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ravennm84 · 4 years

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Serafina II

Part 1 Part 3

The 2nd installment of the “Marinette’s Haunted Doll” series. I was seriously shocked by how much response I got from part one, so I hope this lives up to your expectations. Blood, gore, and death are coming, along with some mental freak-outs. You have been warned.

Part II

Despite wanting to stay with Marinette to comfort the girl after the tearful apologies by Mylene and Ivan, Serafina couldn’t return until her work was finished. There was still much to do and people to punish.

She arrived early with Mylene, which allowed her to observe the others that entered the classroom. Kim had returned to school that day in a wheelchair. The cast on his leg went up to his waist and the one on his arm went up to his bicep. His face and exposed skin were covered in bruises and his right eye looked like it had blood in it.

“How are you feeling, dude?” Nino asked him as he entered alongside Adrien.

“Really sore,” the boy admitted. “Doctors had to reset my leg at the knee and said that my arm was a three piece offset fracture, so they had to use screws to put it back in place. Other than that; had a concussion, a lot of bruises, and a couple cuts; but no internal bleeding or ruptured organs. They said after a few months and some physical therapy, I should be as good as new.”

Nino gave him a solemn nod. “Glad to hear you’re going to be okay, dude.”

Kim’s expression dropped a bit. “I heard about Alya, I’m really sorry, man.”

The boy lowered his head while Adrien patted his back. “I really… I can’t believe she’s gone because of some freak accident. It makes no sense!” Nino jumped to his feet and started pacing as more students filed in. “I mean, she wasn’t supposed to die like that! Getting caught up in an akuma battle, childhood disease, there would be a reason for that! But that was just pointless!”

Mme. Bustier did attempt to calm him down, but her kind words fell on deaf ears before he grabbed his bag and left the room. No one could blame him, and only Adrien followed to make sure he would be alright, and to make sure he wasn’t akumatized.

Lila came in not long after with a curious bag in her hands. Serafina watched the liar as she looked around the room. She had a feeling that the liar would try something after her last attempt to frame Marinette had failed. When the girl tried speaking to Mylene, the doll was proud to see the girl refuse to acknowledge her as she continued to speak with Rose and Juleka. When it was clear that she was being ignored, she tried speaking to Ivan, only for him to give her a harsh glare that had her shuffling backwards. With Max and Alix still at the hospital and Adrien not in the room, that left her with Sabrina. The redhead had been sitting alone at the front of the room since Chloe had transferred schools after the Miracle Queen incident.

“Hi Sabrina, how are you doing?”

The girl smiled up at the italian, glad to still have a friend. “I’m doing okay, at least a lot better than a lot of our class. I heard Max lost sight in his one eye from the chemicals and Alix might have to have cosmetic surgery to get her face back to normal. At least Kim might be back to normal in a few months after going through physical therapy. But Alya…”

Lila faked her tears at the mention of her lost follower. She was really more annoyed than sad, Alya was easily manipulated, went along with everything she said, and Lila had been able to use her blog to build up her popularity. And the girl had been a decent attack dog, just point her at someone and off she went. Now that she was dead, maybe she could turn Sabrina into her new lead follower, she was already partially trained and it wasn’t like the blonde bitch was around anymore.

“I know, it’s so terrible. She was my first friend when I moved here, it’ll be so hard without her,” she faked a few more tears. And just like that, Sabrina took her hand in comfort and said a bunch of soothing words while she continued to fake cry.

After a moment, Lila placed the bag she’d been holding on the desk and pushed it away from her, making sure the action caught Sabrina’s attention. “What’s that?”

Lila fake sobbed even harder, hiding her face in her hands. “Ma-Marinette, she-she said it was m-my fault that Alya’s dead. She practically threw that bag at me and said to use it,” she said before breaking down in more fake sobs.

Carefully opening the bag, she gasped when she saw it was full of razor blades and a couple of kitchen knives. Sure, she knew that Marinette didn’t get along with Lila, but to actually give this to her and tell her to ‘use it’? How could she be so cruel?

Serafina scowled as the red head hugged the liar and promised her that she would take care of it. Her anger erupted as Sabrina stood from her desk with the bag in hand, and began walking towards Mme. Bustier’s desk. The girl didn't take two steps before tripping over nothing and falling onto her side. Luckily, she did not land on the bag. Unluckily, she gripped it too tight and the impact forced the knives and razors through the bag and deep into her hands.

The girl screamed and cried as blood rushed out of the wounds and down into her sleeves. She begged Lila to help her, but the italian backed away from the girl in shock. Mme. Bustier gripped her head between her hands and began saying “not again, not again” before running out of the room. The only ones that helped her were Juleka, Rose and Ivan; the smaller girl sprinting off to alert the nurse and the principal, while Juleka and Ivan got Sabrina to her feet. Ivan kept the girl upright and moving out the door while Juleka held the girl’s hands above the level of her heart to keep her from bleeding too much.

Those left in the classroom were in shock as they stared at either the door or at the blood staining the floor. No one said anything for a long time, not even Lila. She hadn’t thought anyone would get hurt. She just thought she would get Marinette suspended and everyone would be on her side again. Adrien returned before the others, completely shocked when he saw the blood and Kim explained to him what had happened. The blonde sent a scathing look at Lila but said nothing.

