48As the bell rang Miss. Bustier looked up from the board and turned around and frowned. "Since we couldn't finish I want you all to read the next two chapters and be ready for a discussion on Monday, everyone have a nice weekend and we will have to get around to choosing a new class represented next week."
Max looked over and saw Kim keeping his mouth closed as he heard what Miss Bustier said and felt proud of his friend, the work that they had done on his temper was working.
"I'll see you next weak everyone." Miss Bustier said and she seemed obvious to all the anger and rage Kim was sending at her as she moved about her desk gather what papers she would need for the weekend. As Max watched Chloe took a step towards her before turning and walking off with Sabrina following behind her, putting their teacher out of mind and ignoring her on purpose, surprising Max and now that he thought about it, those two hadn't been even remotely taken in by Lila.
Max looked at Kim who swallow what he was about to say and got up, joining the others as they moved out of the class room, Max waited a few seconds more before making a show of checking his phone before he got up, noticing Lila had been looking at him for some reason. Max watched as Kim caught Max's eye and nodded before he got up and looked around, seeing Lila was leaving and Miss Buistier noticing Kim was heading towards the exit into the school, Max looked down at his phone as it vibrated and saw a message from Kim.
MonkeyMan; Hey, going to talk to the weather girls, I think there might be something the student council can do, will tell you after the I talk about it with the others, keep quiet science-kid.
Max smirked. Great idea Kim, if they know anything then we can get some justice for Marinette that much easier. Wait, what about Alix? And if Lila figures out Kim is going to help Marinette?! Max thought and saw Alix heading towards the courtyard and notice Lila talking to Nathaniel loudly.
"Yes, the shoot the other day was terrible and with the Akuma it was pushed back to today. I hope that we're able to get it done today." Lila said as Nathaniel listened with one ear and nodded.
Max saw Alix stopping at the door before she turned and walked towards Miss. Bustier.
"Hey teach, I got a question about the subject, got a few minutes?" Alix asked and Max sighed and moved past them as Miss. Bustier looked up and smiled.
As Max walked out of the room he looked down and saw Alya and Nino walking with Nathaniel and Lila and frowned. I don't want to not trust those two, we all fought together and she choose them for a reason. I have to hope that Lila hasn't pulled them into her web. Max thought as he followed the mass of students as school ended and everyone went about their business and moved towards their homes.
As Max walked slowly out of the College he stopped at the top of the stairs as the other students left and cleared out of the area, he looked around, noticing Kitty Select had all walked off together talking quietly as Lila looked around before moving towards a car, something about a photo shoot because the last one had failed utterly. He was far enough back to see Alya and Nino watching Lila drive out of sight before they both nodded and walked towards the Dupree-Chang Bakery and he sighed as he finally saw the last data points he needed to know for sure who they were
Max looked up at the bakery and sighed. This isn't going to be pretty, but if I don't do this then I'll hate myself forever. And they should know that I know. And then there's what Markov discovered about Lila, there's a 100% certainty that they don't know about this, any of it. Max thought as he shuddered as he remembered what Marokov had found on the web. "I have to tell them, I can't not."
"I don't know Max." Markov spoke up from his bag causing Max to look down at his friend. "Have you thought about if Marinette's know?"
"Oh, of course." Max said and hit his head and shook his head. "Then keeping quiet about it around others is probably best then."
Max watched as Nino and Alya walked into the bakery and sighed. "You're right, I have to do this, I can't not."
Max walked towards the bakery and he felt Markov bump him through the bag and smiled, making Markov was one of the best things he had ever done.
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"So what's the reason why you two aren't going back to the College when this is done?" Nino asked as he, Alya, Marinette and Adrien sat around Marinette's room and he smirked at the way that Adrien and Marinette were acting. Those two finally wised up and confessed that they're into each other, about time. But I have to wonder about that other girl Adrien told me about, and how he didn't feel right going after Mari because of his feelings for her? Nino thought as Alya grinned at her friends.
"Yeah, and about you two!" Alya said and Marinette blushed as Adrien rubbed the back of his head.
"What gave us away?" Adrien asked and Alya squealed and hugged Marinette as Nino chuckled.
"You did it, finally!" Alya said with a laugher as Marinette just blushed and Adrien looked sheepish. "After everything you finally told him and he accepted, girl you have to tell me what happened!"
