Chapter Text
Caline Bustier didn't drink.
Ever.
Many had interrogated her about it, from her early days in university to any family event she went to. But there was no trauma or problems in her life associated with alcohol. She simply didn't like the taste when she had been offered sips, nor did she particularly desire the sensation people drank alcohol to achieve. She was specifically attached to being as close to a functional human being as she could in a city where having negative emotions could result in you blacking out and waking up to find you had caused a zombie apocalypse because of a butterfly.
So no. Caline didn't drink.
But sometimes...sometimes she considered it.
And watching Lila and Chloé, both girls with such potential to be decent people who never seemed to take that step no matter how much she encouraged them, trying to pettily out class each other as they talked about what they did over break...it was enough to make anyone consider alcoholism as an alternative.
(Chloé's story was probably true. Caline had some doubt about Lila's, especially after Principal Damocles told her an entirely different story about the months Lila missed school due to "visiting Prince Ali", but that wasn't important.)
On top of this stand off, Marinette was later than she had ever been, and Caline had yet to receive a phone call from her parents about her being absent. This was...concerning, to say the least.
She needed to pull this class back onto the rails, preferably without making the conflict worse.
"Alright!" she finally called, drawing the class' attention. She needed to act quick before things went off the rails again. "I'm sure your vacations were both wonderful, but can you please save your discussion of them until after class?"
"Oh, of course Ms. Bustier," Lila spoke up, her voice sugary sweet and completely false (everything was fine, everything was just fine).
Chloé gave a scoff, clearly unhappy that she had been forced to stop (and Caline wondered sometimes why her kindness wasn't enough). "Fine. We all know my trip was better anyway."
She bit back an exhausted sigh as Lila made a face that looked like she was about to start something, before turning her attention to Alya. If she just left the two of them alone, they'd burn themselves out she hoped.
"Alya, could you text Marinette and see if she's okay?"
Alya blinked in surprise, tilting her head in confusion. "Huh?"
Caline's patience was running thin (everything was fine). "Could you text Marinette and see if she is okay?"
"...Who's Marinette?"
There was an uncomprehending moment before the exhaustion and irritation disappeared and her mind snapped into an intense clarity, and she realized what exactly Alya had just said and there was a sudden spike of panic.
"Ms. Bustier, are you feeling alright?" Adrien asked in his normal polite tone, tilting his head in concern.
She needed to remain calm. She needed to remain calm, or else her class might start panicking about an akuma and she needed to keep them calm before she went to find out what was going on.
Deep breaths in and out.
"Does anyone else not recognize the name Marinette?" she asked, keeping her voice as even as possible. The class all raised their hands, looking confused and concerned as they did, and Ms. Bustier took another deep breath.
This was bad. No, this was akuma levels of bad. But her first priority was to keep her currently present students from panicking about an akuma, then she could investigate.
"Alright then," she said calmly, resting her hands on her desk so none of the students could see the way they shook as her mind spun with terrifying possibilities about what could possibly be happening. "Today during class, we will be reading the next chapter in our textbooks. Once you are done, I'd like you to work on the corresponding section in your workbooks."
Her students all gave her strange looks, but they all opened their textbooks reluctantly, leaving Caline time to grab her roll sheet and make sure she wasn't going crazy.
Marinette's name was there. She wasn't crazy. Marinette existed and Caline wasn't crazy. Her students just...didn't remember, so whatever akuma this was, they weren't capable of erasing Marinette from existence. Caline could work with that. She just needed to figure out as much as she could about the situation, then she could contact Ladybug and Chat Noir and fill them in.
She'd need to make a visit to the bakery after school first.
It felt like hours until the bell rang, and she took a deep breath to calm herself before calling, "Adrien! Could you stay behind for a bit please?"
Adrien blinked with surprise as the other students began to file out, before nodding hesitantly and approaching the desk. Caline waited for the rest of the class to leave before turning her full attention to him.
"Last Friday we were supposed to have your parent-teacher conference," she explained, and Adrien winced at the memory. "I understand your father is busy, but this meeting is important. Do you know the best day and time to reschedule for?"
"No," Adrien answered, looking dejected. "He's...he's always busy."
Caline knew that. She had been trying to schedule this darn meeting for months. It had been a series of ignored calls, being put on hold for hours on end only to be told to call back later, and more conversations with Ms. Sancouer than she had ever expected to have. She had had all her other meetings months before Ms. Sancouer had finally told her that Mr. Agreste could make it on Friday at six in the afternoon, and then she and Adrien sat there for an hour only for no one to show up.
She was reaching her limit with this.
She was reaching her limit with all of this.
"Adrien, how often do you see your father in person?"
Adrien frowned at the question. "Uh...once every couple of days?"
Jesus Christ.
"I see." She pulled out a pad of paper and began writing a note. It was more passive aggressive than she usually was, but at this point she had no other options and her mind was currently much more focused on the actual emergency that was Marinette to care about how polite it sounded. "I'm scheduling another appointment for this Friday. Please give this note to your father. If he doesn't come to this meeting then I will need to involve Principal Damocles." She folded the note into thirds and handed it to Adrien.
"Okay." He looked skeptical, and truthfully Caline was pretty certain this wasn't going to work. But she had to try or what was even the point?
"Good. Now, I look forward to seeing you both this Friday." She scribbled a quick note to Ms. Mendeleiev on the pad before ripping it off and handing it to Adrien. "Here's a note for your next class."
Adrien nodded, taking the excuse note before heading out the door, with only a brief, concerned glance as he left.
She leaned her elbows against her desk, her hands on her head as she tried to pull herself together.
This was clearly an akuma. It wasn't any of her students, because all of them except Marinette had been in attendance today and none of them had shown any signs of being anything other than completely real. Marinette had not arrived, meaning...meaning...