It was a while later before Rose, Ivan, and Juleka returned to class, along with M. Rupere. He informed them that their classes were cancelled for today. “After everything that has occurred this week, I’ve decided that all of you will be meeting with the counselor today. He will decide if more sessions are necessary and for who, but his door and mine are open if you need to talk. M. Deveraux will come to speak with you one at a time. Kim Le Chien, he had requested to speak with you first. Mlle. Rossi,” he looked sternly at the girl, “would you please follow me, we need to talk about the incident with Sabrina Raincomprix.”

Serafina smiled as the liar trudged out of the room after the man. She was satisfied with Sabrina’s punishment and doubted if Mme. Bustier would last another day before having a total mental breakdown. She also knew that Lila would be in even more trouble after M. Rupere looked into the girl a bit more. But just to make sure, Serafina touched her on the way out. To most people, that would do nothing; but to someone like Lila, it would cause her to become more and more unhinged until she did something drastic. Very soon, Lila would be out of the picture and those deserving of punishment will have paid their debts.

~oOo~

It was more difficult sneaking home with Adrien than she had expected, especially with the tiny god of Chaos and Destruction in his bag. Plagg was his name, and he was very defensive of his kitten and had threatened to cataclysm her. Serafina told him that she would not purposefully harm his ‘kitten’, but there was something she had to take care of at the Agreste Mansion. The doll had long suspected that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and she was going to find out tonight if it was true. Plagg was reluctant to agree since it would hurt Adrien; but if it was true, they had to put an end to it.

After arriving at the mansion, Plagg easily convinced the boy to sneak out and check on Nino. After he left, Serafina sensed something on Adrien’s desk. Being an enchanted/haunted object, she could sense other objects like herself… such as Miraculous jewels. And right there on the desk was a pin shaped like a peacock, one of the jewels that had been missing and used by Mayura. If there had been any doubts before about who had been terrorizing Marinette, they were gone.

Tucking the pin into her small outfit, she began to search the building, starting with Gabriel’s office. She had expected the man to be present, but he was missing. And given that Hawkmoth was a very active user, she had no doubt that he kept his jewel on him at all times. So, she waited.

It was about an hour later that Gabriel Agrest entered the room, and not from the door Serafina had expected. The man had a secret entry in the floor in front of a portrait of a woman. He was muttering on knowing better than to use Bubbler again, but that the negative emotions had been too strong to ignore. She also saw the purple kwami hovering over his shoulder, but the creature stopped when it sensed her. Gabriel strode out of the room, barely noticing that Nooroo had stayed behind and flew over to the doll hiding behind the desk.

“What are you doing here? If the Master finds you, he will destroy you.” The kwami said with worry.

The doll conveyed that she knew that his master was Hawkmoth, just as her human was Ladybug. She was here to protect her and return the butterfly and peacock miraculous to their rightful place. Also knowing that Gabriel had become too corrupted for his miraculous.

“I’ve tried to tell him that the wish would be dangerous,” Nooroo told her with downcast eyes. “He wants to make a wish to revive his wife, but he doesn’t realize that the cost would be to put Adrien, someone he loves equally as much as Emilie, into the same state of death. She isn’t even truly alive anymore, her body only lives because of the machine she is in.”

An idea spawned in Serafina’s thoughts and she barely kept herself from smiling. She asked Nooroo to help her activate the secret passage so she could get to his wife, but the little kwami shook his head. “Even if I could get you down there, the motion sensors would trip and he would attack you.”

Smiling this time, Serafina promised the little god that Gabriel would not attack her. That she would make sure that Adrien would be safe and the two kwami’s would go to their rightful place. All he had to do was help her open the door. Although reluctant and slightly scared, the little god opened the door, hoping that the nightmare would finally end.

Down in the lair, the doll saw the mechanical coffin placed in the center of the room and went to it. The motion sensors caught her quickly, but she had been planning on moving fast anyway. Opening the coffin, she settled herself into the woman’s arms. Nooroo had been right, Serafina could sense that the woman’s soul had departed from her body a while ago and it was only the machine that was keeping her body alive. With no other soul to contend with, this would make what she was about to do next all the easier.

Nathalie had called to alert him the moment the alarms went off in the lair while she and Simone were out on an errand. He was moving faster than he could remember with Nooroo following close behind. Gabriel transformed on the way down, prepared to attack whoever had stumbled in, but his breath caught in his throat halfway down when he got a good view of the room.

The coffin was empty.

Rushing forward, he began frantically searching the room for his wife, calling her name. He turned to rush back upstairs and froze. Standing behind him, looking dazed, was his wife. Her eyes were unfocused and her arms were hugging her middle, but it was her. Dropping his transformation, Gabriel cautiously approached her and she flinched back from him. It took a few minutes and a lot of gentle coaxing before he was able to wrap an arm around her shoulders and lead her to the elevator. When they got to his office, he watched her carefully as she began walking around the room. He wanted her to sit down and rest, but he was still in shock that she was awake and standing in front of him.

Eventually, her green eyes met his. “Where’s Adrien?”

