Chapter 2: Bat Discussion and School Day

Despite Marinette's insistence that the Grayson family should have stayed and enjoyed their time in Paris without fear of another Shadow Moth attack for a while, they booked the first flight back to Gotham, which happened to be later that night. They were surprised that none of the flights had gotten delayed because of the akuma attack. That meant that by midnight, Gotham time, they were pulling up the drive of Wayne Manor.

Alfred walked out of the manor as they pulled up. Dick stopped the car next to Alfred, who opened the passenger side door for Kori.

"Thank you, Alfred," Kori said, getting out. 

"You're welcome, Ms. Kori, and welcome back to the States," Alfred replied as Dick exited the car on the driver's side.

"Master Dick, the others are waiting for you in the cave. I shall tend to your bags," Alfred continued.

"Thank you, Alfred."

"I'll take Mar'i and get her settled in," Kori added.

Alfred opened the rear passenger side door to reveal a tired-looking Mar'i before moving to the trunk to get their bags.

"Thanks," Dick gave his wife a quick peck on the lips before heading inside and down to the Batcave.

When Dick reached the Batcave, he found everyone sitting at the meeting table except Barbara, who was sitting at the Bat Computer. From the left and going around the table sat Cassandra, Stephanie, Harley Wayne (formerly Harleen Quinzel), Bruce, who sat at the head of the table, Damian, Tim, Jason, and Duke. Everyone was in their casual attire except for Bruce and Damian, who were suited up, likely having just returned from patrol.

"Welcome home, Dick," Bruce said.

"Thanks. Sorry for the short notice," Dick replied.

"What is this about anyway?" Damian asked.

"It's about Paris," Dick replied.

"What about Paris?" Stephanie asked, perking up at the mention of the city of love.

Dick opened his mouth to answer her but found he was drawing a blank. Why did he call this meeting again? He knew it was about Paris, and that it was important, but he couldn't remember what it was. 

"What's wrong?" Harley asked, seeing Dick's eyebrows furrow.

"I don't remember," He replied.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Bruce scowled, "You are the one who called me about the situation."

"I mean, I don't remember," Dick answered, "Didn't I tell you what was happening?"

"I remember you calling me and telling me that we had a problem in Paris… but I can't seem to recall what that problem was," Bruce's scowl grew deeper as he spoke, realizing that he couldn't remember what the problem with Paris was either. He knew that Dick would have told him the problem, or at least a summary of it, over the phone. So, why couldn't he recall what they discussed over the phone?

"You can't remember either, Father?" Damian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I can't."

"Maybe your mind is going in your old age, old man," Jason commented.

Bruce glared at his second-oldest son.

"Babs, didn't I send you something?" Dick asked.

"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, it was a jumbled mess of nonsense," Barbara typed away on the Bat Computer and pulled up the email that Dick sent her.

The email was nothing more than a jumbled mess of random characters and symbols.

"What happened? Did the file get corrupted?" Dick asked.

"No, this is how it showed up," Barbara replied, "I thought it was weird and meant to text or call you about it, but I… forgot?"

"It seems everyone is having amnesia problems," Harley commented.

"What could be causing it?" Duke asked. 

"It would have to be something that could affect Barbara, Dick, and myself. And it only seems to be affecting our memories around what is happening in Paris," Bruce asked. 

"What can you remember from your trip, Dick?" Barbara asked. 

"I remember everything in England and Spain just fine. I remember arriving in Paris and checking into the hotel with Kori and Mar'i. We then decided to get a late lunch at a local bakery that was said to be the best in Paris. I think it was called The Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie," Dick said.

"This it?" Barbara asked, pulling up an image of the front of the bakery on the Bat Computer screen.

"Yeah, that's it. We must have arrived after the lunch rush because the only people there were the girl behind the counter and her father back in the kitchen. The girl's name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and her parents owned the bakery."

"That name sounds familiar," Bruce commented, putting a hand on his chin as he tried to remember where.

"She is one of the finalists for the Gotham International Class Trip Contest Wayne Enterprises is doing," Tim said as he sipped his coffee. "Her name stuck out to me because of how unique it was. And if I remember that correctly, her parents do own a bakery."

Tim got up from his chair and walked over to the Bat Computer. Barbara moved over as Tim pulled up a chair. He accessed the Wayne Enterprises servers and pulled up her profile from the contest. 

"This her?" Tim asked, bringing up a picture of her.

"Yeah, that's her."

Tim pulled up one of the essays she had submitted for the contest and said, "It says here that her parents own the bakery."

"Well, that's a coinkydink," Harley commented.

"Hmm, that's interesting," Tim said to himself.

"What is it?" Bruce asked.

"This girl has no social media presence," Tim answered.

"I don't see why that's so weird. I only have social media because you require me to, and I never use it," Damian said. 

"She's your average teenage girl. Not a crime-fighting vigilante demon child," Jason retorted.

"I still don't think it's that weird," Damian pouted, crossing his arms. 

