Chapter Text
Marinette Dupain-Cheng hated how forgetful that she could be sometimes and took strides to correct when she could; it was the final day of vacation and so she and her friends had scheduled a party at her house. She made extra sure not to forget the preparations and her parents had agreed to help with the refreshments and she had made extra sure to have a reminder to have the movies that her friends had requested rented digitally in advanced before school.
She skipped to school with a step and had managed to make it on time; sure that nothing was going to go wrong as she entered the classroom to find most of them in talks talking about a big party. She knew it would be something to remember it for as she sat down but raised an eyebrow when she saw that they were crowded over Lila's desk with them talking about the party.
Wait did they invite Lila on their behalf or will she be inviting herself, she came forward and saw most of them step back as then Alya coughed as she then faced her. She then took a deep breath as she put her hands on her shoulders saying "please don't take it too personally Marinette girl but... Lila has invited the class to a big party that Adrien's dad's company is holding in Versailles and well... Look Marinette, things have never been too good between the both of you but... You can't come..."
Marinette blinked wondering what was going on and noticed Lila smirking making her angry as she shouted out "when did this happen? When did you agree to go?" The class sighed as they knew things were not going to be tense.
"After school, you were in a hurry to leave afterwards and that was when Lila came up to us to tell us. She didn't want to upset you by risk you hearing about it and Lila and most of us had to beg our folks to let us go in short notice since the train fare is being provided for us and we swore we had to be back before it's too late!" Most of them nodded their heads as Marinette started looking like she was going to fume and form her purse Tikki was worried that she was going to attract an Akuma.
"Don't worry about it Marinette, we will still have plenty of time in the vacation to hang out and we could work on fixing things between you and Lila! Next time you will be able to go on one of these big parties yourself..." Alya told her smiling looking like she was trying to comfort her.
"But we already had plans! The party? At my place?" Marinette snapped out and most of the class paused as if they just remembered that. "Please don't tell me that you all forgot! My parents all have the food ready!" Marinette screamed as Alya coughed.
"Sorry girl, my parents did remind me yesterday when I told them but I said it would be fine... You think that we could reschedule?" Alya asked hesitatingly as there were similar sentiments from the classmates.
"I already rented the movies that you all kept reminding me not to forget! The service doesn't offer refunds and do you know how long it took to convince my dad to rent Bio Monster II: the Director's Cut?"Marinette asked as there were silence but she saw Ms Bustier come in through the door and decided to give up. "Fine! You go and have fun at your party, I will be at my own and if you want to join me at mine then that will be fine as well!" Marinette said sarcastically doubting that she will but there were looks from Juleka, Rose and Sabrina that looked guilty along with Adrien as the others looked away wanting to give her space.
"Don't fret on my behalf please Marinette, you are not the only one who can't come as a certain somebody was forbidden from coming since she might make a scene." Lila said smirking as Chloe humphed with her arms folded as the class laughed but Marinette just looked forward.
The class gave her space and Marinette couldn't help but think that it was getting a bit more common for them to schedule get togethers with Lila without inviting her and many times it overlapped with already made plans with her that she didn't find out about until the last minute.
After school she left but then was caught up by Adrien, "You shouldn't get too angry at them or Lila, remember trying to challenge her will only make her worse." Adrien told her and Marinette raised an eyebrow
"She was the one whose lies got me expelled and I don't think playing nice with her will make her stop at all." Marinette retorted as Adrien shook his head.
"Trust me, I made the deal to get you back into school and I can make sure that she plays nice. You have nothing to worry about. Plus you shouldn't blame our friends as this is a big opportunity for them because do you know who my dad invited to this party? Some big people and this could help their careers. Don't make any of this a bigger deal than it actually is." Adrien replied and Marinette felt like this was one of the times where it didn't seem like he had her back as much as he claimed to be.
"Thanks, that totally justifies cancelling our plans without ever telling me until I bring it up once again." Marinette said sarcastically as she decided to leave so she could have some peace for herself at home.
She got home as her parents Tom and Sabine happily greeted her asking when they can expect her friends to get here. "Party is now a party of one, yesterday they agreed to go to a more fabulous party and I was told I wasn't allowed to attend." Marinette said as they looked surprised and then became stern.
