into her touch. “It’s just hard to say goodbye all the time.”

Marinette felt her cheeks warm under his gaze as Nathalie’s watch beeped, signaling the end of their visit. It was moments like these that made her head spin. He seemed so sincere that even she had a hard time figuring out if he was pretending or not.

“Thanks again for the roses,” she said at the front door, glancing down at them.

“A beautiful girl deserves beautiful things,” Adrien said with a smile before leaning down to kiss her good night.

One hand cupped her face, his thumb tenderly tracing her jaw as the other hand pulled her closer at the waist. It was a stark contrast to the way he had kissed her just a few nights prior at the party. He was so gentle and delicate as if she were a flower he didn’t want to damage, and such tender affections only made her heart beat faster.

“Good night, beautiful,” he murmured against her lips when they parted.

Gabriel watched from his office door, lips pursed as Adrien slid his hand down her arm, twining their fingers until they were forced apart as Marinette was escorted out, remembering similar such nights with Emilie all those years ago. He’d give anything for those nights now, and he envied Adrien a little for getting to spend time with the girl he loved so dearly. It made Emilie’s condition weigh so much heavier on his heart.

“Adrien is very sweet to her,” Nathalie said when she entered a few minutes later as Gabriel sat with his chin resting on his fist in thought. “I got what you asked for.”

Gabriel arched a brow as Nathalie presented him a small pink sketchbook, and he flipped through each page of colorful designs with a blank expression.

“Do you think you’ll have time to design her a dress and have it made before the gala?” Nathalie asked as Gabriel paused on a page, tapping his finger.

“It seems as though Miss Marinette already has the perfect dress,” he remarked, setting the notebook in his lap and snapping a picture with his phone.

“Will you modify it at all?” Nathalie asked as he closed the cover and offered it back to her.

“I don’t believe in tampering with another artist’s vision. The dress is fine as is, and it will mean more as a gesture of good faith in their relationship if we replicate it as she designed it,” Gabriel said. “See to it that Adrien returns her sketchbook.”

“Yes, sir.” Nathalie nodded before retreating from the room.

Adrien was in sitting at his desk when Nathalie peeked in, a content smile on his face as he typed on his phone. It had been a while since she’d seen him so happy. Not since Emilie was still around. His eyes lit up more these days, and his entire countenance changed any time Marinette was around. It was clear to see how much he cared for her. Just like Emilie, Adrien wore his emotions on his face, and Nathalie was glad to see him happy for once.

“Adrien?” She knocked.

“Come in.”

“I found this on the stairs. It must have fallen from Marinette’s bag,” she said. “Can you return it to her?”

“Of course. Thank you, Nathalie,” Adrien said, setting it next to his textbooks. “Also…would it be possible to finally go on a double date with my friends? I know you’re already making so many accommodations so Marinette can see me, but it would mean a lot to me if I could take her out properly.”

Nathalie observed his pleading expression before a smile broke over her lips.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said before taking her leave.

Adrien sat back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the arms of the chair before a cheeky grin curled on his lips. He reached for his phone, snapping a picture of the notebook.

guess what i have? He typed, chuckling to himself as he awaited her response.

how?? She replied a few seconds later.

Nathalie found it on the stairs. it must have fallen out of your bag. ill give it to you tomorrow. He said.

Thanks!

but not before i look through it. He said with a smiling devil emoji.

no! some of them arent finished yet!

you’re so talented. I’m sure they’re all great.

Her reply was a worried face.

can I peek? just a little?

ok but dont laugh! She said.

why would I laugh?

some of them are old and silly…

like this one? Adrien attached a drawing dated a couple years prior of a small Marinette in a dress with pink bows, and her response was a monkey covering its eyes.

I think it’s cute! He said with a heart.

it’s embarrassing!

dont be embarrassed. everyone starts somewhere you should have seen me when I started taking fencing lessons for the first time. I barely knew how to put my helmet on. He said then added, you’re really talented. all of your new designs look amazing you’ve improved a lot.

I guess… She said with a sweat drop.

well, I know. you’re incredible, and I’m lucky to have a girlfriend as awesome as you. He said, watching her typing bubble.

you’re pretty awesome too. You’re really smart and athletic and sweet and hot.

I mean!

Objectively speaking

You’re a model so like

of course you’re hot

but it’s not like I’m really saying you’re hot

You are but

in a totally normal way!

Adrien chuckled at her text stream, feeling oddly amused.

Thanks. You’re pretty hot too. ;) He said.

I DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THAT!

why not? I’m flattered.

…

But I have a question though. He said.

?

Am I hotter than this? He sent a picture of a candle.

why?

ya know. because flames are hot ;)

I’m breaking up with you. She said with a laughing face.

no don’t break up with me! I’m hot D:

all this time I thought you were cool… She said.

Well that was your first mistake im super lame.

Youre not lame! just your jokes.

wow! after I compliment your designs and you insult my jokes. that’s cold Marinette.

She sent a laughing face and heart in response.

I would have been more impressed if you asked if I could bake cookies on you since youre so hot and my parents are bakers. She said.

teach me more oh wise and hilarious queen of jokes.

fine. I guess ill train you. She said with an eyeroll.

I am honored

She sent back another laughing face, and he bit his lip and changed the topic.

this dress is really beautiful. He said sending a picture.

thanks! I got inspired after our photoshoot and wanted to design a princessy ballgown. I really like how it came out.

I bet youd look beautiful in it

Her typing bubble flashed for several minutes, disappearing every so often for a few seconds before returning.

thanks. She said finally.

can I ask a favor? He typed.

what?

will you design something for me? It can be anything I just want it to be from you. He asked.

Of course! Id love to make something for you!

yay! :) He paused for a moment before adding, one more thing?

yes?

Can we keep talking for a while? You and I are friends but theres still a lot I don’t know about you. Plus it will be good for us to know stuff about each other.

He held his breath as he watched her typing bubble.

sure. what do you wanna know?

everything :)

They talked for hours during which time he learned that she liked gardening, watching makeup tutorials, and meditating with her mom. She was deathly afraid of snakes. She had a scar on her left foot from when she was 7, and she secretly liked to sneak fresh cookies when her dad wasn’t looking. It was the first time he’d really opened up to someone about himself too. He told her things even Nino didn’t know, and he fell asleep that night smiling at his phone.

The next morning, he sent her a good morning text and resumed their conversation as he prepared for the day. As it turned out, Marinette was not a morning person which he already assumed from the many times she came to school late. It was kind of amusing to picture – a sleepy Marinette clinging to her pillow as she begged for a few more minutes. Incredibly cute.

At school, he peeked around the row of lockers, watching her smile down at his most recent text as she typed a reply. The fondness in her expression made his heart flutter, and he jumped a little as his phone buzzed.

are you going to hold my sketchbook hostage all day? where are you? She asked.

turn around. He said, and he crept up behind her as she read the message.

“Boo!” He pinched her sides, and she startled with a gasp, spinning around to face him.

“Oh, you finally showed up,” she said with a grin, cheeks pink from his prank. “Do you have my sketchbook?”

“Oh, was I supposed to bring that?” He tilted his head to the side before retrieving it from his bag with a smirk. “Returned safe and sound.”

“Thank you,” she giggled as he kissed it softly before handing it over.

“I wrote you something inside,” he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “You mean so much to me I wanted to express it, so read it later when you get home, okay?”

“O-Okay!”

“Nino, remind me to call my dentist. I think I’m getting a cavity from sugar overload,” Alya called out as they approached. “You two are seriously cute.”

“Yeah, bro, you make me look bad,” Nino said, fist bumping Adrien.

“Sorry, but I have good news,” Adrien said. “Nathalie is clearing my schedule Saturday afternoon so we can all go on a date finally.”

“Whoa, legit? That’s awesome, dude!” Nino patted his shoulder.

“We can all go do an escape room together then get ice cream afterward,” Alya said, clapping her hands together. “We’ve been dying to go do one, but it’s way more fun with more people.”

“Yeah, sounds awesome,” Adrien said. “It’s our first official date. I can’t wait.”

“Only took your pops a month to let up.” Nino rolled his eyes, and Adrien sighed.

“Honestly, that’s quicker than I thought he would. I thought we’d have to wait until I turned 18 and moved out,” Adrien joked as they headed to class.

Lila glared around the row of lockers as they left, jaw clenching. She was losing momentum trying to prove their façade. The longer this went on, the more confident they were becoming, and the easier it was to fake it. She’d have to find some dirt on them during their date, or else the gala would be her last shot at getting favors from Gabriel.

***

“Is all of this really necessary?” Marinette asked as her father set the table.

“We’re having your first boyfriend over for dinner. I’m just trying to make sure he feels welcome,” Tom said, placing oven mitt-covered hands on his hips.

“By fattening him up? You’ve made enough food for 10 people!” Marinette gestured to the large ham and numerous sides covering the table.