"Well, If I remember her essay correctly, she's an aspiring fashion designer, class president, and seemed to have an outgoing personality," Tim said as he skimmed through Marinette's essay.

"How can you tell that she has an outgoing personality from an essay, replacement?" Jason asked, "How do you know she didn't make stuff up to look impressive."

"I know how to analyze a paper to get an idea of a person's personality. Harley taught me," Tim replied.

"Whatever," Jason scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Enough," Bruce said, hoping to stop an argument between the two before it started. "The last part of the contest is a video interview, right?"

"Yeah, I think it's scheduled for next week," Tim replied.

"See if you can't get it sooner," Bruce ordered, and Tim immediately started to type up an email to Marinette. Bruce turned to look at his oldest son.

"Now, what happened after you entered the bakery?"

"Marinette made a comment about how her name is similar to Mar'i. We asked for suggestions, and she asked what we liked. Kori and Mar'i, of course, said mustard. So, she got us some cake bread with Dijon mustard to try. Kori and Mar'i really enjoyed it, and I admit it was actually pretty good. Then…" Dick trailed off as he started to draw a blank.

"Then what?" Bruce asked.

"Then… I don't know. I know something happened, but I can't remember what that something is," Dick replied, putting his hand to his head. He tried to remember what it was, but it just didn't come to him. The need to find his wife and daughter and see them, touch them, hug them, and make sure they were okay suddenly overwhelmed him.

"Dick, honey, are you okay?" Harley gently asked, noticing the change in his demeanor.

Dick jumped slightly at Harley's voice. He hadn't noticed it, but his muscles were tensed and ready for action, and he had turned to look at the stairs leading up to the manor. 

Harley wasn't the only one who noticed the change. When Dick turned back to the others, they all had concerned looks.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, don't worry," Dick shook his head a little to clear his thoughts. "Anyways, I remember sitting down with Marinette a bit later at the bakery, but I can't remember what we talked about either. So, I assume it was about what's going on in Paris. Then I called you and told you we had a problem in Paris. I can't remember if I told you what was happening. I then booked the first flight back here. Then I sent the email to Babs. We had to rush back to the hotel and pack to make it to the airport in time. Then we flew back here."

"So, to confirm, you remember everything about your trip except what happened to Paris, and only what that issue with Paris is?" Bruce asked.

Dick took a second to go over all his trip memories to see if any other moments were missing, like what was happening in Paris. "Yes, I believe that is correct."

Bruce looked at his wife and asked, "Is there anything that could cause memory loss like this?"

Harley put a finger on her chin as she thought about it. "With memory loss this specific, it would likely be some kind of suppressed memory situation. We can check with Kori later to see if she has the same memory issues as Dick, but considering that you and Babs are also experiencing some form of memory loss, she is likely experiencing it as well. I don't know anything that would affect all of you like that."

"Don't forget the corrupted email," Cassandra added.

"Right, so what can affect all our minds and mess up my email sent through our secure connection? Magic?" Dick asked.

Bruce grunted at the mention of magic. 

"It's okay, Bats. We all have our weak points," Harley put a hand on her husband's arm. 

"Well, if it's magic, then we will need some outside help. Magic is a little outside our wheelhouse," Barbara said.

"I can call Zanny. It's been a while since we got to hang out," Harley exclaimed.

"We need her to help with the Paris situation, not so that you can have a 'girl's night' with her," Damian replied.

"We can do both," Harley smirked.

She took out her phone and called Zatanna.

"And I got voicemail. It says that she is in another dimension for the next three weeks," Harley said, putting her phone away.

"That's great," Stephanie sighed.

"What about Raven?" Damian asked.

"Off world with Beast Boy and Cyborg," Dick answered.

"Do we have anyone else who knows magic things?" Duke asked.

"Shazam? He's magic, right?" Stephanie asked.

"Not this kind of magic."

"Constantine?" Dick asked.

"Think he'll even answer the phone?" Jason scuffed.

"True."

"Doctor Fate?" 

"Unavailable."

There were several seconds of silence as they tried to think of other magic users who might be able to help them at the moment. Tim eventually broke the silence by shouting, "I got a reply!"

Everyone turned to look at Tim.

"Sorry," Tim blushed, "it's just that Marinette replied to the email."

"Timmy, honey, no more coffee tonight," Harley said. 

"What does it say?" Bruce asked.

"She can do the interview later today, anytime after seven pm, her time, or in thirty minutes if we can finish by eight am, also her time, because she has school," Tim answered, "Oh, she just sent another email. She just realized that it's about twelve thirty our time, and we are probably just sending off emails before turning in for the night. So, we can ignore the in thirty minutes time."

"Aw, she sounds sweet," Harley cooed.

"Tell her we'll do the interview in thirty minutes. Hopefully, we can get some information from her about what is happening in Paris," Bruce replied.

"While actually doing the interview you are supposed to be doing?" Harley added.

"Of course," He replied. 

Though everyone knew him well enough, he would ignore the contest interview and grill her about Paris. 

