Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

.

"Like a lionesses
Only with less fur
Do not mess with her
She's the apex predator"

.

Six seemed to be the pivotal number for Marinette, Chloe, and Alix.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was six years old when she learned that her cousin, Bridgette, had died from suicide. Apparently, someone from her elder cousin’s school was bullying her to the point that Bridgette got isolated from her friends and one of those so-called ‘friends’ told her to die.

Bridgette Cheng was only fifteen.

Marinette loved her elder cousin. Bri was like a sister to her. She was always willing to babysit Little Nettie (Bridgette’s nickname for Marinette) whenever she visited. Bridgette was also the one who gave Marinette the idea of doing fashion design. Becoming a fashion designer was Bridgette’s dream as much as Marinette’s.

They always said that they’d build a Fashion Empire together. However, Bridgette was gone and Marinette was all alone.

And it’s all because of a bully.

Since then, Marinette vowed that she would avenge her cousin’s death by dealing with bullies. So when she saw a group of girls picking on a blonde girl, during her first week of cours préparatoire, she marched up to them and told them to leave. At first, the group of girls didn’t budge, but then, a girl with messy pink hair came up to stand on the blonde girl’s other side.

“If you didn’t leave us alone, I’ll report you to Maîtresse Faure.”

That had the other girls scurrying away. Maîtresse Faure was the strictest teacher in the school after all.

That began Marinette’s friendship with the blonde girl who was being picked on, Chloé Bourgeois, and to the pink-haired girl who helped them, Alix Kubdel.

Later on, Marinette and Chloé learned that Alix’s mother died with cancer only a few months ago. Apparently, Madame Kubdel had a fascination for antique objects, always dressed in an old-fashioned way, and talked in an old-fashioned language which caused her to be bullied when she was younger. Madame Kubdel made Alix promise to always stand up for herself so that what happened to Xandra Kubdel, wouldn’t happen to her daughter.

This made Alix’s and Marinette’s bond form quicker and strengthened. They both had family members who had been victims of bullying.

Chloé was a different case. Apparently, the group of girls was picking up on her because her mother left her. Audrey Bourgeois moved to New York to expand her business while Chloé’s father, André Bourgeois, wanted to stay in Paris because he wanted to keep his job in the Municipal Council.

This made Chloé the baby of the group despite being older (only in months) to both Alix and Marinette.

Not for long though.

Chloé’s ‘baby’ status changed after visiting her mother in New York during the summer. While Audrey Bourgeois might not remember her daughter’s birthday or name, she made sure that by the end of Chloé’s stay with her, her only daughter would learn the ropes on how to be superior to everyone and how to use said superiority.

Needless to say, by the time Chloé went back to Paris, she knew very well how to manipulate people using her connections and to make sure that everyone knew who’s boss. At first, Marinette and Alix disproved of Chloé’s new-learned tricks. But when a group of boys started making fun of Marinette’s childhood friend, Nino Lahiffe, and the teacher did nothing about it because one of the boys in trouble was his nephew, Marinette and Alix began to see Chloé’s point.

It’s a killed or be killed situation.

(If only Maîtresse Faure didn’t leave, then perhaps they would receive the justice they wanted. Alas, they had to do things on their own.)

The choice was easy. They used Chloé’s connection to punish the group of boys and Nino was given justice. But then, other older kids started to target them too.

The Trio preferred to be the predator rather than the prey.

So they worked hard to achieve their goal. They started memorizing the school handbook: every school rules, all the guidelines, the lists of violations and punishments, and every policy (from bullying to dress code) – you name it, they knew it.

By the time they reached cours élémentaire 2, they became part of different school organizations.  On cours moyen 1, they gained principal roles in those clubs, and the year after that, they each became the leaders of their chosen groups.

During the middle of their cours moyen 2, a group of older boys was picking on another one of Marinette’s childhood friends, Lê Chiến Kim, near the school grounds. The situation made them realized that bullies also existed outside school. They might have saved Kim because the presence of Marinette’s father, Tom Dupain, scared the group of guys off but the incident wasn’t forgotten.

The trio of girls started studying again; that time, the laws of the city and when they were done with that, they moved on to the laws of France. They were aware of every change made, every new law added, as well as how to bend the rules a little. They also began influencing their chosen clubs, making sure that everyone in school knew their intentions with a single look.

In their last few months of cours moyen 2, knowing the rules wasn’t enough.

The Trio also began mastering what others deemed as ‘accomplishments’ so that not only would they gain more power, but also respect from their schoolmates.

Number one in those said lists of accomplishments were their grades. The Trio made sure to maintain grades above average and that they were always among the best students in class, if not the whole school. They always arrived on time and were very responsible. Whenever one of them was sick or needed to be absent, the others made sure that they still got their notes and helped them complete their tasks.

Number two was their looks. Shopping was always led by Marinette, helping them pick clothes that fit each of their style and preferences. Chloé was the one who made the appointments and reservations to the best salons and spas, while Alix was in charge of their workout sessions at least thrice a week.

Number three was controlling their emotions. After years of practice, the three perfected the art of maintaining a poker face through any situation.

By the time they entered collége, the other students were already looking up to them. Their clique was not only supported because of their accomplishments and popularity but also respected because of what they do: they made sure that no bullies would run around the school freely without facing the consequences of their actions.

"You guys are like the moon," Nino said one day during their 6éme, "people are always looking up to you because your light gives them hope."

"That or they were a bunch of wolves that always looked up and howl at the moon." Kim joked.

The comments made by the two boys planted the idea for their group name: Lunar Ladies. Their symbol was a crescent moon and for their friendship anniversary that year, they went to a jewelry shop to buy three customized black chokers with a two-inch silver crescent moon pendant. Engraved in their own pendants were their initials. Aside from that, the only difference in their necklaces was the two stones on each side of the crescent. Chloé's got yellow-colored stones, Alix's were green and Marinette's were pink.

When they got back to school the following day, Kim and Nino jokingly stated that they felt left out, so they bought plain purple armbands (it was the only color they found available at the time) and drew a single crescent moon in it using a marker.

The surprising thing was, the other students started following their trend. From earrings, hair clips, to bracelets, anklets, bags, tee shirts, and even drawings. No one dared wear a crescent necklace like theirs.

If they thought that the crescent fashion trend was an accident, then they were proven wrong the next time that it happened.

Marinette was working on a clothing collection at that time; her theme was poisonous plants and flowers. That specific Tuesday morning, she had just finished making the set of clothes inspired by moonflowers. For this reason, she, Alix, Chloé, Kim, and Nino were all modeling her designs.

Marinette wore a simple pink dress with white moonflowers embroidered at the hem, patterned like it was a vine climbing to her waist. To lessen the softness of the look, she partnered the dress with a black leather jacket and black ankle boots.

Chloé wore yellow pants with small light pink moonflowers sewn on each side of the pants, partnered with a purple blouse and yellow blazer while Alix’s was a black jumper with customized purple buttons that were made to look like moonflowers.

Not to leave out Marinette's two childhood friends, who had also become close to her two best friends, she made Nino wear a dark blue t-shirt with a messy print of a moonflower in the color of purple. For Kim, it was a black varsity-styled jacket with the print of a huge blue-violet moonflower at the back.

Marinette's designs were not the reason that specific Tuesday became monumental. No, that day became memorable because the Lunar Ladies had been informed of Lettice Bisset’s crimes via one of Lettice’s victims. And that same day, Lettice Bisset chose to corner Mireille Coquet in the bathroom during lunch.

When the Lunar Ladies found out about it (after triple-checking their sources first ~ they were not going to the wrong side of war!) they were furious. No bullying would happen, not if they could help it.

Lettice Bisset was brave because she had connections in and out of the school. She was the hardest case they had faced during that time. She had her own minions as followers and her parents encouraged her bratty behavior.

Too bad for her the Lunar Ladies had higher connections. So the Trio might not have physically harmed Lettice (they would never stoop that low), but they scared her away and made her pay for her actions.

The Lunar Ladies started gathering evidence about her and encouraged her victims to speak out loud. The silent witnesses had also come out because of their persuasions. However, that was not enough. The school board wouldn't accept their claims, simply because the Bisset’s gave the biggest amount of donation to the school.

The school was not following the standard protocol. Lettice had even managed to get a student expelled without an investigation. This fuelled the Trio's anger at Lettice even more. In order to win, they used all their connections.

With the help of Marinette's Uncle who was running a law firm, they sued the school for disregarding protocols and filed a case of assault against Lettice. Under the influence of Mayor Bourgeois, Chloé's father, the investigation happened quickly and with Alix's threatening skills, Lettice finally backed out and transferred to a different school with bad records.

While the school was under investigation, they replaced the principal and some of the teachers who failed to handle the situation. When classes resumed, everyone started wearing pink, white, purple, and dark blue clothes or something that has moonflower designs on it.

That's when they realized the power they held in everyone. They were rising in the food chain. Still, Lettice Bisset’s case was a tough battle and it proved that they still didn’t have enough power.

So they added a final step in achieving their goals – recruiting allies.

Since the three of them were already leaders of different organizations in the school, it was easy. (Not to mention that they have Nino and Kim to back them up.) This expanded their friendship group; however, their Trio was still as solid as it could be.

Sabrina was the first one they let in. She was the secretary of Chloé’s chosen organization, the Yearbook Club.  Members of the yearbook club would document their fellow students doing various things throughout the year, and the reports would be put in print for the entire school to see. Sabrina was good at her job and her quiet nature made it easy for other people to take advantage of her. Even if their best friend might deny it, Marinette and Alix knew that Chloé took Sabrina under her wing to protect her from those kinds of people.

Alix was the second one in the group to bring another person in – the Vice President of the History Club, Aurore Beauréal. A dedicated and confident blonde girl, if not a bit proud, but she deserved it because she worked for what she had. Because of this, she easily bonded with Marinette and Chloé as well.

Oddly enough, it was Marinette (the one people considered the ‘friendliest’ and ‘nicest’ of the Trio) who brought the last addition in their group – a sweet girl named Rose Lavillant who was an officer in Marinette’s Baking Club.

Throughout the years of being in collége, the Lunar Ladies had gained more allies in other organizations to the point that the whole school followed their leads. More allies meant more information and help but it also came with a cost – the Lunar Ladies became targets of older students, wanting to destroy their clique.

None succeeded.

The Trio was very thorough in picking new members. That’s why only Sabrina, Aurore, and Rose managed to become official members of their clique. Nino and Kim had supported them all throughout but they were not really part of the group name, but only because they refused to be called ‘Ladies’.

On their last year in collége, another word was added to describe their circle. Back then, they were only the ‘accomplished’, ‘respected’, and ‘powerful’. That year, they had also become ‘feared’.

And it was all because of a girl named Vivian Bernard. She was a dirty blonde-haired girl who almost got in the group and destroyed the Trio.

Keyword was, almost.

Her way ‘in’ was Marinette, because Marinette was nice and always smiled at everyone. She’s not as scary as Alix or Chloé. In a way, Vivian was right. Marinette forgave Vivian when she ‘accidentally’ spilled orange juice in Marinette’s sketchbook or when Chloé’s bracelet went missing and Vivian ‘found’ it in Marinette’s bag or when she ‘saw’ Marinette replaced Alix’s pink hair dye with a blue one.

Vivian planned to eliminate a member of the Trio, Marinette, and to replace her and rule the school with Alix’s and Chloe’s side. If Vivian thought their friendship was petty, then she thought wrong. The Trio’s ire for her only increased when they found out that she’s been giving Sabrina unnecessary tasks (like doing her homework and whatnot), replaced Rose’s perfume with a scent Rose was allergic to, and told Aurore that she was no longer part of the group after locking her up in the restroom stall.

Unfortunately for Vivian, the Lunar Ladies were not easily manipulated. So the original Three let the witch stayed in their group, but only to give her a sense of security. Within the next month, Vivian Bernard became the social outcast.

The other students could only watch the Lunar Ladies burned Vivian Bernard to the ground. For the first time since the Trio decided to become the defenders of the students, the fight was personal. Because of this, they disregard the rules for the first time and had their way with the girl.

The moment the Lunar Ladies removed the crescent pendant in their chokers and started wearing moonflower-themed clothes and accessories again, everyone became wary of their surroundings.

It was a clear sign that someone was going down.

Sabrina submitted Vivian’s homework (which she answered as incorrectly as possible) and projects (which were done wrongly) making the latter have failing grades for the entire semester. Rose mixed super glue on Vivian’s styling gel and mixed her perfume with vinegar. Aurore hid Vivian’s gym clothes so she had no choice but to wear old and dirty clothes (that were stuck in Kim’s locker for a whole month – it was Alix’s clothes and it was in Kim’s locker as a dare).

By the time Chloé and Alix publicly told everyone that Vivian was no longer worthy to breathe the same air as they did – using a string of colorful vocabularies) – Vivian already looked like a dishrag. Pitifully, she had asked Marinette to help her and to the surprise of all, the noirette’s response was a smirk with cold, calculating eyes.

“You tried to break my relationship with my friends, and now you wanted me to help you?” Marinette asked rhetorically. “I don’t think so. This is what you get for messing with us.”

The moment Marinette walked away from Vivian was the same moment the other students looked at her with disgust, anger, or pity. Still, no one dared to help Vivian.