“I… I don’t know, he should be up in his room.”

Emilie’s head tilted slightly, her eyes searching his. “What have you done? Did you make the wish?”

“No, my love. I was going to when I got the jewels, but Ladybug and Chat Noir evaded me.”

Tears grew in her eyes as she continued to stare at him. “You tried to make the wish? Knowing that it would have cost our son’s life?”

Gabriel froze. He hadn’t known that wishing Emilie to come back would cost Adrien’s… but Nooroo had tried to tell him. He remembered the kwami trying to tell him about the cost and he had forced him to not speak. “I’m sorry, Emilie. I didn’t-”

“You knew,” she interrupted, her voice lacking any emotion as she continued to stare at him. “You knew from the beginning that what you were doing was wrong, evil. You chose to ignore what it would cost.”

“Emilie, my love, please don’t say such things,” Gabriel begged as he rushed forward to wrap his arms around her. “All I have wanted since the day I lost you, was to hold you in my arms again and hear your voice. I was lost without you and was willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring you back. Is that so wrong?”

He had just barely met her eyes when he felt the twin pains in his arms. Jumping back, he looked down to see both wrists had been cut deeply with a pair of his fabric cutting scissors. Blood was draining from the wounds at an alarming rate. His hands were shaking and he was already feeling light headed as he grabbed a handful for fabric from his work table in an attempt to slow the blood. He wanted to call out for help, but they were alone.

His eyes grew hazed as he looked to Emilie, surprised that she was staring at him with such contempt. “I know what you’ve been doing while I was in that coffin. Tormenting the city and people I love, isolating our son and treating him like a burden. If you had ever succeeded in getting the Cat and Ladybug miraculous, it would have destroyed Paris. But you didn’t care. As you said, all you cared about was hearing my voice and holding me in your arms. Congratulations, your wish came true, and you will be the one to pay the price. Not Adrien.”

His legs gave out from under him as the fabrics dripped from the excess blood. He couldn’t understand how this had happened, Emilie would have never done something like this… but was this really her? With his vision fading, he took a hard look at his wife, only now noticing the dullness of her eyes, the greying pallor of her skin, and the fact that she only seemed to breathe when she spoke… “Who are you?”

Her head tilted again, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly. “Serafina. Quite astute of you to figure that out in your state. Your wife’s soul passed on a long time ago, all you have been doing is preserving a corpse. And I was telling the truth; even if you had made the wish, it would have cost Adrien his life.” Her hand shot forward, removing the butterfly miraculous before he could stop her. “Your actions have hurt someone close to me and I could no longer stand back and allow it to happen.”

She stood, walking to his desk to pull out a piece of paper and writing something down before neatly folding it and leaving it on his desk.

“Wh… What…”

“You just wrote a letter to Adrien; admitting what happened to his mother, that you were Hawkmoth, and the reason why you did what you did.” She said calmly before looking back at him. “Whether he tells the rest of the world is up to him. As for the miraculous, I will give him a chance at redemption. Though if he should fail, you may be seeing him sooner rather than later. Either way, they will soon be back where they belong, with the guardian. And you, good sir, have just committed suicide after bringing your wife’s body upstairs, so you would be able to hold her in your arms as you died.”

Unable to sit upright anymore, Gabriel barely felt his body collapse to the floor. He was hardly aware of Emilie lifting one of his arms to tuck her body to his side. The last thing he was aware of was something that he swore would haunt him in the afterlife; a porcelain doll emerging from the folds of her clothes and standing beside them. It stood there on its own, watching him until he could no longer keep his eyes open and he took his final breath.

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#lila salt #lila gets exposed #lila karma #Marinette deserves better #gabrielagreste #hawkmoth #bustier salt #class salt

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stormiclown · 3 years

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Lila’s Reflection

After analyzing Lila’s behavior I realized that we aren’t given enough back story explaining why she is the way she is. For Chloe, we got her emotionally absent parents. It didn’t excuse her behavior but it did explain it. Secondly, Lila’s “tragic and sympathetic“ reason for hating Ladybug and joining Hawkmoth -a literal terrorist- was because she embarrassed her in front of a guy? This just solidify’s one of MLB’s themes that girls do nothing but fight over cute boys. So, instead of Volpina being caused by Ladybug only, The writers should have created other factors that build up over time that will eventually lead to her being akumatized. This will be a Lila sugar fic as well as lilanette featuring male Marinette because I stan Marion Dupain-Cheng. Enjoy!

Marion honestly knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping. But on his way to the park, he spotted a familiar sight of brown sausage hair; Lila Rossi.

Normally, this wouldn’t be enough to draw the blunette’s attention. In fact, he had taken to ignoring and avoiding the Italian at all costs.

Ever since she transferred into Bustier’s class, she‘d done nothing but spread lies and deceive their classmates (Not friends. Not when they accused him of being a bully for trying to protect them from Lila’s deception).

No. What really drew his attention was the individual that was with her.

An exact replica of Lila Rossi.