"Alright," He continued, "For now, everyone, go get some sleep; that includes you, Tim. There isn't much we can do about the Paris situation for now. I'll do the interview with Marinette, and in the morning, we can discuss any new information I gathered and what to do next."

Everyone took that as their cue to leave and made their way toward the stairs to the mansion. 

"Leave the coffee, Tim," Bruce said as Tim tried to sneak his coffee mug out of the Batcave with him. 

Tim sulkily put his mug on the table.

"Bro, you have a problem," Dick commented.

"I do not!"

Across the Atlantic Ocean in Paris, Marinette was in her room using her right arm to do one-handed handstand push-ups. She got little sleep that night. Every time she tried to close her eyes to sleep, she heard Dick's scream of agony at the loss of his wife and child, or the image of Kori, Mar'i, and her Papa getting eaten by the sentishark flashed in her mind.

It wasn't the first time similar thoughts kept her up at night. She had done most of her usual stuff when she couldn't sleep at night: working on commissions for her CDM commissions, designing new outfits for herself, playing recently released Ultimate Mecha Strike IV, doing homework that she didn't get to finish due to akuma attacks, or exercising/yoga.

Marinette finished most of her commissions' production phase, with the rest in the design phase, but she wasn't feeling very creative that night. She also had already put several hours into UMS4 that night. 

She used to go out for runs during the night since after Shadow Moth started terrorizing Paris, crime, in general, dropped to near zero, and her neighborhood was already pretty safe before Shadow Moth showed up. However, that changed one night when she was running, and a man in his mid-30s grabbed her as she rounded a corner. The man barely managed to pin her against the wall before her knee found his groin.

It didn't take Marinette long to find out that someone had made a profile of her on several sites for young women, even if they are underage, looking for older men. The police investigated the matter, but it was quickly deemed a harmless prank by the officer in charge of the investigation, Roger Raincomprix, which tipped her off to who made the profiles in the first place. 

  Lila slowly pulled Sabrina away from Chloé until Chloé left Paris to go to America with her half-sister Zoé to attend school. Lila then wasted no time turning Sabrina fully into her lap dog.

It took Marinette threatening Max with bodily harm to hack the sites and remove her profile, two weeks of nightly patrols as Ladybug, and finding a dozen men looking for her civilian self before the men finally stopped showing up around her area. Marinette hadn't done late-night runs since then.

Marinette had been working out for about thirty minutes when she received the first email from Tim. After replying and sending the email about forgetting the time difference, she returned to her one-hand handstand push-ups, finishing the rest of the sets for her right arm. She was about to start on her left hand when Tikki said, "Marinette, they want to do the interview in thirty minutes."

"Who wants to do what interview in thirty minutes?" Marinette asked.

"Mr. Wayne, for the contest that you sent an email about a minute ago," Tikki replied. 

"Don't tell me that you're so sleep-deprived that you forgot about an email you just sent," Trixx added.

"I remember the email. I just didn't think they would actually agree to it," Marinette whisper screamed, not wanting her parents, who were in the living room just downstairs, to overhear her.

"Well, they did."

"Okay, I need to shower and change." Marinette headed toward the bathroom. "Keep me updated on any more emails they send."

Twenty minutes later, Marinette was freshly showered, in her underwear, and desperately going through all her clothes to find an outfit for the interview. 

"What should I wear? Should I wear a dress? What about a pantsuit? What do you wear to an interview with the CEO of Wayne Enterprises?" Marinette asked, unsure if she was talking to the Kwami or herself.

"Just wear something casual. They know you have school after, right?" Plagg said, grabbing a mini-wedge of camembert and swallowing it whole.

"Casual? I can't dress casual. I'm meeting with Bruce Wayne. He's like the richest guy on earth. He could buy the entire Gabriel Agreste company like that." Marinette snapped her fingers. 

"By the way, you seven minutes before the interview," Wayzz chimed in.

"Seven minutes!?" Marinette shouted.

"Marinette, calm down," Tikki calmly said, "Right now, just pick a color."

"Pick a color?"

"Yes, a color."

"Red."

Tikki flew into Marinette's closet and pulled out one of Marinette's high-quality red shirts with a rose black stencil that started in the lower left corner of the shirt and covered most of the shirt.

"Here, wear this," Tikki said.

"Okay," Marinette quickly pulled the shirt over her head.

"Shirt's on backward," Plagg deadpanned. 

Marinette groaned and turned the shirt around.

"Five minutes," Wayzz reminded.

Marinette grabbed a pair of black jeans and managed not to trip in her rush to put them on. She then grabbed a black jacket with a cherry blossom tree on the back and a branch of blooming cherry blossom on either side of the zipper. 

Marinette checked her look in the mirror. Her hair was still damp from the shower, but she didn't have time to brush it, so she pulled it back into a low ponytail. She had dark bags under her eyes, but a quick concealer application hid them well enough.