“He’s a growing boy, and if he wants to date a baker’s daughter then he must know how to eat,” Roland added.

“Not to mention she’s part Italian. He will have to get used to big meals with family if he wants to stay,” Gina said, pinching Marinette’s cheek.

“Just promise me you guys will be cool. Don’t embarrass me,” Marinette pleaded, and Sabine flashed her a reassuring smile.

“We’re all just excited for you, sweetie. Adrien is a nice young man, and we just want him to know he’s accepted here,” her mother said, cupping her cheek.

“We will show him what a real family dinner looks like. Not the quiet lonesome dinners he gets at home. That’s not how it’s done!” Roland crossed his arms over his chest.

“Just don’t show him my baby pictures. Please?” Marinette pressed her palms together as the doorbell sounded.

“He’s here! Go let him in, my fairy,” Gina urged, and Marinette took a deep breath before opening the door.

“Hey.” Adrien smiled, leaning in to kiss her cheeks and planting a soft kiss on her nose before holding up another bouquet. “I brought you these.”

“Oh, how romantic. What a sweet boy,” Gina cooed, and Marinette screwed on a smile despite the tension in her spine.

“Adrien, you’ve met my grandma,” Marinette said. “This is my grandfather.”

“A pleasure to meet you, sir,” Adrien said, shaking his hand.

“A firm handshake. Very good, the boy knows how it’s done. I’m glad to see a younger generation keeping up tradition. You will make a fine husband to Marinette,” Roland commented.

“Grandpa!” Marinette puffed her cheeks.

“Roland, they’re only 14,” Sabine said pointedly.

“Puh, ‘only 14.’ My grandparents were 16 when they married. They wanted to marry before my grandfather had to go fight in the war!” Roland said, and Marinette sighed as she retrieved a vase for her bouquet.

“Oh, why rush to settle down? Let them live a little,” Gina said with an eye roll.

“Mom’s right. They can get married when they’re ready,” Tom added as they sat down, and Marinette’s face fell into her hand.

Adrien eyed her, a small smile curling on his lips.

“I’d only marry Marinette if I truly make her happy. She’s a wonderful girl, and she deserves the best,” he said, and everyone in the room cooed in unison, clutching their hearts.

Marinette peeked out between her fingers, and Adrien shot her a wink.

“So, tell us more about you, dear. What does Adrien like to do?” Gina prompted as Tom served the first course.

“Well, I’m a model for my father’s fashion company. I play sports and piano, and I’ve also been taking Chinese lessons since I was little,” Adrien listed.

“My, my so busy,” Gina remarked.

“What sports do you play?” Roland asked.

“Mainly fencing, but also basketball, lacrosse, and karate,” he said, counting them on his fingers.

“How do you ever find time to spend with Marinette?” Roland’s eyebrows raised, and Adrien cast her a fond smile.

“I make time. She’s so important to me.” He placed a hand over hers.

“With how sweet you are, we may not even need dessert,” Gina said with a laugh.

“Marinette is very easy to be with. She’s so genuine and caring, all I want to do is make her smile.” Adrien batted his eyelashes at her, and she bit back a smirk, pushing his chin with her finger.

“You are such a schmooze,” she teased.

“Well, I’m glad to see my granddaughter has chosen such a fine young man to court,” Roland said. “Your children will be very successful. I can feel it.”

“Roland, they’re only in college,” Sabine chided.

“You and I met in college. Don’t you remember, dear?” Tom said, wrapping an arm around her. “I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that I wanted to marry you someday. I’m sure it’s the same for Marinette and Adrien.”

“Dad!” Marinette growled.

“Tom.” Sabine gave him a warning look.

“That’s for them to decide in a few years, I know.” He held up defensive hands.

“Oh, what’s the rush. Not everyone has to settle down so young. I think they should travel a bit while they can,” Gina said. “If you two are still together when you’re 18 and no longer under papa’s radar then I will take you both on a trip! Greece is so beautiful in the summer, ah, who am I kidding? It is gorgeous all year. You kids need to see the world.”

“That sounds fun. I’d love to travel,” Adrien said, and Gina nodded knowingly.

“Of course, you would, dear. The world is a big place. I’d offer to take you sooner, but I understand your papa is…strict.” She winced, and Adrien quirked a brow as if to say that was an understatement. “Marinette and I are going to Italy for her next birthday. I’m so excited for you to see my home, my fairy.”

“I can’t wait either, grandma,” Marinette reached out to take her hand.

“Your dad won’t let you travel, but maybe he’ll let you come spend Christmas with us this year. We always pass out yule logs down in the bakery before we have a big Christmas dinner,” Tom said.

“I’d like that a lot.” Adrien smiled.

“When is your next fencing tournament? Maybe we’ll take a little time off to come watch you,” Sabine offered.

“In 2 weeks, but you don’t have to do that. I’m sure you’re very busy.” Adrien held up cautioning hands.

“Nonsense. We always have time to support family.” Tom patted his shoulder.

“Oh! I have a friend in London who is a great pianist. I can introduce you to him. Maybe he can give you some pointers,” Gina added.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks, Mrs. Dupain.”

“So formal. Call me Grandma or Nonna,” Gina insisted, waving it away.

“When you have time, you and Marinette should come by my house. I can teach you how to make bread the old-fashioned way,” Roland said.

“Oh, yeah. Thank you.” Marinette eyed Adrien who seemed to curl into himself. “You’re all so kind. Thank you for inviting me into your home.”

“But of course, my fairy. You are our family now,” Gina said as Roland cut him a slice of bread.

Adrien eyed it on his plate in silence as the conversation shifted, and after a moment, Marinette reached out to place a hand over his. He jumped a little at her touch, flicking his gaze to hers. She raised a brow at him, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before turning back to his meal.

He was perfectly polite during dinner, and to Marinette’s relief, a surprisingly good sport amidst all of the marriage discussions. But Marinette could tell something was off. The slight intonation of his voice, the way his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes…He seemed sad almost, but he did what he always did: hid it until they were alone.

“I’ll bring the hot chocolate up when it’s ready,” Sabine called as Marinette and Adrien headed up the stairs to her room.

Adrien remained quiet as he climbed up to her balcony, leaning against the railing with a sigh.

“Sorry. I know they’re a lot to deal with,” she said, awkwardly shoving her hands into her pockets.

“Actually, I really liked it,” he said, staring out over the street. “This was the warmest and most inviting dinner I’ve ever had.”

“Then what’s wrong?” She asked, and he trained those tortured eyes on her. “Hey-”

“I can’t do this.” He shook his head. “Your family is so kind and loving, and they care about you. They want to take me on trips and come to my fencing tournaments. Your dad wants me to spend Christmas with you! All because they believe we’re in love. Doesn’t it drive you mad?”

Marinette averted her gaze, and he ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t do this. They were so kind to me, and all I’ve ever done is lie about loving you,” he said, pressing his lips together. “They’ll be devastated when they find out, and I don’t want to hurt them.”

“Adrien…” Marinette started, pacing over to him. “I know the risks of all of this, and I made my mind up when I decided to help you. From the very first time we kissed in front of everyone, I committed to this.”

“Yeah, but-”

“But nothing,” she said, cupping his face in her hand. “I agreed to this because I wanted to help you. Because…I care about you.”

“Marinette…” He winced. “You’re important to me too. That’s why I can’t hurt the people you love.”

“Who says you’re going to?” She held her arms out. “In a few months when things die down, we can announce that we broke up mutually and that there are no hard feelings then continue being friends. No one ever has to know.”

Adrien searched her expression before lowering his gaze to his shoes with a sigh.

“I really don’t deserve a friend like you,” he said with a short laugh. “You really are amazing, Marinette, and I hope you know how much you mean to me.”

She pulled him in for a tight hug, and he leaned into her embrace. In that moment, he felt so fragile, and she wished that she could take all of that hurt. It was hard enough living with her own pain, but somehow knowing Adrien cared for her this much hurt worse. That he would rather be unhappy than hurt her or her family. She was falling more in love with him the longer this went on, and she knew that it would destroy her in the end. But she didn’t care. If she could alleviate his torment even for a little while, she’d do it in a heartbeat.

“I have Gina’s world-famous hot chocolate- oh!” Sabine paused in the window upon seeing their pained embrace. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Adrien said, pulling away and running a hand across his cheek. “I just got emotional. You’ve all been so wonderful and inviting, and I’m not used to that.”

“Oh, honey,” Sabine said, setting the tray on the table and cupping his face. “No matter your circumstances, you are always loved here.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng. I’ve had a wonderful time here tonight,” he said with a genuine smile.

“I’m glad to hear it. My husband and in-laws can be…a lot to handle,” Sabine said with an apologetic wince.

“It’s okay. I know they’re just happy for us,” Adrien said, wrapping an arm around Marinette’s waist, and Sabine smiled.

“Enjoy the hot chocolate, you two. It’s a pretty night out,” she said before climbing back down.

