#lila bashing

 Then, one glorious Tuesday morning, Lila accused Marinette of stealing her orange pen. Tikki had been eating her blueberry and lemon curd macaron while reclining on a silk scarf when the girl snatched the purse she was in. Marinette tried to get it back, horrified when Lila opened the latch and shoved her hand inside. 

The purse jostled roughly to one side, causing Tikki's cookie to fall to the floor as the stolen pen slid out of the girl's sleeve and into the purse. What happened next occurred so quickly, that she would always claim, while ignoring Plagg's jokes and side eyes, that it was a complete accident. Tikki grabbed the pen, touching Lila’s fingers as she pushed away and fazed through the bottom of the purse. With all the chaos of Lila keeping the purse out of Marinette’s reach and Mme. Bustier, demanding that everyone calm down, no one noticed the kwamii fly under the desks, drop the pen under Lila’s chair, and return to Marinette to hide in her backpack. 

"...but she took my pen, I saw her put it in-"

"If that is the case, you tell me and I will handle it," Bustier said sternly, displeased that her lesson had been interrupted and her pregnancy hormones giving her a shorter fuse. "Give Marinette her purse back, now." She did, barely hiding her smirk. "Marinette, may I please take a look inside your purse?" 

Hands shaking from the adrenaline, having a flashback of the last time her bag had been searched, and worried about Tikki being found, Marinette wanted to say no. It was only when she spotted Tikki out of the corner of her eye, head poking out of her backpack and giving a reassuring nod, that she handed over her purse.

A few seconds later, Bustier handed the purse back and cast a disappointing scowl at Lila. "I believe you owe Marinette an apology." 

Shock broke through Lila’s façade as she sputtered. "But… but she took my favorite orange pen. I swear I saw-"

"Isn't this it?" Nathaniel asked, causing everyone to turn and see him pick the pen up from under their shared desk. 

Sputtering a bit more, Lila clenched her jaw before giving Marinette a terse "sorry" before stomping back to her seat. 

Plagg knew exactly what his Sugarcube had done, he'd felt the slight spike of power after the cookie had shattered on the floor and that brat had shoved her hand into Pigtail's purse. The embarrassment of apologizing in front of the class was just the start. He knew the girl wouldn't accept defeat so easily, and the consequences would keep growing. 

And he was not disappointed. 

Lila tried to trip Marinette in the cafeteria, and ended up stubbing her toe on a table leg hard enough to cry real tears. When she attempted to switch their homework assignments in Mendeleiev's class, the teacher not only spotted the switch but proved it in front of everyone by comparing handwriting. That got Lila a week of detention. 

Then, at the end of the day, Lila accidentally dumped her water bottle all over Marinette’s head and backpack. Despite acting oh-so apologetic and reminding everyone about her weak wrist, she wasn't getting the support or assurances of "it's not your fault" that she expected. Many glared at her while others ran off to get towels to help Marinette. Realizing that she miscalculated and did too much on a single day, Lila made a hasty retreat outside. Only to get absolutely soaked when a car sped through a puddle on the street. 

Plagg laughed his little whiskers off from that one. But he knew it was just starting. He couldn't wait to hear about what happened away from school. 

~oOo~

The following morning, Lila looked like she'd been dropped into Dante's Inferno and spat back out just in time for school. What happened didn't even have anything to do with Marinette, so she couldn't blame it on her. That just annoyed her all the more.

While storming home wet from the puddle, she kicked a pebble that hit a bird, then a flock of birds swarmed her while she ran for two blocks. She shoved a neighbor out of the way when she got to her apartment building, and the door flew back and cracked her in the nose. It bled for over ten minutes. 

She went to the mall for some retail therapy, coupled with a five finger discount, and was caught immediately. Her mother was called and she was banned from the mall for life. Greta was not happy with her daughter and gave her extra chores as punishment. While Lila was muttering mean and disrespectful things about her parents while cleaning the bathroom, she didn't account for the volume of her voice or the bathroom tiles echoing what she said. Her grounding was extended. 

All this made Lila’s mood particularly volatile when she arrived at school that morning. Not bothering to pay attention to what was around her, she gave Mireille a shove out of the way, making the girl stumble down the stairs. A couple seconds later, Lila slipped on the wet steps and fell all the way to the bottom. Her classmates saw the whole thing, and although they were miffed that she pushed someone, they still helped Lila to the nurse to get checked out. Nothing broken, but there were multiple new bruises to match her black and purple nose.

In class, Marinette had to resist the urge to stare at the hot mess her bully had become in a single day. The rest of the class had noticed too. Nathaniel decided to move up a row to sit with Ivan. Rose and Juleka cast wary glances in her direction whenever Lila started muttering to herself. Even Mme. Bustier had to tell Lila multiple times to stop talking with the threat of detention. 

By the time lunch came around, Marinette made sure to be with one other person at all times. With how unhinged Lila was getting, she didn't want to risk being caught alone with her. Luckily, Ivan, Rose, and Juleka wanted to talk with her about the new designs for Kitty Section, so she was covered. 

Lila noticed how the class was starting to avoid her. Fighting off the urge to curse and scream at them, she took a few deep breaths to clear her mind. She'd been rushing too much for the last two days, she knew that. Trying to compensate for her failure was only bringing more attention to herself and the sheep were noticing that something wasn't right. She had to slow down and make them come to her.

For the next few days, Lila backed down. She smiled at her followers, paid attention in class, and would occasionally look at her phone in distress and act like she was fighting off tears. By Monday morning, things were going better for her. She'd avoided getting in any more trouble with her mom and teachers, she'd texted a fake apology to her classmates, and admitted that she was going through something that was causing a lot of stress. When some of them asked what it was, Lila timidly said that she was too nervous to say anything else. She knew they would bug her and assure her that she could tell them anything. 