She dove into the chair in front of her computer, grabbing the table to keep from rolling across the room, and opened the video call application going to be used for the interview just in time for the notification that Bruce Wayne was calling her to appear on her screen. 

Marinette took a second to take a deep breath and calm herself before putting on her best smile and accepting the call. 

"Bonjour, M. Wayne," Marinette greeted in French before switching to English, "er, I guess Bonsoir since it's nighttime over there."

"Good morning, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, and please call me Bruce. I've never been one for formalities," smiled Bruce. He looked to be in his study at the manor and was in a simple white button-up shirt. 

"Oh, then you can just call me Marinette in return," Marinette replied. "Sorry for such a late interview. I had forgotten about the time difference." 

"It's okay. My family and I are night bats," Bruce replied, "besides, I did agree to the interview time."

"Night bats? I thought the expression was a night owl."

"Not if you live in Gotham, home of the Bat Family," said a feminine voice from off-camera, and Harley walked into the view. She rested her elbow on the back of Bruce's chair and peered over his shoulder. "Hey, sweetie, I'm Harley. This one's wife."

Harley rubbed Bruce's hair, messing it up. He quickly swatted her hand away. He glared at his wife, who smirked back at him, knowing he couldn't do anything with Marinette watching.

"Nice to meet you, Harley," Marinette replied while Bruce straightened his hair.

Marinette had forgotten that Gotham was home to Batman and his family. She wondered for a second if she might run into Batman or one of the others if she made it to Gotham. It could be an excellent chance to talk to him about Shadow Moth and why the Justice League didn't respond to her calls. However, if she went as Ladybug, she was almost positive the world's greatest detective could figure out who she was, even with the magic of the miraculous helping conceal her identity from people putting clues together. Maybe she could use one of the other miraculouses, so even if she got found out, it wouldn't compromise her Ladybug identity? 

"I hope you don't mind me sitting in on your interview?" Harley asked.

"It's okay," Marinette replied.

"Anyways, I got an interesting call from my son earlier," Bruce said, "He is in Paris at the moment for his anniversary, and apparently, he stopped by your family's bakery."

Marinette's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, M. Grayson was your son. I know you had adopted some children, but I didn't realize it was the same Dick Grayson."

"Really? The orange alien wife didn't give him away?" Harley asked.

"Well, while I did a bit of research into your company and M. Wayne, er Bruce, I didn't look that deeply out of respect for your privacy."

"Really? Most people would have tried to find out all they could about me and the company," Bruce said, slightly surprised. 

"I know, but I understand wanting to have your privacy," Marinette replied, her face falling slightly.

"Sorry to hear that, sweetie. Do you want to talk about?" Harley asked.

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it," Marinette quickly said, shaking her head. 

"Right, sorry. Therapist brain."

Bruce cleared his throat. "Well, anyways, my son and his family really enjoyed the bakery bread and your great customer service."

"I'm glad to know that they really enjoyed the bread and weren't just being nice," Marinette lightly blushed.

"Yes, if I'm ever in Paris, I'll have to make sure to stop by the bakery," Bruce smiled, and then his face shifted to a more serious look. "Though he did mention that something happened in Paris."

"Oh, did he?" Marinette asked.

She did her best to hide her worry of the random akuma attack messing up her chances of going to the Gotham trip when she made it to the final interview. 

She had only entered the contest because Lila had brought it up in class, saying she was too busy to write the essays and everything for the contest, and that Marinette should do it since she was the class president. Despite being the most hated person in the class, and everyone wanting Lila to take over the class presidency, Lila always claimed to be too busy to do it, and no one else would volunteer to run against her. Although, she hadn't cared all that much about the contest or the trip at the beginning, and honestly didn't expect to make it anywhere close to the finals. However, once she made it to the finals, the trip seemed like a possibility. She couldn't help but feel excited about it, even if she had to go with the rest of her class. She didn't want to lose it simply because Shadow Moth timed an akuma attack while one of Bruce's adopted sons was in Paris for an anniversary. 

Bruce and Harley both saw through her attempt to hide her worry, and Bruce said, "Relax, Marinette, you aren't in trouble, and it won't affect the outcome of the interview or contest."

Marinette let out a sigh of relief and her shoulders slightly relaxed. "That's good to hear. How are Dick, Kori, and Mar'i doing after the akuma attack? They looked a bit shaken up."

"I'm sorry, after the what?" Harley asked, "You cut out there for a second."

"The akuma attack," Marinette repeated, but again the connection cut out for a second, so Bruce and Harley didn't hear what she said, and the video skipped past her mouth moving, so they couldn't read her lips either. 

"I'm sorry the connection cut out again. Could you repeat that one more time?" Bruce replied. 

"Oh, sure, it was an…" Marinette didn't get to finish her sentence before the call suddenly ended, and a connection interrupted error appeared on her screen. 

Marinette's eyes widened. "No, no, no, no." She quickly tried to reconnect to the call but got a "could not connect" error every time. She threw her head back, loudly groaning in frustration. 