The designer took in the scene that was unfolding before him. The girl, Lila’s apparent twin sister, had the same blunt cut bangs and narrow olive eyes as the sausage haired girl. Her light hunter colored princess chiffon ruffled off the shoulder dress stoped just above her knees, a golden pearled belt fastened to her waist. A fancy designer cross body purse hung carelessly on her shoulder. Instead of the atrocious triple ponytail style that Lila insisted on wearing, her sister’s brown hair was styled in a high ponytail with her side pieces being lined in place with expensive looking diamond hair clips.

All in all, she looked fabulous. As did her blonde haired and curly haired friends.

But Marion couldn’t shake the familiarity her face brought but her couldn’t put his finger on it.

He tuned into the conversation at hand. The bluenette thought he saw fear in Lila’s form. Real fear.

”Marion, don’t you remember the last time you eavesdropped on Lila? I don’t think this is a good idea…” Tikki, ever the moral guardian tried to deter the bluenette’s motives.

The addressed male turned to momentarily to look at the mini red goddess before speaking, “Look, Tikki, something about this whole situation just feels wrong. My Beetle senses are tingling. Trust me on this,” he stared at her earnestly.

Tikki sighed, “Alright”.

”Kwami knows Paris doesn’t need another Lila Rossi walking around,” he muttered quietly to himself so the red Kwami couldn’t hear him. God, he really needed another cup of coffee.

Lila did absolutely nothing to hide how dread filled her for the confrontation she knew was coming. The class became more incessant with their demands. She was used to seeing it only happening with Marion and Alya before they stepped down as class representative and deputy respectively.

Today especially had particularly been a bad day. First, Luisa Rossi, her mother, forgot to say goodbye to her on her way to school that morning as she had been too preoccupied with making sure Lea had the perfect send off for a filming shot. Hurt but unsurprised, Lila made her way too school on foot. The Italian long since realized that she was nothing but a shadow when compared to her famous older twin sister.

Second, the class had voted her in class president with Adrianne as her deputy. She tried to deny the honor, that she was too busy, but they wouldn’t hear it. All they could focus on were all the amazing opportunities, fabulous trips, and grand events that they could milk from Lila. It became even worse when Adrianne not so subtly shot her a glare while muttering an insult. The brunette had to shove the sting of their disregard for her feelings under her carefully crafted mask.

After all, she was the one who was lying to them.

”Fancy seeing you here, Lila. Your little cronies got bored of your lies?” came Lea Rossi’s mocking voice, her red lips curved into a predatory smirk. On either side of her both her friends laughed.

Lila flushed in humiliation and lifted her head to meet her sister’s gaze, so identical to her own, “What do you want Lea? Don’t you have movie you have to film?” Lila couldn’t stop sneering if she tried. She absolutely resented her sister, not because of her fame, but because she took away any semblance of happiness Lila had. Her parents love, all her friends, and any dream she ever had.

Lila always wanted to be an actress. She foolishly told her Lea, who was a model at the time, about her dream. Yet instead of encouraging her and cheering her on like a normal sibling, Lea went straight to Mrs Rossi about it and a week later, she was enrolled into an acting class, successfully ripping the sausage haired girl’s aspirations from her.

(She also ignored the heart break of the ponytailed brunette having such a fabulous life despite the cruelty she used to achieve it)

Lea, however, was unmoved by her sister’s red face and angry eyes, choosing again to use a voice full of faux adoration, “Aw, not happy to see your big sister? I thought you’d be happy about the new movie deal I landed. I’m doing this for you. It’s common knowledge that you wouldn’t have succeeded as a model or actress anyways. Be thankful you can live the life of luxury through me!” She finished with a tone of victorious triumph knowing she had hit a sensitive nerve after seeing Lila’s face.

”You ruin everything! Maybe I wouldn’t have to lie if I could have the spotlight for once!” the Italian girl retorted while balling her fists, though she sounded unsure of herself. Was the spotlight really what she wanted or was it something else entirely?

”What are you going to do about it?” Lea dropped ever pretense of faux sisterly affection, a dangerous look it her eyes told Lila that she was done playing games. It honestly scared her, “We both know how this goes. You’ll try to prove you’re better than me except that’s a lie. All you ever do is lie. It’s quite pathetic really. Despite being my sister you have to tell ridiculous lies just for people to consider you as a somebody. But you aren’t. The only reason you’ve lasted so long in that class full of losers is because they’re just using you for their own ends. The moment they find out how fake you are is the moment they’ll drop you like a worthless sack of potatoes. Just like everybody else,” she flicked Lila’s fake fox miraculous before mockingly blowing a kiss to Lila and leaving with her friends, who made snide remarks and egged Lea on the entire time.

”Ci vediamo dopo alligatore!” she called out to the Italian who looked ready to cry.

By this point, Marion had been recording the confrontation on his phone. The Red Beetle in him wanted to rush in and interrupt what ever he just witnessed. But the Marion in him, the isolated, discarded Marion couldn’t help but feel pleasure at watching Lila getting a taste of what it was like to feel worthless. His morality side, his largest side, felt sorry for her and immediate guilt began to form in his stomach in the shape of ice.