"What does the girl with the lying disease fit into this?" Tom asked as having heard of the cancelled excursions long enough to find the common element in them.
"Is she deliberately targeting you, I never bought the lying disease and ambassador's daughter or not you can't be putting up with this anymore. Plus your friends, I have half a mind to phone their parents to have a serious talk." Sabine said but Marinette sighed as she went towards her room.
"Don't worry about this, I will deal with it myself. I don't need them to have fun!" Marinette said as she got to her room with Tikki flying out. "Okay everyone, you can come out since the party guests cancelled at the last second so you can be my guests." Marinette told the Kwamis with them starting to fly out.
"Are you sure you are alright with all this Marinette? This keeps happening and you might not be able to bottle up your emotions for much longer." Tikki asked concerned as Marinette put on the computer screen to show the digital movie and TV service.
"I will be fine Tikki and let's focus on the scarier movies first to get them out of the way." Marinette said honestly not looking forward to it and remembered how much Kim insisted that they go with them.
"Marinette, I thought you said your friends cancelled because I have some guests at the door!" Sabine called out and Marinette was stunned as the Kwamis went back to hiding as she went downstairs to find Juleka, Rose and Sabrina there waving to her nervously.
"We have been feeling guilty about all the cancelled plans and we decided to tell Alya and the others we want to go to your party. You did say that it was open if we wanted to come?" Juleka asked and Marinette was open mouthed as she slowly nodded not really expecting the offer to be upheld.
"We are so sorry Marinette! I promise we will do more to include you to make it up to you!" Rose cried as she pulled Marinette into a hug.
"I know you haven't been having an easy time in class Marinette and... I want to be there for a friend since lately when I try it with Chloe she just pushed me aside." Sabrina muttered and Marinette understood as Chloe must still be sore about her superhero privileges being revoked.
She was about to lead them in when entered was Luka smiling while waving leaving her awestruck, "Luka heard me on the phone talking to Rose about coming to the party... Well she said that your plans together have been getting cancelled as well so I kind of invited him here and I am so sorry..." Juleka explained guiltily and Marinette just went into a hug with him with happy tears as she had been feeling so guilty about having to cancel on dates with Luka (just like she had been having plans cancelled on her) thanks to her Ladybug duties.
She then brought them to her room.
Gabriel Agreste was smirking as he had just gotten confirmation from Nathalie that Adrien and his class were now on the train to Versailles, soon they would be far away so that he could pull out all the stops on his plan. The time he spent having Nathalie as Mayura patrol at nights following Ladybug in secret had pulled off and he now had her identity as the girl Marinette Dupain-Cheng the classmate of Adrien's who he had yet to Akumatize.
He had been encouraging Lila to help her class distance themselves from Marinette and for the party he had specifically told her that Marinette was forbidden from coming and to make it seem like it was her idea, there was no room for error so he can't have suspicion on himself for why he was excluding this designer girl.
His cover story was that he had to finish some important work but would be at the party later, hopefully he would be there with his newly restored wife.
Then he would launch an assault onto her house destroying it and hopefully getting rid of her parents, she would be emotionally vulnerable enough to be Akumatized or unable to fight back as she claimed her Miraculous as well as the Miraculous Box. All those Miraculous at his disposal, it would be child's play to then use them to take down Chat Noir to claim his Miraculous.
He had retrieved the Peacock Miraculous from Nathalie and transformed into Shadow Moth, "My victory is assured!" Shadow Moth said in a gloating voice as he had gotten to work.
The four of them were watching a nice romantic comedy that Rose asked for and the girls giggled to themselves as Marinette's head rested on Luka's shoulder. "They have really been dating?" Sabrina whispered to Juleka and Rose with them nodding.
"For a short while now but Alya is convinced that Marinette is in a rebound." Juleka whispered back not looking too happy at the idea that Alya had put forward. Then there was a sound coming from their phones and they heard screaming from the outside. There was a news report live as they looked and saw that Shadow Moth was on top of what appeared to be a giant cannon on legs which was probably a Sentimonster.
"Is that Hawk Moth?" they muttered out loud as Marinette began thinking of the best way to make her exit.
The video continued as the helicopter news cameras caught Shadow Moth shouting "You have known me as Hawk Moth but now with the power of both the Moth and Peacock Miraculous I have become reborn as Shadow Moth! Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I know who you are so you might as well surrender all the Miraculous that you have."