"Yeah dude, I mean you used to talk to me that you didn't feel good about dating because of those feelings for that other girl." Nino said and Alya perked up and looked from Nino to Adrien with a strange look in her eyes. Marinette looked on with a small grin as she hoped Alya wouldn't dig into this, but knowing that she would. Marinette just looked down trying not to look Alya in the eyed as Adrien coughed and both of them wondered how to explain their love-square without exposing their identities.
"It's complicated bro, and if I knew the school I was trying to get into was that school I might have stayed homeschooled." Adrien said and shook his head. Nino's mouth dropped open and he stared at him in total shock as Alya looked between the two of them and when Marinette nodded she looked at the three of them with a spark of fear. I can't believe this, I just can't. Sunshine always talks about how he prefers to be around us…. What happened in that school?! Alya thought as a shiver went down her spine.
"What do you mean?" Alya asked and with everyone's eyes on Adrien, nobody noticed Marinette's hatch open.
"An adult….friend of mine's goddaughter, she almost committed suicide because of bullying, at Dupont!" Adrien said and Nino jerked back and Ayla's mouth dropped open. "And given how the school been treating bullies even after that, I wouldn't trust that place with someone I hated!"
"What do you mean?" Alya asked and Marinette just sighed and shook her head.
"Given how our teacher acted with regards to Lila, I can guess with about seventy percent surety that it's more something from the principle office." A voice caused the four friends to turn and see Max sticking his head up.
"Max, what are you doing here!?" Marinette asked as the others looked shocked at him.
"My apologies for coming in uninvited but I wanted to talk with you all." Max said as he got up and brought out his phone and suddenly Marinette's phone vibrated. Brining it out she saw a message from Max on it and looked at it before showing it to the others.
Brainy: Is this room secured?
As they watched Max brought out a small remote controller with a screen on it and pointed it around the room and stopped at a statue on a table. Max turned towards them and Marinette shook her head and Max put the remote away.
"Are you sure Marinette? My device detects a wireless signal from this thing, and given what I saw online once this is one of the 'Parental Overwatch' line." Max asked and Marinette nodded.
"Yeah it's fine Max but what are you doing here?" Marinette asked and Max pushed his glasses back and Markov flew out and orbited Marinette.
"We were so worried about what Lila did Marinette, and what I found on the net we just had to come over." Markov said and Alya looked down with shame that it had slipped by her.
"That's it, no wonder about why Adrien is hiding here?" Alya asked as they looked at Maxx who nodded.
"No, given who he is I expected him to be here if he was hiding." Max said as he closed his eyes, missing the looks of confusion appeared on the others faces but how it turned to horror on Adrien's face. "I can understand the need for secrecy but given what has happened with Lila the two of us thought that talking to you two about what we found was important, when I saw Nino and Alya come over I thought to do the same and well."
"Wait, what secret?" Alya asked as she saw Marinette and Adrien pale.
"You don't need to hide it from me Alya, I must say that the way you've been using the Ladyblog has been amazing. If I didn't know better I would say that you didn't know anything at all." Max said with a grin as he opened his eyes but it fell as he looked at Alya and he started to pale as he saw confusion on her face and shock on Marinette and Adrien's pale faces while Nino looked between them with a look of slow understanding. Max stared at them before his own mouth dropped open. "You didn't know, oh my. I am so sorry you two, this makes sense."
"What are you talking about Max?" Alya asked and Marinette just face palmed and Alya looked at her as Adrien sighed.
"You know he can't blame us for this one, but how Max, that's what I want to know." Adrien said and Max grinned sheepishly.
"Interactions with all of you on both sides of the mask so to speak, and help from my friend here." Max said as he nodded at Markov who floated and 'smiled'.
"I kept track of everyone when Akuma attack, and after a while I noticed a pattern after a while. And then there was Star Train, the Horse made me realize a few things and then I told Max once we were away. That's how I figured you two out, then Heroes Day with Bubbler and Lady Wifi not being part of the mess I and then the appearances of Rena Rouge and Carapace, that figured out with what I deduced." Markov said and at this Marinette started to look resigned and Nino's mouth dropped open in awe as he looked between Adrien and Marinette, a look of stark disbelief in his eyes as Alya just looked more confused by the minute.
"That's impressive; I wonder how you figured it out when nobody else ever did." Marinette said and Alya started to get angry, not understanding anything about what she was hearing.
"Probably because of what I am, that's my guess. And the way that I figured out Lila's lies and what I found on the internet about her." Markov said as he started to look worried and maybe scared. "She's really something, worse than I thought people could be out of stories."
"Okay that's enough! What are you talking about?!" Alya asked with a scowl and Max looked at Marinette and Adrien who looked down at their bodies for a few moments.