From then on, no one tried to mess with the six girls – especially the core Trio – of the Lunar Ladies. They’re not just any predators; they’re at the topmost of the food chain… the Apex Predators.

Chapter Text

.

This could get a little sticky

How to win this battle could be tricky

But I know the best way

Fall back let me lead, you hold the line

And we'll bring them to their knees

.

In a span of less than twenty-four hours, Marinette’s social life in school had turned upside-down. All because of a real-life girl version of Pinocchio named Lie-la Rossi. The only difference about them was that Lie-la’s nose didn’t grow longer every time she lied. Instead, the people around her seemed to lose 100 brain cells per minute and the more people listen to her bullshit, the stupider they get.

What irked Marinette the most was that Lie-la wasn’t even a good liar. Her stories were full of inconsistencies. One minute she was referring to the right part of her wrist or ankle or legs or whatever (seriously, it was funny that she claimed to have a disease for each body part), and the next moment, it was her left.

The infuriating part was that when Marinette tried to tell everyone Lie-la was lying, they had all glared at her as if she was the villain. The cherry on the top of it all was the liar had the nerve to threaten her in the restroom.

As hurt as she was, if Marinette was being completely honest, she could accept that her so-called ‘friends’ in Bustier’s class turned on her so quickly. It pained her, but it was okay. At least she knew who her real friends were. And apparently, it was none of those people whom she decided to give a chance.

(“I told you so,” said a voice at that at the back of her mind, which suspiciously sounded a lot like Chloe. “I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen.”)

She could also accept the other girls’ accusation of ‘jealousy’ because she knew that they didn’t know the whole story about her and Adrien.

She could even accept Alya choosing Lie-la against her – even if it stung.

What Marinette couldn’t – wouldn’t – accept, however, was the way Lie-la threatened her. No way would Marinette let that go. Not until she made sure that Lie-la couldn’t do that to her ever again.

So before the end of their last subject, Marinette discreetly opened her phone and sent a message to her favorite group chat.

Three Queens In Charge

               She’sJustAFriend: Abort our initial plan. Don’t expose Lie-la’s lies after class.

 

The moment her message had been delivered, she saw both Alix and Chloé simultaneously glanced her way. She subtly shook her head at them and was glad when both girls turned away from her and looked back at the front where their teacher was discussing a lesson.

DareDoer’sGirl: WHY? Ur so set on trying 2 prove that she’s lying earlier.

OurBabyBlondie: don’t tell me u want to give her a chance and all that shit

OurBabyBlondie: i swear, M, i will end our friendship if that’s ur reason

She’sJustAFriend: It’s not, I promise. Code Green of the Queens today? I’ll explain later.

DareDoer’sGirl: i just noticed that she’s using Capitals and proper punctuations

DareDoer’sGirl: dis is serious, Chlo

OurBabyBlondie: Yeah. U better tell us what happened later, M

OurBabyBlondie: not that I’m complaining but among the 3 of us ur the only one who never used code green since we started lycée

DareDoer’sGirl: do i need 2 punch someone? I xpect full dtails L8r 2 know how many punches i would give

She’sJustAFriend: Later, I promise.

“Can I go too?” She gave a small smile to her seatmate for today. Despite, the shitty day she was having, she was glad that Adrien did his best to make her feel better. Without a word to anyone (not that they deserved to be informed after having her seat in the back without her input), he sat next to her after lunch. “You really shouldn’t be reading my text messages, Adrien.”

“Well,” he looked sheepish for a moment before a teasing glint entered his eye, “you shouldn’t really be using your phone in class, Marinette.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and he copied her. After a moment of silently daring one another to look away, Marinette let out a sigh. “Fine, you can come,” he grinned, “but,” Marinette raised her palm at him, “only if the others approve too.”

“I knew you couldn’t resist my mesmerizing green eyes.”

As a response, Marinette only shook her head before pretending to take notes about the lesson. As much as she was fond of Adrien – he was her crush for goodness’ sake!– she really wasn’t in the mood for anything today. Not after being cornered in the restroom.

Once the bell rang, Marinette quickly headed home to change clothes and told her parents that she was going out before heading towards Le Grand Paris Hotel.

“Can you believe that they bought her lies that easily?” Alix asked half-amused and half-exasperated as she sprawled on the carpeted floor of Chloe’s room.

“It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Chloé huffed, sipping her iced tea from her seat on her golden throne chair. “And to accuse Marinette of being jealous of Lie-la? As if!”

Alix laughed. “I wonder what they would do if they found out that Jagged Stone practically adopted Marinette – and by extension, us – as his niece. And that was during our first year in collége! M’s practically his adoptive daughter now.”

“Which reminds me,” Chloe turned to Marinette who was sitting on the settee across her, “why did you stop us from exposing her lies?”

Marinette remained quiet, but the steely gleam in her eyes did not go unnoticed by the other people in the room.

Chloé shared a look with Alix and smirked. “Oh, I know that look and I miss it.”

“Me too,” Alix settled herself into a sitting position and crossed legs in front of her, “When was the last time we’ve seen it? Bitch-vian or Ass-hley? Oh, wait it was with Rus-hell and Philippe. Man, it’s been about a year and I still can’t think of a cool insult for Philippe’s name.”

“Who cares about that a-hole?” Chloé reached for her phone on the table before addressing Marinette. “Shall I tell the other Ladies?”

Marinette shook her head. “Not yet… but soon.”

Alix hmmed in reply. Then, after a few seconds, she furrowed her brows and looked suspiciously at Marinette. “Not that I’m not happy to see you like this again, M, but what made you change your mind about Lie-la?”

Marinette clenched her jaw and gritted out her answer, “She threatened me in the restroom earlier.”

“What?!” Three voices exclaimed in unison, and Chloé and Alix were surprised to see Adrien standing by the door.

“When?” Adrien asked worriedly, dropping his bag carelessly before rushing over to the space beside Marinette and started inspecting her arms and face for possible damage.

“Relax, Adrien, she didn’t get to harm me.” Marinette assured with a small smile before hardening her gaze, “I wouldn’t let her do that. And she did it after lunch.”

“Give me one reason not to go after her this second,” Alix grumbled angrily.

“As much as I’d like to see what you’d do to her,” Chloé said, dragging Alix to sit down on the floor next to her, “if you go after Lie-la now, we’ll ruin M’s plans.” She then turned at Marinette, “I assume you have plans and you better start telling now before Alix and I unintentionally ruin it.”

“Yeah, tell us what you want to do Marinette, I’ll help.”

Chloé rolled her eyes at Adrikins words. “Of course you’ll help us whether you want to or not. You didn’t get a free pass for joining the Code Green of the Queens.”

Adrien raised his hands defensively. “I was worried about Marinette and I know she’ll tell you everything so…”

“I never thought the day would come when Adrien Agreste would voluntarily join our schemes,” Alix commented. While Adrien had joined some of their previous antics before, he always worked in the background because he was afraid that Agreste Senior would pull him out of school if he was involved in any mischief.

“She hurt Marinette, I’m not going to just stand by and let her get away with it!”

While the impassioned statement earned quiet but exasperated groans and grumbles from Alix and Chloé accompanied with a comment of something that sounded like ‘just-a-friend my ass,’ Marinette couldn’t help but smile at Adrien.

Not long ago, the three of them were only teaching the model about the ways of life. It felt like it was only yesterday when Adrien Agreste was hesitant to stand up for himself… and now, not only was Adrien standing up for himself, but for her as well. It really touched her heart to know that he had her back and that he cared for her.

It was a balm to her wounded heart, seeing that she had true friends who cared for her – ones who wouldn’t turn their backs on her.

Her thoughts led her back to the first day of lycée... when everything started to change.

A few months after the fiasco with Vivian, an old friend from élémentaire named Margot Gautreau contacted the Trio via Mireille Caquet. Margot was a brunette the same age as the Trio but because Margot was very smart, she was a year ahead of the Trio. Margot was in her first year of lycée when the Trio was in their last year of collége.

Unfortunately for Margot, because she was often the youngest one in her class, it was easy for people to pick on her. Two particular guys were her main tormentors since she started lycée. One of them was Philippe who would threaten Margot that he would beat her cousin, Antoine, up if she refused to do Philippe’s projects and assignments. Margot didn’t want Antoine to get hurt by Philippe, especially since Antoine was lanky while Philippe was buff.

The other guy Margot was suffering from was Russell. He was one of the top students of their class and he would always get mad whenever Margot scored higher than him. Half the time, if Russell was in one of his moods, Margot’s projects and things would get destroyed. Russell even went as far as framing Margot for playing a prank on Pauline, a student who was a year higher than them and a daughter of a rich businessman.

Compared to Pauline, Margot’s family was not well off. They were not poor per se, but her family’s income was just enough, especially since her Aunt and Uncle suffered an accident, making Antoine also live with them.

Needless to say, her good records weren’t so good anymore after that incident.

So naturally, when Margot encountered Mireille Caquet (her seatmate back in cours élémentaire before a teacher suggested that she should skip a grade level) in a small café and heard about what Marinette, Chloé, and Alix – who were now apparently known as the Lunar Ladies – did to Lettice Bisset and Vivian Bernard, she decided to tell Mireille about her situation.

By the time they both had to leave the café, Mireille had promised Margot that she would inform the Lunar Ladies about it.

Once the Trio heard the story, they were horrified and each one of them wanted to help Margot. They started forming a plan.

The first step, of course, was to go to Françoise Dupont. Initially, they were planning to go to a different school but they wouldn’t really be able to help Margot if they did not enroll in her school, so they convinced their parents to go there. They didn’t need to persuade them that much though, seeing as Françoise Dupont was a public school and very accessible from each of their houses. Fortunately, Kim, Nino, Rose, Sabrina, and Aurore would also go with them.

Their next step was to go undercover. They couldn’t let their targets know that they’re after them. Russell Manseau was the son of a rich lawyer and doctor while Philippe Parmentier was the son of a famous action star. Both bullies had very influential families, and while they had dealt with wealthy family’s before like Lettuce – er Lettice – Bisset’s parents’ this case was different.

Unlike Lettice Bisset who was powerful because her parents donated rich money for the school, Philippe and Russell were powerful and influential because of their families. If the Lunar Ladies faced both boys head-on, the connections the guys had could overpower them. Mr. Parmentier had many fans, after all, while the Manseaus hated scandals.

In order to win, the girls had to be subtle. Their reputations and names could get damaged by this. They couldn’t afford that.

The only added bonus of their disguises was that it would also benefit Chloé’s childhood friend who would try to enter actual school and stop his home-schooling. (While they were still undercover, Chloé’s childhood friend could have a normal school life and not the life of a popular student because he was automatically included in their clique, courtesy of Chloé.)

Marinette and Alix didn’t know his name because Chloé refused to tell them. The blonde’s reasoning was that she wanted to see how Alix and Marinette would react to her childhood friend without them knowing who he really was.

Chloé believed that her childhood friend would benefit from people seeing the real him.

The thing was, Chloe’s friend would not get to see the ‘real’ Marinette and Alix if they ever meet him in school. They had their roles to play.

Since she was the Mayor’s daughter, Chloé decided to take on the role of a typical mean brat. It would be close enough to her normal routine (like being her usual blunt self, buying expensive things, and getting everything she wanted), the only difference was that she had to ‘bully’ someone.

Her target would be Marinette, who would be playing the role of Miss Goody-two-shoes. The noirette used to be really clumsy when they were little and she only got better because the three of them took lessons on proper etiquette, which includes proper posture and being graceful. Not to mention some dance classes and basic martial arts to improve her balance. Now, Marinette was only clumsy from time to time.

But since Marinette will be playing the 'good' role, Chloé and Alix decided that Marinette should focus on releasing her pent-up clumsiness. Marinette rolled her eyes at this, but she complied nonetheless. After all, she needed to be believable. Plus, if she got tired of her best friend’s teasing, then she could always ‘accidentally’ spill something on them as a result of her ‘clumsiness’.

While Chloé and Marinette were under the spotlight of a typical school drama, Alix would be staying on the middle ground. She wouldn’t be popular, but she wasn’t one to be bullied either. The neutral position she was in would help them gain more information.

As for Sabrina, she would be playing the role of Chloé’s ‘minion’, since the mean girls in every movie they’d seen had her followers. This would be a little tricky since the role would limit Sabrina’s actions. But if worse comes to worst, they thought that Sabrina could always claim to really dislike Chloé and that she was only following her because she was afraid to disobey.

Rose would be playing almost the same role as Marinette, but she wouldn’t be a target to Chloé’s mischiefs. Unlike Marinette, who was supposed to get mad and irritated at Chloé, Rose would play the role of the sweet peacemaker who wanted everyone to get along and who always see the good in everyone. In short, her character wasn’t meant to have layers, very opposite of Rose’s real personality.

Being the only one among their group who was assigned to a different class, Aurore would be pretty much playing her own self (a top and reliable student but also popular). Of course, they were saddened that they wouldn’t get to see one of their closest friends that much at school but on the other hand, it was also a blessing in disguise. This meant that Aurore could provide them a wider range of information. And Aurore wouldn’t be alone, she had Mireille.

Ever since Mireille told the Lunar Ladies about Margot’s story, she had become a sort of honorary member of the group. Kind of like what Nino and Kim were.