Marinette was close to freaking out in shock and worry as they looked towards her with her spluttering that she had no idea what he was talking about, the idea that he found out that she was Ladybug was too scary to contemplate.
"Everyone, that cannon is aiming..." Sabrina pointed out terrified as they saw that the cannon was pointing itself to right out of the window. Marinette then grabbed the Miraculous box and got everyone out as there was a blast coming towards the window pretty much decimating her room.
Downstairs the customers cleared out after hearing the boom and Marinette told her worried parents to get out as the blasts kept coming and barely everyone got out as the entire building was destroyed. Marinette was forced to leave her friends and parents as she went to find a place to transform.
There were tears in her eyes as she looked to her parents, her boyfriend and her friends who were worried sick wondering where she had gotten. Her tears turned to rage and determination thinking about how Shadow Moth dared to attack her in her family home putting the lives of her loved ones in danger. She tried to call Chat Noir but no answer and she couldn't wait on him because of what was at stake here.
She was through playing nice.
She found an alleyway with the Miraculous box and then began putting all of them on with the Kwamis finding her and warning about the consequences. "Mullo, Get Squeaky!" Marinette said turning into Multimouse and then separated into various numbers, one for each Miraculous which they took. They all claimed one and dualized transforming into their fully sized counterpart.
Then the army led by Ladybug went to work putting the citizens out of danger including the terrified family and friends of Marinette, then they went to taking down the tank Sentimonster disabling it's movements and allowing them to face him on top of it.
"I wonder how you have gotten so many allies at once Marinette or have you used a multiplication Miraculous? No matter; you have seen the consequences of having put your family in danger by not surrendering when you had the chance. You are but a little girl so while you have fought well, this outcome was always going to be inevitable!" Shadow Moth gloated as he had an Akuma butterfly and had it fly towards Ladybug but then she simply caught it with her Yoyo to de-Akumatize it.
Before Shadow Moth could react then all the powered Marinettes went in to fight at full force with Shadow Moth being shocked that he was struggling to fight them off, while he had studied fencing and could fight against Ladybug and Chat Noir as Hawk Moth he couldn't do much against all these foes at once.
Especially when they all had Ladybug's experience in all the fights on the battlefield while through holding back and Hawk Moth spent most of the fights safely in his lair.
The Fox Marinette used her powers to make illusions of them all with Shadow Moth being confused on who to try and fight as Ladybug then choked him with the string of her Yoyo. "All this is your fault and I won't let you try and pin the blame on this! You have almost destroyed Paris multiple times and the stunt in New York, you put the whole world in danger! I have no idea what you want to use mine and Chat Noir's Miraculous for but I don't care because you are a monster and nothing is worth what you put all us through! You have lost and have been outsmarted by a mere girl hundreds of times, this is the final time because you have bit off more than you could chew especially by coming here yourself!" Ladybug said to his face as the others landed the Tank Sentimonster safely as Ladybug threw him with the Horse Marinette (the wonders of them all literally sharing a brain so they knew what they were thinking) put up a small portal to throw Shadow Moth over.
Then they all made a circle putting the civilians back with Ladybug having to assure the frantic Dupain-Chengs that Marinette was safe and out of the way. Then they all looked up in the sky as falling down hard was Shadow Moth with his powers unable to help him as he landed on the ground as the Marinettes went to work grabbing him and lifting him up. The Snake Marinette with the Miraculous Box got it ready as the Turtle Marinette ripped the Peacock Miraculous from him transforming him back into Hawk Moth so it could be put to the box.
Ladybug didn't want to take any chances and used Lucky Charm to summon handcuffs to trap him, she then noticed the news crew and forced the struggling Hawk Moth to face them. "People of Paris, Hawk Moth is done for and you can see the monster for who he is!" Ladybug shouted as the Moth Miraculous was ripped off and he de-transformed. Ladybug comforted with a smile the in tears crying with joy Nooroo along with Duusu.
There were cameras and the citizens were in shock and the other Marinettes told Ladybug to take a look, she looked and was stunned to see a furious looking Gabriel Agreste, he must have found a way to fool her with the Collector. She threw him aside as the police came through the crowd to take him in arresting him as Ladybug then used the Miraculous Ladybug to fix all the damage.
