.... a nightmare???
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Marinette woke up with a start . Beads of sweat trickling down her forehead . She looked to her side to see Tikki sleeping peacefully . She wiped her brow and recalled what had woken her up . It was a dream , a rather scary one . Everyone found out that she was ladybug and Chat Noir became Chat Blanc and there was havoc everywhere. She remembered in her dream , Chat Blanc's icy blue eyes a stark contrast to his usually soft green ones . And his whole suit was white . Hence , the name Chat Blanc . He was after her life , and the worst part she wasn't ladybug rather herself with a yoyo and the whole world watching . She felt exposed . What if people do find out that I'm ladybug . In the dream she had manged to catch a glimpse of Alya's face . It showed horror , betrayal and was that guilt . It was a very vivid dream . She was forgetting the details as the minutes were passing . She looked at the time 6:14 A.M. . Huh , 15 minutes to the alarm.
Quietly opening the trap door and being careful to not wake Tikki up , Marinette climbed out onto her balcony . She put her hands on the railing watching the almost completed sunrise . The sky was a tint of orange and a little pink and was slowly becoming blue . The sky was clear. And there were little happy clouds . Marinette smiled at the beauty of the city which she protected . Paris was truly beautiful . It was a shame that someone would try to destroy its beauty but at least the miraculous cure fixed everything.
Marinette sighed . Remembering Alya's reaction from her dream . Why did she let them become so distant , only a few months ago they were happily chatting, telling each other jokes and laughing , how did it go from this to not even talking anymore. All interactions between them had become somewhat professional. Marinette the class president and Alya the deputy .
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"Where were you ? "
"I had gone to the washroom."
" Again , Marinette what is up with you and going to the washroom . There was an Akuma attack . You could've been hurt. " Alya said . Marinette knew that Alya was worried but she couldn't tell her that she had gone to fight the akuma as ladybug .
" I'm fine now . Aren't I?"
"Yes , you are but tell me where had you actually gone I know you didn't go the washroom. They're literally in the opposite direction from where you ran ."
"....." Marinette was speechless . How was she supposed to answer that .
"Have you been lying to me?"
"What . No . I'm not lying to you "
"Then tell me where'd you go?"
"I can't."
"So you're keeping secrets from me ."
"No" Marinette whispered . She knew that she was lying there were at least a hundred secrets Marinette wasn't telling her , all related to the miraculous. But at least she wasn't lying for her own selfish reasons.
"You never seem to tell me anything nowadays . We are best friends we're supposed to tell each other everything ."
"You can't know each and every detail about my life . I have something called personal space . I wasn't feeling well and became anxious about the akuma so I ran off to hide . " Marinette screamed , frustrated . Yes , being ladybug put her on the spot and in a lot of panicking situations . She had also had an episode of hyperventilation one time when she had to transform three times to defeat the Akuma and they were no where near to defeating that thing but Alya didn't need to know that .
"I didn't know that you were scared from the Akuma"Alya replied guilty.
"Of course you don't . I never told you ." Marinette said in a soft tone , calming herself down .
"Why didn't you tell me ?"
"I didn't want you to worry . Plus I didn't want to be crowded up " Marinette said .
"I'm sorry but I needed to go and shoot the fight for my blog . I was so focused on it that I never saw that you were scared . Everytime you disappear is it because you're scared ."
"There's no need to be sorry . You need to see the battle and upload it on the blog and I'm fine, aren't I?" Marinette said in a low voice so only Alya could hear her .
"But you've never been scared in front of me "
Well , shit . Why can't she be like this with Lila .
Marinette didn't exactly have the skills in lying like the liar but she wished she had . So that she wouldn't be in this situation right now .
"...."
Alya sighed . "You know what , you're right you do have some personal things and I shouldn't try to pry into your personal life but next time don't lie to me just tell me it's something you can't share "
That was the day when Marinette had seen the expression of betrayal , horror and guilt in Alya's face .
"I'm sorry for prying" Alya said and turned around to leave .
Marinette watched Alya leave with a heavy heart she knew that something like this would happen soon. People will start doubting about where she went .
Marinette watched Alya walk home with Lila . Marinette knew that it couldn't be anything good . But she also knew Alya needed space so she didn't follow . That day Lila had managed to plant a seed of doubt in Alya's head in such a manner that she didn't even know that it was there . Lila had since been growing it .
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Marinette sighed remembering that day . That day Marinette went home sad . She also talked to master Fu about Alya suspecting her . She knew being a hero was going to have its consequences. She had also learnt may meditation techniques from Master to calm herself . After every fight Marinette was still in the fighting mode and had a fight or flight response whenever someone just so as so touched her . It usually lasted about 10 to 20 minutes but it was a full 2 to 3 hours after the happenings of Chat Blanc . It was that bad .
But Marinette knew that that day not going after Alya and letting her go with Lila had been a mistake . She was sure that Lila had done something. After that day Alya made sure to put Marinette in a safe place then run off with Lila to film for her blog , while Marinette appreciated Alya's actions , she also noticed her becoming more distant . Constantly hanging out with Lila . The fight had happened after the happenings of chameleon, so Marinette couldn't really spend a lot of time with Alya . And Lila constantly being around Alya wasn't helping . A rift had been created between the former best friends.
Lila was very sly . The role of Volpina suited her , she was a master illusionist and made her lies seem like the truth . While Marinette didn't fully blame Lila for her and Alya drifting apart as her being ladybug had to have its consequences. But she very well did blame her for accusing her of theft and cheating .