While the girls knew that their first year of lycée would be different (especially since they were taking a ‘break’ from their usual dynamic) nothing had prepared them for the first day of school. For one, they were surprised that most – more than 3/4s – of their batchmates from their previous school was there… enrolled at Françoise Dupont, just like them.

Later on, they found out that the other students had followed their group. They wanted the protection that the Lunar Ladies provided.

Needless to say, Aurore, Sabrina, and Mireille had to spread the word around that the Lunar Ladies were still intact and they were only ‘taking a break’ to experience ‘normal life’ without popularity. Despite that, the others had still guessed that they were doing this for a secret mission to take someone down.

Unbeknownst to Marinette, helping Margot wasn’t going to be her only mission. That same day, she was also assigned the task of being a superhero.

She was surprised of course, and she freaked out after seeing the little red bug-mouse Kwami in her room. But after Tikki had explained what she had to do, Marinette transformed and went out to her first day of superhero business. Unfortunately, she failed to capture the Akuma.

The next day, Chloé chose to pull her first ‘prank’ on Marinette which was putting a piece of chewing gum on her seat. Due to the stress of failing her first day as a superhero the day before, Marinette had forgotten about the fact that Chloé was supposed to do mean things to her before classes start.

(Chloé never texted Marinette what prank would she do because while Marinette mastered her poker face, when it came to having other facial expressions on a particular situation, she ‘couldn’t act to save her life’. As long as Marinette was warned, that was okay. If Marinette knew what exactly was going to happen, they’d never pull it off.)

Because of her disappointment in herself, Marinette’s temper was unstable. (Heck, she even removed her earrings, but at least she still had the sense to keep it close with her. Even if she was upset that she failed, she was still the one chosen. She’d guard the earrings with her life.) So when she saw a blonde-haired boy put a piece of chewing gum on her seat, she wasn’t very forgiving. While she agreed to play her role as Miss Goody-two-shoes, she wasn’t going to let herself be bullied for real.

Unfortunately for Marinette, her bad day was just starting; because it was not even halfway to finishing their second day of school when Ivan had turned into Stoneheart once again. That time, Marinette was more hesitant. Could she really be a hero? What if she failed again?

She didn’t have time to ponder more on her thoughts because Ivan was about to grab Chloé. Marinette pretended to trip to push her best friend out of the way.

“Watch it, Dupain-Cheng!” Chloé exclaimed, for the sake of the show. On their peripheral, both blonde and noirette saw Alix gestured for them to come.

It seemed that Chloé was the target so to distract Stoneheart, Marinette looked at the far corner of the room and shouted Mylène’s name. While Stoneheart’s attention was diverted, Marinette rushed outside the school and headed to the back entrance of the bakery. Just as she assumed, both Alix and Chloé were hiding there.

“Why was Ivan after you?” Marinette asked.

“I insulted him, remember? I was just trying to perform my role as the mean girl. It wouldn’t be believable if I just had one target.”

“This is Kim’s fault!” Alix huffed; making the two other girls looked at her in question. “What? He was the one who teased Ivan yesterday that transformed him into Stoneheart!”

“Hey!” Another voice protested from behind them. The owner of the voice was the guy in question, Kim.

“How did you find us here?” Alix asked.

“This is our hiding place at Nette’s place since forever.” Kim pointed out before looking a little sheepish, “That, and I may have seen you guys run here.” Then he turned serious, “As for Ivan, I didn’t know he was going to transform into that. I was just pushing him to ask Mylène out so that I’d win our wager and you would finally ask me out.”

“What?!” Chloé and Marinette exclaimed.

“Ugh, this is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Chloé rolled her eyes. “Why would Alix be the one to ask you out? I thought boys were supposed to do that. Are you not man enough, Lê Chiến Kim?”

Kim frowned. “I heard Alix talking about gender equality last month and she was complaining about how unfair it was for boys to do this and that while girls had limited options. She specifically said how unfair it was that girls get judged for asking a guy out, so I made a bet with her.”

“And your bet involves getting Ivan and Mylène together within the first day of school?” Marinette asked.

“Yes,” Kim answered, “I heard that they were classmates since college so I thought Ivan just needed a little push.”

“That’s…” Marinette trailed off unsurely.

Fortunately, she was saved from continuing to speak by Alix. “For what’s it worth, now that I understand your reasoning behind the bet, you’re kind of sweet.”

Kim looked hopeful at Alix’s words. “Does this mean that you will go out with me?”

“No,” Alix paused, “you technically caused the Akuma that almost harmed my best buddies. But… if this gets fixed, then maybe I’ll think about it.”

Kim smiled, while the other two girls suppressed the urge to roll their eyes. They both knew that Alix was totally crushing on Kim.

“Okay, now that the lovefest is over it’s my time to shine,” Chloé said stepping in between Alix and Marinette. “What I wanted to do was to thank M and Alix for saving me.” She smiled before hugging the two other girls. “You guys are my heroes.”

When they separated, Marinette looked at Chloé hopefully. “Do you really think that I’m your hero?”

The blonde glared at the noirette. “Are you kidding me right now? Of course, you are, since we first met, if you remember. And if you doubt yourself, then I’ll call all Bitch-vian’s victims so they could tell you that you’re their hero. Are you forgetting that you’re the one who came up with most of the Lunar Ladies’ plan? You’re practically our leader, Marinette.”

 “Chlo is right M. If you didn’t stand up for Chloé that day we met, then I’m not sure if I’d be able to do it too, and we won’t be where we are now.”

“I agree with them, Mari,” Kim said. “Remember when I was not this tall and muscular yet, and you threatened the older boys that your father would beat them up if they didn’t stop messing with me?”

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled, “we were really lucky that Papa really did come to fetch me at school that time.”

“We’re sure Bridgette is really proud of you right now.” Chloé and Alix whispered.

“And if Nino was here,” Kim added, “he’d agree with us.”

That was all the encouragement Marinette needed. With determination filling her, Marinette opened the secret door and pushed all her friends inside before running as fast as possible. When she was far enough, she hid behind an alley and reached out for her earrings.

While Tikki was confused, she complied when Marinette chose to transform. She’d fight for her cousin and her friends!

It was only after Stoneheart was defeated and Marinette finally succeeded in her mission that she told Tikki everything. Despite their rough start, she and Tikki became fast friends. However, Tikki did make Marinette promise to never remove the earrings like that ever again.

The next day after school, it was raining. Marinette had forgotten her umbrella.

She sighed, feeling the rain with her hand. Then, the blonde guy – Adrien Agreste, she learned earlier – who put gum on her seat appeared beside her. Marinette looked away.

“Hey...”

Marinette still ignored him as he opened his umbrella.

“I just wanted you to know,” Marinette couldn’t help but looked up at the sound of his voice, it was so soft, he sounded so vulnerable, “that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat. I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.”

Then, he smiled at her with those hopeful green eyes as he handed her his umbrella. It felt like a long time as they stared at each other. However, the moment was ruined when the umbrella closed over Marinette’s head. Her embarrassment was a small price to pay for his laughter. His laugh was so light and rich that Marinette couldn’t help but laugh a little too.

“See you tomorrow.”

When Adrien was out of her sight, Marinette picked up her bag. She was about to walk home when Chloé appeared behind her. “He was cute, huh?”

“Yeah…” Marinette said unconsciously before recalling herself. “I mean no, uh psh! Ha-ha.” She cleared her throat. “What I meant was, what are you doing here? I thought you called for Code Green of the Group?”

Since they would be playing different roles while Margot’s bullies were still roaming around, they invented different codes for different occasions. Code Green was the signal for ‘let’s get together at le Grand Paris because we have to talk about something serious’. There were three types of their color codes: Code of the Queens (if it was just their original Trio), Code of the Group (if it was the Trio + Nino and Kim), and Code of the Lunar Ladies (which could either be all the six ladies or all of them including the guys).

“I did,” Chloé confirmed, “but after Sabrina told me earlier that it would rain, I told Alix that she could head to my room first with Kim and Nino and that I’ll wait for you.”

“You were here the whole time?!”

“Of course,” Chloé smirked.

“But why didn’t you come to me like – I don’t know? – five minutes ago?”

“And missed the beginning of your friendship with my childhood friend?” Chloé tossed her hair, “No way.”

“He was your childhood friend?!” Marinette asked but Chloé was already walking down the stairs with her yellow umbrella.

The blonde looked back, “We established that already. Now, get in the car and prepare for an earful from your friends. Did you seriously think that you were safe from us after running after the Akuma yesterday? When we said you’re our hero, we didn’t mean that you should pretend to be a superhero and run towards danger. You're lucky Ladybug's power seemed to bring everything back to normal. What if you got hurt?!”

Marinette was still stunned as she sat on the back seat beside Chloé. “Don’t worry, I already texted your parents and they know you’re with me. Now, before we scold you, do you want to talk about a certain blonde guy with green eyes?”

“Chloé!”

Laughter was the only reply Marinette received from her best friend.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to inform the rest of the girls yet?” Chloé’s question brought Marinette back to the present.

Marinette didn’t reply immediately, but after a few seconds, she said: “Perhaps you could give them a little heads up and tell them that we’ll go back business earlier than predicted.”

After Russell and Philippe had been defeated about half a year ago, they decided do their come back at the beginning of the next school year for a dramatic entrance. But Lie-la had given them a more interesting way to do that.

“The Nightfall is today, then?” Alix smirked.

Adrien furrowed his brows. “Nightfall, what?”

“Don’t you now Adrikins? After Nightfall comes the moon.” Chloé stated as a matter of fact.

“What does that even mean?”

When he got no answer from both Chloé and Alix, he turned expectedly to Marinette.

“It means that… the Lunar Ladies are back.”

Chapter Text

.

Hey, Mister No-Name-Kid

So who might you be?

And could you fight for me?

And hey, could you face the crowd?

Could you be seen with me and still act proud?

.

Marinette was having a hard time controlling her temper, especially every time she saw that stupid smirk on Lie-la Rossi’s stupid face. Her only consolation was that she was halfway through winning their silent war.

In fact, despite the fact that Lie-la threatened her, Marinette tried to be nice and gave the liar an option. Of course, the ‘nice’ way still included taking the liar down… only in a less brutal way and less humiliation on Lie-la’s part.

However, the only response Marinette got was: “You think you can bring me down? Puh-lease, I’ve already had the whole class wrapped around my fingers. The school is next.”

For once, the liar was somewhat true to her words. Within three weeks since the day Lie-la threatened Marinette, the former managed to get ahold of almost everyone in the class, even Maîtresse Bustier. The icing to the cake was that Lie-la also managed to get Marinette expelled earlier today, without so much of an investigation.

If Marinette had any more hope that her classmates would stand by her side, then it vanished earlier when none of them tried to defend her. None except Adrien (who doesn’t really count because he knew the truth), and he was ignored by Principal Damocles too. Marinette was disappointed in the man, he wanted to be a superhero but he couldn’t even be a fair judge to the students depending on him.

What did she expect? Even Margot, the reason why she and her group started going at Françoise Dupont, had suffered the same way (albeit, indirectly) under his management.

As worse as it sounded, what happened was actually a good thing. They were playing in on Marinette’s plan. Other than the dramatic entrance they wanted, another reason why the Lunar Ladies hadn’t come back to business this year yet was because they were trying to find pieces of evidence about the rules that Françoise Dupont had violated.

They were not going to leave the school unchecked.

Lie-la had just given them the perfect opportunity to hit two birds in one stone. The Lunar Ladies would take the Liar down along with the school.

Fortunately for them, said liar hadn’t suspected a thing. Marinette internally smirked as she thought about the different schemes she and the rest of the Lunar Ladies had been working on.

One was Sabrina, since Lie-la started lying about knowing many famous people, Chloé asked Sabrina to pretend to leave her side and be one of the liar’s followers. Her duty was to know all the lies Lie-la was telling and to send info to the rest of the Lunar Ladies.

Rose was kind of doing the same thing, but her role is more focused on finding out who among the class was on Marinette’s side rather than taking note of Lie-la’s lies. A part of her was still hoping that some of them were just afraid to speak up earlier. Regardless, Rose’s duty was already providing a second chance to her classmates.

Marinette didn’t blame her classmates for being so easily manipulated but it would take some time to forgive them for losing their trust in her so easily.

Lie-la was the main focus of her plan, but if the other students in school decided to be wary of her other classmates, then she wanted to make sure who she would save. Those who had their full trust in Lie-la, Marinette wished them good luck. She might not want revenge on them, but if the other students, especially those who stuck the Lunar Ladies very much, mess with their social status, then that wouldn’t be Marinette’s problem anymore.

After all, where were her so-called ‘friends’ when her reputation was the one being tarnished? It’s a tough lesson to learn but they’ll survive it. Of course, she was sure that the students who followed their group wouldn’t resort to any sort of bullying. Worst case scenario, more than half of Bustier’s class would become social outcasts to the rest of the school.

At least her classmates still had each other…

What if Marinette wasn’t playing the role of a clumsy girl who managed to become class representative? What if she didn’t have her best friends and wasn’t secretly a member of a popular clique?

She’d be alone. She’d had no one.

“It’ll be alright, Marinette.” Tikki’s adorable high-pitched voice brought Marinette out of her thoughts and Marinette couldn’t help but smile at her Kwami.

