Hey guys, Cheryl here. Welcome to Chapter 19 of Book 1: New Revelations! Just realized I still have a week before I fly off. 😅 Expect one or two more chapters before a long break. Btw, how long do you guys want this book to be? Let me know in the comments section below. Now, without further ado, enjoy.
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Emma's POV
Lexi Rossi?
Lexi Rossi?!
ROSSI?!
As in LILA ROSSI?!
Before Ms Bustier could continue, I raised my hand and asked, "Excuse me, but Rossi? As in Lila Rossi?" Murmurs were heard throughout the classroom. Guess other people have made that connection as well. Lexi nodded and replied, "Yup. My mom is Lila Rossi. She's a famous Italian model. We moved back to Paris a while ago because someone offered Mom a huge modeling gig here."
My eyes widened in surprise as my suspicions were confirmed. Mom and Dad's other nemesis: Lila Rossi. She was a total liar. And the worst part? Everyone in Mom and Dad's class believed her! Except Mom and Dad, of course. Dad believed her for a while, before Mom, or rather, Ladybug, showed him the truth. What is her daughter doing in my class?!
Ms Bustier cleared her throat and continued, "Yes. Now, Lexi has something called Tinnitus. There's a roaring sound in her left ear. Isn't that right Lexi?" Lexi nodded, lowering her head slightly. I could feel people's hearts going out to her already. Don't tell me they actually believe this bullshit?! Alyssa tapped my shoulder and whispered, "She's just like her Mom. Lila Rossi has Tinnitus too. Mom told me all about her." My spirits lifted a little when I heard that. "What did your mom say?" I whispered back. Alyssa shrugged and replied, "Something about her being super nice, but your mom being super jealous of her or something. Your mom got over it though."
And back down my spirits go. I can't believe it! Not Alyssa too! Though I guess I shouldn't have expected much. Aunty Alya believed Lila Rossi too. I shook my head and questioned, "Alyssa, don't tell me you actually believe Lexi. She's clearly lying!" Alyssa raised her eyebrows and fired back, "Really? Do you have any proof?" I rolled my eyes and replied, "Oh come on. Don't 'Do you have any proof?' me." Alyssa shook her head and said, "A good journalists always finds proof." I sighed and muttered, "Fine. I'll find proof that she's lying. One way or another."
Ms Bustier cleared her throat and continued, "Now then, I need someone to show her around. Any volunteers?" Almost everyone in the class raised their hand. Almost. I didn't raise my hand, for one. I could feel Alyssa's questioning gaze but I ignored it. I guess she was confused, since I would usually help anyone that needed it. But I refuse to give help to a freaking liar.
Also, Alan had his hand partially raised, bringing it up and down, like he was doubting whether he should volunteer or not. I smiled satisfactorily to myself. Clearly Alan didn't trust Lexi too. At least I have someone on my side. And it's ALAN! Lexi placed her hands over her heart and breathed, "Oh my god! Thank you so much everyone! It's been hard for me to move to Paris since I don't know anyone, but you guys are making it so much better."
I rolled my eyes at Lexi's words. It was totally fake! Sugar was laced with every word. It made me sick. Lexi is just as manipulative as her mother, milking all the sympathy they can from easily-tricked people.
Ms Bustier chuckled and said, "Alright then. Since everyone is so eager to bring Lexi around, which I'm very grateful for, how about the entire class bring her around? Lexi, try to get to know them better while they're bringing you around, ok? Now, sit down and we can start the lesson." I groaned inwardly when I heard what Ms Bustier said. The last thing I wanted to do was take Lexi around. I tried to keep an open mind though, like I did with Chat Noir. He turned out to be a pretty cool guy. Lexi might be a pretty cool girl too. She might not be lying, after all. But I highly doubt it.
Let's just see how this afternoon goes.
After school
"Alright class. You can go now. Remember to take Lexi around." Ms Bustier called out as everyone packed their bags. I walked up to Lexi in the back row and reached out my hand. "Hi Lexi. I'm Emma Agreste." I said. I didn't trust her. Not yet anyways. But that didn't mean I could be rude to her. I had to at least introduce myself.
