Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Little gasp, hands to my mouth… slight pause… let my eyes tear up slightly and build up a nice quaver in my voice, then—

“Oh my gosh, you guys! You didn’t have to do all this!”

Lila Rossi let her hands fall and fixed a big grin on her face that matched the smiles of her classmates. The whole class except for Marinette and Chloe were standing in the park near school, the one outside the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and they had set up what looked like a truly spectacular picnic. Lila saw platters piled high with takeout from her favorite restaurants, the big boom box Nino used for his DJ events, and a bunch of cushions which looked incredibly comfortable and must have, judging by their pink design, been contributed by Rose. A few banners had been hung up too, and they all read, “FASHION CHARITY CELEBRATION!”

“I know we didn’t have to, girl,” said Alya as she approached Lila. “But we felt like you deserved it after all you achieved!”

“Your work with that fashion mogul from Milan helping poor people get beautiful clothes is truly generous!” Rose added in a sweet voice. “And now that your meeting with the mogul is over, we thought it’d be a perfect time to show you how great we think you are!”

Lila let her smile expand just the slightest bit, as if she was genuinely affected by their words. “Aw, thanks guys,” she said in a slow, almost reluctant voice that sounded like she was almost too humble to accept the compliment. “But I was just doing what anyone would. I mean, after I met the mogul at that party at the embassy, I felt like I had an obligation to help her. Even the poorest people deserve good clothes to dress up in, you know? Like, for job interviews and stuff. And honestly, I had no idea the clothing drive would be such a success!”

The drive had indeed been a success, although Lila hadn’t contributed in any meaningful sense. She’d just told the others about her latest 'charitable project,' let them all insist on joining in so they too could ‘help the poor,’ and then hung back while they did the actual grunt work of collecting old clothes and hunting through them for hidden gems. The only thing Lila had done was gather up their ‘donations,’ pick out a few to keep for herself, and then dump the rest in a Goodwill box during a weekend trip to Rouen. (After all, she could hardly dump them somewhere in Paris where the class might find them.) Then she’d told the rest of the class that she’d given the clothes to the mogul, who had been overjoyed by how much good they had done. That was, of course, just what the others had expected to hear.

And Lila knew how to tell others what they expected to hear.

Lila stepped forwards and let Alya hug her. Then, when the rest of the class approached, Lila allowed a hint of curiosity into her expression. “Hang on. How did you guys know I just got out of a meeting with that mogul? And how did you know I’d come by this park on my way home?”

“We saw your post on your Facebook page,” said Max. “Two days ago you had mentioned that today you’d be meeting with a ‘great person’ from Italy who was ‘the height of fashion.’ It was easy to determine who you were talking about based on prior conversations with us where you said you knew that mogul and that she was in Paris. Then yesterday you mentioned that after lunch you would take your friend over to our school so you could show her the part of the city you live in. This park is between the embassy and your school, so we knew you’d come by here.”

"Ah," said Lila. She was proud of those Facebook posts; they had given her friends all the right clues while being vague enough not to cause problems if her mother or someone else in the embassy saw them.

“Speaking of that,” Mylene said, “Where is your mogul friend, anyways? We really wanted to meet her and tell her how great we think her charitable efforts are!”

Inwardly, Lila smiled to herself. Clearly the class had put this picnic together not just to be nice to Lila but also to try to impress a famous celebrity, exactly as Lila had planned. No wonder the food, seating, and everything else was so nice. On the outside, though, Lila let her face fall. “Oh,” she said softly. “I was planning to walk here with her like I posted, but she got a call that one of her models was throwing a tantrum and she had to cancel our walk so she could deal with that. I wish I’d known you were doing this, because then I would have tried harder to get her to take that walk with me. She’d have loved meeting you all.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Alya at once, and though the class looked disappointed, Lila could see they all believed her. And how could they not, really? It wasn’t like they could know that Lila had done everything in her power to manipulate the class into throwing this party. 

“Actually,” said Alya, “there was one other thing. We thought the mogul would be coming here, so we brought a few more pieces of clothing that we figured she’d want for her charity drive. Since she didn’t show up, maybe we could give them to you and you could pass them on to her?”

“Sure!” said Lila with real glee. Her wardrobe could always use more pretty outfits. “I’d be happy to help.”

Kim and Nathaniel brought a few boxes over. Lila carefully opened one up, curious to see the clothes, and then her face brightened as she recognized the handiwork. “This is beautiful!” she said as she lifted a shimmering, elegant dress from the box. “It’s amazing! It’s… hang on, is this one of Marinette's designs?”

Alya nodded. “She made that for me for last year’s spring dance,” she said. “It’s really gorgeous, isn’t it?”

"The orange one she made me for that party last month in Le Grand Paris is in there too, Lila," said Sabrina quickly.

“There’s a bunch of things by Marinette in there,” added Kim. “Like a really fancy shirt she made me, or that sparkly blue dress she made Rose for a lunch with Prince Ali. Seriously, the charity cases will love these.”

“Are you sure it’s okay to get rid of Marinette’s stuff like this?” asked Lila, carefully concealing her excitement. "Will she get upset?"

Alya waved a hand. “She likes charity. I’m sure she’d be fine with it.”

Lila again smiled to herself. You guys really wanted to impress that mogul, so, you came here with the most beautiful clothes you owned just so you could give them to charity in front of her, she thought. And the 'most beautiful clothes you owned' that you were willing to give up happened to be Marinette’s gifts to you. How perfect. But hey, we all know she’ll just make you more stuff if you ask her, so it’s not like you’ll be suffering too much for their loss.

Outwardly, though, she let her eyes tear up just a little more. “Thank you so much,” she said. “I will personally get these to her. I’m sure the poor will love these outfits.”

“Well, that’s enough talking!” said Kim abruptly. “Come on! Let’s eat!”

Lila let the others take her over to the platters of food and pile her plate high with delicious treats before sitting down on a cushion. Mylene and Ivan took her left side, happily chattering about the charity work they thought they’d contributed to, while Nino, Alix, and Nathaniel sat on her right. “Did your contact at Marvel get back to you about whether my work made it through the second round yet?” Nathaniel asked.

“Not yet,” Lila said. “I know the judging should have been done by now. I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be,” said Nathaniel quickly. “Honestly, even getting through the first round of that contest is a big deal. It means my stuff is being looked at by real editors!”

Lila nodded. The Marvel contest itself was real enough, though the only way Nathaniel’s work would be seen by an editor would be if one happened to break into her house and find it hidden in its folder on her bookshelf. It had been easy to convince Nathaniel that she had a good friend at Marvel who owed her a favor and would fight for Nathaniel’s submission. All they had to do was make sure the editor knew which package it was in advance so he could ensure he was the judge of that particular work. Lila had thus created a special envelope with a few sigils and random numbers on it (“our code,” she had told Nathaniel) and had Nathaniel put his work inside so she could mail it on her way home. The next day she’d told him she’d mailed it, and a couple weeks later she’d even given him a fake letter she’d typed up congratulating him on making it to the contest’s second round.

The story would never, of course, actually get anywhere near Marvel's offices. Lila would eventually tell Nathaniel a tragic story about some executive destroying his work on the grounds that it was so good and so similar to an upcoming project that he had chosen to kill it to protect Marvel's own brand. And in the meantime, Nathaniel would continue to be even nicer to Lila than usual, including continuing to give her invitations to art galleries that he’d worked very hard to get for himself. Lila, in turn, was doing a brisk business selling them to a few social climbers she’d met through the embassy who would pay excellent money for the chance to schmooze with society’s up-and-coming artistes. It might not be win-win, Lila thought, but she won twice, and that was just as good.

“No, Nathaniel,” Lila said aloud. “Your work is really good and it deserves to be seen. I’m going to find out what happened, and I’m not going to stop until I know they’re giving you the consideration you’re due.” 

“Thanks, Lila,” said Nathaniel. “You’re a great friend.”

Then it was Nino’s turn to talk to Lila about her work to get his music in front of a major label, and after that came the rest of the class. Lila smiled, she laughed, she made promises when appropriate, and she ate some truly delicious food while the others showered her with praise and gifts.

Life, she thought, was good.

After a while, Lila noticed that Adrien was the only member of the class who hadn’t come to greet her. He was standing by the buffet with a tired expression, though he fixed it into a smile when he saw Lila looking at him. Lila got up and went over to him. “Enjoying yourself?” she asked him in a happy voice. 

Adrien sighed. “The mogul isn’t real, is she?” he asked in return. His voice, Lila noted, was almost a whisper and was far too soft for the rest of the class to hear. “Lila, why do you do these things?”

Lila quickly dismissed the thought of insisting the mogul was real; she knew Adrien wouldn’t believe it and she’d just annoy him. Instead, she used her usual strategy with him. “Adrien, I’ve been in a different city every few months for the last five years,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve been anywhere long enough to make friends. I want them to like me, but… I mean, they’re all so amazing. They won’t like some random nobody who never met anyone interesting or did anything important. And I couldn’t bear to see them hate me and be all alone again.” She pressed up against him, looking to all the others like she wanted to give him a hug. “Please don’t tell them,” she begged. “I’d be ruined.”

Adrien sighed. “I won’t,” he said. “I'm not going to hurt you or them over this. But—“

“Thanks,” Lila said, having heard what she needed to hear. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then turned back to the others. “You’re awesome, Adrien.”

“Who wants cake?” Kim called.

“Me!” Lila said gleefully. 

“HEY!”

The entire class froze and turned to see Marinette storming out of the bakery and heading in the direction. Lila waited for the others to be looking at Marinette before she shot the blue-haired girl a smug smirk. Once again, exactly as planned, she thought, then quickly schooled her expression back into one of bafflement. “What’s wrong?” she asked Marinette aloud. “Why are you upset?”

“Okay, wait,” said Alya quickly. “Marinette, I know you’re probably a little upset that we did this picnic without telling you, but we know how you get when Lila's around and we figured it’d be best to keep you two separate.”

“Yeah,” said Nino. “We can have a picnic for you tomorrow or something.”

Marinette stared at them. “Picnic tomorrow?” she repeated. “But we were supposed to have a party today! Remember?” Her voice grew a little angrier. “I had told Bustier how you were excluding me—“

“We’re not excluding you!” Alya said. “We just don’t think it’s a good idea to bring you and Lila to the same events, since you can’t get along with her!”

Marinette shot Alya a glare. “—anyways, she said that I should try harder to be nice, and I didn’t even know what else I could do, but eventually I decided that I’d try to throw a party. I spent all week working on it, I gave you guys those invitations, and for the last hour I’ve been wondering why you didn’t show up!” Tears were forming in her eyes. “What’s wrong with you?!”

Everyone looked at Max, guessed Lila figured was supposed to be keeping the schedule. Max did look uncomfortable as he said, “Ah, your party was scheduled to be three hours long, but Lila was only coming by here for a short while, so we decided it would be best to have this picnic with Lila and then go to your party. However, I think we lost track of time.” He shrugged. “Lila is very engaging.”

“Engaging?!” Marinette demanded.

“Marinette, don’t get mad, please!” Lila said. “I’m sorry that I distracted people from your party. I didn’t want to be a bother.” She sniffed. “I can go now. You all play with Marinette.“

“No way,” said Alya. “Marinette, stop being jealous. We can do your thing later, Marinette. We’re not going to kick Lila out early.”

“Right,” said Kim. “Abandoning her would be messed up.”

Marinette gaped at them. Lila, still acting like she might leave, went over to the boxes the class had given her. And as she picked them up, she let the lid slip off the top one. “Oops,” she said as she bent over to pick it up and gave Marinette a perfect view of its contents. "My bad."

This time Marinette’s gasp was audible. “What are you doing with my clothes?” she hissed.

“Didn’t you know?” Rose said in a happy chirp. Next to her, Juleka looked slightly uneasy, but she didn’t say anything as Rose continued on and added, “Lila is doing a clothes drive with a famous fashion mogul! We gave her these things so she could give them to poor people who have never worn nice clothes in their lives!”

It took all of Lila’s considerable skill not to burst out laughing at Marinette’s horrified expression. Perfect, she thought. This is perfect. If her reaction to this doesn’t drive them away from her, nothing will.

In the various classes Lila had attended, there were usually a few people who could see through her cons. Those that couldn't figure her out, of course, weren't an issue. Those that could but didn't want to intervene for whatever reason, such as Adrien, weren't a significant threat either. But then there were those like Marinette. They were smart, they wanted to protect their classmates, and they were more than willing to reveal all of Lila's deceptions. Lila had therefore learned that, whenever she was working out how to manipulate her latest set of classmates, her first priority had to be to find and discredit that last group of individuals. She had to make them seem paranoid, or jealous, or otherwise unhinged. Once she’d done that, it wouldn’t matter if the Marinette-type classmates found a signed confession in which she’d detailed all of her plans. Nobody would listen.

And so Lila waited and goaded on Marinette with her mind. She was hoping for the girl to throw a tantrum, or try to assault her, or even get akumatized. But instead, possessing a level of control Lila wouldn’t have believed existed, Marinette managed to just say, “Adrien, can I have a word?” And then she dragged him to the side.

Lila shrugged, and then Alya made a joke to the effect that it was about time for Marinette to confess her crush already, and everyone laughed. Lila accepted a piece of cake and then began to eat it slowly, drifting just close enough to Marinette and Adrien to eavesdrop as she did so.

“…how can you let her do this?” Marinette was saying in a hurt voice.

“It’s fine, Marinette,” said Adrien. “High road, remember? She’s not really hurting anyone, so what does it matter if she wants to exaggerate a little?” He chuckled. “Come on. In the grand scheme of things, her lies don’t really matter.”

“She just swindled a bunch of expensive clothes out of our class!” Marinette hissed.

“They’re just clothes,” said Adrien in return. “They’re not worth starting a fight over, and they’re definitely not worth risking Lila getting akumatized.” And then he flashed one of his dazzling, radiant smiles. “If you really think it’s a problem, you can make new outfits, right?”

Marinette said nothing, and Lila realized she wasn’t sure what would happen next. But then Marinette whispered, “You’re never going to change your mind, are you? No matter what she does to me or to anyone else, you’ll never care.”

"Of course I care,” said Adrien. “I care about you, and the other members of our class, and Lila too. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt, and exposing Lila would hurt her and cause problems. So what’s the harm in overlooking a few lies to keep everyone happy and friendly?”

“Because I hurt, and I”m not happy,” Marinette said in that same soft, low voice. “She’s made my life horrible for the past few months.”

Adrien shook his head. “You’re our everyday Ladybug,” he insisted. “I know you’re strong enough to handle her.” He took her hand and smiled like he was bestowing a great compliment. “And one day, when she realizes that her lies aren’t getting her the true friendships she really wants and apologizes for what she’s said? Then we’ll all be friends again, and everything will be back to normal. On that day I’m sure you’ll be happy we didn’t make things even worse by calling her out and making everyone angrier.”

Marinette just stared at him, and Lila had an instant’s impression of burning rage. She wondered if Marinette would slap Adrien. But then the moment passed and Marinette just turned around. “I’m sorry to have interrupted,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I won’t bother you again. I’m going home now.”

“We’ll come by your party later!” Kim said as Marinette headed out of the park. “You’ll have those banana cinnamon buns I like, right?”

Marinette glanced behind her. “Forget it. Just do your thing with Lila,” she said in a listless voice. “I don’t care.” And she walked back into the bakery.

Everyone stared at her, and then Alya said, “She’ll get over it. Trust me, I’m her BFF.”

“Yeah,” said Kim. “Still, though, it’s weird she keeps getting so upset about Lila.” Behind him, Ivan nodded.

“You know she's not exactly rational where Lila is concerned,” Alix told him. “Wish I knew why.”

Lila smiled to herself. She hadn’t gotten the tantrum she’d been hoping for, but she was still confident the class would ignore anything Marinette said about her for the foreseeable future. That was all she needed. Now she could continue manipulating them for all they were worth, and nobody would be in her way. She could run this scam forever.

“If she doesn’t want to hang out with me, I guess I have to accept that,” said Lila in a slightly hurt voice. Instantly the others were crowding around her, apologizing for Marinette, and offering to do whatever it took to keep her happy. When Lila hinted that a jewelry shopping trip might do the trick, they were quick to suggest packing up the picnic and heading to the jewelry district right away. Lila accepted, and just like that they were off.

Yes, Lila thought. She could do this forever. And not even Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves could stop her.

“Why are they like this?” Marinette sobbed into her pillow. “What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything, Marinette,” said Tikki gently in her ear.

Marinette shook her head. “I thought they were my friends!” she went on. “I thought they liked me, that they trusted me. And I trusted them!” She blew her nose into a tissue that Tikki handed her, then went on. “I did so much for them. I baked them treats on test days, I sewed them fancy clothes, I did babysitting, and none of them cared. They threw me away for some obvious liar!”

“Marinette, I’m truly sorry,” said Tikki. “I know you’re hurting. But Hawkmoth—“

“—will akumatize me if I feel strong negative emotions, and if I’m akumatized we lose because then I’d just give him the miraculous, so I have to hold in my emotions to the point where I don’t feel them because otherwise the world ends,” said Marinette in a soft, almost broken voice. “My friends all abandon me, my crush tells me Lila’s lies ‘don’t really matter’ and ‘aren’t hurting anyone’ even though I’m crying myself to sleep every night, and I have to just pretend it doesn’t matter.”

Before Tikki could say anything, Marinette sat up and shot her a look. “You realize Hawkmoth's going to win, right?” she said. “Tikki, I’m trying, but I can’t do this forever. I can’t keep ignoring all the ways my friends betray me and hurt me. I can't keep ignoring how Adrien knows what's going on but refuses to tell anyone the truth. I can't keep ignoring those feelings. I try and I try, but sooner or later Hawkmoth is going to catch me and then it’s all over.”

Tikki hugged Marinette as best she could. Then Marinette said, “I might have to give up the earrings.”

“What? No!” Tikki gasped. “Marinette, you’re one of the best holders I’ve ever had. Nobody but you could have done so well against Hawkmoth!”

“But if I’m going to get akumatized eventually, what else can I do?“ Marinette asked. 

Several ideas ran through Tikki’s head as she opened her mouth to interject. She could tell Marinette more platitudes, of course. She could offer to teach her some of Master Fu’s meditation techniques to keep her emotions under control. She could offer to help Marinette bake some cookies.

Or she could tell her that the universe, while not exactly sentient, was known to reward especially meritorious holders. Karma had a strange way of affecting those who made enemies of the best Ladybug bearers. Those like Lila tended to get what was coming to them. And when the Lilas of the world had protection from people who worked to guard them from the consequences of their actions, those consequences wouldn't go away. At most, they would just rebound upon the protectors who had shielded Ladybug's enemies, as was just and proper.

But Tikki knew she couldn’t say the last one. That was something Marinette would have to discover on her own. So instead she asked, “Is there anyone that makes you feel better?” she asked. “That can help you calm down and feel safe?”

“A month ago I would have said Alya, or Nino, or Kim, or any of them,” Marinette muttered. “But not now."

"What about Chat Noir?" Tikki asked.

"No way," said Marinette at once. "He didn't betray me like my class, but I can't talk to him about something sensitive. He never listens. He just flirts and makes puns, even when I tell him to stop clowning around." She looked down. "I've asked him not to flirt and he still does. I've begged him not to sacrifice himself for no reason all the time but he keeps doing it. Yes, he's done some good work as a hero, but if he can't take me seriously, I can't talk to him about this. There isn't... wait." She paused. "I have an idea."

"Yes?" Tikki prompted.

Marinette paused, then wiped the tears from her eyes. “Maybe there really is someone I could talk to. I didn't think of him before, but now that I have, I think he'd be perfect.”

“Then let’s go!” said Tikki quickly. 

Marinette nodded. “Spots on!” she yelled, and when her transformation finished, she was already running for her window.

“Kid,” said Plagg in a low voice. “You need to stop this.”

“I’m not attacking Lila,” said Adrien. “We’ve been over this.”

“Your friend is suffering!” Plagg insisted.

Adrien had split off from the others shortly into the jewelry trip, making the excuse that his father wanted him home for a photo shoot. In reality, he just couldn’t make himself hang out with Lila for even one more minute. Now he was back in his room, relaxing on the couch and feeding cheese to his kwami.

“She’ll be fine,” Adrien insisted. “Marinette is one of the most optimistic and kindest people I know. Trust me: within an hour she’ll have gotten over it.”

“She shouldn’t have to get over it!” Plagg insisted. “She—“

“I am not going to call Lila out just to make he miserable and mess up her friendships with the rest of the class,” Adrien snapped. “Lila just wants attention. She’s not a bad person. Hurting her by exposing her just causes more problems.”

Plagg sighed. “Kid, I don’t think this is about it Lila and whether or not she has friends. Or even Marinette. You just don’t want to be the one to cause tension by calling out Lila. You're worried about losing your own friendships with the class if you tell them something they don't want to hear.”

Adrien shrugged. “I’ve never had friends before. I don’t want to drive them away by making everything unpleasant.”

“And if Lila drives them away instead?” Plagg asked.

“She won’t,” Adrien said. “The others like her. And if Lila eventually does screw up and they see her lies, they’ll forgive her just like I did, and just like Marinette will. Then everything will be fine and nobody has to get hurt.”

“Sometimes bad people have to get hurt,” Plagg insisted. “I’ve been around humans long enough to know: Marinette is suffering, and if hurting Lila is what it takes to stop that, then that's what you need to do.”

Adrien thought for a few moments. “There has to be another way. Maybe I’ll drop by her apartment as Chat Noir instead.” He smiled. “A few puns, a little flirting, and I’ll charm her off her feet.”

“I really don’t think that’s the right answer,” Plagg said in a deadpan voice. “Look, I know you don’t want to cause trouble. But Lila’s lies are hurting others, and you know it. That means you have to do something about it! It’d be like someone knowing that a bunch of cheese is about to spoil and not letting an adorable kwami like me eat it first!”

Adrien chuckled. “You and the cheese,” he joked. “Look, it’s not like she’s lying about, I don’t know, some kind of quack medicine that poisons people who take it. She’s not convincing them to send their money to one of those Nigerian prince email scams. She’s not telling them to give her all their worldly possessions, or that they can jump off a cliff and fly if they buy a magic feather from her. All she does is tell a few lies about knowing people she doesn’t actually know; that’s it. It just isn't a big deal. I mean, sure, she took some clothes from them, but who cares about losing a few clothes?” He gestured at his closet. “I could lose a hundred outfits and still have more stuff than I could wear in a year.”

“Lila's lies aren’t a big deal to you because you saw through them and aren’t getting burned by them,” said Plagg. “And also, they aren’t a big deal to you because you think that, even if you did fall for them, you could afford to lose the stuff she takes without noticing the cost. That Juleka girl lives on a decrepit boat; if she gives away her best outfit, do you really think she can just get another that’s just as good from her closet? Could the others in your class?”

Adrien shook his head and wished Plagg understood. The idea that a loss of a few clothes would be a serious tragedy was silly and incomprehensible. Frankly, Adrien wished someone would take away his dumber modeling outfits so he wouldn’t have to do so many annoying photo shoots. “It’s not a big deal, Plagg,” he repeated. “And it wouldn’t be even if Lila kept it up forever, but she won’t. Sooner or later she’ll get exposed and then everything will go back to normal.” He yawned and then shut his eyes. “I’m going to rest up in case there’s an akuma later. You should do the same.”

Plagg fell silent and Adrien began to drift off, hoping he'd dream of a time when the whole class--Lila included--would get along and be friends with each other. Then they'd all be happy and friendly, and as far as he was concerned, they could stay like that forever.

Chapter Text

Ladybug swung through the air and executed a perfect backflip before dropping down to land on the deck of the Liberty. “Luka?” she called out. “Are you home?”

There was silence for a moment, but then one of the hatches opened and Marinette smiled as the musician she’d been looking for climbed up. “Ladybug?” Luka asked as he stood up on the deck. “What’s wrong? Do you need me to be Viperion?”

“No,” said Ladybug. “There’s no akuma. I just wanted to come over for a few minutes. I… was upset and needed someone to be with.” She paused. “You’re not busy, are you?”

“Not right now,” said Luka. “I was trying to compose something, but the notes wouldn’t come, so I was just about to take a break.” He smiled slightly. “If you’d like I could play it for you. Maybe it will help you feel better.”

“I’d like that,” said Ladybug, her tension and despair already seeming to ebb as she approached him. “In fact, I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”

Luka led Ladybug down to the little living room in the center of the boat. He quickly moved a few discarded clothes off of the couch, which made Ladybug giggle, and then he sat down. Ladybug hurried over to sit next to him as he picked up his guitar from a coffee table. “Here goes,” he said, and then he began to play.

The notes sailed out from the guitar in a sweet and peaceful stream, making Marinette think of calm beaches where the water was always just the right temperature and the waves were gentle enough to allow for swimming. She felt a sense of calm that she hadn’t felt since Lila had returned to school. Even the boat around her seemed to fall away from her consciousness, leaving her to simply luxuriate in the beautiful melody.

After a few minutes, Luka stopped. “That’s all I have for now,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out how to develop it a little more, maybe by adding a contrasting melody or some harmonic lines, but I can’t find anything that seems to fit with the music I’ve already got. What do you think?”

Marinette considered for a long moment. “I don’t know that the piece needs another melodic line,” she said. “It’s the kind of piece that works best because it’s simple and calm, you know? Adding more complicated stuff would undermine what you’ve already got.” She paused. “Maybe what it needs is another musician. Someone who can play notes your guitar can’t reach and deepen the harmonic lines that are already there.”

Luka thought about that and then nodded. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “Do you play music?”

“No, but I’m a fan,” she said. Especially of your music, she thought but did not add. 

“I’ll give that a try,” Luka said. “And I’ll let you know when it’s ready. Sound good?”

“Yes,” said Ladybug.

The two sat in silence for a moment and then Luka said, “Did you want to talk about whatever’s bothering you? No pressure or anything, but if you’d like to chat, I’d be happy to listen.” He smiled a little. “After all, I can’t imagine you wanted to come over here just to listen to me noodle around on the guitar.”

Actually, I would love to do that, Marinette thought. Aloud, though, she just said, “Yes. I’ve been having some problems in my civilian life, and I’m worried it’s going to start interfering with my work as Ladybug. I needed someone to talk to before my negative emotions got out of control.”

Luka’s eyes widened slightly, and then he nodded. “I know that you can’t share a lot of details about your civilian life in order to protect your identity,” he said. “But whatever there is that you want to tell me, I’m all ears.”

The relief Marinette felt—that Luka would listen, that he wasn’t judging her as a failure for having trouble with her emotions, that he wasn’t going to press her on details she couldn’t share—was almost as overpowering as the despair she’d felt earlier. “Thank you,” she said in a soft voice. “I appreciate that.”

Luka didn’t make a pun or a flirtatious comment. He just nodded at Ladybug, as if to tell her he was ready.

“There are some people I know in my civilian life,” she said. “We used to be good friends, or at least, I thought we were. But then this new person showed up and made all kinds of ridiculous promises, and when I pointed out that the promises couldn’t possibly be true, the newcomer turned them all against me.” Her breath hitched. “Now they don’t invite me to anything. They don’t talk to me in class. They gave away the gifts I made for them, they always take the newcomer’s side over mine, and they don’t care how much it’s hurting me.” 

Luka waited until she was done for the moment, and then said, “That sounds really unfair, Ladybug. You’re a good person and you deserve friends who trust you. I’m sorry you’re going through that.”

Ladybug felt a rush of relief that Luka was taking her seriously. “You’re right that it’s unfair,” she said. “And then when I talked to one friend who knows the newcomer is making things up, he just said that we should ‘take the high road’ and let her do it because calling her out would upset her!”

“He’s wrong,” said Luka. “I mean—“

“I know he’s wrong!” said Ladybug quickly. “But I can’t get through to him or any of the others, and I’m depressed and upset all the time! Hawkmoth might akumatize me at any moment and I’m scared about that too, and it just gets worse and worse!“

She began to cry and, without thinking, she buried her head against Luka’s body. Luka jolted a little but then he gingerly embraced Ladybug and let her cry. “That’s what you meant when you said this could be affecting your work as Ladybug, right?” he asked. 

Ladybug nodded. “I love being Ladybug,” she said softly. “It’s my only escape from everything else. But I can’t keep the earrings if I can’t control my emotions, because all of Paris could be at risk.” 

Luka was silent for a few moments as he mulled that over. “Is there anything you’d like me to do on the civilian end of things?” he asked her. “Anyone I should talk to? Or yell at?” His mouth quirked upwards. “I’m a pretty good yeller.”

Ladybug hesitated, then shook her head. “I truly wish you could, but I can’t risk you learning who those people are, because then you might learn my civilian identity. That can’t happen.”

Luka looked disappointed that he couldn’t help in that way, but after a moment he inclined his head without protest, and Ladybug again felt relieved that he hadn’t tried to override her and insist he knew what was best. How long had it been, she wondered, since she had been validated? “I’m sorry I can’t be of more use there then,” said Luka.

“You’re being plenty useful now,” said Ladybug, managing a slight giggle against all odds. “I feel better now, so Hawkmoth is less likely to akumatize me.” 

“I’m here whenever you need me,” said Luka at once.

Ladybug smiled. “Thanks, Luka. You’re a really good friend.”

The two were silent again, and then Luka asked, “Would you like to know my thoughts? On how this effects the superhero side of things, I mean?”

Ladybug looked up, but she could see in Luka’s face that it was a sincere question; if she just wanted to vent and didn’t want advice, he wouldn’t load it on her against her will. She nodded and said, “Yes. I’d love to know what you think.”

“The way I see it,” Luka said, “we have three options. One is to deal with the problems that your civilian friends are causing you, but you’ve already said it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to get involved. In fact, you probably can’t get anyone involved as Ladybug without risking your identity. You also said that you couldn’t make your ‘friends’ see reason in your civilian form either. So that’s not a real choice.”

“Right,” Marinette said.

“Two, you could give up the earrings to someone else like you mentioned,” said Luka. “But not only would that be horribly unfair to you, it would be dangerous for the city. Hawkmoth is sending out stronger akumas all the time. It would take a long time for a new Ladybug to get as good at the job as you are. And don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure Chat Noir would be able to cover for the newbie for that long.”

Marinette thought briefly of Chat Noir getting himself zapped or brainwashed during a battle, as had happened so many times, and the newbie being left on her own. “No,” she said. “You’re right. That won’t work.”

“Then that leaves option three,” said Luka. “We take the fight to Hawkmoth and beat him before he has a chance to attack you through your negative emotions.”

Ladybug hesitated. “I like the idea, but we don’t know who or where he is. If we did we could have done that back when he started.”

“But we can draw him out,” Luka said. 

“How?” Marinette asked. “What could we do to him that he wouldn’t just send an akuma to handle?”

“The miraculouses,” Luka said. “He wants them so badly he launched a multi-year terror campaign against the city. He’d do anything for them. So what if we make him think that the miraculouses are about to go away or be destroyed? He’d panic. He’d do anything to seize them.”

Marinette thought about that. “I still think he’d send akumas.”

“Sure. But if we then defeated the akumas, every one he sent, and if your earrings were slipping out of his grasp, with each failed akuma taking him closer and closer to the point where he could never get them no matter what, I bet he’d change his tune.”

Marinette gasped as she understood Luka’s plan. “You’re right! Eventually he’d risk it and go himself rather than see them lost forever!” She then beamed, but her face quickly fell. “It would be risky, though. In order to get him to think the earrings really might be lost forever, we might have to do something drastic like actually put them at risk. That’s why we’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Yes,” said Luka. “It would be dangerous. But leaving things like there are, where your civilians friends are making it easier and easier for Hawkmoth to akumatize you, is a risk too. If we have to take a chance one way or the other, I say it’s better to take the risk that could finally let us stop Hawkmoth once and for all.”

“That makes sense,” admitted Marinette. And deep inside she felt an emotion that she hadn’t felt in a while: hope. She felt like she could finally beat Hawkmoth and stop his reign of terror. Like she could get to a point where she didn’t need to worry about being turned into a monster because Lila had found some new, horrible way to make her suffer and Adrien had found some new, even stupider way to rationalize it. Like she could have a chance to live her life without having to worry about being called away at any moment to fight a horrific monster with a partner who seemed to think everything was just a game.  Like she’d be able to just…

Relax.

“Okay,” said Marinette. “Let’s do it. And since we’ll probably only get one opportunity, we’ll need to pack as many chances into that opportunity as possible. Luka, will you be Viperion once again?”

“Anytime,” said Luka in a sincere voice. Then something seemed to occur to him, and he hesitated. “Um, Ladybug?”

“Yes?” she asked.

He tensed, then took a breath and asked, “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but: do you actually want Chat Noir to fight alongside us on this one?”

Ladybug opened her mouth in surprise, because the question seemed absurd. Even if Chat Noir was a flirt and had a bad habit of throwing his own life away during fights, he was her partner and he had to be included. Besides, he had the power of destruction, which would surely be useful. 

But then she closed her mouth, because now that she actually thought about it, she wasn’t so sure.

Yes, Chat Noir was powerful. Yes, he was brave, and skilled, and someone who fought for the city. But she couldn’t deny that she didn’t want to deal with a partner that had about fifty percent odds of taking himself out of the fight in some way, horrifying Marinette as he did so. She didn’t want to deal with his flirting while she was trying to fight. She didn’t want to deal with him treating the fight, which could decide the fate of the world, as a game.

But he was her partner. And they would almost certainly need his power of destruction.

“Why do you ask?” she asked softly as she tried to make up her mind.

Luka shrugged. “You came to me to talk about this and not him. You also didn’t mention trying to talk this stuff through with him. It made me think you might not trust him, and if that’s the case, you could consider leaving him out. He’s not your boss or anything; it’s not like he can make you include him. But we should know going in whether we’ll use him or not, because otherwise we’ll need to get other heavy hitters on our side.”

Ladybug mulled that over. “I think we do need his power,” she said at last. “As much as his other habits are a problem, he really has contributed in a lot of the fights. Besides, he’s been battling Hawkmoth as long as I have. Whatever problems I have with him, I think he has the right to be there at Hawkmoth’s defeat.”

“Alright,” said Luka. 

Ladybug, who had almost expected a complaint, looked at Luka. “You really agree?” she asked. 

“I trust you,” Luka said. “You know Chat better than me. If you think he should be there, then he should be there.” He smiled. “Ladybug, you’re a really capable hero. You’ve earned trust time and time again. Why are you so surprised when people are willing to extend that trust?”

“I don’t get it that often,” Ladybug murmured, but when she glanced at Luka she was smiling. “But thank you, Luka. Thanks for listening, for respecting me, for everything.” 

Luka blushed slightly, as did Ladybug. The two looked at each other for a few moments until Ladybug managed to turn away. “Anyways, we need a plan,” she said. “And I think it’s okay if we don’t loop Chat Noir in while we’re doing that part. I’m usually the planner anyways, and if he were here he’d just be making puns and flirting with me. We can work something out, then bring him in later.”

“You’ve got it,” said Luka. “Let’s get down to it.”

Ladybug grinned, then took a pad of paper from the coffee table and began to work with Luka to come up with the plan.

The strategy session took a couple hours. Marinette hadn’t eaten all day, so Luka ordered them a pizza and buffalo wings, and during their snack break they discussed both music and fashion. “I know that the Agreste fashion line is trying to get you to sign off on a set of Miraculous-themed clothes,” Luka said, “but if you’d like my advice, there’s this designer named Marinette Dupain-Cheng who does fantastic work. Maybe she’d want to partner with you.”

Marinette grinned. “I’m familiar with her,” she said vaguely. “Are you a fan?”

“Yeah!” said Luka. “She’s kind, and funny, and always willing to support her friends, and—oh.” He blushed. “You meant, do I like her clothes. Yes, she’s quite good.”

Marinette had to fight not to giggle. “You sound like you really like her.”

Luka nodded. “We dated for a while. It didn’t work out, but I still think she’s a great person. And who knows? Maybe someday we’ll have a chance to try again.” 

I think you’re great too, Luka, Marinette thought. 

After their meal break and some more strategizing, Marinette thought they had a good plan. She said, “I’ll go around this evening and recruit the help we’ll need. Any objections?”

“Nope,” said Luka. “I’ll scout out locations. I have to get started on my delivery routes soon anyways, so I’ll keep an eye out for the kind of place we’re looking for.”

The two shook hands, and then Ladybug said, “Thanks for working with me, Luka. And for listening to me too. You’re really great.”

Luka blushed a little again. “Anytime, Ladybug.”

Footsteps sounded overhead and Ladybug heard Juleka call, “Luka, are you home?” She turned away before Luka could see her grimace at the presence of one of the classmates who had betrayed her. After telling Luka goodbye, she jumped to the window, launched herself over to the path on the edge of the Seine, and then began to swing deeper into Paris.

It didn’t take her long to find the first person on her list. Kagami Tsurugi was practicing her fencing by herself in a little tree-lined park. Some distance away were Alya and Nino, who had apparently gone there for a date after their thing with Lila was over. “I really don’t want to talk to them right now,” she muttered. “Hmm…”

She carefully swung down into a tree and hid herself amongst the branches before Alya or Nino could see her, then launched her yoyo downwards at just the right angle to tap Kagami on the head. Kagami immediately looked up and saw Ladybug peaking at her from the tree. “What?“ she began. “Ladybug?”

Ladybug put her finger to her lips and then gestured to an alley that was across the street from the park. 

Kagami hesitated, then nodded and began to dart towards the alley. Ladybug gave her a moment before springing out of the tree and rushing after her.

“Yes?” Kagami said once they were both in the alley. “Do you need help fighting an akuma?”

“Not now, but I will in a day or two,” said Ladybug. 

Kagami raised an eyebrow. “How do you know Hawkmoth will be summoning an akuma in a day or two?”

“Because I’m going to make him,” said Ladybug. “I’m going to make him summon everything he’s got and then fight me himself. And I’m going to win. But I need your help.” She reached into her yoyo and picked up Trixx’s pendant. “Kagami Tsurugi, will you help me win this final battle against Hawkmoth?”

“Yes, Ladybug,” said Kagami at once. Then she paused as she looked at the fox pendant. “I won’t be Ryuko? Did I do something to displease Longg?”

“No!” said Ladybug quickly. “He really likes you and wants to work with you again. But this time, we need the power of the fox, and the previous holder is… not an option.” 

Marinette knew that Alya would be hurt when she learned she’d been replaced, but after everything Alya had done to her, Ladybug had to admit that she just didn’t trust Alya as a hero anymore. What if Hawkmoth was as good a liar as Lila and led Alya astray or tricked her? If Alya fell for one of Hawkmoth’s schemes and screwed up, the whole plan could fall apart, and given the importance of this battle, Ladybug couldn’t risk it.

And besides, Marinette couldn’t deny that a sizable part of her felt Alya deserved this. Being a hero was a privilege, not a right, and Alya had done her level best to prove she didn’t deserve that privilege. She’d thrown away their friendship on the basis of a few words from Lila, excluded Marinette from everything she was involved in, and ultimately left Marinette alone and friendless while still insisting that it was all Marinette’s fault for not giving Lila a chance. No, Ladybug didn’t think Alya merited a miraculous anymore.

Ladybug handed the pendant to Kagami, and Trixx popped up with a huge grin. “This is going to be fun!” he said.

Kagami inclined her head. “I will endeavor to fight as well as your previous bearer,” she said.

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” said Trixx. Ladybug hid a smile; the kwamis had been horrified to learn of how the class had abandoned Marinette, and those among them who had worked with Marinette’s classmates had requested to get new holders from outside the class. “I look forward to fighting with you,” Trixx went on.

Kagami carefully fixed the pendant around her neck. “I will not let you down,” she pledged. “Either of you.”

“I know you won’t,” said Ladybug. “Await my call. There’ll be a strategy session tomorrow morning, and then we’ll try to fight Hawkmoth as soon as we can after that.” Voices sounded from outside the alley and she said, “Go. You shouldn’t be see with me.”

Kagami nodded and ran off. She had just vanished around a turn in the alley when Alya and Nino entered through its front. “Ladybug!” said Alya in a bright voice. “I knew that voice coming out of the alley was yours. What’s up? Do you have time for an interview?”

“No,” said Ladybug. “I don’t.”

Alya sighed. “Oh well. At least let me ask you this: when will Nino and I get to be heroes again?”

“Yeah!” Nino said. “Helping you save Paris is totally the bomb!”

Ladybug opened her mouth to tell Alya and Nino they would never be heroes again, but then she closed it. They had believed countless horrible lies about her, so why would they deserve the truth now? They could find out in a couple days with everyone else.”Sorry,” she answered at last. “I really couldn’t say.”

Alya sighed but said, “I understand, Ladybug. Oh, hey, one more thing: did you know Chloe was going around telling people she’s going to try to get you to let her be Queen Bee again?”

“I hadn’t heard that,” said Ladybug. In fact, she’d barely spoken to or interacted with Chloe since the Miracle Queen incident, either as Ladybug or Marinette. It was kind of odd, now that Marinette thought about it. Usually Chloe would have shoved her into a couple of lockers by now. “And I can’t let her be Queen Bee again, of course. Not after what she did.”

Nino scowled. “Can you believe her?” he asked. “She almost crashed a train, she sold out to Hawkmoth, and she still thinks she deserves to be a hero. Some people are so entitled.”

For a moment, Ladybug was tempted to yell at them. ‘You guys hurt me worse than Chloe ever did,’ she almost said. ‘I always knew Chloe was an enemy. I hated it when she pushed me around, when she vandalized my things, and when she bullied me, but I could also prepare for it. When you betrayed me I wasn’t expecting it. Do you have any idea how much it hurt when I learned you were shunning me? When I realized that you actually believed I hated Lila for no reason other than jealousy and would bully Lila if I wasn’t excluded from everything? Did you even once consider trusting me when I pointed out Lila was lying? No? Well, it’s true Chloe doesn’t deserve to be a hero, but given what you too did, you don’t either!’

Instead she just said, “I’ll talk to her later and tell her that’s not an option. Goodbye.” And then she was swinging away. 

Marinette’s next stop was supposed to be the Agreste household, but as she approached it she found herself slowing. “Come on…” Marinette hissed. “I can do this…”

But she didn’t want to. And while she might have been able to force herself to go there and ask for help the previous day, now she just heard an echo of Luka in her mind. “You deserve friends who trust you,” he had said. And he was right.

Marinette realized her teeth were grinding. The plan she’d worked out with Luka would require two specific things which the Agrestes could provide. She’d vowed to hold her nose and deal with Adrien and/or Gabriel despite her many problems with both of them, but suddenly it just felt tremendously unjust. Why should fighting a great evil require working with a father whose treatment of others was borderline abusive and who sometimes seemed to deliberately go around causing misery for no reason, such as when he’d been such a jerk to Simon Grimault that the guy had been akumatized? And why should she work with a classmate who clearly didn’t care about her pain in the slightest? How did that make any sense at all?

“But there’s nobody else I can ask,” Marinette muttered. “Jagged Stone could get me the first thing I need, but not the second. Lieutenant Raincomprix doesn’t have the authority to get me what I need. What am I supposed to…”

Then she trailed off, because another option had occurred to her, and though she didn’t really like this one either, she found herself less reluctant to try it than she was to deal with the Agrestes. And besides, she had just committed to heading in that direction anyways.

“Fine, then,” she said, and swung towards Le Grand Paris.

When Ladybug arrived she launched herself through an open window in Chloe’s suite without announcing herself, and she was amused to see Chloe lying on a couch with her hair in complete disarray. “Chloe,” she called. “We need to talk.”

Chloe rolled over, saw Ladybug, gasped, and then sprang to her feet. She tried frantically to pat down her hair as she babbled, “Ladybug, you’re back! I knew you’d be here!” Her eyes gleamed and Marinette was surprised to see tears in their corners. “You need me to be Queen Bee again, right? I swear I’ll—“

“Chloe, you sold us all out to Hawkmoth,” Ladybug said. “You betrayed us. You will never be Queen Bee again.”

Chloe froze and, for a moment, she looked totally crushed. “I’m sorry,” she managed. “I really am, honest! Don’t you believe me?”

“Even if I do, that doesn’t magically make everything better,” Ladybug said. “Your actions showed me that I can’t trust you. That means I can’t let you fight by my side.” 

The two girls stared at each other for a few moments before Chloe sank back to the couch. “Then what do you want?” snapped Chloe in a tone that couldn’t quite hide her despair. “Did you come here just to insult me? Because that’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.”

Ladybug considered Chloe for a long moment as she worked out what she wanted to say. “First, let me ask you something. I’ve been keeping an eye on your class because you guys seem to get akumatized so often. You’ve been less of a bully since you were Miracle Queen; in fact, I don’t think you’ve even talked with the classmates you used to torment. Why?”

“Didn’t feel like it,” said Chloe, her eyes not meeting Ladybug’s. “Why do you care? That just means less akumas for you to fight, right?”

Ladybug moved closer to Chloe and knelt so she could look into the other girl’s eyes. “Tell me the truth, Chloe. This is important.”

Chloe was silent for a long time. Then she said, “I thought if I was nicer, you might see it and let me be a hero again.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened slightly, because she hadn’t expected that answer. Chloe had done a great many horrible things, some of them in front of Ladybug, and had never changed her ways before. What was different now?

But then she understood. 

The damage Chloe had caused before had always been the sort of thing that could either be repaired by Ladybug or fixed with money. When Chloe had destroyed Alix’s watch or Rose’s letter to Prince Ali, Ladybug had undone that damage with her miraculous cure. When Chloe had bullied other students to the point where it caused serious problems, Mayor Bourgeois wrote a check and that was that. But Miracle Queen was different. No amount of money could make up for Chloe’s betrayal of the heroes, and nor could Ladybug’s Lucky Charm. For the first time in a long time, possibly forever, Chloe had to deal with long-term consequences for the hurt she’d inflicted.

And she didn’t like how that felt.

As if to confirm Ladybug’s theory, Chloe then whispered, “I thought that if I was nicer you might like me again. Then maybe you’d give me back the Bee Miraculous.” She took a breath. “I haven’t bothered Dupain-Cheng since then, or anyone else. I haven’t made Sabrina do my homework.” Her voice began to rise. “I’ve been good, okay? I’ve been good!”

Ladybug inclined her head slightly. “It doesn’t work like that, Chloe. Not being a bully is just basic decency. It’s not enough to prove you’re worthy of being a hero again.”

Chloe stared at her before her head dropped. “So, what, I’m just out of chances?” she asked. “You all just hate me forever?”

Ladybug thought for a long moment. When she’d decided to go to the Bourgeois instead of the Agrestes, her plan for getting the notoriously-selfish Chloe to provide her with the support she needed had mostly been to threaten to just leave and get what she needed from Adrien anyways. Chloe was so self-absorbed and vainglorious, Ladybug had thought, that she would pledged whatever support she could just so that she could say that it was her and not anyone else who helped Ladybug beat Hawkmoth. But if Chloe really was telling the truth, maybe there was another option.

“Sometimes people run out of chances,” Ladybug said in a soft tone. “Sometimes they do so many bad things that they find there is nobody willing to forgive them.” She was briefly reminded of Lila, who seemed to think that even if one lie was exposed she could just tell another and get back on track, or Adrien, who was so deluded that he really thought Marinette would just forgive everyone in the class for all their petty cruelties once Lila wasn’t a problem anymore. “But Chloe, I don’t think you’re at that point… yet.”

Chloe’s head shot up, and Marinette could see hope in her eyes. Before Chloe could say anything, though, Ladybug held up a hand. “Let’s be clear,” she said. “I meant what I said about you not being Queen Bee anymore. In fact, you won’t be a miraculous holder at all anymore. That’s not going to change regardless of whether or not you decide to help me in other ways. Is that understood?”

Chloe slowly nodded. “Then what do you need?”

“Two things,” Ladybug said. “First: money.”

Chloe blinked. “Money?” she repeated.

“We’re putting together a plan to stop Hawkmoth once and for all, and to do that we need some specific pieces of equipment,” Ladybug explained. “To buy the equipment, we need funds, probably fifteen or twenty thousand euros worth.” She winced at the cost, which was more money than she’d ever had in her entire life together, but she and Luka hadn’t been able to find a way to par it down. “I know you’ve bought things like diamond-studded phone cases,” she went on, “so I know you have resources. Will you let me and the other heroes use those resources to fight Hawkmoth?”

Chloe quickly nodded, then got up and pulled a checkbook out from a drawer before writing on one of the checks. She finished and held it up triumphantly, then paused. “You probably can’t cash a check as Ladybug,” she noted.

Ladybug had to hide a smile. “Not without revealing my identity to the bank teller, which wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Then we’ll go with the backup plan.” Chloe then rang a bell on a side table, and her butler Jean appeared at her door almost immediately. “Jean,” Chloe said, “this check is for fifty thousand euros. Take it to the bank and have it cashed, then bring the money…“ She trailed off and looked at Ladybug. “Where should I leave it?”

Ladybug was gaping at the ease with which Chloe had prepared to give away such a huge sum of money. “That, um, is more than we need,” she said.

Chloe waved a hand. “It’s not a problem. Besides, I don’t want Paris to blow up because you guys discovered too late you needed to buy something else and didn’t have enough cash for it.”

“…you are a very fortunate girl, Chloe,” said Ladybug ruefully. Chloe smiled faintly, and Ladybug grinned. Then she caught herself and got back on track. “Leave it in a box on your rooftop pool area. I’ll pick it up later.”

Chloe nodded. “What was the other thing?”

“The cooperation of emergency services, specifically the police and military, as well as the mayor,” Ladybug said. “In this coming fight, we’ll need the authorities to work with us and follow specific instructions. Can you get your dad to follow the directions that I’ll relay to you?”

“Sure,” said Chloe. “He’ll do whatever I say.”

Ladybug nodded. Gabriel could have provided both the money and the political control, since he gave enough money to Andre Bourgeois that the mayor practically acted as his servant at times, but now she wouldn’t need to deal with the Agreste family. “Good,” she said. “I’ll let you know when we need you. Thank you, Chloe. This is a really big help.”

Chloe hesitated, then asked, “Are you sure that’s all you need? Are—“

“Yes, I’m sure,” said Marinette, who guessed what Chloe was about to ask. Her voice was stern but not unkind as she went on. “I don’t need you to do anything that’s up in front of the cameras, where you could later point to it and tell everyone how heroic you are. What I need from you are the jobs that will help me save the city, but that nobody will see.” She paused. “You made it sound like you’d changed and really did just want to help. Or was I wrong, and is this all for your own glory again?”

Chloe took a breath to steady herself. Marinette waited, wondering if she was going to make one last plea for the Bee Miraculous. But instead Chloe just said, “I’ve changed. I’ll work in the background. Good luck, Ladybug.”

Ladybug waved at her and then swung out the window.

Late that night, Chat Noir idly whistled while waiting for Ladybug to reach him. “It’s not like her to be late for patrol,” he mused. “Maybe she’s got some civilian obligation.”

But almost as soon as he’d spoken, he heard footsteps behind him. “Hi, Chat Noir,” said Ladybug. “Just so you know, there’s probably going to be a really big fight tomorrow or the day after. Be ready.”

“A big fight?” Chat Noir asked. He spun around to see Ladybug, and he smiled when he saw how pretty she looked in the moonlight. He wished they could always patrol under the full moon like this. “Why, is there a competition or something where you expect the loser to get angry?”

“Something like that,” Ladybug said. “Just try to keep your schedule as clear as possible. I don’t know exactly when it is, but as soon as you get my message, rush right over, okay?”

“I’ll do my best for you, mi’lady,” said Chat Noir with a salute. He thought it was a bit silly to care so much about precision, since Ladybug fixed any damages anyways with her Miraculous Cure, but he knew better than to say that. Ladybug always seemed oddly serious to him, and while that could be annoying since it made him feel like she was judging him for daring to have fun with his awesome powers, he would happily put that to the side for the sake of their love. “Don’t worry.”

“Great,” said Ladybug brusquely. “Now let’s get patrolling.”

“What, no time to stop and watch the moon with your purr-fect Prince Charming?” Chat Noir asked. 

Ladybug flashed a thin, oddly joyless smile, as if she were just humoring him, and then she shook her head. Chat Noir frowned and wondered if Ladybug seemed more tense lately. She certainly hadn’t been as responsive to his jokes. Was she having problems in her civilian life?

“Oh, just so you know,” he said as they began to head out. “If you ever have issues or things you want to talk about, I’d be happy to lend a pointed ear.” He grinned. “Cats are great listeners. That’s why therapy cats are a thing!”

Ladybug said, “I’m fine, Chat Noir. Don’t worry about me.”

Now Chat Noir was sure something was wrong, because Ladybug actually sounded annoyed with him. He debated demanding to know what was going on. But then he put it out of his head.

After all. It wasn’t like Hawkmoth was going anywhere. They’d no doubt have hundreds of patrols together in the coming future, and he’d have plenty of time to ask her if he’d somehow bothered her.

So he just said, “Alright then. Race you to the Eiffel Tower?” And before she could answer, he was off like a shot, whooping as the air rushed past him and made him feel alive.

“Life,” he said to himself, “is really good.”

Lila was supposed to have been asleep an hour ago, but she had never been good at doing what she was supposed to.

At the moment, Lila was huddled under her covers reading a book about a famous medieval-era con artist. It went into great detail on her many, many cons, which ranged from selling quack medicine to convincing some rich baron that she could transport expensive presents to a lovely but notoriously reclusive maiden, then running off with the treasure. Her favorite part so far was how the con-artist had swindled five different men into believing they had a chance to wed her as long as they could pay off her ogre of a husband, who she claimed demanded wealthy gifts in exchange for annulling his marriage with her, and who also didn’t actually exist since she had made him up for the con. Her only foe was one particularly stubborn bailiff who chased her all over England in his attempts to bring her to justice.

“Nice,” whispered Lila as she read a passage about the con artist managing to convince one of the five men, who had discovered the other four, that her fictional husband had in fact made up those other men as a way to test her fidelity. She reread the passage and made some comments in the margins about everything she’d done, including the way she’d tampered with some of their letters to make it look like they were written by a monstrous brute instead of silly, lovestruck merchants. “Gotta remember that trick.”

When Lila found herself yawning, she pushed onward to the end of her current chapter, then bookmarked the page before shutting off her flashlight and curling up in bed. That wasn’t it for her evening, though. Instead, it was time for a nightly ritual. She shut her eyes, focused and tried to visualize a string of characters. “C, i, z, capital-R, l, capital O…”

This was a password, one of about a dozen Lila had for various bank accounts, including a few that she very much didn’t want her mother or anyone else to know about. The accounts didn’t have much money, and nobody would see anything suspicious about them, but she’d kept them secret anyways just in case she someday had the chance to grab a great fortune and needed somewhere to hide it that nobody could connect back to her. And in order to maintain that secrecy, she didn’t keep the passwords saved anywhere on her computer or phone. Instead, she memorized them.

Or tried, anyways.

“Capital Z, r, t… t…” Lila grimaced. “Damn it!”