Marinette sighed again , this time because of Felix . She hoped he didn't do anything disastrous in her life . While he hadn't done anything weird yesterday. He was rather polite and well composed as opposed to what she had seen three months ago . Maybe three months did change him . Marinette thought . She shook her head . She shouldn't judge too quickly . She didn't know him well to know if he was planing something or not .
Marinette was shaken from her chain of thoughts with her alarm ringing . She dismissed the alarm and went to take a shower .
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Felix was sitting on his seat reading a book . It was his second day of school and he was quiet early seeing as there were only a few students in the class. Felix was absorbed into the story and was throughly enjoying it until a rather unpleasant and high-pitched voice spoke to him .
"Hi , Felix . I don't think I've introduced myself . My name is Lila Rossi . " Felix gave no heed and continued reading , when a hand slammed itself on the desk rather ungracefully creating a small thud . Felix looked up and with an irritated expression spoke . "What do you want Rossi?"
"Nothing in particular but I hope we can be friends . And are you sure you want to sit beside Marinette. She isn't very pleasant, you know she stole my gramothers pendant which was centuries old. I can always get you a seat in the front with all my friends "
Felix listened to Lila speak in a very unnatural tone . It was pretty obvious that she had honeyed her voice and had practiced for hours to get it perfect . There was a glint of malice in her eyes whenever she spoke about Dupain-Cheng.
"Thank you very much but I'm very much content with sitting in the back with Dupain-Cheng. "
Lila was not shocked as she had heard about what he had done the last time he came here from Alya . Lila wanted to rather strike a deal with him and together make Dupain-Cheng more miserable and control the whole class.
"But it'll be better if you sit in the front with us ."
"I have no wish to sit in the front Rossi , now leave me alone I'm trying to read here and you're being annoying "
Now that was something Lila hadn't expected . She had to try something to win him over after all his mother's company was much bigger than Gabriel and having him wrapped around her finger would be even better than having Adrien listen to her .
"What book are you reading? " Lila asked .
"It's none of your business " Felix replied coldly .
Just then Marinette came running into the class and rushed to her seat . Felix thanked the heavens for sending Marinette on the correct time as he was quickly running out of patience with Rossi .
"Hi Marinette " Lila chirped.
Marinette only looked at her before setting down her bag and taking out her tablet . "Hello Lila . What brings you here to my seat " Marinette asked . Earlier she was just going to ignore her but looking at how half the class was now listening to their conversation the ravenette thought otherwise .
"Oh , nothing special just came to talk to Felix , he is afterall a new student. "
Now Felix was getting irritated , this girl just couldn't take the hint , could she? That or she was just being ignorant .
"So now would you go back so that I could read my book in peace " Felix said annoyance laced in his voice.
"Oh , I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you . I was just trying to make a friend."
"Well , I don't want any friends " Felix said venom dripping from his voice .
Lila faked hurt and making a sad expression went back to her seat . Whispers broke out through the room . Felix knew that they were talking about the spectacle that had just happened .
"What was she talking about to you?" Marinette knew the consequences of that question . He would either throw venom at her too or just plainly ignore her or target her . Marinette didn't know when Felix would think that she was a troublesome person and start making her life hell so she had to carefully select her statements and questions . But nevertheless she took the risk .
"Oh , you mean the pathological liar "
Marinette widened her eyes but quickly cleared her face of all expressions and nodded .
"She wanted me to sit in the front with her sheep and that includes my cousin . She also said something about you stealing her heirloom " Felix looked at her without any expression on his face . That alone scared Marinette to death . Why did she talk to him again . Ah , yes because she had been curious . Curiosity killed the cat . Marinette gathered up all her courage . Wait , why was she scared its not like he is going to make her life any more miserable than it already is , right? Marinette knew that she was wrong but just decided to not get scared and put up a tough front. She looked at the blackboard and said"Whatever she has told you is a lie . The heirloom was found in my locker , yes but I didn't steal it as she claims but rather she planted it there ."
There was a moment of silence before Felix spoke . "Very well , as expected from the liar."
Marinette looked at him . So he had figured her out. She knew that someone like Felix wasn't dumb enough to belive Lila's lies , so she wasn't really surprised . That guy was full of mystery but one question bugged Marinette and without second thought she asked him
"What makes you think I'm telling the truth ?"
Felix looked at her and raised his eyebrow "Well it doesn't take a genius to understand that the liar is lying . Plus you're the class president and certainly don't look like you'd steal from someone" 'and I'm not an idiot to belive her' went unsaid.
Marinette hummed. So he does believe me. Marinette felt relief that someone did belive her unlike her classmates who she had know for more than two years . But Marinette was still skeptical about Felix.
Felix took out his book and opened up the page he was previously reading before Rossi interrupted .
"I also know that you don't trust your classmates."
Marinette's eyes widened at that .
"How did you know?"
At that question Felix didn't answer and continued reading his book . Marinette just looked at him , bewildered . She didn't ask anymore questions and continued working on her tablet .
A/N
Word Count :2272(excluding this )
So how did you like this chapter ?A little bit of flashback from Marinette's side . It's quite unbelievable that Marinette dissappears randomly and no one notices . And the washroom excuse is too overused . I'm also trying to give Felix a realistic redemption . And also vote for my story .
Healthy and constructive criticism is appreciated.