To make matters worse, her phone went off with an akuma alert.

Marinette said nothing as she opened her phone to look at the alert. There was no name, just a location that said the akuma was on the other side of Paris. She sighed.

"Tikki spots on," She said with lackluster enthusiasm, transforming into Ladybug.

"What about the interview?" Trixx asked.

"I'll just tell them that I had sudden internet troubles. It's not technically a lie," Ladybug replied with a shrug.

She headed toward the skylight but stopped when Kaalki asked, "Excuse me, wouldn't it be quicker to use my voyage power?"

"That's true, but I don't know what I'm walking into. If I'm not careful, I could teleport right into a trap," Ladybug replied, "Plus, I don't want you to think I'm just using you as transportation."

"I would never think that," Kaalki gasped, "I know you only have the noblest intentions when using my powers."

"Thank you, Kaalki," Ladybug smiled and patted Kaalki's head gently.

"If you get an email from Mr. Wayne, Wayzz, you reply," Ladybug said before leaping out of her skylight.

In Gotham, Bruce and Harley tried reconnecting with Marinette, but they got the same error as Marinette.

"That's rather convenient, don't you think?" Harley asked. 

"That the moment she tried to share what was happening in Paris, the connection cut out? Yes, very," Bruce replied. 

"Think it's whatever is happening in Paris interfering?" Harley asked.

"Possibly, or it could be her doing."

"Do you really think that sweetie could be involved with this?" She gave him an incredulous look. 

"Looks can be deceiving," He reminded.

"I know, but still. I find it hard to believe that she is some supervillain, or is involved with something that would shake Dick like that."

"Either way, if the connection issue has something to do with the Paris situation, then it is likely happening right now," Bruce said.

"What are you suggesting? That you go to Paris right now?" Harley asked. 

"Quick trip with the Justice League Teleporter."

"But didn't you want to wait to discuss with the others about what to do next in the morning?" 

"Things changed," Bruce got up from his chair.

"Bats, we talked about this. You have a team now, a family. You said you wanted to wait till morning and discuss things, so that's what you must do." Harley said sternly.

"But there could be something going on in Paris now."

Harley groaned. She pushed Bruce to the side and pulled up Marinette's phone number on his computer. "Let's call her and see. Her internet might be down, but her phone should still work. If she doesn't pick up, you can go, but if she does, you wait for the others to get up, deal?"

Bruce glared at his wife, but she glared right back at him. They glared at each other for several seconds before Bruce sighed and pulled out his phone. He punched her number in.

In Paris, in Marinette's room, a cheap cell phone rang on her desk. 

"Hey, Marinette is getting a call on her other phone," Sass said as he flew over to check it out.

"Who does it say it is?" Wayzz asked.

"Unknown number."

"So, it's not one of her classmates, then," Trixx said.

"Could it be one of those perverts?" Sass asked.

"I don't know," Wayzz replied.

"Wait, didn't she use that number for the contest? That could be M. Wayne calling to check on her because the interview suddenly cut off," Longg said.

"I'll forward the call to her then," Wayzz replied and forwarded the call to Ladybug. 

Ladybug's yo-yo beeped, signaling that she had a call. She opened her yo-yo and saw a call forwarded from her old phone number. She gave it a confused look before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Marinette? This is Bruce Wayne."

"Oh, M. Wayne, Bonjour."

"I called to ensure everything was okay since your connection suddenly cut off."

"Yes, everything is fine. Just some internet problems. It happens sometimes. Would it be okay to reschedule the interview for later today?" Marinette asked, her voice growing tentative near the end.

"We could continue the interview over the phone if you like?"

"Huh, I'm actually about to help my parents in the bakery. They have a large order to fill and just asked if I could help them before school."

"That's fine; go help your parents in the bakery. I'll check my schedule and email you about a new time to do the interview. Is it okay if I also text you the information to this number in case your internet isn't working by then?"

"Yes, that's fine. Merci M. Wayne."

"It's no problem, and remember, call me Bruce."

"Right, sorry. I need to go help my parents now, sorry."

"Alright, I'll send you the details about a rescheduling later."

"Merci," Marinette replied and waited for Bruce to hang up before closing her yo-yo. She let out a sigh of relief.

Back in Gotham, Bruce hung up the phone, and Harley asked, "Feel better? Her internet just cut out on her."

"Still feels too much like a coincidence."

"I admit that it could be the magic or whatever is causing the memory loss messing with her connection, but it doesn't look like it is causing her any harm at the moment. So, how about we get some sleep and figure out what to do in the morning? Like you said, you would."

"Fine," Bruce sighed. 

"Thank you," Harley kissed his cheek and grabbed his hand. She gently pulled him out of the chair and guided him out of his study to their bedroom.

An hour later, Ladybug landed in an alleyway. The akuma wasn't particularly dangerous, just a kid that wanted to play hide-n-seek. So, an alert to go to the akuma shelters wasn't sent out. Ladybug spent most of the time trying to find the akumatized kid, as she was chosen to be the seeker first. Once she did, it was easy to get the akumatized object away from the kid and destroy it. 