"No choice kids, we've been breached." A dry voice came from Adrien's shirt. Before Alya could react someone else spoke up.
"Plagg!" A voice from Marinette's purse called out angrily caused Alya to jerk from Adrien to Marinette. "They might have gotten by without you!"
"No way sugarclub, we've been found out!" The first voice said as a tiny black cat like creature floated out of Adrien's shirt. Alya's mouth dropped open as she saw the creature before a huff caused her head to whip around and see a red and black spotted creature the same tiny size come out of Marinette's purse.
"Those are Kwami… those are the black cat and ladybug Kwami. Those are Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Kwami…. Your two are!" Alya began until Nino covered her mouth.
"Baby, deep breath girl. Through your noise, out your mouth." Nino said and after a few moments of doing that Alya seemed to calm down and Nino moved his hands away. "Better baby?"
"Yeah… girl you've been Ladybug all this time?! Wow, that was your textbook I found all those months ago!" Alya said and Marinette smiled a little as the kwami next to her looked at Alya. "And you're the kwami that's been with every Ladybug!"
"Yeah, we're them. I'm Plagg and that's Tikki, nice to finally meet Tixx's newest kit." Plagg said with a laugh in his voice.
"I can't believe this, all this time I've been sitting next to Ladybug….. and I can't believe that Max figured out my 'Ladybug hunts' haven't been real." Alya said and Marinette's eyes widened.
"What!? They haven't?" Marinette said and Alya shook her head with a grin.
"I've read enough comics about what happened when the super-villain finds out who the hero is before I came Paris to do that in real life. And with Hawkmoth not being an idiot I figured out that he's probably following my blog." Alya said with a shrug. "The hunts are basically the most out of the box and unlikely ideas about how to find Ladybug that I could do, I mean I want to be a reporter an all but knowing what to put out and what not, that's important too. And if Hawkbut spends time following what I do instead of looking himself, that's just a bonus."
Everyone could only look at Alya with respect in their eyes and Marinette whistled a little.
"Thanks Alya, you even fooled me." Marinette said as she stared at her friend.
"Sorry about that, but I read a quote a long time ago, 'to fool your foes fool your friends' and well." Alya said and laughed a little. As she smirked she looked at Plagg and Tikki as they floated by their chosen and grinned. "But don't think you four are off the hook like that, and Max when did you figure it out."
"Markov figured their secrets a few weeks after I introduced him to everyone, and after yesterday I was positive who you two were." Max said and Nino leaned forward.
"So back on track dude, what about the battle yesterday let you figure me and Alya out, you hack into the stadiums cameras or something?" Nino asked and Max laughed a little. "Did Markov?"
"No I had firsthand data to finally realize the truth." Max said as he smirked. "Allow me to reintroduce myself, the name's Pegasus."
Alya and Nino just looked at him and then laughed a little, Alya shaking her head in mirth.
"Man o man, I would not have figured it was you Max! I don't believe this, I really didn't believe one of my top three questions would have been
"Top three, who Ladybug and Chat Noir but what's the third?" Marinette asked as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened.
"Why Hawkmoth wants the Miraculous for, it's gotta be important to him but why?" Alya said and as they saw Marinette and Adrien look at Plagg and Tikki she realized that they knew the answer to that question.
"A wish, that's what Hawkmoth is after." Plagg said and looked around at the others in the room and raised a paw at Tikki who glared at him. "They know enough to be in trouble, best to tell them
"A wish…..is it like a genie or a monkey paw?" Nino asked and Tikki shook her head as Plagg growled
"Neither, the wish is about balance." Plagg said bluntly. "The Black Death was worse because somebody wished that his family didn't' die from another diseases and they caught the 'death instead. Because it could spread faster the disease spread farther because his brother was a trader."
"Wow, that's horrible." Adrien said and Plagg nodded grimly.
"The bastard was one of the last 'great' mages too. The only justice is that I think the guardians said he died last out of his family." Plagg said with a dark chuckled.
"A bit dark, aren't you." Alya asked as the others looked at him in concern as Tikki floated over and hugged him.
"He killed my kitten, the bastard stabbed him in the back literally!" Plagg said with a growl. "They had been fighting together against something else and betrayed him at after it died, I won't talk about what it was okay."
"Fine Plagg, we won't push right?" Adrien said as Plagg just looked at them and he and Tikki floated down to Marinette's bed.