Monday morning, just as she planned, everyone was encouraging her to trust them and tell them what was bothering her. Seeing that Bustier and Marinette weren't in class yet, she knew now was the time to strike.

Squeezing her eyes shut as she harshly pinched the inside of her elbow to bring tears, she started weaving her story. "It's just, someone's been bullying over text. It's so bad. She keeps telling me that I'll lose all my friends and that I should just kill myself," she said between forced sobs as she dropped her head into her hands. "And it never stops. Sh- she texts all day and into the night. And when I tried to show my mom, the messages were gone. I don't know how, but it's like my phone got hacked and the messages disappear after I've read them."

Max mentioned that there are self deleting message apps, but he wasn’t familiar with them. Then he looked at her searchingly. "You keep saying 'she', that would indicate that you are aware of who is behind this?"

Doing her best surprised face, Lila shook her head. "I can't say, none of you would believe that Marinette would-" she gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh no, I really shouldn't have said anything."

Lila watched as the sheep exchanged surprised looks while Adrien glared at her, but he wouldn't say anything. His father would have made sure of that. 

"You're saying that Marinette, our class rep, has been bullying you over text?" Alix asked, unease evident in her tone.

She shook her head while turning up the water works. "I knew I shouldn't have said an-anything. She's your friend, too."

"You said she's been doing this constantly?" Mylene asked, eyeing her carefully as Lila nodded. "When did she last send you one of those texts?"

Sniffling, Lila rubbed her eyes to give herself a second to think. It felt like these were leading questions, like they knew something she didn't. Meaning they'd probably spent time with her over the weekend and would have noticed her messaging Lila constantly. But since everyone was here and Marinette wasn't…

"Right before class. It- it asked if I was dead yet." Another sniffle and she was sure the class was wrapped around her fing-

"Marinette was right! You are a liar!"

Lila was so surprised by Kim's outburst, she forgot to keep crying and stared at everyone as they glared at her in disgust and moved away from her.

"I can't believe we almost bought that crap you were selling!" Alix turned away, face turning red in anger.

"But- but it's the truth! I-"

"There is a .03% chance of what you said being true." Max interrupted, staring down his nose at her. "At this point it is better that you admit it."

Casting a desperate look around the classroom, she was surprised that no one looked supportive. Even Adrien looked absolutely done with her. Realizing the jig was up, she let her expression morph to anger and annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Wow, I'm surprised you idiots figured it out. Usually you do exactly what I say after faking a few tears. I'm curious, what gave me away?"

The sudden change in the Italian girl gave them a bit of whiplash, but Nino answered her. "You ruined Marinette’s phone when you dumped your water on her. She isn't getting a new one until this Friday. No way she could have been messaging you at all."

"Huh, I guess it was worth dumping that on her, even if you idiots started to notice." Then she shrugged and stood from her seat. "Oh well, good to know for my next school, this place was getting stagnant anyway."

Kim blocked her way. "You're not going to get away with-"

"Shut it, you stupid jock. I've already got Bitch-stier and Dumb-ocles eating out of my hand. When I tell them you're ganging up on me, all of you will get detention while I walk free." Sidestepping her soon-to-be former classmates, she gave them a sarcastic wave and smile as she bid them "ciao" and opened the door…

To come face to face with a furious teacher, principal, and her mother!? What's she doing here? Did they just hear what I said?

The thought barely finished when her mother reached out, literally grabbed her by the ear, and dragged her out the door. The class watched in shock as Mme Rossi screamed and lectured her daughter all the way to Damocles' office. 

They would be informed days later that Lila had been sent to military school in Italy. In lycee, they heard rumors that she had been arrested for stalking a local celebrity in Venice. During university, Alya found an article about Lila Rossi being sentenced to 30+ years in prison for attempting a ponzi scheme. It had failed terribly and her victims got all their money back, but Lila would have to serve 5 years for each of her victims. 

Not that it mattered to them anymore. The class was too busy with their own lives and futures to put much thought into some lying brat that they went to school with for a little while. 

Bonus:

Tikki fought her grin as she watched Lila being dragged away by her ear as she and Marinette came up the stairs. Sighing with relief, she was about to enjoy a well deserved treat when she heard a familiar snicker behind her.

"Nice going, Sugarcube. Couldn't have done it better, myself." Plagg cackled as he passed her a cookie before indulging in a wedge of cheese he'd brought with him.

She grudgingly took the cookie before looking away from him. "It was an accident, I touched her hand when she tried planting that pen in my holder’s purse. What happened was her own doing and not my fault."

"Su~re. And the fact that she interrupted your cookie time and dumped your macaron onto the floor had nothing to do with it?"

The look she gave him had Plagg laughing on the inside. Only on the inside.

"That was a perfectly baked, blueberry macaron with a tart, lemon curd filling. I only got one bite before it got dumped to the floor. A price had to be paid."

Plagg watched with great affection as his Sugarcube took a bite of her sweet treat. Oh yes, he'd learned millennia ago not to interrupt cookie time. Just like Henry the VIII, that Lenin guy in Russia, and a few others. They had experienced the wrath of the goddess of creation when interrupting cookie time, though Plagg was the only one to know why things went so bad. It made him smart enough never to do it again.

Taglist:

Alya had been told more than once by her mom, her dad, her sister, and her friends that she had a tendency to sometimes jump to conclusions. She’d be warned over and over not to get so caught up in a story that she’d neglect to check the facts. She’d been teased about her occasionally not so on the mark 'journalist instincts’. But regardless of the warnings and jokes about her occasional slip ups Alya believed that she was a good judge of character! And that was why she just knew that she could trust her friends! Which only made this whole Lila vs Marinette situation so FRUSTRATING!