With the Box with her she powered down all the Miraculous putting them away leaving only her feeling tired from it all. She heard the beeping but was close to her knees feeling tired as she de-transformed. Tikki appeared looking afraid as there were gasps from the Dupain-Chengs who then went through the crowd to come and embrace her daughter with Luka quickly calling an ambulance as he went forward along with Juleka and Rose to check on her.
The rest of the class were at the location of the big party in Versailles waiting patiently to be allowed in, there was excitement in the air as while they weren't allowed to get close they could spot some famous and influential people. Lila smirked at all this as this could help support her lie of having so many connections, let's see Marinette try and argue against this as she will be introducing her friends to people who could help their futures as she had promised.
"Do you think that we weren't fair to Marinette? This was kind of last minute and she sounded like she had been busy preparing that party at her house." Mylene asked concerned as they looked down at that.
"She will be fine, I am sure that she will end up understanding this the opportunity of a lifetime and she was the one who hasn't been fair to Lila. Besides she has Juleka and Rose with her so she can have her party." Alya putting back some guilt that they would be at her BFF's party and not her but Marinette will understand and she will make it up to her later once she has cooled down. There were important people in news organisations that she could talk to and impress with her coverage on the Ladyblog. Plus all the interviews that she could do here, this couldn't passed up.
"Plus we could put in a good word for Marinette for the fashion people here like Adrien's dad, he knows Marinette won that derby hat contest!" Nino pointed out with Adrien nodding and they seemed satisfied with that. Minutes later about ten minutes before they were allowed to be put in before the party officially comes there was a representative coming to face them with a microphone.
"Attention everyone, I am sorry to say that due to unforeseen consequences tonight's event has been cancelled. We apologies for any and all inconvenience that this may cause." The representative said leaving them stunned and in shock with wide open mouths. There were angry muttering amongst everyone there with disappointment from the class especially from Lila who had been looking forward to rubbing it in Marinette's face while still playing nice.
The representative tried to be patient as they began badgering asking for details, they notice coming through was the frantic vice president of Gabriel's company on his phone. "Excuse me, I think that we are entitled to answers here." Lila said sweetly to him with him whispering at it's not the right time as he went back to the phone call. Lila didn't like to be ignored as she pulled on his jacket saying "I am Gabriel Agreste's newest model and we have his son here, I think you better explain what happened or else Mr Agreste will hear about your disrespect..."
"His opinion means nothing to me right now! Gabriel Agreste can rot in hell! My nephew still hasn't recovered from what happened when he was Akumatized!" the Vice President turned and shouted at the stunned class and then quickly apologised saying that they should better get going.
The class was wondering how serious this was and what made the Vice President insult his boss like that?
Then there were muttering from other guests as they checked their phones as Alya decided to get to the bottom of this to see the trending news and was open mouthed as she read out "Gabriel Agreste: Hawk Moth..."
They were shocked especially Adrien as Alya played it for them with it showing footage of the Sentimonster sending the cannon blast at Marinette's room worrying all except for Lila. Adrien was hating how he was here while there was a big showdown with Hawk Moth back in Paris. There was Nadja Chamack saying "Just recently was the final battle between Ladybug and Hawk Moth or Shadow Moth as he was calling himself thanks to a new power up. Chat Noir was nowhere to be seen but it seemed that Ladybug used some sort of multiplication power to take on new powers." Nadja said surprising them especially those who had been temporary heroes before.
They watched in awe at how well they all fought against Shadow Moth and it seemed that he didn't stand a chance, Adrien was more in awe at his lady than ever. Then it showed the footage of Hawk Moth having his Miraculous removed to reveal who was unmistakably Gabriel Agreste.
"How could that be? My dad was Akumatized in my own home when he took me away from school..." Adrien said looking like he was in denial as they began comforting him while it played on.
Still this meant Hawk Moth was done for.
"Mr Agreste has been taken into custody and an ambulance had been called for the tired and weary Parisian defender Ladybug who has been revealed to be... teenager Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Nadja said as they paused causing Alya to drop her phone. She picked it up and quickly saw some trending phone videos of the tired Ladybug turning back into who was unmistakably Marinette...
Lila wanted to rage out as this was supposed to be her night and now Dupain-Cheng had stolen it right from her...