Giving up, Lila picked up a notebook and flipped it open before shining the flashlight on it. The notebook was full of poetry which Lila had written; the poetry was terrible, but that wasn’t the point. Every eight pages, the first letter in each line when read downwards spelled out a set of username and password credentials, and the last letter of each line indicated the bank or other financial institution that the login data went with. Lila flipped to the page she needed and sighed as she read the password. “After ’t’ is another ‘q,’” she muttered. “Damn. I should know that one by now.”

Lila did find it disappointing she hadn’t managed to memorize all the passwords, usernames, and banks yet. After all, as was written in a book that she loved, “Anyone who couldn’t simply remember where he stashed a great big fortune deserved to lose it.” (This was actually Lila’s favorite book, although she wished the author had gotten around to writing a prequel which followed the protagonist back when he’d been an unrepentant con artist and before he’d been tamed by some lame government official.) But at the same time, Lila didn’t want to end up like that guy she’d heard about who went viral for earning a fortune in bitcoin and then forgetting his password, thus locking himself out of his wealth forever. So she would just keep practicing, she’d work on memorization techniques she’d read about like mnemonic devices and ‘Roman rooms,’ and she wouldn’t get rid of the poetry notebook until she was absolutely sure she had every single password safely locked in her brain.

In the meantime, there was still money out there just waiting for her to gather it up with her silver tongue. Tomorrow, she decided, she’d try to swindle Alya out of the fancy new computer she was using for editing videos for the Ladybug. It would be a tough challenge, since Alya loved that computer, but Lila liked a challenge, and besides, that machine could probably fetch a thousand euros from the right buyer. Then—

Something hit the rooftop and Lila froze before glancing out the window. She was just in time to see the leaping form of Chat Noir launch across the street and land on the rooftop across the way. A few moments later she heard more footsteps before Ladybug too raced across the embassy building and raced after Chat Noir.

Lila grimaced at the sight of Ladybug, who had tried to expose her lies and who was, unfortunately, completely untouchable. Lila couldn’t discredit or disgrace her, which meant she was at the hero’s mercy, and she hated that. All she could really do was hope Hawkmoth kept her busy, or better yet, killed her.

Of course, Lila didn’t really think Hawkmoth would murder Ladybug. They had been battling for so long that the fight could reasonably be expected to go on forever, or at least until Lila’s mother moved again. And because of that, Lila was optimistic Ladybug would never really be able to focus on exposing her lies; after all, the hero surely had to devote all her attention to Hawkmoth and wouldn’t have anything left to take on a petty grifter. (And if Ladybug pushed her too hard, Lila could just get herself akumatized and take her own shot at the hero, secure in the knowledge nobody would prosecute or even blame her if she lost. It wasn’t like anyone would know she deliberately got herself akumatized, after all.) 

And if Hawkmoth did kill Ladybug? Well, most people would surely have thought that Hawkmoth slaying Ladybug and winning their battle would be a disaster, but Lila was much more prosaic about it. She reasoned that just like there were always an unlimited supply of marks who were just waiting to be taken advantage of, and just like there were always villains working to take that advantage, so too were there always a few idiots who wanted to be heroes. If Ladybug died, somebody else would step up and keep Paris safe from Hawkmoth. That was just how the world worked. Some people were dumb enough to believe in altruism, and as long as that was true, there would always be someone to throw themselves between Lila and supervillains.

No matter what she did, Lila thought as she rolled over and shut her eyes, that would remain a fact.

Chapter Text

Ladybug returned to the Liberty the next morning and nodded when Luka, with the Snake Miraculous already activated, came up from below. “I found a place for us to fight Hawkmoth,” Luka said. “Did you get everything done?”

“We have a fox, we have the money, and we have government support,” said Ladybug. “In fact, I just texted the fox and asked her to join us shortly for the final review.”

The two went down to the living room and waited until they heard more footsteps from above. Soon enough the new fox hero walked down the stairs and into the living room. Her outfit looked similar to that of Rena Rouge, though it was slightly sleeker, a little brighter, and had a few golden kanji that shone with a muted beauty. Luka nodded and said, “I guess now we’re all here."

“What should we call you?” Ladybug asked the newcomer.

“Kitsune,” said Kagami at once.

Viperion grinned. “As in, the fox spirit from Japanese mythology? Nice.”

“Thank you,” said Kagami primly. Then she looked around. “Where’s Chat Noir? And why are we meeting here?”

Ladybug shook her head. “Chat Noir wasn’t invited,” she said. “He’ll be at the actual fight, but not at this planning session.”

“Why not?” Kitsune asked.

“Because we need to be serious right now and he isn’t,” Ladybug answered. “As for why we’re here, I know the captain from that time when she was akumatized, and she agreed to let us use this place for a conference. She’s out right now.” Luka had made sure that Anarka had left for groceries and Juleka had gone to get brunch with Rose before texting Ladybug that it was safe to come over. “We’re alone.” 

The other two nodded and then Ladybug got down to business. “First, to fill in Kitsune: our plan is to lure out Hawkmoth by making it look like the Ladybug Miraculous is temporarily vulnerable. Once he shows up, we’re going to hit him with everything we have until we can take his own Miraculous and defeat him for good.”

Kitsune gave a thin smile. “I like that plan,” she said. “But wouldn’t he just send an akuma to fetch the Miraculous?”

“We’ll convince him that akumas can’t handle this,” Ladybug said. “Viperion? You said you had a place where we’d be able to convince him of that?”

“I think so, yes,” Viperion said as he spread a few photos on the table. “It’s an old warehouse that used to belong to the Gastogne Chemical Company before they went bankrupt last year. Hawkmoth won’t be able to see inside easily even if he watches news footage of the area, so it should be easier to fool him than if we tried this somewhere more open. Plus, the building is big enough for us to fight in, but compact enough that Hawkmoth won’t be easily able to escape our range once we get him inside there.” 

Ladybug nodded. “Sounds good to me.” She turned to Kitsune. “We’re going to have Mayor Bourgeois give a bulletin shortly before we want Hawkmoth to attack. Bourgeois will complain that some chemical firm in the city entered into an agreement with the Guardian Temple to produce an anti-akuma weapon without first checking to make sure it was safe. However, Bourgeois won’t name the firm, so Hawkmoth can’t check it out early.”

“Anti-akuma weapon?” Kitsune asked. “There’s no such thing.”

Viperion shrugged. “Hawkmoth can’t be sure of that now that the Guardian Temple is back. For all he knows, they have some way of fighting akuma that they’re preparing to mass-produce and deploy.”

Kitsune thought about that for a moment. “I suppose that’s fair,” she said. “Then what?”

Ladybug said, “A little after that announcement, you make it look like the warehouse has an explosion. Use your Mirage power to have people see the building being engulfed in flames, spewing smoke with weird chemical colors, everything. Make it seem like a total disaster.”

“I can do that,” Kitsune said. “But I only have five minutes before my illusion stops and I detransform, right?”

“The illusion only needs to last five minutes,” Ladybug said. “In that time, Viperion and I will get the fog machines started up.”

Viperion nodded. “I used the funds Ladybug secured and went around town buying or renting as many as possible. We have a lot of fog machines now, including the really fancy ones they have in nightclubs that produce colored fog. With those machines we should be able to make it look like the warehouse is drowning in flames even when you aren’t using your powers, Kitsune. Plus, the fog looks scary but it’s safe to breathe. You’ll be able to drop into the fog and de-transform, feed Trixx, and then power up again.”

“We’re all going to bring as much food as we can carry for our kwamis," Ladybug added. “So that we can use their powers and then have them recharge if needed. You won’t have to worry about using up your special ability in the first minutes of the fight with no way to contribute from then on.”

Kitsune nodded. “What then?” 

“We’ll then have Mayor Bourgeois go back and TV and say something like, ‘Oh no, there was a disaster during the manufacturing of the anti-akuma weapon and the warehouse exploded,” Ladybug went on. “I’ll show up at that point and tell people I think there’s someone inside, so I’m going in to rescue that person. I’ll run through the fog and into the building. Then you’ll make your second illusion.”

Kitsune inclined her head. “Let me guess: I’m to make it look like you collapse or are otherwise incapacitated.”

“Yes,” said Ladybug. “Make it look like the smoke clears for just long enough that people can see me get stuck, like by having rubble fall on me and knock me out or trap me. We’ll also have the police and National Guard arrive at this point to hold a perimeter and keep civilians from trying to rescue me themselves.”

“Then,” Viperion said, “we get the Mayor to make his third announcement. He’ll tell people that other heroes will come to rescue Ladybug soon but that regular rescue teams are not allowed inside. When someone asks why, he’ll say that the anti-akuma weapon and the other chemicals in the warehouse have mixed to form a haze which is lethal for humans and akumas alike. He’ll also explicitly mention that, as more chemicals burn or leak over time and the concentration of the haze increases, the warehouse will soon be lethal even for Miraculous users.”

“Meaning Hawkmoth won’t be able to go in either if he waits too long,” said Kitsune. “Or at least, that’s what he’ll think.”

“Right!” said Viperion. “The last thing he’d want is for the Ladybug earrings to be trapped in some contaminated building that nobody can enter. He’d never be able to get them. So if he wants them, he’ll have to get them himself.”

Kitsune thought for a moment. “I still think he’ll send akumas. Even if he believes the story about there being some kind of anti-akuma smoke, he’ll just try to have them rush into the building to get the Miraculous and get out again before they die. It’s not like he actually cares about his victims.”

“Oh, we’re sure he’ll try that,” said Ladybug. “But I’ll be in the building with Viperion. As the akumas start to approach, you’ll use your illusions to make it look like there’s specific parts of the building which are less, uh, on-fire and smoky than the others. Hawkmoth will have his akumas go in at those points, and once they’re inside I’ll fight them. Chat Noir should arrive by this point too—use an illusion to sneak him in unseen—and he’ll help me.”

“But when you fight the akumas, Hawkmoth will know you and Chat Noir are both there and not incapacitated,” Kitsune pointed out. “He can tell what the akumas see and hear, right?”

“He won’t see,” said Viperion. “Ladybug and Chat Noir will one-shot the akumas before they have a chance to react or even see them coming. From Hawkmoth’s perspective it will be like his akumas just go inside and vanish on the spot, as if there really is an anti-akuma weapon which can kill them. And with the chaos that will be going on outside, he shouldn’t be able to pick up the specific emotions of the people that Ladybug deakumatizes since they’ll be drowned out in the general hubbub. That means he won’t have any data on the inside of the building at all.”

Kitsune frowned. “Even if I open up a specific spot for akumas to enter, it would still be a thousand-to-one chance that any given attack will instantly disable an akuma without it seeing you or Chat Noir.”

“Then we try a thousand times,” said Viperion. “That’s my job. I’ll use Second Chance as often as needed.”

Ladybug smiled grimly. “As this is going on, Kitsune, you occasionally make it look like there’s a gap in the smoke where people can see that I’m still alive and struggling but trapped under the rubble. That way Hawkmoth will think that even if his akumas can’t survive in there, Miraculous users can, at least for the moment. After a while, once Hawkmoth loses several akumas and gets really desperate, we’ll have the mayor go on TV again and say, ‘oh no, Ladybug will die in ten minutes because that’s when the concentration will become too great for Miraculous holders—‘

“And then he’ll go himself,” cut in Viperion. “He’ll have no other choice. And when he does, all four of us can crush him.”

The three heroes looked at each other, and then they all smiled. “It’ll be tough,” Ladybug said. “But if we do this right, we can finally end this war and bring Hawkmoth to justice.”

“One more question,” Kitsune said. “What about Mayura?”

“If he sends her, we beat her the way we beat the akumas,” said Ladybug. “And if he sends sentimonsters, we do the same.”

Viperion nodded, then paused. “I’ll admit, that’s actually the one part of this plan that worries me,” he said. “If Hawkmoth and Mayura show up together, I don’t know if the four of us can beat them. Especially since Kitsune’s powers aren’t great for a brawl. We might need another hitter.”

“I considered that,” said Ladybug. “But there’s nobody else I trust to join us.”

“How about this girl I know named Juleka Couffaine?” Viperion asked. “She’s strong, she wants to help people, and—“

Ladybug couldn’t help grimacing and Viperion froze. “Um,” he began.

Kitsune glanced between the two and seemed to pick up on something. “I’ll step out for a moment,” she said before heading upstairs. 

Ladybug watched her go, then turned back to Viperion, inwardly cringing as she tried to figure out how to tell the only boy in town who seemed to care for her that his sister had joined the bullying mob against her. “I…”

But then Viperion’s eyes widened in realization just before he looked down. “Did my sister do something to you? Like the kind of thing you were talking about yesterday?”

Ladybug froze, unsure of what to say. “Yes,” she admitted at last, not wanting to blatantly lie to him after he had been so honest with her. “I know you probably won’t believe me—“

Viperion shook his head quickly. “I didn’t say that,” he told her in a quiet tone. 

Ladybug stared at him. “What?”

“Look,” Luka said, “I know my sister. I know she has a good heart and that she wouldn’t deliberately try to hurt anyone. But I also know you, Ladybug. You also have a good heart, you’re honest, and I don’t think you’d just make up a lie about her for no reason. So I’m not going to just assume you’re wrong.” 

Ladybug blinked. “You trust me that much?” she managed. 

“Of course,” said Viperion. Then he paused. “Obviously, I hope she didn’t hurt you and that it was just some misunderstanding, but if that’s not the case and she did do something wrong, then I understand why you wouldn’t want to work with her.”

For a moment, Ladybug felt overwhelmed. She had gone for so long with everyone dismissing her concerns that it was still hard to believe there were people like Luka who, when she said she was hurt, would just believe her. “I don’t think she meant to hurt me either,” she said at last. “She’s not cruel. But she did mistreat me, and I can’t work with her right now. I’m really sorry.”

“I’ll talk to her,” said Luka. “Try to get her to see your side of things. Maybe I can convince her to apologize. I’m not demanding you make her a hero or something, but--“

“I understand,” said Ladybug. “And thank you.” She flashed Luka a smile. “You’re a really good friend.”

Before she could stop herself, she found herself hugging Viperion. Luka hugged her back with a smile. And that, of course, was when Kitsune returned. 

“This isn’t what it looks like!” Ladybug squeaked.

Kitsune chuckled. “Of course not,” she drawled.

“I was just, uh, being grateful to Viperion for trusting me when I said something was hurting me,” said Ladybug quickly. “Most of my friends don’t, so this was a nice change.”

Kitsune blinked. “You need better friends,” she declared.

Ladybug smiled at that. “I’d like to start with you two, if that’s okay.” 

“I think that’d be awesome,” said Viperion with a grin.

“Me too, but we should focus first on beating Hawkmoth,” said Kitsune. “How will it take to rig the fog machines?”

“A few hours,” said Luka. 

“Then let’s begin,” Ladybug said. She quickly rattled off two texts on her Miraculous’s phone, then said, “There. I’ve told the mayor to make his first announcement, and I just notified Chat that he needs to get ready for a really big fight and then come running once he sees or hears the explosion. Let’s go set up those machines.”

The three heroes nodded at each other, and then they rushed to get started.

“So, now that the mogul’s heading back to Italy, I’ve been thinking of my next big project,” Lila told the rest of the class. They were all gathered in Adrien’s huge bedroom—Lila having managed to once again lie their way past the hulking brute that served as his bodyguard—and now she lay back on Adrien’s couch as she spun her next tale. “I’m thinking maybe something in multimedia. Did you know the UN is sponsoring a contest to find a short film which best depicts the plight of refugees?” She put a hand to her heart. “The winning video will be shown in a worldwide broadcast to raise awareness of the issue. If I could make a film, win the contest, and show the world something which could bring light to that cause…well, I think that would help so many poor, underprivileged people.”

“That sounds awesome!” said Nino. “I’d love to be involved in a movie that’ll be shown around the world. Do you need any help?”

“I’d love it if you guys helped me!” said Lila, ruthlessly drafting the rest of the class into her filmmaking debut before they even knew what was going on. “I’ve already got some ideas for the script that I’ve run past my friend at Sundance, but I’m sure you all can help flesh those ideas out! Then we can make the sets, do costumes, get some equipment for video editing…”

Alya said, “I’ve got a computer that’s perfect for editing. We can use that.”

Nino coughed. “Hold up. Who do you know at Sundance?”

“What’s Sundance?” Alix asked.

“It’s a film festival in America,” Sabrina answered. “And it’s one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Chloe’s dad once submitted a movie there, but it didn’t win.”

“I know one of the festival judges,” said Lila to Nino. “What’s his name, you know, the bald one with the really bright smile. He offered to look at my submission if I get it to him early enough. Then he’ll give me some tips on revising it so it’s more likely to win.”

“This thing is going to be seen by a director at the world’s most important film festival?” Nino asked, stars practically visible in his eyes. “I’m definitely in!”

Lila beamed. “Perfect!” And she smiled to herself as the class began to chat about what they were sure would be their next brush with stardom.

Contrary to the beliefs of individuals such as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lila knew full well that her stories about knowing famous celebrities could be hard to swallow. But then again, fake emails from alleged Nigerian princes offering millions of dollars in exchange for a few upfront fees weren’t believable either, and yet those scams were so profitable people kept doing them. The reason was simple:, only the very stupid or very greedy would believe those emails, which meant that the only people who responded to the scammers were the sort of people who could most easily be scammed. This made things quite convenient for the scammers. They might only get a few responses, but each and every one of them was by someone who could quickly be taken for all they were worth.

Lila had learned to enact a similar winnowing process in her various classes. She always started with a few lies about celebrity contacts that, though not disprovable—nobody was in a position to call up the princes, movie stars, or executives Lila claimed to be friends with in order to verify the truth of her claims—were also not terribly credible. Some of her classmates would fall for those lies anyway, and Lila would know that those people were easy to fool; she could tell wild tales in which famous celebrities declared they’d love to look at the work of those classmates, and then those classmates would fall over themselves to stay in Lila’s good graces until that happened. The smarter ones wouldn’t fall for those lies, but that was fine;. Lila had mastered the art of the ‘I just wanted to impress you; please don’t tell anyone or I’ll die of shame’ apology, and then she’d know for the future that those individuals needed more careful manipulation before she could get them to do what she wanted. Plus, it was often helpful for those smarter students to believe that Lila was dumber and a worse liar than she really was. It tended to make them much easier to fool later. 

As for Bustier’s class? Lila wouldn’t go so far as to call them dumb—some of them, like Max, were geniuses—but they all seemed to be very ambitious, very eager to achieve their dreams, and very prone to believing that any lucky breaks which came their way were real. Lila speculated much of that was due to Marinette, who had helped all her friends overcome various setbacks and make real strides towards their goals. She’d dealt with Juleka’s photography problems, helped Mylene find the courage to fight for her political causes, and so on. She was, in many ways, a ‘lucky charm,’ and it seemed like the class had blindly assumed that the work she’d done to help them was really just some kind of intrinsic good luck on their part which would never go away. But whatever the cause, this was the first time in a while in which nobody around Lila seemed to require more subtle lies in order to fall under her spell. They were so eager to hear that Lila had the connections they needed, and so used to having an endless source of good luck, that they just went with it. And that was fine by her.

Lila glanced over at Adrien, who looked mildly disgruntled but hadn’t protested the others taking over his room. “What do you think, Adrien?” Lila asked. “Do you want to help with the movie? We could use a beautiful actor like you!”

Adrien managed a tired smile. “Sure,” he said. “If I can fit it in my schedule, I’d be happy to help.”

“Perfect!” said Rose. “We’re going to do so much good for the refugees!” She turned to Juleka, who was sitting against a wall and looking at nothing in particular. “Right, Jules?”

“Hmm?” Juleka glanced at Rose and gave her a soft smile. “Uh, sure. Whatever you say.”

I need to get Rose to introduce me to Prince Ali, Lila mused to herself. Maybe I can tell her it’d be useful to cast him in the movie? I’ll have to think about it. And—

A huge explosion sounded from outside.

Everyone froze, then ran to the window to see what had happened. Alya saw it first. “There!” she said as she pointed at a pillar of smoke rising from an industrial neighborhood. “Something’s on fire!”

“Do you think it’s an akuma?” Kim asked.

“Doubtful,” Max said. “Akumas almost always have magical powers. I can’t recall the last time we had one that simply set things on fire like a human criminal would do.”

Lila glanced behind her and saw that Adrien looked unusually tense. “Do you think it will spread over here?” she asked.

“No way,” said Nino. “Look where it is. It would have to cross the Seine to reach us.”

Alix had grabbed a remote and turned on the television. “Woah!” she said as she reached a news channel. “It’s Ladybug!”

Everyone rushed to the TV and watched as Ladybug dropped in front of the burning building. “Stay back!” she said as strangely-colored smoke wafted up into the air and dissipated while green, blue, and purple flames began to fade beneath the increasingly thick smoke. “I’ll rush inside and check for survivors!” 

“The Mayor,” Nadja said as Ladybug ran inside, “issued another statement warning people to stay away, since this building was being used to develop an experimental weapon in conjunction with the Guardian Temple…”

“She’s so brave!” Alya said, drowning out Nadja as she watched Ladybug in admiration. “Isn’t she awesome!”

Lila grit her teeth and said nothing while the others chimed in.

Then it happened. There was a flash, an explosion, and what looked like an entire chunk of an upper floor collapsed on Ladybug and slammed her to the ground. Ladybug strained to get up, but smoke filled the news camera’s lens before anyone could see if she’d succeeded.

“Bathroom,” announced Adrien as he fled the bedroom. Once he got to the bathroom he shut the door behind him and took a quick breath. His heart was pounding with anticipation, and he thought back to the message he’d gotten a few hours ago warning him to be ready to move as soon as he heard an explosion. He smiled to himself at the excitement this fight promised, then raised his ring. “Plagg—“

Then someone pounded on the door.

Adrien froze, trying to figure out what to do. He knew that he should have found some way to keep the class out of his room so that he could more easily get away and help Ladybug with the fight, but it had seemed mean to screw up their plans, and he’d figured the fight probably wouldn’t happen during the half-hour or so that the class was planning to stay in his room. But it had, and now he had to find a way to escape without tipping them off. “This is really bad luck,” he muttered. “Coming!”

“I warned you, kid,” Plagg whispered. “This party was a bad idea.”

“I didn’t want to disappoint everyone!” Adrien snapped as he went for the door. “Look, I’ll tell them I’m going on a snack run or something. Just give me ten seconds.“

He opened the door and Lila grabbed him. “I’m so scared!” she announced. “Ladybug is down, and nobody knows what’s happening!” She held him close. “Please, Adrien, protect me!”

Adrien gaped as Lila half-led, half-dragged him back to the couch, but he couldn’t find a good way to get out of her clutches. All he could do was let her lead him in exactly the wrong direction.

I’m scared!” Lila repeated, eager to keep Adrien in a hug so the class could take pictures and reinforce the idea that he was her boyfriend. The mayor was prattling away on TV about something or other, but Lila ignored him as she pressed against Adrien. “You’ll keep me safe, won’t you?”

“I, uh… I need to…” Adrien began as he tried to slip out of her arms. 

Lila managed to get him to the couch and tossed them both down. “Thank you for protecting me!” she said. “Oh, Adrien, you’re the best!”

Adrien growled something inarticulate. “Lila, this isn’t funny!” he whispered. “I need to take care of something. Let me up!”

Lila gasped. “You’re abandoning me now?” she yelped. “When I’m so scared? How could you?”

She didn’t say ‘careful, or I might get so sad Hawkmoth akumatizes me.’ She didn’t have to. She knew that Adrien would be thinking about that, and that he wouldn’t dare risk it. He’d stay right here, cuddled up next to him, where everyone could see.

“Come on, Adrien,” said Alya suddenly. “Lila’s clearly scared. Stay with her if she wants.”

“Yeah,” said Kim. “Don’t be a jerk.”

Lila smiled to herself. She was further cementing her story of dating the city’s most gorgeous model, and better yet, Ladybug might finally get crushed. Nothing could ruin this day.

Adrien thought furiously but couldn’t come up with any way to escape that wouldn’t also reduce Lila into a sobbing mess. He could feel his classmates’ occasional glances at him too, and he knew they’d think he was heartless if he just up and ran. They all thought Lila was great, and it wasn’t like he could explain to them now that she lied as easily as she breathed. If he left her now, they wouldn’t believe that she had been trying to manipulate him into staying close to her. They’d think she was genuinely terrified, and that he’d left her to panic while he vanished with no explanation. And then they’d think he was a cruel and heartless jerk.

Sweat formed on Adrien’s brow as he tried to think. He couldn’t abandon Ladybug, but he couldn’t hurt Lila so much she got akumatized, and he didn’t want to risk his friendships with the rest of the class after he’d been lonely for so long. What could he do?

“Damn it…” Adrien hissed. “Lila, come on!” But she just buried herself more closely against him.

And so he made his choice.

“My lady can hold out for a few more minutes,” he said to himself. “A few minutes won’t matter.”

And he let Lila hold him, while on the TV, an akuma rushed towards the burning building.

The first akuma, Darblade, wasn’t too bad. Viperion whispered into the phone how Marinette should hold her yoyo at such an angle and throw it with just so much force to snap the akuma’s sword as he rounded a corner of the building. She did it, and it worked perfectly. The blade shattered at once and Ladybug cleansed the akuma seconds later. Then it was just a matter of quickly blindfolding D’Argencourt and shoving him into a closet where he couldn’t see what was going on or learn that Ladybug was still up and fighting.

After that was done, Marinette realized the only way that Viperion could have given her such precise instructions. “How many tries did that take?” she asked.

“Maybe eighty?” was the response.

Marinette frowned. Viperion already sounded tired. “How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” said Viperion at once. “Just fine. I’ll shift back now, feed Sass, and be ready for the next akuma—“

“Hurry!” said Kitsune. “I see the next one approaching. It’s Mime. North entrance, second floor.”

Ladybug nodded. “Let’s go,” she said.

Mime took over a hundred tries.

Pixelator took a hundred forty.

Simon Says took two hundred, and he almost got Viperion in a lucky shot, which would have ended things right there if Kitsune hadn’t jumped in to fight the villain while Viperion quickly reset time.  

Troublemaker took three hundred, since her intangibility made it completely impossible to touch her akumatized pen until the hero trio worked out the exact combination of attacks and illusions which would startle her enough to make her solidify for half a second. Even when that was done, it took another fifty or so tries to actually break the pen without Troublemaker seeing what was going on. 

And then there was Mr. Pigeon, Stormy Weather, Kwamibuster…

Each battle took only five minutes, at least to everyone besides Viperion. But even spans of five minutes could add up, and by the time they got to the tenth akuma, Ladybug was exhausted. Even though she only remembered the past nine successful battles, that was still forty-five minutes of sprinting through the warehouse at top speed, trying not to crash or trip in all the smoke, and then taking an impossibly precise shot  at akuma only to have to turn around right away and do it again for the next fight. Ladybug felt her lungs burning and her legs quavering, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could do.

“Where is Chat Noir?” demanded Viperion suddenly. “He knows he should be here, right?”

“He’ll be here,” said Ladybug, trying to convince herself. Surely even he wouldn’t flake on an entire battle, she insisted to herself. Surely he’d be there any minute.

“Next one’s coming and is about five minutes out,” said Kitsune. “Viperion, power down, feed Sass, and power back up. Ladybug, I don’t recognize this guy.”

Marinette groaned. It figured they’d get an entirely new opponent whom they had no idea how to fight. “What’s he look like?”

“Some kind of weird superhero.” Kitsune snorted. “He’s got one of those huge utility belts, and he seems to be… hooting?”

“Okay, he’s not new,” said Ladybug. “That’s Dark Owl. I’m not surprised you don’t recognize him, he’s only shown up once and… oh, no.” Her face paled. “No, no, no…”

“What?” demanded both Viperion and Kitsune.

“The last time we fought, Dark Owl didn’t keep the akumatized object on him!” Ladybug said. “It was his computer back at his desk! And he probably did that again, but we don’t know if the computer’s still on his work desk or if he put it somewhere else that time!”

“Then we have to go find and destroy that computer,” said Kitsune. “We’ll search the area around here for five minutes and report back just before Viperion resets time. Then in the next loop, he can tell us which spots we’ve already ruled out.”

Viperion coughed. “But if his computer is further than five minutes away, we could do that literally forever and not find it. We’d just be stuck here until we gave up.”

“We’re not giving up,” said Ladybug.

“Then we’d be stuck here for all eternity,” said Viperion bluntly. 

Silence fell over the group. 

“Could we use that kwami which empowered Pegasus?” asked Kitsune at last. “To get across the city faster?”

“No, because we need your Mirage power to keep manipulating Hawkmoth, Viperion’s Second Chance power to keep resetting time, and my ability to cleanse the akumas,” said Ladybug. “None of us can swap out for Kaalki. And while it’s technically possible to use two at once, I can confirm that it’s beyond taxing. If we were fresh, I’d say we could try it; as is, I doubt any of us could do it without collapsing. We’d need a fourth person and we don’t have one.”

“We’re supposed to have a fourth person,” said Viperion in a taut voice that did little to hide burning anger. “Did Chat Noir even check in yet?”

“No,” muttered Ladybug. “Of course not.” 

“Dark Owl’s about thirty seconds out,” said Kitsune suddenly. “Whatever we’re doing, we have to do it now.”

“I know!” Ladybug said. “But we can’t do anything, because we need Chat Noir! If he was here he could use Kaalki to find the akumatized object and bring it back here, or fight Dark Owl while I went to destroy the object! But he didn’t even show up!”

“Fifteen seconds,” said Kitsune.

Ladybug shut her eyes. They couldn’t give up now, not when they were so close, but she had no idea what to do. Chat Noir had abandoned them and they didn’t have enough people to deal with this threat. There were so few people she could trust; she’d asked both of them, and…

Wait.

She’d asked one more person.

And while Ladybug still didn’t trust her with a kwami, there might be something else she could do.

But first things first. “Change of plans, Viperion,” she said. “For these next loops, we aren’t targeting the akuma. We’re targeting Dark Owl, and we’re going to mess him up so bad he tells us where his akumatized object is just to make us stop. Got it?”

“Check,” said Viperion. 

“Here he comes.” Kitsune’s voice rang out through the phones. “East entrance, third floor. He’s taking what look like grenades out of his utility belt.”

“Dropping my Second Chance power now,” said Viperion. “Five minutes and counting.”

Ladybug grit her teeth and charged into battle.

Somehow Ladybug knew, as she rushed Dark Owl, that she’d already done this hundreds of times. She just felt… tired. It was an inexplicable and ineffable sort of exhaustion, but she felt it none the less.

“No matter how hard you hit him, he won’t tell you where the akuma is,” said Viperion, his voice an exhausted croak. “But he’s definitely afraid of Hawkmoth turning on him. He showed that last loop when you fought so long that Hawkmoth got angry at him.”

Ladybug dropped behind Dark Owl and got as close to him as she could without him seeing her. Then, in her best Hawkmoth impression, she yelled, “You fool! You lost your akuma, didn’t you?”

“What? No!” Dark Owl said. He turned around but Ladybug had already jumped into the rafters; thanks to the fog, she was nearly invisible. “It’s one of the computers on the top floor of the Mazarine Library! You know that, Hawkmoth!”

Ladybug glared at Dark Owl for a moment and then raised her phone. “Viperion, did you get that?” 

“Computer, top floor, Mazarine Library, check,” said Viperion. “Resetting now!”

Ladybug was rushing to get Dark Owl when Viperion said, “The akuma’s a computer at the top floor of the Mazarine Library. Four minutes, fifty seconds, Ladybug!”

Ladybug nodded and dialed another number on her phone. “What kind of police resources are near the Mazarine Library?” she asked.

Chloe’s voice came back confused. “I don’t know where that is.”

Ladybug grimaced and barely managed to refrain from yelling at Chloe. “Then look it up. Tell me it’s exact location as soon as you can!”

She hung up and went to fight Dark Owl. He managed to hit her with some kind of horrible smoke bomb that made it even harder for her to breathe, then slammed her through a wall. She had just barely gotten up, limbs aching, when Chloe called back. “It’s on the Seine, south bank, just east of Notre Dame Island.”

“Is it open today?”

“No,” said Chloe. “It’s always closed on Sundays. And the akuma alarm has been blaring for forty minutes or more; even if people were there, they should have gone to shelters by now.”

Ladybug relayed that to Viperion, then said, “Reset us now!”

Ladybug was rushing to get Dark Owl when Viperion said, “Akuma is a computer, top floor of Mazarine Library, which is on the Seine’s south bank east of Notre Dame Island.”

Ladybug nodded and dialed another number on her phone. “What police resources are by the east end of Notre Dame Island?” she demanded.

“Uh,” Chloe began. “Let me check with Daddy.”

“Hurry!” Marinette said.

Three minutes later, Chloe reported, “About forty police cars in the area, two boats on the Seine, and a few aerial units. Also some helicopters from the National Guard”

“What weapons do the National Guard helicopters have?” Ladybug asked.

“Guns and missiles, I think?” Chloe ventured.

Ladybug nodded. “Viperion! Reset!”

The next time around, Ladybug called Chloe and said, “Your father agreed to put all the police and military forces in the city at my command, right?”

“Yes—“

“Great. Have the National Guard helicopters fire missiles into the top floor of the Mazarine Library. It’s on the Seine’s south bank, east of Notre Dame Island,” said Ladybug. “You have four minutes.”

“What?!” Chloe demanded. “I can’t—“

“There’s no choice!” said Ladybug. “I’ll use my Cure later to clean up the damage, but for now, it’s got to be destroyed. Do it!”

Chloe hesitated, then said, “Fine,” and hung up.

Silence filled the warehouse and then Kitsune said, “Are we actually sure the library is empty?”

“It’s closed, and everybody should be in shelters by now anyways,” said Ladybug even as she ran to delay Dark Owl. “We can’t be certain, but it’s really unlikely for someone to be there.”

“And if say, a janitor fell asleep there last night and hasn’t heard the alarms?” Kitsune asked in a quiet, tense voice.

Ladybug grit her teeth. “Miraculous Cure can bring back the dead,” she said at last. “Tens of thousands of people drowned during the Syren fight and everyone was fine once I used the Cure. So, once we beat Hawkmoth I’ll take his Miraculous and use its power to summon the Dark Owl akuma back to me from wherever it will go after the computer gets blown up. Then I’ll switch to my Ladybug powers, capture that akuma, cleanse it, and use the Cure.”

Nobody said anything and then Ladybug said, “I know this sounds horrible. I hate it too, and I would take literally any other option if we had one. But we don’t. There’s no other way to destroy the akuma, and if we fail now, we lose our best chance to stop Hawkmoth’s terror. We really don’t have a choice.” At least, she thought bitterly, not without Chat Noir.

“I don’t see another way either,” said Viperion softly. “And I trust you, Ladybug.”

“Me too,” said Kitsune. “You would not do this if there was an alternative.”

Ladybug was approaching Dark Owl just as her phone vibrated. It was Chloe. “The helicopter’s ready,” she said. “But they want to hear the order from you directly.”

“Pass the phone over, then!” hissed Ladybug.

“Thirty seconds,” said Viperion suddenly. “Then we’ll have to reset, or else he’ll already be in the middle during the next run and we won’t have enough time to stop him.”

The phone rustled and then Ladybug heard Andre Bourgeois’s voice. “We have to confirm—“ he began.

“Fire the missile at the Mazarine! Now!” ordered Ladybug. “It’s the only way!”

Silence. Then: “Do it,” Andre ordered.

“Fifteen seconds,” Viperion called.

Ladybug jumped forward and slammed into Dark Owl’s back without him seeing her. He fell down with a cry. “Well?” Ladybug hissed into the phone. “Did you fire?!”

“Missile launching!” said Kitsune. “I see it!” 

They all heard a distant explosion.

And then Dark Owl shimmered and became Principal Damocles once more.

“That was too close,” hissed Viperion.

Ladybug felt like she wanted to collapse, but after she shoved Damocles into another closet, she made herself get up and get ready for battle once more. “The mayor said the site would be uninhabitable in an hour, right?” she asked. “It’s been over fifty minutes. Hawkmoth has to come soon or he won’t be able to make it at all.“

“I see him,” said Kitsune suddenly in a tired voice. “He’s really close and closing in from the west. Ladybug, we might not have time to feed our kwami before he arrives.”

“Do what you can,” said Ladybug. She felt a sense of bitter exhilaration cutting through her exhaustion. The battle against Hawkmoth, she thought, might finally be almost over.

Then Kitsune said, “Another Hawkmoth approaching from the east. He must have had Mayura create a sentimonster of himself.”

It figured. Ladybug growled and said, “Can you two hold off the one on the east? I’ll fight the western one. Remember, we can’t let them leave. Once they get here they’ll know this was a trap and if they escape we’ll never be able to do this again.”

“Right,” said Viperion. “I’ll be ready to reset time if that happens. I—“

And then Ladybug heard a sudden smashing sound over the phone.

Hawkmoth was fast.

Ladybug barely had time to reach Viperion’s position before she saw him getting slammed to the ground by a Hawkmoth. She rushed at him, but he easily dodged away. “I see that reports of your injuries were somewhat exaggerated,” Hawkmoth said. “Was any of it real?”

“It worked to get you here,” growled Ladybug.

“Then perhaps I should leave.” Hawkmoth chuckled and turned towards a nearby window, but then Viperion lunged forwards and grabbed his foot.

“Get off!” yelled Hawkmoth. He kicked at Viperion, but Ladybug got close enough to deck the supervillain and he stumbled backwards.

“Give it up!” yelled Ladybug. “It’s over!”

Then something crashed behind her and Ladybug turned to see Kitsune grappling with the other Hawkmoth as they plunged through a wall. “Let’s take them down!” Ladybug yelled as she leapt at the Hawkmoth that Viperion was still hanging onto. 

And they fought.

But it didn’t go well.

Ladybug realized within thirty seconds that she and her teammates were exhausted to the point where they were having trouble fighting. Viperion in particular seemed half dead, but Ladybug herself and Kitsune were struggling too. The Hawkmoth duo, by contrast, seemed like they’d just woken up and were full of energy.

Come on… Marinette thought. We’re so close…

One of the Hawkmoths surged at her. Viperion lashed out and kicked him in the knee, knocking him down—but then he grabbed at Viperion’s wrist and ripped off his Miraculous. Luka yelled as his power vanished. “Ladybug!” Luka screamed. “Help!”

“Quiet, brat!” screamed Hawkmoth. 

A smash sound behind Ladybug made her look back and see that the other Hawkmoth had driven Kagami to her knees. He knelt and ripped off her pendant too. “Ah, the fencing protege,” he said as he recognized her. “How interesting.”

“Ladybug…” whispered Kagami, her voice sounding—incredibly—apologetic. As if she felt she hadn’t done enough.

Then Ladybug saw her chance. As both Hawkmoths went to put on their stolen Miraculouses, Ladybug took advantage of their momentary distraction, grabbed one and threw him into the other. Before they could respond, she leapt at them both and sent all three of them out the window.

They all slammed to the ground outside the building, just barely outside the colored fog that was still streaming out of it. Police were keeping bystanders back, but people were still close enough that Ladybug could see them gasping as they looked at her worn-out condition. She tried to get up but her body rebelled; she ached everywhere and found she could barely move. This fight, she thought, was over.

Unless…

She managed to force herself to stand even as she saw both Hawkmoths easily jump upright. “Now I’ve got you,” she said with a confidence she did not feel. “Lucky charm!” 

The yoyo went up and, moments later, a laurel wreath came down.

Marinette stared at it. She knew that laurel wreaths were given to those who won contests, so was the Lucky Charm saying she’d already won? How? What was she missing? She was so out of it that she wasn’t sure she could keep standing for more than a few minutes. Why did the Miraculous think that Hawkmoth, and not her, were about to lose?

And then it hit her.

The way she would lose was if Hawkmoth got her Miraculous. Everyone knew that. As for Hawkmoth, though, he had a very different loss condition than her.

And in his glee at near-victory, she thought it was quite possible he’d forgotten that.

Both Hawkmoths approached her, one making a lame joke about how the Lucky Charm must be malfunctioning to give Ladybug such an inappropriate item. Ladybug just sank down to the ground in a tight crouch as they approached. It looked like she was going to try to spring up, if she could manage to muster the energy. 

“Give us your Miraculous!” said both Hawkmoths at once. “And maybe we won’t kill you.”

“Come and take it,” growled Ladybug. 

One Hawkmoth shrugged. “As you wish,” he said in a sardonic voice.

The Hawkmoths approached. They drew to within a few feet.

Ladybug sprang up at them like she was going for one final attack.

As she leapt, the Hawkmoths raised their hands and each grabbed one of her earrings. They’d clearly read her motion and figured out she was going to jump, then attacked accordingly. “Yes!” screamed one Hawkmoth. “At last!”

And, as Marinette passed them, she ripped the butterfly Miraculouses off of their shirts.

One of the butterfly Miraculouses crumbled in her hands until only a little feather remained, and as it did, a Hawkmoth collapsed into nothingness. That must have been the amokized object used to make the sentimonster, Marinette thought as she slowly turned around to finally see the true face of the remaining Hawkmoth.

And she found herself looking at Gabriel Agreste.

Gabriel stared at Marinette with just as much visible surprise as Marinette was sure she was showing. “You?” he demanded. “The child fashion designer? You’re the one who’s held me off for all this time?”

“Yeah,” said Marinette. “It’s me.”

Gabriel chuckled as he put the Ladybug earrings into his ears, then put on the fox and snake Miraculouses as well. “Well, Marinette, you certainly fought well, but your fight is over. I have these now, and the grimoire told me how to activate them, so I have more than enough power to end you. Plus, given how Chat Noir has an obvious infatuation with you, I think I can get him to turn over his own Miraculous in exchange for not harming you. And then I will finally get to make my Wish.” He took a deep breath that practically oozed satisfaction. “Game over, Marinette. You lose.”

Marinette chuckled and held up his own Miraculous. “Not quite.”

“Do you mean to fight me with that?” Gabriel asked. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Marinette, but that trinket is far inferior to the ladybug and black cat Miraculouses, at least for those who know how to use it.” He smiled thinly. “It won’t matter.”

“Not what I meant.” Marinette flashed back a cruel smile of her own, then waved a hand at the crowd. “Say hello to the citizens you terrorized, Hawkmoth! Or should I say, Gabriel Agreste?”

Gabriel froze and Marinette laughed. She knew he’d been so excited to seize the Ladybug Miraculous at last that he’d forgotten all about the crowd. But they’d seen him. The news cameras who had been filming the warehouse disaster had seen him. Soon everyone on Earth would know that Gabriel Agreste was the magical terrorist known as Hawkmoth.

“You’re a monster!” someone in the crowd yelled. “You should die!”

“Go to Hell!” another person yelled.

“You akumatized me!” screamed a third person whom Ladybug recognized as Theo the sculptor. “I’m going to sue you!”  

Gabriel’s mouth quivered, and then he said, “It doesn’t matter! When I make my Wish, I’ll rewrite reality so none of this happened!” He clenched a fist. “You can’t stop me from making my Wish!”

“I’m pretty sure the police can stop you,” said Marinette. She turned and saw a familiar face in the crowd. “Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix, Gabriel Agreste no longer has any powers. Would you mind arresting him?”

Gabriel’s face turned pale and he backed away from the approaching police. “Tikki!” he roared. “Spots on!”

“No,” said Tikki as she appeared in front of him.

Gabriel swiveled his head to stare at her. “You must obey me!”

“Only if I’m able to do so,” said Tikki in a sickly sweet voice. “My bearer used my Lucky Charm power. That means I need to eat something before I can transform anymore again. I haven’t had anything to eat, so I am physically unable to do what you ask.” She flashed a cruel little grin. “Sorry, master.”

“Then eat something!” Gabriel screamed. “Eat—“

That was when the police tackled him, pulled off his Miraculouses, and slapped on handcuffs.

Raincomprix brought the Miraculouses back to Marinette, who stared down at her Ladybug Miraculous in her right hand as well as the Butterfly Miraculous in her left. She had won, she realized. She’d finally won.

She was free. Free from having to sacrifice everything in her life to go battle akumas. Free from the agony that came from getting zapped by all sorts of magical weapons. Free from the pain of seeing her family and others she cared about transformed into monstrosities.

And free from terror that her so-called friends would make her angry to the point where she got akumatized and doomed the world.

A slight smile spread across her exhausted face. She didn’t have to deal with Hawkmoth anymore. She didn’t have to worry about those ‘friends’ anymore. She was done.

“Ladybug!” called someone. At first Marinette thought it was a reporter, but then she saw Kagami and Luka gingerly leading the formerly akumatized people out of the building. The ‘smoke’ was dying down behind them; Marinette guessed Luka had turned off the fog machines. Both got out of the remaining fog, then stopped and stared when they saw her.

“Marinette,” whispered Luka. “Is it really you?”

She smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “It is.”

And then he was running up to her despite his injuries, and he hugged her, and she hugged him back. But then Kagami cleared her throat. “We need to say something to the press,” she murmured to Luka and Marinette. “And we need to deal with the Dark Owl akuma.”

Marinette sighed to herself. She was so tired that she could barely lift her arms up high enough to put her earrings back on. But she had to, so—

“We can handle Dark Owl,” said Luka suddenly. He still sounded exhausted, but there was a deep joy in his face. As Marinette watched, he plucked the butterfly and ladybug Miraculouses from Marinette’s hands, then gave Kagami her pick. “You’ve done so much already.”

Marinette smiled at them. “Thank you.”

Kagami took a couple of packs of crackers out of her pocket and fed both Nooroo and Tikki while Marinette turned to the crowd. “Hello,” she said at last. “I guess there’s no point in denying it: I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, am Ladybug.”

The crowd murmured excitedly.

“The fight against Hawkmoth, also known as Gabriel Agreste, is now over,” she said. “He is defeated and Paris no longer needs to fear akumatizations.”

There were wild cheers.

“Mayura is still out there,” Ladybug went on. “And I remain be ready to fight her. But Hawkmoth is defeated, and I for one think that’s worthy of celebration.”

“Who are those two?” called Nadja Chamack.

Marinette looked behind her to see Nadja was pointing at Kagami and Luka. “They were two temporary heroes who helped me defeat Hawkmoth,” she said. “And for what it’s worth, they did a fantastic job. They’re both excellent heroes.”

Luka blushed, and Kagami smiled slightly with pride. “I think we’re ready to deal with that last akuma,” she said. “The kwami have finished eating.”

Nooroo, who seemed almost gleeful, said, “Ready when you are!” 

Kagami transformed with the Butterfly Miraculous, Nooroo excitedly walking her through the magic words, and she brought back the Dark Owl akuma. Luka used the Ladybug Miraculous to transform moments later. “Miraculous Cure!” he yelled after he captured the akuma, as well as the feather from the former Hawkmoth sentimonster, in the yoyo.

A flash of ladybugs spread over everyone, and then Ladybug nodded at Nadja. “Now we’re done,” she said. “And if you don’t mind, we’d like to head out.”

“Wait!” Nadja said. “We want to interview you! All three of you!” 

“No thank you,” said Kagami at once. Luka also shook his head. 

Marinette smiled slightly. “I might consider that in a few days,” she said. “But not now. For the moment, we really need to rest.”

The crowd parted as they approached, and then they were through.

“We did it,” said Ladybug slowly as they slumped down in the Liberty’s living room. “We really did it.”

“Yeah.” Luka grinned. His face was worn and haggard, but Sass had assured him he would recuperate in time. “We did.”

“Thank you so much,” Ladybug told the others. “Luka, you must have taken us through thousands and thousands of loops. And Kagami, you were constantly doing illusions in front of thousands of people, and nobody noticed they weren’t real. You two are amazing.“

“We only did our duty,” said Kagami. “Don’t worry about it.”

“So!” said Luka. “Hawkmoth is Gabe Agreste. Huh.”

Marinette nodded. “I knew he was a jerk, borderline abusive, and delighted in making people miserable, so I guess it’s not surprising. Still, though, I would never have guessed that it was him in particular.” She winced. “I wonder why he did it.”

“Who knows?” Luka asked. “Maybe he’s just nuts.”

Kagami hesitated. “Marinette, your friend Adrien is Gabriel’s son. He’ll be affected by this. Are you worried for him?”

Marinette paused. A few months ago, she would have moved Heaven and Earth to protect Adrien, because she had believed he was perfect. A few weeks ago, she would still have done that despite all the harm he’d let Lila do to her, because she’d believed she was obligated to help him despite what he’d let happen to her. After all, she’d thought they were friends. 

Now, though…

“When Lila turned my class against me with her lies,” Marinette said slowly, “and when she caused me all that suffering, Adrien knew Lila was lying. But he did nothing. He decided it was better to keep her happy by not calling her out then to protect me from the monstrous things she was saying.” She paused. “He knew how much it was hurting me. He knew Lila was making everything up. But he insisted we just ‘take the high road’ and do nothing to her. After all, he said, she might get akumatized if we told others the truth, whereas he apparently thought I was strong enough that I could just take abuse for months on end without him worrying about me falling.”

Luka’s eyes widened. “So those people you were talking about were your class?” he asked. “And that’s why Juleka was on that list too.”

Marinette nodded. 

“If they abandoned you for a liar, they don’t deserve you,” said Kagami bluntly. “And, more precisely, you deserve better than them.”

“I know I do,” Marinette said. She smiled at the two friends in front of her. “Thank you for showing me that there are better friends than them. I’d been with them for so long I’d almost forgotten.” Then she let out a breath. “But back to Adrien. He let me suffer for all that time because he would rather be passive and not arouse anyone’s ire than take a stand for a friend. He didn’t care about me.” She shrugged. “So why should I care about him? I’m not going to go out of my way to, I don’t know, claim he was working with his father. I’m not going to try to get him arrested or make him suffer. But I’m not going to protect him either. Or any of the rest of the class, if they get dragged into this.” She looked at Luka. “Obviously I’m not going to stop you from trying to help Juleka. I know how important family is, and I know how much you love her. But please don’t ask me to get involved.”

Luka looked pained, but he nodded. “I won’t,” he said. 

“If Adrien is truly like you say, then I can’t say I care for him either,” said Kagami. “Good people fight for those they care about. If he doesn’t do that, he’s not good, and I don’t see why I should have anything to do with him.”

The three were quiet for a moment, and then Kagami added, “But why should we talk about them? We’re famous heroes now.” She smiled. “This could be interesting.”

“Maybe they’ll throw us a parade!” Luka said. 

Marinette giggled. “As long as it doesn’t become another Heroes Day disaster.” But she couldn’t deny that with Hawkmoth gone, there could be advantages to being known as a hero. Possible disadvantages too, especially if Mayura wanted revenge, but those were manageable. Without Hawkmoth, the forces of evil were much weaker; Marinette doubted Mayura would be able to do nearly as much damage as her former partner. “We—“

Her phone rang.

Marinette excused herself and went to take the call. “Hello?” she asked.

“Dupain-Cheng?” came the astonished voice on the other end. “You’re Ladybug? You?”

Marinette laughed. “Yes, Chloe, it’s me. Thank you for your help back there. It really made a difference.”

“Of course my help made a difference. After all, I’m great.” Chloe paused. “Is that all, though? I mean—“

“You mean, am I going to go to the media and say that you were also a superhero helping us, so that you can be a famous superhero celebrity too?” Marinette asked gently. “No, Chloe. That wasn’t the deal. If you want to take credit for funding us and helping with coordinating the police and military, fine, but I’m not Lila. I’m not going to lie for you and pretend you helped in the actual fight.”

Silence at the other end. Then: “I understand.” There was another pause before Chloe spoke again. “Anyways, good luck being a celebrity, Dupain-Cheng. Let me know if you need tips on being fabulous for the media.”

Marinette laughed. “I might actually do that.”

“Oh, one more thing,” Chloe said just before Marinette hung up. “I had my father send some police to the Mazarine to check. The building was completely unoccupied. Nobody died.” She paused. “I mean, I’m not just saying that nobody’s still dead after the Miraculous Cure; I mean nobody died in the missile attack to begin with. I mean—“

“I know what you mean,” said Marinette as the last bit of tension left her. Yes, anyone she’d inadvertently killed would have been alive again thanks to the Cure, but she felt better knowing that nobody had died in the first place. “Thank you for checking on that.” 

“Sure,” said Chloe. “I guess that’s it then. And… I”m really sorry about everything I did before.”

Marinette nodded. She still wasn’t at the point where she could forgive Chloe, but she could at least acknowledge the girl was trying to improve. That was more than the rest of the class could say.

After hanging up the phone, Marinette looked over at the others. “No casualties from the missile attack.”

Luka let out a breath. “Thank God,” he said. “I know we had no choice, but that was still… ugh.” He shook his head. “We should have planned better for that kind of situation.”

“We did,” said Kagami. “We planned for Chat Noir to fight alongside us, which would have given us a spare fighter who could have gone to the library and destroyed the akuma. But he didn’t show, and so other measures were necessary.”

The three looked at each other without saying anything, and Marinette sighed. Of all the things Chat had done to her, including ignoring her requests to stop flirting, focusing more on having fun in battles than actually beating akuma, and getting himself taken out due to his own lack of attention just when Ladybug really needed him, this was one she truly couldn’t forgive. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s true.”

After another moment, though, Luka said, “Look, I know Mayura’s still out there and Chat might also cause problems, but: we just beat Hawkmoth. We stopped the terrorist who wrecked the city for over a year. I think it’s okay if we take a day or two to just be happy and relax.” He beamed. “I mean, we certainly deserve it!”

Marinette smiled. “You’re right,” she said. “I agree.”

As Luka got up to get them sodas, he added, “Incidentally, Marinette, I wonder if some of your classmates might change their tunes tomorrow when they see you?”

“It won’t matter,” said Marinette. “I know their true natures now. Even if they try to befriend me again, I’ll make it clear that I’m not going to be friends with people who would throw me the wolves just because some mysterious transfer student said so.” Then a smile crept on her face. “Although…”

“What is it?” Kagami asked.

“I can’t help but wonder,” Marinette mused, “if a few of them aren’t already regretting their choices...”

Nathalie ground her teeth as she watched the news.

She hadn’t been anywhere near the fight; even when Bourgeois had announced the anti-akuma weapon program, she and Gabriel agreed that she shouldn’t invite suspicion by abruptly changing her schedule and rushing back to the mansion. Instead she’d gone as planned to a distant factory which made clothes for the Agreste fashion line. There had been a union dispute, and so Gabriel had dispatched her to solve things as only she could: create a sentimonster of the union leader, have the sentimonster take a bribe or get caught on a hot mic talking about how much money he wanted to extort from the company so he could take his mistress to Tahiti, and then force the now-discredited union to settle on Gabriel’s terms.

Then a warehouse had exploded and everything had fallen apart.

All Nathalie had been able to do upon learning of the situation was make a sentimonster and send it back to Paris. It had moved far faster than she could match and had reached the battle in time, but that hadn’t been enough to save Gabriel. Now he was exposed to the world as well as arrested. It was a total loss.