 Lila was a sweet girl and she was Ladybug’s friend and now she was Alya’s friend too! Plus Lila had confided in Alya that the real reason she was at Dupont was because Ladybug needed someone on the inside as she suspected Hawkmoth had an ally at the school! After all so many Akuma’s were made at or around the school there was no way it wasn't suspicious! It made sense! Lila, loved giving to charity, cared about people's feelings and their futures, she offered to give so much! Sure she seemed awfully forgetful and she talked a LOT but that didn't make her a bad person! I mean Lila had even gone a step farther in her dedication to helping Ladybug that she’d given Alya that interview making herself, live bait for Hawkmoth! As far as Alya was concerned Lila was a saint! So then why did she keep accusing Marinette of being a bully!?

 Marinette was their everyday Ladybug. She supported all of her friends, she was smart and creative and quick as a whip and seemed to have a radar for people in need of her help! She always gave her all for those she cared about. Without Marinette so many people would have been akumatized and so many romances would have never started! Sure sometimes she got jealous or she’d get swept up in disaster mode, and yes she was clumsy and had her faults. But she was a good person who had never even raised a hand against Chloe, her long time bully! She apologized even when it was sometimes someone else's fault, she was humble and she just cared so deeply about everyone! And heck she even helped Adrien date that Tsurugi girl! As far as Alya was concerned Marinette was an angel! So then why did she keep accusing Lila of being a liar!?

 Alya knew there had to be some kind of answer that could fit both questions. And Lila’s theory that Marinette was jealous made sense at first… Until Marinette went out of her way to make Kagami a dress that looked like it was straight out of a fairytale and then helped Adrien organize what was THE most romantic date any of them had ever seen. Alya just KNEW that there was no way Marinette could be letting her jealousy get the best of her with Lila if she was willing to do all of that so that her rival Kagami could have the best date of her life. So then what was it?! What wasn't Alya seeing?! The answer came to her on a rainy Tuesday when Lila came to class sobbing about the awful texts Marinette had sent her the night before, for a second Alya was furious with Marinette until her reporter brain reminded her of one very important fact, that being that Marinette’s phone was one hundred percent BROKEN. In fact she’d busted it 3 days ago in front of most of the class at a picnic and wasn't getting a new one till Sunday! So then who would send Lila those texts but more importantly… Who was pretending to be MARINETTE!?

 Finally Alya saw it coming together, neither of her BFF’s were wrong! They were being tricked! Someone was pretending to be Marinette in order to attack Lila, then when poor distraught Lila would talk about the attacks the REAL Marinette of course thought she was lying! But how deep did this go?! Was the Marinette imposter working for Hawkmoth?! Or was there sole ambition to frame Marinette! Alya needed backup and to of course clear her besties' names. So she called for an emergency class meeting after school, minus Lila, Marinette and well Adrien of course since he had a date, Chloe and Sabrina also skipped out but not without Chloe making a comment about having ‘better’ things to do.

 With her mini-inspectors gathered, Alya started the meeting! First she presented her evidence in the case of Marinette being innocent! The phone and how Marinette’s was 100% broken! Therefore the texts Lila had gotten were clearly faked! But not by Lila, because well she would NEVER do such a thing no clearly someone was trying to frame Marinette! The class was shocked but soon some came forward with more evidence! Lila had claimed the bruise on her wrist was caused by Marinette 2 days ago but Juleka had proof Marinette was at Kitty Sections band practice! Alix admitted that when Lila said Marinette threatened her she’d seen Marinette in the art room on the second floor! More and more evidence came forward until there was no longer any doubt! Someone was trying to frame Marinette Dupain-Cheng!

 Now the class just needed to find out WHO was trying to frame their beloved class president! Obviously Alya’s first candidate was Chloe and Sabrina! They certainly had motive and the means but… Chloe had recently apologized and had been making strides to better herself, she had been acting nice despite the occasional ‘im better than you’ comments and everytime the class tried accusing Chloe of anything Marinette would defend her, in fact the blonde had been spotted several times blushing and staring at Marinette. It could all be a trick but well… Maybe other suspects needed to be considered. Kagami went on the list for the sheer fact she had acknowledged Marinette as her ‘rival’! That was certainly the motive but… Kagami was dating Adrien already so why would she continue the ruse? Not to mention Marinette and Kagami seemed to be getting along great, Alya knew they were having juice dates every week or so! Ok so she’d stay on the suspect list just to be safe but Alya didn't think it was her. After that the class had a harder time finding names to add. Juleka suggested Adrien’s fangirls as an option as Marinette was on his instagram a few times, and Nino offered up the idea that it was a girl in a different class who was jealous of Marinette’s popularity. Alya wrote it all down and but mentally she listed ‘Hawkmoth’ as well. After all, it seemed way too convenient for Ladybug’s best friend to be the victim of the attacks even if they were framing poor Marinette!

 With their suspects listed, the class led by Alya started planning what to do. Lila and Marinette wouldn't stop disliking each other until the class had proof, but ignoring one of the girls in favor of the other would only cause bigger rifts to form. And of course they needed to find proof of the culprit. With that in mind the class split into two groups! One group would spend time with Lila the other with Marinette. Occasionally the groups would switch and occasional people would swap groups just to keep a ‘natural’ feel and because well EVERYONE wanted to hang out with the two coolest girls in school! With the two groups watching over the girls they would always have an alibi if the imposter tried to strike! It also meant they could look for proof and surely the imposter would have to stop the physical attacks on Lila's person if she was being guarded right? The only tricky thing would be making sure neither girl found out until they knew who the culprit was! But that was a small price to pay to help the two girls become friends and have the class become harmonious once more!