Just then, it clicked. Lea Rossi! She was a famous Italian model and currently an actress! No wonder everyone took what Lila said at face value; she was related to Lea Rossi. While he was unaware of how famous the twin truly was, when ever he researched Lila’s name nothing came up. The only way people in our class could tell of her relation with the Italian actress was her last name. And the footage he recorded could very well bring some negative attention to said Rossi.

Quickly saving the video on several clouds, he made a mental note to send them to Alya for her side blog: A Scoop of Paris. Basically a blog for any news unrelated to akuma battles and the heroes of Paris.

”With a family like that, it’s no wonder Lila ended up this way,” Tikki flew out of Marion’s miniature messenger bag. The Kwami shook her head, even after billions of years of existing, human beings treatment of their siblings still baffled her. Tikki, like Marion, had not been fond of the Italian, but now the kwami of creation just felt a little sorry for her. It didn’t excuse her behavior but it did explain it.

”Well it looks like Adrianne was right,” even though it caused him physical pain to admit it, the blonde had been correct for Lila’s reasons for lying. Despite the model’s suggestion that they extend an olive branch to her, Marion had heard the things Adrianne said about the Italian under her breath. Not to mention how she glared at the back of her head when ever she was the center of attention. The bluenette was seriously considering if he even knew the blonde at all.

”I’d prefer if you didn’t think about that right now. Why don’t you go check up on her?” Tikki said, reading his mind.

Marion hesitated. While Lila hadn’t explicitly mention that he was bullying her, she didn’t stop them when they assumed he, Alya, and Nino were mistreating her because they called her out on her lies either.

Focused on his conflicting feelings, Marion noticed Lila running away from where she had been previously standing. His eyes landed on an akuma flying high in the sky, heading for the same direction as Lila.

Without thinking, he took off after the Italian.

Running as fast as her legs could take her, Lila dodged all the ads portraying her sister’s face. Ads the should have her face.

She came to a halt in front of a massive fashion ad for a new collection the was about to drop.

With her sister modeling the clothes.

A model shoot that Lila had already booked.

She glared at the photo, the hatred and venom she had kept locked away finally came bubbling to the surface.

Why did Lea get everything when Lila had to struggle?

Why did Lila have to be eclipsed by her sister’s shadow?

For crying out loud, her classmates didn’t even know she was related to Lea. They just thought it was a coincidence that she had the same last name!

Hell, the media didn’t even know who she was until she became a Gabriel model. And even then, everybody thought that she was Lea! It was only through an interview that everybody learned about ‘the Lost Rossi Twin’.

She resented her parents. Her sister. Her classmates. Adrianne. And she just wanted it all to stop.

The akuma that had been observing Lila made a bee line for the Italian’s fox pendant.

After all, who could be a better candidate than a girl who feeds herself her own illusions?

Only, except of akumatizing her successfully, the butterfly’s efforts were intercepted when Marion arrived at the scene.

The blue haired male managed to catch up with Lila.

“Hey, Lila? A-are you….ok?” Marion asked dubiously when she saw the few tears and Lila’s angry face, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

The Italian in question, was not pleased to see Marion Dupain-Cheng. Even less so now that he had saw her crying.

Real crying, that is.

She whipped around to face the taller male, the motion causing her back loose ponytail to sway with the movement and furiously whipped away her very real tears.

She glared at the boy, but it didn’t have the intended affect on Marion. Her cheeks were puffy and her lip was trembling as she hissed, “What do you want, Maribrat?”

’Maribrat’ cringed at the painfully lame nickname before answering, “It’s just, I saw what happened….with your sister,” he made sure to breach the topic carefully as it was obviously something Lila was sensitive about.

Her eyes widened as she felt her pride shatter more than it already was. He saw that? Lila reddened in embarrassment. “So what? Your feeling high mighty now that you saw me get humiliated? Think I deserve it?” She snarled her accusations all while jabbing her finger roughly into Marion’s toned chest.

The designer didn’t flinch instead looking to the side, “Look, you may be a liar and for the longest time, I thought you enjoyed ruining friendships and treating people like servants. But now I can tell that it isn’t entirely true. You don’t have to lie just to feel better about yourself,” as soon as the words left his mouth, Marion immediately wished he could take them back when he saw Lila’s face.

The Italian wordlessly turned away, looked over her shoulder, and glared at him feeling more tears threatening to spill, “Just stay out of my way!” was what she said before running away again.

”I messed up, didn’t I, Tikki?” Marion asked the kwami tucked into his mini messenger bag.

“It’s Marion. I’m sure if you try to reach out to her, she’ll understand what you meant,” Tikki consoled her chosen.

He really hoped that was true. His emotions were warring with each other as he watched Lila’s back until she disappeared from his line of sight.

For most of the next day, Marion silently watched as his classmates constantly badgered Lila with idea, treats, and plans for their class. Something that Lila didn’t have the connections for.

Which was strange now that he thought of it. Lila was famous and everyone knew she was the illustrious twin sister of Lea Rossi. Why was it that she couldn’t fulfill her promises of the world? The Italian actor rubbed him the wrong way. Could she have something to do with Lila clearly being cut off from the world of celebrities?

“Well, don’t they look tired?” His train of thought was brought to a screeching halt when Alya spoke and Nino chuckled.