Nathalie bowed her head and cried a few tears, but after a moment she got ahold of herself. She knew what she had to do next, because they’d gone over it. “If I’m ever caught, Nathalie,” Gabriel had said, “your first priority must be to protect Emilie from discovery. Do whatever you can to make sure nobody touches her. Once that’s secured, then rescue me and my son. Do you understand?”

“Of course, sir,” Nathalie had promised.

Now it was time. Of course, Nathalie could not rescue Emilie immediately. She’d need to establish some kind of safe house that could handle Emilie’s life-support pod, including the prodigious amount of power it consumed, and that the authorities could not find. She would need cash, too, for everything from black-market medications for Emilie to basic supplies like food; after all, if she tried to draw on her bank accounts the authorities would be able to track her very easily. That meant she’d need to use sentimonsters to commit robberies, preferably without anyone even noticing, and setting such subtle robberies up would surely be a lengthy process

It would take a few weeks, Nathalie thought. But then she’d be able to move Emilie to a safe place, after which she’d gather up Gabriel itself and Adrien too. Then, at last, the day would come when Gabriel would have his family back.

She slipped away into the shadows and hurried off to get started.

“Dude!” Nino said. “Your dad is Hawkmoth!”

“Dude!” Kim added. “Marinette is Ladybug!”

The room was silent. Then Alya let out a squee. “I’m Ladybug’s best friend!” she cheered.

Everyone stared at her.

Alya blushed. “Oh. Um, right, Adrien’s dad is Hawkmoth, yes.” She cleared her throat. “Adrien, on behalf of all of us, I’d just like to say that we all know you weren’t responsible for anything that lunatic did.”

“He was a jerk anyways,” Kim said. “You deserve way better.”

Adrien managed a very weak smile. “Yeah, sure,” he said. His head felt like it was spinning. “Thanks.”

“So Kagami and Luka are temporary holders too?” mused Max. “Fascinating.”

“Yeah,” said Alya. “It’s too bad they shifted back when they were still in the building and nobody could see which Miraculouses they were using. I’d love to know how they’ll fight alongside Rena Rouge and Carapace in future battles.”

“What future battles?” Sabrina asked. “Hawkmoth’s done. It’s over.”

“Well, there’s always Mayura,” said Alya with a shrug. “I’m sure Marinette will tell me when I interview her for the Ladyblog.”

Suddenly, Lila stood. “Should we go?” she asked. “I mean, the press are sure to arrive soon. Do we really want to be here?”

Everyone looked at each other. Then Nino said, “Well, we can’t abandon Adrien, right?”

“It’s fine,” said Adrien. He slumped back on the couch. “I’d like to be alone now, if that’s okay. Please, just go.”

When the others were gone, Adrien put his head down as he tried to work out his thoughts. On the one hand, he knew he should be happy that his beloved Ladybug was really Marinette, the girl who loved him. On the second, though, he could guess she might be peeved at Chat Noir for missing the fight; he’d been completely unable to get away from Lila without causing a scene, and so he’d been stuck in his house for the entire battle. And on the third hand, of course, there was the discovery of his father’s secret identity.

“They’re going to throw him in jail forever,” he muttered. “How could he do this to Paris? To us?” He looked down. “Why did he do any of it? And, even setting that aside, what’ll I do now? He’s my dad and he’s the only family I have left, so I have to help him, but now he’s going to jail!”

Plagg floated out of his bag and gave him a compassionate glance. “Kid, you’re in trouble.”

“I know,” Adrien groaned. “Just let me think, okay?”

Plagg nodded and fell silent while Adrien thought. His father had been the terrorist who had turned people into demons, who had drowned, burned, and otherwise annihilated Paris more times than anyone could count, and who had even risked Adrien’s life during the Gorizilla battle. Adrien had to know why. But first, he had to make sure his dad wasn’t locked up forever. That would be hard, given what he’d done to Paris, to its people, to Ladybug and Chat Noir—

Wait. Adrien took a breath and said, “I’m Chat Noir. I could do something!”

“Huh?” Plagg asked.

“I could go to the authorities as Chat Noir and argue for mercy, “Adrien explained. “I’m one of the two heroes that fought all of Hawkmoth’s monsters, so if I’m the one who says he doesn’t deserve to have a horrible sentence, that’s got to carry weight. I mean, if the guy who took the burnt of all those attacks doesn’t want a punitive sentence, then how can the civilians who spent those attacks hiding disagree? Plus, I know how kind and generous Marinette is, and also how much she wants to make me happy. She’s been in love with me forever, and now that I can finally return her love, I know that she’ll be overjoyed! I’ll talk to her as Adrien and tell her to go with Chat Noir to tell everyone that Gabriel doesn’t deserve a harsh sentence!”

“He destroyed the city,” Plagg said. “Multiple times.”

“But Marinette always brought it back, so in the end it didn’t really matter” Adrien answered. “Yes, I know it was technically evil, and I don’t know how we’ll get through this as a family, but we will. Marinette and I just have to make sure the court remembers father didn’t permanently harm anyone, so they know to give him a lenient sentence. Maybe some kind of counseling. After all, we’re heroes. Heroes forgive people.”

“You’re delusional,” said Plagg. “The court will never agree to that.”

Adrien waved that off. “Dad lost his powers and isn’t a threat anymore anyways. If Ladybug and I plead for him, I’m sure the judge will make it happen.” He took a breath. “We can do this.”

“Kid, you’re assuming she’ll have anything to do with you as either Adrien or Chat Noir, and I wouldn’t assume that,” said Plagg. “She’s mad at Adrien-you over Lila, and Chat Noir-you didn’t even help in the final fight!”

“Yes, I missed one fight,” Adrien admitted. “But it didn’t matter. She won and she used Miraculous Cure, so it’s all good. I’ll just explain that I was stuck babysitting someone who might have been akumatized otherwise.” He smiled. “I know she likes to get super serious about things, but when the chips are down, I’m sure she’ll remember that she has a magic reset button. That means these things don’t really matter; as long as we win and the city gets fixed, there’s no harm with me being a little bit goofy. Or, in this case, me not making it to the fight. I’ll have to apologize and maybe get her a cake or something, but she’ll be fine. And—“

“KID!”

Adrien froze and turned to Plagg. “What?” he demanded.

Plagg took a breath. “You really need to focus here. Marinette’s surely mad at you—both versions of you—because of the things you did. Blaming her for taking things too seriously isn’t going to help. If you want her to do anything for you, apologize to her and beg her to consider forgiving you.”

“Forgiving me for what?” Adrien demanded. “Trying to be nice to Lila? Not stressing out too much over akuma fights? Plagg, you need to relax. After all, she’s Ladybug and I’m Chat Noir. We are literally destined to be together; now that we’ve finally found each other nothing will stand in our way.”

Then he turned back to the window. “As Adrien, I’ll tell Marinette I return her affections and ask her to help Chat Noir,” he said. “As Chat Noir, I’ll apologize for skipping that last fight, give her flowers or something, and then have her help me get my father out of jail. Then Marinette will be happy, my father won’t be terrorizing the city anymore and will be back in my life, and everything will be fine.” He paused. “I guess the only loose end is Lila, but she doesn’t matter anymore either, right? Now the class will know she was lying. She claimed to be Ladybug’s best friend and to know Ladybug’s secret identity, but now we know Marinette is Ladybug, and Marinette clearly couldn’t stand her. So Lila will have to back down and apologize, the class will apologize to Marinette, and we’ll all be happy again.” He clapped his hands. “Without me having to call Lila a liar, risk making everyone mad, and probably get someone akumatized.”

“Kid, I am telling you, if you don’t take responsibility now things are going to become a total mess,” Plagg said in an urgent voice. “After the Ladybug holder scores a big victory, sometimes karmic things start happening to those around her. You really do not want to get in the way of someone else’s karmic debt. If you keep blocking Lila or others from the consequences they earned, the consequences are going to fall on you instead.”

“Why would I suffer any karmic consequences?” asked Adrien. “I didn’t do anything! All I want is for everyone to be friends, and we will.” He flashed a radiant smile. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Damn, damn, damn!

Lila hurried away from the others as soon as she could find an excuse, and then she gave up all sense of dignity and flat out ran back to the embassy. At least, she thought, it was slightly less likely Ladybug would just invade the place to get back at her.

Things had completely fallen apart. Marinette being Ladybug didn’t just shred one of her most important lies to the class—that she was Ladybug’s friend; everyone knew Marinette hated her, so that was obviously false—but it put her in grave danger. Ladybug was, among other things, a celebrity who was famous around the world. Her word would be trusted by everyone. What if Marinette now used her Ladybug identity to announce that Lila was lying about everything and grifting her classmates out of every penny they had? Unlike the class, Ladybug could actually get someone to check and see if that Italian mogul existed, or if the Marvel editor or Sundance director had ever heard of her.

And if those lies came out, then Lila was in serious trouble. The kind that began with handcuffs and ended with judges looking up what the recommended sentences for ‘fraud’ and ‘theft’ were.

Lila had always prided herself on her dignity, and had promised herself that if she were ever exposed in such a manner that there was no way for her to fight back, she would go to her fate with her head held high. Now, though, she realized how hollow that was. She was at the mercy of Paris’s most famous and beloved superhero, after having spent the past several months systematically working to ruin her life and drive her away from her friends. Lila also had nothing to offer Marinette; the girl would easily be able to amass more money and connections thanks to her superhero duties than Lila could promise her. And threats? Hah. If Lila threatened Marinette again, the girl would just laugh in her face.

And that wasn’t even getting into the other issue, which was that she was also at the mercy of Gabriel Agreste, who could at any time tell people that Lila had worked with him voluntarily. It was public knowledge she was a model for his company and widely rumored that she was also his son’s girlfriend; if Gabriel wanted to tell the world he’d helped her voluntarily, people would find his story plausible based on how close she was to him. Then of course there were Adrien and Chat Noir, each of whom knew about certain bad actions she had taken, and each of whom could also wreck her if they chose.

When Lila got to her quarters she was relieved to see that her mother was, once again, away. Lila quickly shut herself in her room, locked the door, and turned on the TV to a news program. “Ladybug said she would not give an interview immediately,” the reporter was saying. “But she expects to do so within a few days.”

Lila hung her head in her hands. She was dead, she thought, as soon as that interview went out. There was no way Marinette wouldn’t jump at the chance to take a shot at Lila and destroy her forever.

Okay, she tried to tell herself. Stop panicking and calm down. Plenty of the thieves and con artists have wriggled out of worse situations. You are smarter than these people, girl. They’re just sheep and you’re the big bad wolf. You can do this. Just take each problem one at a time and figure out a solution.

She grabbed a piece of paper and began writing up a list of everyone who might expose her. First was Adrien, but that wasn’t too bad, because he’d backed her for so long that he’d hurt his own reputation if he now acknowledged she was lying from the beginning. It’d be hard to tell people that he’d pretended she was honest for months while she ripped off the rest of his class, after all. So she didn’t need to worry about him outing her as a con artist. 

Second was Chat Noir, but he’d only seen her misbehave when she was dealing with akumas. She could blame everything she did then on Hawkmoth’s evil butterflies. Even her little deal with Onichan to kill Ladybug in exchange for Lila giving up on Adrien was something that could be blamed on Onichan’s akuma; maybe it had the effect of making people around Onichan behave evilly so Onichan would have more targets. It was magic, so it wasn’t like anyone could prove that akuma didn’t work like that. And while that story wasn’t great, Lila figured it would probably suffice to keep her out of jail.

Third was Hawkmoth, and that was a bigger problem for Lila. As long as she was around, Gabriel could try to implicate her, or worse, threaten her with exposure unless she helped him. “Come on,” Lila muttered. “What can I do about him?”

Maybe the best solution to the problem of Hawkmoth, Lila thought after a few moments, would just be to leave town. It probably wouldn’t be hard to get her mother to move them again; all she’d have to do would be to admit to working for Gabriel Agreste as a model before he was outed as a terrorist, and her mother would probably book their train tickets that very minute just to get her away from the psychopath who had attacked Paris so many times. And if she was gone then things would be very different, wouldn’t they? If he couldn’t find her, then he couldn’t threaten her, and if she was gone, then any attempts to implicate her would look like he was just trying to throw blame on some random employee who had vanished into obscurity. So if she could just get out of town, she was probably safe from him.

Of course, Lila didn’t really want to leave town. There was still so much to do in Paris, and so much to get from those poor fools who were her classmates. Lila hadn’t even touched the Bourgeois or Agreste fortunes yet! But she knew that a good grifter could tell when to cut her losses and flee, and given the situation in the city, it was far wiser to run away than to hang around trying to wrangle a few hundred more euros from her classmates while hoping one of her many enemies didn’t destroy her on national television.

And speaking of enemies, there was Marinette/Ladybug. That particular opponent could destroy Lila even if she did skip town; whoever she went, if Ladybug sent the police after her, then Lila would wind up in handcuffs. Also, Ladybug was someone that Lila didn’t think she could outsmart or defeat. After all, Hawkmoth hadn’t been able to do so after hundreds of tries. So what hope did Lila have against Ladybug? If Ladybug was her nemesis—

“Wait,” Lila breathed. “Ladybug wasn’t my nemesis, Marinette was. Them being the same person doesn’t change the fact that, even though I can’t beat Ladybug, I beat Marinette all the time while barely trying. I took all her friends and destroyed everything she loved, didn’t I? And yes, now Marinette can draw on her Ladybug side in public, but if I can keep this in the civilian world and use a weakness she has there…”

Her mind flashed through dozens of possibilities before it settled on the most likely option. “Everyone knows she’s in love with Adrien,” Lila went on. “She suffered worst when I stole him from her. People think she cares for him and would get really upset if something hurt him, and while I’ve worked really hard to split them apart, everyone still thinks Marinette is pining for him. So what if I did something bad to Adrien?” She nodded. “It’s not like I can gain anything by associating with him anymore, since he’s a terrorist’s son, so I might as well burn that bridge. If I do, then anything Marinette says against me as either herself or Ladybug could be attributed to wanting revenge for Adrien. I might be able to get away with everything if they think she’s just jealous.”

Of course, that solution created two potential problems. First, it was possible that Marinette had no interest in going after Lila now but would do so if she thought Lila had hurt Adrien, in which case Lila’s plan would just bring Marinette’s wrath down on her head. Lila, however, immediately dismissed that idea; she was certain that Marinette would take this opportunity to ruin her even if Lila reformed that very minute. After all, Lila had worked extremely hard to destroy Marinette’s life. Somehow she couldn’t see Marinette choosing this moment, of all times, to let bygones be bygones.

Second, it would hardly help Lila to evade Ladybug’s clutches only for the police to arrest her over some crime she’d committed against Adrien. “What I need,” Lila said in a stronger, less panicked tone, “is to do something really bad to Adrien that the police won’t believe but that Ladybug theoretically might.” 

She began to pace as she worked through some ideas. “If I can ruin his reputation with the police,” she said, “that makes things easier. Then I do something to him… he reports it… they do a cursory investigation and find nothing, so he complains to others… nobody else believes him since he’s a terrorist’s son, but Marinette does believe him out of love… even if she doesn’t, people will think she does… and when she takes her shot at me, I just point out her obvious jealousy. Bam, she’s discredited, and the police don’t take her as seriously.” She nodded. “Then, if I’ve hidden my tracks well enough, I just might get away with everything.”

It was still a tough play, but it was better than nothing, and so Lila Rossi sat down to plan the most important con in her life thus far. “Sorry, Adrien,” she said with a slight smirk. “It was fun, but now it’s over. And it’s not like you can complain. You knew exactly who I was when you let me grift your friends.” She chuckled. “Now it’s your turn.”

Within minutes she was immersed in her plot.

Chapter Text

When Mrs. Rossi returned home late that night, Lila was ready.

“Mama!” she screamed as she raced towards the door and almost tackled the older woman in a gigantic hug. “Mama, I’m so glad you’re home! Today was awful!“ She burst into tears. “I need help!” she begged.

Mrs. Rossi was frozen in shock for a moment, but she quickly shut the door behind her and guided Lila over to a couch. “Your mother’s here, my sweet child” she murmured to her daughter, who was leaning against her like she feared her strength giving out. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“But…” Lila sniffed. “Mama, I did a bad thing, and I’m so scared…”

Her hair was wild and frazzled (an effect she’d managed with about half an hour of careful styling in the bathroom), her face was red as if she’d been crying (which she had been; learning how to cry on cue was one of the first tricks she’d taught herself), and she trembled with what seemed like fear. When Mrs. Rossi brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face, Lila burst into tears again and cuddled against her mother. “Lila,” whispered Mrs. Rossi. “Whatever is wrong, whatever you did, I will help you get through it. I promise.” She smiled gently. 

Lila gradually stopped sobbing, hiccuped a couple times, and then said, “A few months ago I looked into part-time jobs. I wanted money to buy you something for your birthday, and I thought you’d be proud of me for being so responsible”

“I’m always proud of you,” said Mrs. Rossi. “You don’t need to worry about that. But go on. What happened at this job?”

“Well…” Lila took a breath. “I got a job modeling.”

Mrs. Rossi raised an eyebrow. “Modeling?”

“It wasn’t swimsuits or anything!” Lila hastened to add. “Nothing that was, like, gross. Just regular clothes.”

“I see,” said Mrs. Rossi, though she clearly still had no idea why Lila was so upset. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

In truth, Lila hadn’t told her mom because she didn’t want to reveal that she was earning money. If Mrs. Rossi had known that, she might have started asking questions about why Lila’s friends always seemed to be treating her to lunch, movies, and various gifts, as if they believed she couldn’t afford anything on her own. That could in turn have lead to Mrs. Rossi learning how Lila was manipulating everyone, which would have been a major disaster. But now, though, Lila knew that giving up this secret was a small price to pay for getting out of town while she could. “I wanted to surprise you when I got you your present,” Lila lied softly. “That’s the only reason.”

Silence filled the room. “And?” Mrs. Rossi prompted at last.

Lila took a breath as if steeling herself before jumping off a high dive. “Mama, the place I worked for was Gabriel Agreste’s fashion company.”

Mrs. Rossi gasped at that. “You mean the man that was just exposed as Hawkmoth?”

“Yes, Mama!” cried Lila. “I had no idea, of course, but it’s true. I took photos for his magazines, I showed off his clothes, I even appeared on stage with Adrien and his other models. I did all of that, and now it turns out he’s a terrorist!”

“Oh, my poor baby,” said Mrs. Rossi. “And you’re worried people will think that, since you worked for his company, you approved of his work as Hawkmoth or even helped him with it?” She shook her head. “That’s a ridiculous assumption for anyone to make. Gabriel Agreste had thousands of employees, and the idea that any given employee not only knew what he did as Hawkmoth but approved of it is absurd. If anyone accuses of that, dear, you tell me and I’ll have an embassy lawyer send them a cease and desist, okay?”

“But that’s not everything,” added Lila. “You see, when I was working for him, Mr. Agreste would sometimes come by the photoshoots and talk to the models. You know, ask us how we were doing, if the working conditions were alright, things like that.”

“Really?” Mrs. Rossi said. “I had heard he was a very cold man.”

“Me too,” Lila said. “So I just thought the rumors were false and that Gabriel was nicer than people said. But after he was exposed today I thought back, and I realized something. Mama, Mr. Agreste’s questions were things like ‘How are your friends? Is everyone getting along, or is someone upset? I can’t have my models in negative environments, since that makes it harder for them to look happy, so if a friend is sad or angry about something, tell me and I’ll see what I can do.’” She took a breath. “Or he’d ask, ‘How is your school? Are the tests too hard? Are people stressing out about homework? I heard one of your teachers went on vacation; the substitute isn’t too strict towards you or your friends, is she?’” Lila then looked up at Mrs. Rossi. “Mama, I think he was asking me those things so he could get tips on who to akumatize! And I didn’t know better, so I answered him!” She let out a wail. “I helped that evil man!”

“Shh, shh, it’s alright.” Mrs. Rossi lovingly stroked Lila’s hair. “You aren’t responsible for his actions, Lila. Just your own.”

“But if I helped him…” Lila began.

“You had no way of knowing what he would do with that information,” said Mrs. Rossi. “No way of even suspecting. It’s not your fault and you shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

Lila gulped. “But even so, Mama, what if he blames me for his loss? Maybe he’s sitting in jail right now thinking, ‘I would have won if Lila had given me better information on who’s having negative emotions, because then I could have made stronger akumas and beaten Ladybug at last!’ Mama, what if he wants revenge? He’s a terrorist, and his sidekick Mayura is still out there.” She hugged Mrs. Rossi again. “I’m scared.”

Mrs. Rossi was silent for several moments. And then, as Lila had predicted, she said, “Given the circumstances, I think my superiors would agree to quietly transfer me to a consulate elsewhere in the country so that Gabriel couldn’t find you. As long as I explain what happened they’ll understand that this is a matter of safety.”

“Oh, thank you!” Lila said as she hugged Mrs. Rossi. “Thank you so much!”

“It will take a few days,” Mrs. Rossi went on. Lila winced; even though she’d known that was likely, she still really wished she could get out of the city earlier. “But by Thursday we should be able to go somewhere far away where Gabriel will never know to look for you.”

“Thank you, Mama,” repeated Lila. “You’re the best.”

“But first,” said Mrs. Rossi gently, “there’s something else we have to do. I’m going to talk with the embassy lawyers just to make sure, but assuming they approve, I think it would be best for you to make a statement to the police.”

Lila had expected this too. In fact, her plan relied on it. However, she knew her mother wouldn’t believe she’d just agree to that, so she had to put up some resistance first. “But Mama, you said it’s not my fault!”

“It isn’t, and I’m confident the police will see that too, but as a witness to Gabriel’s actions, you should still be honest about what you saw.” Mrs. Rossi helped prop Lila up so they were both upright on the couch. “Not only will your testimony help the police to get a picture of Gabriel’s activities, but telling the truth now makes it so he can’t try to blackmail you later by threatening to tell everyone what you did. And even if a few foolish people do blame you, surely you agree that’s a small price to pay for helping to expose the depth of Hawkmoth’s crimes.”

“Yes, Mama,” said Lila softly.

“Good.” Mrs. Rossi stood. “I’m glad you agree. After all, honesty is always the best policy. You know how much I believe that.”

Lila did know how much she believed that. She knew that her mother believed it so much that, during another assignment a few years ago, Mrs. Rossi had discovered a fellow diplomat was embezzling and had turned him in even though that diplomat had some very high-level political connections. The diplomat had been fired, of course, but he’d then used his political connections to render Mrs. Rossi’s career moribund and have her shuffled around from one embassy to another with no hope of advancement. Senior diplomats routinely retired with sufficient wealth to buy country villas and yachts; Lila’s mother would be lucky to work like a dog all her life and then retire with a bare-bones pension that just managed to keep her in a two-bedroom apartment. Even her husband had left her in order to salvage his political ambitions. 

And yet Lila knew that, despite all the losses her mother had incurred, she still somehow believed she had done the right thing. That if she had the chance to do it again—and this time ignore the embezzlement, or better yet, blackmail the guy into cutting her in—she’d do everything exactly the same way and set fire to her career once more.

What a fool, Lila thought bitterly. What a stupid, stupid fool. I guess the only bright side is, if she hadn’t done that, I might have been dumb enough to try playing the hero too. But I learned from her mistake. Let the heroes fight for the sheep; let them suffer, bleed, and die. Even Ladybug will suffer; she’s happy now, but sooner or later she’ll fight a villain that beats her into the pavement. Meanwhile, I’ll be on a beach resort somewhere sipping a nice drink and letting cute boys fight over me. I’ll outsmart the heroes, marks, and the other villains, and I’ll get what I can for myself. And then, at the end of our lives, we’ll see who had a better time.

Aloud, though, she just said, “I know you do, Mama. I believe it too.”

“Then get some rest, dear.” Mrs. Rossi moved to the phone. “I’ll talk with the lawyers and then see if I can get an appointment with the police first thing tomorrow.”

Lila nodded, rose, and went to her room. Only once the door was shut and the shades safely drawn did she let herself smile.

“Phase one complete,” she whispered.

“Thank you for coming in so early in the morning, Lila,” said Lieutenant Raincomprix as he waved Lila into the interrogation room the next day. “We really appreciate it. We’ve been trying to talk to Gabriel’s employees, but a lot of people are scared and refusing to speak.”

“I’m happy to help in any way I can,” Lila said. Next to her, Mrs. Rossi nodded.

Roger asked Lila a few introductory questions, and Lila repeated her story about Gabriel interrogating her to know if her classmates had negative feelings. Roger wrote down everything and seemed completely convinced. “How did these questions start?” he asked after a while. “Did he just approach you one day while doing a photoshoot and launch into them?”

“Not really,” Lila said. “I was talking with Adrien Agreste—he’s my boyfriend and I really love him, so I tried to hang out with him while we were doing the photoshoots—and Mr. Agreste was near us. Adrien suddenly got called away by the photographer, and the silence was really awkward, so then Mr. Agreste followed up where Adrien’s questions had left off. Honestly, I thought Mr. Agreste was just trying to say anything he could to end that awkward silence.”

“Followed up?” Roger asked. “Adrien was asking questions before his father approached you?”

“Of course!” Lila said. “He really cares about me. I mean, you can check my blog if you don’t believe me; I’ve got tons of pictures of us hugging, dating, and having lots of fun. He’s awesome. So yeah, he always made sure to ask me what was wrong if he thought I was feeling blue. That way he could help me fix it!”

Mrs. Rossi stiffened as if something had occurred to her. Lila pretended not to notice. Then Roger asked, “How often did Adrien ask you these questions?”

“Oh, when we were dating, he’d ask me how things were going two or three times a day!” Lila said airily. “He was so loving and protective. This one time, when some girl from another class ran into me and knocked me into a locker, he insisted I tell him who it was so he could ask her to apologize. I didn’t even think it was intentional; the girl looked really upset about something else and I guessed she just hadn’t seen me, but even after I told him that he still wanted to know who it was anyways.”

Roger nodded. “Do you remember who it was, incidentally?”

Lila tilted her head back as if in thought. “She had a strange name. It was Mermaid or Undine or something. Ondine, I think. I’d seen her around school before, so I knew her name, but I’d never really spoken to her.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t even that big of a deal, honestly. I only remember it because I’d had to duck into the school to get away from this horde of escaped animals and the girl bumped me right after that. But Adrien wanted to help me anyways, even though it wasn’t a huge thing. He’s so sweet!”

It might not occur to Roger right away that the escaped animals had occurred the same day that Ondine had been akumatized into Syren, but Lila knew he’d figure it out once he did some research. And while Lila’s friends thought she’d been abroad at that time, her mother knew she’d still been in Paris, and Roger would have no reason to think differently. Everything had been set up, Lila thought, so it was time for the next step. 

Lila let her expression become concerned and said, “Wait, why are you asking about Adrien? Gabriel’s the terrorist, right? That’s not my Adrien’s fault!”

“We know,” said Roger. “Rest assured, we’re not going to blame him for anything his father did. But we have to investigate all possibilities.“

“He’s innocent!” said Lila, allowing her voice to rise a bit so she sounded a bit more vapid and a touch less credible. “He just cares about me a lot. He takes care of me, he helps me when I’m sad, and he was even the first boy to call me beautiful.” She fixed a lovestruck smile on her face, the kind of smile which indicates someone is completely focused on a lover’s good qualities and will work very hard to overlook any bad ones. “Most of the others just said I had fat legs, or sausage-link hair, or an ugly accent. But Adrien saw the real me. I know he wouldn’t help his father.” She fixed Roger with a desperate glare. “Lieutenant, I assure you, it would be a grave miscarriage of justice if you concluded that Adrien might have helped his father to terrorize the city!”

For once, Lila had said something that was completely true.

But she knew Roger wouldn’t believe her.

When the police meeting was over, Lila had to hurry off to school clutching a note from her mother which was, for once, genuine. She got there about halfway through second period and handed the note to Damocles in his office, then said, “My Mom thinks she’s going to be sent to a consulate somewhere else in France by the end of the week, so I need the paperwork to pull me out of school.”

“I see,” said Damocles. “That’s possible, of course, but I can’t just give the paperwork to you. It has to be filled out by your mother in view of a school official.”

“Of course,” Lila nodded. “When should I tell her you’re available? She’ll probably want a couple hours of your time. You see, she’s very upset over all the damage the school took thanks to the akumas, and I know she’ll want to tell you her objections in detail. Oh, and you don’t need to worry about her complaining to the Italian government and creating a diplomatic incident if you say something that makes her think you didn’t keep me safe. I mean, yes, it’s happened, but she’s promised not to do it as much anymore.”

Damocles looked nervous. Lila smiled to herself; that time she’d spent studying Damocles and learning how fearful he was of political fallout—such as the kind threatened by Chloe Bourgeois when she didn’t get her way—was paying off. “I’m afraid I don’t have time to speak with her myself,” Damocles said at last. “I’m very busy with work all day. I’ll just leave the papers with my secretary. Your mother can fill them out before her, and she may vent to her too if she wishes.”

“Thank you!” said Lila.

That taken care of, Lila then returned to her classroom, but her steps slowed down as she approached. Marinette was in there, she was sure, and if Ladybug was going to expose her, or if the others were ready to call her on her lie of being Ladybug’s friend…

I just say I need a few days, Lila told herself. I just tell them all that I have good reasons for everything I said or did, but that I’m freaked out over working for Gabriel and need some time before I can talk about it. If I can get the rest of the stuff with Adrien set up before then, I have a chance.

That thought fixed firmly in her mind, Lila entered the classroom.

Marinette wasn’t there, she saw with relief. Better yet, Adrien was, which meant she could start the rest of her plan as soon as class was done. Bustier was also present, but she seemed to be letting the class have a casual study period, and everyone was just chatting.

“…so cool how your brother just walked out of that smoky building!” Rose was telling Juleka. “What did he say last night when you asked him about being a hero?”

“He said he didn’t want to talk about it,” said Juleka in a strangely flat voice. “We talked about other stuff.”

“Like what?” Rose asked.

Juleka hesitated. “Just stuff,” she said at last.

Across the room, Alya was speaking into a microphone connected to her laptop while Nino and a few others crowded around her. “So that’s the truth, people!” she said merrily. “We now know Ladybug’s true identity: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the BFF of yours truly. I haven’t talked to her since the battle, but the next time I see her, I promise you I’ll get an interview where I ask her everything you want to know!” She beamed. “This is the Ladyblogger, signing off.”

“Nice audioblog, babe,” said Nino.

Kim leaned against a wall and asked, “I wonder if Chat Noir will reveal himself now that Ladybug did so? Or the other temporary holders?”

“That could make for a nice blog entry,” said Alya. “We could put Marinette in the center with the other heroes on her sides, and then have everyone power down at once to show Paris the people that Ladybug thought were great enough to help her protect the city.” She chuckled. “I could go for that.”

Lila moved a few more steps into the room and saw Alix leaning back in her chair. “Did you hear the city wants to throw a festival for Marinette?” the athlete was asking Max. “With famous celebrities and everything?”

“That sounds like an extremely fun event,” said Max. “I hope there will be some famous scientists there for me to meet. I’ve been trying to publish papers on Markov’s design for months, but without contacts, it’s hard to be taken seriously at my age. Perhaps Marinette would be willing to introduce me to noted researchers or computer science professors, if they do show up at her party. She’s always very helpful, and she was willing to play my video game with me so I could check for bugs and balancing issues, so I’m sure she’ll help with this too.”

Markov beeped and said, “Just because there’s a party doesn’t mean you’ll be invited, though.”

Alix waved that off. “Lila was willing to share her contacts with us, right? Well, why wouldn’t Marinette do the same? Not only is that the friendly thing to do, but you just know Marinette wouldn’t like the idea of looking less friendly than Lila.” She chuckled. “I hope there’s some athletes at this festival. Or maybe people who sponsor athletes. God, can you imagine Ladybug hooking me up with one of those major fitness companies?”

Lila sat down and looked straight ahead. It would be best, she knew, not to make waves today—

“Oh, hey, Lila!” 

Lila had to turn, and then she saw Alya waving at her. “Lila, what’s up?” the blogger asked.

“Not much,” said Lila, flashing Alya a quick smile. Mentally, she reminded herself that she had a plan for what to do now. I can do this, she insisted to herself. I’ll keep fooling them all until I’m gone and out of their reach.

Alya excused herself from the others and came over to Lila. “So, um, I wanted to talk to you,” she said in a gentle but cautious voice. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure,” said Lila. “What’s up?”

Alya hesitated. “It’s about you and Ladybug,” she said. ”You said you knew her civilian identity and were really close to her, but Marinette clearly has issues with you. Now, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation, but… well, I was hoping you could tell me what it is?”

Lila nodded. “There is, and I can, but can you give me a couple of days, Alya? I’m still really worked up.”

“Worked up?” Alya asked. “About what?”

Lila stared at Alya as if she was amazed the other girl hadn’t read her mind. “I was in his house, Alya,” she whispered. “When I modeled. I was so close to that man, and he was so evil…”

“Oh!” Alya gasped. “Right, of course. I can see how that’d be stressful. But—“

Lila went on as if she didn’t hear. “I worked for him,” Lila quietly sobbed, “and I helped him sell his clothes, and sometimes he asked me about people I knew that might be sad or upset and I answered him without realizing he was only asking so he could akumatize those people, because I’m a stupid idiot and—“

That did it. Alya grabbed Lila in a big hug. “You’re not an idiot!” she said. “You were manipulated. We all were. Nobody knew what he was doing.”

Lila sniffed. “But Alya, that includes people in this class! Sometimes he’d ask about, I don’t know, if someone was upset over not having anyone to play games with, and I’d mention Max. Or he’d say he wanted to give a modeling job to someone who was sad about feeling invisible and I’d mention Juleka. Or—“

“It’s not your fault,” stressed Alya. “Seriously, I forgive you, and so will everyone else.” She smiled. “You said needed a few days, so why don’t we talk on Friday after school? That should be enough time, right? I’ll get the class together, and then you can tell everyone anything you want to get off your chest.”

Lila smiled, feeling relief mingled with smug satisfaction that she’d manipulated Alya just as planned. “Thanks, Alya. I promise I’ll answer all of your questions then.”

“Guys!” said Nathaniel suddenly. He was stationed by a window and was peering outside. “Ladybug just swung to the front of the school and shifted back. A few people are trying to take photos, and there’s some press yelling out questions, but she’s making her way through them. She’ll be here soon!”

The students began racing around, with Lila watching mutely as Alix and Kim hung a big banner saying, “HOORAY FOR LADYBUG!” A few other students took gifts out of their bags. Lila, of course, did nothing, but she had trouble containing her confusion. They can’t seriously think this will make her like them again after what they did for me? she thought. Or do they not realize they lost her in the first place? 

Marinette entered the classroom a few moments later, and then the class cheered, “HOORAY FOR LADYBUG!” Alya and Adrien, Lila noted, were the loudest cheerers. (Lila, for her part, said and did nothing. But in her mind, she kept repeating over and over, I’ve got this. My plan is working. I won’t let Ladybug ruin me.)

Marinette looked around blankly, as if she had stumbled upon a ritual being performed in a language that she didn’t speak by people she didn’t know. Then, without saying a word, she stepped further into the classroom.

Alya was at her side in moments. “GIRL!” she screamed as she threw her arms around Marinette in a gigantic hug. “You were so awesome!”

Marinette turned to look at Alya. “Please stop hugging me.”

“Oh, right, you’re probably still sore from the battle.” Alya lowered her arms. “Girl, you have no idea how popular you are! The whole city loves you! They’re talking about renaming streets after you and giving you your own festival and holiday!”

“I know,” said Marinette. Lila frowned at the girl’s tone, which would have been more appropriate if used when speaking to a total stranger. 

“Where have you been, anyways?” Alya went on. “I stopped by the bakery and it looked empty.”

“Maman and Papa agreed we should go somewhere else for a few days to avoid the paparazzi,” Marinette answered.

Alya beamed. “Well, where is it? Obviously I’m coming over there right after school to help you settle in. We could even have a sleepover. This is going to be so cool!”

“It’s a secret location,” said Marinette, the faintest hint of annoyance in her voice. “We don’t want anyone to know where it is yet.”

“Hmph.” Alya shrugged. “I mean, I get that. Your folks are probably worried about the press bothering you, and I guess I’m kind of one of the most famous bloggers in Paris right now. But you know I wouldn’t tell anyone, right? I’m your BFF!” Marinette didn’t answer but instead began walking past Alya, so Alya hurried to keep up with her as she said, “Just let me know when would be the best time for my exclusive interview with you. This’ll be the Ladyblog's biggest post ever! Even moreso than when I did that post where I talked with the temporary heroes like Carapace and Pegasus!”

Before Marinette could respond, Nino stood up. “Speaking of those other heroes,” he began, “why didn’t you ask them to that fight? I mean, it was the final one, right? Wouldn’t it have made sense for everyone to be there?”

“I picked the people I thought would help me fight Hawkmoth,” said Marinette. 

“Right, but, what about Carapace and Rena Rouge, for instance?” Nino asked.

“Or Bunnyx?” Alix asked. “She’d have been awesome!”

Alya blinked. “Who’s Bunnyx, again?” 

“Uh…” Alix hesitated. “Another superhero I ran into when Ladybug was rescuing me from an akuma. She’s rad!”

Marinette ignored them and approached Bustier. “Ah, Marinette,” the teacher said. “I think I can see now why you’ve had so many odd absences in the past months. Rest assured, I’ll remove those from your record.”

“Mmm,” said Marinette.

Bustier hesitated. “I also, uh, took the liberty of having Principal Damocles schedule an assembly where you could speak. I was hoping you could say something about how you weren’t just a superhero, but were also our everyday Ladybug, and how being so kind and friendly to everyone not only benefitted your classmates but also allowed you to benefit from them as well.”

“No, thank you,” said Marinette. “I don’t want to speak at that assembly.”

“Give her a rest, Ms. Bustier,” called Kim from the back. “She just thrashed a horrible supervillain terrorist.” He paused. “No offense, Adrien.”

Adrien gave a weak smile, though it firmed up a little when he looked at Marinette. “None taken.”

Marinette took some papers from her backpack and passed them to Bustier. “I talked with my parents, and we agreed it would be best to transfer me to another class. Ms. Mendeleiev agreed to let me switch over. Here are the forms.”

Bustier frowned. “But Marinette, why leave now? You’re not worried we’ll get distracted by your celebrity status, are you? I promise, we won’t let that happen.”

“I’ve made up my mind, Ms. Bustier,” said Marinette. “Please excuse me.”

“But we’re your friends,“ said Kim. “You’re not going to leave us, right?”

“Yeah, you’re awesome,” Nino chimed in. “In fact, I was thinking, maybe you could help us take another stab at making a movie. The one we made during the Horrificator attack didn’t do so well, but if we had an actual superhero as its star, it’d be huge! And we’d have loads of fun doing it.”

Rose’s eyes shone. “That’d be amazing!” she said. “Marinette made the best costumes for that original movie, so for this one she could—“

“I’ve made up my mind,” Marinette repeated. “I’m not changing it. And I’m not getting involved with your projects anymore. Goodbye.”

She turned and began to leave, everyone staring at her in stunned surprised as she did so. Lila tensed as Marinette passed her, but the girl didn’t stop to say anything. She just walked on. 

What is she doing? Lila thought to herself. Why isn’t she calling me out? Is she still recuperating from the battle? Does she only want to come after me when she’s fresh and ready to fight? Or is she letting me stew, thinking that I can’t escape her anger? Sweat beaded on her forehead despite all she could do to stop it, and she realized that she was tense. Come on! she snapped at herself. I can do this! I can beat her!

Adrien, meanwhile, rose to his feet just as Marinette left. He had a bright grin on his face that seemed untroubled by anything that had just happened; Lila wondered if he’d even been paying attention. “Ms. Bustier, could I be excused?” he asked. “I need to tell Marinette something.” 

“Tell her what?” Bustier asked.

“Just something,” said Adrien, but he was blushing and Lila could guess what he was going to say. Now that Marinette was known to be a superhero, Adrien would finally accept her crush on him. Damn, Lila thought. My plan requires everyone to think she’s in love with Adrien. What if she’s so mad about his neglect over the last several months that she publicly lambasts him? I’ll need to think of something else. But if she doesn’t publicly reject him, I can’t drop my plan now, because it’s the best one I’ve got. So I need to know what she does once he tells her he’ll let her date him.

Bustier chuckled. “I understand. Go ahead, Adrien. But hurry back; we do have lessons to get through.”

“Ridiculous,” Lila heard Chloe mutter. “Utterly ridiculous.” 

Alya was frowning as she leaned back in her chair. “I bet it’s her parents making her leave,” she said. “They probably think we’ll hang all over her and distract her from learning or something. After all, I know she’d never want to abandon us, since we’re her friends. I’ll talk to them and get them to see reason.”

“Good point,” Nino added. “She wouldn’t quit the class on her own. And she definitely wouldn’t refuse to work with us on something. She always loved helping out with the projects, and this one could be bigger than any of the others.” 

Lila waited for Adrien to get out the door, then rose too. “Bathroom,” she called as she hurried out. I have to know what he says to her, she thought. Whatever she says, I need to know!

Marinette let out a soft sigh as she stepped out of her old classroom for the final time. She felt…

Good.

Really, really good.

Marinette had thought seeing her classmates again would bring all her old anger and rage back. She’d wondered if she’d be able to stop herself from screaming at them about all the harm they had done her and how pathetic it was that they now hoped to get back in her good graces as if the past months of isolation and torment hadn’t happened. She’d even wondered if she’d be able to avoid publicly denouncing Adrien for enabling Lila.

But instead, she’d felt that same sense of detachment that she’d expressed earlier to Luka. These people weren’t her friends anymore. They weren’t her peers. They weren’t even worth anger. They just… 

Didn’t matter to her. 

She was free of them at last, and she had no interest whatsoever in what they did next. That was it.

“Lila can have them,” she said to herself. “I don’t care. And whether they catch her and punish her, or whether she picks them clean, it’s not my problem anymore.” She smiled. “I’ll make new friends, people who will care for me when I care for them. People who are worth protecting. And—“

“Marinette!”

The hero turned to see Adrien chasing after her with a bright grin on his face. “Adrien?” she asked. “What is it?”

Adrien skidded to a halt in front of her. “Well, I’ve got some good news,” he said. “You see, uh, Alya previously mentioned your crush on me. And I know I’d said earlier I was in love with someone else, but guess what?”

Marinette looked at him blankly.

“That other person was Ladybug!” Adrien announced. “Which is also you, which means I loved you all along!”

“Well,” Marinette said after a moment. “I—“

“And so, Marinette, yes: I will be your boyfriend,” said Adrien in a grandiose tone. He grabbed at her hand, clearly intending to bring it up and kiss it.

But Marinette flinched back and dodged his grab. “I’m not interested in you anymore,” she said.

Adrien looked like he’d been slapped. “Marinette, I swear, I had nothing to do with my father’s—“

“I’m not interested in you regardless of that,” Marinette said. “I’ve moved on.” She turned on her heel. “Besides, you already have a girlfriend, remember?”

“Who, Lila?” Adrien snorted. “You know that’s just fake.” Then his eyes twinkled. “In fact, now that there’s no risk of akumatization, we could show her! Why don’t we go back to our classroom and I’ll tell everyone I’m with you now.” He clapped his hands together eagerly. “And while we’re there, we could all talk more with Nino about this new movie he’s making. I think a big class project would be just the thing to help everyone make up so that we’re all friends again. If we combine your skill with making costumes, Nino’s directing skills, my own—”

“Adrien, I’m not interested in you, and I’m not helping with any of the class’s projects.” Marinette turned her back on him. “It’s not even my class anymore and I have no obligations to anyone in there. Work with Lila, if you think she can help you, but don’t ask me for help. Goodbye.” And she began to walk off.

Adrien sputtered. “But why not?” he demanded. “Everyone knows you love me! It’s—” He cut himself off before he said ‘destiny;’ he figured revealing himself as Chat Noir right now wouldn’t be wise. “It’s obvious!” he said instead. 

“I can’t love someone who let Lila do what she did to me,” Marinette said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But the reason doesn’t really matter, does it? All that matters is, I don’t feel anything for you, so I’m not going to be your girlfriend.” 

And with that she walked away.

Adrien stared after Marinette. “What happened?” he murmured. “Is she still stressed from the battle?”

It didn’t make sense. The Marinette he knew was infinitely kind and forgiving. Even if he really had done something to seriously hurt her, which he hadn’t, she would have forgiven him. Well, she’d have been thrilled to resume her friendships with the rest of the class too, but she’d especially have forgiven him; he’d heard from Alya how badly she was in love with him. She would never abandon that just because Lila had told a couple of lies and the class had grown a little more distant from Marinette. So what was really going on?

It could be stress, Adrien concluded. It could also be that she was just pouting and she wanted to see if he’d get upset at the thought of losing mused before she came back to him. Or maybe she wanted him to break up with Lila first? 

Yes, Adrien decided, that could explain it. Marinette seemed genuinely angry about Lila. Maybe she just wanted Adrien to publicly make it clear he was done with the other girl so that she, Marinette, wouldn’t have to worry about Lila swooping back and stealing him away. 

She had nothing to worry about, of course. Now that he knew Marinette was Ladybug, the girl who destiny itself had set up as his lady, he was certain they would be together forever. He wouldn’t abandon her for anything, especially not a liar like Lila Rossi. But Marinette might not know that.

“Alright,” he said quietly and confidently. “I’ll find some way to show Marinette I’m not with Lila. Maybe when we’re all at that big dinner thing Alya is planning on Friday, I’ll come up with some way to let her down gently but firmly. Then Marinette’ll be with me, and then I’ll get her to make up with the class and also help me help my dad.” He nodded. “Just as it should be.”

Lila, who had hidden behind a bank of lockers and eavesdropped on the conversation, smiled to herself. It didn’t look like Marinette was going to protect Adrien, and it also didn’t look like she was going to tell the world that her crush was over. Granted, Marinette explicitly blaming Lila for her loss of interest in Adrien wasn’t great, since it confirmed Marinette had a grudge against her, but the overall situation was still about the best she could hope for: Marinette wouldn’t actually help Adrien, but people would think Marinette wanted to help Adrien and so wouldn’t believe her claims about Lila if Lila first did something bad to Adrien. 

If I can pull this off, Lila thought, I’m safe. Also, Adrien will be completely screwed, but that’s not my problem.

And so she came up behind the boy and coughed to get his attention. “Adrien!” she said in the cheeriest voice she could muster. “Let’s talk!” 

Chapter Text

Adrien turned to see Lila and barely bothered to hide his annoyance. “What is it, Lila?” he said. “I’m busy.”

“But this is important,” said Lila as she ran up to him. “I need something.“

Adrien pushed her away before she could embrace him. “Lila,” he said. “I’m not going to contribute to one of your causes. I know they aren’t real. I’ve been holding my tongue because I don’t want the class to hate you, but—“

“This isn’t about a cause!” Lila said. “This is personal. I need a favor.” She paused. “A big one.”

Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know if you’re aware of what’s going on, but Marinette just told me she doesn’t want to be with me because I let you say all those lies about her. And I know she’ll come around, because that’s who she is but still: I don’t want to do a favor for you right now.” He paused. “You might want to consider apologizing to everyone. After all, everyone knows you aren’t really Ladybug’s BFF anymore. Once you do that, then Marinette will come around and we can all be friends again, but until then, we don’t have anything to talk about.”

“I can’t apologize!” gasped Lila. “I’ll be ruined!” 

Adrien crossed his arms. “Lila…”

The two kids stared at each other, and then Lila bowed her head. “I’m getting death threats, Adrien.”

“What? From who?” Adrien asked. “Why?”

“Because I worked for your father. People are saying I must have helped him find people to akumatize.” Lila sniffed. “You know, the same stuff they’re saying about you. I didn’t believe those things about you, of course. I know you would never do that. But there’s nobody that knows me like I know you, so there’s nobody willing to defend me.”

“People are saying I helped my dad?” gasped Adrien.

Lila nodded. “Yes. I’ve tried to fight back for you, but the rumors are everywhere. I couldn’t quash them all.” She trailed off. “I’m sorry.”  

Adrien paused. The previous day, he’d eventually had to let in squadrons of police to search the mansion, but they hadn’t talked to him and had eventually left. Once they were gone he’d sealed the gates so no press could enter, and he’d escaped the mansion that morning by using a basement tunnel which led to a secluded alley a few blocks away from his house, so he hadn’t had to interact with the protesters and media outside. Basically, he hadn’t spoken to anyone between the time his friends had left his room the previous day and the time he got to class earlier that morning. And while he’d watched a few news reports, they had focused on his dad and not him, so he didn’t know what people were saying about everything that had happened.

Could people really be blaming him? Adrien shook his head. He knew he was innocent, of course, but this still wasn’t good. “I’m sorry people are threatening you,” he told Lila at last. “You should call the police.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Lila said. “The threats are really bad! The police recommended we get some security systems for our personal quarters, but it will take months for the embassy to reimburse Mama for those! She doesn’t make that much money, so…”

Adrien sighed. “You’d like me to front you some funds to buy the security systems.”

“Yes,” said Lila. “I’ll tell Mama it’s money from my modeling work, so you don’t need to worry about being involved.” She clasped her hands together. “Please, Adrien? I’m begging you.”

Adrien fixed her with a look. “Lila, I’m sorry, but I can’t trust you.” He began to walk past her. “But I’ll ask Chloe. Maybe her father can get you guys protection or—“

“I’ll admit to everything,” Lila said suddenly.

Adrien froze and then turned. “I’m sorry?”

“I’ll come clean,” Lila whispered. “For everything. You see, I… I’ve been telling lies for so long to make myself popular that I forgot how to do anything else. I thought if I was honest then nobody would like me; they’d find me boring or lame or something like that. And I know I’ve hurt people, and I…”

She gulped. “I’ve realized, lately, that it’s all so hollow. The others say they love me, but they know nothing about me. The only times I’m happy are when I’m with you, because you know the real me.” Her eyes began to well up. “Adrien, I want to stop. At first I was worried that if I admitted the truth everyone would despise me, but you kept being my friend even though you knew what I’d done. You made me think that forgiveness was possible, if only I could admit to my actions.”

“I did?” Adrien asked.

Lila nodded. “I was going to tell people when we were in your room yesterday, but, well, you know what happened. The world learned my boss was Hawkmoth. Now if I tell people that I really don’t have any celebrity or political friends, that’ll just embolden the people who are sending me hate mail. They’ll know I’m defenseless and unprotected.” 

Adrien was silent, held still by her words.

“Please,” Lila begged. “Give me enough money to secure our rooms in the embassy. That’s all I want, and all I need to be able to admit my lies.” Tears began to fall from her eyes. “The class might hate me anyways since I did take their money and their presents, but I’d rather that then keep going like this. Alya and I already agreed to talk on Friday. Except for Chloe, the whole class should be there, Marinette included. If you lend me the money, if I know I’m safe from the crazies who want to kill me for working for Gabriel, I’ll tell them everything I did. Then… well, then I’ll hope that a few of them are enough like you to want to give me another chance.”

She fell silent and then looked up at Adrien, an unspoken question in her eyes.

Thoughts raced through Adrien’s mind. Finally, he said, “When you say all the lies, does that includes the ones about us dating?”

Lila nodded. “I’ll admit it never happened.”

“And you’ll apologize to everyone?” Adrien stressed. “Especially Marinette?”

“Of course!” Lila said. “More than that. I’ll volunteer to help her if she needs it.”

Adrien chuckled. “I really don’t think she’s going to give you a Miraculous.”

“Not like that,” Lila said. “But if, I don’t know, her secret fortress of solitude or something needs sweeping, or if she needs someone to handle her civilian duties while she’s off fighting Mayura, I can do that.” She nodded. “I want to be better, Adrien. Please. Help me.”

More silence passed between them. And then Adrien said, “Okay. I’ll give you the money for security. And I’ll add some extra to repay all our classmates.” He managed a faint smile. “That can be our little secret. As long as they think the money’s coming from you, they’ll have no reason to hold a grudge.”

Lila’s face broke into a brilliant smile. “Adrien, you’re amazing!” She stepped towards him as if to give him a hug, then froze at the last moment and instead bowed her head. “I really don’t deserve a friend like you.”

“Friends forgive each other,” said Adrien. “So if you’re truly going to change, obviously we have to accept that. It’s what friends do.” Then his eyes hardened. “But if you don’t change, and you decide not to admit to your lies by that Friday meeting or if you use that money for something else…”

“You’ll expose me,” said Lila. “I understand. And I’ll even show you how you can hold me to it.” She took a pen from her pocket, then scribbled down a number on a piece of paper. “This is the landline number to my mother’s desk at the embassy,” she said. “Call it yourself and see. And then, if I don’t do what I promised, you can call her and tell her everything.”

Adrien nodded. “Okay. Meet me after school and we’ll get the money, Lila.”

Lila agreed and hurried away, repeating her thanks until she was out of earshot.

Adrien then leaned against a locker and smiled. “See, Plagg? I was right.”

“How, exactly, do you figure you were right?” asked Plagg from his pocket.

“It’s obvious,” Adrien said. “Lila decided to give up on her lies on her own; I didn’t need to force the issue. Now she’ll admit to her mistakes and make amends. Everyone will forgive her, including Marinette, and then we’ll get back on track.”

Plagg shook his head. “Setting aside the high probability she’s lying, why do you think they’ll forgive her? She defrauded them!”

“First of all, I know she’s not lying, because Lila’s not that good a liar,” said Adrien. “All she does is tell grandiose stories about knowing famous celebrities and working for unverifiable charities. That isn’t what she’s doing now. And if she does try lying to me, you know what she’ll do? She’ll tell me the Duke of Siam is in a tight spot and ask me to give her some money to take to him, or inform me the the Coalition for Giving Puppies to Sad Children desperately needs a loan. Anyone could see through her lies, Plagg, and I’m certainly not going to fall for them.”

“Your classmates didn’t see through those lies,” Plagg pointed out.

Adrien frowned. “Well, I did, and I’m the one that’s involved now. None of Lila’s tricks can fool me, Plagg. So, even if she does try to lie to me, it won’t work.” He shrugged and relaxed a bit, as if that objection had been safely overcome. “Second, all she did was take money and a few outfits, and now she’ll pay it back. Why wouldn’t they forgive her?”

Plagg groaned. “Kid, I appreciate that when you live in a huge mansion you might not think it’s a big deal for someone to steal hundreds or thousands of euros, but trust me, your classmates are going to have a very different perspective.”

“It’ll be fine,” said Adrien. “I’m sure none of them gave her more than they could spare, anyways. All I have to do is give her the money to pay back her debt, which I can easily afford, and everything will be okay.” He beamed. “Marinette will be thrilled. She’ll love having the opportunity to forgive everyone and be friends with the class again. Then she can help me get a good deal for my dad, and she’ll date me, and everything will be just as it should. I'll be with my lady at last."