"The wish is about balance, the only times it should be used is when there is no other choice, a dead end, mass loss of life at the least, and not the death of a city or a country, death of a continent or the planet." Tikki said solemnly. "If one person wishes that someone doesn't get a diseases then they get another that they hadn't, if they wish to save a life another is taken that means the same as the one saved."
"But Hawkmoth…." Max trailed off and the others looked at each other, the horror they were feeling reflected by all the teens and Tikki sighed.
"Personally kids, I think he learned about it from a diary of somebody who heard about the existence of the wish and not the exact details, Nooroo wouldn't be able to tell if anything." Plagg said tiredly as they looked at him. "Me and Sugarclub are the only kwamis that can talk about it openly, everyone else can only give small details, a safety feature that the old mage who made the Miraculous put in to keep secrets."
"This is worse than I thought this talk would go, and I haven't even gotten to the information I found about Lila." Max said with a shiver as the others looked at him.
"What did you find Max?" Adrien asked and Max looked between Marinette and Adrien before he took and released a deep breath.
"From what I found, Lila has driven a few people to suicide over the years, at least two and once or twice she might have destroyed a few people friendships like she was trying to do to Marinette." Max said and closed his eyes as he saw Alya start to go red as Marinette paled and Adrien grabbed her, Nino put his hat down and the Kwami only looked on, something about Lila had bothered them and this wasn't a big a shock as it was to the others.
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Chloe walked through the hotel's entrance and saw Nathalie following behind her and smirked. Good, this is perfect. All I have to do is make sure she overhears me. She thought as she walked towards the front desk.
"You, the special guest in the ninth Suite, he hasn't had any problems so far right?!" Chloe demanded and the receptionist nodded and
"Yess….. he hasn't bothered anyone so far and his meals were delivered on time Miss. Bourgeois." The receptionist said and Chloe brought her phone called up one of the lobby's cameras and saw Nathalie hiding nearby enough to let her overhear them.
"Good, I want no excuses; I don't want him to have any reasons to leave." Chloe said and the receptionist looked a bit startled.
"To leave, but Miss Bourgeois…" The receptionist began began but stopped when she held up a hand.
"I don't want ot hear it, I don't want anyone to even know who he's using it, am I understood." Chloe said with a growl. The receptionist nodded and Chloe looked at her phone and saw Nathalie move away and smirked as she realized her plan had worked.
"But Miss Bourgeois I really don't understand, why are you telling me this, the guest couldn't even leave the room on his own and we make sure he's safe while he's recovering." The receptionist said and Chloe smiled at her and looked her name tag before making a note on her phone.
"I know that, you know that but she didn't." Chloe said with a grin and waved her away. "It doesn't matter Elizabeth, just know that you'll get a small bonus, very small for what you did."
"Thank you? But my name is Ester….." Easter said as she watched as Chloe walked away and quickly turned towards the other employees nearby and shrugged when they looked as confused as she was. As Chloe got into the elevator she activated a messenger program and sent a text to Sabrina
MayorDaughter; Hey Rina, I just tricked Gabriel's Girl Friday into thinking that A's in the Ninth Suite, I can't wait until they try and break down the door.
CopDaughter; Chloe! You know who's in there!
MayorDaughter; Yeah, I stopped last night and he's left the room this morning, all that's in there is a little waste that I hope they get a face full of. And I have his permission to do it, and I asked housekeeping not to work on it until the day after tomorrow.
CopDaughter; Will your dad be okay with that?
MayorDaughter; The truth is that floor of Suites is being giving a thorough cleaning and a remodel, something daddy's being planning so all the guests left already, the new furniture won't be in until next week, also the only reason dad let him have the room.
CopDaughter; Lucky, I found a good homeschool program with group projects that we need to record how we're working on them, and the test looks good.
MayorDaughter; Perfect! All we have to do is make sure Adrien and Bakery-girl partner up enough to let the feelings they have for each other get through Adrien's obvious head.
CopDaughter; I still don't get why you're trying to set them up Chloe, I mean I know you don't hate Marinette but why?
MayorDaughter; Marinette is the girl I love to bite at because nine out of ten she bites back, it's good practice for later in life….. and those two deserve each other, they both need each other.
CopDaughter; But what about Kagami?
MayorDaughter; As good as she's trying, she sees Adrien as what he isn't, I got that from a few talks with her… and she's got as much baggage as he does but she needs something else. Someone who's I don't know, not hiding who he is like Adrien is.
CopDaughter; You get people a lot better than I do, so okay. And I'll talk to dad about it tomorrow, something about how the school might be an Akuma breeding ground.