“Thank you,” Adrien said once her footsteps faded. “I feel like I don’t say that to you enough.”

“You’re my friend, Adrien. I’ve got your back,” Marinette said, and Adrien smiled, leaning in to place a kiss on her cheek.

“Thank you,” he repeated softly, and Marinette’s face warmed.

“You’re welcome,” she said, passing him a mug.

“To friendship,” he declared, holding it up, and Marinette eyed him a moment before clanking her mug against his.

“To friendship.”

[crossbows-and-moonshine]

Such a Softer Sin (Chapter eighteen)

(Chapter one)     (Chapter two)     (Chapter three)     (Chapter four)

(Chapter five)     (Chapter six)     (Chapter seven)     (Chapter eight)

(Chapter nine)     (Chapter ten)     (Chapter eleven)     (Chapter twelve)

(Chapter thirteen)     (Chapter fourteen)     (Chapter fifteen)

(Chapter sixteen)     (Chapter seventeen)

Boys will be boys.

The birthday night doesn't go to plan as the twins fuck up again . Even Rocco’s pissed at them.

Don’t hate meeee lololol, this one's kinda important to help get things moving along to where you all want it to be so, bare with me! There's a method to my madness I promise!!!

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

The four of them spent most of the day lounging about the loft until it was time for Lila to work at McGinty's. The boys and Rocco already started drinking but Lila did not since she had work. Aileen would let her finish earlier today though and she knew they would all be staying at McGinty's longer than usual. She knew the boys used to stay there until the early hours of the morning, but since she moved in with them, they just left after her shift since she was usually tired. They much preferred to go back home with her, even if they didn't really do anything other than sleep. A lot of people would be there tonight, even Doc would be there. She’d met the man a few times and he was lovely, but he was still a little shook up from his fall, having Lila to help Aileen at the bar meant he didn't have to work as much and he was grateful.

Lila had shooed the boys out early. Her shift started at 8 and she sent the boys off around 6. She wanted to get ready without them pestering her. She was actually going to make an effort today. Her style was always a little edgy but comfort meant more to her than anything, so she practically lived in her jeans and t-shirts along with her Doc Marten boots. Tonight she was going for a more vampy look. It was the kind of thing she used to wear before becoming a carer for her granda when her friends would take her clubbing in New York, she always got a lot of attention like this. She didn't think she was ugly, but she didn't think she was the prettiest girl around. She felt like a troll next to the twins just simply because in her eyes, they were the most beautiful humans on the fucking planet.

She turned to the side to admire herself in the mirror, she always felt better dressed up like this, she wished she wasn't too lazy to make the effort to do it every day. She was wearing skin tight high waisted black jeans with high wedge black heels. They had some buckles and spikes on them, giving her the edgy vibe she always had. For her top, she decided on being a little more risque than usual. She had wanted an occasion to wear this top ever since she bought it. It was a black bralette. It had a deep v neck, giving her a lovely cleavage with her just a little above average breast size for her tiny frame. It had lace trim along the bottom and there was a couple of inches of skin showing before her jeans started. It was sexy, but it wasn't sluttish. It was always a fine line but she managed it every time. Her red hair was down, she had blow dried it instead of letting it dry naturally and it had made it look thicker, her waves even deeper giving it an almost crimped look. The look was topped off by a headband with a large black bow on it and a thin black choker to frame her elegant neck. She looked good, she grinned to herself at her surge in confidence.

For her makeup, she did simple winged liner, she usually only used mascara. Her bright blue eyes were framed with a rim of kohl liner too, making her eyes stand out even more. She didn't bother with foundation, she didn't really need it, and her lips were painted a deep, almost black matte red colour, making her lips look even poutier.  She grabbed her leather biker jacket, feeling like it fit with the outfit, and then she grabbed her usual messenger bag. She still looked like the usual edgy Lila, but more grown up and a bit vampy.

Lila was going to be pissed as shit. Rocco knew it, he fucking knew it and he was on edge waiting for her. He was sat in a booth with the boys, but they weren't alone. The turn out to McGinty's had been crazy. It seemed that most people that had ever met the twins had somehow found out it was their birthday and turned up. This included the two girls currently groping at the brothers through their clothes and giggling like fucking annoying bitches. He found it amusing how protective of Lila he had gotten. She was his friend, she meant a lot to him. And he knew she wouldn't be happy one fucking bit with this fucking scene. He found it mighty hypocritical of the boys to be doing this whilst they chased off all the guys that liked Lila. Connor had a bleach blonde bitch glued to his side, she was stroking his thigh and giggling as Connor whispered things in her ear that Rocco was sure he didn't want to fucking hear. Murphy's girl had dyed black hair that just made her look like she was on death's door. She was straddling him, actually straddling him as she kissed his neck, his hands on her ass. He didn't understand how the twins had seemed to just forget Lila like that. He knew they were piss drunk already, but so was he and even he had the sense to know this was fucking shitty to do. After all she had done for them, the gifts and everything. These bitches had nothing on Lila, and he didn't know why the guys were even interested. But he soon got distracted when said bitches friend came along, some brown haired beauty. And soon enough Rocco had his own things on his mind, like the girl's tongue down his throat.

The boys didn't really think too much into it, since they were three sheets to the wind already. When the girls had approached them, being all touchy-feely, it was like their brains switched off and their bodies took over. Of course they cared about Lila, but they hadn’t seen any lasses since she came onto the scene and it didn't seem like she was interested anymore. Both of them were incredibly sexually frustrated, it had been the longest they'd gone without fucking sex and Murphy wondered if that was why he was extra angry recently. If they didn't have beer goggles on, they probably wouldn't have even spoken to the girls, but they did, the girls were decent and would be a good fuck, that much was sure. They didn't seem to have any qualms about getting hot and heavy in front of everyone.

Lila got a few catcalls and whistles on her way and she smirked to herself. The heels forced her to walk with her hips swaying more and apparently the men liked it. She knew she looked good, she felt fucking good. She always carried herself well, graceful and a slight swagger to her steps. She looked confident and she smiled as she pushed the door open to McGintys. The first thing she saw was Aileen at the bar and the woman's eyes widened, looking her over before grinning widely. She loved this look on the girl and Aileen had witnessed the two boys, she was disgusted with them and she knew seeing Lila like this would be a nice slap across their faces. Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked and she could feel all the eyes looking at her, but she didn't acknowledge it. The bar was mostly full of males.

“Ye look amazin’ sweetheart!” Aileen smirked at her as Lila reached the bar.

“Thanks Aileen, have you seen the boys?” She asked with a smile. Aileen's face fell and she noticed it instantly and she frowned. She was about to ask what's wrong but Aileen gestured to the booth. Lila looked over, her heart sinking as she saw Murphy with some bitch in his lap as they made out. Connor was with another, he was kissing her neck and Lila was sure her hand was down his fucking pants. Rocco sat at the end with someone kissing him seemingly in his own little world. She inhaled deeply, reminding herself they were friends, to quell the deep ache in her chest with the jealousy. It stung like a bitch, after what they had done to her, this was the shit they wanted to play. Fine. Fuck them both. She turned away and Aileen looked at her carefully, reaching out and squeezing her hand.

“Their loss Lila.” She muttered sympathetically.

Lila braved a smile and nodded.

“Yeah, it is their loss. Fuck them. I’m sure I can find someone to keep me company after I’m done with work.” She grinned and making Aileen laugh loudly, she wasn't wrong, Aileen had no doubt she could. Everyone else was staring at the girl.

Lila went into the back, taking her leather jacket off and coming back and started working. Someone on the other side of the bar catcalled her and she snorted to herself. The noise made the boys look over, they had finally come up for air but the girls' hands were still on them. By this point Rocco's girl had passed out, seemingly more intoxicated than he thought, he tried not to let that hurt what little self-esteem he had left. If the three of them were in a cartoon, their jaws would have been on the floor whilst their eyes popped out as they saw Lila behind the bar serving people. The twins knew she was pretty, hell she was beautiful even after she just woke with a hangover. But this was something else. They'd never seen her look so sexy before. Everything from her makeup, hair and her outfit exuded fucking sex appeal and the boys couldn't take their eyes off her. Even Rocco was staring at her. The men around the bar were practically fighting for her attention and she laughed at them, shaking her head. The bitches with the boys got a little jealous of their staring and soon enough their attention was distracted once more with hands down their pants. Although the boys would be liars if they tried to say they didn't keep looking over at the girl, wishing it was her that was touching them.

Lila kept glancing over to the twins even though she knew she shouldn't. She didn't expect this when she came to work today and if the boys' faces were anything to go by, she’d have to find somewhere else for the night because they'd be taking the tramps back with them. She wouldn't have minded so much since they were supposed to be friends, the jealousy was her issue and she had to deal with it, but it was just so brazen and in her face. The three of them had said they liked each other more than friends the night they had the huge fight. They knew she fucking liked them and it felt like a smack in the face after her attempt at giving them a wonderful day. Oh well. Their loss, someone else's gain.

