Chapter Text
“You and me against the world, M’lady!”
*·.̩₊̣.̩✧*̣̩˚̣̣⁺̣‧.₊̣̇.‧⁺̣˚̣̣*̣̩⋆·̩̩.̩̥·̩̩⋆*̣̩˚̣̣⁺̣‧.₊̣̇.‧⁺̣˚̣̣*̣̩✧·.̩₊.
It started like any other day. Marinette goes to school as always. There's an akuma attack. All the screens in Paris turn to some footage of—
No.
That night…
Bug Noire unpins the Butterfly Miraculous from him by throwing her staff at Monarch's chest. This causes Monarch to de-transform back to Gabriel. “NOOOO!!” The miraculous falls off the platform and Gabriel moves to grab it only to be stopped by Bug Noire. “Nooroo, give me back the brooch—”
The footage loops, then four words flash over and over. Ladybug is a LIAR!
Marinette gets pulled aside by Alya. “Tell me it's not real! Or out of context! Tell me, Mari!”
Marinette winces, tears rolling down her face. “I'm sorry Alya, but if you could see the rest of the footage, you'd see why I—”
“I thought we said no more secrets!”
“I'm sorry. Gabriel wanted—”
“Gabriel was Monarch!”
“Gabriel was Adrien's father!”
Alya scoffs. “He hardly acted like it.”
They hear riots outside. “Liarbug! Liarbug! Liarbug!”
She backs up and takes off her fox pendant.
“Alya? What are you—”
“Trixx, I renounce you.” The kwami is sucked into the pendant. “Take it back. I don't want to work with you anymore.”
“But Alya—”
“Don't you understand?! If I work with you, they'll hate me too!”
Marinette sags. She takes it back. “Okay…” Her earrings beep quietly, signaling she's been called to action. “Tikki, spots on!”
Ladybug leaps across buildings and lands behind Chat Noir. “Chat…”
“I can't believe you… You lied to everyone. You lied to me!”
The villain sneaks up on them and tackles Ladybug. “So, the secret is out, huh, Ladybug? Or should I say, Lairbug!”
Ladybug shoves him off and leads him to the ground. “I did what I did to protect people!” She is strangely able to easily find the akumatized object and purify the akuma. “Miraculous Ladybug!”
Riots keep destroying Paris all over again. “Chat Noir, use your power to erase everyone's memories!” Chat doesn't move. “Chat…?”
“Why? Don't I have a right to know what happened?! Me, over anyone else!”
“I was worried you'd tell Adrien, or someone else who would, and he'd get akumatized!”
Chat Noir takes off his ring and detransforms… Adrien.
Plagg floats between them. “Adrien, what are you doing?!”
“Plagg, you're no better than her! You were there! You lied to me too!”
“We couldn't have told you! Your father, he wanted—”
“My father never cared! I don't want any more lies! Plagg, I renounce you!” He shoves the ring into Ladybug's hands. “Take it!”
Ladybug chokes out a sob. “You don't understand, I made a promise to him! Right before he…”
“I said no more lies!”
“It's not a lie! He made me promise to let you remember when he tried to be a good father!”
“Such a good father to keep lying to his kid!” He turns away.
“Adrien…”
But it's too late, he's running away.
“Ladybug.”
She turns around to see Nino, Kim, Ivan, Marc, Nathaniel, Max, Sabrina, Zoë, and Mylene.
“We're renouncing our miraculous,” Nino announces. And they all give them back.
Ladybug shakes her head, wiping away tears. “I understand that working with me would damage your reputation, but… I need your help!”
“We're not helping you,” Ivan declares. “Let's go.”
And before Ladybug can say more, they leave.
Ladybug detransforms alone and sobs into her hands.
Tikki hugs her cheek.
*·.̩₊̣.̩✧*̣̩˚̣̣⁺̣‧.₊̣̇.‧⁺̣˚̣̣*̣̩⋆·̩̩.̩̥·̩̩⋆*̣̩˚̣̣⁺̣‧.₊̣̇.‧⁺̣˚̣̣*̣̩✧·.̩₊.
Marinette doesn't come to school the next day. But Adrien video calls her.
“I'm… really sorry to hear about your father… I can't believe you're still at school after that. You could've taken a day off.”
“Sure, but I really wanted to see Nino after yesterday…”
Suddenly, Marinette sees Alya in the background, standing on a table.
“Guys, I know Ladybug's identity! It's Marinette!”