“I know, Tikki. Thank you.”

Her Kwami smiled and kissed her cheek. “I’ll go hide now, Chat Noir might appear in any minute. Just try not to think much about what happened earlier, alright?”

Marinette nodded.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Tikki had been surprisingly supportive, going as far as sharing her own ideas to improve Marinette’s plans on taking down Lie-la.

“I’ve lost many Ladybugs before, Marinette,” Tikki had told her when she asked why the Kwami was taking her ‘revenge plan’ so easily, “and I’m not going to let some liar,” Tikki had spit the word like it was something vile, “hurt my chosen. That girl is a villain without power. There’s a cruel glint in her eyes… she only cares about herself, she enjoys making others suffer.”

Marinette didn’t ask any more after that because that conversation had clearly upset her Kwami. She could only guess that a person of Lie-la’s kind had targeted one of her predecessors back then.

Before she could ponder more about it, a black blur appeared from her peripheral view and suddenly, her superhero partner was standing right before her.

“Good evening, purrincess.” Chat Noir greeted as he placed a kiss on her knuckle.

She squeezed the hand that was still holding her right and smiled, “Evening, Chat.”

“Well, are you going to tell this stray cat what happened, or do I have to use my kitten eyes?”

“How about we get inside first?” She asked, opening the trapdoor to her room. She sat on the chaise and Chat settled beside her, looking at her expectantly.

By this point, Marinette was used to telling Chat Noir about her life in civilian form.

Ladybug was close to Chat Noir too but it wasn’t the same with the closeness Marinette shared with Chat.

Despite not being allowed to share each other’s secret identities, Ladybug and Chat Noir would (vaguely) tell each other about how their days went during patrols (a.k.a. the two of them playing tag at night which turned into a serious task of looking after the city). The two of them had found ways to bend the rules a little and they tried to help each other the most they could without compromising their secrets.

If being part of a group since élémentaire taught Marinette something, it was that teamwork was better if the members of a group had a deeper bond. And while Ladybug shared a good relationship with Chat Noir, Marinette had a deeper relationship with him.

It started the next night after the Evillustrator fiasco and before she realized it, Chat was a regular visitor. Despite her closeness with Chat, Marinette still found it hard to tell him the recent events in her life including her plans for Lie-la Rossi.

Yes, Chat knew about the Lunar Ladies and their group’s history. But what she told Chat was always about how the Lunar Ladies defended other people from bullies. She hadn’t shared with him what their clique did to the ones who personally chose to mess with one of their members.

Those people who underestimated the Lunar Ladies, like Vivian Bernard, had been humiliated, suffered, and became social outcasts. The Trio didn’t pity those kinds of people. They hated people who destroyed friendships, and for what? Popularity? Power?

If Chat found out about those, would Chat still want her? If he knew that she wasn’t always going to be the sweet girl he knew? If he found out that she had a mean bone in her body? Would he try to stop her? Would he be ashamed of her?

Her doubts made it harder for her to tell him today’s events.

After all, not only had Lie-la Rossi succeeded in throwing her out of the school but the liar had also managed to get Gabriel Agreste on her side.

The Trio had known months before that Gabriel Agreste was using Lie-la Rossi to spy on Adrien, but the girls didn’t confront either Mademoiselle Sausage-Hair or Monsieur Duck-Butt Hair (it’s no wonder those two get along!). It wouldn’t do well if the enemy knew that the Trio was aware of their moves.

What the Trio did, however, was become sneakier. Marinette would send pastries straight to le Grand Paris so Adrien could pick them up there to eat. Lie-la wouldn’t get past Butler Jean and Chloé also made sure that Lie-la wouldn’t get in the Hotel. So when the members of their group were all available, Adrien could spend time at the hotel and do fun things with them like cooking or just pranking one another around.

Armand D'Argencourt, being a friend of Alix’s Uncle from her mother’s side, let Adrien sneak out from time to time as long as Adrien continued to improve his fencing skills. Both Kagami (once she and Marinette became friends) and Monsieur D'Argencourt covered for Adrien’s absences, in which he was spending time with the Trio plus Kim and Nino. If they’re lucky, the whole Lunar Ladies would be complete, but that was a rare occurrence.

Being half-Chinese had also been very handy to Marinette. Adrien’s Chinese teacher had taken a liking to her and even offered to give her free Chinese lessons. Sometimes, Marinette took Adrien’s place as the instructor’s student (via video call, because Adrien’s Chinese lessons took place at the Agreste mansion) so Adrien could have some free time to himself like play UMS III, chat with the guys, or take a nap.

The Trio had also made an agreement with Adrien’s piano teacher, Monsieur Erik de Rouen. Once or twice a month, Monsieur Erik (as he liked to be called) would convince Gabriel Agreste that Adrien’s lessons needed to be taken outside, to learn about the history of music or to feel it or whatever brilliant excuse Monsieur Erik came up with.

Among the teachers, Monsieur Erik was the one that needed the least convincing, but only because his wife, Christine de Rouen, and son, Charles, was very fond of the Trio. Madame de Rouen and Charles were regular customers of the boulangerie patisserie since the Trio’s collége days and both mother and son were always happy to chat with Chloé, Alix, and Marinette from time to time whenever they encountered them at the bakery.

The Trio also thought that Monsieur Erik was very sympathetic with Adrien, especially when the music teacher found out that Adrien had been basically locked up in the Agreste Mansion before he started going to public school.

However, because Gabriel had teamed up with Lie-la, the Trio decided to stop being subtle and go face to face with Adrien’s Candy Cane of a father. (Marinette couldn’t even believe why the man had been her idol once!)

Despite the accusations thrown against her, Marinette’s parents never lose their faith in her. After all, Marinette had a very open relationship with her parents and she shared with them most of what’s going on with her life – except for the Ladybug part.

Her parents knew how the Lunar Ladies became the powerful group they were today and Marinette told them about the people that their group had taken down. At first, her parents had been wary of her actions, but after explaining to them that it was her coping mechanism of losing her favorite cousin, they let her do what she wanted.

Of course, they never failed to warn her either about the dangers of the Lunar Ladies’ plans. It’s also a good thing that the rest of her family supported her actions. Bridgette’s parents were extremely supportive, especially after the Trio launched a foundation for students who had been traumatized by bullying dedicated to Bridgette during their second year of collége.

Her Grandma Cheng, whose business was making and exporting expensive and good-quality fabrics from China, was also very supportive. Grandma Cheng was especially fond of Bridgette and Marinette among her other grandchildren because they were the only two who understood the preciousness of good fabrics and who were able to come up with new ideas for fabric styles and prints.

Grandma Gina was the same as her Grandma Cheng. “Oh, let Marinette-ah spread her wings, Tom. I was also a popular girl in school back in my days and I’m so proud that my little fairy was following my footsteps.”

The traditional man that he was, Rolland Dupain told Marinette that she was only seeking justice. “An eye for an eye, it’s in Hammurabi’s Code, was it not?” She and her grandfather might not get along well but when it came to being a bringer of justice, her grandfather agreed with her.

Of course, if things went wrong she could always ask her Uncle Timothy ‘Tim’ Dupain, who was a lawyer and owned his own firm, for help. The first time she did ask for his assistance was during Lettuce – er, Lettice’s – case.

Her mother’s uncle, Wang Cheng, had also offered his assistance to Marinette. Since he was a world’s famous chef, he had gained many connections which Marinette could use in case trouble arises.

Because the whole family knew Marinette and her position in the Lunar Ladies as one of the ‘Queens’, Tom and Sabine were angry at the accusations thrown at their daughter. So when Marinette asked her parents if she could leave the house mere hours only after getting expelled, they let her go outside (albeit a little reluctantly) after reminding her to be careful.

Marinette was really thankful for her parents’ trust in her because she really needed to leave her house earlier. Alix’s text alarmed her. Alix and Kim just happened to pass by Adrien’s photoshoot location when they spotted Lie-la. Apparently, the liar was on Adrien’s photoshoot because Gabriel wanted the sausage-haired girl to model for him.

That text message ended it. No more subtle actions against Gabriel ‘Duck-Butt haired’ Agreste. As soon as Marinette stepped out of the door of her house, Chloé was already there and the car door was already open, waiting for Marinette to get in. On their way to the location of Adrien’s photoshoot, her phone dinged.

“Adrien said he was thinking of making a deal with Lie-la. He’d model with her if she convinced Principal Damocles to allow me to go back to school.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, “After all the things we taught him, why does he still come up with impulsive ideas? Couldn’t he think of other ways than selling his soul to the devil? He’s lucky we’re here for him.”

And so, once they arrived at Adrien’s photoshoot, Chloé texted Alix the go signal for their plan to commence. Alix and Kim’s job was simple, to distract the other people in the photoshoot while Adrien tried to escape. As soon as everyone was distracted, Marinette opened the car’s door to let Adrien in.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“To your house,” Chloé answered.

Once they reached the Agreste Mansion, Chloé dragged Adrien with her while Marinette stayed in the car with Chloé’s driver.

“You’re not coming?”

Marinette shook her head at Adrien. “I’m your ace; you’ll need me once your father gets worse. Right now, it’s Plan A.”

“Which is me,” Chloé finished.

“And what exactly is ‘Plan A’, princess?”

Chat Noir knew very well what ‘Plan A’ was because he was right there with Chloé when it was executed. Plan A was basically his childhood friend using her mother to threaten his father.

“If you made that Lie-la Rossi works with Adrien, I’m going to tell Mommy to insult your designs in public,” was Chloé’s exact words.

While his father’s name was powerful in itself, Audrey Bourgeois still had a huge influence on the fashion industry. And since coming back to the country a couple of months ago, the Bourgeois family were starting to repair their relationships with each other. If relationships won’t work, Adrien knew that Chloé was also becoming a master at manipulating her parents.

Needless to say, Gabriel Agreste knew when to retreat from a losing battle.

Still, despite knowing all that’s happened, Chat attentively listened to Marinette’s retelling. He loved hearing her voice, it calmed him down and he always liked seeing her different expressions like the cute way her nose scrunched up, the pout on her lips, and the sparkle in her eyes. He frowned when he noted her eyes were less bright tonight…

“…so that’s what happened.”

“Whoah,” he breathed. “I can’t believe you and your group did that to Gabriel Agreste. Isn’t he like, super strict?”

Marinette had gone silent.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” She shook her head. “I’m just afraid that you’d hate me and I’d lose you. I’m scared that you’ll leave me.”

He cupped her face with his hands. “Nothing could make me leave you, Marinette.”

She averted her gaze away. “You don’t know that.”

“Try me.”

So she did. She told him what happened to a girl named Vivian Bernard who messed with the Lunar Ladies. She became a social outcast in school. The Lunar Ladies embarrassed her in front of everyone and blackened her reputation. She also told him of the other people who suffered kind of the same fate but fared much better than Vivian Bernard.

“Now, tell me that your feelings are still the same.” She challenged after she finished narrating, but it was not lost on him that her lips were trembling.

He put a hand under his chin and pretended to think. “I think my feelings have changed.”

She frowned and her eyes went glassy but she didn’t say anything.

“For one,” he paused, tilting her chin up and inching his face closer to hers, “now that you told me about those things…” He lowered his voice, “I can’t stop thinking how sexy you look when you’re acting like a Queen.” He paused again, his thumb brushed her lower lip, “Two,” Just as her eyes fluttered close, he pulled away from her. “I wouldn’t want to get on your bad side, princess.”

He was afraid that she’d get mad at him for teasing her like that but she looked more relieved than annoyed.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Marinette smiled pinching his cheek, “That’s why you’re really lucky I like you very much.”

“Hey,” he protested, “You’re the one who’s lucky that I like you very much.”

He smiled as she narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms, obviously trying to ignore the fact that she was blushing.

“Alright, I’m the luckier one,” he conceded before dropping his tone, “but only because you look hot when you’re angry.”

She turned redder before throwing a pillow at him, causing him to laugh.

And it was true, whenever Marinette would get that fiery glint in her eyes, Adrien found his body reacting in ways he didn’t feel appropriate for a friend. (He’s a hormonal seventeen-year-old guy but he wouldn’t dare use that as an excuse.)

‘But she wasn’t exactly just-a-friend now, was she?’ A voice at the back of his mind taunted.

If the present Adrien told past Adrien that he would get close to Marinette like this – to the point that he had fallen in love with her – he probably wouldn’t believe his own self. Not because Marinette was not someone he could fall in love with (even his past self would agree with him that Marinette’s amazing and kind and talented – man, was he crushing on her way back then and didn’t realize it?), the point was, Adrien was already in love with Ladybug.

He had always thought that Ladybug was the only one for him, his soulmate. However, the more he got to know Marinette better, his feelings for his friend grew…

Adrien Agreste had been going to public school for more than a year and a half now. The first week of that, he was at lost why his childhood friend, Chloé Bourgeois, was ignoring him at school. She did warn him about it and he said ‘okay’ but that didn’t mean that he understood it. It wasn’t until the eighth day that Chloé explained to him about the ‘group’ she was in.

Chloé apparently belonged to a clique called the Lunar Ladies and their group was apparently very popular too.

“Since you’re my childhood friend, Adrikins, people will automatically consider you as part of the group.” Chloé had said.

“But I’m already famous. Are you forgetting that I’m a model?”