A young Irish lad around her age was keeping her company at the bar. He was handsome but nothing to write home about, but he was really funny and she kept laughing. Every so often the twins would glance her way, seeing her happy and talking to some guy. They felt the jealousy but as they glanced to each other, they felt the guilt. They were practically having some kind of fucking orgy in the booth here and she must have seen them and they sat there jealous she was laughing with someone.

Rocco got bored since his girl was out for the count and he got up, staggering slightly as he was piss drunk.

“Lila!” He beamed as he approached the bar. Lilas' eyebrows shot up seeing how fucking wasted he was and she snorted loudly.

“Fucking hell Rocco, how much have you drank?” She asked incredulously, leaning over to hug him over the bar. He couldn't help the smile as he hugged her back, he felt a little smug he was lucky enough to hug the hot girl and he noticed he looks he got when he moved away.

“A lot! But hoooooly fuck sweetheart, you look...fuck.” He laughed, eyeing her up and down. She threw the dish towel at him with a laugh.

“Thank you Roc.” She smiled at him, making him remember that this was one of his best friends, sweet Lila.

“You should come sit with us when you're done.” The words left his mouth without thinking about it because he'd asked her this a million times in the past. He grimaced when he realised and saw her glance over with disdain.

“Hmm...I think I’ll take a hard pass on that one.” She snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Fuck, I’m sorry Lila, I didn't mean to say that. They're idiots.” He slurred a little, looking at her with his puppy dog eyes and she gave him a smile.

“It's fine, we're friends after all. But I need to find someone to go home with because I don't feel like being a voyeur when they take the bitches back with them. Aileen said I can leave whenever I want so I don't have to witness... that .” She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“You could always come home with me.” He smirked playfully, she knew he didn't mean it the way it sounded to other people. He was teasing her but also letting her know she could crash on his couch.

“You sure Roc?” She asked with a small smile.

“You know you're always welcome at mine Lila, it's what friends are for. Lettin’ their super hot friend sleep over on their couch to rub it in their other stupid asshole best friends faces the next day.” He grinned making her laugh.

“Thanks Rocco, I think you’re the only decent friend I have.” She mused, giving him a weak smile. He frowned a little, she wasn't wrong and that was fucked up considering he knew the twins cared about her a lot. He ordered a beer and squeezed her hand before he reluctantly went back to the whore house table of doom. When he sat down the twins looked to him with a glare, their eyes were red, betraying how much they had drunk as they looked completely out of it. The girls were still all over them but it seemed they had looked on and seen him talking to Lila.

“Seemed awfully cosy wit’ Lila.” Murphy stated accusingly his words slurring a little from the copious amounts of alcohol running through his veins, like he had any right to behave that way with this bitch on his lap grinding on him. Rocco glanced from one twin to another and scoffed incredulously.

“Whos Lila?” Murphys girl asked. They all ignored her though as the twins stared their hairy friend down.

“Are you fuckin’ serious? I hugged the girl and I’m gettin’ shit when you two fuck heads have the audacity to be practically fuckin’ two girls right in front of her?” He asked, shaking his head, getting pissed at them. They were drunk but this shit was ridiculous, he was drunk too but he wasn't acting like an asshole to Lila. It was like these two fucks couldn't help but sabotage themselves. Things were finally going good with the three of them after last time and they somehow found another way to fuck it up once again, like subconsciously they didn't think they deserved it or some shit. Rocco squinted at them wondering how he suddenly became the wise one when he was so drunk. Nothing was making sense tonight.

Lila had poured some shots for the guys as a birthday gift, she did one for Rocco and she begrudgingly poured the skanks one each too just to be polite. She was their friend, she could do this. She got to the table just as she heard both girls ask.

“Who’s Lila?” They'd asked again, since the raven-haired girl had gone unanswered when she had asked minutes before and they were getting jealous they were talking about some other girl.

“No one lass.” Connor said as he cupped the blonde one's cheek.

“No one ye need te worry about love.” Murphy purred, nipping the raven-haired girl's lips. Rocco was the first to see her and he winced and sucked a deep breath. She looked fucking devastated and he didn't blame her. He was struggling not to punch these assholes in the face. She slammed the tray of shots down, making them fall over and spill into the tray as all eyes in the booth turned to her. She had a stony face and the boys blanched realising she had heard them, as if their brains had finally switched back on and the desperate need for a quick fuck with someone they didn't care about was over. The look on her face was enough to make them sit up a little straighter and Murphy idly wondered if he might just throw up as he felt his stomach flip around on him.

“Who the fuck are you?” The raven-haired girl asked, eyeing her up with a scowl.

“No one you need to worry about apparently.” She sneered coldly, glancing from one twin to another. They were clearly fucking wasted and they just looked at her with wide eyes and slack jaws, like their brains were too riddled with alcohol to even function.

“You spilled the shots everywhere bitch.” The blonde stated dryly. The boys looked to the girl with raised eyebrows, not expecting her to be so hostile with Lila, yet being too dumbfounded to say anything about it.

“Real observant. Good taste guys, great catches you have here.” She snorted bitterly before she turned on her heel and left back to the bar. The boys were frozen, their alcohol soaked brains trying to catch up with them as they realised Lila had heard them and once again they had upset her.

“Wow, well-done guys. I’m startin’ to fuckin’ wonder if you actually hate the girl since you break her heart so much.” Rocco glared, pushing himself away from the table and walking over to the bar.

“Lila! You ready!” He called out. The twins watched with confusion as Lila came from the back of the bar with her jacket on and left with their best friend. They looked to each other mortified, the events sobering them up just a little.

“Really fucked it all up again haven't we?” Connor sighed, pushing the blonde away from him a little. Murphy mirrored him, moving the other girl from his lap.

“Seriously? You're upset over that bitch?” She asked Murphy with a glare.

“Don’t fuckin’ call her that.” Murphy growled, his anger flaring at the fact that was the second time Lila had been called a bitch in the space of five minutes and she hadn't done anything wrong, they had. He wondered if he could hit a woman, the way Connor reached out to him telepathically said no. So instead he got up, his brother following suit and they left the bar. Not before noticing the dirty look Aileen shot the pair. Yeah, they had fucked up again.

Taglist; @risingphoenix761 @daryldixonandfrogs @arlaina28

[the-only-villain-here-is-me]

The Aftermath

Fandom: MCU

Pairing: None

Warnings: Violence, Language, Very Very Sad.(You've Been Warned)

Note: I cried like a baby writing this because Marvel can't just let my faves be happy for once and now I'm the one making my babes sad, dark, and brooding.

Summary: After the snap, what occurs after such a catastrophic event? Will tensions rise between our heroes or will they break down their walls and invite each other in? This is the aftermath...

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The worst had happened and they were unable to stop it. With the snap of his mere fingers, the devilish Mad Titan brought half the universe to nothing more than wisps of dust.

They had searched; of course; they weren't ready to give up so soon on bringing back their loved ones.

After the snap, they gazed upon the destruction he brought about and the only corpse they had to bury; the Vision. His lifeless image stayed with them; kept some of them up at night even.

Steve had sunk to his knees in the place where his best friend; the man he had just finally regained back from the brink; had perished. He was just a pile of ashes and nothing more.

No one dared bother the mourning man, even after they lead him back to his quarters to stay. The sobs of their leader were just background fuzz to their own traumas; they were shell shocked, angry, frightened, and struggled to hold back their own tears.

Natasha threw herself back into the gym the second they walked through those doors; anyone who tried to talk with the eerily quiet assassin were met with a grunt in acknowledgement or mainly, silence; aside from the repetitous thumps of her bare, bruised and bloody knuckles against the leather bag.

They were broken; but tried their hardest to piece themselves back together. No one had been able to locate Tony in those days after the snap and they had unanimously voted to stay in Wakanda to help with the clean up; it gave them something to focus on.

Bruce blamed himself; for not being able to do more, although he knew in his heart that the Titan wouldn't have been felled by the Hulk alone. He locked himself in one of the labs, basking in the silence as he researched tirelessly ways to recover his friends. He was sure it just had to be science and he knew science. He wouldn't stop until he unlocked the truth.

Shuri would occasionally hover in the doorway, jumping in to assist wordlessly when he needed help with some variables. She would bump him out of her way gently and examine the problem, pretending for just a moment that her brother would stop by and urge her to return to her room for some much needed sleep.

She, of course; knew that wouldn't be the case and so she didn't sleep, at least until Bruce banned her from the lab.

They had gotten into quite the fight over that; tensions already high and boiling over into things that usually wouldn't matter so much.

"This is my lab; you don't get to tell me what to do!" She had screamed, a big fat lump sitting in her throat as her voice cracked on the next part, "You're not my brother!"

Bruce had apologized profusely, but she ignored him as she decided to return to her room in order to avoid speaking to anyone further.