MayorDaughter; We were ground zero after all, and it might cut down when the school closes, the things I've heard…. And I overheard a plan the education department was going if a school is ever shut down, I think that all the clubs will continue but they might move to the new convention center in another arrondissement.
CopDaughter; Not too far I hope, I mean a good… wait there's a plan incase a school is shut down for an investigation?!
"And once again you prove that you'll the smartest person in the school 'Rina. Why you like acting like a servant I don't know, if you just….." Chloe said as the elevator stopped on her floor and she got out.
MayorDaughter; Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow when I'll 'get' my homework from you.
CopDaughter; I know why we do this Chloe, but I don't like it anyway. I mean I get your reasoning why and why you keep quiet from everyone but they would help you, I'm sure of it!
"You always were the most hopeful of the two of us 'Rina, I love that about you. But this has to be my cross." Chloe said as she opened the door to her room and moved towards her desk.
MayorDaughter; I don't doubt that most of them would help me 'Rina, but I learned that a secret is only kept the fewer people know it a long time ago. See you tomorrow, going dark.
Chloe turned off her phone and smiled as she called up an outside camera on her laptop and saw Nathalie looking at the hotel. "The trap has the bait, but will you bite into uncle G, or will you wait until it's disarmed?"
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Outside the hotel Nathalie looked upwards and shook her head. "I knew you were hiding here Adrien, I didn't expect to find you so easily."
As she walked away from the hotel she tried to think about what she could do with this information, how she could handle this. I need to tell Gabriel about this, but should I? He'll just charge in and make this worse, that's what will happen. I need to find a way to talk to him alone, if I can do that. Nathalie thought as she looked down at her tablet and looked up the information for the hotel and the various entrances she could use to slip into the building.
"I can arrange to be around here tomorrow, maybe I can tell him that I found a clue that he's around here and I just want to talk to him. "Nathalie muttered as she walked towards the Agreste mansion. All I need is a particular rampaging Akuma to attack and then I can say it's best to grab him to protect him, he'll buy that. Nathalie thought as she walked away, a plan forming in her mind, all she needed to do was talk to Gabriel and hope for the best, that the best intern could be found. "And if this one works out, so much the better.
As Nathalie walked away, she never notice a camera had turned and was looking at her, never knowing that she had fallen into a trap that would lead to something… messy.
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Alya walked through Paris in a daze, what Max had revealed and what Adrien had told them about the school was still causing her to barely perceive Paris around her. She didn't even notice that Nino walked next to her, holding onto her arm and shepherding her towards her building, and a few times he had to stop her from walking into traffic. As they walked Nino looked at her with concern his own thoughts running wild. "Babe, you can't let what Max told you get you down, Lie-la has had experience at this shit from what he told us."
"It's not just that Nino, what Adrien said about the school, I should have found out about it!" Alya said angrily as she turned to Nino with a glare and he held his hands up, trying to calm her down.
"Why?" Nino asked forcibly and Alya stopped dead still and turned her head towards him.
"What?" Alya asked as Nino was able to shock her and as she looked at him she realized what she had said.
"Why should you have found out about Alya?" Nino asked and she looked away, causing him to soften his gaze and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on baby, talk to me Alya. What is it?"
"Before we moved and got our apartment, I investigated the schools so we would know the best ones to apply to were, for me and my sisters." Alya said as Nino ahhed as he understood what had really been bothering her. "If I missed that, then what else did I miss about their school?"
"I've lived in this city for all my life, and I never heard about that too Alya. And the school your sisters go to, I went there and my brother does too. The principle is a lot better than the Owl and the teacher they have, he wrote a book on spotting bullying and dealing with it, they'll safe there." Nino said and smirked when Alya looked at him. "Yeah, the teach is that good."
"That takes a little off my mind, but I'll still look into the teachers there on the web, see what I can find." Alya said and looked at Nino. "So, going to talk to your parents about it?"
"Yeah, a program with projects that we could do together, that would be nice." Nino said and smirked a little. "At least this way Akuma ground zero would probably move away from others and all."
"Around our age at least." Alya said and smirked. "And just think, on a good day we could all gather together and maybe learn with each other or other stuff."
"Adrien's a wizards with physics, Marinette's great at geology and history, you'll great at math and I'm a pro with literature, heck I think even Chloe does great at science." Nino said and Alya grinned back.
"I guess even Chloe has some skills hu?" Alya asked and Nino smirked.