Plagg growled. “Kid! This is not going to work the way you think it will!”

“You don’t understand humans, Plagg,” said Adrien. “Trust me. By Friday, everything will be perfect.”

Lila grinned to herself as soon as she was out of Adrien’s sight. That went exactly as planned! she thought. He bought it hook, line, and sinker!

Adrien had been clever enough to see through her lies about celebrities, yes, but he hadn’t been wise enough to realize that, since he knew Lila was a con artist, he should make sure to stay far away from her. He’d let her get close for the sake of keeping peace in the class, and that had allowed Lila to read him and know just how to manipulate him.

And so when she approached him, she played him perfectly. She told him that it was his benevolent actions which had convinced her to repent; not only would he like being told that he was so great he’d managed to turn her into a good person, but he’d also like being told that he really had been right about how to deal with Lila, and that he really did know better than Marinette. She’d offered to admit to her lies without him having to do anything publicly, which she knew he’d love because he was so passive that he’d jump for any chance to have someone else solve the problem without him having to make a scene. She’d pledged to return her classmate’s money and make everyone whole, which meant Adrien thought he’d be doing a good deed by fronting her the funds. And, of course, she’d promised to admit to Marinette that Adrien had never been in love with her. Adrien clearly believed Marinette would take him back if she did that, and he wanted that more than anything.

Really, it was no wonder he’d fallen for this lie. Sure, he knew she was dishonest, but she’d studied him enough to know what he wanted to hear.

And she was very good at telling people what they wanted to hear. 

Smiling, Lila went back to Bustier’s classroom and sat down at her seat. Things had gone well so far. Now she just had to stick the landing and hold out for a few days, and then even Ladybug would have trouble touching her.

After school, Lila and Adrien prepared to head back to the Agreste mansion when Alya said, “Do you guys want to go shopping with us? Get a break from…” She waved her hand vaguely. “Everything?”

“We’ll be fine,” said Adrien. “Thanks anyways.”

Alya shrugged. “Okay. I’ll keep working on reaching out to Marinette. Once we’ve got her happy again, I’ll give you a call, Adrien.”

“Thanks,” Adrien said.

Adrien’s bodyguard pulled up to the school in the Agreste family limousine, and Adrien and Lila got in without preamble. The bodyguard, who seemed dazed by recent events, didn’t object to Lila’s presence. “I hope the protesters aren’t too bad now,” Adrien said.

The bodyguard grunted.

As it turned out, the protesters were even worse, and the bodyguard had to stop the car short of their lines. “Confiscate the Agreste business!” someone yelled. “Don’t let supervillains keep the fruits of their evil labors!”

“Yeah!” screamed a kid that Lila vaguely recognized from Mendeleiev’s homeroom. “That guy akumatized me! Screw him!”

“This sucks,” Adrien groaned. “Let’s use the underground car passage, okay?”

The bodyguard nodded and drove the car through a nearby parking garage and then down into a tunnel which dead-ended in a big garage door. The press of a button on the limousine’s dashboard made the garage door swing up and allowed the limousine passage into a large garage underneath the Agreste mansion. From there, Adrien, Lila, and the bodyguard were able to ascend to the main entrance hall of the mansion.

“Where’s Nathalie?” Adrien asked as they rose up. “I didn’t see her last night.”

The bodyguard shook his head, then took out a pad of paper and wrote down, “HASN’T COME BACK.”

Adrien frowned. “She abandoned us? I mean, I know everyone’s mad at father, but I would have thought she’d stick it out.” He lowered his head.

Lila took Adrien’s arm. “I’m sorry, Adrien.”

“It’s fine,” the boy muttered. “It’s just… Mom’s gone, Dad’s in jail, now Nathalie…” He sighed. “Anyways, any news on father? What’s happening?”

The bodyguard wrote down, “REMANDED—KEPT IN JAIL, NO BAIL. CHARGES: SEVERAL THOUSAND COUNTS OF MURDER, PROPERTY DESTRUCTION—”

“Thousands?!” Adrien managed.

I bet most of the murder charges are from Syren, Lila thought. I heard a lot of people died in that one. And there’s always people in buildings that get destroyed or turned into dust or whatever weird thing a given akuma does. 

“But Ladybug brought them all back!” said Adrien, outraged. “He didn’t do any permanent harm! Surely the prosecutors understand that!”

The bodyguard seemed very displeased at that and wrote, “MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED ABDUCTION CHARGES.”

Presumably that’s one per akumatization, thought Lila. Fair enough. The first time I got akumatized, it certainly felt like I’d been abducted, at least in retrospect. Of course, the next times were voluntary, but none of these idiots know that.

“AND TERRORISM AND TREASON,” the bodyguard finished.

“Treason?!” said Adrien and Lila in genuine shock.

The bodyguard nodded, so Adrien took his phone and went to the news. “I don’t believe this,” he said. “Remember that supervillain who was akumatized in New York? Mike Rochip or something? Rochip tried to start a nuclear war which would have destroyed France along with the world, and they’re blaming that on father! They’re saying he worked with a foreigner to try to destroy the country, so that’s treason!”

Lila winced. “That’s so unfair!” she said in as sincere a voice as she could fake. “Akumas went rogue all the time! I mean, this bodyguard guy tried to kill you as Gorizilla, and your dad clearly didn’t want that, so how can they think he wanted France to be destroyed either?” She paused. “Uh, no offense, sir.”

The bodyguard frowned but didn’t otherwise react. After a moment, though, he picked up the pad again and wrote ‘$.’

“Huh?” Adrien asked.

Lila got it. “You’re worried that, with Mr. Agreste gone, there’s nobody to pay you,” she said.

The bodyguard nodded.

Adrien sighed. “Well, that’s one problem I can solve. There’s an emergency fund I have access to. Father is the account’s primary user, so he’d usually get a notification if I tried to take money out without his permission, but he’s in jail now and he can’t stop me or even get those messages. Give me your account information and I’ll send you whatever you need. Would fifty thousand euros cover your next few months of paychecks?”

The bodyguard nodded and then stood back while Adrien took Lila up to his room.

The place seemed even more dismal and cold than usual, Lila noted, and she followed Adrien until she was standing over his shoulder as he got onto his computer. "Do you need me to go up there," Lila asked as she pointed to the second story of the bedroom, "and get a Two-Factor Authentication token? Or do you just use your phone for that?"

Two-Factor Authentication was a system where, when someone entered their password to access a website, a message was then sent to that person's phone or to a physical token that they had. The person then had to enter the contents of the message into the website, thus proving they had access to the physical phone or token and thus reconfirming their identity. Lila couldn't use those systems for her secret accounts since she was trying to make sure there was no proof that she had them, but she knew many people used them for banking.

Adrien, though, said, "Nope. The whole point of the emergency fund is that it needs to be usable in real emergencies where we might not have access to anything else, including phones or tokens. So it doesn't have 2FA." He shrugged. "This is a relatively small account, so I guess Father thought it was worth having it be more accessible even if there is a little more risk."

Thanks for letting me know that, Lila thought. You're kind of naive when it comes to security, aren't you? Even if you don't have 2FA, you never tell someone that. “Fair enough," she said. "You should already have my bank account information from my work as a model, so you can put the money in there.”

“Father has that bank account number, but I don’t,” Adrien said.

Lila resisted the urge to roll her eyes, then wrote down her account information on a scrap of paper and walked up to Adrien so she could hand it to him. 

Adrien blinked. “You just know your account number by heart?”

“I have a good memory,” she said, grateful for how much time she’d spent with her memorization exercises. How lame would it have been if she’d gotten this far but then failed on account of not being able to tell her mark where to put her money?

“Fine,” said Adrien. “How much do you need?”

Lila had looked up the costs of security systems, and she’d also gone back over everything she’d scammed from her classmates. She hadn’t kept a written record of that second set of numbers, for obvious reasons, but as with her bank information she did her best to keep it secured in her head. And so she named a figure. “Ten thousand euros,” she said, prepared to insist to Adrien that such a high number was absolutely necessary to buying a security system that would protect her and her poor old Mama.

But Adrien just nodded. “Okay.”

I guess that’s not very much money to someone as rich as an Agreste, thought Lila with a slight jolt of surprise. Maybe I could have asked for more. Doesn’t matter, since I’m not keeping this… wait…

Adrien had turned back to his computer and pulled up his bank’s website.

Lila’s eyes widened. He couldn’t… even he couldn’t possible be so naive and stupid as to…

But indeed, to Lila’s amazement, Adrien began typing in his passwords.

While Lila, standing over his shoulder, could see everything.

Lila had taught herself to watch people typing and memorize the keys they were pressing, of course. That was a basic con artist trick; she’d read about it several times and even watched some Youtube videos on the subject, and she’d had nothing to do many nights but practice that craft while waiting for her perpetually overworked mother to get home. She’d known it was always possible she might one day see someone enter a password that she could make use of.

But even she hadn’t expected something like this.

And now that it was happening,an entirely new plan was forming in her mind.

Lila’s original scheme had been simple. She’d get Adrien to give her the money and promise him to use it for security systems and paying back her friends. She’d even sign a letter to that affect, pledging in writing to use the money to ‘secure her and her mother’s quarters’ and to ‘pay back those who were wronged,’ or something else whose second part was suitably vague. Then she’d skip town without doing any of that. 

After that, two things would happen. First, Adrien would finally tell the police that Lila was a thief. He’d overlooked her thefts from the rest of the class, but she was confident that he wouldn’t be so lenient when it was his money that had wound up in her pocket. Before he did that, though, Lila would make the first legitimate donation to charity that she’d ever made in her life. She wouldn’t keep a penny of his money; rather, after she’d bought the fanciest and most luxurious security system that she could, she’d give the rest away to some random group. Then when the police investigated, she’d be able to show incontrovertible proof that she’d used the money as directed. She’d bought a security system (even if she’d picked one that was unnecessarily expensive; incompetence at shopping wasn’t a crime), and she’d given money to the wronged. “I felt guilty over my work for Mr. Agreste, so I wanted to do something about it,” she’d tell the police and her mother. “And Adrien was nice enough to provide me with some funds that I could send to charity, after I used a few euros to secure myself and my Mama. Isn’t he sweet?”

Adrien would protest, but even ignoring how she’d prepped the police to think he had helped his father commit terrorism, he still wouldn’t have a case. He couldn’t very well say that ‘the wronged’ was supposed to be his classmates who had been ripped off, since then he’d have to explain how he knew that and why he hadn’t done anything about it while it was going on. Even if he did admit to that, it would look like a breakdown in communication, not a crime; it wasn’t like it was unreasonable to assume that ‘the wronged’ was supposed to refer to starving orphans or persecuted victims instead of some random students who had given a few extra euros to a classmate for no good reason. The police would do nothing. 

Then Adrien would go to his friends and complain how she’d gotten Adrien to give her money so she could give it to them, but then had lied and used the money for something else. Once Marinette heard the story, everyone would think she’d get upset on account of her longstanding crush, and anything Marinette said against Lila from then on could be blamed on that righteous anger. The plan wasn’t foolproof, but it would give Lila a chance at winning if Marinette did denounce her to the press or police as Ladybug.

Now, though?

Now that Adrien had been foolish enough to show Lila his passwords? 

Now she could do something much, much better.

Adrien finished entering his passwords and opened the account. Lila’s eyes widened again as she saw how much money was in it. Fifty million euros! she thought. In this 'small' emergency account! How much money do the Agrestes have?

“Here we go,” said Adrien as he entered some commands. “Alright. I’ve set up a transaction to send ten thousand euros to you. It should be moved into your account within three days.”

“Thank you so much,” Lila said. “I’ll get everything settled by Friday. And I’ll show up at that meeting with receipts, if you’d like.”

“Yes, do that,” said Adrien. “And remember, Lila, if you don’t do what you said, I won’t just call your mother. I’ll contact the police.”

“I understand,” Lila said. “Thank you again, Adrien. I feel like you’ve given me a second chance.” 

He smiled slightly, and Lila could practically see the self-satisfaction in his face. He was clearly thrilled to see himself as having ‘redeemed’ Lila, especially in a way that hadn’t inconvenienced him or required him to make waves. “No problem,” he said. “Have a good night.”

She left via the same underground tunnel she’d used to enter, and only when she was back in her room did she press a pillow to her face before laughing into it. Then she hurriedly wrote out the passwords and bank information in her poetry notebook before backfilling in some dumb rhymes about sunshine and love and the value of integrity to mask them.

“I have everything I need,” she said. “This is going to be perfect.” 

Chapter Text

Contrary to the way movies make it look, stealing money isn’t actually as simple as wiring money from some mark’s account into a secret offshore repository. Truly anonymous bank accounts are a thing of the past, and if Lila were to, say, dump fifty million euros from Adrien’s accounts into one of hers, it would take the police about five minutes to trace the transaction, look up who owned that account with the stolen fifty million, and send policemen to arrest her. Furthermore, if Lila started trying to set up new accounts now with no clear connection to her, it would take months and she’d run out of time before she left town.

But, fortunately for Lila, she had long believed in a maxim which had been expressed in one of her favorite movies.

“When did Noah build the ark? Before the rain, before the rain.” 

As far as Lila was concerned, that was the most important rule for doing what she did. You prepared, you trained, you laid groundwork, and you got ready to seize opportunities that came your way. Only then could you really get the most out of life.

Lila had laid her groundwork. Though she was still young and hadn’t had much time, she had read as much as she could about con artists, grifters, and thieves, and she’d done her best to learn what was needed to swindle a huge payday from some marks. Then, where possible, she’d used that knowledge to set up a few key resources just in case she got a chance for a big score of her own. Now that her chance was finally here, she felt she was ready to seize it, make her fortune, and leave Adrien to take the fall while she escaped with her riches.

"Here we go," said Lila as she headed to school the next day. "Let's get started."

.

That day began with Lila attending class like usual. Things were tense in the room, and it was clear Marinette’s absence was bothering people. The whole class had clearly expected Marinette to be there as usual, showering them with favors and making sure everyone was happy, so her absence was unnerving. Even Alya, who had been so excited after learning about Marinette’s real identity, seemed put out by her inability to get Marinette to say hello to her.

The only important thing was that Lila had formally invited the rest of the class, excluding Chloe, to the ‘chat’ she’d set up with Alya that Friday night. (“We don’t need the class bully,” Alya had said. “And we don’t want to annoy Marinette by bringing someone who will only hurt her.”) Adrien didn’t push for Chloe’s inclusion, which was surprising, but Lila figured he thought it would be best to keep Chloe away so as to maximize the chances of Marinette having fun and resuming her friendships with him and the rest of the class. Whatever the case, when he’d found out that Alya had set everything up, he’d nodded and said something about being happy that everything would soon be back to normal. Lila had given him a sweet smile and tried her hardest not to laugh.

When school let out, Lila slipped away and hurried home to drop her phone in her desk; she didn’t think anyone was tracking it, but she wanted to be absolutely safe. Then she began biking through Paris to a distant public library. It wasn’t a great library, but it had public computers which Lila could use without anyone knowing she was doing it. And that was important for the first step of her plan to grab Adrien’s money and run.

First, she reminded herself as she sat down at the computer, she’d have to transfer the money from Adrien’s account into an intermediate one that nobody knew was connected to her. Broadly speaking, there were two ways she could have access to such an account. One was to have forged a fake identity and set up an account under that identity’s name, but Lila had known that trying to forge a good enough fake identity that it could fool a bank wasn’t a great idea. That kind of forgery would take skills Lila didn’t have, would cost money Lila hadn’t had, and would have a massive chance of being exposed and getting Lila sent to juvenile detention. The better way was to simply borrow somebody else’s bank account, and Lila had built her arc. Such an account existed, it was all ready for her, and Lila intended to use it. 

About a year before Lila had entered Paris, when her mother had been stationed in the Normandy consulate, Lila had taken to casing a couple of retirement homes in her spare time. She had known that elderly millionaires would know better than to associate with the likes of her; even if Lila could get to them, they fended off financial vultures all the time and were used to dealing with that sort of thing. Old people with families or close friends didn’t need her either since they already had loved ones in their lives. But retirees with a bit of money and no families? Well, surely they’d be happy to see someone who wanted to spend time with them, and then perhaps they’d be persuaded to buy her nice meals, or clothes, or whatever else she wanted.

Her plan had worked. She’d volunteered with a couple of homes under fake names and quickly identified residents who had a decent amount of spare money and nobody to spend it on. She’d steadily worked them and gotten quite a bit from them. But of course, once she was used to having that bit, she wanted more. And that was where one Ms. Agnes Delacroix came in.

Delacroix was a weak and timid old woman with no family left in the world. She spent most of her time in her room reading physical books, listening to an old-style radio, and complaining that she couldn’t understand modern machines. Lila, who had been looking for a way to obtain a bank account with no apparent connection to her because her books said con artists often needed such accounts, offered to teach Delacroix about technology. She helped set up the digital television which came with the old woman’s room, she demonstrated how to use a laptop… and she laboriously walked Delacroix through the process of setting up a new bank account that she could access online.

And in the process of setting that account up, Lila had gotten a few things. First, the bank offered the option to get a ‘bank ID,’ which was basically a photo ID that could be used at the bank’s ATMs as a type of Two-Factor Authentication; even if somebody tried to withdraw cash from an account using a stolen debit card and PIN, the ATMs would still demand to scan the account owner’s bank ID card before dispensing any money. Lila had helped Delacroix fill out the information for that, then switched Delacroix’s photo with one of herself at the last moment before sending it in, and then she’d made sure to get to the nursing home quickly enough over the next few days to intercept the letter with the ID card before Delacroix could receive it. And second, while setting up the account, Lila had of course obtained the account number, passwords, and other login information.

Lila had known from the start Delacroix would never actually use the account; the bank she’d picked was a high-tech one whose customers were mostly flashy venture capitalists and technology titans, so everything about the bank was nigh-incomprehensible to those who had been born before the advent of the Internet. Lila also made sure that her ‘explanation’ of how to log in was as technical and intimidating as possible, and she’d ‘accidentally’ left Delacroix some fake news articles she’d written about a guy who mistakenly withdrew money from somebody else’s online account and got sent to jail on a thirty-year theft sentence. And so Delacroix had politely thanked Lila for her help with the account, dutifully put in the minimum balance for the bank not to close it, and then never touched it again. That in turn was just fine with Lila, because that meant when Delacroix died six months later, not only did nobody know Delacroix had that account, but nobody knew to tell the bank to shut it down.

Which meant it was Lila’s to do with as she pleased.

Lila logged into Adrien’s account using his passwords and smiled again when she saw the fifty million euro balance. Then she set up a transfer into the Delacroix account. “He needs to not notice this for a week, so I need to leave fifty thousand so his check to that gorilla lunkhead clears,” she murmured. “And of course the ten grand he knows he gave me needs to go through too.” She shrugged. “I’ll leave him sixty grand, then. That should do the trick.”

And so she sent over the remaining balance, all forty-nine million plus euros. She deducted the fee to make the transfer take place immediately, since after all it was Adrien that was paying for it, and that was that. Within seconds the money was in the Delacroix account. Step one was complete.

Of course, Lila couldn’t leave the money there forever; if Adrien learned what had happened before Lila withdrew the cash, then Adrien could have the bank reverse the transaction and get everything back. But, again, Lila still couldn’t just wire the money to one of her accounts. It would be too easy for the authorities to trace the money as it went from Adrien to Delacroix to Lila, and even if nobody connected Delacroix to Lila directly, she’d still be nailed by virtue of owning the final account where the money had ultimately wound up. No, the next step was to get the money into an untraceable form. 

Cash would have been ideal, but withdrawing fifty million euros in cash wasn’t an option. She wasn’t actually sure there were banks that had fifty million euros in cash, and even if they did, she couldn’t physically carry hundreds of pounds of euro bills around. So how could she take a bunch of money and put it into an untraceable form?

Well, Lila had devoted some time to pondering that question. After all, she had thought, there were plenty of rich people who did secret things they didn’t want others to know about, and it wasn’t like a CEO or a member of the royal family would pay for drugs or a mistress’s house with a credit card. Rich people needed untraceable money, and when rich people wanted something, they were very good at getting the government to make it possible. Thus, Lila had concluded, the kind of untraceable money that she would one day need definitely existed. She just had to find out what it was.

And so she had done some research.

Once upon a time, she’d learned, there had been things called ‘bearer bonds.’ These were slips of paper issued by a government which were functionally the same as an equivalent wad of cash; i.e., a bearer bond for one million euros was equivalent to a million one-euro coins. Bearer bonds were also untraceable just like cash was; if a policeman found one on the street, there was no way to know where it had come from or who had used it. And so bearer bonds became a common method of paying for illegal things without leaving a record. After a few scandals governments had finally cracked down and gotten rid of bearer bonds, but there were still rich people who wanted untraceable money, and so after a few years ‘eurobonds’ had been invented to fill the gap. 

As far as Lila could tell, the only different between eurobonds and bearer bonds was the word ‘euro.’ But that didn't matter to her. Like bearer bonds, eurobonds were untraceable money; unlike them, eurobonds could still be legally bought and used in France. They would suit her purposes just fine.

Upon arriving in Paris, Lila had looked up places where physical eurobonds could be obtained, and she’d noted one location that seemed to be very popular with nouveau riche idiots who liked to flash huge amounts of physical currency. That made this particular bank the kind of place where people, including young people with massive fortunes gained by becoming Youtube stars, rappers, or teen actors, withdrew huge sums of money for no other reason than to show off on Instagram or throw gigantic parties that ended in visits by paramedics and policemen. And so, once Lila finished in the library, she biked over to that institution and approached the nearest teller. “I need to grab some eurobonds,” she drawled, doing her best to sound like just another dumb ultrarich kid looking for the most fun way to light millions of euros on fire. “Where should I enter my account information?”

The guy pointed at a terminal and Lila quickly entered the passwords and login information for the Delacroix account, as well as her request to withdraw everything in the form of eurobonds. She then returned to the counter and watched the teller look down at his computer. “All the passwords and account numbers check out, Ms. Delacroix,” he said. “If I could just see a photo ID issued by the government or an accredited banking institution to doubly-confirm your identity, then I’ll get you your eurobonds.”

“Of course,” said Lila. She handed him the bank ID card with her picture and Delacroix’s name. “Here.”

She smiled to herself as the teller looked over the ID card. This was why she couldn’t have bought eurobonds with money straight from Adrien’s account; there would have been no way for her to get a physical ID card for that account and she would have been busted. Worse, if she’d been dumb enough to try that, her attempt to withdraw money and subsequent admission that she had no presentable identification would trigger an immediate alert in the system. If Adrien or the police found out about the alert they could gain access to the bank’s security cameras within a couple hours, see Lila trying to steal the money, and have her arrested. But now the money was being taken out of Delacroix’s account, not Adrien’s, and Lila had all the ‘identification’ she needed to access it. No living person would be alerted to the withdrawal, and by the time Adrien knew he’d been robbed, the security footage—which was only stored for a day or two so that police could look at it in case of a robbery—would long since have been recycled. 

“Everything seems to be in order,” said the teller at last. He went to the back for a few minutes and returned holding a sheaf of eurobonds. “Here you go. Be careful; these are like cash in that they’re untraceable, so if you lose them or get them stolen, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to recover the money.”

“Understood,” Lila said as she took the eurobonds from the teller. “I’ll make sure to watch out for thieves.”

And so she walked out of the institution with a small wad of eurobonds that was worth a large fortune.

Finally, Lila had to get the money into an account she herself owned. Wiring the eurobonds into one of her legitimate accounts would be easy, but it needed to be an account the French police wouldn’t find; even though the eurobonds were totally untraceable, Lila still couldn’t risk having the police go through her accounts and find one with almost fifty million euros. That would raise questions. What she needed was an account they couldn’t easily get it, such as a foreign account.

Fortunately, she’d built the ark before the rain. More specifically, among the various accounts she’d set up over the past few years was one that was just what she needed.

During a brief two-month period when her mother had been transferred to a Swiss embassy, Lila had opened a bank account there. Granted, Swiss bank accounts weren’t what the movies made them seem like; this was literally just a regular bank account that happened to be located in Switzerland. The important point, however, was that once Lila had opened the account and added a minimum balance, she had recorded the account information and passwords in her poetry book, then never accessed the account again. In all her time since, including her entire state in France, she hadn’t touched it once.

And that meant there was no way for the French authorities to know it existed, even if they checked her computer or her Internet history. Yes, if they contacted that specific bank in Switzerland they could find out, but they would never know to do that and it wasn’t like they would spam the whole world asking ‘does anybody know of any bank accounts belonging to a Miss Lila Rossi?’ just on Adrien’s say-so. If she could get her money into that Swiss account without people knowing it was her doing the transfer, they would never be able to connect the money or account back to her.

All Lila had to do was bike across town one more time, this time to a place that let her wire money, and then send the eurobonds to her account in Switzerland. She did so, and as she left, she felt a glow of satisfaction.

“I did it,” she murmured in a smug voice. “I’m a multimillionaire. Thanks, Adrien, for being so kind to me. For not exposing my lies.” She giggled. “I really appreciate it.”

And then she raced back home, where she ripped out the pages in her poetry notebook that had the passwords for Adrien’s and Delacroix’s accounts. Even though it was incredibly unlike someone would read those pages and detect the passwords, she wanted to be safe, so she shredded those pages along with her ‘Delacroix’ bank ID with her mother’s shredder and then ‘helpfully’ delivered the basket of shreds down to the embassy’s excellent incinerator. (One never knew when diplomatic relations might collapse and an embassy would need to hurriedly destroy its codebooks before it was seized by forces from its host country, so a good incinerator was a prerequisite for any diplomatic institution). When that was done, she brought the basket back upstairs, freshened up, and then flopped down on her bed.

“I did it,” she said. “And I got away with it.”

A smile spread across her face, and she felt nothing but bliss. 

When Friday evening rolled around, and indeed at the very moment that Lila was sitting next to her mother on their train to southern France and mentally counting her money, Adrien was entering Le Grand Paris’s main dining room and preparing for what he was certain would be a very good time.

All things considered, he thought, he was feeling better than he had expected. Yes, his father was still in jail, and yes, Nathalie was still missing. But he was about to make great progress on both those points, he was sure, because he was about to get Marinette back on his side. She’d help him help his father, and then they could use their powers to look for Nathalie together.

The one issue, the single fly in the ointment, was that when he’d gone patrolling as Chat Noir he hadn’t been able to find Ladybug. She wasn’t answering her phone either, and when he went by the bakery she didn’t seem to be home. (In fact, the bakery now seemed to be deserted; Alya had tried going there to talk to Marinette but had reported the place was locked up tight.) But Adrien figured that was just Marinette hiding from the press for a bit. Once that was resolved, he’d be able to talk to her, and then his bugaboo would be happy again in both identities.

“Adrien!” called Alya, waving him down from a large table near the back. Adrien went over to her and found the rest of the class there too, except for Marinette, Lila, Chloe, and Juleka. “Glad you made it!”

“Me too,” said Adrien. “I understand Lila’s got some kind of special announcement for us that she thinks will help smooth things over for Marinette.”

“Marinette is coming, right?” Alix said. “It’s getting kind of weird how she’s avoiding us. And it’s causing people to talk.”

“She’s coming,” Alya insisted. “I actually had to run the message through Luka, of all people, but when I told him that the class had something really important to say, he said he’d tell her and then later he told me she’d be here.” She rolled her eyes. “This is getting annoying. I’m trying to be patient with her, but we’re running out of time.”

“For what?” Nino asked.

Alya turned to him. “Ladybug’s giving an interview to Nadja Chamack tomorrow. The TV’s been playing ads for it all day. Now, I know she knows I need to get an exclusive before she does interviews with anyone else, meaning we’ve got to get that interview tonight so we can beat Nadja to the punch.” She sighed. “I don’t know why she’s pushing it so late. But as long as we get it done, everything will be fine, and I know she won’t let me down. She’s a great friend.”

“Maybe she’s just still wiped out from that battle,” Nathaniel suggested. 

“That can’t be it,” said Ivan. “I had to go into Mendeleiev’s class to get a book I forgot, and I saw her with Kagami and Luka, and a few others from that class: Aurore, Mireille, Jean, and Ondine. She was laughing and looked like she was having a great time. She’s definitely perked back up.”

“What did she say to you?” Nino asked.

Ivan shrugged. “She didn’t react to me at first. Then I said hi, and she said hello back, but it was like she was talking to a stranger. It was weird.”

Meanwhile, Kim had turned to Alix. “Talk?” he asked. “Talk about what?”

Alix shrugged. “She’s a hero, so if she’s avoiding us, then people think we’re villains, I guess. People are saying she must have a reason for transferring classes and ignoring us.” She frowned. “The coach of my roller derby team took me aside and said he might have to bench me if the rumors keep up. Something about bringing the team into disrepute.”

“That’s awful!” said Rose.

“Marinette will talk to him and straighten it out,” said Alya. “After all, even if she was mad at us for some reason, I know she wouldn’t want other people to punish us. We all know how forgiving she is.”

“Speaking of punishments,” said Nino. “Adrien, dude, are you okay? They aren’t being too hard on you, are they?”

Adrien sighed. “The press is annoying, and the protesters are even worse.” The mob seemed to have grown each day, and the outer walls of the Agreste manor were now covered with graffiti. “But as for the authorities, so far I’ve barely heard from them. The police have searched the place a few times, and so did a team of prosecutors from the government. They didn’t bother me, though. I just stayed in my room and didn’t talk to them.”

“Where’s Juleka?” Max asked Rose.

The blonde shrugged. “I don’t know. She called me and said she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Here comes Marinette!” whispered Nathaniel, cutting everyone else off.

Everyone turned to see Marinette entering the ballroom. She was dressed normally, which made her stick out in the fancy ballroom. Behind her were Kagami and Luka, and also Chloe for some reason.

“What is Chloe doing here?” Alya asked as the four approach. “Chloe, if we wanted a bully, we would have invited you.”

“Yeah,” said Kim. “This whole thing is for Marinette. You’ll just ruin it. Go away.”

“If Chloe goes, I go,” said Marinette in the same detached, disinterested voice the class was coming to be familiar with. It was the only one she used when speaking to them.

“Fine,” said Alya at last. “We’ve got seats over here.”

The quartet sat down, with Chloe seeming more awkward and self-conscious than usual. Nobody spoke for a moment. Then Marinette asked, “What did you want to say to me?”

“It was what Lila wanted to say,” Adrien said. “But she’s not here yet.”

Nino checked his watch. “She’s running a little late, actually.”

“Ah.” Marinette leaned back. “You trusted her.”

Alya groaned. “Come on, girl, this isn’t the time for old grudges.”

Adrien sighed to himself. “I’ll call her. I know her number.” He dialed her cellphone, making sure to put the phone on speaker so everyone would be able to hear Lila’s answer.

But the response he got was, “This number is no longer in service.”

Everyone stared. Then Adrien said, “Don’t worry. I have her mother’s landline at the embassy. I called it two days ago and confirmed that it works.” He dialed that, and this time someone picked up. “Hello?” he began. “I need to talk to Mrs. Rossi.”

“I’m sorry,” came the response. “Mrs. Rossi was transferred to another position. Her last day was yesterday. She’s no longer in Paris.”

Marinette was visibly fighting to suppress a bitter smile. Kagami and Luka weren’t even doing that; Kagami snorted, and Luka rolled his eyes. Adrien scowled and said, “Then tell me where she is.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said the voice. “She left because her daughter was judged to be in danger from Hawkmoth. To prevent the possibility of him attacking her, we’re keeping her new location a secret.”

“Look, I’m a close friend of hers,” Adrien said. “My name’s Adrien; you can see us together on all her social media pages. Her Facebook has a hundred pictures of us hanging out. Even if her mom took her away, she would want to—“

“Wait, Adrien as in Adrien Agreste? Hawkmoth’s kid?” The voice grew stern. “In that case, I definitely can’t give you any information. Goodbye.” And then she hung up.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Alya said. “Lila specifically said she’d explain everything here. She promised!”

Marinette looked at her steadily but said nothing. Alya hesitated, then turned to Adrien. “Do you have another way to reach her?”

Adrien shook his head. “The landline was the other way.” Inwardly, he was thinking of options. He could chase her down at Chat Noir, or he could just contact the police if Lila really did just take his money and run. Or—

Then Adrien saw the butler, Jean-Something, approach Chloe and whisper in her ear. She froze, then gave Adrien a look that was surprised and, somehow, disappointed. “Adrien,” she began, “did you know your father had a suite permanently rented here?”

“Sure,” said Adrien, surprised by the non-sequitur. “That way when international buyers showed up he’d have a nice place to put them that wasn’t in the mansion itself.”

“Makes sense,” mused Kim. “He wouldn’t want some important buyer walking in on him when he was being Evil Butterfly Guy.”

Adrien shot a glare at Kim, then returned his focus to Chloe. “Why?”

“He paid the bill for that weekly,” said Chloe. “Now that he’s in jail and can’t authorize payments from his regular funds, the money was to be automatically deducted from some kind of emergency account he’d set up for situations like this. But Jean just told me we have to release the suite, because the account ran out of money.”

Adrien shook his head. “Impossible. That account has fifty million euros. I checked it earlier this week, and I’ve only taken out sixty thousand since then.”

“What on Earth do you need sixty grand for?” Nino asked.

Adrien shrugged. “Most of it went to pay my bodyguard. Then…” He paused, not wanting to admit to having given Lila ten thousand euros just before she fled town. “I had an expense,” he added lamely. “But there should still be more than forty-nine million euros there.”

Chloe shook her head. “Jean called your bank. He says all your money was apparently transferred to another account on Tuesday.” She leaned forwards. “Did you do something?”

“What? No! I didn’t do anything on Tuesday!” Adrien insisted, acutely aware that everyone was staring at him. “The last time I checked my account was before then on Monday, when I accessed it. I was with…”

And then it hit him.

“Lila!” he gasped. “She must have stolen the rest!” He clenched a fist. “She lied to me and robbed me!”

Alya shook her head. “Get serious, Adrien. That can’t be it. We know that Lila doesn’t lie.”

And Marinette burst into laughter.

Chapter Text

Alya turned to Marinette. “What’s the matter with you, girl?” she demanded. “Adrien’s in really bad trouble!”

Marinette managed to calm down, though she still seemed amused. “Not exactly,” she pointed out. “Wasn’t the Agreste family business worth about two billion euros total last week? Granted, their stock crashed because of Gabriel being outed as Hawkmoth, but he still has most of his wealth left. He's not about to go homeless or hungry.”

“Well, no,” admitted Adrien. “But—“

“So you lost money you could afford to lose,” said Marinette as she fixed him with a steady gaze. “I think you previously told me you didn't think that was a big deal?”

Adrien hesitated. It was true that he’d downplayed Lila’s petty grifts from their classmates, but this wasn’t that. This was millions of euros! “That’s not really my position,” he said quickly. “Besides, we can argue about that later. Right now we need to get that money back.” An argument occurred to him and he smiled slightly. “After all, you wouldn’t want Lila to profit from theft and deception, right?”

“It wasn’t Lila,” said Alya again. “Adrien, you’re letting Marinette rub off on you. Lila is great, and she’s an amazing friend too. She wouldn’t lie.”

“Whoever it was, then,” said Adrien. “Someone stole that money. We can’t let thieves get away with their crimes. I mean, you’re a hero, Marinette! Stopping villains like this is your job!”

Marinette nodded. “I am a hero,” she agreed. 

“Great,” said Adrien. “You go to the police and tell them that, as Ladybug, you want this prioritized. I’ll—“

“—and being a hero means I can’t put personal friendships ahead of my duties,” Marinette went on. “If you think someone robbed you, report it to the police. They can take it from there. I’m not going to tell them to push this ahead of cases they think are more important.”

“But…” Adrien’s face fell. “Marinette, this is important. Come on. I know we’ve quarreled a bit lately, but we’re still friends.”

“No,” said Marinette. “We aren’t.”

Everyone stared at her. Then Alya said softly, “Marinette, that wasn’t funny.”

“Good.” Marinette stood. “I wasn’t joking.” 

Nobody spoke for a long moment, and then Marinette went on. “None of you are my friends,” she said. “The only exceptions at this table are Luka and Kagami, and maybe Chloe, if she doesn’t relapse into her old ways. The rest of you abandoned me. You made it clear you didn’t want me. Well, you got what you wanted.”

“But—“ Nino began.

“When Lila showed up, she made it clear that you all had to pick: her or me,” Marinette said. “And you all chose her. Because she told you she had celebrity friends. Because she told you what you wanted to hear. Because she flattered you, and buttered you up, and made you feel like if you were with her then you were bound for success. Me? I was just plain old Marinette, a normal girl with a normal life. Sure, I made you fancy clothes when you asked, and I baked treats for the class, and I did everything possible to help you all in any way I could, but I didn’t tell you that I could turn you into superstars. So you picked her.”

She took a breath and then went on. “You went along when she pushed you to exclude me from events. You went along when she pushed you to shove me to the back of the classroom. You did nothing when she kept hinting that I was the problem in the class, that I was the liar, that I was the bad one. She hurt me and hurt me and hurt me, and you all did nothing, because you cared more for her ridiculous promises than you did for the fact that I was hurting.” Her voice briefly caught. “Whenever you guys were hurt, I put my life on hold and went to make things better for you. When I was hurt, you threw me away.

“I finally realized,” she added, “that you didn’t treat me like a friend, not really. You treated me like some kind of feudal servant. Someone whose job it is to serve her betters forever, to provide food and clothes and any other support no matter what abuse she receives, and to be grateful to get scraps in return.”

“We never thought that about you!” Alya insisted. “Girl—“

“Even if that wasn’t how you explicitly thought about me, that was how you treated me,” said Marinette. “You thought I would always be there to cheer you on, that I would stay your ‘Everyday Ladybug.’ You figured you didn’t need to do anything to support me, because after all, my ‘job’ was to back you all up. You assumed you could neglect me, shun me, let Lila hurt me, and I’d always be there for you because I always had been.” She shook her head. “Well, I’m done. We’re not friends anymore, and we haven’t been friends in a long time.”

Adrien stared at Marinette like he didn’t even know who she was. “Marinette, I get that you’re angry, but—I mean—“

“That doesn’t mean Adrien deserves to get robbed!” said Kim hotly.

“No, it doesn’t,” agreed Marinette. “But Adrien being robbed also doesn’t mean that I, specifically, need to do something about it. This isn't a supervillain attack where I'm the only one who can stop the bad guy and save the world from being conquered; it's an ordinary theft which the police are perfectly capable of addressing without my assistance. Now, if I had a friend who got robbed, I’d certainly help out even if I wasn't strictly obligated to do so… but we aren’t friends.” Her gaze became like flint. “So Adrien, you should probably call the police, because I will not help you. Not as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and also not as Ladybug.”

“But if you hate Lila so much, why would you want her to get away with this?” Adrien demanded.

“I don’t want anything of the kind.” Marinette managed a tired smile. “Don’t you get it, Adrien? I don’t care. If you get your money back and Lila goes to jail, whatever. If you don’t get your money back and Lila gets away with it, whatever. It’s not my concern either way. As far as I’m concerned, all of you made it clear you don’t want me around, so I’m giving you what you want.” She shrugged. “Deal with your problems yourself. I’m done.”

“Of course we want you around!” Rose said with tears in her eyes. “We invited you here, didn’t we? Lila was going to make everything clear, and then if anyone owed apologies we’d give them, and then we could be friends again!”

Kagami shook her head. “If you wanted Lila to make things clear, why wait until now?” she asked. “What’s different now than last week or last month?”

“Besides Marinette being revealed to be Ladybug?” Luka added. 

“Exactly.” Marinette looked squarely at Rose. “You could have apologized at any time before that final fight with Hawkmoth, but you didn’t. Nothing actually changed since then except that you learned I’m a superhero and could be more useful than you thought. That is the only reason you asked me here.” She crossed her arms. “Be honest. If you didn’t know I was Ladybug, and if Lila were still here telling you that I was bullying her, would any of you have cared when I transferred classes?”

An unpleasant silence descended over the table.

“That’s what I thought.” Marinette turned on her heel. “Don’t bother me again.” And she began to walk off with Kagami, Luka, and Chloe following her.

Alya bit back a low growl and said, “I’ll talk to her. You guys hold up.” She chased Marinette. 

After a few moments of thought, Adrien also gave chase, leaving the others shouting after Marinette. He caught up to Marinette and her posse in a hallway outside the restaurant. “Girl, I’m your best friend,” Alya was saying in a hurt voice. “If you’re upset, can’t we just talk about it? Go somewhere by ourselves and clear the air?”

“No,” said Marinette. “You didn’t want to talk to me before you knew who I was.”

“This isn’t about that!” Alya said. “This isn’t about you being Ladybug! I don’t want to exploit you or anything; you know that!”

“You don’t want me to give you an interview?” asked Marinette. “Really?”

Alya hesitated. “That's different,” she said at last. "That has nothing to do with this. Right now I just want my friend back."

“I don’t believe you,” Marinette answered.

“It’s true!” Alya insisted. “Come on, Marinette. Give me a chance. You’ll find I’m sincere.”

Marinette shook her head. “Sometimes people run out of chances,” she said bluntly. “And after the horrible way you've treated me for months, you're one of them. You can say whatever you like; I still don't want anything to do with you.” She turned and began to walk away, not seeming to see the tears in Alya’s eyes.

“But you’re fine with Chloe?” Alya demanded just as Adrien reached them. “After all the things she pulled? What kind of sense does that make?”

Marinette shrugged. “She tried to become a better person before she knew what I could do for her. I can respect that, and I'm willing to extend her a little trust to see if she's sincerely changed. You guys didn’t.”

She walked off, with Kagami and Luka behind her and Alya giving chase again. Meanwhile, Adrien caught up with Chloe. “Listen, Chloe, Marinette seems to like you now, so maybe you can get through to her,” he said. “Tell her she’s being ridiculous, okay? We’ve finally got to the point where Lila’s about to be exposed, one way or the other, but she’s making it really hard for everyone to become friends again.”

Chloe gave him a mystified look. “Why would I do that?”

This time it was Adrien that gaped. “Chloe!” he said. “I’m your oldest friend! Your only friend for years! I’ve always defended you!”

Chloe slowly shook her head. “You know, Adrien, you and I were… ‘friends,’ I figured… for years. You were always there to defend me from others. To tell me that I wasn’t, you know, doing anything too bad.”

“Right. I was nice to you,” Adrien said. “Now you can be nice to me and—“

“And every year I seemed to drive away more and more people,” said Chloe. “Everyone hated me for the things I did, except for a few people. My father, of course, was always on my side. So were his staff, because he paid them. And then there was you, always telling me I was fine the way I was and didn’t need to change.” She frowned. “You were lying, weren’t you? You knew I was making myself and everyone else miserable.”

Adrien hesitated. He had not expected the conversation to go this way. “I didn’t want to cause trouble,” he said weakly. “Our families were friends, you threw tantrums when you were corrected… I just wanted to keep the peace.”

Chloe gave him a look that seemed almost disgusted. “If you’d remained my only ‘friend’ I’d still be like that. Someone that everyone hated, who lashed out and hurt people and got hurt in return.” She took a breath. “You know what changed? After Miracle Queen, when I’d screwed up badly. Ladybug didn’t say it was okay. She didn’t make it better.” 

Silence hung between Chloe and Adrien for a moment, and then Chloe began again. “I’ve looked up to Ladybug for so long. Seeing that look of disappointment on her face, knowing I’d failed her in a way that couldn’t be brushed aside with a quick apology or a check from daddy? I hated feeling like that. And I knew that all I could do was either stay the same forever, or change.”

Before Adrien could say anything, Chloe jabbed a finger at him. “You weren’t a real friend. You were an enabler. You just helped me to keep doing all the horrible things I was doing, even though they were bad for me and everyone, because you cared more about ‘keeping the peace’ and being known as a nice guy than actually telling me what I needed to hear. I’m guessing you were the same with respect to Lila.” She shook her head. “I’m done with that, and I’m done with you. I’m going to stick with Marinette and the others, because as annoying as Dupain-Cheng can be sometimes? I know that she’ll be honest with me and demand I do better when I screw up. You won’t.”

And she went up to her suite, leaving Adrien staring behind her.

“I can’t believe them,” said Marinette. “They really thought that I was just required to be friends with them again. That if Lila somehow ‘cleared things up’ I’d have no choice but to overlook all the horrible things they did before.”

“Like I said,” Kagami stated. “You need better friends.”

“So far everyone in Mendeleiev’s class is really nice,” Marinette said. “Aurore even offered to help me get ready for that TV interview tomorrow, and after I told Ondine I was thinking of starting to exercise more so I could be stronger even when I wasn’t using my powers, she offered to train with me and show me some good techniques.” She smiled slightly. “And yesterday, when Mireille asked me if I could tailor one of her dresses. she also asked me how much I would charge for that.”

“Of course she did,” Luka said. “What else could she do, try to guess how much you charge for tailoring?”

“My old classmates got into the habit of thinking I would do that kind of thing for free,” Marinette said. “I mean, of course I sometimes gave them gifts or things, but then they just began to expect it. ‘There’s a game coming up; Marinette can make the banner.’ ‘There’s a dance coming up; Marinette can make us outfits.’ ‘We need to raise money; Marinette can make all the stuff for a bake sale, and then she can run the thing too.’ Like I was obligated to spend my time and money on them when they never did anything like that for me.” She shivered a little, since the night was brisk. “I’m really happy I changed classes, and that I’m good friends with you guys now.”

Luka glanced at the shivering Marinette, then took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. Marinette blushed. “Thanks,” she said, savoring the warmth.

“We’re happy we’re friends with you too,” said Luka. 

After a few more minutes of silence, Marinette checked her phone and sighed. “Six messages from Alya, and two or three from each of the others. I need to block the number of everyone that was at that stupid meeting. Well, it shouldn't be too hard to block the whole class except for Chloe.”

“Not the whole class,” Kagami said suddenly. “Marinette, your old class was fifteen students, right?” Marinette nodded. “There were only eleven at the table when we arrived. You and Chloe came late, and Lila apparently fled Paris, but someone else was missing.”

“Juleka,” said Luka. “I’d figured she was just in the bathroom or something, but now that I think about it, there wasn’t actually another place setting for her. She didn’t show up.”

“I wonder why?” Marinette mused. “Luka, you said you talked to Juleka about what she’d done to me, right?”

Luka nodded. “Honestly, after a few words it looked to me like she already knew. I got the impression she understood things were messed up, but just didn’t want to… well, you know. Cause tension. Risk losing her friends.”

“There seems to be a lot of that going around these days,” said Marinette in a grumpy voice. She thought back to Adrien, whom she’d crushed on for so long before realizing how little he cared about her, or anything at all that might require him to make waves. “Still, that doesn’t explain why she wasn’t there. If she didn’t like what was going on but just wanted someone else to deal with it, then she should have been there. That was the whole point of the stupid meeting tonight; Lila had apparently promised to ‘make things better’ without anyone else having to do anything.”

“You don’t think she’s in trouble, do you?” asked Luka, his voice tense. 

“I don’t think she got mugged on the way to Le Grand Paris, if that’s what you’re asking,” Marinette said. “If she was coming I’m sure she would have told Rose, and then Rose would have been worried when she didn’t arrive. Rose didn't seem worried about her, though. I’m guessing she just told the others she didn’t want to go.”

Her voice grew pensive, and then Luka said, “If she’s not at the hotel and she’s not with Rose, then she’s probably home. We can just go ask her.”

“Yeah,” said Marinette. “I’d like to know why she wasn’t there.”

The trio kept walking and reached the Liberty several minutes later. Kagami frowned as she stepped onto the boat. “Do you like living here?” she asked. “I have to admit, it seems quite… unstable, to me.”

“My Mom likes it,” Luka said. “If the city gets too oppressive she can just sail away. Can’t do that with a house in the suburbs.” He shrugged. “I don’t mind it. I’ve never really wanted a ton of space to store random junk. I’ve got everything I need right here. And when you get used to it, the water’s really soothing.”

Marinette chuckled. “Sometimes I think it’d be nice to live on a boat,” she mused.

Kagami gave her a knowing look, and Marinette blushed. “That wasn’t what I meant!” she yelped. “I’m not thinking of moving in with Luka or anything, I just—“

“We know what you meant,” said Luka with a warm smile. “And if I do get a boat of my own someday, you’ll be more than welcome, Marinette.”

Suddenly, Marinette thought, it was a relief that darkness had fallen. That way nobody could see her blushing. 

The trio came across Juleka sitting on the edge of the boat, her legs dangling off the side. She was strumming a guitar that Marinette didn’t recognize, and her music sounded sad. Marinette stepped forwards to say something, but then Luka murmured, “Do you mind if I talk to her first?”

Marinette quickly stepped back. 

Luka walked up to Juleka and then sat next to her. “Hey,” he said.

Juleka jumped; she had clearly been focused on her music and hadn’t heard anyone approach. “Oh, hi,” she said softly. “What’s up?”

Luka shrugged. “That sounded pretty good,” he told her. “Something new for Kitty Section?”

She shook her head. “This is just me,” she answered. “I’m glad you like it.”

After a moment of silence, Luka said, “You’re not out with your classmates. Why not?”

Juleka hesitated. “Who told you about that?”

“Marinette,” Luka said.

“Oh, right.” Juleka bowed her head. “I heard you two are dating now. Congratulations.”

Marinette, standing silently behind the Couffaine siblings, blushed a bright scarlet, and she saw Kagami struggling to hide her giggles. Luka, though, said, “That’s just a rumor. Right now we’re just friends, and until and unless she tells me she wants more, that's it.”

Marinette couldn’t help thinking back to Chat Noir, who kept insisting they were destined to date and fall in love even when she refused him time and again, and smiled slightly. It was nice to be friends with someone who actually listened to her and respected her.

“Anyways,” said Luka, “why didn’t you go with your friends?”

Juleka shrugged. “Didn’t want to.”

“Why not?” Luka pressed. “Come on, Juleka. I can tell you’re upset. I want to help you.” 

Juleka sighed. “It didn’t seem right.” She shrugged. “The idea was that Lila was going to admit to some kind of misunderstanding and apologize for any harm she’d caused Marinette. Then, if Marinette was still upset, Alya told us we should apologize too so everyone would be friends again. But to me it seemed like it’d be a lie.”

“Why?” Luka asked.

“Because I realized we wouldn’t really be apologizing,” Juleka said. “At least, I wouldn’t be. I saw how Marinette was suffering months ago, and I didn’t do anything because this is the first year I’ve actually had friends and I didn’t want to lose them. And because I knew how much Rose loved getting involved in Lila’s charity work, so I didn’t want to hurt her and make her sad by informing her that Lila was being mean to Marinette.” She paused. “An apology is supposed to mean you’ve figured out that you were wrong and so you’ve changed, right? ‘I was like this, and I realized now that was bad and hurtful, so now I’ve changed myself for the better and I’m sorry for what I did in the meantime.’ But there wasn't any realization; I knew all along what we were doing was wrong. I think most of the others were the same. So our apology wouldn’t really be, ‘we see now that we were wrong,’ but instead would be, ‘we always knew that we were wrong, but now we want you to like us again, so we’re hoping you’ll just overlook everything.’”

Marinette tilted her head. That was, she admitted, a pretty good summary of the situation.

“I don’t feel like I have a right to apologize,” Juleka went on. “I’m the same person I was last week, when I went to a picnic with Lila outside Marinette’s place and I knew it would bother Marinette but I did it anyways because Rose would be there and because I didn’t want anyone to get mad and ask why I didn’t show up to support Lila. So I decided, after everything I did, the least I could do would be not to go there and give Marinette some kind of lying apology in the hopes of extorting her into saying she’s fine with the horrible way we treated her.” She looked up at the sky. “So that’s why I didn’t go.”

Luka was silent for a few moments before he pat Juleka on the back. “Jules, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re the same person you were a week ago. I think a week ago you would have gone to that thing with the rest of them.”

Juleka blinked. “You do?”

“Yeah.” Luka nodded. “I mean, you went to the picnic, right? If Lila hosted another one tomorrow, would you do that?”

“No way,” said Juleka.

“Right.” Luka smiled a little. “So I think you have, in fact, changed.”

“Not enough,” Juleka muttered. “Marinette’s never going to want to see me again, and I can’t blame her. We were awful to her.”

Luka glanced back at Marinette, who gave him an encouraging smile. Then he turned back to his sister. “If Marinette were here, what would you want to say to her?”

“That I know I was wrong. That I know that I hurt her. And that I know my knowledge doesn’t matter, because it doesn’t take away what she suffered,” Juleka said. Her voice was bitter, but the bitterness was clearly directed at herself. “That I’d do anything to take it back, but I know that I can’t. That I accept she has every right to hate me for letting her go through what she went through. And that all I can do… the least I can do… is not to bother her anymore, either with demands for forgiveness or for anything else.” She paused. “I know a bunch of the others are trying to come up with ways to make Ladybug forgive them so that she’ll use the connections she’s going to have now to help them with their ambitions, but I’m not going to do that. I’m just going to leave her alone. Could you maybe tell her that for me, if she wants to hear it?”

Marinette considered that for a long moment while Luka hugged Juleka. Then, when she was sure of what she wanted to say, she stated, “He doesn’t need to.”

Juleka jumped, startled, and almost fell into the Seine before Luka caught her and pulled her back. Both siblings quickly stood and turned to face Marinette, but then Juleka looked away. “I…” she began.

“I’m glad you understand,” Marinette said softly. “And I’m glad you’re not trying to lie to me or acting like you’re entitled to me. I do appreciate that, Juleka.”

The goth nodded, not daring to look up.

“When I went to that stupid thing at Le Grand Paris tonight, I told the rest of the class that I’m not friends with them anymore and that I don’t care what happens to them,” Marinette said slowly as she advanced towards Juleka. “As for you, Juleka: you did hurt me. You did destroy our friendship. That’s a fact.”

“I know,” whispered Juleka. “I know we aren’t friends anymore either.”

“We aren’t,” Marinette agreed. “But in the future, maybe we could be again.”

Juleka’s face shot up. Marinette could see tears shining in her eyes. “Really?” Juleka asked. “You mean it?”

“It’s not guaranteed,” Marinette said simply. “We’re starting from scratch. And if you treat me like you did before, then that’s the end of it. But if you’ve really changed, and if you understand how to be better, then I’d be happy to try to rebuild the relationship.” She smiled. “The rest of the class doesn’t get it. That’s why I don’t think I’ll be able to reconnect with them. But if you do, then us being friends again might someday be possible. I—oof!” Juleka had surged forwards and hugged her, and Marinette’s smile grew a little. 

“I…” Juleka began before her voice cut off. “Thank you, Marinette.”

The two stayed there for several moments, and then Luka said, “Do you guys want to head below deck? I can make us some cocoa.”

“I’d like that,” said Marinette. Kagami also nodded. Then Marinette turned to Juleka. “Coming?”

She eagerly nodded.

Marinette flashed a bright smile. “Then let’s go.”

When the sun rose the next day, Adrien dragged himself out of bed and groaned. 

