Chapter Text
Master Fu was gone. Physically, he was still there, however… he'd lost all his memories. Marinette couldn't help but feel that she'd lost him along with his memories. If he knew he lost all memory of the miraculous once passing on guardianship, why would he have ever passed it on to her? Why… Why would he leave her like this? Most of her friendships were strained after dealing with Lila, her partnership with Chat Noir shattered a little more each time they faced a new akuma and she rejected his advances, even her crush on Adrien had vanished, faded away with the memory of his broken promise to stand by her, as well as the fact that he placed no effort in being her friend. Once she tricked Chat into believing she and Ladybug were two different people, Adrien seemed to lose all interest in her at all. It made her wonder why she had ever considered him a friend.
Alya- her relationship with the reporter was marginally better than the ones she shared with Chat and Adrien. The Cajun didn't want to admit that she'd been taken in by Lila's lies and simply ignored the fact that it ever happened, leaving Marinette feeling horrible and unable to trust the girl she had called her best friend. Nino had apologized for listening to Lila, joining her small group that consisted of Alix, Juleka, Luka, the four new kids, Felix, Allegra, Claude, and Allan, and surprisingly enough, Kagami. She watched as Nino gradually hung out more with her group than Alya, the Ladyblogger looking sadder and sadder as the days went by, finding herself mostly isolated now that Lila had been exposed as a fraud and her boyfriend left her for a friend she wasn't sure would take her back. Kim and Max had followed Nino with apologies, though they mainly hung out with each other- and Alix, when they could pry her away from Marinette. Ivan and Mylène were the last students to apologize, though she wasn't very close with them and they mainly stuck together.
The class was in chaos with the discord between the classmates. Sabrina spent her days looking like a lost puppy, Chloe refusing to let anyone near. Nino was pissed at Adrien for knowing about Lila lying and not exposing her, while the majority of the class despised Marinette's 'Guard Dog,' as they had named Felix, for refusing to let them close to Marinette. Many classmates simply refused to approach her while the new kids were around, and with it being rare that at least one of them was not with her at the school, the students were unable to find a time to speak to her, Tom and Sabine refusing to let them go past the main customer area of the bakery.
Allegra, Claude, and Allan were in Madame Mendelieve's class, there being room for only one new student in Madame Bustier's class. That roll was filled by Felix shortly after Chameleon, who claimed the bench by Marinette, he himself being stationed by the center walkway so that there was less of a chance of someone talking to the broken girl. He most often took off to the library for lunch, leaving Marinette with his friends, only comfortable enough to do so because the majority of the class assumed that the other three kids were just like Felix after learning that they were friends from the same school, and as such, avoided them like the plague.
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Felix found himself reminiscing on the first day of school. He had been in a mood, angry that it was always him that wound up separated from the one group of tolerable people he had found. Allegra, Claude, and Allan all three had Madame Mendelieve while he was stuck in the only free spot in one Caline Bustier's class, surrounded by idiots that would have no concept of personal space.
He felt himself proven correct after arriving, except for one thing… or, rather, one person. He walked into the classroom before any other student, desiring to watch and learn about his classmates before being forced to interact with them. He felt his first instincts were proven correct when Adrien Agreste was one of the first students in the classroom. A single eyebrow raised when the boy sat silently in his seat, not even glancing at the other students that sat, idly chatting. That eyebrow raised higher when Chloe Bourgeois walked right by Agreste without even looking at him, and seconds later a redhead nearly tackled the model out of his seat. He watched in silence, observing the strange way the class interacted, the way the students gravitated towards the redhead, excluding a select few. How a girl with shattered blue gems for eyes was mostly ignored as she headed for the back, save for a few scathing comments.
The girl froze for a second when she realized someone was on the other half of her bench, then slowly slid in. Felix eyed her cautiously, then held out his hand. "My name is Felix Giles. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The girl eyed his hand warily, and he questioned what had made her so hesitant to so much as shake someone's hand. She finally reached out and grasped his hand. "Marinette." She shyly told him, a small gasp of shock leaving her lips as he lifted her hand and kissed it.