"Yeah she does, I mean the year before she had to tutor me for a while… long story something about something her dad needed and she had to skip a lab and I need a few more points on my average." Nino said with a shrug at Alya's look. "Like I said; it's a long story."
"Fine, but I will get around to getting the answer sooner or later." Alya said with a smirk as she punched his arm lightly and he laughed and looked at her with a small smile. "What?"
"Your back to normal, guess I shocked you out Alya." Nino said with a smirk and Alya looked at him before looking down with a blush as she realized how she had acted before.
"Okay, yeah I admit I was a bit over there, but after what we learned I think I was within my rights Nino." Alya said as she looked around and Nino nodded at her, agreeing with what wasn't being said.
"At least that we'll talk to whoever gave 'em soon about this." Nino said with a shrug, Alya nodding as she remembered that Marinette had promised to text them once they talked to 'The Guardian'. "And I'm going to talk to my Ma about maybe switching to homeschool, you?"
"Yeah, and we have to tell the others about this, we can't let them get caught flat footed." Alya said and Nino nodded.
"I've got to head towards the river for a pickup for ma, I'll stop by the Liberty and tell Jules about it, she'll tell Rose and the others, and I'll tell Alix tomorrow before school, and we so need a chat without her. " Nino said as Alya growled in a canine way and he looked at her with a smirk. "Your Trixx is showing."
"Low blow." Alya said with a laugh as they crossed the street and she sighed as she saw her building. "There's home, I can't wait to tell ma and pa about this."
"Look on the bright side, we could all join the same program and take 'classes' in the park." Nino said and looked up and sighed. "I will miss the library and the music room."
"The public library has most of the books, we could track copies down online and well." Alya said with a shrug. "And your music… maybe you could rent a recording room or something, are there even places like that around town for that?"
"Sometihng to look into, maybe I could ask about on the net." Nino said with a shrug and Alya laughed a little.
"Maybe, but wouldn't Juleka or Luka know something about that?" Alya said and Nino grinned back at her.
"Yeah, maybe I could ask them about it when I stop by. Best to have everything ready before you need it, ya know?" Nino said and Alya laughed a little.
"Yeah I've been around Marinette's parents long enough to have heard that saying, they've got a lot of them don't they?" Nino said with a grin that fell as he looked ahead and saw Nora standing there waiting. "Party's over, Hey Nora? How are you, I saw that you won your last match?"
"Sup stringbean. There you are Alya, ma and da are upstairs waiting for us so let's go." Nora said and Alya sighed and nodded, kissing Nino's check.
"See you tomorrow Nino." Alya said as she walked into the apartments and Nora pointed at her eyes before pointing at Nino who only laughed and walked away. Nora looked at Nino before sighing and turning around and walking after Alya, finding her sister heading towards the stairs and frowned.
"Okay little sister, what'd you do….. no what didn't you do?" Nora asked as she caught up to Alya who looked down and closed her eyes.
"I thought… I believed that Marinette was pulling a me when I met Aisha." Alya said and Nora looked at her sister and softened her eyes and grabbed Alya and hugged her, Alya stood there and started to cry as Nora held her.
"Oh little sis." Nora said as Alya released her emotions, Nora looking around on the lookout for any Akumas. "Hang in there sis, you'll stronger than this."
"And the worst thing is she forgave me for it, Lila got Marinette expelled and she forgave me for not going with her to the principle,
"Why didn't you call me as a character witness for her hearing? I mean I coulda been a character witness at the least." Nora said as Alya calmed down and her older breathed a sigh of relief as no butterflies came towards them.
"She didn't have one! And with what I learned, I'm not surprised at anything anymore about that place!" Alya said with a scowl as Nora looked at her with shock that slowly became anger.
"Okay that's just wrong!" Nora said with a scowl and Alya nodded.
"Someone was driven to try and commit suicide at Dupont, and the staff still doesn't protect victims!" Alya said and Nora looked at her sister not believe what she was hearing.
"Okay let's go talk to transferring out of that place." Nora said with a scowl.
"I want to become homeschooled. A few friends are considering that too, and a few programs have 'classes' where we can work together." Alya said and Nora raised an eyebrow and snickered.
"Better not let the twin terrors hear about it, I mean they might want to try it too!" Nora said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I mean can you imagine what they will be like if they do?" Alya asked and Nora laughed a little, glad to hear the joke in her sister's voice.
"I'll take your side little sis, but you have to convince mom and dad." Nora said and Alya sighed.
"They are not going to be happy when I'm done with telling them about it." Alya said as Nora nodded and moved forward and looked over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs.