He felt awful.

He hadn’t slept much the previous night, spending most of his time calling around to the various banks to try to get his money back. Unfortunately, while his family was wealthy enough that he was able to get late-night service from the banks, nobody he’d talked to could help him. “Unless you have proof the money was stolen, we can’t reimburse you,” one teller had said. “And unless you know where it went, we can’t even begin the process of recovering it. I’m sorry.”

“What am I going to do, Plagg?” Adrien asked as he stared out the window at the gray sky. 

Plagg shrugged. “Your family has more money than that, right? Just draw on another account.”

“I don’t have access to those accounts!” Adrien said. “I only had access to the one emergency account, but now it’s gone, and the rest of the money is tied up in the business, investments, or my father’s personal funds. I don’t have the passwords or authorizations to access any of it. Even my ‘earnings’ from modeling just got pumped right into some account my father controlled, so that I couldn’t ‘waste’ the money on ‘frivolities.’” He put a hand to his head. “This is a mess.”

The two were quiet for a little bit and then Adrien sighed. “Alright. First things first: I can’t get in touch with Lila, so I have to assume she really did just skip town with my money. I’ll talk to the police and begin the process of arresting her and getting it back.”

“Are you sure?” Plagg asked in a cautious tone.

Adrien stared at him. “Of course I’m sure! She robbed me!”

“After you spent several months telling everyone how honest she was,” Plagg pointed out. “The police might not believe you if you turn around and blame her for this. They might think you’re lying and trying to frame her, and then you could get in trouble.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “They’ll believe me. I’m telling the truth, aren’t I?”

“Marinette told the truth, remember?” Plagg shot back. “Nobody believed her except for you, and more importantly, nobody did anything to actually stop Lila, including you.”

“Well, this is a police matter, so it’s different,” Adrien insisted. “And Lila really did take the money, so the evidence should be on my side.”

“Unless she hid it well,” Plagg countered.

“Lila lied and stole, yes, but like I told you before, she was really blatant about it,” Adrien said. “I’ve never heard her actually lie in a subtle or believable way. I’ll bet you anything she took the money and dumped it right into her personal account; she’s not clever enough to do anything else. So I’ll just start the process of getting it back. And while I’m at it, I’ll ask the police if they can do something about the protesters outside the mansion.” He frowned out his window at the thick crowds who were picketing the estate and calling for father to be harshly punished. “I get that people are angry, but Ladybug put everything back the way it was, so it’s wrong for them to keep doing this. Maybe I can get the police or government to explain that to them.”

Plagg rolled his eyes. “Kid, I really don’t think that’s going to fly.”

“It will,” said Adrien. “Think about it. Ladybug fixed all the harm father did to them, right? The only person who’s still being harmed is me, because my family vanished. I need father back, and now that he’s lost his Miraculous and can't do his… hobby… anymore, he's not a danger to Paris. If I can make that clear, then people should understand.” He nodded. “Also, until he’s back and everything’s better, I need something to live on. It’ll probably take several days or weeks for the banks to actually recover the funds Lila took, so I need a plan for now.” He snapped his fingers. “Maybe I can start raising some money as Chat Noir!”

“What?!” Plagg yelped. “Are you serious? You’re going to start hiring yourself out for birthday parties and stuff?”

“No, I’ll tell people that I saved the city and now I need some help in return,” Adrien said. “I protected the citizens of Paris for over a year. I fought tons of battles and died several times! And everyone’s saying Marinette is going to get a huge award from the city for her work as Ladybug, right? Well, I did the same work she did. Obviously I deserve the same reward.”

Plagg raised a paw. “Quick question: if your father’s crimes shouldn’t count because Ladybug undid them, shouldn’t your own deaths and injuries also not count since Ladybug undid those too?”

“That’s different, Plagg,” said Adrien. “Get serious. Look: without money, I can’t buy you Camembert. So you’ve got an interest in me fixing this situation too.” He patted his kwami on the head. “I’ll head to the police right now and file the report. Then I’ll drop by the TV station. Ladybug’s doing her interview today, right? I’ll be on time for that.”

“Were you invited?” Plagg asked.

“Of course I was,” said Adrien. He hadn’t actually gotten an invitation, but he figured it had just gotten lost due to the chaos of the past week. It was obvious there was no point in doing a special on the city’s heroes without including him, after all. “And don’t worry, Plagg. Soon enough everything will be back to the way it should be.”

Chapter Text

When Adrien went to the police station to file his report, he wound up being interviewed by Roger Raincomprix, who gave him a strange look. “Are you sure you don’t want to have a lawyer present, son?” he asked. “Your father’s business has several lawyers on staff, including defense attorneys. I can have one here in half an hour.”

“Why would I need a lawyer?” Adrien asked. “I’m not here as a suspect. I’m reporting a crime.”

“True,” said Roger, “but I’d also like to ask you a few questions about what you knew of your father’s actions. Normally we would have interviewed you by now, but seeing as how you’re a minor and Mr. Agreste isn’t going anywhere, we decided to hold off for a few days. Since you’re here now, though, we’d really like to talk to you.”

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t know anything, but I’d be happy to answer your questions.”

Roger asked several questions about Gabriel, and Adrien answered to the best of his ability, though most of his responses were along the lines of ‘I don’t know.’ “I have no idea what his motive could have been,” Adrien said at last. “Really. He didn’t seem any different from usual; he wasn’t madder about anything or stressed out about work. He was just brusque like always. I honestly have no clue why he decided to attack Paris.” 

Roger nodded. “Did he hang out at the photoshoots? Did he talk to you or the other models?”

“Sometimes,” Adrien said, a little confused as to how this topic had come up. “But he only talked to us to criticize us if we weren’t being photogenic enough. He didn’t believe in making small talk. I can’t imagine he would have told any of the models his motive, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I see,” said Roger, in a tone which Adrien didn’t understand. “Next, what do you know about his assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur? Nobody’s been able to find her since Gabriel’s arrest, and I should tell you, one of our working theories is that she was his partner Mayura.”

The idea that Nathalie also might be a supervillain was not one that Adrien wanted to consider, but he had to admit there was strong circumstantial evidence. “She’s very close to father,” Adrien said. “She’s been that way ever since mother vanished. She controlled my schedule and looked out for me. But I don’t really know anything else about her.”

“Mmm.” Roger paused. “If Gabriel and Nathalie are unavailable, and your mother is missing, who’s looking out for you now? Do you have a legal guardian?”

“Yes; he's my bodyguard,” Adrien said. “Lila left enough money for me to be able to pay him for a few months, and his contract stipulates that he’s to be my guardian if my family is absent.” He flashed a winning smile. “Don’t worry; my bodyguard’s taking great care of me. But speaking of the theft, would it be alright if I made my report now?”

Adrien was not used to dealing with authorities that weren’t immediately deferential to him and his rich, influential father. As such, he missed the narrowing of Roger’s eyes which indicated that Adrien had said something suspicious. “Certainly,” Roger said at last. “Tell me everything.”

“Sure,” said Adrien, who then proceeded to give all the details he knew: that Lila had approached him and asked for money, that she’d made a convincing case that she needed it to buy a security system and to pay back some friends she’d tricked into giving her cash, and that she’d come over to his house and waited while he got her the money she asked for. “I can only guess that she saw me type in my passwords,” Adrien said at last. “But either way, I found out a few days later that the account was empty. She took the money and left Paris before I could catch her.”

Roger nodded as he wrote down the information. “Well, we can certainly track where the money went after it left your account,” he said. “If it went into hers and is still there, the case should be open and shut.”

“Glad to hear it!” Adrien said as he jumped up. “Oh, one more thing: can you do something about the protesters who are heckling at the mansion gate?”

“It’s a public sidewalk,” said Roger. “We can’t keep them off of it. But if you need protection getting into and out of your house, we can look into that.”

It would be nice not to have to use the secret tunnel, Adrien thought. “Thanks,” he said. “Gotta run!”

He ran off as Roger bent over his phone to make a call. 

Marinette smiled as she settled down into the couch in Nadja’s studio. She was flanked by Kagami and Luka on either side, and her makeup had been freshly done in a way that was optimal for television by Aurore backstage. “Hello!” said Marinette. “It’s good to be here!”

The crowd cheered, and Nadja said, “It’s great to have Paris’s greatest heroes with us. I’m here with Marinette Dupain-Cheng, also known as Ladybug, and two other heroes: Luka Couffaine and Kagami Tsurugi.” She smiled at Marinette. “Shall we start at the beginning, Marinette? How did you get introduced to the world of heroes?”

Marinette gave an abbreviated recap of her time as Ladybug, starting with her finding the Ladybug Miraculous, her first battles, her difficulties in balancing civilian obligations and with hero work, her training with Master Fu (whom she did not name, but praised highly as an excellent Guardian), and her overall struggle against Hawkmoth. “I also couldn’t have done that work without some other heroes,” she managed to work in as soon as she could. “Such as Kagami and Luka here.”

Nadja nodded at them. “When did you two join Marinette as heroes?”

“I’ve done it off and on for a while now,” said Luka. “My first battle was Desperada, you know, that musician in Jagged Stone’s band who got mad at him. I was Viperion back then too.”

“And I started some time ago as well,” Kagami said. “Back then I had a different identity, though. I was the dragon warrior Ryuko.”

Marinette had a feeling about what was coming, and instinctively she glanced into the audience. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she saw Alya and Nino in the front row. Alya was staring at her with a hurt expression. Probably mad I didn’t give her that exclusive, Marinette thought. And she really won’t like this next part. Too bad for her, but she’s not my problem anymore.

“So which heroes are you now?” Nadja asked eagerly. “We didn’t actually get to see your transformations in this final fight. Can you show us?”

Alya gasped and then waved frantically at Marinette, as if desperate to get her to decline for the moment and only show the new transformations on the Ladyblog. Marinette ignored her. “I think we can do that,” she said. “Shall we?”

Kagami and Luka stood, with Luka more obviously nervous. Kagami managed a quick smile. “This should be fun.” Then she took off her jacket to reveal the fox pendant, and Luka pulled back his sleeve to show the snake bracelet. Ladybug stood too. “Tikki!” she called. “Spots on!”

“Trixx!” said Kagami. “Let’s pounce!”

“Sass!” finished Luka. “Scales slither!”

A flash of light filled the room, and then the three heroes stood before Nadja.

The reporter grinned. “Amazing!” she said as the audience clapped and cheered. “That—“

“WHAT?!”

Everyone turned to see Alya, who had jumped to her feet and was pointing at Kagami. Her face was so red she looked like she was about to explode. “That’s mine!” Alya said. “I’m the fox hero! What is she doing with my Miraculous?!”

An awkward silence filled the room. Then Nadja turned to Ladybug. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Marinette shrugged. “That’s Alya Cesaire. She used to be the fox hero; she went by Rena Rouge. However, her actions as a civilian showed me she was not worthy of the Miraculous. So I found another hero.”

Kagami gave a thin smile. “Foxes need to be able to avoid falling into the traps of others just as much as they must be able to set their own snares. They must also be loyal to the other foxes in their skulk.”

“But it’s mine!” Alya said. “You can’t just take it away from me!”

“It’s not yours,” Marinette corrected. “It’s mine, because I’m the current Guardian of the Miraculouses. And wielding a Miraculous is a privilege and not a right. Holders who fail to act in a trustworthy fashion lose their privileges.”

Nadja pursed her lips. “Isn’t that a little harsh?”

“Not at all, Nadja,” said Ladybug. “We heroes have to fight to protect the city. If we screw up, people suffer and die. I have a responsibility to all of you to make sure that I only give Miraculouses to those I know will use them wisely and well. If I gave one to a classmate just for being a classmate, and then that person screwed up and let an akuma rampage through the city, then I would be acting negligently in my duties and allowing citizens to be hurt unnecessarily. I can’t permit that.”

Nino suddenly asked, “What about other temporary holders?”

“Except for Luka and Kagami, no temporary holder should expect to receive a Miraculous again,” Ladybug said. “That includes Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, Carapace, Pegasus, Bunnyx, and King Monkey.” 

“Bunnyx?” asked someone. Ladybug saw Alix sitting way in the back of the audience, and she looked both horrified and indignant. “You can’t take her powers! I mean, I heard somewhere that Bunnyx was definitely a holder in the future, and that she time-traveled to the present to help you guys. So if you fire her now, you’ll cause a paradox! She couldn’t go back in time to help you fight Timetagger if you never give her powers again!”

“Not necessarily,” said Ladybug. “For instance, it’s already possible to build robots with human-like intelligence and personalities, such as that Markov robot which was akumatized into Robustus. If robots can be akumatized, it stands to reason they can use Miraculouses as well. So in the future, we could build a robot which simply looks like Bunnyx, then have that robot use the Miraculous to go back in time and help us with Timetagger, thus letting me strip Bunnyx of her Miraculous without breaking time and space. Alternately, once we defeat Mayura and recover her Miraculous, we could simply make a sentimonster of Bunnyx and have that sentimonster take her place during her time travel adventures. So we have options.” She flashed Alix a very thin smile. “And we don’t need to rely on failed holders like her, or any of the others. Which is just as well. Given their actions, I no longer trust them to use their powers properly.” 

Alya was openly crying. “Marinette, please—“

“I take my responsibility of protecting this city very seriously,” Ladybug went on. “Its people deserve the best heroes.” She paused, and then said, “And you know what else? I deserve to have the best heroes at my side too. When an akuma’s trying to kill me, I want partners that I know will protect me and not leave me out to dry. So, yes. We’re going to have new temporary heroes. And that’s final.”

“Hard to argue with that,” Nadja noted. She glanced at the audience, and when Ladybug followed her eyes she saw a couple of security guards leading the still-sobbing Alya away. Nino hurried after them, looking upset. 

“That actually leads us to our next questions,” Nadja said. “You said the temporary holders had fallen short of your standards, but you haven't discussed Chat Noir yet. What do you think of him?”

Before Ladybug could answer, a figure dashed through the door and then vaulted up to the stage. “I think that’s my cue!” said Chat Noir in a happy tone. “One more superhero ready to answer all your questions, Ms. Chamack!”

Everyone stared at the newcomer, and then Nadja said, “Actually, this was supposed to just be for the heroes who beat Hawkmoth the final time. You weren’t actually invited.”

Chat Noir frowned for an instant before fixing his usual gleaming smile on his face. “Oh, but I couldn’t stay away from my lady.” He flashed a wink at Ladybug, who frowned. “And besides, I’m sure you’ve got all kinds of questions for me too!”

Suddenly, Ladybug said, “Nadja, you asked me what I think of Chat Noir?”

“Yes, Ladybug,” said Nadja. Chat Noir grinned, clearly expecting a positive response. “Do you have an answer?” Nadja went on.

“Certainly.” Ladybug nodded. “Chat Noir did provide useful and important help during many akuma battles. But over time, he became increasingly reckless in those battles. He took chances that didn’t need to be taken, increasing the chances that he would get killed or mind-controlled by an akuma.”

Chat Noir blinked in surprise. “But my lady, you always fixed everything in the end.”

“Because I always won,” said Ladybug. Now her tone was stern and annoyed. “If I had lost because you chose to sacrifice yourself for no reason, I wouldn’t be able to bring anyone back. And I somehow don’t think fixing things would have been high on Hawkmoth’s list of priorities.” She turned back to Nadja. “By the end, he was a hindrance in several fights.”

“Is that why you didn’t have him help fight Hawkmoth in the end?” Nadja asked.

“Oh, we asked him,” Ladybug said. “We knew that fight would be incredibly difficult, and, well, I guess I hoped he might take things seriously since the fight would so obviously be the most important one. So we asked him. But he didn’t show up.”

Everyone turned to stare at Chat Noir, who blushed. “It’s not like that,” he said quickly. “I was stuck with a civilian at the time who looked like she might be about to get akumatized. I had to stay there to keep her calm.”

Nadja frowned. “But people were being akumatized anyways, right? Hawkmoth sent nine or ten akuma into that warehouse. How did it help for you to stay out of the fight just to make sure one specific person wasn’t affected?”

“Uh…” Chat Noir hesitated. If he said that he was worried this particular person would become an unusually powerful akuma, Nadja would ask who it was, and if Chat Noir admitted it was Lila, Marinette would be infuriated to learn he’d been looking after her instead of helping with the fight. Plus, that could give away his secret identity, since his class knew Lila had been with Adrien at that time. “One less akuma is still a good thing, right?” he said instead. “Stopping this person from being akumatized took some of the pressure off of Ladybug and the other heroes.” 

“But it wasn’t one less akuma,” Nadja pressed. “Hawkmoth just picked someone else. Don’t you think it would have been more helpful for you to go fight the akumas alongside Ladybug and the others, rather than staying behind to protect one person and neglect everyone else in the city?”

Chat Noir looked at the various people who were giving him curious stares. “I was just trying to prevent someone from suffering an akumatization.” He managed a weak smile. “And it’s not like it mattered. Ladybug won—“

“We had to blow up a library because, without you, we had no better way of destroying an akumatized object inside of it,” said Viperion in a flat tone. “That mattered.”

Chat Noir tried to figure out what to say. He settled for leaning back and flashing a brilliant smile. “Sorry, then,” he said. “And thanks for covering for me. Maybe in the future we should set up some kind of training for this gig!” He tossed off what he hoped was a sincere laugh. “That’d help a lot, don’t you think?”

Nobody joined him in laughing. Then Kagami said, “Marinette seems to have figured it out without training.”

“So did Kagami and Luka,” Marinette added in a sharp voice.

Silence filled the studio. Then Nadja coughed and said, “Moving on, I’m curious what you all think about Hawkmoth, now known to be Gabriel Agreste. As I’m sure you’re aware, he’s being hit with a huge array of charges, and if he’s convicted of even a fraction of them he’ll be jailed for the rest of his life. Will you be testifying?”

Before Ladybug could say anything, Chat Noir said, “Of course! I’d be happy to fill the jury in on all our many fights against Hawkmoth’s akumas and how much we sweated and struggled to protect our fellow Parisians. As well as perhaps talk about Hawkmoth’s character; after all, we probably know him better than his own family at this point!” He chuckled, although of course nobody else got the joke, since they didn’t known Chat Noir was Hawkmoth’s family. “And of course I’m more than willing to recommend a sentence.”

“Like what?” asked Nadja.

Chat Noir shrugged. “Well, I think we need to get beyond that talk of executing him or throwing him in jail for decades. Give him something reasonable, with plenty of counseling, of course, and some community service too. Perhaps he could even be required to use some of his wealth to fund charity programs in the city. Then, in a short time—“

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Viperion suddenly. “Counseling? He’s a terrorist! He destroyed the city multiple times!”

“I realize you might be new to this, Viperion” said Chat Noir in a tone of calm authority, “but as a longtime superhero, let me tell you: heroes like us aren’t supposed to be vindictive. We forgive wrongs, and as long as the culprits sincerely repent and change, we don’t push for additional punitive measures. Our goal should be to ensure that, once the fighting stops and there’s no more damage, to get everyone back to normal.”

“No more damage?” Nadja stammered. “What about the damage he already caused? He killed tens of thousands of people in just the Syren attack alone!”

“Ah, but Ladybug brought them all back,” said Chat Noir. “And we all owe my lady a debt of gratitude for that. But my point is, Hawkmoth didn’t do any permanent harm, so it wouldn’t be just to throw him in jail permanently. That makes sense, right? He—“

“Were you ever akumatized?” 

Everyone turned to look at Kitsune, who was glaring daggers at Chat Noir. He froze. “Um, what?”

“Have. You. Ever. Been. Akumatized?” Kitsune hissed through gritted teeth.

“No, actually.” Chat Noir managed a smile. “I’ve always been very good at managing my negative emotions.”

“I have,” said Kitsune. “Multiple times. Hawkmoth took control of my body, used magic to make me into a monster, and then sent me to murder people. When I was Onichan I came within inches of murdering Ladybug!” She let out a short breath. “The Miraculous Cure might be able to rebuild buildings and heal injuries, but the trauma of knowing that I was used in that way is still there. Hawkmoth did hurt me in a way that the Miraculous Cure can’t heal, and I will never forgive him that.” Then she rose. “Also, Chat Noir, Hawkmoth akumatized my mother, who proceeded to go after me! I was forced to battle my own mother thanks to his depraved acts! He does not deserve forgiveness!”

“He got me too,” said Viperion. “I was turned into an akuma before, and I was a wreck for days because I kept thinking about what would have happened if I’d actually killed you and Ladybug and thus helped Hawkmoth take over the world.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how you can support overlooking what he did.”

“Hey, jerk!” Chat Noir and Ladybug both turned to see someone standing up in the audience. Marinette vaguely recognized him as Vincent Aza, the paparazzi who was obsessed with Jagged Stone. “I was one of the people who drowned in the Syren attack! Just because the Miraculous Cure saved me doesn’t mean I don’t remember choking to death on water. I still have nightmares about it! Screw you!”

“Is that why you don’t seem to care that we had to launch a missile into the Mazarine Library after you skipped the last fight?” Viperion suddenly asked. “Do you think that just because Marinette has her Lucky Charm power, that makes everything okay? Are you that delusional?”

“Woah, woah!” said Chat Noir. “Let’s try to keep things friendly, okay? Look, I get that we’re all angry, but as heroes we have to—“

“We have to be just,” said Marinette. “Regardless of our feelings.” She shook her head. “I’ll be asking the court to impose the maximum sentence short of execution.”

Chat Noir felt like he’d been slapped. “But…” he began. “Ladybug…”

“I don’t have anything more to say about that, Chat Noir,” Marinette said.

“Well…” Chat Noir paused, then tried to smile and graciously change topics. “Okay, okay. I’ll try to change your mind later. Maybe on our next date.”

Nadja hesitated. “I thought you two weren’t dating. That’s what Ladybug said before I, uh, became Prime Queen. Did that change?”

“We’re destined to be together,” Chat Noir said before Ladybug could react. “That’s how the Miraculouses work. Trust me, one day we’ll be one of those celebrity couples you read about in the tabloids.” He chuckled. “I—“

“I will never be with you,” said Marinette in a frosty voice.

Chat Noir froze, not sure of what to say.

Marinette turned to look at him again. “I used to like you. I used to think you were funny and cool. But then you made it clear you didn’t see me as a person. You saw me as some kind of trophy that you deserved to ‘win’ just for being Chat Noir.” She took a breath. “You flirted with me incessantly, even when I begged you to stop. You set up dates that I told you I wouldn’t go on, and then you threw tantrums when I wasn’t there. When I said I wasn’t interested, you told me that I had to date you, irrespective of my wishes, because destiny said so.” She glowered at Chat Noir, who found himself pressing back against the couch. “I will not date someone who does not respect me. I will not date someone who doesn’t care about what I want and thinks only of himself. And even if we put all that aside, I won’t date someone who was so irresponsible that he abandoned me and my partners during the final fight against Hawkmoth.” 

“I—“ Chat Noir began.

“When Hawkmoth was active, I had to hold in my negative emotions,” Ladybug went on. She turned back to the camera and looked at it squarely, like she was talking to each viewer individually. “I could not risk being akumatized, because if I was, then Hawkmoth could get me to simply surrender my Miraculous. Then he’d be able to take over Paris and commit whatever atrocities he wanted. So I tried my best not to get upset. Every time Chat Noir ignored my wishes or showed me that he didn’t respect me, I held it in as best I could. I bit my tongue, I tried to placate Chat Noir, and I tried to hold out for as long as possible.” She sighed. “I shouldn’t have had to endure that. Nobody should have to endure that kind of harassment. But Hawkmoth was out there, so I did. Now, though, Hawkmoth is gone. Now I can express negative emotions.” 

She turned back to Chat Noir. “And so I’m going to express this: it’s true that you did have some combat skill, and that there were fights you were useful in. But in all other respects, you were a terrible partner. I won’t try to strip you of your Miraculous, since the prior Guardian gave it to you and I respect his judgement. However, I assure you that not only will I never date you, but I’m not going to ask you to fight by my side again. Not now, and not ever.”

Chat Noir felt like he’d been punched. “But my lady,” he whispered. “I thought we had a connection. That we were partners, and more than that, friends.”

“We were,” she said. “But you ruined it. We’re not friends or partners, Chat Noir. Not anymore.” She turned back to Nadja. “Do you have any other questions?”

“Yes!” said Nadja, who appeared happy to disregard Chat Noir and get back to the people she had invited. “How did your parents take learning you were a hero?”

“At first they were very worried, but they were also incredibly proud,” said Ladybug with a warm smile. Chat Noir’s heart broke even more at that; it was like Ladybug was demonstrating that she could be kind and gentle, but just wasn’t being that way to him anymore. “They said they always knew I’d do great things for the world, and now I am.”

“My mother was quite excited too,” said Kagami. “She has very high standards for me, but she says this qualifies.”

Luka laughed. “My mom just liked that I got to smash up bad guys. She’s always been kind of a pirate.”

“Supposedly the city is going to be offering you heroes a big award, including a sizable cash payout for all you’ve done,” Nadja went on. “Any thoughts on what you’ll do with that money? Planning on moving into any mansions?”

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of buying a few upgrades to my mom’s boat,” Luka said with a grin.

“Our living situation is set,” Marinette chimed in. “We couldn’t stay in the bakery of course, since it’s not really well positioned to keep out paparazzi and fanboys, but Mayor Bourgeois allowed us to use a suite in his hotel for the time being. We were keeping it secret for a while, but Mayor Bourgeois just finished installing some systems to keep out intruders, so now we can tell people.” She spread her arms wide. “My new closet is the size of my old bedroom! I almost got lost! And sure, we can’t stay there forever, but it’s a good temporary base while we find somewhere more suitable.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Chat Noir said suddenly. “You said you couldn’t forgive me for flirting with you, but you’re living with Chloe Bourgeois? Everyone knows you two don’t get along, Marinette! She’s destroyed your property, she’s insulted you, she’s—”

Marinette shrugged. “She seems to be changing,” she said. “Right now I find her a better friend than most of the people I’ve known for years.” Then she turned back to Nadja. “Also, my parents are in talks with the mayor about opening up a storefront for the bakery inside his hotel. It’ll still be owned by my parents, but they’ll have a much bigger space, better kitchens and supplies, and more staff! The hotel’s head chef Marlena Cesaire was very excited by the idea. She said that together we could do really good business.” 

The references to money helped shake Adrien out of his shock at being rejected and reminded him of his other purpose for attending this interview. He knew that asking for money from the crowd at this point was probably a lost cause, but apparently there was another option. “I don’t suppose they mentioned how much we’ll each be getting from that superhero reward fund?” he asked in a voice that sounded like he was trying to be casual. 

Nadja hesitated. “I, um, don’t think they’ve given any actual numbers yet. All they’ve said is that you, Ladybug, Kitsune, and Viperion will be receiving some kind of financial reward--you and Ladybug for handling most of the fights so far, and also Kitsune and Viperion for contributing to the last fight with Hawkmoth.” She frowned. "I'm given to understand there was some talk of removing you from the list of recipients because you missed that last battle, but a slim majority of the donors felt you'd done enough in other battles to qualify."

Adrien had been hoping for a number, but the confirmation that at least he’d be getting something to tide him over until Lila was caught was nice. “I appreciate it, "he said. "That'll keep me in scratching posts for a long time!" When nobody laughed at his joke, he turned to Ladybug. “And if you need help, my lady, I can show you how to make a budget—“

“I’m not your lady,” said Marinette in a blunt tone. “Don’t call me that, Chat.”

And the rest of the interview, to Chat Noir’s dismay, went on in a similar manner.

“Great going, kid,” said Plagg as Adrien returned to his room. “Really showed them.”

“I can’t believe this!” Adrien flopped down in his bed. “If Marinette was that annoyed, she should have told me!”

Plagg said, “She did. On multiple occasions.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Adrien said. “She should have made it clear that this was something more than a little tiff she’d just forgive.”

“She did that too,” said Plagg.

“You don’t understand,” grumbled Adrien.

Plagg said. “Sure I do. You mean, she should have told you in a way that ensured you’d listen. Kid, you not listening isn’t her fault.”

“That isn’t… oh, forget it.” Adrien buried his head in his pillow. “This is so unfair. I helped beat tons of akumas. But then I missed one fight and it’s like they think I defected to Hawkmoth’s team!”

Plagg shrugged. “Maybe if you’d taken the other fights more seriously, they’d be more willing to forgive you for missing this one.”

“I don’t need a lecture, Plagg,” said Adrien. “I just need a little slack from them. I mean, I always tried to be kind to everyone and to overlook everyone else’s mistakes. I didn’t call Lila out for lying, or Marinette for being awkward and weird all those times, or Chloe for all her bullying. Is it too much to ask that, even if I did screw up in a couple places, I be forgiven too?”

“That isn’t how it works,” Plagg said. “You can’t forgive someone for hurting others. Chloe and Lila didn’t hurt you, at least back then, so it doesn’t mean anything for you to forgive them. Marinette’s not required to forgive you on the grounds that you let other people hurt her and didn’t make them suffer any consequences for it; what kind of sense would that make?”

Adrien shook his head and sighed. He could hear shouting protesters outside, and that was really starting to annoy him. Hadn’t he suffered enough? “Marinette will start coming around when I expose Lila,” he said. “After all, she hates the girl. Once she knows I brought her down, that’ll get my foot back in the door.” Plagg said nothing. “What, no complaints?” Adrien asked. “No more warnings about karma?”

“No,” said Plagg. “I know you wouldn’t listen. And besides, kwami have a feel for karma, and over the past few days, yours… let’s say, it solidified.”

“Huh?” Adrien asked.

“It’s too late,” Plagg clarified. “Your karma’s locked in, kid, and even I couldn't change it now. If you do want to try to be a better person, great, but at this point that’s not going to stop what’s coming. Now you get to enjoy the fate you earned. Or, more precisely, the fate that Lila earned and that you volunteered to take in her stead.” 

Adrien didn’t know why, but suddenly, he felt a chill. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “If anyone deserves a bad fate, it’s Lila, and I’m not protecting her anymore. She’s going to get what she deserves, courtesy of the police.” He smiled slightly at the thought of Lila getting thrown in jail for stealing his money. Not only was theft wrong anyways, but he thought that her stealing from him—he, Adrien, who had been so incredibly kind to her by protecting her, forgiving her for all her lies. and even offering her money to help her family—was a particularly monstrous betrayal. She deserved to suffer. 

“For all we know,” Adrien added, “It could be happening right now.”

Showtime, Lila thought.

She had to admit, she was nervous. Even though she was sure she’d covered her tracks thoroughly and had laid enough groundwork with the police to make them suspicious of Adrien, she knew it was possible that she could screw up and get caught. After all, she really had stolen nearly fifty million euros. That was the kind of thing that even ‘diplomatic immunity’ and ‘being charged as a juvenile’ couldn’t make go away. If she was caught, she was going to jail for a very, very long time.

No! Lila yelled at herself. I am smart. I am clever. I am better than the sheep that surround me. I am Lila Rossi, and the world is my oyster. I just have to get this performance right and everything will be fine.

“Lila?” her mother called. “It’s the police. They want to talk to you.”

Lila moved through her room, which was much larger than her Parisian apartment—real estate was cheaper in Marseilles, and the consulate was bigger than the embassy had been—and went into the living room. “Yes?” she asked.

The lead officer, a tall man with blond hair, nodded. “Lila Rossi, we’d like you to answer a few questions,” he said.

“About what?” Lila asked.

“There’s some money missing from an account of one Adrien Agreste,” the officer said.

Lila let her mouth dropped. “I can explain,” she said quickly. “I asked him for ten thousand euros to help secure this new apartment. He agreed to give me the money. I was literally in the room with him when—“

“Wait, what?” Mrs. Rossi said. “I didn’t know about this!”

Lila turned to Mrs. Rossi and saw the astonishment on her mother’s face. She wished there had been a way to prepare her mother for this revelation, but if she’d mentioned it earlier, Mrs. Rossi might have demanded Lila return the money so as to avoid being affiliated with a criminal family. That wasn’t acceptable, so Lila had been forced to leave things for this moment. 

Fortunately, she’d worked out a cover story. “I mentioned that I was worried about Hawkmoth coming for revenge, and he deposited money into my modeling account,” she said, carefully leaving it vague as to whether she’d explicitly asked for the money or whether Adrien had given it to her on his own. She didn’t want to directly contradict what had happened, since for all she knew Adrien's bodyguard had confirmed to the police that Lila had gone home with Adrien specifically to get money, but if possible she wanted to at least leave the suspicion that the money was unsolicited. She then added, “Adrien told me it was for ‘my protection.’ But after I got the money, I wasn’t sure if I should use it. I mean, what if that money was gained through Hawkmoth’s terrorism? Or what if Gabriel made Adrien agree to give it to me so he could blackmail me? So I haven’t touched it yet, or told anyone, while I tried to figure out what to do.” She turned to the officers. “I can return all of it—“

“We already know about that,” the officer said. “Adrien admitted to giving you ten thousand euros of his own free will, so that isn’t a problem. There’s nothing illegal about accepting a gift.”

Lila let out a breath. “I’m glad. But then why are you here?”

“Because more money was transferred later, and Adrien says he didn’t authorize the second transfer.” the officer said. “About fifty million euros was moved from his account. Adrien thinks you somehow got his passwords when he gave you the ten thousand euros and then emptied his account the next day. We’re here to investigate that.”

Mrs. Rossi gasped. “You can’t seriously think my daughter stole that money!” she said. “Lila is a good and honest girl. She wouldn’t steal!”

“I didn’t take it!” Lila insisted. “Honest! I—“ 

Then Lila let her face form a horrified expression. “Oh God,” she whispered. “This is their plan! Gabriel Agreste wants revenge on me, so he’s having Adrien make up bogus charges against me. He’ll have the police haul me back to Paris where Gabriel can get to me! Mama, you can’t let them take me!”  

“I don’t want my daughter going back to Paris!” said Mrs. Rossi at once.

The lead officer held up his hands. “Ma’am, we’re just investigating. I assure you, we will not take her anywhere unless we find evidence that she committed a crime.”

Mrs. Rossi hesitated. “Then what is it you need from us, exactly?”

“We’d like to ask Lila a few questions about her activities on the day of the second transfer, and we’d also like both of your permissions to check your bank accounts and your electronic devices,” the officer said. “And I should tell you, if you refuse to work with us, we can go get a warrant.”

“Mama, I’m scared!” cried Lila. “I don’t want to!”

Mrs. Rossi hugged her. “Lila, if you did nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide,” she said. “So why don’t we let the police investigate?”

“Because I’m scared.” Lila repeated, then managed a hiccup between her sobs. “This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t accepted the ten thousand. What if they look in my account, check the ten thousand, and find it’s linked, I don’t know, to some ransom Hawkmoth took from someone? I’m so stupid…”

Mrs. Rossi patted Lila on the back. “On the contrary,” she said. “I was once young and in love, and I can understand you not wanting to turn down a gift from your boyfriend. And if accepting the ten thousand was a mistake, well, we all make mistakes. The important thing is whether we can face them honestly.” She gently raised Lila’s face and met her gaze. “I think you should let the police look in the accounts so you can prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you didn’t take the rest. If anything comes up with respect to the ten thousand, we’ll face the music and deal with it together, as a family.”

Lila softly said, “Are you sure we can’t just fight the subpoena in court? The consulate lawyers are good, right?”

“We could,” Mrs. Rossi began. “And it's possible we would win. But I think you know that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. We have a duty to help the police. And frankly, if there is something wrong with the ten thousand, we also have a duty to find out. If that money was stolen from someone else by Gabriel before Adrien gave it to you, for instance, we have to know so we can pay it back.” She squeezed her daughter’s hand. “You’ll do the right thing, won’t you?”

And so Lila made herself slowly nod. “Okay,” she said. “I give my permission.”

An officer produced a notepad with a release form that authorized the search, and Lila signed it. “I’ll log you into my bank accounts,” she said. “And then I’ll answer your questions.”

“Thank you,” said the officer. “We’ll try to be fast.”

And as Lila returned to her room, she had to fight hard to quash her smile. Adrien, she thought, if I set everything up as well as I think I did, you are about to have a very bad day.

Chapter Text

Adrien tried to be patient, but after three days passed without him hearing of any progress on the investigation, he decided to go back to the police station and see why it was taking the police so long to recover his money. “Have you found my money yet?” he asked Roger when he came upon the officer in the lobby. “And is there anything else you need from me? I’d like to help you however I can.”

“Actually, I did have a few things I wanted to talk to you about,” Roger said. “Why don’t we go into the interrogation room again?”

When they sat down, Roger said, “Now, first, I need to remind you that you have a right to an attorney. Do you want to call for one? If so, we can wait until your lawyer gets here.”

“No,” said Adrien. “Again: I’m just reporting a crime. I really don’t need a lawyer.”

“Suit yourself,” said Roger. “Then we can jump right into discussing the progress of the investigation into your missing money.”

Adrien sat up a little straighter. Time to get Lila in handcuffs, tell Marinette I just took down her hated enemy, win back her love, and work with her to save my father! he thought. Let’s do this!

“We checked the bank records pertaining to your fund,” Roger said. “It does show you setting up a transfer of ten thousand euros into the account Lila used for her modeling pay,” Roger said. 

“Right,” Adrien responded. “I told you that.”

“The records then show the entire balance being sent to a mystery account the next day,” Roger said. “Well, almost the entire balance.Sixty thousand euros were left, ten thousand of which went to Lila two days later as per the transaction you’d set up, and fifty thousand of which was given to your bodyguard.”

Adrien nodded. “That’s exactly what happened. Did you look at the mystery account yet? Is it Lila’s?”

“It is not,” said Roger.

Adrien paused. “Uh, did you check her mother’s accounts, then?” he asked. “Or her friends? She’s got lots of friends, so maybe she asked one—“

“The account belonged to a deceased individual named Agnes Delacroix,” said Roger. “Ms. Delacroix was an elderly lady who lived in Normandy. She had no family and spent the last years of her life in a retirement home. We asked a few people who said they knew her and, while this was some time ago, nobody recalls her associating with Lila Rossi. Nor could they recall her associating with anyone so closely that she would give them access to her bank account.”

Silence filled the room. Then Adrien said, “Lila obviously has some secret connection with this Delacroix woman. Or at least she did before Delacroix died. I mean, I think we both know a dead woman couldn’t have robbed me, right?”

Roger said nothing, and Adrien began to feel uncomfortable. “Even setting that aside, don’t you guys know when and where the transaction was set up?” he asked. “The account sends a detailed notification to my father whenever someone withdraws money, and the notification has that information. I’m guessing you guys are getting my father’s messages now that he’s in jail, so you should be able to look up which computer was used to make the transactions. I’ll bet you anything it was Lila’s computer or phone, and that she’s got no alibi for the time it was made.” 

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get that notification until quite recently,” said Roger. “It seems that your father treated that account as some kind of secret emergency fund. He did not disclose it to us, you didn’t disclose it either, and we had not found it by the time this alleged ‘theft’ occurred. Nor had we found the secret email address which was used to send him that account’s notifications.” His face held an inscrutable expression. “It’s too bad,” he went on to say. “If we had known about that account earlier, we would have been able to monitor it as well as the notifications. Then we would seen the 50 million euro transaction, flagged it as suspicious, and frozen everything before the funds could be moved.”

Adrien didn’t like how Roger was making it sound like this was somehow his fault. “But you know about the account and the notification now,” said Adrien. “So you should be able to look up when and where the transaction took place.”

“We did,” said Roger. “It took place in a public library on the far side of Paris. We checked and found the library has no cameras. Police in Lila’s new location have asked Lila where she was at this time; she said she doesn’t specifically remember but thinks she was packing up her things at home. And while it’s possible she could be lying, we haven’t found one piece of evidence to put her in the library.”

“What about her phone?” Adrien protested. “Phones bounce signals off of cell towers, right? Check the towers near the library to see if Lila’s phone was there!”

Roger shrugged. “We looked at that too. After she came home from school that day, her phone did not leave her room until the next day, long after the money was moved.”

Adrien and Roger stared at each other for a long moment. At last, Adrien said, “Even if we can’t prove Lila was the thief, we can at least start getting the money back while you guys look for more evidence, right?” He managed a weak smile. “I mean, If Agnes is dead, then the transfer is obviously illegitimate! We should just reverse it.”

“Unfortunately, it appears whoever moved the money immediately withdrew it in the form of untraceable eurobonds,” Roger said. “It’s gone.”

Adrien suddenly felt very cold. “What do you mean? Surely you can track it. I mean, it’s fifty million euros!”

“If you withdrew one hundred euros from a bank in cash, we wouldn’t be able to track those euros, right?” Roger asked. “There’d be no way to do it. You could just keep the euros in your pocket for months and it would be impossible for us to know. Eurobonds are the same way.”

“Then can’t you just look to see who suddenly put fifty million dollars into their own account?” Adrien insisted. “I mean, Lila wouldn’t keep that kind of money in cash since it’d be too easy to lose. She’d tuck it away in a bank somewhere.”

“We can’t search the bank records of every person in France, no,” said Roger. “People have a right to privacy. We can’t invade that privacy unless we have evidence that specific person did something.”

Adrien growled. “Then just check Lila’s accounts! I know she did this!”

“We did,” said Roger. “And found nothing.”

Adrien was brought up short. “What?”

“My colleagues in the city where Lila is currently living contacted Lila and her mother and convinced them to let us look at all their bank accounts,” Roger said. “Lila has two accounts with significant funds: a personal one and her modeling one. The modeling one has the ten thousand euros you gave her, and she has some money in her personal account as well, but none of her accounts have anything close to fifty million euros. Nor do her mother’s accounts. We also sent out a bulletin to all of the banks in France asking if Lila Rossi had any additional accounts, just in case she was trying to keep them from us. None exist. Finally,” and here his gaze grew stony, “we also searched Lila’s phone, laptop, and tablet, to see if she had login information for any other banks in the world. She does not.”

“That doesn’t prove anything!” Adrien said. “Her mother’s a diplomat who took Lila all over Europe. What if Lila has an account at a bank in, I don’t know, Spain, and she just didn’t write the account information on her computer?”

Roger sighed. “There is absolutely no evidence of that, and without more evidence of her doing something wrong I can’t get international subpoenas to find out. Not to mention, publicly making such an accusation against a daughter of an Italian diplomat would cause a scandal with the Italian government. My superiors won’t allow that without solid proof, and you don’t have any.”

Adrien thought furiously. “How about this,” he said. “The library might not have had cameras, but the place where Lila withdrew my money definitely does. All banks have security cameras! We’ll check those and see Lila herself taking the money!”

Roger shook his head. “Bank cameras are just there to watch out for robberies and thefts. They only store footage for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, so that if a robbery does take place, the police can check and see who did it. There’s no need to store footage for longer. This money was withdrawn several days ago, so the footage has long since been discarded.”  

Adrien could only stare. Since when had Lila been this clever? Her lies had always been stupid, obvious things that almost anyone could see through!

Or maybe, a distant part of him thought, her incompetence at lying was also part of an act.

“Well, let’s look at it this way,” Adrien said in a shaky voice. “There’s nobody else who could have done this, right? Lila was the only person who had the chance to see my passwords. Therefore it must be her.”

“We can’t prove that,” Roger told Adrien. “It could have been many people. For instance: it could be a vigilante hacker who was mad at your family over your father’s actions and wanted to punish him by taking his wealth. It could have been your father; he knows that if he’s convicted the authorities are going to seize everything he has, and he may have figured we’d find that emergency fund eventually, so perhaps he got access to a computer in prison and tried to transfer some money to a place where we couldn’t find it. It could have been you, working on his behalf for the same reason.”

“Me?!” Adrien gasped. “I didn’t steal my own money!”

Roger shrugged. “I’m just saying, it’s possible. You understand that we can’t just take your word that Lila did this, right? We need real evidence.”

“Sure, but…” Adrien realized he was sweating. “I don’t understand. Lila lied constantly. She lied about knowing celebrities, she lied about her charity work, she lied about having a bunch of ridiculous disabilities, and she lied about knowing Ladybug. And she’s not even good at hiding it; I had her pegged almost as soon as she entered my class. She’s an obvious, complete, and total fraud. And you’re acting like you don’t even suspect her!”

Roger looked down at his notepad. “Actually, that’s something else I wanted to ask you about. You keep telling me that Lila is dishonest and a thief, but we looked into it, and it seems you’ve consistently said for months that Lila is honest and a good person. You even dated her for some time.” He pulled out his phone and went online, then pulled up a picture Lila had taken of her cuddling on Adrien’s lap while Adrien sat there with a slightly strained smile on his face. “Which is it?”

And Adrien could think of nothing to say.

Adrien and Roger stared at each other for a long time, and then Roger said, “Are you sure you don’t want a lawyer?”

It wasn’t the words that he used so much as his tone which made Adrien worry even more. Roger didn’t sound like he was trying to look out for his daughter’s classmate. He sounded like he wanted to make sure there weren’t any procedural issues later that might screw up a case.

“Okay,” said Adrien. “Get me one of the defense lawyers that work for my father’s company.”

Roger smiled slightly, as if this was a mildly amusing spectacle by someone who was already doomed and didn’t know it. “Of course,” he said

Adrien was sent to a lounge where he drank bad coffee and tried not to panic. “Plagg, what am I going to do?” he whispered. “I think they actually suspect me!” 

Plagg shrugged. “Probably.”

“But why?” Adrien demanded.

“Karma,” said Plagg. “You spent all your time making sure nobody suspected Lila of the bad things she did and ensuring she suffered no consequences. Well, you got what you wanted. You managed to protect her from the results of her actions and she won’t suffer any consequences for what she did. Including, of course, the things she did to you.” His voice grew harsh. “After all, why should you be any different? You made sure she got away with hurting Marinette and ripping off the class, so why shouldn’t she get away with this?”

“Even if she gets away with her thefts, that doesn’t explain why I’m being blamed!” Adrien snapped.

“Sure it does,” said Plagg. “You made it so Lila won’t suffer the consequences of her actions, but you can’t just get rid of those consequences entirely because the universe won’t let you. Those consequences still exist, they still have to fall on someone, and since you’re the one who’s protecting her, you’re the one that’ll get them.” He shrugged. “It’s like I’ve been saying: you successfully protected Lila from the negative karma she incurred, so the universe ensures that karma falls on you instead. That’s all there is to it.”

“Wait, so this isn’t my fault?” Adrien asked. “It’s the universe being a jerk?”

Plagg shook his head. ‘It’s completely your fault. You’re the one who made sure Lila could get away with being horrible, remember? And you’re also the one who gave her access to your accounts by accident and who got in this situation. Sorry, kid. This is on you.”

“Then what do I do?” Adrien demanded. When Plagg didn’t answer, he snapped, “I need you to help me! I’m your holder and you’re supposed to support me, so do that!”

“I can’t save you from this one, kid,” Plagg said. “I tried to warn you a bunch of times, but you didn’t listen.”

“There has to be something I can do!” Adrien said, his voice almost a sob.

Plagg thought. “The Ladybug holder might be able to do something. She has the power of good luck, so if she forgave you, maybe something lucky would happen to you. Maybe someone would remember seeing Lila withdrawing that money, or whatever secret bank account she’s using would get exposed somehow. Of course, that would require her not to hate you. If you apologized—”

“She doesn’t hate me,” Adrien insisted. “She’s just confused. We’re destined to be together, after all.” He took a long breath. “Look, I’ll check with the lawyer and see what I can do. Maybe Lila will screw up even without a lucky break.” He settled back in his chair. “And for the record, you could be a little more supportive.”

Plagg said nothing, like he didn’t even care what Adrien thought of him anymore. And, somehow, that frightened Adrien all on its own.

Adrien’s lawyer, a thin man named Francois LaChaise, arrived a few minutes later and spent an hour talking with the police. When he came out of Roger’s office, he looked shaken as he directed Adrien to a tiny conference room. “What did you think you were doing?” he demanded. “Do you have any idea how badly you’ve hurt your position?”

“All I did was report a crime!” Adrien insisted. “What, should I have ignored it?”

“You should have talked to me first!” LaChaise pinched his brow. “I’ll be frank: the police think you stole your own money. And you’ve given them plenty of reason to think that way.”

“What reason?” Adrien almost shouted. “Mr. LaChaise—“

The lawyer held up a hand. “Let me explain this to you the way they see it. You need to understand what’s going on.” He waited until Adrien nodded, then continued. “From the police’s perspective, you just came in here and accused your girlfriend of several months, whom you’ve repeatedly said is sweet and lovely and honest and perfect in every way, of robbing you blind.”

“Right,” said Adrien. “She tricked me.”

“But that’s the thing: according to your own story, she didn’t actually trick you,” LaChaise said. “You told the police that some of the money you admitted to giving her was to pay back mutual friends she ripped off, right? So by your own testimony, you knew she was a grifter who stole money, and that you pretended she was an honest person when you really knew better. Can you see why they don’t find it plausible that, if Lila really were the person you say you knew her to be, you would give her money?”

Adrien hesitated. “I guess I can see why that would be an issue, but it’s what happened. They can’t arrest me just based on that.”

“No, but that’s not the only problem.” LaChaise checked his notes. “Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you really did believe Lila to be a fraud but still wanted to help her and wired her ten thousand euros. Why would you let her see your passwords? Wouldn’t it have made sense to make her stay in another room while you typed them in?”

“I didn’t think she would do this,” said Adrien. “Look, her previous scams weren’t anything like this! She would just say that she knew this celebrity, or that she needed someone to buy her lunch, or that she was raising money for some weird cause. They were obvious and they were small. She wasn’t taking millions!”

“But, in your version of events, she was still taking money.” LaChaise’s voice was severe. “And yet you brought her into her home and gave her access to your accounts. Adrien, the police don’t think you’re that stupid. And besides, there’s one more problem. Not all the money was stolen. Enough remained to pay your bodyguard. Why would Lila care about that? Why not take it all?”

Adrien thought for a moment. “She wanted me not to know about the theft for a while so she could leave town,” he guessed. “If my bodyguard’s check had bounced, we’d know there was a problem right away.”

LaChaise shook his head. “Then she could have left a million euros and hope that you wouldn’t notice for years until she grew up and moved to America or something. Adrien, your story makes no sense.”

“This is insane!” Adrien said. “What story do the police think is more plausible?”

“Their story goes something like this,” LaChaise began. “You dated Lila Rossi, a sweet and naive girl, for several months. When your father was arrested you decided to help him hide some of his assets in preparation for his conviction, and to help with that, you decided to use Lila as your patsy. So you set up a plausible way for her to get access to your accounts, in this case by inviting her over to watch while you transferred her a little bit of money. You justified it to her by telling her you loved her and were trying to protect her, so she believed you and didn’t find it suspicious. Then, after she was gone, you sent the rest of your money to the Delacroix account, withdrew it, and stashed it somewhere. That got you and your father a sizable amount of money to live off of even if the government seizes everything they know about. To top it all off, you then tried to frame Lila for your crime by claiming she’s actually been ripping off your class for months, and that she also ripped you off before leaving town.”

Adrien could only stare. “But that’s insane,” he said. “Lila isn’t some sweet and naive girl! She’s a lying grifter!”

“You spent the last several months telling everyone she was honest,” LaChaise said. “You let all those pictures get posted online showing you hanging out with her and supporting her. Don’t you see how it looks incredibly self-serving for you to change your tune now?”

“But if Lila really were nice, why would I do this to her?” Adrien demanded. “In that version of the story I’d be ruining her life for no reason.” 

LaChaise shrugged. “Even in your own version of events, you said you allowed Lila to scam your other friends out of money. The police aren’t convinced she’s actually a scammer, but they did notice you telling them you’re the kind of person who would let Lila betray your friends for months, so by your own testimony they think betraying a friend is something you’re okay with.” His eyes narrowed. “And there’s another reason they think you might try to destroy her.”

“What else could there be?” Adrien said. He felt drained.

“Lila talked to the police before you gave her the ten thousand euros,” LaChaise said. His gaze grew more intense and Adrien felt like he was being scrutinized. “She said she wanted to give her information on Gabriel Agreste. But during that interrogation, she made a few comments which made it sound like you were helping him with his activities as Hawkmoth.”

“WHAT?!” Adrien yelled.

“She said that you had been asking her questions about people she knew that were upset or angry, just like Gabriel did,” LaChaise went on. “To be clear, she insisted it was innocent and that you would never work with your father like that; her viewpoint seemed to be that, at worst, he had somehow tricked you into asking those questions and then reporting the answers back to him so he would know who he could akumatize. The police, however, think you may have been a willing accomplice. And they also think that, if you somehow found out about that interrogation, you might be motivated to destroy her in revenge.”

Adrien felt sick. “That’s ridiculous,” he managed. “I would never help father with that. I fought more than anyone to stop him.”

“How?” LaChaise asked, 

Adrien realized he couldn’t answer without revealing his secret identity, which would be a total disaster. The last thing he needed was for people to know that he was Chat Noir and then wonder if there was some sinister reason why he hadn’t shown up to fight his father alongside Ladybug, Kitsune, and Viperion.  “I just did,” he said lamely. “But hang on, Marinette’s got Father’s kwami now, right? They can just ask him and verify I had nothing to do with any of Father’s crimes!”

“They already tried that,” LaChaise said. “Marinette brought that ‘kwami’ creature, Nooroo ,in yesterday to talk to the police.  Lieutenant Raincomprix then had to disclose the transcript of that conversation to me since I’m also your father’s lawyer and he needs that information for his defense. Unfortunately, Nooroo can’t help you.”

“Why not?” Adrien demanded. “He can verify I was never with my father when he was doing Hawkmoth stuff!”

“The problem is, your father didn’t wear his Miraculous all the time, so even though Nooroo said he couldn’t recall you helping your dad, all that means is that your father might have done it after leaving his Miraculous behind,” said LaChaise. “Nooroo therefore can’t exonerate you. In fact, Nooroo wasn’t much use at all, and not just with respect to your case. He’s apparently magically incapable of giving Mayura’s real name, and when the police asked why your father did what he did, all Nooroo could say was that ‘someone was sleeping’ and Gabriel wanted to wake her up. They think he was so traumatized by your dad’s actions that he didn’t really understand a lot of what was going on.”

“But…” Adrien groaned. “Come on, don’t you have any good news? I really need some support here!”

LaChaise sighed. “The only bright spot I can see for you is that, while the police suspect you of having stolen your own money to evade the government, and they also think you might have helped your father, they have no solid evidence of any of their claims and so they won’t arrest you. As long as there really isn’t proof that you did either of those things, you should remain free. But Adrien, you need to set aside the idea that the police are going to get your money back from Lila. They do not believe a word you say, and they won’t investigate someone on your say-so.”

For a long moment, neither Adrien nor LaChaise spoke. Then Adrien asked, “What if Ladybug and Chat Noir found more evidence?”

“Then things might change, but I suspect they both have more important things to do.” LaChaise stood. “I’m taking you home, Adrien. And I’m giving you very strict advice: do not talk to the police again without me present. At this point, there is nothing you can say to them that will help your position, and a lot that can undermine it. Are we clear?”