He turned to his best friends with a confused face, “Who looks tired?”

”It’s only been a week since you and Alya have been ousted as class representatives and yet Adrianne and Lila look just about ready to crash,” Nino pointed out. He and Alya stood by Marion when the class began hopping on his friend’s case about the sausage haired girl.

Looking at the front of the classroom where the blonde and brunette were jotting down idea and listening to the students, Marion could see the fatigue leaking out of Lila’s cheery facade like a faucet. Adrianne also looked like she had seen better days, though he, Alya, and Nino noticed the minuscule glares the model in question had sent the Italian each time someone mentioned an absurd idea they could do for the year.

Marion silently rolled his eyes. He didn’t know what Adrianne’s problem was. Wasn’t she the one who sweared up and down that Lila was just lonely and misunderstood. That her lies weren’t hurting anyone and that the high road was the best way to go?

It seemed the blonde had no problem following the high road nonsense when she wasn’t the one being directly affected.

What a hypocrite.

Sapphire eyes met narrow olive ones and Lila quickly turned away. They’ve been doing that for most of the day.

“I’m just glad it isn’t us for once,” Marion said and Alya huffed in agreement. He and the reporter went above and beyond for the class and nearly ran themselves ragged. All the planning, fund raising, hours of missed sleep, unhealthy amounts of caffeine, and event catering was what kept the class afloat. They had to juggle so much that Nino had to step in as an unofficial deputy because he was the only who ever helped them with anything.

Their chatter ceased when Lila daintily placed her clip board down on the teacher’s desk and beamed at the class, “Thank you everyone! You’re ideas were all amazing. I’ll strive to make sure these ideas become as fabulous as they sound!”

Bustier clapped her hands and Lila’s (false) enthusiasm and Adrianne struggled to keep the care free smile on her lips.

The class cheered and Alya and the others just shook their heads as the Italian continued to dig a grave for herself.

And that’s how things were for next few weeks. Lila and Adrianne’s exhaustion became very evident if the dark circles under their eyes were anything to go by.

Meanwhile said brunette was practically drowning in her workload. Usually, minted representatives attend a three month course where they learn to navigate through their role with little problems.

But with with all her lies, Bustier was certain that Lila could excel as class representative and thus, the red haired teacher cancelled the intermission without Lila’s consent!

And don’t even get her started with her moronic classmates. Every time she seemed close to getting anything simple, someone would swoop in and suggest that she do something more extravagant. With all her connections and experience with high ranking officials and celebrities it should be a walk in the park right?

Wrong. Despite being related to a celebrity, the sausage haired girl had no connections besides Gabriel Agreste and he firmly denied funding for any school events much to her and Adrianne’s horror. Lea Rossi made sure that Lila couldn’t climb over her on the social hour.

Her mood did not improve as she saw Marion and his friends practically glowing with the sleep they’d made up. And the blue haired male’s looks of pity made her want to scream. Now that their backs weren’t breaking from carrying the class, they actually got around to doing things for themselves.

Nino finally uploaded his first short film onto his new website, Turtle Studios, and a steady number of views began trickling in.

Alya managed to nail the internship that so many budding reporters have been fighting for and her fame as a reliable news source began to rise.

Marion released his new fashion line: animal themed clothes, jewelry, hats, and other accessories. Plus he reopened his commissions list and clients were currently battling for a spot. Jagged and Clara mentioned him as their designer and urged other celebrities to commission him as well.

Of course, the trio‘s success only caused more spite and jealousy towards them from the rest of Bustier’s students.

Lila had to resort to drinking large amounts of caffeine to push through her struggles. She had no idea how the designer, DJ, and reporter managed to deal with their ungrateful classmates, their own school work, and their other hobbies on top of it all.

She was just about ready to tear her hair out. Once again, they had proposed ridiculous ideas that they expected her to follow through on without offering any sort of help or assistance. Even the teacher was taking a back seat to the spectacle. Alix wanted a trip to a different country for a week for the spring break, Mylene and Sabrina wanted the school dance to be at an expensive luxury hotel in Versailles, and the others wanted their school events to be grand at such an unattainable level.

The stress and pressure became too much and Lila found herself ducking in solitary places around the school just to avoid anymore of her classmates demands and Bustier basically scolding her for being tired.

One day, she came across an empty room near the west wing of the school. Hardly anyone went there anymore and right then, the Italian needed the silence.

Except, it wasn’t empty. When the brunette strolled in, her eyes immediately landed on the three individuals occupying the center of the room.

”What are you guys doing here?” She pointed her finger at them and narrowed her eyes.

Nino gave her an unimpressed stare before answering, “This is we’re we go when we want to avoid the class’ drama, dudette.”

Lila‘s mouth hung agape and she couldn’t control the shocked whisper that spilled from her lips, “Were they really like this before I came?”

”Yeah girl, they are,” Alya nodded before gesturing to Lila’s person, “I mean it was always little things. How we could make a trip even better, or rescheduling an important event that took weeks to plan. They’ve always been selfish and demanding, but your arrival just magnified personalities that were already there. At first, it was just Marion and I who hid here during our free period when we needed to catch up on sleep or sooth migraines that built up from dealing the others. Then Nino joined us after he became another deputy for us,” and it was true. The three found solace in the nearly empty unused room that contained a few painting aisles from the art room, custom made bean bag chairs (Lila was sure Marion had made them), a fully functioning desk top from the library, and a few desks similar to the ones Bustier kept in her room.