It wasn't long after that the teacher, Madame Bustier, came into the class, asking them all to be welcoming to the new student. He quickly snagged his phone, sending a message to the group chat with Marinette's description and asking if they were okay with him dragging her with them for lunch. They were quick to message affirmatives, all three wanting to meet the person that had made Felix of all people reach out.
The day flew by into lunch, and Felix desperately wished that he didn't know why Marinette had broken eyes. He listened in horrified silence as several of his new classmates berated the girl for things she obviously didn't do. How could she have cornered Lila in the locker room when Lila had been in class long before the noirette even arrived at the school? How did she trash talk the Ladyblog during break when the poor girl didn't move from her seat, much less speak? He quickly snagged the girl's hand, ready to drag her out the class.
He gazed coldly at the class of foolish children. "If you imbeciles believe the words of an obvious liar, than you are all no better than lemmings that blindly follow off the side of a cliff. Fact check, it shouldn't be too difficult to realize that even her most plausible lies are foolish, and the others outlandish at best." He informed them, tugging at Marinette's hand to pull her out the class faster.
"I didn't think Marinette would go so far as to try to make herself look like the victim, especially not to a new student! She's been bullying me since I moved here! I'm just lucky that most of the other students are so kind and helpful as to protect me from her!" The liar sobbed.
"Who the hell do you think you are, calling Lila a liar and saying we're stupid! Obviously someone here is stupid, but it isn't us! We aren't the ones taking the words of one girl over an entire class as truth! I'm a reporter and the face behind the Ladyblog! How dare you insinuate that I don't know truth from fiction!" The cajun girl shrieked. Felix made note of his friend's cousin shaking his head and looking highly doubtful of the words being said. Now that he looked, there were a couple people that didn't seem to fully buy in to the lies.
Felix stared at her, then raised one eyebrow. "Do you mean the gossip website that stalks heroes? I would hardly say that makes you a reporter, I would be more apt to consider you a reckless fool for always throwing yourself into danger for a video, inconsiderate of the heroes' wishes to remain anonymous, and far too prone to stupidity as most of the 'reports' on your blog have no sources." He drug Marinette all the way out of the room as the blogger's, Alya's, shriek rang through the halls.
"You didn't have to do that." The voice was almost a whisper.
Felix looked down at her. "Perhaps not. However, they did not have to blindly follow a liar without question and turn against someone they called their friend."
Marinette stared at the ground, her hands fluttering as she stood next to him. "Thank you. They don't all follow Lila, Alix and Juleka openly hang out with me… But you're the first person to openly challenge the class in my defense. So thank you." She said, explaining her thought process before he could object to her thanks.
He frowned. "I am still under the impression that your friends should have defended you against any number of people, no matter who they are."
Marinette shrugged, not bothering to tell him that she asked Alix and Juleka to stay back. She didn't want them to go through the same things she was.
Not even ten seconds later, she found herself encased in a whirlwind of blonde hair and arms, the billowing hair finally settling down enough so that she could see three people now held her in a hug. She panickedly looked at Felix who shrugged as a response.
"You're so cute!" The blonde girl squealed. "Felix, I'm so proud of you! You're finally making friends, all on your own!"
A highly tan boy with dark brown hair spoke next, wiping an imaginary tear out his eye. "Our baby boy's all grown up! He's not a little bird anymore, he finally spread his wings!"
"Shut up, Claude. Allegra, let go. Now. Get off of her!" Felix snapped, obviously aggravated when the girl refused to release his new friend.
"No!" The blonde girl held on tighter and pouted at Felix. "She's too cute and pure for you, and you'll take her away and make no touching rules! Look at how small she is! She's mine!"