 With the plan set and everyone in agreement the class began operation WFMDC or ‘operation: Who Framed Marinette Dupain-Cheng’ it was Kim’s plan name and no one liked it but he wouldn't stop yelling it and they had no other names so that's what it was getting called. For the first few weeks the operation went great, better than great! Neither girl felt neglected, both knew they had the support of their friends! Sure, full class activities were a bit… Difficult but they always managed to make it fun! Girl nights had to be done twice, once with Lila and once with Marinette and there were occasionally some double bookings but they made it through ok! But then a month went by… And another… And a pattern started to emerge, one that left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. The first thing was after two months they were still no closer to finding out who framed Marinette, and their suspect list had actually shrunk as they went over each suspect's alibis.

 Chloe and Sabrina had been the first girls to be cleared of suspicion much to everyone's collective shock. Chloe openly admitted to be attending regular therapy sessions both with her family and solo which meant that a lot of the times she might have been masquerading as Marinette were accounted for. There was also the fact that she had started hanging out with the class as a collective more and had even been joining Marinette and Kagami on days out giving her a solid alibi. Sabrina was no longer tied to Chloe’s hip due to the two taking a bit of space apart to work on building a healthier friendship. In her new free time Sabrina had taken an interest in sports and Alix was the one who taught her then encouraged her to sign up for the rugby team where she was an apparent powerhouse. So needless to say Sabrina had a solid alibi. Of course Alya suspected the whole thing was a lie but after some (stalking) sleuthing she confirmed the whole thing was legit.

 Kagami had also been knocked off the suspect list fairly quickly. Like Adrien her schedule was near permanently full giving the fencer zero time to think let alone run around playing Marinette. But Alya wasn’t so easily convinced! And had considered the possibility of Kagami hiring an imposter. So she did what all good detectives do and she fished for information, one long conversation with Kagami later and it became clear to Alya that Kagami had no vendetta against Marinette if anything Alya got the feeling that it was never really Marinette vs Kagami fighting over Adrien but rather Kagami vs Adrien fighting over Marinette not that either of the sheltered rich kids had realized it yet. 

 So with the suspect list whittled down and Kagami added to the long list of people not so secretly in love with Marinette the class was facing a dilemma. At this point they were stuck considering Adrien’s fangirls as suspects and considering the rest of the school. With no time like the present the class got to work. Their fellow students were cleared one at a time. Most of them either knew Marinette well enough and liked her a lot thanks to her spot on the school council helping organize school dances, fundraisers, and trips. Or they had no real idea who Marinette was and therefore no reason to target her. With them down all that was left were the Adrien fans. The less obsessive fans could easily be written off the list as they just thought Adrien was cute but not much else. No, the real suspects were the crazies, the screaming mob of creepy weirdos who’d fight each other over a signed Adrien poster and bought ‘totally authentic Adrien Agreste lock of hair!’ To add to their shrines. They’d be the ones likely to see Marinette on Adrien’s instagram and lose their minds with jealousy. 

 The problem was… Adrien had a LOT of fans and going around asking them if they knew anything about Adrien Agreste’s very  good friend Marinette was about the dumbest thing they could do so instead Nino got into touch with a trustworthy Adrien Superfan and asked the guy to keep an eye out for any other superfans trying to harm Adrien’s interpersonal relationships. When Alya asked where Nino had met the guy Nino’s only answer was to open his jacket revealing a ‘President of The Adrien Agreste Needs a Rest Club’ pin attached to his shirt. Alya felt that was all she needed to see to understand the situation and left the investigation up to Nino and his ‘inside man’.

 So with several months of investigations under their belts and no leads the class was feeling understandably frustrated. Worse still the attacks on Lila had not stopped and her refusal to offer context or details left more questions than answers!  Alya had tried pressing Lila several times for more information but the girl would just burst into tears recalling the traumatic events and Alya did not have the heart to put Lila through that, even if the lack of info meant that there was nothing to go on.

 Another thing that had become apparent after spending so much time on plan WFMDC was that Marinette was perhaps more fun to spend time with. No one said it out loud obviously, and Alya would deny it until she was blue in the face. But shameful as it made them feel Marinette was just more fun. They told themselves it was because they had known her longer but sometimes when they’d be hanging around Lila they could admit what it really was. Lila was selfish, sure she came up with fun activities for everyone to do together, but that was the thing Lila ALWAYS came up with what they were doing. She never asked other people for their opinion, instead she’d suggest her idea and before anyone could try to bring up another one they’d find themselves at the mall, or the movie theater, or the new restaurant. It didn’t help that Lila always seemed ill prepared for her own suggestions! She’d suggest the movies and when they arrived at the theater she would suddenly discover her wallet was missing, leading to someone always ALWAYS paying for her snacks and ticket. Sure she SAID she would pay you back but so far the entire class had yet to see a single cent. Whenever Lila wanted to go shopping she needed help carrying her pile of purchases due to her arthritis, at restaurants her special diet meant she always ordered the most expensive thing all while never having enough money. And then there was her never-ending TALKING.

 Now everyone in Bustier’s class was a passionate soul, they could all admit that sometimes when something happened in their lives they might dominate the conversation a little with their personal joy and enthusiasm. But Lila was something else entirely, sure her stories were always interesting and amazing, but the more time they spent with Lila the more it felt like she was the only one allowed to have amazing stories to tell. When Alix won the roller-skating competition she’d been training several months for AND found out she’d be going to the regionals to compete she was off the walls with joy but barely a minute in and her news was quickly overshadowed by yet another one of Lila’s unbelievable stories, no one missed the twinge of disappointment in Alix’s face as her victory was overshadowed by Lila telling them about how she had been a champion ‘figure’ skater before yet another injury ruined her career. And it wasn’t just Alix. It happened with everyone whenever they had any news to share at all, and when they compared that to Marinette who had squealed in joy at Alix’s news and announced that they had to throw her a party to celebrate her hard work… Well it was clear which friend seemed to really care for them wasn’t it?