Marion stepped away from where he was perched behind an aisle with a paint brush in hand and looked at Lila with apprehension, “That’s why I didn’t fight with you when they preferred you over us. You have released us. They’re your problem now. Now that we don’t have to cater their every demand, things have gotten a whole lot better; for us at least”.

Yeah, Lila had noticed. For every friend each of them lost, they gained another one. Adrianne had refused to even look at Marion when she begged him to pick up the slack and he refused, he received offers from fifteen different girls to be their date to the upcoming Spring Mingle. Turns out, the bluenette was a lot more popular than he thought.

The Italian was quick to deflect as she waved her arms about, “No! I don’t want them. It was only ever about making it to the top. They’re too…”

”Blood sucking gold diggers?” Alya provided with a roll of her eyes.

”Opinionated sychophants?” provided Marion as her entered the conversation.

”Physically and Emotionally taxing?” Nino saw the opportunity to add in his two cents.

”Utterly ridiculous?” Chloe stated, coming from literally no where. None questioned how she had found them.

”Bad friends,” Lila said simply amidst all of the other well thought out descriptions. They definitely agreed. The class’s behavior couldn’t be entirely blamed on Lila since it had been an issue even before she set foot in Paris.

“Totally adding that to the list of why our class absolutely sucks,” Nino flashed a grin at Marion, Alya, and Chloe who chuckled.

Lila allowed herself to smile a real smile. It was actually pleasant to look at, Marion thought.

“They really do suck”.

The teenagers in the room bursted into unending laughter.

They spent the rest of their free period in companionable atmosphere until it was time to head back to class. The bluenette pulled Lila away from the others to have a word with her in private.

The two of them stood in a near empty hallway near the back of the school.

”Look, about what happened a few weeks ago?” Marion started, this time determined not to screw up like last time.

”Ugh look I don’t need your pity! If this is about-“ the Italian geared up for a defensive rant before Marion cut her off.

”I’m not going to judge you, Lila, and you’re obviously going through tough times,” he took a breath before continuing, “If you need someone to talk to, I’m more than willing to lend an ear. The others will too, if you prove that you’re trust worthy,” sincere blue eyes looked at Lila with understanding. Something she hadn’t seen in a long time.

The brunette looked at the French Chinese boy with uncertainty. Did he really mean it? He had never been anything less than honest. She felt her cheeks redden with the intense way Marion‘s gaze glued onto her smaller form. ”I-I uh-,” she had no idea what to say. Thankfully she didn’t have to as the bluenette gently took the planer she had in hand with the ideas of a new field trip and other things for the year.

”I’ll help you with the planning and fundraising. Nino, Alya, and I were basically killing ourselves trying to keep up with everything. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else. Even if you did take the position.”

Lila’s eyes widened as she scrambled for an answer, “No! I didn’t want to take over. They just voted me in without my opinion” It actually sort of shocked the brunette how fast their (ex)friends could turn on someone just to suck up to Lila; a person whom they thought could give them a leg up in the world.

Marion sighed, Lila had noticed he did a lot of that recently, “How about a truce?” he propped the binder into one hand as he held out his empty one in front of the Italian, “We both know that the class is less than ideal. I won’t try to out you and you’ll leave me out of the class’ drama?”

The brunette nodded before taking Marion’s large hand, “I’ll leave you alone and you’ll leave me alone”.

The two of them left school that day feeling a little lighter than they had in months. Though they didn’t exactly follow up on the terms of their armistice.

Whenever things got too stressful, Lila would seek comfort in the presence of her four classmates. Her free periods were taken up by hang out sessions in the library, roof top, their secret classroom, and even Marion’s parents bakery. Without the fear of the blue haired male trying to expose her clouding her behavior, Lila finally allowed herself the luxury of tasting a strawberry scone and nearly melted. How had she not come by here sooner?

Soon enough, Lila became a member of their little group along with Luka and Kagami. Chloe and Alya were as guarded as a safe before they began to open up and accept the brunette and invited her to their quality girl time. Luka, Nino, and Marion warmed up to her a lot faster. The latters weren’t one too hood on to grudges (sometimes) and Luka could tell that Lila genuinely wanted to be their friend.

When Luka made a face Alya clapped back, “What? I hang around boys all the time. I need a break.”

It brought warmth to know that she had made friends, real friends who cared about her and not what she could give them.

Lila found that she, Chloe, Kagami, and Alya had a lot in common and thus spent a lot of time in each other’s company. She had girlfriends who she could bitch with over tea and lovely spas. Kagami partook in it less, but she did have her own opinions she liked to gripe about with the others.

On the off occasion when the couldn’t spend time together, Lila found herself with Marion, either baking together, talking about different fashion trends, or going out for ice cream. He also appointed her as a lead model for his fashion brand. She really was made for the spotlight. After several more weeks she could say with confidence that Marion was her best friend. Not out loud unless she wanted to face Alya’s wrath.