She didn't know what was worse, that she had been kidnapped or that she had also had her memory taken from her, maybe even both. It was too horrifying to consider, and so Caline took a shaky breath and forced herself to think about something else.
She had to go to the bakery once it was lunch time and she could escape. She needed to know what the situation was there.
Just a few more hours until lunch, and then she could go.
Just a few more hours.
This...was probably the longest school day Caline had had since she was a student herself.
She shoved the stack of papers she was supposed to grade into her bag once her students left for lunch (and she was pretty sure they were supposed to have homework tonight that she had completely forgotten, but screw it the day was already weird enough, they could have a break), and within minutes she was out the door and heading for the bakery.
How was she supposed to ask about this?
If they didn't remember Marinette, she was going to sound completely crazy to them. If they did remember Marinette, then they were going to be sent into a panic and that wouldn't help anything. She needed to figure out how to word it in a way that was completely innocuous, just to make sure that the question wouldn't be too strange to them.
Would they even remember who she was?
That...that was a big concern. Caline was only familiar with the Dupain-Chengs because of Marinette being one of her students. Still, the akuma's memory erasing hadn't been very clean, because Alya had sat in her usual spot, leaving a space for someone she hadn't remembered was supposed to sit there.
Whether it was this or because they remembered, when Caline opened the door Sabine looked up and gave her a bright smile. "Caline! It's been a while!"
She had been on first name basis with Sabine and Tom for a while, having been Marinette's teacher for a while and a frequent customer at the bakery as well. Maybe...maybe that meant...
"I thought I'd come by to grab some lunch," Caline said, forcing some cheerfulness into her voice. She needed to keep it casual, to make sure she kept everything under control. "Could I have a baguette sandwich and a couple of macarons?" She dug her wallet out from her bag and pulled out the money to pay for it.
"Of course!" Sabine went to the display case with a pair of tongs, pulling out the requested treats with a smile on her face and tucking them into a wax paper bag. "Is that everything?"
"Yes," Caline answered, bracing herself as she finally asked, "How is Marinette, by the way?"
Sabine blinked, her face falling into a confused frown. "Who?"
Dang it. This wasn't good.
"Sorry, I thought you knew her," Caline said, doing her best to hide her disappointment. "My mistake."
Sabine looked at her strangely, before shrugging. "You should introduce us to her sometime then. Any friend of your's is welcome here at any time."
She nodded and gave a weak smile. "Thank you, Sabine." She paid for her food and headed for the door, before pausing and looking back. "Tell Tom I said hi?"
Caline received a friendly, content smile as Sabine answered, "Of course, Caline. Come back soon!"
She went out the door and walked to the side of the building away from the windows, doing her best to keep herself calm as she stopped out of sight.
This was bad. It wasn't just the class, it was Marinette's own mother who had forgotten her. She didn't have any hopes that it would be any different with Marinette's dad, but...she had hoped that they would at least remember. It couldn't possibly just be her, right?
No...it couldn't be. It would make sense that whoever had erased the memories of Marinette had overlooked some people, and there was no way she was the only person who had been left out in the process. Besides, akumas always tried to gain attention at some point to lure Ladybug and Chat Noir out. Hawk Moth would probably pressure them into going out into the open soon enough.
And yet...she didn't want to leave this alone. There was something so wrong about this situation, she couldn't find it in her to just...go about her day, leave it for Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Whoever this akuma was, they had something against Marinette. And Caline didn't want to leave this alone when she was in danger.
She had to figure out what had happened.
But first, she needed to head back to school.
Breathe in and out. In and out.
She was heading into the building when she heard shouting, and it took her only moments to find the source.
"I can't believe you!" a familiar voice shouted, one that Caline recognized from both TV and her secondary classes. She rounded the corner to see Aurore Beauréal cornering Alya, looking absolutely furious. "After everything she's done for you, you just act like she doesn't exist! You can't even find it in you to be grateful!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Alya shouted back, standing her ground. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't get in my face when I haven't even done anything!"
"Haven't done anything?!" Aurore laughed. "Please! Marinette drops everything for your sake and you just completely ignore it! I told her she deserved better, but she still thinks you are worth the actual hell you put her through! I can't imagine a worse friend than you!"
She said Marinette's name.
She remembered Marinette.
"Hey!" Caline called, moving forward to intervene before things potentially got physical and she had to take the girls to the nurse instead of getting a chance to talk to Aurore. "That's enough." She looked at Alya, saying calmly, "Alya, please excuse us."
Alya looked smugly at Aurore as she made her escape, while Aurore simply scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I should have known," she remarked aloud, turning her fierce glare onto Caline. "Whenever there is an actual problem you just ignore it, but when someone is trying to deal with it you punish them."
"Aurore-"
But Aurore wasn't done. "You let Chloé get away with everything but when someone tries to do something about her then suddenly they are the one at fault. I told Marinette she should switch classes but she just-"
"Aurore." Caline's voice went stern, and Aurore finally went quiet, though her glare hadn't diminished at all. Which wasn't great, but Caline was fine with it. "Aurore, you are not in trouble and I am not punishing you. I need to talk with you about Marinette."
Her expression went downright venomous. "Oh, so now you care about your class representative."
Caline took a deep breath. Okay, so she wasn't exactly popular with Aurore. That was not important.
"No one seems to remember Marinette," she explained, meeting Aurore's eyes with a serious expression. "No one, not even Alya, not even her parents, but you do. And I need your help to figure out what is going on."
Aurore's face blanched, her eyes going wide as the words sunk in. After a moment, she took a deep shaky breath, before nodding. "What...what do you want to know?"