 But no one wanted to think ill of Lila, she was… Nice. Even if a bit selfish and full of herself, she still offered helpful advice and told people how they could improve. But even then her advice wasn’t always warranted or kind. For instance the modeling advice she gave to Juleka had left the already insecure girl feeling terrible, and everyone could see it and felt awful and unsure how to tell Lila that her advice was more harm than good, the italian was just so sensitive that no one really wanted to broach topics that might send her into one of her spirals of sobbing and shaking, not to mention the guilt tripping. Here again they could not help but compare Marinette and Lila, as not even 2 days after Lila’s terrible advice to Juleka did Marinette tell everyone she was launching her own fashion website and wanted Juleka to be her top model because of how talented and beautiful she was! The shy girl had taken a bit of coaxing but a week later they were at the park modeling and Juleka seemed to beam with pride and confidence as she posed in Marinette’s newest line. In fact where Lila promised she would ‘talk’ to her connections to get you an opportunity, Marinette simply MADE opportunity. Nino made the music for her website and got contacted by someone who heard it and wanted to offer him an opportunity, Rose who had made some jewelry for Marinette’s line saw a bunch of cash come her way, both the Ladyblog and Nathaniel’s comics got attention after Marinette designed a small Hero line of hoodies and collaborated with the two to bring them attention. In fact Marinette did something like that for the whole class! 

 They started switching team ‘Marinette’ and team ‘Lila’ more often to avoid the silent slow building frustration that the class was dealing with. Alya was the one most frustrated with the situation at large as they were not coming any closer in their investigation and the class kept complaining to her about Lila’s forgetfulness draining their bank accounts. She’d promise them that their enemy would slip up soon and that she’d remind Lila again about remembering her wallet. Then Lila would cry when Alya would bring up money and sob about how everyone was going to hate her and it had been stolen, Marinette would call Lila a liar and try to demand Lila pay everyone back and Alya would be forced to play peacemaker. It was getting tiring and no progress was being made. It was time Alya thought to tell the class about the ‘Hawkmoth’ theory.

 It took a week before the opportune day presented itself. Marinette claimed to have an appointment with a ‘secret new client’ and it took everything in Alya not to gush and demand info. Instead she wished her bestie good luck and asked her to text her about it later. Lila meanwhile latched on to Adrien and dragged him away saying they had a photoshoot. Chloe said she had a day with her mom planned, Sabrina was out with her dad on a week long bonding trip. Perfect. Alya rounded up her fellow inspectors headed to the park and they got to talking. The info was about as dead end as it could get.

 No one had seen one speck of the ‘imposter’ Marinette. Whoever or whatever the imposter was it would never appear in person to Lila when the class was around. However the moments their backs were turned for a second Lila would somehow get attacked or robbed or threatened! And each time she’d claim it was Marinette. The real Marinette however had an alibi for each incident thanks to ‘team Marinette’. She’d only disappear when she was in a private bathroom stall or an akuma attack happened and at this point they all knew Marinette had some trauma regarding those so it made sense to them that she'd just flee and hide on instinct even if the akuma was across the city. The sweet girl was probably curled up somewhere having a panic attack plus she’d always pop back up the moment they were over with some shaky excuse probably to try and reassure all of THEM she was fine! The point was clear, there was no way Marinette was going after Lila unless she could teleport! In fact there was no way ANYONE was going after Lila unless they could teleport! And that left them all with only one option: Hawkmoth!

 The class was skeptical of Alya’s claim at first after all the idea of Hawkmoth making a ‘centi-monster-marinette’ aka a Centinette to attack Lila seemed crazy! Lila was just a girl! Was Hawkmoth some sort of creepy middle aged dude who enjoyed causing petty teenage drama for fun or something? Alya however stood firm as she presented her evidence! Lila wasn’t just a random girl, she was an important diplomat's daughter AND Ladybugs best friend! She likely had secret info Hawkmoth wanted! At this point it was Alix who pointed out the obvious hole in Alya’d theory.

 “If Hawkmoth wanted info from Lila why would he be terrorizing her as Centinette? Why use Marinette’s image at all?” 

 “The creep probably wants Marinette to get upset by Lila calling her a bully so he can akumatize her!” Kim angrily kicked a rock as he let out an angry puff of air. 

 Max spoke before Alix could offer a rebuttal. “Perhaps but bullying Lila is more likely to lead to HER being Akumatized not Marinette! Not to mention Lila never said anything about Marinette demanding info on Ladybug. It's always about Adrien or taking her money or spilling juice on Lila’s clothing. That doesn't exactly sound like the work of a brilliant mastermind villain does it? Perhaps it is best to revisit the theory that it is one of Adrien’s superfans?” Max’s words caused a ripple of murmurs to pass through the class.

 “I think the funniest thing here is you're all talking like Hawkmoth is actually intelligent. Did we all forget the man akumatized a baby.” All heads turned to look at Nathanial who was drawing quietly under a tree. The redhead flushed when he noticed there looks and mumbled a quiet “Sorry just thinking out loud”

 Kim hummed in thought “I don't know guys my man Nath’s got a point. Hawkmoth’s never been the most logical guy!”

 “So what he’s making Centinettes to bully Lila about a boy and to take her lunch money in hopes she what? Snaps and spills all the beans about Ladybug? And as a side bonus he gets to MAYBE Akumatize Marinette or Lila?” Nino scratched the back of his neck with a sigh. It didn’t sound like a plan that made a lick of sense but maybe it was the type of plan Hawkmoth would go for? With his track record of logical decisions… It wasn’t entirely out of the question but man was it stupid.