"Well at least it's takeout from mom and dad's favorite tonight; at least they'll be in a good mode." Nora said causing Alya to laugh and follow after her.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Adrien looked at Marinette who sat staring at the wall, completely shocked as Tikki floated by her head.
"Cheer up Marinette, at least you can say that you all didn't transform in front of each other by accident right?" Tikki said as Plagg just snickered.
"Come on sugarclub, I mean how many times has something like this happened?" Plagg said from where he sat on Marinette's bed with a laugh in his voice. "A thinker figures out who everyone is because he made a self-aware golem that talked to him about how they always disappeared and then he blurted out everyone's identities! Oh man, when Fu hears about this!"
"Master Fu, oh he'll be so mad; he'll take our Miraculous and find a way to blanket our memories about this, when the new heroes show up Lila will figure out what happened because we won't remember her and then Hawkmoth will Akumatize her then she torture us until they realizes we don't remember anything and then….!" Marinette began to spiral and stopped when Adrien put a finger to her lips. She looked up and saw him smiling at her and looked down as she realized what she had been saying.
"So that was a Marinette freak out you always talked about Tikki?" Plagg asked with a grin as Adrien smiled at Marinette and Tikki only sighed.
"She's getting better, at least this one was about something serious." Tikki said as Marinette flushed and looked away and Adrien smiled and hugged her, not noticing that Marinette's blush had intensified.
"This wasn't our fault and I think Master Fu won't be too mad at this, I mean it was so out of what we could prepare for that I don't think that we could have done anything differently." Adrien said as Plagg and Tikki snickered at how Marinette was handling him hugging her. "And given that we trusted them with Miraculous, and that we know them I think he'll trust them."
"Yeah…. So think we should call him now or after supper?" Marinette was finally able to look at Adrien who looked back at her and sighed. "Now would be best, right?"
"Yeah, better get it over with now." Adrien said and Marinette got her phone out and put it on her table and activated the speaker.
"Hello, is something wrong children?" Fu asked and Marinette looked at Adrien who reached over and squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her.
"Master Fu, there is no easy way to say this…" Marinette said before looking around at the others.
"The horse, the fox and turtle know old man." Plagg cut in. "The horse's golem figured it out and they thought the fox and turtle knew."
"Oh my, I never even thought that something like that could happen. But how did…" Fu trailed off and muttered to himself and Adrien and Marinette looked at each other and shrugged.
"What's happened happened, from what you all said this was not your fault and the others who have been with them have nothing but good things to say, but take them here tomorrow if you can." Fu said after a while and a sigh was heard from the other end of the phone. "All in all, I never even thought that something like this could happen, but this wasn't your fault all so don't worry about me taking away Plagg or Tikki."
"You knew master?" Adrien asked and Fu's laughter came over the phone and they looked down.
"Yes, I think I've got a sense of who you both are by now and your worries by not new." Fu's voice came over with a chuckle and they heard a ding and an ahh. "Our dinner's done, text me tomorrow children and good night."
Adrien looked at Marinette as the call ended and chuckled. "You know, the few times I talked to him when he was teaching me Chinese, well Standard Mandarin he's always seemed… merry."
"He does, doesn't he? Since Tikki brought the book to him, he's been helping me get my… freakouts under control." Marinette said and Adrien nodded.
"Yeah, the few times we've practived Mandarin together he's been trying to help me, I like that about him you know? He's not judgmental and with how dad is about The Brand I think he's just like a therapist at all." Adrien said and Marinette looked at him with sadness in her eyes. "What?"
"I heard from Chloe how you were when your mother… he never let you talk to someone about it, did he?" Marinette asked and Adrien sighed and shook his head.
"Dad just….. shut down when she disappeared." Adrien said as he looked down, both humans missing the look of rage on Plagg's face as Tikki floated over and bumped him.
"Adrien…." Marinette trailed off and moved closer to him, he looked up and saw how close she was and instinctily moved his head closer to hers, their eyes slowly closing before.
"MARINETTE, Louise is here, COME DOWN!" Tom's voice caused them to jolt back and realize what they had been about to do and laughed a little and then they got up, blushes on their faces, both beating themselves up for taking advantage of the other, missing the giggles of their Kwami's
As Marinette and Adrien came down stairs they saw Louise talking with Sabine and Tom. "… so I swung around to the Italian Embassy after I hit the local education department and so far I was able to find her mother…. Adrien, there you are!"
"Hey Louise, how's the case going?" Adrien asked and Louise scowled a little.