“Students would still respect the Lunar Ladies equally as they would a real superhero, if not more.”

Adrien remembered looking at his friend in disbelief. “You’re that influential?”

“Yes, my best friends and I have worked hard for this since élémentaire. Now, do you understand why I wanted you to make real friends of your own? I’m trying to teach you how to survive the real world, Adrikins. Your father sheltered you too much – it’s not rainbows and sunshine out there!”

After giving him a speech of how he shouldn’t be too trusting or too nice to the people he had recently just met, Adrien had tried asking Chloé who her friends were. Chloé didn’t give him any answer.

It wasn’t until two months and a half later that he found out more about it.

One of their classmates, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, had been Akumatized into Evillustrator. Ladybug was on a secret mission so she gave him the task to look after, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl that Evillustrator apparently had a crush on.

Adrien was glad for the opportunity to get to know his adorable classmate better. They hadn’t exactly met on the right foot and he was kind of worried that she still didn’t like him, even after he gave her his umbrella and tried explaining himself. Why else would she appear uncomfortable talking to him – sometimes stuttering and mixing her words up – when she was perfectly normal around everyone else?

Needless to say, he was surprised to see that Marinette wasn’t shy around his alter-ego. She even had the guts to mock him and roll her eyes at him. But what shocked him most about that encounter was when Marinette asked him to make sure that Chloé was safe.

He thought that the two girls disliked each other very much. Chloé was always causing trouble to Marinette and the latter always complained about the former. At first, he thought that Marinette was being just nice – even to the people who weren’t nice to her. But then he heard her muttering to herself, “Why did he have to like me? Chloé likes him. I am such a bad friend.”

They were friends? Was Marinette one of Chloé’s friends?

Adrien didn’t have time to find out the answer to that. As a superhero, he had a duty. And he’s pretty sure that his childhood friend needed him so after an impulsive kiss on Marinette’s hand, he headed straight to Chloé’s place.

The next morning, he tried to find out Marinette’s opinion on Chat Noir. However, she was still a bit jumpy around Adrien so he wasn’t really sure if she thought that he was cool or not. That night, Adrien bribed Plagg with some camembert to transform him.

His mission was to ask Marinette about her group of friends but the moment she offered him some croissants and hot chocolate, as a ‘thank you’ for rescuing her the night before (even if she was the one who technically saved them by figuring out a way to escape the box Evillustrator had trapped them with), he had forgotten all about his questions.

Instead, they spent the night talking awkwardly at first (but then he told her that he had seen through her act of making fun of him so she didn’t need to pretend to swoon over his presence), and once they got past that, they became comfortable with each other’s presence talking about videogames and movies.

After two days, he came over to her house again, but the moment they started talking, he had forgotten to ask his question again. It took him the third visit to finally remember it (third times the charm!) but Marinette’s answer had been vague. That’s why he kept on coming – because he wanted her to answer specifically (and certainly not because he loved his midnight talks with her and couldn’t stop himself from visiting her).

In short, in the total of one year and five months that he had been visiting Marinette, he spent the first three months insisting that Marinette was just a friend, the next three months to finally come to terms that he may have a tiny bit (read: huge, gigantic) crush on her and the rest of the other months to acknowledge and accept that he had fallen deeply in love with Marinette.

During the first three months of his visits, he found out little bits about the Lunar Ladies, who were its members, how the group was formed, and stories about some of the group’s successes in dealing with meanies.

Though he had heard the stories from Marinette as Chat, by the time Chloé had invited civilian him to the first complete and official get-together of the Lunar Ladies since lycée started, he had still been surprised at seeing the clique in action. (More surprised than finding out that Kim and Nino were also technically part of the group.)

That was when he found out that they had a target: two guys a year older than them – Russell Manseau and Philippe Parmentier. Apparently, in the first half of their school year, the girls had been silently gathering shreds of evidence against the two guys. Not only that, but the girls had also been responsible for the pranks and tricks that happened to the two guys earlier in the year.

“It’s only to stop them from hurting Margot,” Alix had said, “it’s more of like a distraction for them so they’d pay attention to their selves first instead of always going after the poor girl.”

“Aren’t you afraid to get caught?” He had asked.

“We never get caught so don’t worry about it, man.” Kim had assured him.

“Since Adrikins was a member by default, don’t you think he should learn the ropes?” Chloé had suggested.

Once everyone agreed with his childhood friend, Adrien found himself being taught different tricks on how to be sneaky and not to leave evidence. He was unsure about it at first but when he found out the reason why Philippe and Russell became the group’s target, he was less guilty about helping them.

From then on, Adrien always attended the clique’s secret hangouts – thanks to Chloé he never missed a single one of them. He would play with them (from video games, board games, and card games to sports), clean up, cook, and sometimes, they’d just talk about life. He would forever be thankful to Chloé for inviting him on that first get-together.

That day when Chloé invited him became memorable not only because it was the start of him becoming (secretly) rebellious to his father, but it was also the day he found out Marinette’s reason why she was stumbling her words upon him.

“I kind of have to play the role of the clumsy Miss goody-two-shoes so…”

He remembered gasping in surprise at her admission. “Wait, you were only pretending to be clumsy?”

“Half the time yes, the other half…” she had trailed off, “not so much.”

“And the stuttering at times? Is that part of your act? Because I kinda noticed that you only seem to do that around me.”

“Oh,” she had paused before smiling sheepishly. “That was half-half too.”

“So you’re really uncomfortable around me?” He had asked sadly.

“No, nervous is more like it.” She had admitted fiddling with her fingers. “I kind of have developed a small crush on you? Half the time of my stuttering was acting because I need to make our other classmates and schoolmates believe that I’m too shy to confess and the other half was real because you’re the first guy that I had a crush on who’s not a character on a movie, I guess?”

At her words, he had stood frozen on his spot, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

“I don’t want to make this weird, Adrien. You’re my friend and I don’t want to lose that friendship, but the others have kinda pushed me to confess and I wanted to tell you my feelings so I did. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same but I just wanted to get it out of my chest. I hope that this won’t change our friendship and –”

“It’s okay, Marinette. I kinda have a crush on you too.” He had blurted out once he’d found his voice.

“Oh… I wasn’t expecting that.”

After their confessions, they decided to remain friends and improve their friendship first before anything else. They didn’t really know much about each other and they only said that they were crushing on each other not that they were in love.

That was one of the best decisions Adrien had ever made. Since that day, he started spending more time with Marinette as Adrien. And since that was not enough, he still continued his visit as Chat. Through both personas, his crush turned to like and like turned to love, until he found himself in his current situation – still perpetually single.

Six months after their initial crush confessions, they had both told each other that their crush had grown into love. However, they were facing a similar dilemma of being in love with two people. For him, he was torn between Marinette and Ladybug. Marinette was in the same situation with his Adrien self and his Chat Noir self.

When Marinette had told him that she was in love with him as Chat, he thought he would burst from joy. It meant that she loved both sides of him. She loved him truly! Despite that, he couldn’t bring himself to make a move. It wouldn’t be fair to her if he asked her out (whether as Chat Noir or as Adrien) when Ladybug still held a place in his heart.

Marinette didn’t deserve that. And so, by mutual agreement, both he (as Chat and Adrien) and Marinette decided to stay friends. They knew how each other felt but neither was ready to take a leap.

What if he decided to date Marinette and after a couple of months, he still couldn’t forget about Ladybug and he hurt her? Adrien couldn’t bear to think of that. If he hurt her then their relationship would change. He treasured her friendship so much. He wouldn’t be able to handle it if that happened. So friends they remained.

Unfortunately, the Lunar Ladies, along with Kim and Nino, weren’t in favor of their mutual decision. Yes, their friends respected Adrien and Marinette’s choice but their friends also had no qualms of calling them ‘idiots’. Hence, they always hear the words ‘just a friend my ass’ or other words and phrases along those lines.

Their friends’ frustration only increased when Kagami and Luka entered the picture more than eight months ago. Kagami was interested in him while Luka was interested in Marinette, and since both he and Marinette kept on insisting that they’re ‘just friends’ the two newcomers thought that as a signal for them to make a move.

To the shock of everyone who knew about Adrien and Marinette’s relationship status (that was beyond friendship but only borderline romantic), Adrien was the first to react. (The cat in him just couldn’t take the sight of another guy admiring Marinette.) So, to end Kagami and Luka’s misconception about them, Adrien suggested a double-date at the ice rink.

However, the pairings weren’t quite what Luka or Kagami expected. In other words, Adrien and Marinette made one pair, and they kind of set up their two new friends to be each other’s date.

“You said you and Marinette were just friends.” Kagami had stated.

“Marinette and I are friends.” Adrien had confirmed. “But we also love each other romantically.”

“Then why are you just friends?” Luka had asked in confusion.

After a quick permission from the other two Queens (via text message) to share information about the Lunar Ladies’ current mission, Marinette had launched an explanation about the plan against Russell and Philippe. “All that the class knew was that I’m a klutz, shy girl who couldn’t confess her feelings to her crush.”

It was true. While he and Marinette practically act like the perfect couple in front of their clique, other people only see them as the stuttering girl and the patient boy who listened to said stuttering girl. If they looked closer, they would see that at times when Adrien wasn’t distracted by Marinette’s adorable stuttering, he would discreetly wink at her and mutter puns to try to get her to break her character.

Seriously, didn’t anyone notice that he was always complimenting Marinette or touching her in every little way possible?

“So once you succeeded in taking down this Philippe and Russell, you’ll finally be together officially?”

“Not exactly…” Both he and Marinette had answered.

“Why?” Luka had asked again. “Your melodies are so in tuned with one another.”

“It’s complicated.”

At their response, Luka and Kagami only shook their heads.

“A piece of advice to both of you: Do not hesitate.” With those last words to them, Kagami took Luka’s hand and led him to the ice rink.

Five months later, Luka and Kagami were officially dating (It would’ve happened earlier but Kagami’s mother was thorough inspecting her daughter’s boyfriend). Not only that, but since the couple knew about the Lunar Ladies’ mission they’ve become honorary members of the group, and being part of the group meant they were also very expressive about their opinions about how he and Marinette should stop being just friends.

“Chat, are you okay?”

Marinette’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and as she looked at him tenderly with concern, he couldn’t bring himself to regret their mutual decision of staying as friends. He was afraid that he would screw up his relationship with him. At least if one of his personas screwed up, he always had his other persona to ensure that he wouldn’t lose her.

Adrien knew it’s unfair, but he’s tired of people leaving him. He wouldn’t be able to handle it if Marinette didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. What if she left him too? If not by her own will, then what if Hawkmoth found out his identity and use her against him? He couldn’t let that happen.

“I’m always okay as long you’re by my side, Purrincess.”

She rolled her eyes but he still saw her smile.

“The real question is, are you okay?” He asked, taking hold of her hands. “I know that you’re strong and all, but how are you really faring?”

“I’m doing okay, I promise.” She squeezed his hands. “I mean, I was scared earlier, when Hawkmoth had Akumatized so many people at once, including me and my parents. I don’t know what happened and the reason why Hawkmoth retrieved his Akumas but I’m just so relieved that he did.”

Adrien pulled her to him in a hug. He also saw what happened earlier and he would forever be haunted that Marinette was one of the almost Akumatized victims. While he knew that they already had a plan to take Lie-la down, that didn’t change the fact that no one defended Marinette earlier and that hurt his princess.

“I don’t ever want to fight you, Chat.” She croaked, her head nuzzling his neck. “Well, I sometimes want to throw a pillow on you when your puns get worse,” she added trying to lighten the mood, “but I don’t want to fight you in a literal battle. I can’t.”

“I can’t fight you either, Marinette.” He whispered. Then, in a louder tone, he said, “I bet I’ll just have to see you in a sexy fighting outfit and I’d be on my knees, princess.”

She pulled back from their embrace and raised an eyebrow at him. “Must you always say such things?”

“Eh,” He shrugged. “You love me.”

“I do,” she replied softly.

Okay, Adrien thought, perhaps he kind of regret their mutual agreement of being ‘just friends’ at moments like this when her lips were practically begging to be kissed by him.

“Thank you, Chat.” Her soft voice brought him out of his thoughts. “I was really afraid that if you find out the things I did before and my plans for Lila, you’d change your mind about me.”

He scoffed. “And let Adrien Agreste have you for himself? No way, princess.”

She ignored his comment and looked at him entreatingly. “But you know why I’m doing this, right?”

He nodded. He knew, both as Chat and Adrien, about Marinette’s favorite cousin, Bridgette. He knew Marinette’s fear of losing and failing. She took threats seriously because she didn’t want to be in a position of being helpless.

In every situation, it’s either kill or be killed.

And in Adrien’s short time of life in the outside world, he believed the Lunar Ladies’ philosophy too. So if becoming a predator was the only way to protect the ones he loves, then Adrien Agreste was done being the prey. No more standing by the corners.

To hell with his father, to hell with everything, he’d fight for Marinette. Not only because she fought for him too, but because he knew she’s worth fighting for.

Chapter Text

.

We are your friends

And we're going to make her pay

You know what friends do?

They've got your back and they're fun to be around

When someone hurts you then they attack

And grind your foe into the ground

.

Their classmates were doubtful.

Rose took that as a good sign. At least they’ll be able to handle truth easier once they found out. For now, she was contented to work with Alix and Sabrina secretly to make Lie-la suffer.