So, why did her heart rate increase ever time she thought about him?Now that they weren’t on hostile terms, she really took in his features. Thick hair so dark it reflected blue in the sunlight, swooped to the left to reveal his stunning blue eyes that seemed even brighter against his pale skin. He was tall, around 5’6, and he was lean with muscle (his time as Red Beetle is to blame that).

With the more time they spent together, the closer the two began to be. Until they were basically dating, though they were the only ones who didn’t even realize it. Chloe, Alya, and Kagami would give her knowing looks with Alya being the most enthusiastic, and Nino and Luka would smirk and tease Marion about it. The bluenette would blush and try to hide his embarrassment.

Then the truth finally came out, it had been well into the school year on a Wednesday in the beginning of June. Lila had forgotten her science project at home and her mother went to the school accompanied by Lea to return it to her.

Lila and Chloe’s eyes widened. Nino and Alya were panicking, and Marion just braced himself for the volcanic eruption he knew was coming. The entire class went Gaga at the arrival of the Lea Rossi. Everyone was speaking over each other, trying to get her attention. Until Rose asked how fun It must have been for Lila to meet Prince Ali.

A floodgate of lies were released like an unstoppable, violent tsunami. As Lila’s mother and Lea began ripping apart her lies. The Rossi matriarch was especially furious with all the lies her daughter had told. The only it could have been worse is if Lila had been skipping school (Lila doesn’t play truant in this take or make other people do her work).

The class was outraged. Lila had taken advantage of them, lied to them, and made them look like idiots. Never mind the fact that it was them who had pushed their demands and ideas onto Lila when Marion and Alya wouldn’t heed them anymore. The brunette had run out of the classroom, the reporter and DJ moved to go after her as Chloe scoffed down at the students with distain.

The fashion designer just looked at the class with a combination of disappointment, rage, and finally resignation. Something they had never seen before. He hadn’t agreed with Lila’s lying but he could understand why she did it. He locked eyes with Adrianne who looked relieved that Lila was finally exposed. Lea just looked on with glee as her younger sister’s kingdom of lies crumbled.

The class looked at him, apologies on their tongue, but Marion beat them to it, “You guys are just the worse,” they all reared back as if he’d slapped them, with Adrianne looking the most hurt. He glared at them mercilessly as he continued with disgust, “Sure, I agree that Lila shouldn’t have lied to you but you guys were just taking advantage of her as much as she was to you. She never mentioned that I was bullying her, but you all jumped to the opportunity to suck up to her and harassed me, excluded me from class events, and sent me horrible texts. Honestly, who do you all think you are? Lila was literally exhausting herself trying to satisfy you sycophants and this is how you repay her. You think think that you deserve everything and are willing to put the pressure of your whims onto the backs of people who already have so much on their plate. And what’s worse is that Adrianne knew Lila was lying and didn’t once step in to defend me,” this caused the blonde to blanch as Marion shamelessly threw her under the bus and dozens of hurt, outraged, and cold eyes fell on her cowering form. “To you all, I say this: You’re garbage, I never want to be friends again, and you are not special. If you want something done, get off your asses and do it yourself,” Marion turned tail and left the classroom, a stunned silence answering his tirade.

Seven different akumas came out of it, hellbent on getting revenge on Lila Rossi. Luckily, Viperion, Ryoko, Queen Bee, Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Red Beetle were on the scene. Feline Noir didn’t show, to which the other heroes didn’t bat an eye. They were used to the cat hero sitting out of battles they were involved in out of sheer spite. She was more of a nuisance and a liability anyways so the fight would proceed much quicker without her sassy quips and goofing off.

Red Beetle insisted on taking Lila to safety. Her scooped her up gently in a princess carry and laughed himself into the sky with his yo-yo, holding on to the Italian with a strong yet comforting grip.

The battle was over in about ten minutes. The heroes stood nearby, helping civilians and gaining order as Red Beetle held onto a sobbing Lila.

“Don’t listen to them Lila, you can be amazing without lying,” Marion as the spotted hero spoke soothing words to the Italian as he stroked her hair affectionately. He would never have the guts to do this as a civilian without becoming a blushing mess.

”It’s not just them. My own sister and mother think so too. It’s kind of hard to move past that when it’s your family whispering that,” she sobbed even harder and her grip on Red Beetle tightened. Burying her head in his chest, she could hear his heart beat; so similar to Marion’s own.

The temporary heroes rushed to comfort her, with Ryoko offering to run her mother and sister through with her sword. That actually got a smile out of the Italian as Red Beetle wiped her tears away. He then offered to take Lila home to which the Italian agreed. With a ‘bug out’ the hero swung himself away with the brunette in hand.

The other heroes were glad that the ladybug hero would take Lila home safely, but they were still worried.

Alya in particular.

How was she going to tell Marion that Paris’ most beloved hero was interested in his unofficial girlfriend?

#in reluctant defense of lila rossi #lila rossi sugar #lila rossi redemption #alya sugar #nino sugar #chloe being chloe #male!Marinette #adrien salt #female!adrien #class salt #oc salt #lilanette #lila deserves better #chameleon salt #because what the hell

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