"You've got the patience of a saint kid, a lot of my other clients would have gone to me a lot sooner then you. And my interns finished the last of the interviews earlier today and we've got a bonus with that photographer, Vincent. I won't say much but I think that part of the case is a slam dunk." Louise said with a nod. "Now the abuse aspect of the case, my interns had a thought that we'll be able to handle… how do you feel about a full physical?"
"What are you thinking Louise?" Adrien asked as he squeezed Marinette's hand subconsciously as she squeezed back, although they didn't realize what they had done her parents had noticed and grinned at each other a little.
"I don't like how skinny you look, with the emotional abuse I think that's enough on its own but well it would be good to have a second option from a neutral source." Louse said with a shrug.
"Okay, I can do that. But you can't get me for that here, a pick up somewhere else is best." Adrien said with a hard nod and Louise nodded.
"Yeah, I guess it is. Okay the best thing would be for you to be in disguises….. I could probably grab an outfit for you to wear, but it might take me a day or two." Louise began when Marinette spoke up.
"I can handle that." Marinette said and everyone looked at her and she looked down. "After that time we tried to go see Solitude, I rememberd how hard it was so I figured a disguises would be best for next time he was out and about, then I figured outher celeberties might need something like that so I've been working on a jacket with a pocket in the hood to hide a wig."
"Clever girl." Louise said as he blinked and Adrien grinned at her. "How far along are you with a prototype?"
"I finished the jacket's body, a little work and I can finish it tonight, I just need to remodel it into a vest with a detachable hood." Marinette said with a shrug.
"Thanks Marinette, once this is over with I'll pay for the material cost." Adrien said and smiled as Marinette giggled.
"It's fine Adrien, but I got them from thrift stores and it was financed by my Jagged money." Marinette said with a grin. "It's the profits from glasses and CD cover I made for him, most of it is going into a trust fund, but I take away about 1 percent of it for materials. Just give me a review of it once you're done with it."
"Thanks, but thrift stores?" Adrien asked and Marinette giggled a little at his questioning look and shrugged.
"The biggest problem I have is what the final work will look and feel like, so I started to use pre owed clothing to get my final drafts finished and make notes on how what to use for the final material." Marinette said with a shrug. "It's been doing wonders for letting me learn how to handle different fabric and others materials."
"That's interesting. But about your case." Louise said and looked around with a sigh. "From what I've found so far, you have not been expelled."
"What!" Adrien, Marinette and her parents exclaimed and Louise nodded.
"But Damocles expelled her, we were there and he called us in!" Tom snalred and Adrien looked confused before he started to growl.
"Adrien, what is it dear?" Sabine asked and Adrien looked at them before he sighed and looked at them.
"It's in the school's power to let a student go if they don't show up for a certain number of classes and days, right?" Adrien asked Louise and Marinette and her family looked at him before they got his meaning and Tom started to growl as Sabine hands started to flex, imagining a certain owl's neck was between her fingers.
"From what my contact found out, the only thing that a request for the paperwork to let a student who doesn't show up go." Louise said somberly before he grinned. "My contact was so shocked once I told them about what happened, in a day or so the paperwork for the hearing will be done, the judges needed will be contacted and then you'll get a summons."
"So this won't happen to my daughter?" Tom asked and he breathed a sigh of relief as he squeezed Sabine's hand.
"Yes, in fact if you go to the education board tomorrow we can get the ball really rolling." Louise said and looked around the room. "Okay, I'll call around and find a doctor who I can trust to keep who he's looking at quiet."
"Thanks Louise, thanks a lot for this." Adrien said and Louis laughed and smiled at him.
"Hey, kid I've found that sometimes you've got to help people out when you can, sides you helped me keep my license so I owe you big." Louise said and waved off the others before they even opened their mouths. "Long story, basically he was recording his mom for a project for a gift, I was there under contract and he was using a model that gave the time it was made and well long and complicated."
"Okay….. What time should we head over to the board of education tomorrow?" Sabine asked and Louise looked down at his watch.
"I would say around eleven ma'am." Louise said with a smile as he got up. "Once there head to complaints, tell'em that you want talk to anyone about an illegal expulsion, that should get you where you need to go."
"Thank you." Sabine said as she shook his hand and he grinned.
"Like I said, sometimes you have to help others." Louise said with a smirk and walked towards the staircase down and out. And I need to do a little pro-bono work every now and then, and this is one of them, and if I get to hurt the institute that hurt her, so much the better. He thought as he walked out into the back ally and smiled up at the darkening sky.