 “Maybe… Maybe Lila hasn't told us about all the bullying! Maybe the Centinettes ARE demanding info on Ladybug and Lila didn't say anything so we wouldn't worry!” Rose bit her lip as she acknowledged her own words. “I'd be a bit sad though if Lila didn’t think she could trust us about something so serious though!” 

 That made Alya frown. Lila had told her about working with Ladybug on her first day at Francois she said she ‘knew’ that Alya was a trusted ally of Ladybugs! Did she not trust Alya with potentially vital information because she was Marinette’s friend? Did Lila want to handle it all on her own? Was Lila telling Ladybug that Marinette was evil and also Hawkmoth’s ally!!! Was Hawkmoth trying to frame Marinette as his ally to hide his TRUE ally at Francois Dupont!!!!

 Alya desperately wanted to tell Ladybug but her mind was swirling with doubt. Ladybug would want proof it wasn’t actually Marinette and what if their words were not good enough because they were Marinette’s friend!? No, at the end of the day it was clear they needed evidence! And Alya was going to get it! She clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and started telling them about her plan.

 The plan was simple-ish a bit… Invasive but hopefully worth it to get the evidence they needed. 

 Stage 1: The class had begun rejecting invites to go out and do stuff with the girls claiming to be ‘busy’ in order to reduce suspicion AND ensure there was no hurt feelings from the rejection the class made sure to loudly whisper and drop hints about a ‘surprise party’ when the girls picked up on the whispers they stopped asking to hang out Marinette was clearly trying to hide the fact that she’d heard about the surprise party but was obviously excited, Lila on the other hand made not so subtle remarks about gifts she wanted or treats she’d enjoy. Alya felt awful about the lie and not hanging out with her besties but it would be worth it in the long run she was sure of it!

 Stage 2: Have Rose and the other members of Kitty Section actually plan a party? Wait no! That wasn’t right!? But then Ivan pointed out that it would look more suspicious if there was no physical evidence of the party and Rose said something about celebrating the imposter Marinette’s defeat and okay fine! Stage 2 was to do some light party planning while they waited for the set up to Stage 3.

 Stage 3: Split the class in two and take shifts secretly following Marinette and Lila around with cameras in order to get proof of Marinette’s innocence and of the obvious evil Centinette hurting Lila! This stage would be admittedly easier if Marinette didn’t find ways to disappear every akuma attack but the class was determined.

 Stage 4: Review the evidence.

 Alya rubbed her eyes tiredly as she peeked out from her hiding place watching as Lila walked to school. They had been (stalking) observing the girls for a little over a week now and the results were worrying. Lila hadn't been attacked by Centinette once while the class was observing her in secret but she was still claiming that Marinette had attacked her this led to some members of the class namely, Max, Alix, Juleka, and even Nino to lose faith in Lila going so far as to claim that the italian was clearly a liar and that the almost 2 weeks worth of evidence was proof enough. The rest of the class was on the fence though Alya suspected it was more for her sake as she had yet to give up on the italian. Yet despite the class trying not to admit their doubt out loud, many had not so subtly dropped out of the plan instead choosing to join Rose and Kitty Section in planning the party… The party which happened to be morphing into a ‘were sorry for not believing you earlier we love and appreciate you Marinette’ party. The only way to change the tide of the class was to get that proof and Alya was a good friend, the type of friend who was determined to get it. Hence why she’d been waking up at 5am everyday to go to Lila’s house and follow her to school everyday.

 Today Lila was running late and Alya had almost fallen asleep in the bush outside her apartment building as she waited for the girl. Despite running late the Italian didn’t seem concerned in the least in fact she walked casually. As the school came into sight Alya contemplated dropping her hiding and just running past Lila to try and get to class on time. But a gut instinct told her to hold on and keep following Lila until class just to be safe. She was desperate for proof of Marinette’s innocence and one tardy or two was acceptable. As Lila made her way to the locker room Alya crept behind her careful to wait a second or two before prying the door open and sliding inside and then behind some lockers. It was only then she heard a familiar voice.

 “What do you want, Lila? Can’t you tell that we're BOTH late for the first period?” Alya’s jaw dropped as she peeked around the row of lockers, her cellphone at the ready and recording. Sure enough standing there was Marinette rifling through her locker in a hurry. And next to her was Lila hand on her hips with the smuggest smile Alya had ever seen. 

 Was this it? Was Alya finally going to capture proof of Centinette’s existence? But if so, why did Lila look so hostile? So unlike the girl Alya and the class had come to know?

 “What's wrong Marinette? Can’t you spare a few seconds to talk to the most popular girl in school!” The shark-like grin Lila wore only grew as Marinette shot her an annoyed look as she deposited her books in her locker.

 “Aww now what's that look for? You know it's true! The whole class is even throwing a surprise party just for ME, I’m sure you’ve heard them gossiping about it.” Alya felt her stomach twist at Lila’s words, each one spoken with a venomous tone. Had she gotten it wrong? Was this Lila the Centimonster? Was the real Lila at home?

 “I have but I wouldn’t be so quick to assume it's for YOU Lila. The class often throws surprise parties. If anything, my guess is it's to celebrate Kitty Sections new album.” Marinette closed her locker, her head down clearly trying to avoid the confrontation she knew was coming.

 “UGH, they're making more of that trash music? Well whatever, It's not like their childish little boat band is ever going to get successful, not with Rose’s awful singing and their lame little costumes.” Lila’s mocking laugh echoed through the room and Alya saw Marinette grit her teeth, her eyes narrowing into a deadly glare.

 “They will succeed! Because they are passionate and hard working! The whole class is! Unlike YOU who only knows how to leech off other people!”