After all, who would doubt her, Rose, the class peacemaker?

Okay, maybe that was the wrong question to ask since the class did doubt Marinette, who was not only their class representative, but someone who had also been dubbed as their ‘Everyday Ladybug.’ However, Rose had an advantage because she never called Lie-la out for lying.

Phase 1 of their mission was to pretend that she, Alix, and Sabrina believed Lie-la’s lies. It was easy enough because none of their classmates knew that they were actually close to Marinette.

“I’m sure Marinette will come around, Lila. Then, we can all be friends.” Rose assured in a honeyed tone, addressing the liar.

Alix rolled her eyes in response. “Don’t bother hoping for that, Rose. It’s obvious that Marinette is jealous of Lila and she won’t come around easily, especially if it had something to do with Adrien.”

Alix delivered her lines in such a way that implied that she was disgusted. Rose had to bit her inner cheeks to keep herself from smiling. She knew that Alix was disgusted with Lie-la’s lies and not with Marinette’s ‘jealousy’. Sure, they’d seen Marinette jealous before but Marinette wouldn’t do the things Lie-la claimed.

Besides, since Marinette and Adrien confessed their feelings to each other, Adrien surprisingly became the more possessive one. And they weren’t even in a relationship (yet)! Rose often wondered how Adrien and Marinette managed to hide the closeness of their friendship to the rest of the class. Rose knew that she’d had a hard time pretending she wasn’t close with Juleka.

Speaking of her girlfriend, Rose was glad to know that Juleka didn’t like the fact that Marinette got spelled. Juleka was now wary of Lie-la but Rose also knew that Juleka was afraid to voice her own opinion. Other than that, Juleka also suspected that something was going on with Rose. However, being the respectful girlfriend she was, she didn’t ask about it again when Rose told her that she’d tell her about it soon.

It’s not that Rose didn’t trust Juleka, for she did. Rose just didn’t want her girlfriend to be caught in the crossfire. After all, Rose had been doing this with the Lunar Ladies for years. She was practically an expert at this and she wanted to protect her girlfriend. Besides, it might just stress Juleka out and Juleka was already feeling guilty for not speaking out to counter Marinette’s expulsion.

“I don’t care what Marinette said, Lila.” Sabrina piped in. “I’m so glad I met you. You’re so much nicer than Chloé. I even made you a special pie to thank you for showing me what real friendship feels like.”

Sabrina wanted to vomit at the words that escaped her lips. If anything, Liar-la was worse than Vivian Bernard at making her do schoolwork. At least Vivian only made Sabrina do the subjects she didn’t understand. Liar-la just practically gave Sabrina all the tasks because of her arthritis or some bullshit-itis. The only thing that kept Sabrina maintaining her patience with the liar was the way her face scrunched up at the taste of the slice of ‘special’ she gave her.

“I know you’re very generous, Lila, so I’ll just give the other slices to our classmates.” Sabrina saw the relief that flashed through the liar’s face and she inwardly smirked.

As soon as the other slices were passed around the class, Liar-la asked: “Does the taste feel off to you?”

“What are you talking about? This tasted totally delicious to me!” Kim exclaimed, making a show of chewing his own slice.

“Yes, this pie is good, Sabrina,” Ivan said.

“Can you tell me your recipe?” Mylène asked.

Sabrina smiled, “Of course, Mylène.”

“Why aren’t you eating your piece, Lila?” Alix asked, munching on her own pie.

“Uhm, I am,” Liar-la paused, smiling, “but I think Kim might appreciate it better than me.”

“But I made it for you, Lila,” Sabrina did her best to make her voice small and pitiable. “Yours was even the biggest slice. You won’t throw it away or give it to someone else like Chloé always did to my efforts, would you?”

Before Liar-la could answer, Rose piped in. “Of course Lila wouldn’t do that. She’s so nice. You’ll eat Sabrina’s special pie, won’t you, Lila?”

Liar-la smiled through her gritted teeth. “Of course, I will.”

How the others didn’t see through the liar’s façade, Sabrina didn’t understand. But as Sabrina watched Liar-la eat, she’d let her classmates slide. Rose, having been in the Baking Club with Marinette years before, helped Sabrina in making the pie. The slices their classmates were eating were all part of a delicious apple pie, while the slice they inserted specially made for Liar-la was flavored with disgusting mixtures of pie flavors they could think of. It was not bad to cause Liar-la diarrhea but enough to make her suffer every bite.

After all Phase 2 of the plan was to make Liar-la get a taste of her own medicine (literally, in this case). She wanted their classmates to know her as a nice friend? Then, they’ll make her a nice friend. And being a nice friend meant eating a friend’s effort even though it tasted horrible, wasn’t it? Even if Liar-la did try to tell everyone what it really tasted, they would doubt the liar.

One, for all they knew, they all had eaten the same piece of delicious pie. Two, the members of their groups were strategically placed nearest to Liar-la. If it didn’t work, Kim would take the pie that Liar-la was willing to give and he’d ‘accidentally’ drop it because Alix would’ve ‘accidentally’ elbowed him. Fortunately for them, they didn’t need to use their backup plan.

Instead, they enjoyed watching Liar-la eat the whole slice and trying not to cringe.

‘Oh, revenge was indeed sweet,’ Sabrina thought as she ate her own slice of delicious apple pie.

Their satisfaction on their little revenge, however, immediately vanished, once they entered Chloé’s room at Le Grand Paris Hotel. While Chloé’s room was vast, it wasn’t enough to hide the dangerous aura coming from what they liked to call the ‘Burn Room’.

Surprisingly, Butler Jean wasn’t by the entrance to greet them. If that was not enough to alarm Rose, Alix, and Sabrina, Chloé was not sitting on her usual seat by her golden throne chair. The mayor’s daughter was standing by the corner with a clenched fist doing a breathing exercise.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, rushing to Chloé and opening her bag to grab a perfume battle. Without waiting for an answer, she sprayed the bottle around Chloé.

Sabrina sniffed the air and nodded approvingly at Rose. The liquid she sprayed from her perfume bottle was the scent Rose and Chloé experimented with together on the Lunar Ladies' first get-together after transferring to Françoise Dupont, after Sabrina had read an article about calming scents and explained it to them.

Chloé and Rose called it the ‘Anti-Akuma Potion’ or ‘AAP’. Its ingredients were composed of things that had a calming scent like lavender and jasmine. It took the two blonde girls three whole weeks to make a collection of scents that worked for each of them. They always used it to calm down whenever they’re feeling strong emotions to avoid attracting Akumas, hence the concoction’s name. It wasn’t completely effective but at least the smell could calm them down a little.

“Thanks, Rose,” Chloé said after a minute. “I ran out of AAP about twenty minutes ago. We really need to make a new batch.”

Rose put the spray bottle back in her purse before replying, “No problem, Chloé. But what happened? I thought you weren’t present in class earlier to attend a business meeting with your Mom?”

“Yes, Mommy did bring me with her to a business meeting since the therapist recommended us to spend some time together,” Chloé answered, moving to sit on her usual chair. “We got back about three hours ago and I arrived here with Marinette already in the Burn Room.”

At that exact moment, Kim and Nino, with Adrien in tow, entered the room.

“M’s in the Burn Room?” Kim asked warily, shifting closer to Alix.

“Yeah, Jean Luc was the one assisting her with the targets.”

Adrien furrowed his brows. “Burn Room? Targets? What are you guys talking about?”

“That,” Alix pointed at the door farthest to them, “is the Burn Room. We go in there whenever we feel angry or upset, but mostly angry.”

“You do not want to go in there man,” Nino warned, shaking his head.

Kim nodded, “Marinette is nice and all, but you do not want to see her angry.”

Before Adrien could respond, a sweaty and nervous-looking Butler Jean exited the ‘Burn’ Room. “Mademoiselle Marinette is in a calmer condition now, Mademoiselle Chloé, but I do not recommend going in there yet. I believe Mademoiselle Marinette is still fuming. And she hit the target ten times.”

Kim and Nino winced while Alix, Sabrina, and Rose looked at Chloé worriedly.

“What happened?” The girls asked, taking a seat on the settee.

Nino and Kim settled themselves on another couch but Adrien remained standing. He was worried. What if Marinette attracted an Akuma? He couldn’t fight her!

“Sit down, Adrikins. You’re stressing me out with your worried face.”

“Maybe I can help in calming Marinette down,” He suggested.

Chloé scoffed. “Puh-lease, if I, one of her best friends, can’t calm her down. What makes you think you can do it Mr. Just-A-Friend?”

“What if she gets Akumatized?”

“There are no windows in that room for the butterfly to come in,” Alix answered.

Adrien crossed his arms. “I’m still gonna try.”

“Don’t say we didn’t warn you, Adrikins,” Chloé said with a shooing motion before asking Butler Jean to fetch her laptop in her bedroom. Apparently, the answers to why Marinette was angry were in there.

While the others were busy waiting for Butler Jean, Adrien made his way to the burn room and slowly opened the door.

“Apparently, Lie-la Rossi is much more evil than we thought.” Chloé began her explanation as she opened her white-colored Apple laptop with customized golden swirls as a design. “Marinette was digging up evidence against her when –”

Adrien rushing out of the Burn Room and slamming the door behind him caught their attention.

“We tried to warn you model-boy,” Alix said, shaking her head, “Her feelings for you don’t exempt you from her chilling anger.”

“An angry Marinette is not to be messed with,” Kim added with a shudder. If he hadn’t seen it first hand before, he probably wouldn’t believe Marinette was capable of giving a cold glare he’d only seen Gabriel Agreste wear daily.

Noticing that his friend was sweating and super red in the face, Nino walked towards Adrien and patted him on the shoulder. “Are you okay, Dude? I know Marinette can be really scary but she’ll never hurt any of us. It’s just –”

His explanation was cut off by Adrien’s mumble.

“What was that, Dude?”

Adrien looked like he was in a trance as he practically shouted his next words, “MARINETTEHASABS!” If his face was already red earlier, then he was a tomato now. “Marinette has abs.” He repeated more calmly.

Before they could process what Adrien said, a sweaty Marinette exited the Burn Room. “Adrien, I didn’t know that you’re going to enter the Burn Room. Butler Jean told me that he’d advised you all to let me have some alone time so I took off my shirt before going for the treadmill to release some steam.” Marinette explained in one breath.

“It’s no problem, Marinette. You look hot.” Adrien replied. A split second later he realized what he just said and his eyes went wide. “I mean, you’re hot. No! Not that you’re not hot but you’re sweaty so you’re probably feeling hot.”

“Uh, thanks?” squeaked an equally flushed Marinette.

“Did you switch bodies or something?” Kim teased, smirking at the pair.

“If I knew that both of you getting flustered was going to make M forget her anger for quite some time, then I would’ve called Adrikins earlier.”

Rose and Sabrina giggled at this.

“Anyway,” Chloé spoke again, “since M was done using the Burn Room, we should all move there now, or else one of us might get Akumatized.” Even though the burn room didn’t have any windows, it has proper ventilation so they needn’t worry about the smell of sweat lingering in the air.

Grabbing her laptop with her, Chloé led the way inside. Marinette and Adrien, still flustered at what happened earlier were the last ones to enter.

“Whoah!” Adrien gasped, looking around the Burn Room. While he did enter the same room minutes ago, his eyes had been fixed on a Marinette only wearing a sports bra running on the treadmill that he didn’t notice the other things in the room.

Three treadmills were placed near the door. There were different kinds of Nerf guns and crossbows on a huge shelf in a far corner. Across from it were pictures hanging from the ceiling and most of them were destroyed like it’s been shot by multiple Nerf bullets. In another corner of the room was a row of punching bags that had taped pictures in them.

Out of curiosity, Adrien took a step closer. There are crinkled pictures of Lila, a printed paper that has ‘Math Homework’ on it, and – he turned incredulously to his friends, “I-is this a picture of my f-father?”

“Yes, but we’re not through with that yet,” Sabrina answered before pointing to another corner of the room, “That’s the finished product. Nino, Chloé, Marinette, and I did that the moment we found out your father was spying on you through Lila.”

“But that was months ago, right?”

Rose shrugged, “We don’t throw away the piñatas unless it became unhittable. After all, we gave our one hundred percent effort in making it.”

“You guys made it?” Adrien didn’t know whether to be horrified or amused at his friends’ creativity. The piñatas currently hanging were the faces of Lila Rossi and his father. However, their faces looked comical with wide faces and little hair.

“Yeah, it’s Papier-mâché from recycled papers so we’re really helping the environment,” Rose answered proudly.

“The papers taped on the punching bags and the ones hanging from the ceiling for our Nerf guns were recycled into piñatas,” Sabrina added. “When we’re mad or stressed out, we put our energy into the art of drawing whatever offended us or making piñatas. And when we have an available piñata, we hit it.”

Adrien nodded thoughtfully. “But why am I just informed of this Burn Room, now?”

“We all thought that you weren’t ready yet, Adrikins.”

“And I am, now?”

“Well, a year ago you’d probably chastised us for having a room like this,” Nino pointed out. “But now, you’re taking it calmly.”

Kim smirked, “Or maybe that was the effect of seeing M’s abs.”

Marinette groaned, hiding her face with her hands, while Adrien flushed red. The others snickered.