Lila shook my hand and gave me the once-over. "Yes. Mom talks a lot about Marinette and Adrien Agreste." I nodded curtly and quickly went back to stand beside Alyssa. I could feel her eyes lingering on me before the swarm of students went over to her. She was judging me, clearly. Her mom probably told her that Dad belonged to her or something.
Maya was leading Lexi out of the room, the rest of the students following behind. Alyssa ran out of the classroom and called back, "Come on Emma. We gotta catch up to them." I chuckled and replied, "Alright, alright." Alyssa turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. She smirked at me and whispered in my ear, "I'm so sorry to do this, but I have to."
I tilted my head in confusion. She shot me one more apologetic glance before running ahead of me, joining the rest of the class, then tapping Kace on the shoulder and talking to him. What the hell? My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why would Alyssa do that? She's my best friend. She wouldn't ditch me like that to talk to Kace. And Kace of all people! Unless... My eyes widened in surprise as a thought struck me. She likes Kace!
A small smile made its way to my face. I so have to ask Alyssa later. "Hey Emmy." I whirled around, startled by the voice. Alan was standing there, bag hanging on one shoulder. I must've been pretty lost in thought to not hear him come out of the classroom and walk towards me.
"O-Oh. Hey Alan. I didn't hear you come out." Ohh. So this was Alyssa's plan. I glanced at Alyssa, who had turned around just then. The smirk on her face grew wider when she saw who I was with. She made a shooing motion with her hands before turning around again. I rolled my eyes at Alyssa and faced Alan. "So, you wanna follow them now? They're getting pretty far ahead." I asked, pointing at our classmates. Alan shrugged and replied, "Sure."
We walked along in silence for a few minutes. Calm down Emma. You're only walking with FREAKING ALAN LAHIFFE, YOUR CRUSH! "Do you believe her?" Alan's voice interrupted my panicked thoughts. "Hmm? Believe who?" I didn't exactly understand what he was asking. "Do you believe Lexi?" Alan asked again, looking straight at me.
I scoffed and replied, "Are you kidding me? Of course I don't believe her. She's freaking lying. Every word is a lie. And all of them are so sugar coated it makes me sick." Alan chuckled and said, "Classic Emmy, always speaking her mind." I blushed slightly as what I'd just said sunk in. I could be a little impulsive sometimes. Alan, of all people, would know that.
"W-Well, what about you?" I asked, genuinely curious. I wanted to know his stand. Everyone else in class seemed to believe her. Alan looked lost in thought for a moment. Then, he opened his mouth and replied, "I don't trust her, not that I don't believe her. She might be telling the truth, for all we know. We did just meet her. Mom did say that her mother is pretty nice." "I supposed that makes sense." I muttered. Even though that wasn't exactly the answer that I wanted, I was glad that Alan was at least suspicious of Lexi.
By now, we had caught up with the rest of the class. We were headed to the cafeteria. "Lexi seems to have the rest of the class wrapped around her finger. Even Alyssa! She wouldn't believe me when I said that she's lying." I said to Alan.
Alan shrugged and replied, "Alyssa can be sorta blind to these kind of things. Kinda like you when we were younger." He smiled at me when he said that last bit. I smiled back, using all my willpower to not blush. He remembered that about me! I was screaming internally.
"And that's about it. Any questions Lexi?" I didn't even notice when everyone stopped walking. We were back at the entrance to the school. Everyone was surrounding Lexi. She smiled at all of us and exclaimed, "Thanks for all your help everyone! I feel like I know this school so much better thanks to you guys." "Yeah right." I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes.
Alan nudged my shoulder, trying to suppress his laughs. I smiled back at him, finding some satisfaction in having Alan on my side. "Bye Lexi." "See you tomorrow Lexi." "Goodbye Lexi." Everyone waved goodbye to the brown-haired girl. Like they were friends all of a sudden. Not that I don't like making friends. Just not with a liar. Alan turned to me and said, "Guess I'll see you tomorrow then Emmy. Bye." "Bye Alan." I waved to him as he walked to the school entrance. Probably to wait for Alyssa.