 Alya felt her heart swell, Marinette had no reason to defend them not now, she was alone in a room with her bully and it would have been easier to just say nothing, or even agree to try and escape Lila but no Marinette had defended them even when no one was around to see or hear. Well Alya was around, and recording, but Marinette didn’t know that and she still stood up for them, a true friend no matter what. She was so getting the best party ever Alya would make sure of it.

 Alya shook her head and focused back on the situation in front of her Marinette was moving past Lila the Italian left gaping in clear offended shock as Marinette’s bold insults sank in, but within seconds she recovered a snarl leaving her as she whipped around to grab Marinette by her arm before slamming her into the nearby lockers, Alya horrified and shocked gasps were smothered by the loud bang of Marinette being forced into the metal. 

 Alya was shocked, Lila was clearly not the person they had known she’d figured that out during their conversation about Kitty Section but violence? She was violent??? How far was this girl willing to go? What else had she done to Marinette? To her friends!? Alya felt righteous fury fill her; the only thing keeping her from rushing out to tackle Lila was the little voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Trixx telling her that foxes were patient hunters and that she needed to be smart or Lila would lie her way out of trouble. So Alya grit her teeth and dug her nails into the palms of her hands watching painfully as Lila threatened Marinette and told the girl that she was unwanted, unloved, and useless before whirling around and walking away head held high completely unaware of Alya capturing the girls true hideous self on camera.

 As Alya stopped the recording she quickly made sure to save it and send a backup to her email before she stood up on shaky legs. She wasn’t sure what to do now, she had proof of Lila true nature but she wasn’t sure what to do with it, and more pressingly was Marinette who had just been slammed against some lockers, threatened and insulted. Swallowing Alya shook herself off and peeked around the corner, Marinette was standing up from the floor a dazed distant look in her eyes and she seemed to be mumbling to herself Alya instantly snapped out of her thoughts, she could talk to Marinette about Lila later when the Italian was gone and no longer able to hurt her but right now what Marinette needed was a big hug, and a mood boost, no way was Alya letting Idiotmoth akumatize her friend. 

 Walking out from behind the lockers like she herself had only just arrived Alya let out a loud laugh and sigh of relief joking that the two of them could be late together. She wrapped her friend in a one armed hug and led her to class all while asking Marinette to hang out with her later and watch some new Fashion Show she’d seen a commercial for on t.v the combination of physical touch, and the distraction of fashion and the promise of a girls day seem to work as the distant look left Marinette’s eyes and she gave a weak smile. For the rest of the day Alya stuck close to Marinette. She kept her distracted, worked hard to make her laugh, and hugged her tight all while her brain plotted Lila’s demise.

 Two days later Alya had her plan nailed down and called for an Emergency Meeting. It took her a good 30 minutes to get everyone to stop screaming after Alya showed them the video, and the only reason they didn’t cause an akuma was likely because everyone was too yelling out various bloody revenge plots it was Marinette’s ‘always think of a solution Hawkmoth can't akumatize you if you have hope’ philosophy only with a lot more yelling about getting Lila shot out of a cannon into a cell. After Alya got them to simmer down she told them her plan, and watched with glee as one by one they all smirked as their own brains began to click ideas into place.

 Alya’s revenge was less dramatic than the cannon plan but it was karmic in a sweet way. The first part of the plan had been simple, the class had a lot of evidence against Lila already but with an afternoon of research and work they were able to gather even more, from Alya’s interviews and her recording of the ‘locker room incident’ to Max’s proof that Lila had been copying her classmates assignments instead of doing any of the work herself, to Markov’s many recordings of Lila’s lies in and out of class, and the recordings of Bustier and Damocles blatant favoritism for the girl. Alix and Kim ran around getting witness testimonies from students in other classes who had seen and heard some of Lila’s not so well hidden lies, they even got one from Kagami with the girl providing a photo of Adrien looking horribly uncomfortable while Lila forced a kiss on him, needless to say Nino was smiling eerily as he added ‘ignores sexual harassment’ to his growing list on why Gabriel deserved to lose custody of Adrien. It is unsurprisingly a long list and Alya was pretty sure that Gabriel would not stand a chance once Nino was done gathering his evidence against the man. But that was for another day, today was all about taking out Lila.

 After they had their evidence Alya sent one copy off to the school board and kept another copy for herself as a backup that she planned to send out to all the parents if the school board didn’t respond to the issue fast enough. Rose had suggested sending a copy to Lila’s mother but after they considered the fact that Lila had clearly done this song and dance before the class worried that informing her could lead to Lila facing minimum punishment and simply being changed to a different school to repeat the process again. 

 After that it was time for phase two, the fun part. Finally it was time to make Lila squirm. The entire school minus the teachers (though Nino suspected Mendeliev knew) was in on it by that point all while Lila was oblivious. For the next month Lila was slowly driven insane as the students of the school (but Bustier’s class especially) remained unimpressed and unmoved by her lies, they’d nod along and congratulate her vaguely before stealing her thunder with tales of their own very real accomplishments. Alix was happy to gloat about how she had entered the Regional Rollerskating Competition and won; she claimed it was all thanks to Marinette helping her train. Juleka known for her usual quiet demeanor was happy to preen about her rising Instagram fame thanks to her modeling gigs with Marinette. Rose was surprisingly petty as she smugly told Lila about Kitty Section’s success with their new album and how much fans loved there album cover and new outfits made by Marinette. Nino won the film competition he entered and claimed Marinette’s advice and her killer costumes made all the difference. Nathalie’s comic was selling out and he claimed it was Marinette’s endorsement that made it take off. Everywhere Lila turned hoping for praise and adoration for her false tales she was met with pitying “that's nice Lila” before being demolished by their much more real accomplishments.