Okoye never was far from the Princess either; although she did keep a little distance as instructed.

She felt guilty, that T'Challa had slipped through her fingers as dust as he tried to help her rise. She knew she couldn't have changed the outcome; but that didn't stop her from wanting to protect his sister with everything she could muster. Sort of as an unofficial last request to her King.

Thor had become the rock, of sorts. He still mourned his brother and friends, but his facade was much stronger; the cracks sealed with a layer of wisecracks and reassuring pats on the backs of his quiet comrades.

When he retired to his quarters, though; that was a whole other story. His dreams were plagued with the dull, emerald eyes of his mischievous brother. Every time he attempted to picture his brother back at his trickful ways, all he saw was his pale corpse devoid of any breath.

In his nightmares, he watched as Thanos squeezed the life from his brother; helpless.

"Br-rot-ther...h-help me!" Loki would choke out, his eyes pleading.

When the Mad Titan released his grip, his body would tumble to the floor like a rag doll; his limbs splayed awkwardly.

Slowly, his brother would turn to face him and with nothing but distaste in his dull eyes, would utter, "You let me die!"

Thor woke up in cold sweats after these and took to staring out the window the remainder of the night; glaring up into the stars as he plotted the slow and painful ways he would bring Thanos to his knees.

The day Tony returned, with Nebula in tow; Rocket had rushed in; hoping to see the rest of the Guardians.

"They're gone," She had deadpanned before storming off.

Bruce had pulled Tony into a bear hug when he saw the man walk in. The broken man hadn't reciprocated the action; his eyes dull and glassy; as if he was stumbling through a haze.

Steve had taken that exact moment to exit his room, his eyes still red and cheeks swollen, his lips set in an unmoving line.

They met eyes, from across the room and Steve pulled away from the intense staring match first, flicking his head to look at a spot on the wall.

"He's dead too, isn't he?" Tony had questioned, the first sentence he had let slip past his lips ever since they arrived.

Steve merely nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly.

The others steeled themselves for an outburst, their bodies rigid as they waited for the two to explode at one another after being thrown back into a still smoldering fire of anger.

Then Tony did something unexpected; he stepped forward and placed his hand on the Captain's shoulder, nodding his head slightly.

"We're going to get that purple son of a bitch, even if it's the last thing we do Cap," He muttered before taking off soundlessly down the hall to the lab to fix up his wound properly.

He met a tired Rhodey at the end of the hall, still fuming after having had spoken to General Ross.

General Ross had been spewing an angry tirade about how the Avengers had let down the world and this is not how a team acts and blah blah blah.

"With all due respect, sir; half of the team you're talking about were considered fugitives by you five minutes ago and now you want to complain that they weren't doing their jobs?" He had scoffed angrily, ending the call before he could really let the man know what he thought.

He was the only person left to deal with the hellish late night calls from pissed off U.S Government Officials who knew jack squat and it had been taking a toll. Not to mention that the press couldn't stop ringing him for juicy details about the catastrophe.

"Good to see you in one piece Tony," He chuckled at the man, pulling him into a brief one armed hug.

"Have you heard anything about Pepper?" Tony questioned him, his eyes wide in worry over the fate of his fiance.

"She's fine Tony, we got her set up in a safe house," Rhodey had murmured.

"The kid- he's gone," Tony added, his voice cracking.

"We'll get him back Tony," Rhodey had promised; knowing good and well he was in no position to be making such promises.

Two years since he had made that promise.

Things still hadn't changed.

Tony headed back to New York eventually, noting the city streets were nearly empty as he made his way down them; watching the clean up crews fixing the destruction.

He and Pepper pushed the wedding as he searched day and night for Thanos.

One such night, he found himself staring up into the sky littered with stars due to the drastic transformation of New York City's skyline due to less emission.

"Man up asshole; I want to talk!" He screamed up into the night as a cool breeze tickled his face.

The balcony remained quiet, and he had shaken his head at the half hearted try.

He should of been happy that night; when Pepper announced she was pregnant. He should of been ecstatic at the news.

He just felt, oddly empty. Thanos had taken the one thing he had longed for and turned it into runner up to getting Peter back to his distraught Aunt May.

"Morgan Parker," He offered, gazing into her eyes as tears welled up in his.

She had pulled him into a hug and he felt safe. Safe had usually taken on a new meaning for him, but this; this was safe.

Steve got himself an apartment in Brooklyn for dirt cheap with all the real estate popping up seemingly over night.

It was a one room studio; all he had was a bed, a bare kitchen, and a table with three chairs.

He had a stack of sketch pads under his bed, tucked into a rusted metal box. Page after page was filled with the images of his dead friends.

Bucky, Wanda, Sam, Vision. He was almost obsessive as he tried to draw them into beautiful scenes.

Vision and Wanda with their heads tossed back, frozen in mid-laughter. Bucky curled up in a raggedy arm chair, feet slung over the side as he read, brows furrowed; To Kill A Mockingbird. Sam rolling his eyes jokingly or paused in a sort of still as he threw a water balloon.

He refused to take them out when anyone came over; locking the box and hanging the key under his shirt, close to his heart.

Natasha came over a lot; more than anyone else had. Mainly, she visited between missions.

He would often wake up to find the woman passed out against the wall in a sitting position, snoring gently as the cuts all over her body spilled over and bruises painted her pale skin.

He would pull the blanket from his own bed and lie it over her lap, attempting to ignore her strangled cries that erupted as she slept fitfully.

She also had a lot on her plate as she helped Clint out; as Laura and Lila had perished in the snap; leaving him to care for Cooper and Nathaniel.

Clint was pissed, to say the least, that even after he retired; his old life still pulled him back in like a moth to a goddamn flame.

He couldn't exact his revenge; his kids were his number one priority. Instead, he entrusted Natasha with being his eyes, ears, and legs.

She would go out and bring him back information on Thanos, all while balancing bedtime stories and dinner time.

Clint would have envied how strong she was if he didn't know how hard she was trying to keep it together in the first place. He knew she was just as broken as he was, no matter how hard she tried to mask it.

"You know; you can cry Nat," He had told her one day after a fight over her well being.

"Crying doesn't get your family or our friends back Clint," She had huffed back pointedly, storming from the house.

She had went to see Bruce at the compound, wanting to talk.

Bruce resided at the compound with Thor, Nebula, Rocket and Rhodey, but he rarely talked to anyone as he chose to throw himself into his work.

"Nat," He greeted the woman with a nod as she stormed in, fluttering the papers around her.

"Why did you leave?" She deadpanned, although she could still feel the unfamiliar sensation of a lump in her throat.

"Nat- I- I really don't know," He had stammered.

"BULLSHIT!" She broke down, slamming her fist against the glass table, sending it through.

Her hand was cut up, skin shredded and pain dulled as adrenaline coursed through her veins, as she took out her rage at the shitstorm that had erupted in their lives those past couple years; that tore them apart, pulled them and molded them into people she didn't recognize.

Bruce wordlessly patched her up as she stared out the window with angry tears prickling the corners of her eyes.

He pretended not to notice.

That was all any of them had been doing.

Pretending.

Pretending it didn't hurt.

Pretending they were moving on.

Pretending they were tough enough to contain it.

Pretending they weren't self medicating.

With booze...

With love...

With obsessions...

They couldn't think of the consequences during battle; they had to fight.

This was the battle that was littered with the consequences and choices.

This was the inner battle.

This was the aftermath.

[thegrandtortoise]

The Exchange Students

Chapter: 4/? 

Scorpius POV

Fic Summary: Hogwarts decides to create an Inter-House exchange program, and the fifth years of Slytherin House get two unexpected visitors: Enter Adhira Nazari- perceptive, nerdy, Hufflepuff, and Scorpius Malfoy- mysterious Gryffindor that’s caught the eye of Albus Potter. (Alright I’m giving up with this summary there’s like five important characters and I’m too lazy to describe them all. Basically it’s next-gen, there’s a lot of fluff and romance and lgbtq and I’ll try to make it funny okay thanks I hope you like it)

Chapter Summary:  We get a little look inside Scorpius's (gay as hell) mind, and surprise surprise- a little flashback!

Word Count: 2280

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: Spoilers, Panic Attacks

(I will add more as I add chapters so keep a lookout)

A/N:  Right, so here it is! Scorpius's POV! This didn't go exactly how I imagined it would go, but I'm really happy with it. It's also kinda long, so yay! Trigger Warning: Panic attacks (nothing too major, but tbh I did get a little emotional while writing that part so I thought I would include this)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing you recognize, it all belongs to Queen JK Rowling.

(ao3 link)

(read from beginning)

Chapter 4: Scorpius POV

           I stare up at the green hangings above me, willing them to turn red. Or blue. Or even yellow, for Merlin’s sake. Wait, no, not Merlin. He was Slytherin too.