She checked her surroundings before transforming back into Marinette. She immediately fell to her knees as a powerful wave of dizziness overtook her. The two akumas within 24 hours, combined with the hour-long akumatized game of hide-n-seek and the lack of sleep, made the effects of the imbalance in the miraculous energy hit Marinette hard.

"Marinette!" Tikki cried out as Marinette put her hands on the ground, focusing on one spot to try and stop the world from spinning. 

"I'm…fine," Marinette said between deep breaths.

"The imbalance in the miraculouses are getting worse."

"It's just the lack of sleep and back-to-back akumas. I'll be fine in a minute."

"Marinette," Tikki whined in concern.

Marinette waved her off. She shifted from her hands and knees to leaning against the alley wall. 

"You can't keep going like this, Marinette."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Why didn't you call one of the others to help with that akuma?"

"Come on, that akuma wasn't all that dangerous, just a kid wanting to play hide-n-seek. It wasn't worth the trouble."

Tikki crossed her arms and said, "Even so, you need to find a new wielder for the cat miraculous and soon."

"I know, I know," Marinette sighed. 

The dizziness started to fade, and she slowly got to her feet.

"Maybe you should rest a little longer, Marinette."

"I'm fine, Tikki. Besides, I need to get to school."

"Maybe you should take the day off? Call in sick or something?"

"Tikki."

"Marinette."

They stared at each other silently for what seemed like forever before Tikki finally sighed in defeat.

"Okay, fine, you're the guardian, so you get the ultimate say in the matter, but if you start feeling even the slightest bit off, you are to go back home and rest, understood?" 

"Yes, Mom," Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Also, no rushing to school," Tikki added.

"Didn't plan to," Marinette scoffed and took out a cookie from her purse.

Tikki took the cookie, eating it in two bites, before hiding in Marinette's purse.

Marinette made her way home, needing to grab her stuff from her room before heading to school for the day. She made it home just as her first period class ended, so if she hurried, then she would still be able to make it before her second period class started.

She entered through the front of the bakery.

"Forgot something I needed for next period; just need to grab it real quick," Marinette said before her mother, who was behind the cash register, could even ask.

"Okay, dear, try to be more careful in the future," Sabine called out as Marinette vanished into the back of the bakery.

Marinette rushed up to her room and grabbed her bag. She was thankful she had gotten into the habit of packing her bag beforehand when she stayed up late, so she didn't have to scramble to get her bag ready. She grabbed an empty shaker cup from her desk before bouncing downstairs to her family's private kitchen.

She put the shaker cup into her fridge's water dispenser. While her fridge filled her shaker cup, she pulled out a half-empty tub of Gfuel™ Doodleberry powder from the cabinet.

Once her cup was filled, she removed it from the water dispenser and added a large scoop of Gfuel™ powder. She began shaking the cup, mixing the powder and water, as she put away the tub. 

Marinette continued shaking the cup as she ran to school from the bakery across the street. While she was a fan of coffee, basically living off it half the time, she stopped taking hot liquids to school shortly after Lila turned everyone in school against her. Ice coffee wasn't very popular in France, leaving energy drinks as her primary source of caffeine at school. The powder tubs were cheaper than energy cans and took up less room, so they were her preferred form of energy drink.

Marinette reached her classroom seconds before the bell rang for the second period.

The seating position had changed at the beginning of the year. In the first row, starting from closest to the door, sat Lila, Adrien, Sabrina, then Alix; The second row was Alya, Nino, Myléne, and Ivan; the third row was Rose, Juleka, Kim, and Max; The fourth row had Max sitting by himself behind Kim and Max, and Marinette sat by herself behind Rose and Juleka.

"Oh, look, who finally decided to show up. Did whoever you spend the night with get bored of you and kick you out of bed, or did you oversleep again?" Alya said.

Mlle. Bustier wasn't in the classroom, most likely having left to get something for the next class, but Marinette didn't even respond to her former best friend. She silently went to the back of the classroom, where her seat was. 

Kim stuck out his leg to trip Marinette as she made her way up the steps. She purposely took a drink from her shaker cup, tilting her head and cup back far enough to completely block her view of Kim's leg as she stepped over it as if it wasn't even there. She sent him a smirk, and he crossed his arms, huffing in annoyance.

"Did you see that smirk on her face?" Alya asked Lila.

Lila turned around to look at Alya and said, loud enough for everyone in the class to hear, "I know. I'm amazed she even bothered showing up in class when we all know she's nothing more than an attention-seeking whore."

Everyone looked at Marinette; some were subtle, but others not so much, to see her reaction. Marinette stared at the blackboard, saying nothing.

Mlle. Bustier walked into the classroom a second later. She had to have heard what Lila said but did not comment. Instead, she said, "Oh, Marinette, you're here."

"I helped my parents with a delivery this morning and got caught in the akuma attack across town," Marinette lied smoothly. 