“Anyway,” Sabrina spoke, “we’re glad that you’re finally seeing that your father is not always right, Adrien.”

Adrien smiled, “I am too.”

Among all his friends, the one who managed to make Adrien see the wrongness of the way his father treated him was Sabrina and Alix. Of course, all of his friends had been very helpful, but he, Sabrina, and Alix had lost something that others didn’t – their mothers.

Even though Alix and Sabrina’s fathers had lost the love of their lives, their fathers still made time for them… unlike his father who couldn’t even join him for a simple dinner.

“Okay, people, let’s get back to business,” Chloé called, clapping her hands to gather everyone’s attention. They all took a seat on the bean bags formed in a circle by the Nerf weapon collection.

“I wish Aurore could join us.” Marinette sighed, plopping on the pink bean bag beside the black one where Adrien was sitting.

“Me too,” Alix seconded, “unfortunately, their class has two presentations due tomorrow. Not to mention that since Marinette’s gone from the school committee, she has to work twice as usual.”

“At least she has Mireille to help her and she’s free to come with us on Friday, so that’s good.”

“Rose is right,” Chloé said. “Now, prepare your AAPs for the news I’m about to share. I’ll tell Aurore about it via email later so no worries, she’ll be updated.”

Just as Chloé had predicted, half of them needed their AAPs after she had told them about what Marinette had found out about Liar Rossi earlier.

One, this wasn’t the first time that Lila had done something like this. Of course, they had all suspected that the first time she cornered Marinette in the restroom. But hearing it from an interview with Lila’s previous classmate was different. It cemented the fact that Lila Rossi had bullied other girls.

Donna Moretti, the girl they had Skype-d with was the best friend of Luciana Gallo, the girl whom Lila isolated two years ago. Lila had succeeded in isolating Luciana to the point that the girl overdosed on her sleeping pills. The poor girl had been confined in the hospital and it was only then that Donna found out the truth. No one would believe their claims against Lila mainly because they didn’t have backing evidence, so in the end, both of them had chosen to transfer to another school.

It was hard for the girls, especially Luciana since she had to give up her scholarship and apply for another one. Unfortunately, due to the bad records that Lila had framed her up with, she wasn’t accepted anymore. This forced her to transfer to a public school. Luckily, Luciana’s mother still believed and supported her. Luciana’s mother and Donna’s constant support helped Luciana recover.

Their story explained Marinette’s anger. Lila’s deeds reminded Marinette of what happened to her beloved cousin, Bridgette. More specifically, Lie-la reminded Marinette of the person who began bullying Bridgette. They had the same tactics – lying and manipulating until their victims suffocated with the feel of being alone.

The only difference between Luciana and Bridgette was that the former survived. She was lucky that her mother found her unconscious in her bedroom and rushed her to the hospital. When Marinette’s Aunt entered her cousin’s room, Bridgette’s lifeless form was already hanging from the ceiling with a thick fabric tied around her neck. They tried to revive her but it was already too late.

Bridgette’s main bully – whose name shouldn’t be spoken or thought of – had luckily escaped punishment by being involved in a car accident and being dead on the spot. Karma’s a bitch but Marinette didn’t like the fact that her cousin’s bully died just like that. She wanted Bridgette’s tormentor to live. Because she believed that living while one realized one's mistakes as one's reputation and named continued to darken was the greatest punishment of all.

What did Wesley say again to Prince Humperdinck? Right, ‘to the pain.’ That was Marinette’s favorite quote in The Princess Bride.

‘To the pain means the first thing you will lose will be your feet below the ankles, then your hands at the wrists; Next your nose.’ Wesley’s lines echoed in Marinette’s mind. ‘The next thing you will lose will be your left eye followed by your right. Your ears you keep and I’ll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, “Dear God! What is that thing,” will echo in your perfect ears. That is what 'to the pain' means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever.’

Marinette hadn’t gotten the chance to deliver pain to Bridgette’s tormentor but hopefully, with Lady Luck, on her side, Lila Rossi would pay for all that she’s done.

Apart from Donna Moretti, they also managed to get statements from three other people from Lila’s other previous schools. Luciana’s was still the worst case and they were all thankful for that. At least, Lila’s next target had been Marinette. Unlike, her previous victims, Marinette and the Lunar Ladies had connections.

They would end Lila’s terror once and for all, even if it’s the last thing they’d do.

How they all got home without being Akumatize was a blessing and a mystery. Perhaps, Hawkmoth was too busy or they had just inhaled too much AAP that they still had a firm grasp with their emotions. Maybe it was Marinette’s luck that’s finally working. Whatever the reason was, Marinette was thankful that they all went home just fine.

It had been a long day for her. The emotional rollercoaster of remembering the death of her cousin by Luciana’s story was already too much. Hopefully, Chat would be able to visit her tonight. His cuddles could calm her down in an instant, like Adrien’s. The only difference was that her partner had the advantage of being able to purr so that she could easily sleep.

Her good luck seemed to be doing its job remarkably well today, for Chat Noir did come just after she finished taking a shower.

“What’s with you and showing your abs today?”

Marinette blinked twice and looked at her outfit (which was composed of a crop top and shorts) before raising a brow at him to hide her embarrassment (she’d normally wear her usual pajamas which covered more skin but she thought something with less fabric would make her feel freer and calmer tonight). “Adrien told you about earlier? If this is some kind of competition between you two, I’m not interested. I can’t believe that he told you –”

“No!” He raised his hand in panic, “It was nothing like that, princess. Adrien was a gentleman. He wouldn’t spread or blabber about something like that.”

Crossing her arms, she looked at him impatiently. “Then how did you know about it?”

“I sort of followed you to the mayor’s hotel.” He confessed, scratching the back of his head. “You were upset and I was afraid that you’d get akumatize so…”

Marinette smiled, “It’s alright, Chat. I understand. Thank you for looking out for me.”

Inwardly, Chat Noir sighed that Marinette bought his excuse.

Taking hold of his hand, she led him to the chaise. “As for my outfit tonight, I wanted to feel fresh so I choose this. You still up for cuddles? I could change if you’re uncomfortable –”

“Yes!” He blurted. “No! I mean, yes to the cuddles and no to changing your clothes. You don’t have to change. Unless you wanted to, that is.” He cleared his throat. “I’m always up for cuddles, princess.”

The following mornings were pretty much the same for Rose, Sabrina, and Alix. Together they used sickeningly sweet tones with their offered ‘gifts’ to show their support to Lie-la. So far, Sabrina had given her the bitterest coffee (“At least you’re not like Chloé who would yell at me for getting the wrong order.”) Rose had offered her a very sour drink (“With so many diseases, I’ve researched some remedies on what could help you and I made this. You would accept it, won’t you? Especially since I’ve worked very hard on it.”), and Kim and Alix tricked her into dipping her food into wasabi while they were competing on who could eat the spiciest food.

They had also convinced Lie-la to try on horrendous clothes after Mylène’s chocolate drink had stained her clothes, courtesy of Alix ‘accidentally’ pushing Kim and causing Kim to stumble near Mylène, which caused the latter to spill her drink upon Lie-la.

After the incident, Sabrina immediately offered her an extra blouse and jacket. Both were decent enough but it did not go well with Lie-la’s coloring. Chloé, having no seatmate since Sabrina had ‘left’ her for Lie-la was now sitting with Adrien. The other couldn’t argue with the arrangement since they knew that Adrien was so nice that he wouldn’t deny his childhood friend the request of sitting together.

That was everything they could do to make Lie-la suffer because Marinette had texted them that they should not go overboard. That was because the noirette wanted female Pinocchio to have a false sense of security. She wanted Lie-la to think that she’d won only to have it all crashing down when Marinette came back to their school.

By Thursday morning, all of them within the group, except for Adrien who still stayed by Chloé’s side to avoid the liar’s company, all of them were back to being Lie-la’s sycophants; ooh-ing and aw-ing at all her words. It was getting annoying for all of them but they knew it was needed to be done. After all, the higher Lie-la thought of herself, the greater she would fall.

Three days since Marinette’s expulsion had been revoked, her parents still refused to make her go back to school until Monday next week.

This decision worked in their favor. Since Marinette was expelled on a Monday, Aurore was given just enough time to quell the rumors about the reason why Marinette was expelled. Because she had been busy doing damage control, and since she had been handling the School Committee without Marinette’s help, she had been out of looped about some of the things going on with the others this past four days and a half.

Thankfully, they were all free this Friday afternoon and were all able to meet up at Le Grand Paris without trouble. Save Marinette, they all had to come up with excuses to only attend half-day of the school. Between the six of them, they got no problems catching up on schoolwork since they usually do those in advance.

It was one of the reasons why being Ladybug hadn’t affected Marinette’s grades that much. Aside from her frequent tardiness, she was always updated about the lessons because they share notes with one another and they study together whenever they have the time, even though it was often done via video calls.

“Not that I’m not happy to know that the expulsion had been revoked, Marinette, but how exactly did it happen?” Aurore, who was in her bathrobe just like the rest of the girls, asked, taking a seat on the settee as she inspected the new parasol Marinette customized for her.

Unsurprisingly, it was Chloé who answered the question. “We blackmailed Gabriel Agreste into ordering Lie-la to convince Damocles to bring Marinette back to school.” The mayor’s daughter put down the hairdryer and turned to Aurore. “And do you know what she said to Damocles?”

“She claimed to have a lying disease,” Rose stopped applying her perfume and answered for them all, ending the suspense. “Miss Bustier announced it earlier in class.”

“It’s not actually far from the truth, even though Liar-la still lied.” Sabrina piped up, closing the bottle of eye drops in her hands once she finished putting on her clear contact lenses. “I think Liar-la is a pathological liar. That said, I also think she has an antisocial personality disorder and a narcissistic personality disorder.”

Chloé frowned at Sabrina from the mirror. “Stop talking about disorders, Sabrina, you’re going to guilt Marinette into stopping our plans.” She paused to stop applying her mascara and turned to them sternly. “Lie-la didn’t deserve to be let down so easily. Disorder or not, she hurt Marinette both emotionally and physically.”

“Physically?!” All of them saved Chloé gasped and turned Marinette who was busy curling her hair in the corner.

Marinette took time in tying her curled hair up in a half-up half-down hairdo before answering them. “I had to go to the restroom after the meeting with Damocles and she cornered me again. Apparently, her gripping my wrist until it bruised was her way of apologizing.”  She picked up the bottle of hairspray and donned some on her hair before looking at the girls pleadingly. “Don’t tell Alix, Kim, Kagami, or Adrien, please?”

Before any of them could reply, Alix stepped out of the shower. She had headed straight into the bathroom after getting a haircut from their hairstylist who came earlier. “Don’t tell me what?”

“That Lie-la hurt Marinette physically,” Chloé answered nonchalantly while applying her lipstick as if she didn’t drop a bomb.

Marinette grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at her unrepentant friend, “Chloé!”

“Don’t look at me like that, M. As if they weren’t going to find out sooner,” Chloé said looking pointedly at the noirette before gesturing for Sabrina to sit in front of the vanity mirror. The latter did take the seat in front of Chloé and the blonde brushed the redhead's hair once before turning to Marinette again. “Besides, at least I chose to tell them about it now that your other bruises had faded.”

“Other bruises?!” The others exclaimed in unison.

“I think the pixie cut really suits you, Alix!” Marinette tried smiling innocently but Alix wasn’t buying it.

“M, explain,” Alix said, taking the seat next to Rose.

Marinette only walked to where Aurore was sitting before silently asking her to close her eyes. The latter frowned, she knew her friend was stalling time, but she still obliged. Marinette started dabbing some eye-shadow on Aurore as she answered Alix without looking. “Yes, but it was only from those times she tried to trip me.”

Chloé, who was now curling Sabrina’s hair, huffed. “What about that time she scratched you, then?”

“What?!” This time, Rose had to purposefully smear BB cream on Alix’s face to keep the pink-haired girl still.

“Why didn’t you tell us Marinette?” Rose asked softly as she spread the cream on Alix’s face using a beauty blender.

Marinette sighed, proceeding to apply the dark eye-shadow on Aurore’s other eyelid. “I knew you guys would get upset and I don’t want you to get akumatize.”

“I really hate Hawkmoth,” Aurore grumbled.

“But when did she try to scratch you, Marinette?” Sabrina asked, looking at them through the mirror.

“The time I tried to tell her to stop or else she’d regret lying.”

Chloé rolled her eyes. “So the time you tried to end her the nice way, she became violent? I knew her lies were dumb but I didn’t know she was this stupid.”

“She didn’t know who she’s messing with,” Aurore said, accepting the lipstick from Marinette’s hand.

“You can calm down now, Alix.” Marinette tried to placate her friend with a side hug. “Come Monday, we’ll bring Lie-la hell.”

“Is this what you do in an all-girls hangout?” A new voice asked from the door.

Marinette smiled at the newcomer and ran to greet her. “Kagami, I’m so glad you made it!”

“I hope I’m not late, though. I still have to go through all my lessons before coming here.”

“It’s okay,” Marinette assured her. “Next to Chloé, I’m the fastest at hair and makeup.”

“Yeah,” Chloé agreed, putting the last hair clip on Sabrina. “But because she’s had her hair styled in pigtails all year she’s getting a bit rusty.”