           Godric, what have I gotten myself into?

           When I signed up for the exchange program, I wasn’t betting on getting put into Slytherin. It was actually the last thing I wanted. I was betting on the chance that I was going to get into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

           I know what you’re thinking. But Scorpius, when you signed up you should have known that there was a chance to be in Slyther- yeah, I KNOW. I was an idiot, and now I’m paying for it.

           Of all the Houses, Slytherin. It had to be Slytherin, with the dim, damp common room, with the weird serpents carved into the ceiling,  with the expensive silver antiques everywhere- with Albus frickin’ Potter.

           Albus frickin’ Potter, with his stupid messy black hair and his stupid ‘emerald’ eyes and his stupid glasses with the stupid frames that he looks stupidly cute in.

           Stupid, stupid, stupid.

           And now the word has lost all meaning.

           I groan loudly, and pull my blanket up over my head, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. The only saving grace in this place is that the sun isn’t directly in my eyes in the mornings. It’s really fun when you’re a first year Gryffindor that thinks he’s let his entire family down, and on top of that you’re half blind the next morning.

           I have a lot of pent up emotions.

           “Malfoy, mate, we’re going to be late for class. Better hustle,” Tanaka says from somewhere next me, and proceeds to pull my blanket off of me, leaving me cold, and also half-naked. Wow. More fun.

           Shivering, I grab the nearest t-shirt (which was on the floor) and my stuff, and head for the bathroom, which is locked. Yawning, I knock on the door.

           “You almost done in there?” I yell. There’s a weird scuffling sound, and then a voice.

           “Yeah mate, I just…can’t seem to find my…shirt,” the voice says. It’s Albus.

           More scuffling, and then the door clicks open. From the steam and the yellow light emerges a (rather pretty) shirtless Albus Potter. Still damp. And wearing his glasses.

           Yikes.

           He looks at me, and then at my torso.

           “That’s my shirt,” he says, pointing. I glance down, horrified. Shit. I must’ve picked up the wrong shirt from the ground.

           “Oh, um- I’m- I’m sorry,” I say quickly, and pull it off, handing it to him. My face is burning. It’s literally on fire. “I’ll just- go get another,” I ramble, heading back to my bed and leaning down to grab a shirt that is (I double-check) definitely mine.

           Albus is still standing by the door, holding the crumpled shirt in his hand as I walk into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. The image of him is burned into my retinas.

           I think I might go for a cold shower today.

           All the Slytherin fifth years have the same class Tuesday morning (Defense Against the Dark Arts), so us boys have joined ranks with the girls, and we’re all trooping up together from the breakfast hall. I think there’s a house elf down in the kitchens that favors the Slytherins, because the pancakes today were the best I’ve ever tasted.

           Adhira Nazari, the Hufflepuff transfer, is at the front, squished in between Tina Chang and Lila Kim, who are busy interrogating her about something. Poor girl. She’s probably even more overwhelmed than I am.

           Behind them are Matt Peterson and Albus who are chatting like the old friends that they are. Actually, it looks more like Matt is staring at something in front of him and Albus is talking at him. Speaking of Albus, I’m pretty sure that his robes have been modified or something because it should be criminal to look that good in a school uniform.

           Directly in front of me are Kaito Tanaka, Sebastian Alvarez, and Rose Weasley. Weasley seems to be regretting her choice to walk with them, because Alverez is flirting with her shamelessly, and she keeps snapping at him with those classic, cold Slytherin remarks. It’s rather funny, actually, but good for her. As far as I know, Alvarez is the biggest player in the school, and most of the girls that fall for him end up heartbroken while Alvarez gets off scot free with his absurdly good looks. Not to mention that he’s the star chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He has got a fair number of enemies, though, I’ll say that.

           I’m strolling along behind all of them, feeling slightly awkward with Veronica Westbrook next to me, her nose buried in yet another book. I don’t think I’ve seen her even once without one at least three feet away. I try to get a look at what she’s reading, but her hand is obscuring the title.

           “So…what are you reading?” I try. Veronica just holds up the book for me to see. Something called The Blood of Olympus.

           “Sounds dark,” I say. “Is it any good?”

           She shrugs.

           “Not a big talker, then?” This time I get no acknowledgement whatsoever. I wonder if she’s even listening to me.

           “You know, you’re about to walk right into a wall.” Nothing.

           “Peeves is about to drop a Dungbomb on you.” Again, nothing. I wonder…

           “I think Albus Potter is fit.” I may have just made the biggest mistake of my life. But still- no response. I check to make sure no one is listening, and then lean in closer to Veronica. “In fact, I fancy Albus Potter.”

           Nothing. I lean back to where I was before. “That good, huh?”

           Silence.

             After a lot of climbing, we reach the Defense classroom, panting slightly. After all, it has been a while since we had to climb several flights of stairs. The classroom is already half full- we share this period with the Ravenclaws, and as usual, they are early. They’re comparing notes from other classes at the moment- the cheeky little smartasses. Professor Potter (yes, that Potter) is chatting with a couple of them, asking about their summers. When we walk in, Professor Potter looks up.            

           “And here’s the rest of the class, just on time! Let’s get started, shall we?” Professor Potter says, whipping out his holly and phoenix feather wand, exactly 11 and a ½ inches long.

           Oh yeah. I’m a bit of a Harry Potter fanboy.

           It drives my father crazy.

           “Today,” Professor Potter starts, “we will be attempting the Patronus charm.”

           A couple of gasps and also squeals of excitement from around the room.

           “Can anyone tell me what the Patronus is used for? Except for Al and Rose,” Professor Potter says, shooting a pointed look at his son and niece. Obviously, they already know the charm. I’m pretty sure all the Potter-Weasleys have it down, considering that Harry Potter considers it one of the most important charms that anyone can know.

           Instead, he picks an overeager Ravenclaw who answers the question like he’s memorized the entire textbook. Which he probably has.

           “Very good,” Professor Potter praises. “Now, can everyone get their wands out, please? I want all the desks moved to the sides of the classroom. Quickly, please.”

           The class stands up and we work together to slide the heavy wooden tables to the perimeter of the classroom. Professor Potter then directs us to stand in a big circle, and he positions himself in the middle.

           “Excellent. Now- the Patronus charm is a difficult one, but I’m sure that you will all get it soon enough. Casting the charm requires a happy memory- your happiest, preferably. I’ll give you a minute to think of one.”

           We stand in silence, and I search my mind. My happiest memory…

           First year. First day. The Great Hall, the sky a swirling mass of drab, grey clouds. Sitting alone at the Gryffindor table, all the people I knew across a room that seems as big as a whole country. A bright red letter floating in front of me.

           Clutching it in my hands as it grows hot, running as fast as I can out of the hall and through the main doors onto the grounds, only releasing the letter when it singes my fingertips. Sinking to my knees as the letter rises up and opens itself to unleash the worst words I’ll ever hear.

           “How could this happen?” Squeezing my eyes together.

           “I’m so ashamed.” Throat closing up.

           “Why not Ravenclaw, or even Hufflepuff? Why Gryffindor?” Tears pricking the back of my eyes.

           “We’re so disappointed in you, Scorpius.” Can’t see. “Shame on you.” Can’t think. “You dishonor us.” Can’t breathe.

           Suffocation. Panic. Fear. Anger. Sadness. Everything at the same time, clogging up my mind, my thoughts, my throat, my body, not letting anything through, not letting anything out, swirling thoughts of pain and terror, visions of my family, pale faces and pointed noses and grey eyes, staring down at me, no love, no happiness, no care, just disappointment and shame and I can’t take it anymo-

           “Malfoy?” Release. A breath, a wipe at my eyes. Turning around to see who is casting the shadow over me.

           “Yes?” It’s Hagrid. I know because who else is a half-giant with the biggest beard I’ve ever seen?

           “You alright there, lad?”

           I stand tall, ignoring the burning paper behind me. I might be a Gryffindor, but I am still a Malfoy. I still have a reputation to uphold.

           “I’m fine,” I say, not meeting his eyes, which are beetle black and glisten with kindness and concern. Exactly how Harry Potter describes them. If I look at them, I’ll melt. I know it.

           “Why don’t you come in for a cuppa tea?”

I stare up at him. Tea? How…how could tea fix this?

“We’ll have a look at the pumpkins, and I’ll give you a little sneak peek at the Diricawls that I’ve been breeding. Rather fluffy and cute, if I say so myself.”

Pumpkins? And what on earth are Diricawls?

“Come on. Get your mind off your troubles for a bit. You don’t want to miss my famous fruitcake, do you?”

Well, fruitcake does sound good…

“Well…alright then. I suppose a cup of tea wouldn’t hurt.” I say. He grins, and claps a hand on my back, which nearly pitches me forward into the ground.

“There’s a good lad,” Hagrid says, and leads me to his hut, which while small, is rather cozy, and neatly kept.