Adrien nodded numbly and let LaChaise take him away.

When LaChaise got Adrien home, he took the boy to the big dining room and then said, “Some more attorneys are coming by in a few minutes. I’ll go greet them and bring them in. I’m going to ask you to stay here and wait for them; this is going to be important.”

“Sure,” said Adrien. “Whatever.”

He stumbled to a couch in the same room, feeling exhausted as he did so. “If I can get that award money for my hero work soon,” he muttered to himself while LaChaise went back to the front door, “then I’ll be okay. But now I’m going to have to track down Lila as Chat Noir, and that’s going to be a mess.” He groaned. “I’ll need Marinette’s help. I know she’s mad for some stupid reason, but she hates Lila as much as I do. She has to help.”

Nobody answered, and so Adrien sank into the couch. “She has to help,” he repeated to himself. “If she keeps being stubborn and insists she won’t help me because she’s upset about Lila, then I’ll have to convince her somehow.” He took a breath. “I can’t pay her because of Lila’s theft, but maybe I could let her and her family stay over in the mansion for a few months in exchange. It’s much bigger than that tiny place they live in so they’d probably like that. And this house is—“

Then the front door banged open and a familiar voice called out, “It’s lovely!”

Audrey Bourgeois?! Adrien looked up and stared as Audrey entered the dining room, followed by a set of men that he recognized as the Agreste company’s board of directors. A few lawyers were with them, including LaChaise.

And one of the lawyers held a tablet which displayed Gabriel’s face.

Adrien gasped. Prison hadn’t been good to his father, who already looked thinner and wearier than before. Adrien had heard that Gabriel was being kept in protective custody so that other prisoners didn’t kill him; many of them had been akumatized at one point or another, after all. Despite everything, though, he still seemed to have a spark of his old drive and vigor which had enabled him to build up his business in the cutthroat world of fashion. “It is lovely,” Gabriel said in a sharp voice, his piercing gaze fixating on Audrey. “And it’s mine, Audrey. Not yours. I will never sell to you.”

“Father!” Adrien yelped before he could help himself.

Everyone turned to him, and Gabriel’s gaze softened slightly. “Son,” he said. “Don’t worry. It will be okay. I just need to get rid of this pretender, and then I’ll resume working on my defense.”

“Father, I—“ Adrien began.

Then Audrey snapped her fingers. “Gerard,” she said, pointing at one member of the board of directors, “mute Gabriel. I’d like to discuss this with the rest of you before he joins in. He can listen, but I don’t want to hear him right now.”

Gabriel’s eyes flashed. “You will do no such thing, Gerard!” he snapped. “I am the majority shareholder, I can fire you, and—“

Gerard muted the tablet. 

Adrien jumped up. “Hold on,” he demanded. “Mrs. Bourgeois, what are you doing here? This isn’t your house and you don’t work for the company!”

“No, but soon I’m going to own it,” said Audrey. She turned to the directors. “You’ve seen my offer. I think we can agree my price is fair.”

“Fair?!” Adrien shouted, again causing everyone to turn to him. This monster can’t take over the company! he thought. “Agreste Fashion is a multibillion dollar industry! Not even you can afford to buy it!”

Gerard coughed. “I’m sorry, Adrien, but surely you know how much the stock price has fallen in the past few days? The shares are nearly worthless now.”

“Not just the shares,” Audrey said. “Your retail outlets are shuttering all over the globe. I understand an angry mob burned down your Berlin outlet, and your employees in Dublin gave away all the merchandise before quitting en masse and leaving the store empty. This entire business is worth next to nothing.” 

“It will recover in a few years,” Adrien insisted. “It has to!”

Audrey chuckled. “And that’s why I’m buying it now instead of in a few years. Try to keep up, Agnan.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I see why you were friends with Chloe. You’re as dull and common as she is.”

Gabriel’s face was growing redder on the tablet, but Audrey ignored him as she turned to the directors and lawyers. “When I buy Gabriel’s majority stake,” she said, “not only will I immediately infuse this business with cash that it desperately needs, but I will perform a rebranding. This will no longer be Hawkmoth’s fashion line. Instead, from the ashes of villainy, a new line of gorgeous clothing will emerge!” She spread her hands wide. “And who better than one of Hawkmoth’s victims to lead that glorious rebirth? I will build you back stronger than ever, and by merging your factories and retail infrastructure with my perfect designs, I will make Agreste Fashion—soon to be known as Style Queen Fashion—the biggest fashion company on Earth!”

One of the lawyers coughed. “That’s all very well, Mrs. Bourgeois, but there’s a major concern. The government was planning on exercising its power to seize this asset after Gabriel is inevitably convicted, and then planned to use the company’s resources to compensate his many victims. Now, obviously the government would really like to get this asset out of Gabriel’s hands sooner if possible so that he can’t use it for any future villainy, which is why they haven’t already stepped in to block this sale. But if this plan results in the victims getting nothing, the government will sue to block you.”

Adrien’s heart leapt. It sounded like Audrey needed both Gabriel’s and the government’s permission to do this, and Adrien knew his father would never give it. Nor would the government, he figured, want to give up such a potentially lucrative asset. That meant Audrey wouldn’t be able to seize the business; it would remain in Gabriel’s possession and control until his trial was over, and if Adrien could get him a lenient sentence then the company might stay with the Agrestes forever. 

Audrey, however, smiled and said, “I completely understand. Here is what I propose: Gabriel is currently the majority shareholder and holds sixty-six percent of the total stock. Once his shares are returned to the company, I will buy his entire stake and donate fourteen-point-three percent of the total stock—that’s one seventh—to the government, free and clear. The government will be a silent partner in the company; I, who will still own fifty-one-point-seven percent of the stock, will take full responsibility for running the company. The government will of course receive one-seventh of the total profits, and it can distribute those profits as it sees fit.” 

“Hmm,” said the lawyer who had spoken. “That could work.”

“Of course it will work!” Audrey beamed. “Why, we could even specify which seventh the government gets, such as by picking a day of the week. Maybe we could say, ‘every Friday, all profits that Style Queen Fashion raises will be used to compensate akuma victims.’” She shrugged. “The specifics aren’t important. The point is: the victims will be compensated, the government will be satisfied, and Gabriel will lose the business right away, not in several years after his appeals are exhausted.” 

“I’ll need to check with the prosecutors,” said the lawyer. “But I expect the government will go for that.”

“Father won’t!” Adrien yelled. “He’ll never sell to you, Audrey!”

Audrey glanced at Adrien as if he were an annoying worm. “We’ll see,” she said. “Gerard, turn on Gabriel’s microphone again.”

When Gerard had done so, Gabriel said, “My son is right. As I said, I’ll never sell. Nor will I return my shares to the company.”

“You don’t need to give permission,” said LaChaise. “The stakeholder contract has a clause saying that any member who is charged with serious felonies can be stripped of their shares by a majority vote of the remaining directors. If that happens, the shares are returned to the company where they can either be given to a family member or sold to an outsider. You insisted that section be added, sir, because you wanted the ability to push out anyone who might bring the company into disrepute.”

Gabriel smiled slightly. “I know what the contact says. I also know there are all kinds of legal procedures I can use to draw out the process. What is a ‘serious felony?’ Are my rights being violated because I have only been charged, not convicted, of the crimes? Don’t the minor shareholders deserve a say? There are thousands of people who own one or two shares of stock, and it could take six months just to get a meeting with a fraction of them!” He chuckled. “This process will take years, LaChaise, and my majority stake will be locked in arbitration for all that time. Audrey couldn’t possibly obtain it until that process ends.”

“If it’s in arbitration, you won’t have control of it either,” LaChaise said. “Nobody will. The arbitrator will just appoint someone to act as a steward until the legal issues are resolved.”

“Correct,” said Gabriel. “I won’t have it. But neither will Audrey. And by the time all the legal issues are sorted out, which could take half a decade, the stock price will have rebounded and she will no longer be able to make the purchase.” He smirked. “So, Audrey, are you ready to waste a fortune on lawyers and five years of your time for no reason?”

Audrey laughed.

Adrien and Gabriel both stared at her. “What’s so funny?” Gabriel demanded. “I know the contract. You can’t buy my majority stake unless I give permission and choose not to invoke my legal rights, or unless we go through years of legal fighting! There’s no other way!”

Audrey slowly shook her head. “Gabriel, I’m sorry, but I never realized just how foolish and arrogant you really are.” 

“You’re hardly one to talk,” snapped Gabriel.

“Funny.” Audrey leaned forwards. “But wrong. You’re going to give permission for me to purchase your shares before this meeting is over.”

“No way,” growled Adrien. “Father would never do that.”

Audrey sighed. “Well, let’s see. First: LaChaise, who owns this house?”

“My father does,” said Adrien.

“Actually, Agreste Fashion does,” said LaChaise. “It’s technically company property. We set it up that way to get Gabriel some tax breaks.”

“So,” said Audrey, “if Gabriel’s majority stake in the company were to be placed in arbitration, that would include ownership of this house. Nobody would own it, and it would have to be looked after by some steward that the arbitrator chose.”

“So what?” Gabriel asked in a sarcastic tone. “Am I supposed to be worried this steward would hire an incompetent cleaning service that would damage one of my priceless Ming vases?”

Audrey gave Gabriel a dark grin. “That steward would be responsible for running the property in an economical manner. After all, it would hardly be appropriate for us to undergo five years of wrangling and then find the arbitrator spent all the money on the world’s most expensive maids, would it?”

“Get to the point,” Gabriel snapped.

“Certainly,” said Audrey. “Once I expressed interest in buying your stake, the board of directors—who are quite eager to be rid of you, Gabriel—allowed me to see some company records. When I looked at the records for this house, I was astonished by something.” Audrey leaned back in her chair. “This place uses an enormous amount of electric power.”

Gabriel froze, his face going deathly pale. Adrien frowned. “Who cares?” he said. “This is a huge house. Of course it has a big electric bill.”

“Ah, but this estate consumes more power than any mansion I’ve ever seen,” Audrey went on. “I’ve seen palaces with smaller electric bills.” 

“What are you doing, Gabriel?” Gerard asked. “Are you growing marijuana in some basement greenhouse? Illegal cryptocurrency mining? What’s in here that needs so much power twenty-four hours a day?”

“Why would Hawkmoth need a marijuana farm or crypto?” Adrien demanded. “That’s insane!”

“Then you tell us what the power consumption is for,” Gerard said. When Adrien had no answer, he nodded. “Gabriel? Do you have an explanation?”

Gabriel hissed. “That’s nobody’s business but mine.”

“It’s company business,” said Audrey. “Which means it will be the arbitrator’s business. And unless there’s an actual reason for that power consumption, I think he’s quite likely to order the power throttled. After all, if you do get your property back after all the legal wrangling, you surely wouldn’t want the arbitrator to have wasted thousands of euros from your estate in electric costs.”

“I don’t care!” said Gabriel. Adrien was horrified to see his father’s face, which was approaching a look of panic. “I’ll pay it out of my own pocket if necessary.”

Gerard shook his head. “Won’t work. All costs have to be handled by the arbitrator; private parties can’t contribute. It’s the way the contract was worded.” He frowned. “Gabriel, you specifically insisted the contract include that stipulation.  That way, if you needed to fire a director who was funding some passion project you thought would tarnish the brand, the director couldn’t start a lengthy arbitration process and continue to fund the project with his own money until the process ended.” He shrugged. “That’s all there is to it.”

“Not quite,” said Gabriel. “Let’s suppose, just hypothetically, that the electric bill continued to get paid no matter what the arbitrator thought or wanted? If the bill were set to automatically draw from an emergency account which is not part of the company and thus the arbitrator would not have access to—“

“If you’re referencing the emergency account that had fifty million euros,” LaChaise said in a blunt voice, “that account is empty. Your son told the police that one of your employees, a Miss Lila Rossi, tricked him into showing her the password and then stole all the money. However, the police have not found any evidence to implicate Rossi, and nor have they found any trace of the money, so it’s probably not going to be recovered.”

Gabriel gaped for a moment before his face turned a startling shade of red. “My son did WHAT?!”

Adrien hesitated. “Father, she tricked me,” he began. “I’m sorry—“

Audrey coughed. “Let’s not get distracted with tangents,” she said. “Gabriel, the long and short of it is, you only have two options here. The board is going to vote to strip you of your shares and sell them to me. If you choose not to raise any objections, I will commit in writing to funding this place’s ghastly power bill indefinitely. Or you can go the other way. Object to that shareholder vote, let the place gets put into arbitration, and watch as the steward shuts the power shut off. At which point I’m sure whatever you’re hiding will start to rot or malfunction and be discovered, no doubt adding to your legal woes.”

Silence filled the room. Then Gabriel murmured, “Audrey, please, do not do this. We were friends—“

“You turned me into a hideous glitter monster,” said Audrey in a savage tone. “You also merged me with my husband as some kind of gigantic multi-headed monstrosity. While I was under your control, you made me attack people, including that Marinette girl who seems to be one of the only competent designers in this town. You used me like a pawn, Gabriel. Now it’s time to pay.” She shrugged. “I think we’re ready to vote. Gentlemen?”

“I move that Gabriel Agreste be stripped of his shares under the ‘felony conduct’ clause,” Gerard said. 

“Seconded,” added another man.

“Aye!” the other directors said.

Audrey turned to Gabriel. “Any objections?”

Adrien tensed. His father had to object, he thought. Whatever he was doing with the electric power, whether he really was growing marijuana or doing something else, it couldn’t be of any significance compared to the charges he was already facing. His father had to act to save the business and house, because this was Adrien’s home and where he and his father were supposed to be a family, and—

“No objection,” said Gabriel softly. “You win, Audrey.”

“No!” Adrien gasped.

Gabriel glared at Adrien as if this was his fault, but said nothing for a long moment. Finally, he muttered, “Son, someday you’ll understand.” His tone was bitter and resentful, like he blamed Adrien for this. "And you'll accept that thanks to your... actions with Miss Rossi... this is the only remaining acceptable outcome."

Adrien stared at him, then swiveled to the others as something occurred to him. “W-wait!” he said. “Mr. LaChaise, you said that if someone is stripped of his shares, then those shares can either be purchased by an outsider or inherited by a relative, right?”

LaChaise nodded. “That is correct. The board picks from between those options.”

“Then even if you want to get rid of father, you don’t need to let Audrey buy into the company. Let me inherit my father’s stake and keep the business in the family. I’m confident that we can rebuild it without her.” Adrien took a breath. “You don’t know her like I do. She’s evil and abusive. She treats her daughter Chloe terribly and is one reason why Chloe grew up into such a horrible person!“

“Aren’t you good friends with Chloe?” Audrey drawled. “Her only friend and defender, in fact? Then how can you call her a bully now?”

Adrien growled, but he realized that, like with Lila, he had no way to argue the point. “Look, I just think I’d be better here than Audrey,” he said. “I’m not abusive, I don’t fire people for no reason, and—

“Adrien, that’s not going to happen,” LaChaise said. “It’s out of the question.”

Adrien flushed with anger. “Why?” he demanded. 

“Because we talked to the police and learned they suspect you of helping with the Hawkmoth terror attacks,” Gerard snapped. “Apparently they got evidence from that Lila girl, whose honesty and integrity you apparently vouched for yourself. She inadvertently revealed that you were helping him find victims to akumatize. And then when you realized she’d given you away, you tried to frame her for stealing millions of euros.” He shook his head. “We can’t work with someone like that.”

“But she’s lying!” Adrien almost screamed. “Why doesn’t anyone believe me? Why—“

Audrey waved her hand. “If Adam there says anything else, throw him out of the room,” she told a couple of her flunkies. “We have business to conduct.”

Adrien saw the directors look back at Audrey, and just like that, he knew he’d lost the battle.

The rest of the meeting passed in blur, with papers being signed and Audrey declaring that the business would be renamed immediately. “Send out a press release denouncing Gabriel and declaring we’re going a different way,” Audrey said. “And if there are other Agrestes working in any capacity for this business, fire them. We’re starting fresh.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Gerard said.

Adrien abruptly stood, and Audrey asked, “Where are you going?”

“To my room,” Adrien said dully. His head was splitting. He had to get out of there. He would go upstairs, become Chat Noir, and flee into—

“It’s not your room anymore,” LaChaise said. “Audrey owns the company, which includes this property.”

For a moment Adrien couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. “Then where will I stay?” he asked at last.

LaChaise glanced at Audrey, who said, “I’ll figure something out. You can stay here for two or three days, Andrew, until I find somewhere else for you to go.”

“Adrien,” he corrected.

“Whatever.” Audrey flashed a shark-like grin. “And don’t worry. As long as you’re in my care, I will treat you as if you were my own child.”

Adrien shuddered.

The big suite at Le Grand Paris was very nice, Marinette had to admit. But it just lacked that home feel. And so when Tom and Sabine knocked on her bedroom door and told her that they were moving to more permanent quarters, she was excited.

“Are we going back to the old apartment?” Marinette asked as she began packing up her things.

Sabine shook her head. “We thought about it, but given your hero work, we really do need somewhere that’s a little more defensible. We have to be able to keep out paparazzi, or random villains who get mad at you for fighting them. So we found a better place to live.”

“That’s not to say we’re getting rid of the bakery!” Tom said. “We’ll have a big outlet here, of course, but we’ll also keep our old storefront.” He grinned. “This will be a huge expansion. I’m so excited!”

Marinette laughed. “Let me know whenever you need baking help,” she said. “I promise to do what I can.”

Sabine kissed her. “Thank you, dear.”

With their things all packed, Marinette went to the door and opened it, only to find Chloe there with her fist raised to knock. “Oh, um, hi,” said Chloe. She glanced at the bags. “You’re leaving?”

“Yes,” Marinette said. “Please thank your father for letting us stay here. It was lovely.”

“Sure.” Chloe paused. “Are you leaving because of me?”

Marinette quickly shook her head. “No, Chloe. You’ve been fine.” Chloe had been coming over every day or two to—awkwardly, gingerly—hang out with Marinette. And Marinette, to her own surprise, found that she enjoyed those visits. Rather than being a bully, Chloe mostly just talked about fashion, and Marinette enjoyed discussing the latest trends or sharing her own designs. And Chloe, Marinette gathered, enjoyed it too.

Marinette had wondered once why she was so much more willing to forgive Chloe than the others. But then, of course, she realized the answer. It wasn’t even that Chloe’s bullying had been less harmful than the betrayal she’d suffered from the others. It was that Chloe had realized she was wrong and tried to fix it, not because she wanted Ladybug to do favors for her, but because she wanted to be a better person and a better friend. Marinette could respect that. 

And so Marinette smiled warmly at the blonde. “Please come visit me in my new place,” she said. “I really mean that.”

“I will,” said Chloe. “And you can come back here anytime.” She managed an awkward smile of her own. “Do you need help carrying your stuff outside?”

“Sure,” said Marinette. “Thanks.”

The group headed down to a waiting taxi, at which point they waved goodbye to Chloe and got in. “Where are we going, Maman?” Marinette asked.

“You’ll see,” said Sabine. “It’s not far.”

And, indeed, they pulled up to a huge estate within a few minutes. Marinette gaped. “This is the Agreste mansion!” she said as she got out of the car. “We can’t stay here!” 

Mentally, Marinette reminded herself that living in Gabriel’s old house could be helpful, since she could search it for clues as to Gabriel’s motivation (which was still baffling the police) or for Mayura (of whom there was no trace). But she still didn’t love the idea of, for instance, eating breakfast at the same table where Gabriel had worked out schemes to kill her.

Then her thoughts were interrupted. “Actually,” said a voice from behind them, “it’s now the Style Queen Fashion Estate.”

The family turned to see Audrey, who was smiling at them. “I own this building now,” she said. “But I have my own suite in Le Grand Paris, so I’d like someone else to stay here. Specifically: you.”

“Why?” said Marinette, instantly suspicious.

“Two reasons,” Audrey said. “First, even though I own what used to be Gabriel’s company and he does not, many people still associate it with Gabriel and his villainy. That’s going to hurt our sales and our stock price. However, Ladybug endorsing the new business by literally living in its headquarters would fix this issue; everyone knows she would never associate with Hawkmoth, so if she finds the business acceptable, it must not have anything to do with him anymore.”

Marinette frowned. “Why should I care about that?”

“Because the company employs tens of thousands of staff who don’t deserve to lose their jobs just because the company’s former leader was a villain who destroyed his brand,” Audrey said. “If this business goes bankrupt, there will be massive layoffs. Surely you don’t want that?”

Marinette bit her lip. It was a good point, but she didn’t like the idea that she was being forced to salvage the business. After all, it wasn’t her fault it was ruined. “What was the second reason?”

“One that I think you’ll like,” Audrey went on to say. “Marinette, as I’ve told you before, you are an extraordinary designer. You’ve been able to make incredible designs thus far, and that was when you had a tiny upstairs apartment and a single sewing machine. I want to see what you could do with more resources.” She beamed. “Gabriel has several workrooms in this mansion, all fully stocked with the latest in sewing technology and every imaginable type of fabric.”

That made Marinette gape. The idea of having that level of resources for her own creations and experiments was a dream come true. She could really spread her wings. She could make anything! “But what’s in it for you?” she forced herself to say. “I mean, I’d love to have access to those things, but how do you benefit?”

“I thought you’d ask that,” Audrey said. “Here’s the deal: I’ll let your family live here. Your rent will be no more than whatever you paid for your old place, and I’ll cover utilities and all your costs for fashion materials, machines, and other supplies. In exchange, I want right of first refusal for the wonderful designs I’m sure you’re going to create. You make the designs and I’ll decide if I want to sell them or not. If I do, you of course will get a percentage. If I don’t, you can sell them on your own.”

It sounded like an incredible deal to Marinette, but she made herself resist. “I like a lot of that,” she said, “but what if you decide you want to sell everything I make? I’d like to keep some of my designs for myself and my own brand.” She smiled a little. “How about this: for every two designs I make, you can pick one to sell through Style Queen Fashion if you want, but I get to keep the other.”

Audrey chuckled a little, seemingly amused at Marinette’s willingness to negotiate with the legendary style queen. “For every three designs, I get my choice of two,” she countered.

“For every five designs, you get your choice of three,” Marinette said. “And one more thing: at least two nights a week you have dinner with Chloe. You don’t insult her or critique her, and you listen to what she has to say about her day.”

Audrey looked mystified. “Why would you care about that?”

“Chloe and I are friends now,” said Marinette simply. “She helped me with some things and so I’m trying to look out for her, in this case by helping her obtain the relationship with her mother that she’s clearly been yearning for. So: do we have a deal?”

Silence filled the air, and then Audrey said, “Very well. I’ll have the lawyers draw up the paperwork. And I’lll…” she sighed. “Have dinner with my daughter tonight. I suppose you’ll want to come by.”

“That sounds lovely!” Marinette said.

Audrey nodded and then turned to Tom and Sabine. “Congratulations on your new home.” She passed them the keys. “Would you like to take a tour?”

“Yes!” said Marinette on her family’s behalf.

Adrien looked forlornly at the little box of his things in his arms. He hadn’t realized how many of his things, even his clothes, were technically property of the business and not his own personal possessions. Now he barely had enough clothes to get through a week.

Audrey had called him in the previous day and announced she’d found someone who could look after him. That someone turned out to be his aunt Amelie Graham de Vanily. And his aunt didn’t seem pleased to see him.

“Your father always seemed to think himself superior to this branch of the family,” Amelie had said in a cold voice from the tablet that Adrien’s bodyguard was holding. “But nonetheless, I suppose I have a duty to look after you now that he is unavailable. After all, you’re family.”

Adrien had nodded at the screen. “I can be on the next train to England, and then I can take a taxi to your estate.”

“No,” Amelie had said sharply. “There have been rumors circulating that you may have been involved with your father’s villainy, and your presence here would cause a scandal. I’ve found a recently vacated apartment in Paris for you and a live-in guardian to see to your needs. It’s a small space, but I’m assured it’s sufficient for you.”

Living alone in an apartment with only a random staffer for company had sounded even worse to Adrien than living in the big estate with his bodyguard for protection. “I don’t need a new guardian,” he said at last. “I already have my bodyguard.”

“His contract says he is to serve as your guardian if your whole family is unavailable,” Amelie had said. “I am available, so that part of the contract no longer applies.” She had shrugged. “Furthermore, my understanding is that Audrey Bourgeois, who controls your company and thus is that gentleman’s boss, is reassigning him to be her personal bodyguard.” 

Adrien had stared at his bodyguard, who had nodded and hadn’t even look regretful. It had seemed almost like he was happy to be done with Adrien, which had stunned the boy. “Hang on, I paid you!” Adrien had said to the man. “That means you work for me!”

“His contract is with Audrey, not you,” Amelie had said. “He was always working for the company which she now owns. All you did was give him an advance on his salary. Which, incidentally, you were not authorized to do.”

Adrien had ground his teeth. “Look, I really need some support, and—“

“This isn’t about you,” Amelie had said. “And while I have an obligation to your welfare, that obligation doesn’t mean you get your pick of who you want to look after you. I have found you a perfectly suitable guardian to watch over you until you turn eighteen. You move tomorrow.” And with that, she had hung up.

Now Adrien began to take his things downstairs to the cab he’d been told would be waiting for him. As he descended, though, he was stopped by some familiar faces. “Marinette?” he gasped as he saw his former classmate and her parents on the stairs. “What are you doing here?”

Marinette saw Adrien and her eyes widened. Adrien knew that he must look horrible after the events of the last few days, so he tried to ignore her shock at his appearance, but it was hard. Finally, Marinette said, “Audrey Bourgeois wants me and my family to live here now.”

Adrien tried to process that. “Marinette, this is my home,” he managed. “They’re taking it from me.”

Marinette shrugged.

Sabine looked at Tom. “Why don’t we give those two a minute?’ she said. “We should check out the kitchen and see what kind of baking we can get done.”

When they were gone, Adrien said, “Marinette, please. I need your help. I really need it.”

“Why?” Marinette asked.

Adrien stared at her. “Because Lila stole a huge part of my wealth and Audrey just took everything that was left! I have nothing! Plus my father is in jail, the only other adults who looked after me are gone, and to top it all off, the police think that I stole my own money and helped Hawkmoth!”

“Why?” Marinette asked again.

“Because Lila told them so!” Adrien said, completely exasperated.

A thin smile crossed Marinette’s lips. “Gosh, I guess maybe you shouldn’t have spent the past several months telling everyone how honest she was and how everyone should just trust her.” Adrien’s eyes flashed, but Marinette went on before he could answer. “But what I meant was, why should I, specifically, do anything?”

Adrien stared at her. “Marinette, I’m practically dying here!”

“No you aren’t,” said Marinette. “You’re still going to have a place to live, right?” When Adrien slowly nodded, she went on. “You’ll have food, clothes, access to a doctor? Then you aren’t dying. You’ve lost money, but you can afford to lose it; all that will happen is that you won’t be quite as well off as you were before. That’s hardly a world-shaking catastrophe. After all, you were fine when it happened to your classmates.”

Adrien scowled. “Then how about this reason: you should help me because we’re friends. Because you love me just as much as I love you.”

“We aren’t friends, I don’t love you, and frankly I don’t think you love me either.” Marinette shook her head. “You told me you loved Ladybug, but when you interacted with me, you made it clear that it didn’t matter to you if I got hurt. You prioritized ‘taking the high road’ and ‘not making waves’ over helping defend me from the horrible things Lila did. And you know what? Even if we forget about me for the moment, you also let Lila rob the class blind because you didn’t really care about them either. They’re responsible for how they treated me, but you’re also responsible in part for how Lila was able to manipulate them.” She shook her head. “All you care about is you. That you have ‘friends’ who like you. That you not be blamed for anything. Oh, you might love the idea of me as a flawless superhero who endlessly accommodates your shortcomings, overlooks your flaws, and gives you the love you didn’t get at home. But you don’t love me as a person, Adrien. And I can’t love someone like you.”

“But you have to!” said Adrien. “We’re soulmates, Marinette. I know it. And not only are you Ladybug, but you’re the everyday Ladybug. It’s your job to support us, to help out, to—“

“That is not my job!” Marinette’s eyes flashed. “I accepted the job of being the actual Ladybug, yes. I accepted the responsibility of battling akumas and sentimonsters. But I never agreed to be an ‘everyday Ladybug,’ which apparently means looking out for everyone even when they won’t spend an ounce of effort looking out for me. I never agreed that you guys could let Lila destroy my life so that she’d let you be friends with her. I never agreed that it was my duty to just make you guys banners and clothes and cookies and all sorts of things, with no payment, and with my only ‘reward’ being that you’d expect me to do something even bigger next time. I never agreed to any of that.” She sighed. “You all just assumed. And I didn’t know any better, so I let you assume, and I kept working, and I wondered why I was always so unhappy. But now I have real friends and I’ll never settle for the fake ones again.”

She began to move past Adrien, who suddenly stepped in front of her. “Look, what do you want from me?” he demanded. “I don’t understand you! Just tell me what you want so we can go back to how things were before!” 

“Nothing,” said Marinette. “I don’t want anything from you, and we’ll never go back. You’re just some random person to me now, Adrien. And that’s not going to change.”

“Then what did you want from me?” Adrien asked. “Before?”

“I wanted a real friend,” Marinette said simply. “Someone who would have protected me just like I always tried to protect him. Adrien, I routinely fought with your father to let you have more freedom and privileges. I tried to keep you safe from Lila and others who wanted to use you. I defended you against akumas who wanted to kill you. And all I wanted was for you to support me too.”

“I can do that!” Adrien insisted. “I can be supportive, really!”

Marinette shook her head. “It’s too late,” she said. “You’ve used up all your chances, Adrien. I can’t and won’t trust you. If you want to be a better person, great. Be better to whoever you associate with in the future. But it won’t be me.”

And she continued up to Adrien’s former bedroom, while all Adrien could do was head down the stairs.

Chapter Text

One week later, Marinette was still exploring the workshops and sewing equipment in the mansion when she heard her parents talking downstairs. “It was the weirdest thing,” she heard Sabine say. “When I looked back I could swear there was someone following me. He wore this ridiculous coat and deerstalker cap, and he had on glasses that looked fake. But then some people passed between us, and when I looked again he was gone.”

“Now that you mention it, I think I recall seeing that guy in our bakery too,” Tom said. “Both our old place and our new storefront in Le Grand Paris, in fact. I wonder what he wants?”

“Well, if he keeps stalking us I’m calling the police,” said Sabine. “I don’t want to take the chance that this is one of Gabriel’s minions trying to hurt my little girl.”

Marinette frowned. Sending a quiet stalker after her parents wasn’t Hawkmoth’s style; he’d always preferred akumas that caused overt destruction. She also couldn’t quite see Lila sending a stalker after her family, since the only thing that could accomplish would be to risk making Ladybug angry enough to denounce her. So what did that leave?

Deep in thought, Marinette returned to her room and grabbed her phone off its charger. When she looked at it she saw that it was blinking and showed that she’d received a text from Juleka. “Something’s going on,” the text said. “Can you call me back?”

Marinette did so. “What’s up?” she asked.

“I know you don’t want to talk about your old class anymore,” said Juleka, “but I think they’re going to do something crazy, and so I wanted to warn you.”

“Something crazy?” Marinette asked. “Like what?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I heard Alya talking at lunch the other day about how she’s having Nino follow your parents around for a while. Apparently he’s got some kind of ‘amazing disguise.’”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that amazing; they both saw him and thought he looked nuts. Did Alya say what they want with my parents?”

“I think they want to badger them until they tell you to make up with the class,” Juleka said. “Alya’s getting everyone but Chloe together in a little bit to talk more about it. But here’s the thing: she also implied they have some kind of secret weapon that your parents won’t be able to resist.”

“I see.” Marinette thought for a moment. “Were you invited to this meeting?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t going to go,” said Juleka. “Rose wasn’t going either; I talked to her and convinced her it was a bad idea. Why?”

“I’d appreciate if you and Rose did go, actually,” Marinette said. “Call me right before it starts and then just leave your phone running so I can hear what’s going on. That way I can know if they’re really planning something for my parents that I need to deal with. And if I think of any questions I want asked or anything I want said, I’ll just text you and then you or Rose can say it.”

“Okay, Marinette,” said Juleka. “I can do that.”

Marinette nodded. “Thanks, Juleka. I appreciate it.”

A couple hours later, Juleka indeed called Marinette, who lay back in her bed. She set her phone so that the microphone was muted and the speakerphone was turned on, allowing her to hear everything without transmitting any sounds back. “Alright,” Marinette murmured. “Here we go.” 

Adrien leaned against a tree and looked at the class. The park they were in wasn’t great; it was in the middle of a wooded area with no drinking fountains or bathrooms nearby, and the weather was unpleasantly muggy. There were also clouds of mosquitos, and every now and then the sound of a slap echoed through the park when a class member smacked a bug. Still, Adrien made no complaint. A little unpleasantness was a small price to pay if they could work out a plan which fixed everything.

“Thanks for meeting me here, everyone!” Alya said, her voice sounding tired but determined. “I know we’ve had a rough few days, but I think we’ve found a path forwards.”

“Thank God,” said Kim. “This last week really, really sucked.”

“I hear that,” added Alix in a grouchy voice. “Stupid Lila. She ruined everything!”

Adrien’s voice cut through the others. “I know she did,” he said in a voice that was superficially authoritative and strong but also held a few notes of exhaustion. “She fooled everyone and caused us all a lot of problems. That’s why we’re going to bring her to justice, just as soon as we can get Marinette on our side again.”

“Huh,” Marinette mused. “The class finally figured it out.” She shook her head. “But only after her lies began affecting them and not just me, of course.”

Then she heard more voices coming through the phone and fell silent so she could listen.

“Why are we meeting here?” Ivan suddenly complained. “This is just an empty field in the middle of the woods. What happened to the idea of discussing this during study hall?”

“Because our new teacher is awful and won’t let us do anything during study hall except for studying,” snapped Alix. “What a jerk. I miss Bustier already.”

Juleka’s phone vibrated and Juleka glanced down at it, then looked up. “Does anyone know why Bustier left?” she asked. “It was really sudden, and they didn’t tell us a lot.”

Adrien frowned at Juleka, who seemed tense, and Rose, who was hanging on Juleka’s arm and seemed very worried. There was something odd with them, but he had no idea what. “Well—“ he began. 

“You didn’t hear?” said Alya. Then she paused before adding, “Oh, right, you were off with Rose when Sabrina told us. Sabrina?” 

Sabrina, who was carrying a thick file folder, nodded and then said, “Do you remember how Lila once told Bustier she had some kind of hypersensitivity condition and needed a quiet room where she could calm down if she got too stimulated?”

“Not really,” said Juleka. “I might have been sick that day.”

Alya said, “Well, that was when Bustier and Damocles turned the spare art room into a ‘quiet space’ for her. They put in comfy chairs, speakers with calming music, and stuff like that, and when the art teacher complained, Bustier just said it was more important to accommodate Lila than to have the club.”

“And then Lila probably just used that room to nap whenever she didn’t feel like doing her classwork,” groused Ivan.

“Well,” Sabrina added, “after Lila left and Marinette changed classes, Chloe talked to Principal Damocles and told him that the school should put together a file detailing all of Lila’s conditions so her new school could accommodate them too. But when Damocles ordered the nurse to do that, the nurse revealed that she didn’t know of any illnesses or disabilities Lila had, because Lila had never actually submitted paperwork for them or even mentioned them to the school’s medical staff. Lila just told Bustier and us that she had all kinds of problems, and Bustier and Damocles made accommodations on their own without verifying any of it.”

Kim growled. “I can’t believe I carried her books all year!”

“I did her homework because she said she was exhausted from medical procedures,” said Max in a sullen voice. “I feel like a fool.”

“The nurse reported that news to the school board, and then the board went back and found that the school had requested government money to renovate that room,” Sabrina went on to say. “Specifically, Bustier and Damocles had applied for a grant that’s designed to help students with disabilities. But since there’s no proof Lila was actually disabled, the government thinks that Bustier and Damocles just made it up to get the school some money. So the school board sacked Bustier, and they’re making Damocles take an ‘early retirement’ as soon as the term is over, so he’ll be gone too.”

Alix growled again. “And when a few of us tried telling the board that Lila was the one who had lied, they said there was no proof of that.”

“Right,” said Alya. “Lila never wrote anything down or turned in any paperwork, so the only evidence that she ever claimed to be disabled or needed special accommodations was our testimony. And that’s not enough, especially since the board thinks a more likely explanation is that we’re friends with Adrien and are trying to make up bad things about Lila to support his story about her robbing him blind. So she got away with it once again and all the blame fell on Bustier and Damocles.” She clenched a fist. “I can’t believe Chloe did that. Lila was the one at fault for lying, so why did Chloe tell Damocles to put together that package? She had to know it would result in Bustier getting in trouble! And now we’ve lost the best teacher in school!”

“Bustier’s replacement won’t let me work on my DJ mixes or anything,” Nino groaned. “It’s all just ‘do your homework’ and ‘do this worksheet.’ He’s like a robot. And he gives out a lot more detentions than Bustier ever did.”

Adrien said, “Don’t worry, guys. Once we get Ladybug back on our side we can prove Lila was responsible for all of it. I’m sure Bustier will be reinstated right away once we do that, and Damocles won’t be forced out either.”

Marinette pursed her lips in thought. I wonder why Chloe did that to Bustier? she mused. I guess she just wanted to make sure Bustier didn’t hurt anyone else with her stupid ‘just let people bully you and be an everyday Ladybug’ approach. In fact, Chloe didn’t even let me know she was doing it, so she clearly wasn’t acting just to get credit. Just like how a couple days ago, when I asked Maman why I’d seen Chloe helping in the bakery, Maman and Papa mentioned Chloe apologizing to them for almost crashing that train they were on and asking if there was any way she could make it up to them. They also said that when they got her in touch with a few other people from the train, Chloe went to apologize and try to make amends to them too. But Chloe never told me she was doing any of that. Yeah, Chloe’s definitely changed for the better. 

She smiled to herself, then resumed listening.

“We couldn’t meet during study hall because our new teacher is a jerk,” Alya reiterated. “And we couldn’t meet anywhere else because everyone thinks we’re suspicious. Anarka Couffaine won’t let us meet on the Liberty anymore, and we got kicked out of the last three restaurants we tried. So we had to come here.”

“It’s so unfair,” said Nathaniel. “It’s not our fault we got akumatized a lot. Or that the idiot authorities believe that Adrien was working with Hawkmoth and think it’s suspicious we’re still friends with him. Why won’t they listen?”

“Because Ladybug left our class,” said Rose softly. “That’s why they aren’t willing to listen to us. They trust her, and she’s made it clear she thinks we’re bad and doesn’t like us.”

“She does like us!” Adrien insisted. “Trust me, I know her really well. She’s just confused right now. Lila obviously did a number on her too by making her think she has no friends. But we’ll work through it and be closer than ever.” His voice sounded almost desperate. “That’s what friends do,” he went on. “They forgive. They’re good to each other.”

“Right,” said Alya. “I know Marinette well too; I’m her BFF, after all. I’m sure she’s crying herself to sleep every night in despair over being separated from us. She just can’t reach out to us again after she publicly acted like she dislikes us. What she needs is a way to climb down from that position and admit she wants to be our friends again, but without losing face. So we need to make it a matter of duty, not just friendship.”

“I see,” said Nathaniel. “If we can show Marinette that she has an obligation to work with us, like to prevent Lila from getting away with all her crimes, then she’ll do so. She’s a hero, after all. And at that point we can start to publicly reaffirm our friendship with each other. Once Lila’s defeated, we can all just keep hanging out with each other.”

“And then everything will be back to normal,” said Adrien confidently.

Alya rubbed her hands together. “Exactly. The only issue is, Marinette won’t talk to us right now, so we need to get to her another way. My first thought was to ask our parents to step in, but that won’t work, at least for me. Mom freaked out after Ladybug said I was a bad hero on national television.” She groaned. “I tried to explain to Mom how it was all Lila’s fault, but she’s still suspicious of my story, so I don’t think she’s going to talk to Marinette on my behalf.”

“I think a lot of us are in the same situation,” said Nino. “I mean, we didn’t all get denounced, but like Rose said, everyone knows Ladybug doesn’t like our class anymore. My parents really wanted to know why and I had no idea what to tell them.”

“Right,” said Alya. “But just because our parents aren’t an option doesn’t mean we can’t go through Marinette’s parents. Nino did a pretty good job of tracking them so we know where they’ll be and can arrange to meet them. Once we do, our first step has to be making it clear just how badly Lila hurt us. We each need to be able to quickly tell them what she did to us and why she must be brought to justice. Then Marinette’s parents will go to Marinette and get her to reunite with us to stop Lila, at which point we can make up with her.” She looked at the others. “We just have to make sure we can say, quickly and concisely, what it is Lila took from each of us.”

“That’s easy enough,” said Nathaniel. “Lila tricked me into giving her my work to send to Marvel. Then yesterday I saw some other artist selling that same work on his website! Lila must have kept it and sold it to that guy!”

“If you still have the originals, can’t you publish it anyways?” asked Rose.

Nathaniel shook his head. “Lila told me Marvel wanted the originals, so I gave them to her. And besides, even if I did publish now, I’d look like I was ripping the other guy off.” He hung his head. “That’s a year of work, gone! Plus there’s all the art gallery passes and other stuff I gave her while I was waiting for ‘her friend at Marvel’ to get back to me. And when I tried to go to the Louvre yesterday just to sketch and calm down, Alix’s dad told me I was banned, because some drunk rich guy got one of the passes I gave to Lila and then threw a tantrum when they wouldn’t let him get close to the paintings. That guy got so mad he threw wine on a Veronese painting, and they found that the pass had originally been issued to me, so they blamed me for him getting in even though I kept telling them Lila must have sold it to him.” He sighed. “I don’t know what I’ll do now.”

“Lila took Markov’s code,” Max said in a hurt voice. “She said she just wanted to make a copy to show her friend at MIT so I might be able to get an internship, but now I’ve heard a team in Canada is publishing a paper describing Markov’s exact AI system. She obviously sold it to them.” His voice caught. “That project was supposed to be able to get me into any college I wanted, but now that someone else is publishing first, my work isn’t novel or publishable anymore. I helped her with her homework so many times, and her response was to steal Markov’s code, sell it, and derail my life!”

“But you invented Markov ages ago,” Ivan said. “We know he existed before those Canadians published their work. Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Max insisted. “Even the few people that know Markov exists like you guys and Ms. Mendeleiev aren’t familiar enough with his code to conclusively prove the Canadian team copied it.” He shook his head. “I should have published months ago, but Lila convinced me to wait so her ‘connections in science journalism’ could set up a publicity blitz and make my work even more famous. In hindsight it’s obvious she was just trying to stall me so that, when she sold my code, she could charge more on the grounds that whoever bought it could publish first and pretend to have invented it. That AI code could have made my name in the scientific community and been the basis for a great startup, but now it’s all gone.”

“Lila’s a real monster,” murmured Nathaniel.  Max nodded in agreement.

Kim gestured at himself and Alix. “She got thousands of dollars in sports equipment from us after she told us she could get it autographed by real pros that she knew,” he muttered. “So we gave it to her to send off for autographs, and I’m guessing she sold it as soon as we handed it over.”

“And there was that big skating competition I qualified for,” Alix added in a deeply angry voice. “Tony Hawk was going to be one of the judges, and I told Lila that because she’d said they were friends and I figured she could introduce us. But then the morning of the competition Lila said she was incredibly sick and in horrible pain, and I had to skip the competition to take care of her since I’d feel like a jerk otherwise.” She growled. “And now I know the most likely thing that happened was that she was afraid of me meeting Tony Hawk and learning he didn’t know Lila, so she faked her illness and tricked me into missing the tournament! I could have qualified for a national-level championship match if I’d done well in that competition, I could have gotten scholarships and sponsors, and I missed it because the ‘friend’ I thought I was helping was some kind of lying sociopath! That jerk took my skates, my future, my Mirac…”

She glanced down without finishing the word. Adrien gently asked, “You were a temporary holder?”

“Yeah, I was Bunnyx.” Alix’s voice was thick with grief. “The one that time-traveled. I figured I was going to be a great hero someday, saving the world and stuff. But thanks to Lila tricking us all into shunning Marinette, now it’s never going to happen!” Her voice caught. “Future-me used to visit sometimes, just to give little hints and stuff. ‘Don’t wear those pants; they’ll split when you’re skating and reveal your underwear.’ ‘Study more for that test; it’s a lot harder than you’re expecting.’ Stuff like that. It was really neat to talk to her since she understood me really well, for obvious reasons. But future-me hasn’t been back since Marinette vowed not to let any of us be heroes anymore. I don’t think she can return, since apparently I’m never going to get to be Bunnyx in the future now, so future-me will never have powers.” The others looked at each other as Alix fell silent for a moment before resuming her speech. “If I ever see Lila again I’m going to beat her into the ground,” she vowed. 

Juleka hesitated. “Well, it’s not entirely her fault. I mean, nobody made us be mean to Marinette. We chose to do that.”

“Wrong,” said Alix in a flat tone. “It is Lila’s fault. Everything was fine until she got here. I bet if Lila had never arrived, it would never even have occurred to us to shun Marinette.” Her lip quivered. “And also, why the Hell didn’t Ladybug tell us we could lose our Miraculouses? If we’d known those were at stake, I bet we’d all have been a Hell of a lot nicer, but she didn’t even give us a warning!”

“Maybe she didn’t think she should have to threaten us with taking away our powers to get us to be nice?” ventured Rose. “And maybe she didn’t think she should have to warn us that we could lose our powers if we didn’t show good character or—“

Alix glared at her. “Who’s side are you on?”

“Alright, alright,” said Alya quickly. “We’re getting off course.” She looked around the circle to see who hadn’t talked yet, her gaze seeming to skip over Juleka and Rose as she did so. Adrien guessed that was because those two girls seemed like they might not be entirely on the class’s side. Either way, he saw Alya finish glancing around and say, “Sabrina, Mylene, Ivan: when you see Marinette’s folks, what are you going to tell them Lila took from you?”

“Lila had me give her the contacts list I’d picked up from my time with Chloe,” said Sabrina. “Since Chloe’s dad is the mayor and took Chloe to fancy events, Chloe sometimes got to interact with really powerful people or their kids. She’d often get their numbers too, and since I was basically Chloe’s secretary, I got a lot of those numbers as well. Lila borrowed my phone, took all the information, and sold it online to random people who wanted to be able to call up politicians and rich people to push for this or that issue. And when she sold that stuff, she claimed to be me in order to demonstrate how she could have gotten that information, since it was an open secret how I was always hanging around the Bourgeois family. Now all those powerful people think it’s my fault they’re being inundated with tons and tons of stupid calls.” Her voice sounded almost despondent. “My dad told me that pretty much every college in the country is going to have a couple of big donors who hate me because they blame me for getting hundreds of calls by lunatic activists. He’s already warned me I may need to take a gap year, or consider trade school, or just…” She waved a hand feebly before falling silent.

“Won’t Chloe help you?” Juleka asked.

Sabrina shook her head. “No. She actually went to my house to tell me and Dad she was sorry for the way she treated me and she wanted to make it right, but she also made it clear she didn’t want to be my friend anymore because she doesn’t like the way I went along with Lila.” A rueful smile crossed her lips. “She and my dad worked out something where she comes over once or twice a week to do some of my chores in order to make up for all the times I did her homework and stuff, but that’s it. She’s not going to talk to the donors on my behalf because ‘we aren’t friends.’”

Alya nodded and then turned to the others. “Mylene?” she asked.

Mylene was curled up in Ivan’s arms. “I spent lots of time talking to all the contacts I was making the political and activist world, asking them to give me things so I could relay them to Lila and her charities,” she said softly. “But once Lila left town, we stopped getting the ‘confirmation’ letters from the charities. Then my contacts checked and found all the charities were fake. And since they never dealt with Lila, they think that I’m the one who made everything up to get money from them, not her.” She began to cry. “I wanted to make a difference, but now I’m literally banned from joining any of the groups I want to support!”

“We all lost money and stuff to Lila’s bogus charities,” Ivan growled. “That fancy suit jacket I gave her for the clothes charity, the one Marinette made for me, was the best one I had! Now it’s gone, and I can’t even get in touch with Marinette to ask her for another.”

“Same,” said Sabrina. “I miss the dresses I gave Lila.” The others chimed in their agreement before falling quiet.

After a moment of glum silence, Nino said, “I guess I’m next: all my best mixes got sold to DJs across Europe and Asia.” He sighed. “But I guess I didn’t get hit too bad. Not after what Lila did to Alya and Adrien, anyways.”

Alya winced. “Yeah,” she muttered. “I mean, it’s not just that she stole my brand new computer which cost thousands of euros.”

“How did she steal that?” asked Juleka suddenly.

Alya shrugged. “My best guess is that she made a wax copy of my housekey during one of the times she slept over, then paid a locksmith to make a duplicate key later and used it to get inside and grab my computer after I’d left for school and just before she skipped town. It was gone when I got back from that dinner meeting with Marinette at Le Grand Paris, and at first I thought maybe Nora or Mom took it to the repair store for some reason, but nope.” She let out a breath. “Lila just grabbed it, and I’m guessing she sold it. But like I said, that isn’t the worst of it.” 

She paused, as if she couldn’t go on, and Nino continued for her. “The computer was still logged into Alya’s administrative account on the Ladyblog, which meant that since Lila had the computer, she had access to the blog’s administrative privileges. Lila used them to delete the entire thing from the Internet. Probably so she could hide all the videos where she claimed to be Ladybug’s friend.”

“It’s hard to get things taken off the Internet entirely,” Rose said in a tentatively hopeful voice. “Maybe someone made copies?”

Nino shook his head. “Alya was pretty zealous about DMCAing anyone who tried to reupload her videos.”

“A reporter is supposed to protect her coverage!” Alya suddenly snapped. “I was the one who made the videos, so it made sense that I kept them and that I didn’t let random people on Youtube steal and post those videos themselves for ad revenue! But now the website’s gone, so the videos aren’t online, and Lila took the hard drive that I kept the backups on too. For all intents and purposes, my blog never existed.” She scowled. “I spent so much time chasing after akumas to get that footage. I got hit by them a bunch. I risked my life! And now it’s all for nothing.”

“Plus,” Nino added, “Alya lost her upcoming internship at Le Monde after Ladybug criticized her on Nadja’s show. They said they didn’t want to associate with her anymore.”

“And Ladybug only did that because Lila got between us, like Alix said” said Alya with fire in her eyes. “I was a great hero as Rena Rouge, but Lila wove her stupid lies around us and got Marinette to say those horrible things.”

Adrien nodded. “Well, you all know what she did to me,” he said. “She stole fifty million euros of my family’s money and made the police think I was working with my father.” He clenched his fist. “But don’t worry. Once we get Marinette on our side, we’ll get back everything we lost.”

“And I certainly think we can show that Lila’s actions were heinous enough that Marinette has a moral obligation to shut her down,” Alya said. “After all, Marinette’s a hero.”

Juleka glanced at her phone again. “Won’t she just tell us to go to the police?”

“Again, since there’s no proof Lila was involved, the police just think that we’re making all this up to support Adrien,” Nino said. “We need real evidence. That means we need Ladybug and Chat Noir to track Lila down and make her confess. Nobody knows who Chat Noir is, so we might not be able to talk to him directly—“

Adrien coughed. “Actually, he dropped by my new place last night to check on me. When I explained what was going on, he said he completely sympathized with us and would help in any way he could. Including, by the way, tracking Lila down and bringing her to justice.”

“Great,” said Nino. “But I do think Ladybug has a point about him not being the most competent hero. He’s cool, yeah, but he’s kind of flaky. We definitely need Ladybug on our side too.”

Adrien flushed but managed not to make an indignant response about Chat Noir’s capabilities. “I agree we need her,” he said. “So what’s the plan? Alya, you mentioned a secret weapon?”

“I did,” said Alya. “Sabrina?”

The redhead nodded. “I went into my dad’s files and pulled copies of the interviews that Lila gave to the police,” she said. “We’ll be able to go through the transcripts, find the lies, and expose them.”

Adrien nodded. “Good thinking!” he said. “I’m sure that will help. If we can show the Dupain-Chengs that Lila lied about specific things, then it won’t just be a matter of our word versus Lila’s. They’ll know Lila is in the wrong and that their superhero daughter has an obligation to make things right.” He smiled a little. “And by the way, everyone: once Marinette comes back to us, I know it might be tempting to rub it in how she was mean for a little bit, but let’s not do that. Let’s be kind and forgiving. Once she agrees to bury the hatchet, help us crush Lila, and be our friend again, we should just accept it and move on like nothing ever happened. That’s how friends are supposed to be.”

“Well, maybe we can rub it in a little,” said Alya. “I mean, we really are suffering here. But I agree in general; once we’re friends again, we work on finding a way to move past all this. Sabrina, can you start passing out the files? Let’s go through them and identify Lila’s lies.”

“Uh huh,” said Sabrina eagerly. She began passing out the papers from her folder, and the class started analyzing them.

After a few moments, Adrien frowned at the papers he’d been given. “Hey, this one’s not of Lila,” he said. “This one is from when I talked to the police the first time, to report the theft.”

Sabrina nodded. “While I was going through the files, I also pulled the interviews that you gave the police, Adrien. That way we could better defend you if people keep talking about the police suspecting you. We can give them the context about your statements, or show how you hadn’t said anything suspicious and Lila had just tricked the police into suspecting you based on nothing.”

Adrien hesitated as he remembered something. “Um, wait,” he said. “Maybe I should go through those first to find the important parts. I—“

“Woah, hold it,” said Alix as she stared at the transcript she was reading. “Adrien? Can you explain this?”

“Explain what?” asked Adrien, with sweat beading on his forehead.

“This part where you told the police you knew Lila was lying about her charities and celebrity stories for months?” said Alix slowly.

Adrien paled. “Well, the word ‘knew’ is a little strong—“

Alix jumped to her feet. “It says so right here in the second interview you gave!” she shouted. “Quote: ‘Lila lied constantly. She lied about knowing celebrities, she lied about her charity work, she lied about having a bunch of ridiculous disabilities, and she lied about knowing Ladybug. And she’s not even good at hiding it; I had her pegged almost as soon as she entered my class. She’s an obvious, complete, and total fraud.” Her eyes snapped over to Adrien. “You knew,” she hissed. “You knew since the beginning.”

The class was turning to Adrien, and he stepped backwards with a nervous laugh. “Look, I didn’t want her to get akumatized,” he said. “And I didn’t want to cause tension and unpleasantness over a few little lies. I mean—“

“Little?” gasped Alix. “She stole a thousand euro pair of skates from me by tricking me into thinking the French Olympic Team would autograph them!”

“So buy another pair,” said Adrien. “I mean, when compared to someone’s feelings—“

“Buy another pair?” Alix stared at the others before turning back to Adrien. “Are you a complete idiot? I can’t just go out and buy another thousand euro set of skates! I don’t have that kind of money!”