Alyssa smirked at me and said, "So... what did you two talk about?" I rolled my eyes and replied, "Nothing much. Don't get any wrong ideas Alyssa." "Mhm." Alyssa drawled out. I rolled my eyes again and said, "Go. Alan's waiting for you." She smiled and waved as she walked to Alan, calling back over her shoulder, "See you tomorrow girl!"
I reached into my bag to get my phone in order to call Chimp to come pick me up when I saw Lexi headed to the locker room. This is my chance! I quickly jogged over to the locker room and opened the door. Lexi was standing in front of her open locker, stuffing a bunch of random things inside.
"Hey Lexi. You're not going home yet?" I asked. Lexi glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and nodded before replying, "I could ask you the same thing." "Oh, I'm just waiting for my driver to get here." That wasn't technically a lie. I just hadn't contacted him yet. I saw a cloud pass over Lexi's face before her smile came back. Weird... but ok. Is she jealous that I have a driver? Her mom's a famous lawyer. Shouldn't she be able to afford a driver too?
I pushed it to the back of my mind. I could deal with that later. "So... Tinnitus ay? How did you get it?" Lexi had a faraway look on her face as she replied, "I was saving a small kitten that had run out on a runway when a jet plane was taking off." Lexi reached her hand up to touch her left ear. I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. This girl is such a faker.
"Wouldn't someone have seen you run out onto the runway? Say, your mother? Or one of the airport staff?" I asked again. I was determined to get her to spill the truth. That way I would have the proof Alyssa wanted and everyone wouldn't believe her so easily. Lexi shook her head and said, "Nope. The plane was blocking their view of me." Good one. Let's see you deal with this. "Ok. How did you get onto the runway anyway? Isn't it, like, off limits to everyone except the airport staff? Didn't your mother try to stop you? Seriously, no mother would want their child running out onto a runway with huge planes docked there."
Lexi slammed her locker shut and glared at me with an annoyed look on her face. "What are you trying to do?" She had her arms folded, one eyebrow raised. I looked around the locker room, making sure there were no people eavesdropping or something, and replied, "I can't prove it but I know for a fact that you don't have Tinnitus, that you've never saved a kitten on a runway and no one saw you on the runway because you've never even set foot on a runway before."
Lexi had her eyes closed for a second, before she opened them and smirked, then replied, "I only tell people what they wanna hear." "It's called lying." I said indignantly. Ha! I was right! Now, how to get everyone in class to believe me... My phone's in my bag so I can't record this conversation without Lexi knowing.
"There's nothing you can do about it anyway." Lexi said, walking towards me. I took a few steps back in turn. "People can't resist when they hear what they like to hear. If you don't want to be my friend, fine. But soon, you won't have any friends left at all. And trust me, I'll make sure you never get close to Alan in class or anywhere. I know you like him." Lexi had me backed up against the wall now. I couldn't just punch her, even though I wanted to so bad. She would probably lie her way out of it, since she's such a great liar. I'll get in trouble because there are no other witnesses.
Lexi slammed her hands against the wall beside my head and warned, "You seem a little less dumb than the others, so I'll give you one last chance. You are either with me or against me. You don't have to answer right away. I'll give you to tomorrow, first thing in the morning." A moment of silence passed. Lexi smirked at me one last time, then turned around and stalked out of the locker room. Before the door closed behind her, she turned around and called back, "And you do not want to be against me."
I slid down onto the floor, my knees shaking slightly. Why the hell am I like this?! Emma Agreste, daughter of Ladybug, the current Ladybug, should not be like this. Tikki flew out of my purse and asked, frowning, "Are you ok Emma?" I shook my head violently and replied, "I thought Carmen was bad. But Lexi is worse. She's like a... a supervillian who doesn't even need a costume!"