"Well, while it's admirable that you want to help your parents, remember you are still a student, so school needs to come first. And do try to be more careful with akuma attacks," Mlle. Bustier replied.

"Will do," Marinette said half-heartedly.

She quietly sat through the rest of her classes until lunch, only speaking when one of the teachers called on her. Once it was time for lunch, she packed her things and took out her phone. She pretended to look at something on it until everyone left the classroom before getting up and leaving herself.

Marinette headed to the locker room. She slammed her fist against the side of her locker, and her locker swung open, revealing that the inside of her locker door was covered in black writing, not leaving a centimeter uncovered. Words like: whore, slut, cutter, kill yourself, and die, covered the inside of her locker. Someone had even taped a razor blade to the inside of her locker. 

Marinette didn't have to look at the writing to know what it said. She had already read it multiple times as she cleaned it off her locker. Every time she cleaned it, it would reappear only a couple of days later. So, she stopped cleaning off the writing or notifying the teacher. 

She swapped out the books she needed for her morning classes with those she required for her afternoon classes. They didn't bother destroying her books as that would only cause her to have to share with someone else in classes, which they would consider a punishment for themselves, not her.

Once she swapped out her books, Marinette closed her locker and left the room. She walked across the courtyard, heading toward the exit. She kept her eyes out for anyone planning to throw something at her. 

"Oh, Marinette!" Lila called out to her in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Marinette ignored her and kept walking toward the exit, planning to get lunch at her family's bakery.

"Marinette!" Lila called out louder.

She kept walking.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Lila basically screamed, finally making Marinette stop.

Marinette sighed deeply before turning in the direction of Lila's voice. 

She saw Lila sitting with Adrien, Alya, and Nino at a table. Lila sat on Adrien's lap with her arms around his neck, while Adrien wrapped an arm around her waist. Lila smirked when she saw the scowl on Marinette's face.

Adrien and Lila started dating shortly after Marinette had taken the cat miraculous from him. Marinette didn't know why they began dating as Adrien knew about Lila's lies and didn't particularly like Lila. Her best guess was that Lila had somehow endeared herself to Adrien's father and often helped Adrien get more free time. Which was something he lost and greatly missed after losing the ability to sneak out easily with the cat miraculous. However, he could also be dating Lila out of spite since he knew Ladybug didn't like Lila. Marinette figured it was some mix between the two since Adrien went out of his way to mention he was dating Lila to Ladybug once during an akuma attack.

Lila was also more than happy to date Adrien. He was famous, wealthy, attractive, connected through his father, helped further her modeling career, and, most importantly, was the crush of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The fact that she was dating the guy everyone knew Marinette was head over heels in love with brought her the most satisfaction out of her relationship with Adrien.

However, no one realized Marinette's scowl at the couple wasn't out of jealousy but annoyance at Lila and disappointment in Adrien. Marinette had been beginning to get over her obsessive crush before she found out that Adrien was Chat Noir when he had told her to keep quiet about Lila's lies since they weren't hurting anybody. Her rose-tinted lenses began cracking after that, and she started to see him as the spineless people pleasurer who would throw his friends under the bus if it meant keeping the peace. 

While Marinette couldn't blame him too much for that, having met his father a few times over the years at various events, Adrien invited her to when they were still friends and came to understand his home situation a little better. It still shattered her image of him as the perfect and flawless Adrien Agreste. Also, finding out that he was Chat Noir and still acted that way, along with how he worked as Chat Noir, had put the final nail in the coffin of her infatuation with him.

Even after all, Marinette would have been happy to have him as a friend despite his issues. She would have loved to help him stand up to his father like Nino and others had done several times before, with varying levels of success. But once he started dating Lila, she lost all interest in Adrien. She even used cataclysm on all her pictures and stuff of him.

"What is it, Rossi?" Marinette asked.

"Come here," Lila motioned her over. 

"Can't you just tell me what it is without me coming over there?"

"No."

Marinette sighed and trudged over to their table.

"Be careful, Marinette," Tikki whispered from Marinette's purse.

"What is it?" Marinette asked when she got closer to the table but was still well outside arm's reach.

Lila opened her mouth to speak before pausing and turning sheepish. "Sorry, it just slipped my mind."

Marinette resisted the facepalm. She should have known that Lila was going to waste her time. 

"Well, if that's all. I'll be on my way."

She began to walk away from their table. She only took a few steps before Alix bumped into her. Marinette felt Alix put her weight into the collision, clearly trying to knock her over. However, despite Alix being one of the athletic girls in their class, she was shorter than Marinette by several inches and wasn't nearly as muscular. So, instead of Marinette landing on her rear, it was Alix.

Alix looked up at Marinette in shock, not expecting to wind up on the ground.

"Oh my god, Alix, are you okay!?" Lila exclaimed loudly, quickly jumping up from Adrien's lap. She bumped into Marinette, who barely moved, as she reached Alix and kneeled beside her.