Adrien blushed. “You bought them the first time, right?”

“No!” Alix yelled. “They were a gift from my father for my thirteenth birthday! He made it very clear that was a one-time thing! And incidentally, when I told him how my skates went missing, he told me it was my fault for being irresponsible, that he wouldn’t replace them, and that if I wanted another pair of skates I’d have to get a part-time job and earn them! Which I can’t do, because nobody will hire me, and that’s because my reputation’s destroyed along with everyone else’s here since we’ve spent the last several days defending you in a city that thinks you worked with Hawkmoth!”

Adrien was still backing up, but then he hit a tree and couldn’t retreat anymore. Now the whole class was glaring at him. “I just didn’t want to upset anyone!” he protested.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE NOW?” Alix screamed. “I FOR ONE AM PRETTY UPSET!”

“Look, I just didn’t realize her lies were doing that kind of damage,” Adrien insisted. “But I acknowledge I was wrong, and I’m sorry.” He managed a faint smile. “If you guys can forgive me—“

“No,” said Alix, turning away. “All of this pain that we’re suffering is on you just as much as Lila.”

“But…” Adrien turned to Nino. “Come on, man. We’re best friends. Help me out here.”

Nino gave him a long look. “You knew that she was taking money from the rest of us,” he said slowly. “You knew that she was manipulating us. But you didn’t do anything about it until she’d robbed you personally. I’m guessing that, if she hadn’t taken your fifty million, you’d still be insisting she was a good person.” He sighed. “Sorry, dude. I don’t think we’re best friends anymore. Or friends at all, in fact.” 

Adrien stared at the others with horror in his face. “Guys, come on,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot lately too. I need your support.”

Alya turned her back on him as well. “Go away, Adrien. You made your bed with Lila. Now you can lie in it.”

Adrien stared at the others for a long moment before he turned and rushed off into the woods. 

Marinette sighed to herself as she heard the meeting break up. “Thanks, Juleka,” she texted. “I really appreciate it.”

“Sure,” Juleka wrote back. “Talk to you later.”

When Marinette hung up, she thought for a long moment about whether or not she felt bad for Adrien. She knew how lonely and he was and how hurt he must be now that his remaining friends had left him.

But she also knew how lonely and hurt she’d been, and how he hadn’t cared.

Nope, she decided. She didn’t sympathize with him. He had gotten what he deserved. 

And that was that.

A few weeks later

Marinette flopped back on the luxurious sofa in the huge bedroom that had once been Adrien’s and was now hers. Then she nestled against Luka’s side. He obligingly lifted an arm so she could get in closer and then draped it around her. “Long night designing?” he asked.

“You know it!” Marinette said. “I was up half the night on my new dress, but it’ll be ready in time. Spring prom is going to be so much fun!”

Kagami, who was playing foosball with Jean, glanced up. “I’m sure you will look stunning,” she said. “You always do.”

Marinette grinned. “We all will,” she said. “Your dress is almost done too, Kagami.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Aurore and Mireille were sitting on beanbag chairs near the couch, and Ondine was about halfway up the climbing wall. “Thank you again for the dress,” Aurore said. “Mine makes me look like a beautiful sunbeam.” She grinned. “But are you sure I paid you enough money? It seemed a lot cheaper than dresses from the store.”

Marinette nodded. “All my materials are comped by Audrey Bourgeois now, so the only costs on my end are the time I spend designing it and sewing it,” she said. “The cost I gave you is a fair price for labor. Of course, if you want to tip me, I wouldn’t say no.”

Everyone laughed at that.

Chloe came in from a side room with a few magazines. “The latest fashion shows in Milan,” she announced as she handed them over. “Marinette, turn to page twenty in this magazine here. You won’t believe what this.”

Marinette did so, and then she grinned. “Oh my gosh,” she said. “I just gave this design to Audrey and she already put it into production! My work is going to be in Milan!”

Everyone else applauded, except for Ondine, who gave a cheerful whoop instead. 

Chloe put down the magazines and sat next to Marinette. “By the way,” she said in a quieter voice, “thanks for talking to Mom. She’s actually willing to spend time with me now. She even remembered my name!”

Marinette nodded. In the same way that she’d tried to help Adrien dealing with his abusive father back when she’d thought they were friends—doing everything from admitting to ‘stealing’ the grimoire so Adrien wouldn’t be blamed, to pushing Gabriel to let Adrien come to New York with the rest of the class—she was now trying to help Chloe’s mother stop being abusive to her. Of course, unlike Adrien, Chloe seemed to actually notice and appreciate it. “No problem. Let me know if she says anything mean about you not being special again. It’s not appropriate.”

“I will. Thanks.” Chloe shot Marinette a quick smile, then said, “Alright, girls, while I was out I also stopped at Paris’s premier spa and picked up the latest in nail polishes. Who wants to get styled?”

Mireille and Aurore raised their hands. Kagami just chuckled and shook her head. Chloe glanced at her and said, “Kagami, one of these days you’re going to learn that just because you’re tough doesn’t mean you also can’t be gorgeous.”

“A proper warrior doesn’t care about such things,” said Kagami, but her voice was light and it was clear she wasn’t actually disdainful of Chloe. “I’d rather perfect my fencing than my nails.”

“Oh, but you’d look so good with your nails done!” Mireille said. 

“Proper warrior?” Ondine teased. “Should we get you a set of shining armor and a cavalry warhorse?”

“I have all the weapons I need,” said Kagami smugly. “As a few former classmates of Marinette’s found out.”

Marinette nodded. Except for Chloe, Adrien, Juleka, and Rose, the remaining members of the class had gone through with their plan to badger Marinette’s parents. First they’d tried to talk to them in Le Grand Paris, but Mayor Bourgeois had thrown them out and banned them from the property. (Marlena Cesaire hadn’t objected, which made Marinette wonder if she was aware of and disappointed in her daughter’s antics). Then they’d tried to ambush Tom and Sabine on the street, but Lieutenant Raincomprix made it clear that wouldn’t be tolerated.

After that, the class had begun spamming them with calls and texts. Marinette had looked at a few that her parents had shown her and found they were all the same: apologies for hurting Marinette, arguments that Lila and Adrien were responsible for causing all the problems, and pleas for them to get Marinette to help them bring Lila to justice and recover what she took from them. She’d helped her parents block the messages, but the class seemed adapt at coming up with new email addresses and other ways to bug her which evaded her filters.

When she’d mentioned the problem to the others, Kagami had volunteered to handle things. “They are treating your family disrespectfully, and it is not appropriate,” she had said. “If you would like, I will stop them.”

“Uh, sure,” Marinette had said. “How?”

Kagami had smiled slightly. “You’ll see.”

After that, the texts and emails abruptly stopped. Marinette learned that Kagami had systematically gone to the families of each of her former classmates and laid out the text messages, recordings of the calls, and other proof of how the classmates were bothering Marinette. She had also presented as much evidence as possible of the class’s mistreatment of her, such as by showing social media posts in which they’d planned to exclude Marinette from their parties and also comments where they discussed fundraisers in such a way that it was clear they expected Marinette to do all the work. And while Marinette didn’t know what Kagami had specifically said, she knew that it had been devastatingly effective, because the class not only stopped harassing Marinette and her family but also wound up grounded for the foreseeable future.

“She does have the right weapons,” Ladybug said. “Three cheers for Kagami!” And everyone cheered, bringing a smile to Kagami’s face. 

Ladybug settled back as animated conversation continued. Luka stroked her hair and then said, “Do you want to go out tonight?”

“We just went out last night,” Marinette teased. “Am I so irresistible you don’t want to spend a single night without getting ice cream or seeing a movie with me?”

“Pretty much,” Luka said, and Marinette could tell he meant it.

“Then it’s a date.” Marinette gave a contented sigh. “You’re awesome, Luka.”

“Hey, Kagami,” said Jean as he managed to shoot the foosball into the goal. “Did you guys ever get that reward from the city for being Captain Butterfly Guy?”

The others chuckled, and then Kagami said, “No. They keep pushing the date of the ceremony back because more and more businesses and politicians demand it be delayed so they can make their own contributions. It’s not like we need it, though.”

Luka nodded. “Even setting aside Marinette here, Kagami and I got approached by people who really want to show their appreciation for our hero work. We’re doing fine. Mom’s made some real improvements to the boat, I’ve got a new woodworking set for building instruments, and I even spotted Juleka enough money to buy a better guitar that she’d had her eye on. Plus some funds for a really nice date with Rose.”

Marinette nodded, but something occurred to her. “Where is Juleka, anyways? She hasn’t been to our last couple meetups.”

Luka shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s been spending a bunch of time with Rose recently. I figured that was where she was. Why?”

“Just a feeling.” Marinette stood. “I’m going to head out, but please feel free to stay here. Mi casa es su casa.”

“Woot!” Jean said. “I am totally having another root beer.”

“You are a wild and crazy guy, Jean,” joked Mireille.

Marinette noted how Kagami was blushing a little as she watched Jean. It had surprised everyone how the reserved warrior had fallen for the eternally optimistic and energetic joker, but when Marinette thought about it more, it made sense. Jean was incredibly driven to excel as a magician, spending much of his free time practicing tricks, and Kagami clearly respected that kind of passion and his zeal to reach the pinnacle of his trade. Also, he was funny, charming, and had an almost preternatural sense of how to cheer up anyone who was feeling sad.

“Before I go,” Marinette said, “are we all still good to do Miraculous training tonight?”

With Mayura still out there, Marinette had decided to increase the ranks of the temporary holders and also institute regular training sessions. Luka and Kagami kept using the snake and fox Miraculouses, of course, and Jean had gotten the monkey. Aurore had the dragon Miraculous, Mireille used the horse, and Ondine had the tortoise. 

Plus, Chloe had the bee again. 

The girl had almost cried with joy when Marinette had offered it to her for a probationary period, and Marinette had been very happy too. “You’ve changed,” she had said. “That’s obvious by now. I’m sure that you’ll use it appropriately this time.”

“I will,” Chloe had sobbed. “Thank you, Marinette. You’re the best friend I could have.”

Marinette had blushed as she affixed the comb in Chloe’s hair. “Don’t thank me yet. This means you have to start training with us, and watch out: I’m pretty strict. Also,” and here she’d held up a hand, “I want you to change up your costume and your name so nobody knows that it’s you, Chloe Bourgeois, who is the bee hero.”

Chloe had smiled in an abashed way. “You’re worried the fame might go to my head and I might be a jerk again if I’m able to tell everyone that I’m back to being a superhero?”

“A little,” Marinette had admitted. “I just think it’s safer and less tempting this way. And I’m not saying I’ll never change my mind and decide it’s okay for you to reveal yourself, but for now, this is what I think’s best. Are you willing to accept my terms?”

“Yes,” Chloe had said. “And I promise I won’t let you down.”

“Then we’re good,” Marinette had claimed. “Training starts this afternoon. Are you ready?”

Chloe had grinned and thrown a salute. “I can take whatever you throw at me, Dupain-Cheng. Don’t you worry about that!”

The training sessions had gone well and Marinette was confident they’d be ready for Mayura when she arrived, assuming she ever did. Now she said, “We’re making great progress. I think tonight we’ll work more on using two kwamis at once via the unification spell. Sound good?”

“You got it!” said Jean.

Luka gave a little salute of his own. “Sounds great to me.”

With that, Marinette transformed into Ladybug, swung out of her room, and began to traverse the city. Citizens looked up at her and waved, cheered, or called out, “Hi Ladybug!” and “Hello, Marinette!” And Marinette always called out a greeting in return.

Life, she thought, was good.

When she got to the refurbished Liberty, she dropped down to the deck with a thump and heard squeaks from below. “Anyone home?” she called.

Juleka said, “I’m here, Marinette.” Then there were more squeaks and the sound of someone scrambling around.

Confused, frowning, Marinette went below deck and saw Juleka sitting on the couch with her guitar. She also saw Rose trying, and failing, to hide behind a potted plant.

That’s new, Marinette thought. 

“Hey, Marinette,” said Juleka. She seemed nervous, which surprised Marinette; after she’d reformed her friendship with Juleka, the girl had quickly become more comfortable with her again. Now, though, she looked uneasy. “What’s up?”

“Not much.” Marinette sat on the couch next to Juleka. “Is everything okay? You didn’t show up with the others.”

Juleka hesitated. “I’m fine,” she said at last. “Don’t worry about it.”

Marinette bit back a smile. “Juleka, if something’s wrong, you can tell me. We’re friends again.”

“I don’t want to offend you,” Juleka said.

“As long as you aren’t demanding I do unpaid labor for you or something like that, I won’t be offended,” Marinette insisted. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Juleka hesitated, then said, “I know Aurore and Mireille and Kagami and everyone are commissioning stuff from you, and I didn’t want to be the only person there who wasn’t. I’d feel awkward.”

“You could commission a dress from me,” said Marinette, confused. “Or don’t you want one?”

“Of course I do, but I kind of spent most of my money on dates with Rose,” said Juleka as she blushed. “And I know better than to demand something from you for free. So I figured maybe I’d sit this one out.” She sighed. “Sorry.”

Marinette understood and slowly shook her head “Juleka, there’s nothing whatsoever to apologize for. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Juleka nodded. “Thanks, but I’d still feel awkward going there and being the only one who isn’t getting a fancy outfit. You don’t mind, do you?”

“I’m never going to demand that someone go over to my house,” Marinette said. She thought again of the many demands that had been made of her back when she was in her old class and how she’d vowed never to treat anyone the way they had treated her. “If you want to stay home, that is completely fine with me. However, if you still want a dress and your only issue is that you spent all your money on Rose, maybe we could work out something else?”

Juleka blinked. “Like what?”

“A trade,” Marinette said. “Jean was in the same position as you: he wanted a nice suit for the dance, but he’d invested all his money in magic props, magic classes, renting auditoriums to perform in, and things like that. So we agreed to a swap. I did some work to make him a nice suit, and he did some marketing work for my own fashion line.” Audrey Bourgeois had been true to her word and had made no complaints about Marinette keeping some of her designs for herself. Marinette, who was now known in the fashion world as MDC, was getting extremely popular, but she had to admit that she wasn’t very familiar with marketing techniques. Jean, however, had a father who worked in advertising and had also learned lots about marketing as he’d worked out how to promote his shows. “He put up flyers, made Internet ads, got me ads in actual fashion magazines, and even called in a favor to get me a slot on an American fashion podcast,” Marinette went on. “You could do something for me in exchange for an outfit, just like he did.”

“I don’t know anything about advertising,” Juleka said.

“But you did tell me once you wanted to be a model,” Marinette pointed out. “I need someone to model my clothes. So how about a trade?”

Juleka’s face broke into a smile, but then she seemed to catch herself. “But I like modeling,” she said. “It doesn’t seem fair that if I want something from you, my payment is you giving me the opportunity to do something else I like. I’d feel like I’m still taking advantage of you.”

Marinette shrugged. “Why? I like making clothes and I need a model; you like modeling and need an outfit. Sounds like a good trade to me. And besides: if it was a bad trade, I’d tell you. I don’t let people take advantage of me anymore.”

Juleka’s smile slowly returned. “That’s a good point,” she said .”Then my answer is: yes, I’d love to model for you.”

A squeak sounded from behind the plant and Marinette glanced at it. “Is, um, there anything else I should know?” Marinette asked.

Juleka hesitated. “I’ve been talking to Rose a lot, and she understands why the way we all treated you before is wrong,” she said slowly. “Including the way they treated you at that dinner at Le Grand Paris. She wants to apologize and to see if there’s any way she can try to start being your friend again. I told her I’d ask you to see if you wanted to hear her out.”

“What if I say ‘no?’” Marinette asked. “What if I decide I was hurt so badly, and it’s taken so long for her to understand why, that I don’t want to talk to her even long enough to get an apology?”

Juleka looked pained, but she said, “Rose promised to respect that.”

Marinette considered for several moments. Finally, she said, “Okay, I’ll listen.”

Rose burst out from behind the plant and almost tackled Marinette in her rush to hug her. “I’m so sorry!” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I never should have listened to Lila! I got drawn in by all the good things she said she did, but none of those things were worth hurting you, and if you’ll just give me a chance I swear to make it up to you and be the best friend ever!”

Marinette gave her a long look, then glanced at Juleka, who looked tense but also determined. “How do I know you don’t just want to exploit me being Ladybug?” she asked when she looked back at Rose. “For instance, to get in good with Prince Ali? I know you’re still friends with him.”

“I won’t lie like that,” Rose promised. “I can show you my emails to him over the past few weeks. I’ve never tried to claim to be close to Ladybug in order to get closer to him.”  

She sounded sincere, and of course it would be easy enough to take Rose up on her offer to check the emails. “What about the charities that you collected money for at Lila’s behest?” Marinette asked.

Rose looked down. “Mylene showed us how they were all made up. Then Alya convinced Mylene that she didn’t need to do anything about the fake donations herself—“

“She seems to think that if the class can befriend you, you’ll donate the equivalent sums of money to real charities, thus making up for everything,” said Juleka in a dry voice. “Since you’re a rich hero now and all.”

“—But I’ve been thinking about trying to raise funds on my own to donate,” Rose went on. “That way at least our claims about having given so much money to such and such groups will be true in retrospect. I really am trying, but it’s a big project and I’ve only just begun.”

Marinette was impressed that Rose had taken that initiative on her own. After another few seconds of thought, Marinette decided that Rose had demonstrated her sincerity. “Okay. I’m willing to consider—“

“Yay!” Rose hugged her again, until Marinette gently brushed her off.

“It’s the same deal as with Juleka,” Marinette said. “We’re starting over from zero. Is that clear?”

Rose frantically nodded her head, and Marinette could see joy in her eyes. “I understand, Marinette.”

“Good.” Marinette smiled at the two girls before something occurred to her. Neither of them had spoken when Alya had asked everyone to list how Lila had hurt them, and she wondered why. “Incidentally, did Lila get anything from you two?” she asked. “Besides money and clothes for charity.”

“Not from Juleka,” said Rose softly. “She was smart enough not to give Lila anything else. But I wasn’t.”

“Rose had this really fancy paperweight that she got from her aunt, who apparently is some kind of famous artisan,” said Juleka. “It would probably retail for about five thousand euros. Lila said that she could get it shown off in some kind of traveling art exhibit for the poor, so Rose gave it to her.”

Rose sighed. “When I learned Lila had just stolen it and probably sold it somewhere, I was really upset, but Juleka helped me work up the courage to apologize to my aunt.” She managed a smile. “This summer I’ll be spending some time with my aunt, who is going to have me help her make another one. I’d been hoping to spend all summer with Juleka, but we agreed this was important.”

Marinette smiled. “I think that’s a very responsible choice,” she said. “Certainly more than choices being made by certain other members of the class, like Adrien.”

“Actually, Adrien left school.” said Juleka. “He was gone the day after that meeting in the park. I was going to ask: do you know what happened to him?”

“Not a clue,” Marinette said. “And to be honest, I don’t care.” She smiled. “Anyways: Rose, as you know, I was just talking to Juleka about making her a dress. Would you like to commission one from me too?”

“I would love it!” Rose said.

“Then why don’t we head over to my place?” Marinette asked. “Everyone else is there. We can hang out, I’ll show you two some designs, and I’ll start getting you, Juleka, set up to be a model.”

Juleka and Rose smiled, and then they followed Marinette above deck.

Across town, Adrien was having another rough day.

The ‘recently available apartment’ had turned out to be Marinette’s old place. Now he lived in her old bedroom, which was smaller than his old closet had been, as well as her living room downstairs, which was also smaller than any other place he’d lived. That was his new home, and he was trapped there.

He’d thought things couldn’t be any worse when he’d had to move and was only able to get out of his tiny apartment to go to school and talk to his friends. Then all his friends had rejected him, and he’d thought that was the worst things could get. But the next day had featured another unpleasant surprise when Amelie had told him he was being pulled out of school. “But why?!” he had demanded, horrified that now he couldn’t even make up with his classmates. “Why do I have to quit school?!”

“The school is leery of the rumors that you helped your father’s villainy,” Amelie said bluntly. “I can’t say I blame them. They don’t want you around, both to make sure you don’t do any villainous actions on your own, and also for the sake of their reputation.”

“Then where will I study?” Adrien had asked.

“We have set up a homeschool curriculum for you,” Amelie had said. “Your room has a computer, so you’ll watch the videos and take the tests provided by the curriculum.”

Adrien had, by this point, been trying not to cry. “Look, I just want—“

“What you want is irrelevant,” Amelie had said. “You are a child. In any event: you will perform your homeschool curriculum as scheduled. You will also continue your Chinese and piano lessons, again via video. A piano will be installed in one of the lower rooms for your use.”

“Why?” Adrien had snapped. “I only took those because father thought they’d help me represent his company! If I’m not representing you, why should I bother with those stupid lessons?”

“It would look bad if I provided you with a lesser education than your father provided,” Amelie had said. “Of course you cannot do modeling anymore for obvious reasons, and your fencing school said they do not wish to see you again, but I will find other classes you can attend virtually.”

Adrien had been tempted to punch the screen. “And if I don’t?” he’d challenged. “You’re not my parent. I don’t have to listen to you.”

Amelie had shrugged. “If you fall behind in your classes, I’m quite willing to give up and send you off to military school.” She had flashed a thin smile. “Have a nice day, Adrien.” 

And that was that.

Now Adrien groaned as yet another stupid educational video played on his computer. He hated everything about this, but there was nothing else he could do. “Damn it,” he sighed. “This sucks.”

His new guardian lived downstairs in Sabine’s and Tom’s old bedroom. As far as Adrien could tell, the guardian’s only purpose was to accept food deliveries—all premade stuff from cheap meal services—and let in the occasional maintenance worker, and also to make sure that Adrien didn’t go anywhere without permission. “It’s for your own safety,” the guy had said, his tone sounding like he was a prison warden. “People hate you. If you go outside you could get attacked.”

Adrien stood up and looked out the window. He saw some of his old classmates having a picnic, but they seemed dispirited and joyless. He might have gone to them anyways, even though the guard downstairs had threatened to nail the roof door shut if he ever caught Adrien using it to sneak out of the building, but he knew that if he went they’d just throw him out of the picnic. They seemed to think their problems were his fault since he hadn’t warned them of Lila’s lies. They hadn’t even listened to his apology!

He had initially continued sneaking out at night as Chat Noir so he could do his patrols, but even that wasn’t fun anymore. People didn’t wave or cheer anymore; they just repeated all that nonsense Ladybug had spewed during the disastrous interview with Nadja. It was like they didn’t even care about how many times he’d saved them all! And so Adrien had been cutting back on his patrols, instead just finding a quiet roof and enjoying a little bit of fresh air before having to return to his tiny apartment.

Adrien wasn’t even allowed to go down to the bakery, which had been reopened as a branch of what was now Paris’s most popular bakery franchise. Sabine and Tom traded off working in their old location and in their new spot in Le Grand Paris, and they’d even authorized a couple grocery to sell their products around the city. The Dupain-Cheng family had ascended just as fast as the Agrestes had collapsed.

“How could everyone abandon me like this?” Adrien asked nobody in particular. “I did so much for them. I thought we were friends. And now I’m here and I’m the one who needs help, but nobody cares!”

“What, exactly, did you do for them?” Plagg asked from his position near the top of the room.

“I did lots!” Adrien snapped. “And shouldn’t you be complaining about cheese about now? It’s not like I can go out and buy you Camembert.”

Plagg shrugged. “That guardian guy downstairs usually has some cheese in the premade meals he gets. I just sneak down and eat it before he has a chance. It’s the gross processed stuff, but it’s still cheese.” He flew in a slow circle. “Seriously. What did you do?”

“Well, to start with, as Chat Noir I fought loads of akumas!”

Plagg shrugged. “That was your job. And you didn’t take it seriously; you said yourself you figured Ladybug could just fix everything even if you screwed up. People didn’t like hearing you treated your duty to keep them safe like it was a stupid game.”

Adrien growled. “Well, as Adrien I was a great friend! I was always there for people. I listened, I hung out with them, I—“

“You did nothing for them,” said Plagg bluntly. “When Chloe was the problem you defended her, because that was easier than standing up to her. When Lila was the problem you protected her, because that was easier than standing up to her for Marinette’s sake. That was bad for Chloe and Lila, because it enabled them to keep being awful, and it was also bad for the people they hurt. Kid, you took the friendships of your classmates and gave them nothing in return. Are you really surprised nobody’s defending you now?”

“I did my best!” Adrien insisted. “And I never bullied them! I never defrauded them! I—“

“Stood back and watched as other people did. And now other people are standing back and watching what’s happening to you.” Plagg shrugged. “Like I said, kid. Karma.”

“Then…” Adrien suddenly felt weak. “Then what should I do, Plagg? How do I fix this?”

“You don’t.” Plagg sounded unusually serious. “You accept this is your life now.”

“I can’t—“

“Of course you can,” Plagg said. “It’s not possible for you to get back what you lost. All you can do is improve so that, when you start meeting people again, you can treat them better.”

Adrien stared at Plagg. “So I’m just supposed to accept losing everything? I can’t, what, get some kind of lucky break to—“

“Get a lucky break?” Plagg snorted. “Kid, do you have any idea how many lucky breaks you’ve had? Set aside that you had me, a mystical demigod who turned you into a hero and gave you every chance you need to do whatever you want to do. Set aside that you used to be incredibly rich, which could have set you up for any path in life. You had people who thought of you as a real friend. You had people like Marinette, who would have defended you from Lila and everything else. But you squandered all of it. You slacked off as a hero, you lost the fortune, and you lost Marinette.”

“The fortune wasn’t my fault!” Adrien snapped. “Father was the supervillain, not me!”

“But you had repeatedly shown yourself to be so untrustworthy that, once your father got arrested, nobody believed you when you tried to salvage your family’s fortune,” Plagg shot back. “If you’d been more honest about Lila to begin with, you’d have been able to get the police to believe you when you said she robbed you. She also wouldn’t have been able to convince them you were Hawkmoth’s ally. And with the authorities on your side? Maybe you could have replaced your father instead of Audrey; the board did say that they could have let a family member inherit his stake instead of selling it, but of course they didn’t want to consider you, since the government thinks you worked with your father to terrorize the city.” He flitted over to the bed and flopped down onto the pillow. “What exactly are you complaining about? That, after you spent so much time making Lila seem more honest than she really is, that people believed you and decided she couldn’t have defrauded you? Or that when they looked for another suspect, they found you, who repeatedly admitted that you had no problem with theft and fraud as long as the only victims were other people?”

“But—“Adrien began.

“Besides,” Plagg went on. “You still could have saved things if you hadn’t thrown away your friendship with the bug. If the choice for taking over your dad’s company had been between you and Audrey, and if Ladybug still cared about you, don’t you think that Ladybug would have shown up and suggested they let you get your dad’s shares? Maybe even said that the idea of you being on Hawkmoth’s side is ridiculous and not worthy of serious discussion?”

“I’ve tried to get her back,” said Adrien. “It didn’t work.”

“No, you demanded she take you back,” Plagg said. “You didn’t apologize or change; you just insisted that she had an obligation to support you. Of course that didn’t work. And now, like I already told you, it’s too late. You screwed up and lost everything, including all the things you’d gotten through your run of good luck. Be better in the future, but forget about the past, kid. It’s never coming back.”

“But it’s not fair,” Adrien growled. “To end up like this!”

Plagg just shook his head, as if to emphasize how fair these results really were, and then settled back on a little chair. 

Adrien sank down on his little bed. “Alright,” he muttered. “Let’s think. I still have the ring and nobody knows I’m Chat Noir. I can use that.”

“Kid—“

Adrien waved Plagg off. “First, I’m going to be ready in case Mayura does reappear. If she does I’ll blast her before the others arrive. They hogged that final fight with Hawkmoth and I looked bad for not being there, right? Well, this time I’ll be the only one there.”

“Hogged?!” Plagg managed. “Are you insane? They wanted you there, but you didn’t show up! And besides, I recall you used your baton’s phone a couple days ago to ask Ladybug how she wanted to work with you if Mayura did attack, and she told you to stay home and out of the way so you don’t interfere with their fighting strategy. If you actually want to help people in this city, listen to her!”

“I don’t care,” said Adrien. “She’s not the one who needs a win right now. I am. Second: I’m going to be ready for whenever the city finally decides to distribute that monetary award for having fought Hawkmoth’s akuma. Even if nobody likes me now, I haven’t heard that they’ll be clawing back the ‘Chat Noir’ portion of the award, so I should have some money once they give it out. As long as they give it to me in cash they won’t even need to know my real name, so I can take it without anyone learning who I am. I’ll be able to leave this stupid apartment and go somewhere else. And then third: I’m getting Lila. I’ll use my powers as Chat Noir to make the embassy people tell me where she is, and then I’ll go there and I’ll do whatever I have to do to make her confess.” He paused. “Actually, forget that. I don't need her confession to get back what's mine. I’ll just do whatever it takes to make her give me back the money in eurobonds or whatever stupid untraceable currency she used the first time. Then I’m gone.”

“Gone?” Plagg echoed.

“This city doesn’t appreciate me,” Adrien said. “They don’t care about all the ways I’ve been hurt. So I’m done. I’ll go somewhere new and find new people that aren’t jerks.” He managed a thin, joyless smile. “Leave all these people behind for now. Give it a few years until Marinette realizes that we’re destined to be together and regrets driving me away. Then I’ll come back.” His voice grew slightly smug. “And when I do, I’ll forgive her. Like a real friend should.”

“Kid, you’re not very good at learning from your mistakes now that Ladybug isn’t here to fix them for you, are you?”

“Shut it, Plagg,” growled Adrien. “I’m going to regain the city’s trust, I’m going to regain my money, and then I’m going to get what I deserve.”

Plagg decided not to point out that Adrien already had gotten exactly what he deserved.

He knew Adrien wouldn’t listen.

Nathalie smiled slightly as the thing which looked like a bank official but was actually a sentimonster approached her, set two massive sacks of cash down, and then disintegrated away.

It had taken longer than Nathalie had hoped to get the money she needed, but she'd managed it in the end. It hadn't even been hard. She'd used sentimonsters to infiltrate the French mint, dozens of banks, and even casinos; if it was a place with a lot of cash in its vaults, Nathalie considered it a valid target. Then she used her sentimonsters to smuggle out as much cash as they could from each place before moving onto the next. The thefts were quickly discovered, of course, and Nathalie figured that sooner or later people would know she had done them--after all, eventually one of the banking officials or casino guards that she'd impersonated via sentimonster would actually have an ironclad alibi for the time of the theft, meaning the theft would have had to be conducted by some kind of doppelgänger or duplicate--but Nathalie didn't care. The world considered Mayura to be a terrorist already, so it wasn't like a few grand theft charges would make much difference were she caught. And, frankly, her goal was so important to her that she wouldn't have cared if the thefts had made it more likely for her to get arrested.

"I'll rescue you, Emilie," she murmured. "And Gabriel too. I'll get you both and then take us all out of France, to the safe house in England I set up. We have enough money for guards, security systems, and anything else we might need. We'll be able to rebuild and fix this."

She nodded to herself, then glanced at a clock on the wall of her little hideout. "I need to get this cash to my safe house," she said. "And then I need to get back and start the retrievals. I should be ready to fight by tomorrow afternoon."

A larger grin spread over her face. "And this city will never know what hit it."

Chapter Text

Marinette and her new friends were on the Liberty, eagerly talking about plans to go somewhere together for Spring Break, when a huge explosion echoed over the city and rocked the boat.

Kagami was the first one up and she raced to the side of the ship. “There!” she said, pointing at a distant, large plume of smoke. A towering figure that looked like a mecha was briefly visible within the plume. “It’s a monster!” 

“A sentimonster,” corrected Luka. 

Rose gasped, disturbing a few butterflies as she did so. While she hadn’t been granted a Miraculous to use in battle, the group had discovered that Nooroo seemed to get on very well with Rose, and thus she had become the unofficial caretaker of Nooroo’s swarm of butterflies. Juleka, who wasn’t a big fan of butterflies but was a huge fan of Rose, had volunteered to act as her assistant. “Oh no!” Rose gasped. “I’d hoped Mayura would never come back!” 

Juleka gave her a quick hug. “I’m sure the heroes have got it under control,” she said.

Jean was already on his computer and accessing local news sites. Then he gasped. “It’s hitting Marinette’s house!” he said. “The old Agreste mansion.”

“Marinette, your family—“ began Ondine.

“They’re catering one of the mayor’s parties right now, so they aren’t there,” said Marinette. “Thank God. But we still have to stop that thing as fast as possible.”

Aurore winced. “Let’s just hope we can get there in time.” They were almost completely across the city, so it would take even the miraculous heroes several minutes to get to the location. 

Marinette transformed. “Everyone, grab some extra food for your kwami and suit up,” she said. “This is what we trained for, remember. If we win this fight we’ll have finally defeated the other major threat to Paris.”

Juleka and Rose, who were the only people there that didn’t have kwamis, gave each other awkward looks. “Do you want us to do anything?” Rose asked. “Like monitor the news or be ready to talk with emergency services?”

“Yes, that’d be very helpful,” Ladybug said. “Chloe, get Juleka and Rose connected to the police, the mayor, and the National Guard. Okay?”

Chloe nodded. “You got it, Dupain-Cheng.”

“Great. Catch up with us as soon as you can.” Marinette turned to the prow of the boat. “We’ll--“

“Hey, it’s Chat Noir!” said Jean as he looked at the news feed. “Nadja’s filming from a helicopter and she caught sight of him. Looks like he’s trying to take that big sentimonster on by himself.”

Luka hissed. “If he screws up, Mayura could get his ring!”

Ladybug’s eyes widened. That selfish bastard! she thought. If he insists on fighting, he should at least wait for us so we can all back each other up. There’s no reason to attack alone unless he just wants to show off and make people like him. This is just another ego trip for him! 

“No answer,” said Kitsune as she tried to call Chat.

Ladybug was already calling Chat Noir on her yoyo’s phone as well. “Chat Noir, fall back!” she yelled. “Get out of there now!” 

Nobody responded.

Adrien curled his lips and swung away from a fusillade of missiles blasted at him by the sentimonster mecha. 

The thing was huge and looked to be heavily armored, especially near the center. It was also spitting out what looked like miniature mechas from two launching ports on top of its shoulders. The miniature robots were only about half his height, but they still fired powerful guns and missiles, and there seemed to be an inexhaustible amount of them no matter how many he destroyed.

“Doesn’t matter,” Chat Noir growled. “I am a real hero and I’m going to beat this thing. No matter what.”

He dodged through the air and used his staff to smash two of the miniature mechas at once before vaulting up and dropping onto the monster’s head. When he looked down he saw that the monster appeared to be trying to smash its way through one particular spot in the mansion. “Nothing was there,” he muttered. “Did Marinette move something to that spot? What does it want?”

The sentimonster fired more missiles at Chat and he just barely dodged before they blasted huge holes in the mansion as well as the buildings behind it. Chat tried to smash his way through the armor of the monster’s head, but it was too tough for him to knock through with his staff, and he didn’t want to use his Cataclysm because then the monster would go out of control and could possibly become even more dangerous. See? he thought to nobody. I’m not an idiot! I can be strategic!

Then the sentimonster took another big step, this one almost putting it inside the mansion. Adrien looked at the ground and got an idea. “This thing is huge, but it’s balancing on two legs,” he mused. “I can just trip the thing. That should do it.”

He dropped down to the ground, still dodging the miniature mechas, and waited until the monster started another step. Just as it reached the apex and was shifting its weight, Adrien darted forwards. “Cataclysm!” he screamed as he reached out and touched the ground just beneath the monster’s ankle.

The dirt vaporized and the monster dropped a few inches, losing its balance and listing to one side. It spread its arms wide in vain as it tottered and then fell over hard enough to shake cars and set off alarms all over the area.

Adrien grinned, but the monster wasn’t done yet. Even as he watched it began to launch more missiles while also reaching down to push itself up. Chat Noir jumped back and forth to dodge the missiles even as some that he’d missed the first time around began to loop around back towards him.

That gave Chat Noir an idea. “Alright,” he said. “Keep going, you stupid thing!”

The missiles approached just as Chat Noir neared the robot. He waited until the last minute before dodging away, and the missiles flew right through where he’d just been—and back down their launching ports, which he’d positioned himself in front of. There was a huge explosion which knocked Chat back.

When the smoke cleared, the sentimonster was decapitated and unmoving, and the miniature mechas had all fallen to the ground.

“YES!” screamed Chat Noir as he rushed back to the broken thing. “I did it! I beat this thing!” He grinned and began to sift through the wreckage, looking for an amoktized object he could destroy. Soon enough he found a little toy robot that looked a lot like the mecha, and he picked it up. “I—“

Then he heard sounds coming from within the robot. The thick armor around its middle popped off, and then Mayura jumped lightly to the ground.

“Why…?” Chat Noir began before he realized what the only reason could be. “Whatever you’re going for in that house, now that you’ve launched this assault, you know that we’ll find it if the attack fails,” he said to Mayura as he pocketed the amokized toy mecha, figuring he could break it later so that Ladybug could cleanse it. “And for you, us finding whatever you’re going for is the same as losing. This is all or nothing. That’s why you’re here in person to back your monster up.”

“Clever,” mused Mayura as she watched Chat Noir. “You’re not as dumb as they say. You haven’t even wasted time with a single pun!”

Chat Noir shot her a humorless grin. “Playtime’s over, Mayura. This fight’s as serious as they come.” His phone in his baton rang again, but he ignored it. “Surrender your Miraculous or I’ll take it from you!”

Mayura’s response was to charge forwards. Adrien used his baton to launch at her, and then their fight began.

Chat Noir quickly found that Mayura was about an even match for him; she seemed to be better at martial arts and in possession of a variety of powerful moves, but he was younger, faster, and stronger. “You’ll pay for this!” he hissed as he swept a hand at the peacock pin and just barely missed. “You shouldn’t have come to my house, Mayura! You shouldn’t have come to my city!”

“Your house?” Mayura cocked an eyebrow as she dodged another blow. “You don’t look like Audrey Bourgeois.” Then her eyes widened a little. “Oh. So you’re Adrien.”

Chat Noir didn’t care if Mayura knew his identity. Soon it wouldn’t matter. He redoubled his attacks and worked to force her backwards towards the rubble that had fallen from the house, hoping that she would trip. “Your evil ends here,” he growled. “Thanks to me, Chat Noir!”

Then Mayura tripped as she tried to step backwards. She fell awkwardly and Chat Noir got on top of her in an instant. “This is it,” he growled as he ripped off her pin.

And then gasped as he saw the face of Nathalie Sancoeur.

“Nathalie?” he managed. “You too? What were you and father doing?”

Nathalie sighed a little. “Something that seemed like a good idea at a time.” She groaned and Adrien, who had felt like he’d lost his family forever, winced. “I’m sorry, Adrien. There’s something important under the house which I couldn’t leave behind.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I could have gotten it weeks ago had you not lost our backup funds. You have done immense damage, Adrien.”

Adrien shook his head. “It wasn’t me. You destroyed everything,” he snapped. Nathalie, his father, Lila, Chloe… they’d ruined his life. But now he’d start to rebuild it. “I’m arresting you.”

“I can’t walk,” said Nathalie. “Help me up. Please.”

Adrien extended his hand—

And Nathalie yanked the ring off his finger.

For a crucial moment, Adrien was frozen in shock. Then Nathalie had jumped up and grabbed him in some kind of martial arts move that sent him flying. The peacock miraculous fell from his hand when he hit the ground and Nathalie gathered it up. “Someday you will understand,” she said softly. “Somebody you will know that all of this was worth it.”

“No!” Adrien screamed, seeing his possible redemption slipping away. “Nathalie, stop!”

“Duusuu, eat,” ordered Nathalie as she removed what looked like flower petals from her pocket. The kwami appeared and, bound by her order, was forced to choke down the food. Adrien leapt at her but she easily dodged. Then she nodded and said, “Duusuu, Plagg: unification!”

Adrien made one last jump at her, but as her new uniform appeared around her, she easily flipped away.

“I should thank you for showing me the weakness in my previous monster,” Nathalie said as she launched a feather at a small tin box which had spilled out of the wreckage from the mecha. “Gabriel used to help me pick the right ones, but he’s not available, so I had to do my best.”

When Adrien looked at the box, he saw that it had split open and several toy robots and plastic soldier figurines had spilled out. “I’ll pick a better design this time,” Nathalie said as the feather hit a tiny plastic tank.

Within moments, a giant tank that was as tall as a six story building had appeared. It bristled with weapons and also began to launch miniature versions of itself from launcher ports. Some of the miniature tanks had rotors as if they were flying helicopters.

Before Nathalie could do anything else, though, she suddenly swiveled and glared as the miraculous hearers began to approach from a distant building. “I didn’t want to have to do this,” she said. “But I’m going to need a change of plans. It’s time for my sentimonster to begin attacking the city.” She turned to the wreckage of the mansion. “I’ll handle the main mission.”

“…Mayura is Nathalie Sancoeur, Gabriel Agreste’s secretary and personal assistant” Marinette heard Juleka say through her phone. “Chat Noir destroyed her first sentimonster and unmasked her, but then she managed to get him to extend his hand and removed his ring. It’s Adrien, Marinette.”

“That figures,” Marinette hissed. “So he decided to go on an ego trip and accidentally gave Mayura the ring. Is that about right?”

“Yes,” said Juleka. “She’s unified it with her peacock miraculous, and also made a better sentimonster which lacks the weakness Adrien exploited. Adrien’s got the amokized object from the first sentimonster in his pocket, but he ran somewhere into the mansion so the news cameras can’t see him anymore.”

Marinette grit her teeth as they all reached the final building before the flaming ruins of her mansion. Then her anger at Adrien vanished, replaced by her fear for civilians as she realized the danger everybody in the vicinity was in. “No!” she gasped as the miniature tanks began to fire at buildings and target a few civilians who hadn’t yet fled. “Damn it!”

“We can protect the civilians while you go for the tank, Ladybug,” said Jean at once.

“Yeah!” Aurore said. “Leave them to us!”

“Thanks, guys,” said Marinette as she frantically tried to think of the best plan. “Kitsune and Viperion, try to distract Mayura until the rest of us can get there. Whatever she’s after, we can’t let her get it, because if she does she might flee and we could lose her forever. Aurore—sorry, Lightning Bolt—with me; we’re going for the big tank. Everyone else, deal with the little guys.”

The heroes sprang into action, Marinette at their lead.

Marinette’s world dissolved into a wild and crazy battle, with her barely dodging the miniature tanks while trying futilely to smash her way into the huge one that was firing massive shells at random points. She tried stopping it with by setting up a net with her yoyo string but it simply kept going and almost yanked the string out of Marinette’s hands. “Damn!” she said.

“Ladybug, duck!” Tidal Wave, AKA Ondine, yelled. Marinette hit the ground instinctively and a miniature tank’s round passed through the air right where she would have been. Tidal Wave smashed it down with her shell and then caught it on the rebound. 

“Thanks!” Marinette said. She saw the barrel of its massive gun was swinging towards her and she grabbed it to try to pull it back, but it yanked her along. “Lightning Bolt, hit it!”

Lightning Bolt triggered her lightning power and blasted the tank with a huge jolt of electricity, but nothing happened.

“How do we get through this thing?” Aurore demanded. “We need Cataclysm.”

“Mayura has it,” growled Ladybug. “We need something else that hits heavy—“

“Ladybug!” It was Viperion’s voice, and she glanced over to see that Mayura was steadily pushing through the rubble while evading Kitsune and Viperion. Whenever they seemed to get close enough to fight, she launched a surprisingly quick attack before dropping back into the ruins of the mansion. “We need help!”

“What about Second Chance?” Ladybug asked.

“I’ve already reset time a bunch. It doesn’t seem to help. We don’t know what she’s doing so we can’t predict where she’s going.”

“And she’s quite good at seeing through my illusions,” Kitsune growled. “She’s touching everything she sees to try to destroy them.”

Ladybug grit her teeth. They needed a way to know what Mayura was trying to do, and they also needed a way to hit the tank hard enough to destroy it.

What if… Marinette began to think. 

“How about Lucky Charm?” Jean called. He was bleeding from his forehead as he used his staff to bat down a miniature tank just before it could fire at an akuma shelter.

Marinette nodded and tossed up her yoyo. It came back down as a phone, verifying what she needed to do.

“Keep fighting!” Marinette called. “I’m getting us more help!” Then she took the phone and dialed a number. “Juleka? Great. You and Rose get here as fast as possible. Have the police take you if possible. I’ll explain later.”

Then she hung up, hurried into an alley so she could feed Tikki and power up again, and continued fighting.

Juleka and Rose were just arriving, driven in a speeding police car by Roger Raincomprix, when things began to fall apart. Mirelile cried out as one of the miniature tanks hit her squarely in the face while she was trying to get some civilians out of a building that was in the process of collapsing from tank damage. “MIREILLE!” Aurore yelled, almost freezing up before rushing forwards and getting both her and the civilians away from the next blast.

“AGH!” Marinette swiveled to see Jean get slammed in the head by the barrel of the main tank. He stumbled backwards and almost fell before Chloe, now in her new bee hero form Miss Sting, swooped down, grabbed him, and leapt away.

“We’re here!” said Juleka as she got out of the car with Rose. Behind them, Roger sped away to help evacuate civilians. “What—“

Marinette yanked two Miraculouses out of her yoyo. “This is a one-time thing, at least for now,” she said. “I’m giving you both Miraclouses.”

Both other girls gasped.

“Rose,” said Marinette. “I know you like Nooroo, but his power won’t really help here, so instead I’m giving you the pig Miraculous. Its power, gift, lets you know someone’s desire. Use it on Mayura to figure out what she wants. Juleka, you get the tiger Miraculous. Its power of clout lets you throw an incredibly strong blow. Use it to fight the big tank.”

Both girls nodded and transformed as soon as their kwami told them the words. Juleka looked nervous, but she held her ground. “How do we get to our targets?” she asked as she pointed at the street, which was full of miniature tanks as well as the big one firing at the heroes.

Marinette saw Chloe land near them and said, “Miss Sting, escort Rose to the Mayura fight, then return to fighting the miniature tanks. I’ll get Juleka to the main tank.”

“Got it,” said Chloe.

Ladybug led Juleka back into the fight, now working doubly hard to protect both herself and the inexperienced new hero behind her. Juleka was focusing on the tank with tight, narrow eyes. “Any particular spot?” she asked.

“The center,” Marinette said. “We need to smash this thing completely. I don’t want to just clip it and take off a corner.”

“Right.” Juleka yelped and narrowly dodged a missile. “I—“

Another scream pierced the air and Marinette looked up to see Aurore being overwhelmed by a swarm of the flying tanks. Marinette grit her teeth. She had to protect both Aurore and Juleka, but—

“I’ve got Juleka!” said Tidal Wave as she skidded to a halt near them. “Ladybug, go!”

“Right!” Ladybug swung up and began battling the flying tanks near Aurore. 

Meanwhile, Juleka took a breath and then charged the main tank. It swung its barrel to her and fired, but Tidal Wave used her shelter power to deflect the blast. Then Juleka jumped over Tidal Wave’s shelter wall and screamed as she punched the tank.

And the tank exploded into shards.

Tidal Wave cheered, but then she cried out and stumbled as a round from one of the miniature tanks hit her in the back. “We still have to beat the little guys!” she said as her voice choked up in pain.

Ladybug had just finished smashing away several of the tanks from Aurore’s position. Aurore was unsteady on her feet and bled from a few cuts, but she managed to say, “I’ll keep fighting with Tidal Wave and Juleka. You go get Mayura, Ladybug.”

“Okay.” Ladybug smiled, feeling a sense of confidence despite all the chaos around her. It was amazing having teammates who truly had her back. “I won’t be long.”

She took off for the ruins of the mansion and got inside, then began making her way through the rubble. After she heard fighting ahead she headed through the remains of the dining room and arrived in Gabriel’s old office just in time to see Mayura cut through one of Kitsune’s illusions. “Nice try,” she said.

“Viperion!” called Marinette. “Don’t reset time until you drop a new Second Chance; we don’t want to bring the tank back.”

Kitsune quickly shook her head and then gestured at a corner where Viperion was clenching what looked like a broken wrist. “That won’t be a problem, Marinette,” said Mayura. She flipped over Kitsune and then kicked the girl in the back of the head, causing her to cry out and stumble.

Where is Rose? Marinette thought. Then a slight motion caught her eye and she looked up to see that Rose had climbed to the top of one of the broken walls (which surprised Marinette a little, given how Rose was untrained) and was preparing to drop down on Mayura’s head. And, Marinette saw further, Kitsune was maneuvering Mayura to get her under that wall.

The sound of one of the miniature tanks sounded behind her and Ladybug turned just in time to see Miss Sting dart out from the ruins and smash a small tank that was trying to sneak up on her. She shot a quick grin at Ladybug and mouthed, ‘helping Rose’ before rushing back over behind the wall Rose was now balanced on top of.

“Ah,” said Marinette, realizing Chloe must have given Rose a boost. “Got it.”

Kitsune yelled as Mayura caught her and then lifted her up by the neck. Mayura’s other hand swelled with the energy of Cataclysm. “I win,” said Mayura. “I—“

Rose dropped down on top of Mayura. “GIFT!” she screamed as she made contact with the villain. 

An image appeared of Mayura getting in some kind of elevator, heading down one level, and grabbing a blonde woman woman who was in some kind of bubble.

“Mother?” 

Everyone turned to see Adrien stumbling into the room and gaping at the image. “That’s Mother!” he said. “Nathalie, what—“

Mayura let out a growl of rage. “We won’t let you have her!” she cried. “Gabriel and I are bringing her back and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

“Oh,” said Marinette to herself. “So that’s what he wanted to Wish for. He—“

Mayura grabbed Rose and slammed her into Kagami, knocking them both to the ground and leaving them still. Then she began to stalk closer and closer to Ladybug. Ladybug saw Viperion haul himself up and begin inching towards her as well, but she didn’t know if he would arrive in time.

“This is the end, Marinette,” Mayura growled. “You’ve stopped Gabriel from bringing back Emilie for long enough. I’m going to fix this.”

“I won’t let you,” said Marinette.

Mayura flashed a thin smile. “You don’t have a say. CATACLYSM!” And she raced forwards.

Marinette tried to drop back, but Mayura moved faster than she thought and leapt at her.

Then Marinette saw Viperion also leaping at her, and she had a moment of perfect horror that he would be sacrificing himself for her just like Adrien, that all her life she would see partners dying for her and—

But Viperion didn’t jump in front of the Cataclysm. Instead he went low, sweeping Marinette’s feet out from under her while also grabbing the back of her uniform with his good hand and yanking her down. Marinette dropped like a rock and passed under Mayura’s blow, and Mayura crashed into the rubble behind them.

Viperion quickly got up. Marinette did too, realizing as she did that she was crying. “Thank you!” she said to Luka. “You—“

Mayura swiveled, let out a roar, and charged again--before suddenly freezing up and collapsing to the ground.

Behind her was Chloe, gasping and bleeding but still holding her spinning top in one hand. “Got her,” she managed.

Ladybug stumbled forwards and frantically ripped off Mayura’s ring and peacock pin. The woman shimmered and became Nathalie once again. Then Juleka was running inside with the miniature tank that had been amokized, Marinette broke it to get the feather, grabbed the toy robot out of Adrien’s pocket and broke it too, cleansed both feathers—

And that was that.  

With the mansion restored and their injuries fixed, the heroes gathered inside before the press or anyone else could get to them. Kagami worked to tie up Nathalie thoroughly while the others looked at each other.

“So Nathalie was looking for Adrien’s mother, who is somewhere below the mansion,” Marinette mused. “Why is she there? What happened to her?”

Everyone looked at Adrien, who had an angry look on his face. “How should I know?” he asked. “All I know is that she vanished one day.” He crossed his arms. “By the way, your welcome for dealing with the first sentimonster.”

“You screwed up so badly Nathalie got your ring,” said Mireille. “I don’t think thanks are in order.”

Adrien flushed. “You get mad at me when I miss a fight, now you get mad at me for fighting. What do you even want?” 

“I already told you, Adrien,” said Ladybug. “I don’t want anything from you. Just go home.”

“Not without seeing my mother,” Adrien growled.

Then Jean, who had been checking around the office, straightened. “Found it!” he said as he pressed at a panel which swung in. “I knew this didn’t look right.”

Aurore jumped back as the hidden elevator opened almost beneath her feet. “Woah,” she said.

Marinette took a breath. “Kagami, if you don’t mind, please stay to guard Nathalie. The rest of us will head on down.” 

The group descended in the elevator and then stared in stunned silence at Emilie’s life support chamber and the garden around it. Adrien approached it with a stunned look on his face. “Mother,” he murmured.

“I guess now the police will know his motive,” Luka said. “That’s the last piece of the puzzle, right?”

Adrien turned with a pained look. “Wait,” he said. “Look at this. My father wasn’t trying to take over the world or steal a million dollars or anything like that. He just wanted his wife back. His family. I mean, if there’s a case for leniency—“

“There isn’t,” said Marinette. “He killed people—yes, Adrien, that counts even though I brought them back later—and launched terrorist attacks. He almost nuked the world and almost had a monster destroy Shanghai. This isn’t exculpatory.”

Adrien just stared at Marinette. “He’s my father,” Adrien begged. “Marinette, for me, as a friend—“

“For the last time, we’re no longer friends,” said Marinette. “And a real friend would know better than to ask that.”

An ugly look crossed over Adrien’s face. “You know what? Fine,” he said. “I don’t even care. The news saw me fighting Mayura, and they saw me get unmasked. They know I’m a real hero again. First thing I’ll do is have them move mother to a hospital and get her real doctors. I’ll get the public back on my side, I’ll get some resources, I’ll advocate for my father’s case—“

“I don’t care what you try to do, Adrien,” said Marinette in a toneless voice. “You chose your path long ago, and it doesn’t line up with mine.”

Adrien scowled at her and walked back towards the elevator. “You really want me to be out of your life?” he demanded.

“Yes,” said Marinette.

“Then I’m gone,” Adrien shot back. “Give me back my ring and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Marinette thought for a long moment. Then she said, “No.”

Adrien flushed. “What? You said you wouldn’t strip me of it because the former Guardian gave it to me!”

“That was before you let Mayura grab it!” Marinette yelled. “If you’re going to be that irresponsible, Adrien, I don’t have a choice. I won’t give it back.”

“But it’s mine! It—“

“You haven’t used it responsibly in months!” Marinette snapped. “You skipped the fight with Hawkmoth because you didn’t think it mattered since I could just fix things. Then you went against Mayura alone because all you cared about was making people think you were a great hero again, and you were so overconfident you figured you could win the fight even if you had no plan, strategy, or backup. You are no longer a worthy holder, Adrien, and if the former Guardian could see you now, I think he’d say the same. It ends.”

Adrien took a menacing step forwards. “Marinette, it is the only thing I have left.”

“Not my problem,” said Marinette.