" She is a person, and as such, does not belong to anyone!" Felix snarled, Claude and Allan amusedly watching as Felix attempted to free Marinette from the girl's clutches.
"She got you to reach out and make a friend! I at least need her until she teaches me how to do that!"
"Allegra." Allan said, looking at the increasingly panicked look on Marinette's face. "Let her go before you give her a heart attack. Remember what we talked about?" He raised both of his eyebrows, unable to do Felix's one eyebrow thing.
Allegra let go, sulking and grumbling about personal space. Felix simply rolled his eyes. "Marinette, may I introduce you to Allegra, your blonde kidnapper, Claude, the loud mouth, and Allan, the only reasonable one of the trio. They transferred with me."
"Don't let the grouch fool you, we're his friends. As much as he denies it, he loves adopting people," Allan conspiringly whispered. Felix ignored him.
Marinette studied him, dark skin, dark hair, pretty brown eyes, headphones… "Are you related to Nino Lahiffe?"
They all stared at her. "Yeah, he's my cousin. Why?"
Marinette shrugged. "You look like him." They continued down the hall, Marinette strategically placed in between the wall and Felix, the other three walking behind them and chatting.
"So, how's your day gone, Fe?"
Felix glared at Claude. "My name is Felix, you lunatic. For the most part, my day has been horrible. My class is full of idiotic bullies that blindly follow a leader. There are only a few students that don't blindly follow her, as well as including a teacher who says nothing about one girl being targeted. I also have the added benefit of being in a class with Adrien Agreste." The blond boy scowled.
His friends winced. "How's that turning out?"
"No problems yet, but I doubt it'll be long before they arise."
"How do you know Adrien?" Marinette asked, curious.
"Our fathers were business partners. Agreste wanted me to be raised alongside his son, my father said no on the grounds that I needed to learn what the world was like. Adrien wanted me to begin modeling with him, I refused. I am following my father's footsteps into business, I do not have time to squander on posing for a camera and dealing with rabid fans. He contacted me about a month ago to complain that one of his classmates refused to keep her head down and that a girl was lying, but it was harmless lies that didn't hurt anyone. He lied. He is deliberately blind, and I have lost all tolerance that I might have had for him."
Marinette nodded in understanding. "Lying is not harmless. Someone always gets hurt."
The following trio exchanged a glance, realizing just what happened for this girl to be like this and Felix to adopt her so quickly. "So, what are we naming her?" Claude finally ventured to ask.
"Her name is Marinette. Not all people desire to be assaulted with your obsessive need to call them something that is not their name." Felix admonished.
"Americans have a saying, 'look what the cat dragged in.' Our resident Sparrow brought us Marinette, so maybe something to do with kittens? She's tiny and cute."
"Hmm. Why not just call her Kitten?" Allan suggested.
"That's boring, though!" Claude objected, Allegra nodding in agreement.
"It's simple."
"Oh! What about Minou de Nuit, Night Kitten Or Shadow Kitten! Or bOTH!!!Just look at the shade of her hair!" Felix looked at the small smile on Marinette's face and relaxed, glad his friends were able to cheer her up.
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Marinette drug her friends to the bakery after school, forcing Felix out of his memories as she drug him out of the class and nearly sent them both tumbling down the stairs. He reversed their grip so that he was holding her wrist and grabbed the railing to keep them from tumbling.
"Marinette, please remember to watch your step. I want us to at least survive to graduate lycee." Expecting to live much longer than that as Marinette's friend was implausible.
She laughed as the rest of their friends caught up. "We can't die, I still need to become a great designer and you a successful businessman!" She stared up at him, eyes sparkling. He looked away, fighting off the blush that always seemed to want to appear when he was around her.
"At least try to be careful," he sighed. Her smile grew brighter as they walked into the bakery. They followed her upstairs to where the family had their main living area, excited for the new recipe Marinette had promised them.
The following explosion knocked them all off their feet.