"I'm fine," Alix muttered as Lila helped her up.

Lila turned to Marinette and glared at her. "How careless can you be, Marinette? You should really watch where you're going. You could have seriously hurt, Alix."

Despite Alix clearly bumping into her, Marinette wasn't the least surprised by Lila shifting the blame onto her. "She bumped into me."

"No, she didn't," Alya said, springing to her feet, "I saw you walk into her."

"Oh please," Marinette rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Oh please, what?" Alya crossed her arms and glared at her former best friend.

"You believe Lila's lies despite watching Alix bump into me with your own two eyes. No wonder the Ladyblog has become nothing more than a gossip rag."

Everyone gasped.

"Oh, you did not just go there?" Alya asked.

Marinette merely shrugged.

Alya's face started to turn red. She opened her mouth to scream but was cut off by Mlle. Bustier.

"What is going on here!?"

Everyone turned to look at Mlle. Bustier.

"Marinette bumped into Alix then called the Ladyblog a gossip rag after she called Marinette out about it," Nino summarized.

"Okay, let's all take a deep breath and calm down. There was an akuma attack earlier, remember? Let's not have two on the same day," Mlle. Bustier said calmly.

The threat of another akuma caused everyone to calm down a little, especially Marinette, who didn't think she had the strength to deal with another akuma that day.

"Good. Now, Marinette, is what Nino said true?" Mlle. Bustier asked.

"Alix bumped into me and fell down. Lila blamed me for bumping into her, and Alya sided with her. I then got irritated that Alya sided with Lila despite evidence to the contrary and called the Ladyblog a gossip rag," Marinette replied.

"No way. You bumped into her, Marinette," Alya added.

"Now, now," Mlle. Bustier held up her hands in a calming manner, "Marinette, I'm very disappointed in you for calling the Ladyblog a gossip rag. I know you know how important it is to Alya, and as class president, I expect you to set an example for the class. Now, apologies to Alya."

Marinette rolled her eyes and said in an uncaring and insincere tone, "Sorry, Alya."

Mlle. Bustier usually would have pushed Marinette for a more sincere apology but had a feeling that would cause more trouble than it was worth.

"That didn't sound very convincing," Nino scoffed.

"Take what you can get," Marinette shot back.

"Enough," Mlle. Bustier chided, then turned to Alix. "Alix, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Alix replied.

  "That's good. Now, did you bump into Marinette, or did she bump into you?"

"Marinette bumped into her," Lila answered for Alix.

"I asked Alix, not you, Lila," Mlle. Bustier replied, "I'm sure Alix can talk for herself."

"Marinette bumped into me," Alix said.

It took all her willpower not to make some gesture or sound of frustration.

"Marinette, you shouldn't blame other people for your clumsiness," Mlle. Bustier sighed. 

Marinette didn't bother trying to defend herself. It honestly wasn't worth it to her. The sooner this was over, the sooner she could go home and eat lunch.

Mlle. Bustier took Marinette's silence as acceptance and said, "Alright, since Alix wasn't hurt this time, I'll let you off with a warning this time, but I want you to be more careful in the future, Marinette."

"Okay," Marinette said and walked away.

Once Marinette left the courtyard out the front door, Mlle. Bustier sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl."

"Expel her," Alya spat.

"Come on, Alya, that's a bit harsh," Adrien said, "She's just going through a rough time."

"I think it's more than a rough time, babe," Lila said. "She has issues."

"Now, now, why don't you eat your lunch and try not to worry about it? I'll talk with Marinette later." Mlle. Bustier said. 

"You're right, Mlle. Bustier, we're sorry," Lila said, switching to her innocent angel act.

"It's okay, Lila. I know that you're just concerned about your classmate," Mlle. Bustier softly smiled.

"Thank you, ma'am," Lila smiled.

Mlle. Bustier dismissed herself to the teacher's lounge, and everyone returned to their lunches.

About an hour later, Marinette came back from lunch. She managed to get through the rest of the school day without having another argument with one of her classmates.

When she got home, she went straight up to her room and collapsed onto her chaise lounge, exhausted.

Wayzz flew over to Marinette cautiously and said, "Marinette, you got an email from M. Wayne."

"What did it say?"

"They decided to go ahead and give the Gotham trip to all the finalists, with your class being the first to take it three weeks from now. If that isn't too soon, of course."

Marinette sat up straight and asked, "Really?"

"Yes, you can see for yourself," Wayzz gestured to her computer with the email pulled up.

She pulled herself off the chaise lounge and went over to her computer. She looked over the email to ensure it was legit and that there weren't any catches, but it was legit, and there were no catches other than they needed to know if they were going to take the trip or not in the next three days so they could ensure that they could book enough seat for the flight to Gotham. She forwarded the email to Mlle. Bustier for her to get all the permission and release forms sorted out for class tomorrow. 

With the email copied, Marinette got up from the computer and climbed upstairs to her bed.

"Wake me for dinner," Marinette said as she flopped onto her bed, closing her eyes.