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Marinette's scream would haunt him until his dying day.
Adrien felt the guilt and the cold knowing even before he'd turned around that his kindest and gentlest classmate had been akumatized.
He didn't want to look. Not her… not her… not the brave princess... his brain chanted at him. But it was too late for that.
He should have gone to the back of the class to sit with her or stood up for her. He knew that Lila was a liar who was lying. And yet he'd let his friend down. He'd been glaring at Alya not Marinette but the rest of the class had glared at her and why hadn't he made it clear that he was with her.
Why had he allowed her to remain alone? Done something to help the hurt that was on her face? Especially when he'd pushed her out of the way of the akuma butterflies not long ago, unable to stand the idea of her becoming someone he had to fight. He'd shielded her with his own body then but when the time came to shield her with words or less physical actions now he'd hesitated. Marinette was paying the price for his hesitation.
Marinette who always did things for them and made him feel special and yet he'd failed her. His lucky charm felt like a lead weight in his pocket rather than one of his cherished possessions and a token of friendship that he valued.
Lucky Charm. Hopefully his lady got here soon.
His instincts were screaming at him that it wasn't going to be that simple.
That he needed to transform as soon as possible. He cursed his bad luck. He sat in the front of the classroom, Marinette had been sent to the back.
How was he to sneak out the door without her noticing?
He heard the others panic. He heard them whisper. Blaming Marinette for being akumatized. For feeling negative emotions. Even though their hypocritical and selfish asses had gotten akumatized before and not once had Marinette blamed them for their actions or for being victimized for having negative emotions.
Everyone felt anger, sadness, jealousy, and fear in their lives after all it was part of being human. Were they all unable to see Marinette as a human?
He wanted to turn back time to the start of class. Sadly, time travel wasn't in his powers.
Lila began to laugh, cold and cruel. “Hawkmoth wanted to corrupt the incorruptible and you made it so easy.”
Marinette still looked mostly like Marinette just sadder and wearing all black. It felt wrong to see her devoid of the bright colors.
“I didn't even have to take days manipulating you before you turned against your friend. You made it so easy. And the girl who resisted Hawkmoth so often is now his puppet.”
Lila's taunts hurt. Marinette had resisted akumatization before? She was even stronger than he'd thought.
There was high pitched scream as Marinette displayed her power.
Chloe was the first person grabbed as she attempted to leave the room.
Every unkind word or action was displayed before them. Suddenly, he understood why they'd celebrated her leaving, she wasn't just unkind she was downright cruel. He saw the petty and cruel things she'd done to his classmates just because she could get away with it. Chloe was crying as she was clearly being made to feel the pain she'd inflicted upon others.
Hawkmoth had targeted Marinette deliberately and his inactions had helped serve her up on a silver platter.
He'd never felt any less like a hero or more like a coward even as he used the distractions the other fleeing students provided to run away and transform.
“The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long,” he remembers reading in philosophy.
He hopes it's not true about Marinette. He would save her. Whatever it cost him to do so.
Friendship was the most important thing in the world to him and she was his friend. It was time he proved that. No matter what it took.
The words he heard before he transformed made this day even worse.
“It's worse than you know kid! Marinette is Ladybug, Tikki's been corrupted as well,” Plagg exclaimed.
He hadn't just failed his friend. He had failed his lady.
If his lucky charm had been like lead before, it weighed upon him even heavier now.
Marinette was Ladybug and she'd been lost in the dark. How could he turn back on the light?