He sits me down on a cushy chair, and pours me a cup of steaming black tea, with plenty of cream and sugar. It’s delicious. A plate of fruitcakes sits on the table, and he offers me some. I take one and quickly realize that these are not cakes that one can bite into. Quite nice to suck on, though.

He starts talking, and I just sit there quietly as he chatters on, sipping my tea.

“I saw you at the Sorting yesterday. Was a bit surprised that you got into Gryffindor, but I think you’ll do well. You’ve got that look in your eye. Same look that little Harry had when I saw him as an eleven-year old. Bit scared, nervous maybe. But you’re brave. I can tell, trust me. I’ve seen enough Gryffindors come and go to know one when I see one.”

“It isn’t all bad, y’know. You’ll make friends. It’s near impossible not to. You can try out for the Quidditch team, or you can always join the Gobstones club. They’re always looking for new members. Or go for Dumbledore’s Army. Harry- erm, excuse me, Professor Potter is the head of that one. Or do something else, y’know? Whatever you want, really.”

“I knew your father- hell, I knew your grandfather. I’m old, I am. Still here though. My back’s a bit crooked and my mind’s off with the fairies half the time, but I’m still here. If I can push through, so can you. I know you think you’ve been disowned, but you need to relax. Your family will get over it. Your father made nice with Professor Potter, didn’t he? He’ll accept you too. Jus’ give it a bit o’ time. They’ll come around, don’t worry.”

He spends nearly a half hour talking to me before I start responding, and I find that it’s ridiculously easy to talk to this kind, slightly scatterbrained old man. After I finish eating, he takes me outside to look at the pumpkins, and I comment on how large they are. He beams proudly. Then, he shows me the Diricawls, which turn out to be fluffy, flightless birds that disappear whenever I try to touch them.

“They’re just a bit jumpy,” Hagrid explains. “Don’t be like them, Scorpius. You ever get scared, don’t disappear like they do. Talk to someone. Talk to me, if you want. Push through it, and you’ll be fine.”

             I chuckle as I think about that day. My happiest memory. I still adore Diricawls and Hagrid’s cakes to this day.

           “Everyone have their memory?” Professor Potter asks, and I’m snapped back to the present. Everyone nods.

           “Excellent. Now, for the incantation,” he says, and takes out his wand. “Expecto Patronum.”

           I know what’s coming before it even appears; the famous stag, which prances around the room until Professor Potter releases the spell and it fades away, leaving us with a faint sense of happiness.

           “Now, you try it.”

           Taking a deep breath, I hold out my wand as everyone else is, and focus hard on my memory.

           “Expecto Patronum.”

[calmskiesfierynights]

Okay. Does anyone else on here or who happens to be one of my amazing followers get accused of having a “bitch-face” ? Am I the only one who finds it extremely condescending and demeaning? 

Let me throw you some background. 

When I got a job in a serious business atmosphere at around the age of 18, I was scared. Being a science major just wanting to pay the bills... I couldn’t be more out of my element. But hey, suck it up right? Parents won’t pay your tuition and you don’t have a back up trust. I started off super young, since I was about 10-12 years younger than a bunch of (albeit lovely) sales people and coworkers. 

I was nervous, and trying so hard just to keep my job - but apparently I was doing great work! I just wouldn’t... 

“Why don’t you smile more love?”

“Darling, you have such a pretty smile?” 

“You’re so unapproachable.” 

It’s the first time I had heard it from someone other than my mother lecturing me on how I would never find anyone since I looked like “such a bitch”. Great. 

18 years old and I have a meeting with five grown ass men in suits that cost probably more than my tuition for the upcoming year combined. They all stood while I sat, most likely shaking but refusing to stare look down. What the fuck could I have done? Did I miss a finance deadline? Did I misplace an invoice? 

No. 

“You’re a pretty girl with the nicest smile, and one of our clients said you didn’t smile at him like he wanted. Now, this causes some concern...” 

I cannot even remember the rest because I blocked it. Shoved it so deep into my thoughts and never wanted to process it again. My spine was rigidly straight, something I learned the past years before as I fought to have a restraining order against my teacher who made extremely inappropriate advances on me. 

By the way... he still has his job. I’m still the butt of the joke in the faculty lounge I hear. Not that I’d ever go back or think of high school... honestly. 

I gave them a nod, noting my understanding through gritted teeth and smiled widely. The owner was thrown aback. 

The day before I had gotten my braces put in for the first time. My mouth felt like someone had begun to pull and shove and throttle from every tooth. I was in undescribable pain. I explained this, naturally. 

They all then laughed and excused me, telling me they were going to call the client and apologize on my behalf. 18-year-old me bit her tongue, but let it be. It was the first time someone thought I was a bitch just because of my face, but I guess it was the first time someone tried to get me fired because I didn’t please them aesthetically. 

I stayed at that job far and far too long to realize my education was taking a toll and my resolve was shattering. On the upside, my confidence and communication skills mastered, and I could get myself out of any hard situation with an unhappy client. But, the money woes went on... so next stop was the world of waitressing and bartending. 

Amazingly, and probably not too shockingly - it gets worse from here. 

I was amazing at my job. Not just amazing, but fantastic - and could literally upsell any beer or meal better than anyone. Make the perfect Bourbon Sour? Only me. Old Fashion? I was Queen of them. I had gotten my braces off, and my teeth were perfect. I’m not even being a cocky snot, but man my ortho really did art! My “bitch-face” got comments here and there, but luckily my boss thought it was one of my quirks. Men liked it apparently, because it made me more fun to banter with. 

Banter, I can dig it. 

But the other comments, I guess you can say they got to me? 

“Such a pretty blonde, why don’t you give me a smile?” That came with a tap on the tush. Perhaps I was too new or young? Because in the same setting three years later I stapled a man’s hand for doing that. This time however, back then, I could only muster a small smile. 

I could go on for ages about that place, but it was mostly good memories clouded with patrons calling me the “fuck-you face chick” or the “I wonder if I could do something to make her smile” with every innuendo intention. 

Le grand sigh. 

As my life began to move on, and I traveled and lived in different incredible places, I realized I had a lot to smile about. Also? I was so approachable apparently, and could make friends anywhere! 

That made me think - did I always have this face? Or did the many many men who fucked me over throughout my life make me not so willing to give their entire gender a smile? I thought about it a lot, and moved back home to once again search for my dream job locally, and work in a new bar. 

Alas, the demeaning mentions of my bitch-face didn’t come from patrons or drunks! No, but from management. Female management. 

After being booked during my first week for six doubles (not weird but super tiring!), I guess you could say I was overwhelmed? Apparently, that translated right to my face. 

My male GM sat me down for a formal meeting to tell me one of the owners, (female), thought I made too much of a scowling face when I worked and I looked absolutely miserable. 

“She said that? I looked miserable?” I asked, genuinely shocked and appalled. I only wanted to do a good job to well... make money of course! 

“Well... she used other words.” He said lightly, “You have a bit of a bitch-face.” 

Boom. There it was again. Hook, line, sinker. 

This time however, I wasn’t going down. I gave him my million-watt perfect smile and cocked my head to the side. “Whatever do you mean?” I responded with sickly sweet inquiry. 

I was out for blood, and they didn’t know it yet. I guess, neither did I? 

I still needed to fund my life and my research, so I accepted the criticism and promised to do something about my face right away. 

You know that petroleum jelly beauty pageant ladies use? Oh honey, I bought it and brought it to work. Before I went to any table, you could see me applying it in the staff alcove with exuberant enthusiasm. I was far too old for this bullshit of being afraid of my face, and a little too tired of hearing it. So hey, why not make a scene out of it? 

It worked for a while, but I guess me becoming more comfortable and happy with my coworkers really made it all better in the end. I was genuinely smiling, which was lovely... I guess? 

It lasted all of two months. 

A new GM came in I don’t remember his name but it probably was misogynistic asswhipe, but don’t quote me on that. I’m only partly sure. 

He had heard about my elusive face from upper management and greeted me as bitchface. Great. I didn’t speak to him for two weeks, and you know what men HATE? When you don’t acknowledge them. It’s not cute in their opinion. 

Too fucking bad M. Asswhipe!

Having been a main bartender before, and now working with a co-bartender, I could be happier. Alas, this lovely new GM decided my bitchface was a little too strong. 

“She’d be so much fucking hotter if she just smiled and did what I said.” 

He said this, as if I wasn’t standing next to him, about to pour wine. 

“He’d be so much hotter face-first in the deep fryer.” My comment won a lot more appreciation, naturally. 

It didn’t get better for me, as all staff had a meeting while I was out of town, and their new job was to remind me to smile more and not have such a bitch-face. 

This was a real topic. At a serious meeting. Of a well-known business. Led by Asswhipe GM and Not-so-Feminist Assistant Owner. 

When the person I had been dating reminded me one night with a tinge of snark, I dropped all the plates in my hand. That was it, the straw that broke the camel’s back. I ran outside a cried. It doesn’t seem that dramatic right? Like why was THAT the moment I lost it? 