“Hey!” Marinette protested as she dragged Kagami to the other corner of the room and motioned for her to sit down. “Don’t worry, Kagami, I’ll fix you up in no time.”

True to her word, less than an hour later, Marinette had curled Kagami’s hair and applied light makeup on her face.

While they wait for Monday to come to execute their plan for Lie-la, they decided to use the days before that to have fun and prepare for what may come next. At 6:00 pm sharp, all their brushes and beauty tools were back to Chloé’s drawers and the girls were all dressed in their evening gowns as well as their fancy masks that matched their outfits, all of which were MDC originals.

Madame de Rouen had invited them to celebrate Monsieur Erik’s another successful launch of his newest Musical. The party would be held at the Palace Garnier – the de Rouens rented the whole place for the night (it was times like this that Marinette wondered why Monsieur Erik still continued to work as Adrien’s piano teacher despite being super rich) – and the theme was a masquerade ball.

Since they had received the invitation three months prior, Marinette had enough time to come up with an outfit for each one of them. However, there was not enough time for her to make all the gowns and the guys’ suits one by one, so with the help of the connections of Chloé’s mother, they were able to have professional tailors bring Marinette’s masterpieces to life.

The party starts at 7:00 pm but the guys would be picking them up at 6:15.

“Whoah…”

The girls shared a satisfied smile at the guys’ speechless gasps even though only three of them have dates for the night. Technically, it was four. Sabrina’s boyfriend, Delmar (whom Sabrina had met in New York when she accompanied Chloé in visiting her mother a couple of months ago), was going with them too, if only via video chat.

Chloé, Aurore, and Rose chose to tease Sabrina and Delmar, Luka and Kagami, and Alix and Kim as they made their way to the limo. They would also coo over the fourth pair, Adrien and Marinette, but they really didn’t want to be annoyed this early with denials of "we’re just friends."

“Are you okay, Nino?” Marinette asked once all of them had settled inside the vehicle.

“I’m fine, Dudette,” Nino gave her a small smile, “just thinking about what if Alya’s here with us. She did try to investigate, you know? She didn’t believe you capable of the things Lila accused you of,” he frowned, “but she also doesn’t believe that Lila was capable of framing you up.”

Marinette nodded in understanding. Of course, it was only natural for Nino to miss his girlfriend at a time like this. After all, once upon a time, Marinette did want Alya to become a member of the Lunar Ladies.

After all, the first day of school showed that Alya disliked bullies and that she could stand up against them as well if the way she stuck by Marinette who was being ‘bullied’ by Chloé was anything to go by. Months of spending time with her had also proven to Marinette that Alya was being a great and supportive friend. Marinette was fond of Alya because she reminded Marinette of her friends. Alya had Marinette’s sense for justice, Alix’s courage to speak her mind, Chloé’s protectiveness, and Nino and Kim’s constant support.

Chloé had been against it – which was understandable because she felt threatened by the Ladyblogger. Chloé had thought that Alya would steal Marinette away from their original Trio, despite Marinette’s constant assurances that she wouldn’t abandon their group that easily.

Alix, on the other hand, had agreed to Marinette’s suggestion. So since it was two Queens against one, they started The Test on Alya Césaire. It was only fair since Aurore, Sabrina and Rose had to go through the same thing.

Unfortunately, Alya had failed two of the major parts of the test – to be a considerate friend in every situation and to listen to your friend despite having different opinions about something. It started the day Lie-la came back.

Alya had been one of the people who didn’t wait for Marinette’s opinion before forcing her to move to sit at the back. She had also dismissed Marinette’s complaints about Lie-la choosing to divert the topic instead of hearing Marinette out.

To be honest, Marinette didn’t really blame Alya since she was being manipulated, but at the same time, Marinette wished that the reporter would give her more credit than just used the ‘jealousy’ card against her.

“Alya is still my friend, Nino,” Marinette replied after some time of silence, “and our other classmates are still my friends. Lie-la is our only target.”

“I know,” Nino sighed, “I just wish that at times like this, Alya isn’t so stubborn and that she’d listen to us.”

“Me too.”

Their conversation ended after that because Kim had engaged Nino and the others in a new bet he and Alix were arguing about. Soon after that, they arrived at their destination. To Marinette’s delight, there were so many familiar faces that all of them were enjoying their night.

Christine and Erik de Rouen had greeted them all first and thanked them all for coming. Then, Marinette encountered Jagged Stone, who was one of Monsieur Erik’s honored guests tonight. The two of them had collaborated on two songs: one that was featured in Monsieur Erik’s Musical, and another on which they had both agreed to put both their own renditions on it when performing the songs individually.

“His style is more on the classical side but he’s still a rock and roll man, he can jam to any songs.” Jagged told them.

Marinette was happy to see Adrien eagerly listening to Jagged’s tale. She knew how much Adrien admired both his favorite rock star and his piano teacher. Knowing that the two of them collaborated in a song must be ‘a dream come’ true for him. For her part, Marinette was also excited. She had watched one of Monsieur Erik’s musicals before with Adrien and it was hauntingly beautiful. She couldn’t wait to hear what he worked on with Jagged.

“Speaking of our collaboration, Penny will send you some of the samples. My favorite niece can make the cover for my next album, right?”

“Of course, Jagged!” Marinette replied enthusiastically the same time Penny said, “We've talked about this, Jagged. Marinette is not your niece.”

Jagged only rolled his eyes but smiled at his assistant. “It’s been years of you correcting me, Penny. I think I earned the right to call her my niece.” Turning to Marinette and her friends he said, “Rock and Roll guys, I’m gonna have to meet some other guests.”

The next one they ran into was a shock for all of them. It was Félix Graham de Vanily, a.k.a. Adrien’s cousin.

“What are you doing here, jerk?” Chloé, the first one to recover from his presence, asked, crossing her arms.

“My mother is a patroness of the theatre. She likes musicals. Aunt Emilie might be the movie actress and pianist, but my mother was a theatre actress and a singer.” Félix explained before smirking at Chloé. “Of course, it wouldn’t hurt that you’re here too, brat.”

Chloé harrumphed and walked away from them, with Félix following after her.

This started the division of their group. Kim and Alix decided to have a competition on who could parade the MDC outfits they were wearing better by showcasing them on the dance floor. Luka and Kagami also joined them to dance while Sabrina, Rose, and Aurore decided to explore around the opera house and take some pictures for their scrapbooks.

This left Adrien and Marinette together near the punch bowl.

“So, is your cousin still an a-hole?”

“You mean still playing around and wouldn’t admit his feelings to Chlo, then yeah.”

Marinette sighed, “I don’t get what she sees in him, though. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Adrien nodded thoughtfully, “My Uncle’s death had affected Félix too much, and playing around is his way of coping. I guess Chloé could relate to being affected by one’s parents, although in very different ways. But I agree, I also don’t want either of them to get hurt.”

Since they could not really dictate whom Chloé chose to like, and they could only be there to support her with whatever happened, Adrien decided that it was time to change the topic.

“May I have this dance?”

Marinette smiled, “Of course.”

After a dance, they also encountered Clara Nightingale and a few other celebrities. There were also a few fashion designers (who were responsible for the Musical’s costume) present as well. Adrien was very proud to answer that an aspiring fashion designer, MDC, designed his clothing. Marinette might still not be able to reveal her identity as MDC yet, but that didn’t make Adrien any less proud.

“You okay?” Adrien asked as he led Marinette to the balcony.

She smiled, “Yeah, I’m just happy that they liked my designs. I would have liked it if I was the one to really make it all by hand though.”

“You wouldn’t be able to do that if you wanted to. Once you turned 18 and revealed yourself to the world, I’m sure you’d have many commissions. The Group and I won’t let you overtax yourself so you’ll just have to get used to other people stitching them together for you. Besides, it was inevitable to happen, especially if you have firmly established your own brand in the market.”

“You’re right,” she said, “I can’t make everything. But I can still do a few pieces here and there. I would hate it if I got stuck to just drawing things, even if I do enjoy that process as well.”

“Yes, and as another project needed to be handmade by you, I am commissioning you to make me something that would match this.” He then pulled out a small dark grey box from his pockets, before opening it.

Marinette gasped at the sight of what she saw inside.

“Do you like it?”

Marinette nodded. “It’s beautiful.”

Inside the box were four cufflinks. One pair was gold with a black face where a Celtic crescent moon was engraved. The other pair was silver with a black face where a simple white crescent moon and a moonflower were engraved.

“I had this design custom made three weeks ago. I’ll start wearing it on Monday. It’s my way of showing my support to the Lunar Ladies,” he kissed her knuckles, “especially you, of course.”

“I appreciate it, Adrien,” she squeezed his hand, “Thank you.”

And she really did, as much as Marinette didn’t want to involve her classmates in this war against Lie-la, one way or another they would somehow get caught in the crossfire; especially, if they continued to believe Lila and defend her. So knowing that Adrien, who was one of the kindest souls she ever met, was willing to go against his other friends for her, touched Marinette.

Once the program truly began, all the friends had stayed together at one table and enjoyed the evening as they were graced with many wonderful performances. Afterward, they stayed for the photos and thanked their host and hostess.

When they got back to their limousine, Chloé had informed them that the real reason why Félix was here was because of an exchange student program of Paris and London, and it just happened that the school he was destined to go to for two weeks was Françoise Dupont.

“Oh yes,” Aurore chimed in, “We were supposed to have a meeting about it on Tuesday with the School Committee, but since Marinette was expelled, she didn’t know all the details. I didn’t know who the exchange students were too since you know? Been busy doing things for our Monday Comeback.”

“Speaking of,” interjected Alix, “Is everything going to plan?”

Aurore nodded enthusiastically. “Madame Mendeleiev did not like what happened to Marinette. Since I was the class representative in her class we were kind of close and I was able to suggest to her a new sitting arrangement. Since Bustier is still being a spineless teacher – sorry if I offended you Rose, Chloé but it’s the truth.”

Chloé waved a hand in agreement. “It is kind of her to give me a chance when she thought I was the ‘bully’, but repeatedly giving a bully a chance without repercussions is not right. If I was a real bully that would only encourage my behavior, knowing that I could get away with the bad things that I do.”

“I agree with Chloé,” said Rose.

“Anyway,” Aurore said, continuing her tale, “Bustier agreed to the new sitting arrangement I’ve helped Madame Mendeleiev make. It would be implemented by Monday morning. I’ve asked Mireille to reserve the best table for lunch. We’ve also completed making the moonflower and crescent pin designs. It will be delivered to my house by Sunday. Anyone who wanted to show their support to us could easily have a pin. It would not have many purposes, except for the fact that we’d all look intimidating and badass if we have a whole school wearing the Group symbol.”

Sabrina squealed, “Oooh, I can’t wait to see Liar-la’s face on Monday!”

“That’s not all,” smiled Aurore, “the school’s foundation day is this coming Thursday. Marinette and I have confirmed the acceptance of our special guests – all people of which Lie-la had lied about – two weeks ago before that liar tried to hurt our Mari’s reputation. That means that we can scare her from Monday to Wednesday, just enough to make her desperate. Then, we’d have fun watching as all the guests ignore her on Thursday while they all greet Marinette personally. Finally, come Friday, we’d give her an unforgettable set down on partnered with lawsuits and the presence of Madame Rossi.”

“Meanwhile, Nino and I will continue to complete the compilation of evidence against the Liar,” Kim said.

“And we’ll also add files to the ones we have against the school and the management, especially Damocles,” added Nino.

“Yes! I can’t wait!” Alix exclaimed.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” said Aurore, “Markov will also be taken away from Max and will be used to promote how ‘smart’ the students of Françoise Dupont are when in reality, Madame Mendeleiev advised it to him so no one would bother the exchange students. I think Madame was afraid that the visiting students could be framed up or something. With Markov always accompanying them, at least the school couldn’t sink deeper than it already has. Just think about what would happen if an exchange student was punished for something they did not do!”

“Jerk will be in school with us on Monday so he’ll get Markov immediately,” said Chloé, “that’s one more honorary member and ally. Marinette had gotten permission for Markov to record everything he encounters about three weeks ago. I’ll instruct Félix to gather the videos. Since all students signed a waiver agreeing to be recorded months ago, we could use Markov’s recordings of Lie-la to use against her.”

Alix and Marinette exchanged looks about Félix being an honorary member of their group but didn’t oppose Chloé. Perhaps Félix would start mending his ways during his temporary stay at their school. After all, he couldn’t play with any girls at Françoise Dupont because they were all under their protection. Félix knew enough not to mess with the Lunar Ladies and he knew the only thing stopping the rest of them from not being on good terms with him were Chloé and Adrien. Besides, the plan with Markov was a good idea.

“It’s good to see that at least one teacher cared for the students,” said Rose thoughtfully.

Nino nodded. “I think I remember her saying that Françoise Dupont wasn’t her choice of school. Madame Pontmercy resigned because of an accident. She couldn’t teach until she recovered so she suggested that her friend, that is Madame Mendeleiev, be her replacement.”

“Yes, I remember too,” replied Adrien. “That’s why she has only been our teacher for barely a year.”

“So…” Alix began, breaking the silence that had taken over them. “Are you all ready for Monday?”

“Of course,” Marinette smirked. “I can’t wait to finally be myself again.”