"You mustn't let her get to you Emma!" Tikki stressed. "If I don't manage to expose her lies, she'll ruin my life Tikki! She'll turn my friends against me, including Alan! Ugh!" I slammed my fist against the wall.
A tear rolled down my cheek.
And I just let it.
Gabriel's POV
"Ah... Jealousy, fear and rage... the perfect storm for my akuma. I'm sorry it has to be you Emma. But I have no other choice. I need Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous and your negative emotions are just so... powerful. I have to make use of this chance."
I closed my hand around the akuma, letting my power sink into it. "Fly away my little akuma, and evilise her!" I watched the black butterfly fly away until I couldn't see it anymore. I opened the locket that I always kept in my pocket and stared at the picture of my beloved Emillie.
One day, soon, my love.
We will be reunited once again.
Emma's POV
I couldn't stop the flow of tears. Each time I wiped one away, another three would take its place. Come on Emma. Pull yourself together. Ladybug doesn't cry. But I couldn't. I just sat there, tears dripping off of my chin. Tikki was flying around me, beside herself with worry. "Emma, please stop crying. It's gonna be ok. You'll find a way. Besides, your friends are your friends no matter what. They wouldn't leave you."
That didn't console me in the slightest. The tears kept on coming. Suddenly, Tikki's eyes widened and she looked up. "Emma! Watch out! There's an-"
...
Too late.
The akuma went into my earrings and I felt an odd sense of calm wash over me. "Justice." A man's voice suddenly rang out in my head. "I am Hawkmoth." Hawkmoth?! That means... I'm going to be akumatized! "Since the innocent isn't to be believed anymore, I'm giving you the power to expose the truth. Lexi Rossi has threatened to take away all of your friends. Wouldn't revenge be sweet? All you have to do in return is get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculouses. What do you say?"
Every part of my body was saying go for it. You hate Lexi Rossi. With the power Hawkmoth's giving you, you can prove to everyone that she's lying! And no one would leave you for her! The urge to accept the akuma was so great. But I knew, deep down, that if I accepted, the world would be doomed. Hawkmoth would get Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous and there would be no one powerful enough to stop him.
"N-No." I muttered, struggling under the strain of trying to free myself from the akuma. "No? Emma, this is the perfect chance for you to expose Lexi! Don't you want that?" Hawkmoth said tantalizingly. The urge became all that much stronger. My mental strength was decreasing. I can't fight it anymore.
"Come on Emma. You can do it. Just calm down and the akuma won't have any negative energy to feed off of. You're going to figure out a way to deal with Lexi. You're going to make sure that Lexi is exposed on your own terms. And you're most certainly not going to let Lexi win by becoming an akuma. No one would believe you then. Fight the akuma Emma. I know you can."
Tikki's sweet voice cut through all the chaos in my head. I could feel her presence, her warmth, pressed up against me. Thanks Tikki, for giving me the strength to fight. A renewed strength stirred within me. All the people that I cared about flashed through my mind: Mom, Dad, Tikki, Plagg, Hugo, Louis, Grandma Sabine, Grandpa Tom, GG, Alyssa, Alan, Ms Bustier, all of my classmates, heck even Carmen! I wouldn't want to hurt them by being akumatized. I would find a way to expose Lexi's lies.
I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves. Lexi would not steal my friends from me. I will expose her one day. I'm not going to stoop to her level and get akumatized. "No! Think about the power you're giving up! Lexi wouldn't dare do anything to you! Your friends would never leave you! Feel the rage burning through you. You're angry at Lexi for threatening you. You want revenge." Hawkmoth's voice became panicked.
I won't endanger all of my friends, my family, the ones I love, by being akumatized. Finally, the akuma flew out of my earring, turning from black to white. I watched as the butterfly flew out of the locker room, into the open air. Tikki flew in front of me and hugged my cheek, "I'm so proud of you Emma. You managed to not get akumatized." I nodded tiredly, before reality sunk in and the extent of what I had just done came crashing down on top of me.
"Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Tikki what have I done?! Oh my god! I could've gotten myself akumatized! I'm Ladybug! Who would protect Paris, heck even the world, from me if I, Ladybug, got akumatized! Chat Noir can't devilise the akuma. Oh my god. What have I done..." I went into shock. I just couldn't believe it. I let a lying liar get the best of me.
"Emma, it's ok really. Calm down. At least you didn't get akumatized for real." Tikki assured me. "I can't get akumatized Tikki. I'm Ladybug. The world is doomed without me. Oh my god." "Emma..." Tikki sighed. "Tikki don't you see? I can't be Ladybug if I can get akumatized by Lexi that easily! I barely even know her! Oh god, what have I done..."
Tikki chuckled dryly and replied, "You know, Marinette was almost akumatized once too." My heard jerked up to stare at Tikki open-mouthed. "What?! Really?!" Tikki nodded and explained, "It was because of Lila. She framed Marinette of pushing her down the stairs and stealing her jewelry. That got Marinette expelled. Hawkmoth turned into Scarlet Moth and akumatized all her classmates except Adrien, Alya, Chloe and Sabrina, since everyone was devastated that Marinette had been expelled. Sabine turned into Varity Queen and Marinette turned into Princess Justice."
I furrowed my brows in confusion. "I've never heard of a Varity Queen or a Princess Justice before." Tikki nodded and continued, "That's because they never actually transformed. You see, something must've happened to cause Hawkmoth to lose his Scarlet Moth powers, because just as Marinette was about to remove one of her earrings, the akumas all flew out of the akumatized objects and flew out of the room."
I stayed silent for a moment. Then, a thought struck me and my eyes widened in surprise. "That means..." Tikki nodded and replied, "Yes, the old Ladybug was akumatized too. That, and you're mentally stronger than Marinette. You managed to fight off the akuma all on your own." I smiled at the kwami and said, "I couldn't have done it without you Tikki." Tikki hugged my cheek one last time and smiled.
"Now, let's get you home."
Marinette's POV
"That's good! Take 5 everyone! Prepare for the next shoot!" I called out as the last pictures were taken. Adrien was modelling the autumn collection that I had designed. A stagehand (Is that what they're called? Idk.) came up to me and reported, "The other model from Italy is ready." I nodded and replied, "Good. Go get her."
Adrien came up to me and said, "So, everything going good so far?" I nodded and replied, "Yup. We're right on schedule. The Italian model should be here soon. You better get changed into your next outfit." "You mean the female one that one of your friends recommended?" I nodded, eyes focused on my clipboard. "You're not going to be jealous of her, are you, for being all close to me?" Adrien asked in a teasing tone, raising his eyebrows.
I tore my eyes away from my clipboard to look at him and reply with a smile, "Nope. Because if she tries anything, I'm going to kick her ass. Same goes for you. Now go get changed." "Yes ma'am." Adrien replied with a chuckle, going into his changing room. I rolled my eyes and refocused on my clipboard. There were a lot of things that we had to do today and there wasn't a lot of time left. I needed all the focus I could get if I was going to get anything done.
The stagehand came back and started, "Miss Marinette, the-" "Sorry hold on a second. I'm kinda lost right now with everything going on. By the way, could you get-" "Hey Marinette." I froze. My eyes widened in shock as I recognized the voice. There was only one person that voice could belong to. One person.
"Lila?!"
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Like mother, like daughter, I guess. THE ROSSI FAMILY IS RUINING EVERYTHING!!!
(If there's actually a family with the last name Rossi, I'm very sorry. This doesn't apply to you guys. You guys are great. 👍)
Hey guys, hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 19 of New Revelations. I have a question. How does Hawkmoth know who the person with negative emotions is? I mean, all the akumas happen all over Paris, he can't possibly be everywhere at once, right? Unless he can magically just sense it... OMG that would be so cool! Ignore me. I'm being crazy. 😅
The other chapter of this book should be coming out soon, so be on the lookout for them!
Remember to comment, vote and follow me on Wattpad, and I'll see you guys again soon!
Love,
Cheryl