The two stared at each other, and then Adrien jumped at Marinette, but she easily dodged and restrained him. “On second thought, let’s all get upstairs,” Marinette said. “As in, now.”

The group took Adrien and Nathalie outside to the waiting police and media. As Nathalie was taken into custody, Marinette said, “There’s a woman on life support in a basement. She needs to be transferred to an actual hospital.”

“Yes, Ladybug,” said an EMT.

Marinette watched the medics head into her home and then turned to the crowd. She managed a tired smile. “Mayura is defeated!” she said. “Along with Hawkmoth’s defeat a few weeks back, this means that Paris is now safe!”

Everyone cheered. “LADYBUG!” some people screamed. Others yelled, “MARINETTE!”

Grinning, Marinette waved at the heroes around her. “I didn’t do it all on my own,” she said. “All my friends here helped.” She gestured at the others. “And now that all the threats are defeated, shall we reveal ourselves?”

Everyone reached to take their Miraculouses off except for Chloe, who stood still. Marinette thought for a quick moment. I think she really is better, now, she decided. She’s trained well and fought heroically, without any glory seeking. I think it’s okay if people know what she did. “You too, Miss Sting,” she called.

Chloe blinked, then nodded and removed her Miraculous along with everyone else.

There were gasps as people recognized the kids. Then the cameras began going off and Marinette grinned. “We’ll be available later for interviews, I’m sure, but right now I think we’re all exhausted. I—“

“Hang on,” called Nadja. “You there, Chloe Bourgeois. Weren’t you fired?”

Chloe blushed. “Marinette said my conduct wasn’t worthy of being a holder,” she said. “And she was right. So I’ve been trying to better myself.” She managed a small smile. “Apparently I succeeded.” 

Everyone laughed.

“Kagami Tsurugi,” someone called. “What’s it like being a magic fox?”

“Luka, is it true you’re dating Marinette?”

“You’re that magician kid, right? And you two are the weather reporters?”

Marinette smiled as the praise washed over them. It was over at last, she thought. They were done.

“Yo!” Marinette turned to see Alec Cataldi. “Adrien! You’re Chat Noir, huh?”

Adrien nodded, and Marinette thought she saw a hint of his old confidence returning. “Yeah. I beat the first sentimonster, and—“

“Really? Cause from here it looked like you gave that Mayura woman your hand and let her take your ring as soon as you saw her real identity,” said Alec. “There are already rumors about you helping your daddy be Hawkmoth. Are you helping this woman be Mayura too?”

“That woman is Nathalie Sancoeur,” said someone in the crowd. “She worked for Gabriel as his secretary.”

“I see,” said Alec.

Adrien looked around the crowd frantically, but as Marinette followed his gaze, she noted everyone seemed suspicious of him. And Marinette couldn’t blame them. He’d skipped the Hawkmoth fight and then allowed Nathalie to grab his ring. It made sense some people would think he was trying to help them.

“I think we should have another chat, Adrien,” said Roger Raincomprix as he stepped forward from the crowd. “And this time I would strongly advise you to get a lawyer.”

Adrien looked around again, and then a look of hopelessness filled his face. Marinette nodded to herself. Adrien had lost his family, his fortune, and his reputation, so the ring was all he’d had left. But rather than use it responsibly, he’d subordinated it to his own benefit and lost it too. Now he had nothing. And Marinette did have to admit that, despite everything, she felt a distant pang of sorrow for him.

But he wasn't Marinette's problem anymore.

So instead, Marinette moved amongst the remaining Miraculous holders, helping them field the reporters' questions, making sure they weren't hurt, and doing whatever else she could to support them.

After all, they were her friends.

Chapter Text

The next day found Adrien alone in his room again, lonelier than ever.

He hadn’t been arrested, since the police couldn’t prove to courtroom standards that he’d tried to help the villains, but Roger made it clear that everyone was pretty much certain he’d been aiding his father and Nathalie. No matter where he went or what he did in this city, he’d be shunned as the guy who had probably helped terrorists. 

Amelie wasn’t letting up on him. He wasn’t allowed to visit his mother in the hospital since there were worries he’d try to abduct her and take her to some other hideout that his father had set up. He’d been told the city would no longer be paying him anything for having saved them from akumas so many times; now that the government believed him to be secretly on Hawkmoth’s side, they wanted nothing to do with him. His class hadn’t forgiven him either. In fact, as far as he knew, they were still fruitlessly sending letters to Marinette demanding that she accept their apologies, agree that Lila and Adrien were to blame for everything, and become their friends again. (He’d heard Alya yelling at Nino below his window earlier that morning and gotten the impression she and the others seemed to think that, since Juleka and Rose had been made heroes, the rest of them should be forgiven too.) He still had no money under his own control and nothing to look forward to except for turning eighteen, when he would be free from Amelie but then would have to find employment somewhere. And who, he wondered bitterly would hire someone with his reputation? Would he have to leave Paris? Leave France entirely?

He’d lost everything. And now, at last, Plagg too was gone. He was completely alone, and he knew he would be that way for a long time.

Adrien did not know that his position of ‘being completely alone’ was the fate that Lila had inflicted upon Marinette for months, nor that this state of total isolation would have been Lila’s own fate had Adrien not protected her from the shunning which would have hit her had her lies been revealed. He didn’t know that, had he exposed Lila, the damage her reputation would have incurred and the suspicion with which the authorities would have seen her precisely matched the damage and suspicion he now suffered on a daily basis. He didn’t know that, had he simply revealed the truth, Lila would have been made to repay everyone she had robbed until she was in roughly the same financial state as Adrien was now, that the prison or military school she’d have been sent to would have matched quite nicely with the confinement Adrien was now enduring, and that her alienation from her horrified family members would be extremely similar to how Adrien too had no remaining family. He did not know that every single consequence which she had earned and would have suffered had, thanks to his diligent efforts, been transferred to him.

Most of all, he did not know that his fall from grace did not represent things going horribly wrong, but instead showed his efforts going perfectly right. He had worked very hard to make sure Lila suffered no consequences. He had pushed for those consequences to fall on others, such as the classmates who suffered the loss of the money and gifts that Lila scammed for them, and the hero Ladybug who had suffered isolation and reputational harm. Now, at last, Adrien had succeeded. Lila would never, under any circumstances, be held to account for anything she had done in Paris, and it was all thanks to Adrien Agreste, who had shielded her and protected her and ultimately taken the blame for everything.

He knew none of that. All he knew was that his former life, which in retrospect seemed so wonderful, was gone and never coming back.

He saw a flicker of motion outside his window, and when he turned he saw Ladybug and Viperion running freely across the rooftops. Then Viperion said something, and Ladybug laughed and hugged him. A few of her words carried to him on the wind. “You’re the best partner I could have,” she said. “I love you, Luka.”

And Adrien began to sob.

Later that night, sitting on a Parisian roof, Luka smiled at Marinette. “I think all the heroes are enjoying their newfound fame and fortune.”

“Yep,” said Marinette. “Of course, I’m keeping an eye on everyone to make sure it doesn’t go to anyone’s head or cause problems, but so far I think everyone’s handling it well.”

“Chloe was over the moon when people learned she was a hero again,” Luka added. “And her mother actually complimented her! She’s spending time with her and showing interest in her! How’d you wrangle that?”

Marinette grinned. “I have my ways,” she said. 

“Aurore said Kagami’s finally going to ask Jean out,” Luka went on. “That’ll be an interesting couple.”

“True,” Ladybug said. “And your sister is going for a weekend in the country with Rose, right? That should be fun for them.”

Luka nodded. “Thanks again for trusting her, Marinette. She was so happy when you gave her a Miraculous. She was smiling all that night. Even though she had to give it back after the fight, she loved having the chance to be a hero.”

Marinette chuckled. “Rose too, I’m guessing. Well, they learned from their mistakes, so I felt it was worth trusting them in that battle. And it’s not impossible they could prove themselves worthy of being given Miraculouses permanently, just like the rest of our team. Now that they’re out from Lila’s grasp, they’re much better people.” She smiled a little, though it faded soon. “As opposed to the rest of my old class.”

“Hey, you can’t think about them,” said Luka. “You’ve moved on, remember? They’re not worth getting upset about.”

“I know,” said Marinette. “And I don’t think about them, not really. I just get a little sad sometimes that I spent all that time trying to help people who didn’t really respect me. But then I remember I have real friends now, and that’s what matters.”

The two snuggled up together. After a few minutes, Luka said, “By the way, I thought about what you mentioned earlier. Do you really think I should take up the Black Cat Miraculous?”

“If you want to,” Marinette said. “I’d love to have a battle partner who… well, who treats me like a real partner. But if you’d rather stick to using Sass, that’s fine too. You could even train to use both, although like I said, using multiple kwami at once can be taxing.”

Luka nodded slowly. “Even if it’s taxing, I think I’d like to try it,” he said. “Sass really is a great friend. I don’t want to give him up. But I know we need a Black Cat in case other villains show up. So if it’s at all possible to use both, that’s what I want to do.”

“Then I’ll help you train until you can wield them both like a pro,” Marinette promised.

The two were quiet for a few more moments, and Marinette sighed contentedly as she leaned against Luka. Then, however, Luka said, “One thing still bothers me.”

“What?” Marinette asked.

“Lila just got away with everything,” Luka said. “I know that your other friends betraying you hurt worse than her stupid lies, but it just seems wrong for her to get away clean.”

Marinette sighed. “I did a little investigation of my own, but she really did cover her tracks well. I don’t have anything on her I could take to the police so they could recover the money. And while I could denounce her to get my friend’s reputations back, I meant what I said about not getting involved when they discovered what she did to them. Plus, I think Lila could probably find a way to wriggle out of that too. After all, people are holding Adrien responsible for the things she did, so they aren’t going to blame her no matter what I say.” She shook her head. “If only there was a way to get back at her.”

Then she brightened. “Wait!” she said. “I have an idea!”

Life is good, Lila thought as she luxuriated on her rooftop patio and watched the moon come up. It’s really, really good.

Marseilles was a lovely beach town with loads of fun things to do, especially for people with money. Lila herself was getting very familiar with the good restaurants, the beaches, and the arcades. She wasn’t touching the money she’d taken from Adrien, of course, since she didn’t want to connect to that account again while she was still in France. But she had the money she’d gained by looting the rest of the class, and she was also getting ready to launch a few cons in her new school. Funds were not going to be a problem.

Of course, Lila thought, they’d be even less of a problem once she turned eighteen, moved out, and went somewhere that she could access her fifty million euros from. The only real question was how she would use it to set herself up for life. One option she’d read about was to invest the money via a business foundation or trust and pay herself a salary from the investment earnings, but then she’d have to pay taxes. The other would be to set up a charitable foundation, which would be tax free, but then she’d have to actually do some kind of charity work or else she could get in trouble. And unfortunately, the government probably wouldn’t consider ‘ensuring Lila Rossi can retire at 18’ to qualify as a charitable act.

But Lila knew she had years to think about it, and besides, there was more to do in the meantime. She’d briefly considered abandoning her cons now that she had a secure income, but she dismissed that thought right away. Like a character had said in the penultimate episode of one of her favorite American shows (which her mother, fortunately, had no idea that she watched), ‘No matter how much you got, how do you turn your back on more?’ Lila believed in that philosophy wholeheartedly, and she was eager to begin her next cons. She’d taken a few weeks to study the members of her new class, she knew their hopes and dreams, and now she was ready. Especially since she’d gotten away clean with her last theft and would never be punished for it, now was the time to—

A yoyo bonked against her forehead.

Lila jumped upright just as Ladybug leapt over to her rooftop. “How did you get here?” Lila demanded.

“Teleportation kwami,” Ladybug said casually. 

“I mean, how did you find me?” Lila frowned. “The embassy said they wouldn’t tell anyone where I was.”

Marinette shrugged. “I looked up a list of all the Italian consulates in France, then teleported to each one and asked to ‘give my appreciation on behalf of Paris to the diplomatic staff for the hard work they do.’ When I visited this consulate I recognized your mother among the staffers.”

Lila grunted. Ladybug, she thought, was far too observant. “I heard you beat Mayura too,” she said. “Congratulations. You’re a tough hero”

“I know,” said Ladybug.

The two girls stared at each other. Then Ladybug said, “Lila, why are you like this?”

Lila shrugged. “Seems a better way to live than yours.”

“How so?”

“Well, I don’t get beaten up by supervillains on a regular basis,” Lila said, speaking simply and honestly for the first time in a long while. “I don’t sacrifice my life and the things I care about running around fighting monsters. I just chill and let someone like you do that for me.”

Ladybug inclined her head. “What if I, and the people like me, stopped doing that? What if we left the people like you to the people like Hawkmoth?”

“You won’t,” said Lila bluntly. “It’s your nature. You could no more refuse to fight a villain than Hawkmoth could pass up a chance to akumatize someone. And even if you die fighting a villain tomorrow, there will still always be people like you, people like the class, and people like me, Ladybug. It’s how the world works. And I decided I’d rather be a person like me.”

“Mmm.” Ladybug sighed. “Look, you’ve probably guessed that if I were going to turn you in or expose you, I would have done it by now.”

Lila nodded, careful not to say anything that would sound like an explicit confession.

“I can’t put you away,” Ladybug said. “I don’t have the proof for that. And while I can talk to people—and believe me, I will be keeping tabs on you and if I hear about any fake charity work or celebrity connections I will happily give your new classmates all the information they need to figure you out—I’m sure you’re already thinking of ways around that. I can’t completely stop you.” 

Lila nodded again.

“So I thought I would just warn you,” Ladybug said. “You’ve been very lucky so far, Lila. The people you ripped off couldn’t do anything about it. Gabriel is in jail, Adrien was disgraced, my classmates were just kids, and I’m not the kind of person who will do something horrible to you in revenge for what you did to me. But Lila, if you continue—and I’m sure you will, I honestly don’t think you can stop—you’re going to rip off someone who actually can put you in jail. Or, you know, kill you.”

Lila managed a soft smile. “I’ll keep an eye out, Ladybug.”

The superhero just shook her head. “You don’t get it. You’re very clever, Lila, but no matter how smart or careful you are, you’re still only human, and there comes a point where you’ll run out of second chances. Do this long enough and you will screw up at some point, and then you will be caught. Do you know where this path ends, Lila? You bleeding out in a jail cell, because some gang boss learned that you robbed him blind and decided not to wait for the justice system to punish you for the other people you robbed blind.” She moved closer. “You will die alone, hated by everyone who ever knew you.”

“Woah,” said Lila after a moment. She realized her heart was racing and she had to admit that it was a very good speech, but she reminded herself that Ladybug was just a do-gooder who hated criminals on principle. This was only the sort of thing Ladybug would feel obligated to say to her, not an actual threat. “Thank you for the warning, Ladybug. I promise I will give it all the attention it deserves.”

Ladybug sighed. “No you won’t,” she said. “You’ll continue on your path. Frankly, at this point I don’t think you could stop if you tried. It’s too late. You’re hopelessly addicted.” She shrugged. “But at least now I know I tried to warn you.”

Lila gave her one last nod.

“Then I’ll be going,” said Ladybug. “I need to head back to Paris. After I get some carrots for Fluff, of course. There’s an all-night bodega around here somewhere, I presume?”

“Sure,” said Lila absently. “Uh, who’s Fluff?”

“One of my kwami,” said Marinette. “The one who used to work with Bunnyx. I mentioned her on Nadja’s show; she lets me travel through time. Sometimes, when I need to, I hop ahead into the future and see how things will end up. It’s quite useful.” She headed to the edge of the roof. “Later.”

Lila snorted and turned back to the trapdoor that led down into her apartment, but then she froze.

Do you know where this path ends, Lila? You bleeding out in a jail cell, because some gang boss learned that you robbed him blind…

Had Ladybug just been giving vague threats? Or…

I hop ahead into the future and see how things will end up.

Or had Ladybug actually looked? Had Ladybug gone ahead many years, or even just a few years, and seen Lila dying in agony because she had conned the wrong person?

Well, if needed, Lila could stop—

Frankly, at this point I don’t think you could stop if you tried. It’s too late.

Unless Ladybug had seen that Lila couldn’t stop, that any attempts to give her cons up would result in relapses, and that she was even now inexorably bound for that fate—that she’d already used up her second chances and could no more evade her forthcoming death in prison than a spaceship could pull up from a black hole—that she was doomed.

She’s lying! Lila insisted to herself. She has to be bluffing! She has to be!

But she couldn’t make herself believe it.

“Ladybug?” asked Lila in a quavering voice. “Wait, Ladybug, come back! You need to explain!”

Silence echoed around her. Ladybug was gone.

“LADYBUG!” Lila screamed. “THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”

Mrs. Rossi came up a few moments later asking what was going on, and Lila managed to convince her that she’d just had a horrible nightmare and gotten upset. Mrs. Rossi led her back downstairs, made her some hot chocolate, and then tucked her in again. 

But despite all that, as Lila tried to get to sleep that night, her thoughts of her stolen fortune and her future cons were a lot less comforting than they had been shortly before.

Marinette reappeared on the Liberty and smiled at Luka. “I don’t know if that will stop Lila, but I gave it as good a shot as I could. If nothing else, I think she’ll have a few of the sleepless nights I had to endure when she was here in Paris.”

Luka chuckled but didn’t say anything. He just raised up his arm and let Marinette cuddle against him while he draped it over her.

“I’m glad I found you, Luka,” Marinette said. “You’re a real friend. And I love you.”

She gave Luka a warm, loving glance. Then she snuggled back up against him and drifted off as the gentle waves of the Seine rocked the boat around them.

Chapter Text

“I know you don’t like being distracted when you’re preparing your arguments, sir, but I was going through the submissions from the opposing counsel again and I found something you really need to see.”

Alya Cesaire gave a smile to the glowering man in front of her. She was wearing her usual work outfit, a conservative pantsuit and a couple pieces of understated jewelry, but she managed to project an air of excited energy despite her reserved and businesslike appearance. The pantsuit was in a dark orange and a few members of the firm had quietly noticed how similar in color it looked to another suit Alya had once worn, back when she’d battled villains and fought great evils alongside the legendary Ladybug--but that had been a decade ago. The time was long past when one might expect an akuma or a sentimonster to disrupt the office, or the famous hero Rena Rouge to swing in and drive them off.

If the past still weighed on Alya, however, she gave no sign of it. She just turned her smile to another of the lawyers before her, and that man nodded obligingly. “Alya’s one of our best paralegals, sir,” he said. “If she says she found something, it’s worth listening to her.”

The glowering lawyer crossed his arms. His name was Francis Dupree, he was a senior partner, and a single glance at him was all that was needed to tell he felt his valuable time was being wasted. But at long last he grimaced and told Alya, “Make it fast, Cesaire. Opening arguments are in less than an hour.”

“Yes, sir!” Alya opened a folder she was holding and spread a few pages on the table before Dupree. “Clevier Pharmaceutical’s file regarding the lab tests they ran in the spring of 1998. These are the tests where they claim to have developed the specific drug they’re suing our clients for ‘stealing.’” She tapped one of the pages and ran her finger over a specific paragraph. “And this is where it says how they modified a version of the alcindoromycine compound for use in their drug.”

“Of course it says that,” Dupree growled. “They’ve argued in a dozen submissions that, because our clients just started using an identical alcindoromycine variant, our people must have copied theirs. I know that already.”

“Yes, but this is the only document where Clevier’s scientists describe what their modifications to the compound are. In every other submission they’ve given us—and all the paperwork they’ve provided to government regulators, consumer approval boards, and so on—it just says they used a ‘modified alcindoromycine compound’ and omits what the modifications entail as a trade secret. Even the other filings they disclosed to us just say the modifications are specified in some references, which lead to more references, and a dozen steps later we ultimately wind up back here.” Alya gestured at the pages in front of her. “This is the only place where they say how they treated and altered the compound.”

“So?”

“So, there’s something funny about this document. Look at this page, the one where they give the modifications, and compare it to the other pages in the same file.”

Dupree scrutinized the papers closely. So did the other lawyers in the room. But when nobody said anything, Alya produced a magnifying glass from her purse and held it over the pages. “Look at the ‘w’ letters on the page where they list the modifications. Its rightmost stroke tapers just a little bit, see? But that’s not the case in the ‘w’ letters on the other pages. Also, the horizontal bar in the ’t’ letters are slightly more curved on that page, and—"

The lawyer who had spoken up on Alya’s behalf held up a hand. “Hang on. Are you saying this page is in a different font?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Mr. Celle. I knew something seemed a little bit off with that page, and I couldn’t place it until I really looked close for a while, but it’s obvious once you know what to look for. So I did some more digging and found the font on this one page didn’t even exist in 1998! Meaning—"

Dupree held up a hand. “Hang on, Cesaire. I see where you’re going with this. You’re going to tell me they might have forged this page. That maybe the original file didn’t describe a modified alcindoromycine compound that’s identical to the ones our clients have, so they wrote this page for their submission to the court instead, and since whatever font they’d used back in 1998 probably doesn’t exist anymore, they used the closest one they had but couldn’t get it exactly right. Is that about it?” Alya opened her mouth but Dupree steamrolled on. “It’s a good catch, but it’s not meaningful. The other side probably just opened that page to check something and Word automatically converted it to a more recent font. I’ve had that happen to me when working on old cases. This doesn’t mean anything.”

“Still,” ventured one of the junior lawyers. “We could bring it up anyway. Judge Folloque’s eighty and doesn’t understand technology at all, he even needs his court clerk to turn his computer on for him, so we could fool him into thinking this proves the other guys are giving forged evidence—"

“We don’t mislead judges,” said Celle. His tone was casual, but it had a strange emphasis nonetheless, and the junior lawyer flushed in embarrassment as the other man continued. “That’s not how our firm does things.”

Alya said, “I agree, and we don’t just need to rely on the font anyway, because I found something else.” She beamed. “Back in 1998, hardcopies of all new pharmaceutical developments had to be sent to the government before the resultant drugs could be registered; e-submissions weren’t accepted yet. There’s a huge warehouse on the outskirts of Paris where they have all those old files. I figured the original document would still be there, so I did some digging, and voila!” She put xeroxes of several yellowed pages on the table before the lawyers. “Here’s a copy of the original document describing the lab tests. Look at this paragraph. It says they used alcindoromycine in, I quote, “an unmodified state.” They even mention that this helps make their drug cost-effective because they can just buy alcindoromycine from some chemical supply company and don’t need to do anything before they use it!”

“Ah.” Celle inclined his head. “So they didn’t do anything special with the compound. They just said they did to make their drug sound more impressive, hid the truth behind a claim of trade secrets—and then, when our clients figured out a way to actually modify the compound to make a better drug, Clevier retyped that page so they could claim they did it first. We’d thought our clients just developed the compound independently, but it looks like Clevier is trying to steal this new development from them.” He glanced at Dupree. “I’d say that’s fairly important evidence, wouldn’t you?”

Dupree stared at the pages for several more moments. Finally, he said, “I need the address of the warehouse. Scans aren’t enough, we need an official copy—"

“Right here, sir,” Alya opened her folder once more and put down a few more sheets of paper “The address is here, the exact location of that document in the warehouse—section, shelf, box, file within the box—is here, and this is a copy of the form to have official copies of that document sent to our offices, opposing counsel, and the court. I’ve taken the liberty of filling it out for you.”

Dupree gathered up all the papers and turned to the others. “Denis, take this to the warehouse and get copies of that file as soon as possible. Marie, file a request for a 24-hour continuance with the court. Wilson, as soon as Denis gets those files, schedule a meeting with opposing counsel.” He was already rushing for the door. “And—oh, right.” He glanced at Alya. “Well done, Cesaire. Thanks.”

Then he was gone with most of the others, leaving just Alya and Celle. “That was extraordinary,” Celle told Alya. “How many billable hours did that take you?”

“All together? Probably close to forty,” Alya said. She had a huge smile on her face as she gathered up her things. “Figuring out the exact font so I could prove it wasn’t from 1998 took a while to do, and then rooting around in that warehouse—I swear, they haven’t actually organized the place since the late 80s...”

Celle gave her a slight smile. “Weren’t you worried that, if this hadn’t panned out, you’d be in trouble for burning so many billable hours on a dead end?”

“A little, I guess.” Alya shrugged. “But… I mean, something really did seem wrong with that file, and you know me. When I see someone trying to cover something up, I expose it.” She chuckled. “And I know you too—meaning I know you have my back.”

“Your hunches do tend to pan out,” the man said. “And nothing’s ever for sure in law, but I’m confident Dupree will be able to not only shut down this ridiculous lawsuit, but force Clevier to compensate our clients for their legal fees. Probably with some hefty penalties payable to our clients, the courts, and us too, seeing as how Clevier forged evidence. If that’s the case, I’ll see to it that you get a nice bonus in your next check.” He snapped his fingers. “And you know what else? Take the rest of the day off and celebrate a little. Then come back tomorrow where I’m sure we’ll have something even more complicated for you to look at.”

Alya’s smile grew. “Thank you, Mr. Celle.”

She found herself whistling as she returned to her office so she could get her lunch sack and the few other things she’d need to bring home for the day. Another big win for Alya Cesaire, she thought. And for the client too. They’d been wronged by some evil corporation, and now things were being set right, thanks to the brilliant investigative skills and dogged tenacity of a legendary reporter…

A flicker of melancholy crossed her mind and she slowed as she gathered up her things. Honestly, she thought, it was hard to get too worked up over which of two pharmaceutical companies got to manufacture a particular drug. Sure, her firm’s clients were technically in the right, and they did have a good track record of making generic and otherwise cheaper drugs for people who couldn’t afford fancy brands like Clevier. But it was ultimately just a balance sheet thing. It wasn’t like back when she’d been fighting Hawkmoth and saving lives. Rescuing her little sisters from the Sapotis akuma, or her big sister from being Anansi, or saving all of Paris on Heroes Day, now those had been—

She cut the thoughts off with a snap of her head. Those days were gone, she reminded herself, and any reasonable person would note that she had much to be thankful for. Even setting aside her wonderful family, which never failed to make her smile no matter what else was going on, she also had a good job where she could indulge her love of investigations and unearthing secrets. Maybe it wasn’t as much fun as her efforts to unmask Hawkmoth, but she still got to make a living doing what she loved. How many people could say that?

Her good mood mostly recovered, Alya finished getting her things and then made a call. “Hey, Nino!” she said. “Sorry to wake you, but I solved a big case and got the afternoon off, so I needed to ask: want me to pick up anything before I head home?”

The cool October wind ruffled Alya’s hair as she left the poissonnerie. There had been a few customers ahead of Alya with some large and complicated orders, but the clerk had assured her that if she came back in an hour, she’d be able to pick up the shrimp, crab, and snapper she’d ordered. Making a Martinique-style fish stew was a complicated process, but it was one of Alya’s favorite recipes that her mother had taught her, and she knew how much Nino and the kids loved it too.

“Let’s see,” Alya mused as she looked around the peaceful street. There was a library a few blocks away where she could spend some time, but then again, there was a wonderful cafe just down the road which sold some nice takeaway sweets. Maybe, she thought, she could pick up the things she’d need to make homemade hot chocolate that night too. And then she was happily walking over to the cafe, ordering a pain au chocolat and coffee for herself along with packets of cocoa powder, cinnamon, peppermint, and sprinkles, and then moving to one side of the counter to wait for her order.

“Hey,” someone said from the seating area of the cafe. “Can you turn that up? That news story looks interesting.”

Alya glanced at the TV as the cafe employee turned the volume up. A newscaster was saying, “…case of Italian mafioso Antonio Tartargor took a macabre turn earlier today when a cooperating witness was found murdered in her cell. The decedent has been identified as Lila Rossi.”

What? Alya flinched as a mug shot of Lila appeared on the screen. The Italian girl was older now, and there was a mean glint in her eyes that Alya hadn’t noticed back when they’d both been classmates, but it was clearly the same person. Wait, Lila’s dead? But—

“Police arrested Tartargor and dozens of his high-ranking soldiers two weeks ago after his accountant, while trying to steal some of his money, inadvertently exposed his operations to the authorities,” the newscaster went on. “Among the arrested was Lila Rossi, who was Tartargor’s mistress and whom police believed at the time was also hiding some of his wealth from the authorities. She made a deal with police to inform on Tartargor in exchange for witness protection, but even though the police relocated her to another prison ahead of the trial, one of Tartargor’s minions was still able to track her down and strangled her in her cell.” The newscaster checked the papers in front of her. “Based on further investigation, police now believe Lila was not concealing Tartargor’s money from the law but had simply also been stealing from him. It seems a junior detective let slip to Tartargor that police thought he was hiding money with Lila; that led Tartargor to realize that Lila was robbing him, so he dealt with her in his typical fashion. The case against Tartargor is still expected to result in a conviction given the sheer weight of the evidence against him…”

The newscaster went on, but Alya wasn’t listening. “Lila,” she murmured, thinking back to the lying sociopath who had caused so many problems a decade prior. “Nothing was ever enough for you, was it? Not even taking Adrien’s fifty million…”

“It figures,” said someone next to Alya. Some other customer, Alya guessed, probably the one who had come in after her. “She should have listened.”

“Hmm?” Alya turned to the woman. “What did you—"

And then she stopped, because she was looking at the other speaker, and despite the decade that had passed since their last meeting, Alya knew at once who she was seeing. The other woman was an inch or two taller now, her clothes were from fancier brands than she’d been able to afford back when Alya had known her, and her hair was loose around her head, but it was clearly still the same person.

It was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“Marinette,” said Alya after a long moment. “I—I didn’t—what are you doing here?”

“Getting coffee,” Marinette said, seeming only a little surprised at Alya’s presence. “What else?”

“Uh, right, of course.” Alya blushed. “But I meant—doesn’t your team have a base somewhere else? Brussels, I think? The news said—"

Marinette held up a hand and Alya gratefully fell silent. “We do,” she said. “But we aren’t trapped there. I’m in town for the day to have a meeting about a local company I’m invested in. Something big came up and I had to be here to meet with the company’s leaders.”

“Oh.” Alya hesitated, feeling the awkward moment lengthen but unsure of how to break out from it. Then, finally, she blurted, “So, uh, while we’re waiting for our coffees—want to sit down? Catch up?”

The words had barely left her mouth when she caught herself. Marinette wouldn’t want to talk to her, she thought; Marinette had made it clear she never wanted to see her again. A situation for which Alya couldn’t even blame her. Now she’d probably just remind Alya that they weren’t friends and leave.

But instead Marinette considered for a moment and then nodded. “Sure,” she said. “Why not?”

And so Alya found herself sitting across from Marinette, who had been her best friend a decade prior until Lila Rossi, Adrien Agreste, and some deeply foolish decisions on Alya’s part had destroyed their relationship. A dozen different sentiments flashed through Alya’s mind, ranging from tearful apologies to just saying this was a dumb idea and running out the door. But rather than saying any of them, she found herself just sitting there, waiting for Marinette to remind her of all the bad things she’d done.

But Marinette didn’t. She gave Alya a warm smile and asked, “So. What have you been up to?”

“Up to?” It took Alya a moment to understand the question. “Oh! Uh, I’m a paralegal now. So, I’m not a lawyer, but I help the lawyers at my firm with stuff. Document review, interviewing witnesses, filling out paperwork, that kind of thing. You know me.” She shrugged. “I like investigating and researching.”

Marinette smiled at that. “That does sound like you. And Nino? Are you still together?”

The mention of Nino helped to shoo away much of Alya’s nervousness, and she found herself grinning as she showed her wedding ring. “Yep. Married for… just over six years now. With two kids too. Marina is six and little Leila is three.”

“That’s wonderful!” Marinette’s voice sounded genuinely pleased. “You two make a great couple. I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks.” Alya took out her wallet and showed Marinette a family picture. “Nino’s in that fancy outfit because he was about to go to his job. He manages a nightclub near here, and they let him play some of his mixes on the weekends.”

“I’m sure he enjoys that.” Marinette paused. “Although, it sounds like you work during the day. If he’s working at night then isn’t that…?”

Alya got the gist of the question. “Nino usually comes home a little before breakfast time, which is when I get up, so we have family time with the kids in the mornings,” she said. “You know, fancy breakfasts, board games, walks before the rest of Paris is awake, that kind of thing. Then Nino sleeps while I take Marina to school and Leila to daycare before going to work, and I’m home by the time he wakes up and leaves for work so I look after the kids in the evening. We also both have Sunday off, so we do stuff with the kids then too.” She shrugged. “It can be tough, sometimes, but we make it work. And Marina thinks we’re the best parents ever because we’re up and having fun while all the other kids are still asleep. I mean, when I see her run into the kitchen with a big smile on her face because she knows it’s family time…”

“It sounds like you’ve got a really good family.”

“Yeah.” Alya’s smile now had a dreamy quality. “They’re the best. And, uh, what about you and Luka? You two are still a thing, right?”

“Yep. We’re married and everything.” Now Marinette’s smile looked like Alya’s. “Together forever. Actually, a lot of us on the team are married. Juleka and Rose, of course, and Kagami and Jean tied the knot a couple years ago too.” And then a giggle escaped her mouth. “Did you hear about the wedding? I know it made some of the tabloids.”

Alya shook her head. “I don’t read that stuff. After… well, after what I let the Ladyblog turn into… I try to stick to real news. Why, what happened?”

Marinette didn’t show any reaction to the mention of the Ladyblog. Instead she leaned closer and said, “Well, we were all set up for the wedding—decorations, food, everything, and of course I made all the dresses and suits—and just before we start, this entire convoy of luxury cars shows up. Apparently Kagami’s mom wanted her to marry this other guy, this alleged ‘superhero’ from Tokyo who has some strong powers but doesn’t really do many heroics. He mostly just runs the zillion companies he owns and boasts that he’s descended from emperors. Tomoe thought he was a ‘better match’ for her daughter because he was richer and had a fancier lineage, so she sent him to the wedding to I guess show Kagami that she could do better than Jean. So he comes in with his sidekicks and sycophants and says he’s taking Kagami away because he’s much better than a ‘clown who does magic tricks and dresses like a monkey to fight crime.’ And when Jean protested, the guy said he’d fight Jean for her.”

Alya chuckled. “I’m guessing that didn’t go well. I know Jean’s silly, but he’s tough in a fight.”

“Yeah, it went badly for that guy. Kagami dueled his sidekicks—she didn’t even use her powers, she just dueled them as herself—and thrashed them, and Jean crushed that guy. They sent them all home with their tails between their legs. The rest of us didn’t even need to do anything.” Marinette laughed. “Honestly, I think they enjoyed that more than the planned ceremony. You know how much Kagami likes a good fight, at least, and Jean loves showing off what he can do. But that was the only chaotic wedding in our group; Luka and I just had a quiet ceremony with our families at my mom’s church. It’s not too far from here, actually.”

“I’m sure you too are happy together,” Alya noted.

“We are. No kids yet—Kagami and Jean took some time off from the team to have them, and now they’ve got three—but we’re going to change that soon. Next month I’ll be announcing that Luka and I are going on sabbatical to have kids, and Kagami will be taking over as leader for a while.”

Alya nodded. “Well, good luck. Kids can be a handful, but they’re worth it.”

The coffees arrived at the table and Alya took a sip as Marinette asked, “What about the rest of the class? Do you still keep in touch?”

“With most of them, yeah.” Alya began to tick them off on her fingers. “Mylene and Ivan married. She’s working at Grenadier Industries now, in their environmental compliance department, making sure their firm is being as environmentally friendly as possible. Ivan stays home with the kids—they’ve got three—and keeps the house. Uh, Nathaniel’s at a big advertising firm whose name I can’t remember, in the art department. Adrien…”

She trailed off, but Marinette gently said, “It’s okay, Alya. I’m not going to get upset just because someone mentions him. It’s past.”

Alya nodded. “A few people thought that he was going to just spend the pay he'd made working for Gabriel as a model after he turned eighteen and his custodial account unlocked -- the pay was technically his, not his dad's, and so the government hadn't seized it when they and Audrey took all of Gabriel's other assets -- but he said he didn't want anything that came from Gabriel's business, even indirectly. So, he gave that money to some charity for akuma victims, moved to Strasbourg, and got a job as a waiter at some ultra-fancy restaurant. I mean, he already knows how to act around rich people from the way Gabriel raised him, so I guess he fit right in. And he’s been getting some roles in TV and the movies too. Small roles, but notable ones.”

“I thought I saw someone who looked like him in that romance movie I saw last week,” Marinette mused. “The heroine’s friend from college, whom she calls a couple times so he can give her advice. Guess I should have stayed for the credits.” She gave a pleased sigh. “Well, good for him.”

Alya gave her a confused look. “You’re happy for him? But I thought you…”

She trailed off, but Marinette seemed to get it and gave Alya another gentle smile. “Alya. I don’t hate you. Any of you. And yes, that includes Adrien. Or did you think I spent the last ten years gnashing my teeth and growling about how I wanted you all to suffer?”

“No,” Alya admitted. “That’d be silly.”

“I was upset at the time. Because, yes, you all did hurt me. Especially Adrien. But that’s past, like I said, and I’ve moved on. Just like it sounds like the rest of you did too.”

“Well, most of us,” Alya mused. When Marinette frowned, Alya said, “Oh, I’ve definitely moved on. I mean, yeah, there were a few days early on when I thought about writing you and begging for my Miraculous back, but that would have been dumb and I didn’t do it—and I haven’t even considered it in several years. But not everyone did. Like Alix.”

Marinette sighed. “Mmm. I still get letters from her demanding to have her powers restored. I even told her at one point that I brought in another Bunnyx from a parallel universe to act as ‘her’ in the past in order to avoid temporal paradoxes, but she didn’t listen. She keeps insisting that she has to be a hero and that if I don’t return her Miraculous there’ll be a time crunch and the world will end.” She grimaced.

“Yeah.” Alya sighed. “Her dad gave her a job at the Louvre, and I guess she does well enough that she hasn’t been fired, but she doesn’t do anything else. She didn’t go to college, doesn’t go out, doesn’t do anything but sit around and mope about how she could have been a great hero. I still reach out to her when I have time, but…” Alya looked down. “I don’t think there’s much hope. But she’s still doing better than Kim; I hear he’s in jail again.”

“Jail? Where?” Marinette asked.

“Thailand. He’s a nuisance streamer now, you know, France’s very own Johnny Somali.” Marinette made a face like she’d bitten into something sour and Alya nodded. “Yeah. He does ‘streaming pranks’ which is basically just him filming himself being a jerk. He vandalized something important in Thailand and they arrested him, and now he’s even trying to use the trial to boost his following instead of working to minimize his sentence.” She shook her head. “He actually wrote to me and a bunch of Paris bigwigs saying we should help him because he saved us from Party Crasher that one time as King Monkey.”

Marinette shook her head. “Is he telling people that? That’s just... agh. I mean, even when I announced the old heroes were being retired at that press conference after Hawkmoth’s defeat, I didn’t reveal your identities. If he’s just going around saying he used to be Monkey King than...” She sighed. “That’ll just hurt his reputation even more, and he’s got nobody to blame but himself.”

Alya nodded. Briefly, she thought back to that press conference where she’d outed herself as Rena Rouge while complaining about Kagami taking ‘her’ Miraculous. She’d then gotten some blowback from people who were disappointed in her, but she could at least admit it was her own fault for revealing herself, and Marinette had been kind enough not to name any of the others (a fact for which she knew Nino, at least, had been profusely grateful). Then she brought herself back to the present and said, “Yeah. And, sure, he did good back then, but that doesn’t mean he should be able to get away with wrecking something in another country.”

Marinette inclined her head. “True. This idea that heroes should be able to get away with misconduct because they do good elsewhere is monstrous. It completely disregards the victims of the misconduct, like they don’t matter. I almost made that mistake once, but my team caught me, and I’m still grateful.”

“Really?” Alya blinked. “When did you almost make that mistake? I haven’t heard anything bad about your team. In fact, I thought you were considered to have the second-best team in the entire world.”

“I do. And we’ll beat the United Heroez one of these days.” Marinette flashed a grin and Alya smiled as she saw the competitive, eager girl she remembered from ten years ago. Then Marinette added, “But being great doesn’t mean perfect. And there was a time when I wanted to bring Fei on almost as soon as I met her, even though she was a thief and hadn’t been punished for that yet, because I knew how good of a hero she could be. But my team, especially Luka and Kagami, showed me that I was wrong. That I couldn’t exempt my people from the rules that we expected everyone else to live by.” She adopted a faraway look. “So I explained to Fei that, if she wanted to be a hero, she’d have to turn herself in and accept the punishment for her crimes first. Which she did. And when that was over, when she’d atoned, I was able to bring her onboard with no qualms. Now she’s one of my strongest warriors.”

Marinette glanced down into her cup of coffee. “I had issues with a few of the others too, actually. Jean’s great now, but there was a time when he was getting kind of egotistical and entitled, and he thought that all the good stuff he’d done meant it was alright for him to slack off. I had to suspend him when he was late to a fight because he was off partying somewhere. And Rose—I realized she’d started holding back because she felt bad for the villains and wanted to help them without hurting them, and I had to suspend her too. And then there was Socqueline. I really liked her because she helped defend me from Chloe back in the day, and I wanted to add her to the team as soon as we’d beaten Mayura, but she was rash back then. If I’d brought her on at that time, she’d have jumped the gun on something and caused problems. Fortunately, like with Fei, my team talked me into waiting. When Socqueline matured a bit and I knew she could be more judicious, then I brought her on. I restored Jean and Rose when they were ready too, and… well. As you know, I do have the second-best team on Earth.”

Alya wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she just sipped her drink. Then she said, “I thought I heard that Rose still had some kind of clinic for reforming supervillains.”

“Oh, yes, she kept that going even after I brought her back up to full-time duty on the squad. I’m all in favor of it, actually. If she can reform a guy through therapy so that I don’t have to punch him and get punched by him, all the better.” The two women exchanged grins. “Just as long as she remembers some villains really won’t stop for anything short of overwhelming force, which she’s been good about ever since I let her back on the team.”

“Well,” said Alya after a moment, “even if you made a couple mistakes, you’ve still done a fantastic job with your team. Stopped a lot of bad guys.” She smiled, and there was a hint of sadness in it—a hint of the knowledge that she’d been on that team, but had lost her place through her own errors and couldn’t get it back—but it was still mostly happy. “Well done.”

“Thank you.” Marinette smiled, though Alya thought she saw something searching in the other girl’s eyes. “I appreciate it.”

After a few more sips of coffee, Alya added, “I think the only other person from our class then is Sabrina. Well, besides Max, but you probably know more about him than I do. He got onto that tech-based superhero team out in the ocean, right?”

“Yes. In fact, he’s made their technology a little bit better than ours.” Marinette’s eyes gleamed competitively. “And you know what that means.”

“That you have a fifty-step plan to take the lead once again?” Alya joked, remembering some of Marinette’s old plans to confess her love to Adrien.

“I do indeed.” And then both women were laughing.

When they stopped, Alya said, “And Sabrina got into the legislature. A little before Chloe did, as I recall. I heard the two of them arguing about some bill the other night.”

Marinette nodded. “It was a shame to lose Chloe, but I don’t want my heroes gaining political power at the same time—too much risk of us suborning the government to our ends. And Chloe understood. When I told her she’d have to give up the Bee if she wanted to run for office, she called that ridiculous, of course, but she accepted it quickly. And I honestly think she’s doing even more good there.”

“Really?” Alya leaned back in her chair. “I would have thought her stances were too snobby for you. If she had her way then all governing would be done by a bunch of rich aristocrats.”

Marinette shrugged. “I mean, on a lot of issues I agree more with Sabrina—legislating by and for regular people, since the regular people are the ones who take the brunt of any governmental screwup anyway. But Chloe has some good arguments too. Just like I know more about baking and fashion design than most people, aristocrats like Chloe who were brought up in political families have lots of experience when it comes to politics and might have some insights the rest of us don’t. There could also be worse things than a political system which says, ‘look, some people have more money and power, so we should teach those people noblesse oblige and push them to use their power on behalf of others instead of just indulging their own selfish desires.' And nobody—not even Sabrina—can deny Chloe’s been aggressively cleaning up the bad members of the upper-class.”

“I think I heard one of her speeches when she talked about that,” Alya noted. Then she slipped into an imitation of Chloe’s haughty voice. “Look, ‘Lord’ Montague, obviously we need to kick out the corrupt aristocrats and show the people we can be trusted, or else the peasants will abolish us and then we won’t be able to use our skills to keep this nation running—and we both know they can’t keep it running without us! So of course we need to shut down your friend who blows all his money on parties and mistresses and then demands government bailouts so his businesses doesn’t crash. What, do you think the state’s going to prop him up forever just because his great-great-great grandfather was an earl and because he got you started in politics? Because that’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”

“Heh.” Marinette grinned. “I bet she—and Sabrina—run their respective parties in a few years.”

“We can hope,” Alya said.

The two chatted for a few more minutes until the coffees had mostly been drunk. Then Marinette put her cup down as if ready to go, and Alya tensed. A thought had been lurking in the back of her mind for the entire meeting, and she’d managed to keep it at bay, but with no more conversation remaining she found herself saying, “Marinette, wait.”

“Yes?”

Alya hesitated, then made herself say, “If I told you… if I said that I really am sorry, that I understand I screwed up, and that you were right to kick me from the team… would you care?”

And then she tensed, because of course Marinette might tell her that she wasn’t entitled to forgiveness and that her apologies meant nothing. But Marinette instead smiled and said, “Of course I care. Thank you, Alya.”

The redhead hesitated, not knowing what to say to that, and Marinette sat back down. “I never wanted any of you to suffer. Even at the lowest point, when I knew we couldn’t be friends and that I couldn’t have you and the other members of the class as heroes… I didn’t hate you or take pleasure in thinking of how you must be hurting.” She took her former best friend’s hand and Alya couldn’t help remembering how close they’d been ten years ago, when they’d had sleepovers and gone out for ice cream and had so many adventures—from following Adrien to fighting Hawkmoth—together. “I want the best for you. And if you’re a better person now, if you’re not ‘screwing up’ like that anymore and are now living a good, happy life… that makes me happy too.”

One look into Marinette’s eyes told Alya that Marinette meant what she said, and Alya couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you,” she murmured. “That means a lot to me.”

Marinette drummed her fingers on the table. Then she said, “Let me ask you this: I already said that Luka and I are taking some time off from the team soon, and that means we’ve got some openings. Would you want to be brought back, at least provisionally?”

Alya’s mouth dropped. And for a moment it was ten years ago, and she was accepting the Fox Miraculous for the very first time, thinking of all the fantastic heroics she’d do, the scandals she’d expose and the villains she’d destroy, all alongside the hero she idolized…

But it wasn’t ten years ago, she reminded herself.

“I wish I could,” she said. “But… I have responsibilities now. The clients at my firm who are depending on me—if I run off, their cases won’t be handled as effectively. And even more than that, I’ve got a family. If I were a hero I’d have to make that my top priority and I wouldn’t be able to count on spending any time with my kids. Plus, what if a villain came after them?”

Marinette said nothing as Alya sighed and looked away. “So as much as I’d love to, and as important as I know your work is… I can’t help you with it. I’m sorry. I’m sure you don’t like my answer—"

Then she felt something on her shoulder and it took her a minute to realize Marinette was squeezing it. “Alya,” she said. “That’s an excellent answer. If you have responsibilities here, of course I don’t want to drag you away from them. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Her tone was so certain that Alya wondered if Marinette had been hoping for that answer. Had that question been a test in some way? But then Marinette added, “And by the way, I’m certain your work is important too. Like—what’s your latest case?”

“Huh?” It took Alya a moment to refocus. “Oh, uh, a pharmaceutical thing. My firm represents a company that makes generic, low-cost drugs. A name-brand company sued them for stealing one of their drugs, and they demanded so much money that our clients would basically have had to shut down if they were ordered to pay it, but I was able to show that it was the other guys who stole from our clients.”

“So what you’re saying is, thanks to you, a firm that provides cheap medicine to people who desperately need it will be able to keep doing so,” Marinette said. “Instead of being destroyed by a company that would probably charge ten times as much for the same medicine, thus ensuring most people wouldn’t be able to get it?”

Alya blinked. “Well, uh, yeah. Pretty much.”

“Alya, you probably saved more lives doing that than I do in a year of heroics,” Marinette said as Alya blushed. “That’s incredibly important work. I know a little about that world thanks to my team’s investments—"

“Wait,” said Alya. “What investments?”

“Well, sometimes when we stop another global disaster, countries and rich people want to reward us,” Marinette said. “And other groups have wanted to license our likenesses for things like edutainment games, PSAs, and stuff like that. It would obviously be wrong to just pocket the money, so instead we use what we get in that way to invest in companies that do good. Low-cost food, low-cost housing, low-cost medicine, environmental cleanup… we’re invested in lots of businesses that provide living necessities to people who need them. I’m not in charge of the investments, but I make a point of knowing what we’re invested in. And speaking as someone who has been to rural hospitals that only stay in business because companies like the one you saved are providing cheap, quality medicines, I know what I’m talking about.” She met Alya’s eyes. “Well done, Alya.”

And Alya realized she was smiling again, all traces of doubt and weariness gone from her. “Thank you, Marinette. And I won’t lie and say that I never miss getting to take down some monster who deserves it, but… you’re still right.” She chuckled. “And besides, you’re no slouch when it comes to doing good yourself. So thanks to you and your team for saving us from all the monsters and supervillains.”

“Well, we try.” And then both girls were laughing once more.

As Alya finished her coffee and rose to go, she asked, “So, uh, I had fun and I think you did too, so if you want to do this next time you’re in town…?”

“I’d like that,” Marinette said. “And actually, Luka and I are staying in Paris overnight a couple weeks from now. Then our flight out is at noon, so we might be able to stop by for breakfast—see you and Nino both. That is, if your daughter is willing to let us intrude on ‘family time.’”

“Are you kidding? She’s a huge fan of yours. If you drop by she’ll be over the moon!”

“Then it’s a date,” Marinette said. “See you then.” And she gave Alya one more happy smile before leaving.

The evening went well; Leila and Marina both loved Alya’s fish stew, and Marina—listening with the fierce intensity that she devoted to everything she did—also enjoyed the story of Alya meeting Marinette. It even took Marina a little longer to get to bed, not only because of hot chocolate time (which Marina also enjoyed), but also because she was so excited at the thought of ‘Mom’s hero friends’ coming to see her.

When Alya awoke at six thirty the next morning, she greeted Nino and then collected the kids. Then the doorbell rang and Alya hid her smile because she knew the special treat she’d planned. “I wonder who that is?” she mused. “Marina, could you get it?”

Marina scampered off, then squeed, “Grandma Marlena! Hi! Are you here for family time?”

“I am!” Marlena said in her bright, merry voice. She was still the head chef at Le Grand Paris, and anyone who tasted her cooking could immediately tell why, as Alya knew full well. “Your mom said you might want something a little special today, so I thought I’d make you tamagoyaki, Japanese square eggs!”

“Eggs aren’t square, grandma,” said Marina at once. “They’re round!”

Marlena winked. “Oh? Let’s see!”

Alya smiled as she helped Marina mix up some eggs with a few other ingredients—including soy sauce, dashi seasoning, and a splash of mirin, a sweet cooking wine—as per Marlena’s instructions. Then Marlena opened a cabinet and took out a small rectangular-shaped pan which Alya had planted there. After heating it and pouring in a portion of the egg mixture, she proceeded to fold the egg over several times as if making an omelet—but because the pan was rectangular, the omelet came out that way too. Then Marlena poured in more egg mixture, let it slide under the omelet, folded the egg up the pan again, and so on. Marina gaped as the rectangular omelet took form.

When Marlena was done, she plopped the omelet onto a plate, sliced it into several rectangular slices, and said, “Voila!”

“Wow!” Then Marina tasted a bite and her face brightened. “Mom! This is amazing! These are the best eggs ever!” And she gobbled her portion down while Alya, Nino, Marlena, and Leila ate at a more sedate pace. “I want to cook these myself!”

“Sure thing, Mar,” Nino said. “How about this Sunday? We can make bento boxes, and you can be in charge of the eggs!”

“I’ll do a great job!” Marina promised at the same time Leila chimed in, “I wanna help!” And Alya grinned as she hugged her daughters and marveled at how good life was.

When it was time to leave, Alya dropped the kids off and then headed off to work, and she still had her good mood as she entered the office. “Morning Mr. Celle,” she said as she passed her supervisor. “What’s on the schedule for today?”

Celle said, “For you, a meeting with the senior partners.”

“What?” Alya blinked. “Is something wrong? I—"

“No, no. Dupree was very happy with your findings yesterday. I think you’ll like this meeting.”

Alya still found herself somewhat nervous when she was ushered into the boardroom and found herself staring at the partners. Dupree looked at her from his spot in the middle of the group and said, “Alya, you’ve impressed us time and again since joining our firm. We’d like you to keep doing what you’re doing for two-thirds to three-quarters of your billable hours every week, but for the rest of your time, we want you to start heading our private investigation division.”

“Our… what?” Alya frowned.

“Sometimes the police or other groups—like government subcommittees—suspects a person or a business of criminal activity, but doesn’t have enough to open a formal investigation,” said another partner. “In that case, they can still contract with a private investigator to dig through publicly available documents and see if there’s anything suspicious. Like if the person claims to be running their businesses from a certain property, but it turns out that property is a post office box, or it’s abandoned. Or if they claim to have a certain CEO but none of the relevant documents have been signed by him.”

“The United Heroez just caught a tier-1 villain when they found his lair on a thirty-year old tax document,” another partner said. “He’d bought it long ago, and it wasn’t even in any of the digital records, but that Uncanny Valley girl dug it out and figured out where he was.”

Alya hesitated. “It sounds great, but, um, do we have a private investigation division?”

“We do now.” Dupree rose. “One of the investors in the pharmaceutical firm you helped yesterday said she was extremely impressed with your work, and she hinted you might be able to investigate a few people she’s come across whom she thinks might have done villainous things but whom she doesn’t have enough evidence on for the police or superheroes to act. She even offered our group a modest investment on the condition it goes toward using you and other investigators of your caliber to look into those people, and any others whom might need some investigation.”

“Investor?” Alya opened her mouth to ask who—but then she remembered Marinette telling her that her team had invested in low-cost pharmaceutical companies. That she, Alya, had rescued one such company and then Marinette had been in town that very afternoon because something big had happened with one of her investments. And that Marinette had seemed very interested in whether Alya wanted to hunt down criminals again…

And then she understood, and she said aloud, “I’d love to help. When can I start?”

“Right now.” Dupree passed her a folder. “There’s an American villain called the Technopirate. The investor thinks there’s a small industrial firm in the 20th arrondissement manufacturing gear for him. Nobody’s found any proof yet, but if someone were to really look into the industrial inputs the factory takes in and what they’re producing, it’s possible they might not match up…”

Alya listened to the brief, her mind already starting to catalogue questions and think up possible avenues of investigation. But even as she did so, one other thought ran through her brain.

Thank you, Marinette. You’re a wonderful friend.