I cried because I was so so so tired. Everyone I worked with was in on this against me, and I guess you could say I felt bullied. Every smiling demand, every leering man, every drunk creep, every sexual harassment... assault. It all surfaced in one giant clusterfuck of a Friday night dinner rush. 

So I quit. Simply. 

I got an incredible job in research that not only pays the bills well, but is giving me the most amazing experience to further my passion and goals in life. And you know what? Not one of the women or men I work with (who, might I add... especially about these incredible ladies... have more letters after their names than any of my ex-manager’s FULL names ever did) have ever even mentioned an inkling of my so-named Bitch Face. Not one. It’s never come up. I don’t need to smile to impress anyone, it’s what I can bring to the table that’ll blow their minds. 

So, what the fuck was this little spiel? 

Men have put me down for way too long. Women, well they have too, and I will do everything in my power to make sure I never become them. 

Listen, I truly don’t know why I wrote this. But If I could even help one person out there understand that it’s not you it’s their shitty fucking asses, man job well fucking done go me!

Please embrace each other. Please lift each other up. Please pick us up. Please love yourselves. And fuck anyone who says you have to smile more or fix your bitch-face. Fuck them, find your place and I promise you - no one there will five a fuck if you have a little bit of a icy scowl in your bones. 

- Lila. 

[fallenheroine]

modelbehxvior​:

“Their words are just that. Words.”

He knew it wasn’t the best explanation for him to give about those people. But not everyone was against them. There were some, but not a whole lot. They just happened to be louder than those who believed in them.

It was that way for everything in life. The negative tended to be louder than the positive. For whatever reason, negativity had a louder voice than those who wanted to genuinely lift others up. It was a sad truth but it was how things like this - like akumatizations happened. Yes he had heard the whispers, he had seen things, but he never acknowledged them. It was just like when they dealt with Lila. As himself, he had told her that as long as they knew the truth and she wasn’t hurting anyone with her lies then what did it matter? 

Lila had merely been seeking attention and he would bet money that those who said such things about him and Ladybug were just doing it for the same reasons.

Attention was a strong motivation behind people’s actions.

It was sad, but it was how things were. He came from a home where is father restricted his every move. He was used to the spotlight, being ridiculed at times but the fans that loved him were the reasons he didn’t mind it so much. His work served a purpose. He made people happy.

Sure, it wasn’t the most selfless job, but it was a job that did inspire others. He inspired others just by modeling and he gave life to the things his father created.

“There’s always going to be those kinds of people. They can say whatever they want, but you and I know the truth. Even Hawkmoth knows the truth, our fellow heroes, they know the truth too. You aren’t alone, you haven’t been from the very start of this,” he reassured her, this time closing the distance between them.

A clawed hand extended to her own with his palm up, he offered for her to take his hand..

“I think it’s time that I showed you the truth,” he told her, waiting to gain her attention first. He wanted her to see his transformation end. To see his costume disappear in a glow of green light. He wanted her to know the real him. To realize that he was the friend of hers that he had been referring to. His words alone should have given him away if she recalled their conversation about Lila. But in case it didn’t, he was ready to reveal himself to her.

“Please, just look at me for a moment,” he practically pleaded for her to look his way.

“You and I, we’re better than that. We can fight this together, we can ignore that negativity. I’d do anything to shield you from it…” he trailed off and took a deep breath. The next words to leave his lips were words he hoped would mean something to her the moment she saw him.

“Claws In.” 

In a glow of green light, the leather began to disappear starting with the mask first. His hair shortened a bit but the green eyes remained. There he stood now, as himself. As Adrien Agreste. Wanting to take her into his arms and just hold her to reassure her that what she was seeing was no dream. That he wasn’t pulling a fast one on her. He wanted her to know that he was close to her in more ways than just their partnership as the heroes of Paris.

“Marinette,” he began again. His tone remained soft, gentle with the intent to ease her into not only his reveal but understanding that he knew where she was coming from. “Don’t you remember that day I told you, I watched you get captured twenty-five thousand, nine hundred and thirteen times? I know what it’s like to lose my partner, to lose the girl that I love over and over and over again. It hurts but whereas I couldn’t bring you back, you have the power to always bring me back from it. The day I learned you were Marinette was the happiest day of my life because I could think of no one else that I trust more, than you,” his eyes were softer, almost pleading for her to listen to him. She may not have wanted him to continue to sacrifice himself but he didn’t even need to think about doing so.

He’d do it in a heartbeat every time because he trusted in her ability to win the fight. He just wished she trusted him when he told her, when he assured her that he would never leave her. But how did one convince a once heroine of that when it was obvious that she held the pain of every time she lost him. How did he get her to let those things go? She needed her own positivity, her own reason to believe that she’d never lose him permanently.

“I know it hurts every time but it’s a risk we have to take. That doesn’t mean you’re weak or that I’m gone forever. You’ve always been amazing as Ladybug, don’t let the negativity of few outweigh the positive of the many who believe in you…like I believe in you,” he confessed, obviously intent on waking her up to what she was clearly missing through all of this. He needed her back, he wanted her back. Otherwise, he was currently the one feeling like his partner was gone forever. Surely that was something that Ladybug could see?

“You say that they are mere words, but they cut deeper than any blade.”

Artemis replied with a quiet sigh. Ultimately it was just a multitude of small things that lead her down this path. A few snide comments here, an offhand joke over there. Soon all she could hear were the negative comments wherever she went regardless of if she had her costume on or not. This was not factoring whatever she had to manage as Marinette.

Lila always came to the forefront of her mind when it came to that type of endurance. Chole was bad, but she never went as far as Lila did. Also, unlike Lila... Chloe was finally able to figure out what she was doing wrong and start to be a better person. In that case it was better that it happened later than never at all.

The words that Chat Noir said next stirred a faint memory. She’s heard those exact words before, but she was having a hard time remembering where. No matter how hard she looked within her mind, she couldn’t place who said it to her. Needless to say, her attention was peaked as she continued to listen to him. Apparently, this conversation finally caught Hawkmoth’s attention as she could hear him screaming at her in the back of her mind. Though she was busy with her partner and that was much more important than whatever he wanted her to do. She shut her eyes momentarily and pushed him out of her mind, peace once again.

“We may know the truth, but that never stops the lies. Hear the lies enough times and then they start to overpower the truth. Eventually... there are enough lies that  the truth becomes muddled with them, allowing doubt and suppressed fears come back to the surface and eventually that’s all you can think about.”

At least that’s what happened to her, being Ladybug gave her a sense of clarity that other Akumas seemed not to possess. Even while in this state she remembered clearly what pushed her over the edge. Fears from when they first started being Ladybug and Chat Noir resurfaced. Doubts about he skills grew, and eventually it became too much for her.

Finally, she lifted her head up and turned her attention back on him again. She looked between his hand and his face and took the offer. There was still a slim hope that by the end of this conversation he would see things her way and join her. He’s protected her time after time, all she wanted to do now was to be the one to protect him. Protect him in a way that he’ll never have to get hurt again.

The next words caught her off guard. The flash of green light and the show of the magic fading away from her partner’s body. It was Adrien... the boy that she loved since the day with the umbrella. Taking the free hand she held it up to her chest. The boy she loved so much and the boy that was her treasured partner were one in the same. The conversation that he mentioned next was still foggy within her mind. Though she could still remember what he was referencing to. She gave him the Snake Miraculous once, not realizing that he was Chat Noir.

“You don’t know that for sure. I know the Miraculous Cure fixes everything that got damaged during a fight. But we don’t know if there’s a limit on what it can fix and that’s what scares me anytime I see you get hurt in a fight. What if this is the time I can’t fix it? What if I can’t bring you back? What if you are gone forever?”

She had to pause for a few moments to gather herself. Sometime during her explanation her shoulders tensed and all four of her eyes shut closed. This was by far her biggest fear. What would happen if her Miraculous Cure ever failed her. She’s had countless nightmares over the cure failing to bring him back. Each time she woke up in a cold sweat and she could never will herself back to sleep after one of those nightmares. 

“We don’t have to take those risks anymore if we just block Hawkmoth out from his powers. Surely you can see that his attacks are weaker now since he’s working at half-strength. I’m sure with your help we can keep more of his power away from him.”

Artemis explained her logic to him, in her mind it was sound. If Hawkmoth couldn’t Akumatize anyone then he wouldn’t be put into danger, people will stop judging them and everything will be fine. If anything, with his help they may be able to figure out who Hawkmoth is all together and end the problem once and for all. Though a frown came to her face once he mentioned those people again.

“You say that there are still people who believe in me. But how do you know that they aren’t going to turn their back if they find out about this? You saw how quickly they turned their back on you when you got framed by Copycat. I’m just having a hard time believing that something will change if I go back. Otherwise what’s the point?”