 The cherry on top was watching Lila try to target Marinette only to find herself blocked at every turn, Marinette was never left alone long enough for the liar to corner her and when Lila was inevitably akumatized she was still unable to target Marinette as the pigtailed girl had instantly been swept away by a bickering Chat Noir and Ryuko the two heroes arguing about who was going to carry the girl to safety before Queen Bee swept in stole her and ran off leaving the pair stunned, huh more people to add to the unofficial ‘not so secretly in love with Marinette list’ apparently, luckily Rena and Carapace were there to save the day and get everyone focused back on the fight because Ladybug seemed to be running late. 

 By the end of the month Lila looked like she was two seconds away from throwing the world's biggest tantrum because she wasn’t at the center of everyone's lives. And then it happened. An inspector school board arrived and Alya struggled to hide her grin as the professional woman prowled through the school clipboard out pen ready writing up everything she saw. By the end of the day the entire school got to witness Lila being dragged by her ear out the front doors of the school while she wailed uselessly about her innocence. Bustier was enrolled in a course about how to properly deal with bullies and would not be allowed to teach again until she was able to better perform her job. Damocles was ‘retired’ and lucky to keep his pension and most shocking of all Mendeliev got a date with the hot school inspector responsible for it all. 

 Well the other surprising thing was the lack of akuma’s to come out of the whole affair, but Alya had learned long ago that there didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason for when Hawkmoth took breaks. Either way she was sure it had nothing to do with the court case that had landed on Gabriel’s neck a week before Lila’s downfall. Nino had somehow gotten his evidence proving Gabriel’s status as worst father of the year and had quietly delivered it where it would do the most damage. Now the red pants wearing weirdo had been forced to finally leave his house and defend his actions to the media and to a judge and it was looking more and more like Felix and his mom would soon be moving to Paris so Adrien could continue attending school with his friends while finally living in a healthy environment. 

 It took 2 more weeks for everything to finally settle down. Lila had been sent back to Italy to attend military school under her strict grandfather's watch. Marinette’s record had been cleared, and she had finally been informed about everything that had transpired, she laughed when she learned that they thought she was being framed but thought it was sweet of them to believe in her innocence so completely that they’d come up with such a wild theory on her behalf. Adrien’s father had unsurprisingly lost custody and Nino still hadn’t stopped smiling, his cousin Felix joined the class not long after and Alya rolled her eyes watching Sunshine and his cousin vie for Marinette’s limited attention. Luckily the distraction of Felix's presence gave the class the time to finalize the big party. 

 The celebration was huge, having outgrown Juleka’s moms boat long ago only to be moved to Chloe’s hotel at the blonde's insistence. Kitty Section played their newest album that featured a song from Luka that Alya suspected was about Marinette herself. Decorations and balloons covered every corner of the room and it would be a pain to clean up later but for now it gave the room a festive feel, the buffet was huge which was good because the whole school had seemingly showed up. Marinette herself had cried when she’d first walked in, lured by Alya who had lied and said her mom wanted them to test some new dishes for the menu. The pigtailed girl had forgotten all about her friends ‘not so secret’ party thanks to all the chaos of Lila’s departure. After that the girl had been whisked away with everyone wanting to spend time with her, thank her and apologize again for not noticing Lila’s lies sooner, but the people who were really getting her attention were her ‘suitors’ as Alya had dubbed them. Kagami and Adrien who were still dating all while being oblivious to there obvious attraction to Marinette, Felix who had started his flirtations as a way to annoy Adrien but had clearly caught genuine feelings, Chloe who had turned over a new leaf… Sorta, and now wanted a fellow Queen to rule by her side. And poor Luka who watched from the stage with calculating eyes. What really mattered to Alya was that Marinette's smile was finally back and Alya felt herself beam with joy as she watched her best friend laugh, finally happy and carefree. As her ‘suitors’ began to bicker, Alya walked over to go rescue Marinette from the small unruly mob. After all that's what friends are for.

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  "Oh, we have a visssstor," A voice hissed, making her jump and look where it came from. Instantly, she saw two glowing eyes that were teal green in color and snakelike.

  "I don't recall having any visitors," A second voice added, though this one sounded more human. It was actually a very nice voice. It was softly spoken and almost musical. Almost instantly, she felt her body relax as she walked over, unconsciously drawn to it. Another reason why people hated faes. They were naturally seductive with how they were and how they spoke. "And what do you want?"

  Oh, she could listen to that voice all day... but she needed to remember why she was here.

  "I..." She mumbled, shaking her off the fog in her mind and putting on her innocent act. "I hear you have the power to give people their hearts desire,"

  "Hmm," He replied as she watched. The eyes moved suggesting the fae was getting up before a light came on, revealing a large amount of snake tanks and a young man. Lila studied him as he glanced at her. He was very attractive but the fae were supernaturally beautiful. His hair was black with teal blue highlights and his skin looked slightly tanned. He wore black ripped joggers and a white tank top, showing off his toned arms that had tattoos of snakes going up them. It was clear that the fae had snakelike features too. The most obvious was his eyes but he also had a number of green teal scales across his arms and neck. Lila felt a little uncomfortable as she glanced at him but that discomfort turned to fear as she felt something sliver over her feet. She looked down and screamed as she saw a snake that looked up at her and stuck its tongue out. She felt panic rise as she wanted to kick it but before she could, the fae was in front of her. "Not fond of my reptile friends hmm?"

  "I... I'm afraid of snakes," She gasped, actually telling the truth for once. The fae smiled at her before turning away. "Could we go outside?"

  "Why? They're not going to bite and most of them aren't poisonous," He replied, looking back at her. That's when she noticed the snake resting around his neck. It would have been beautiful to anyone not afraid of them. It was teal green with dark teal diamonds across it's body and a hood around it's head like a cobra. His eyes searched her features, making her feel like he was searching her soul before they flickered down and landed on her foxtail pendent before he sat back down and glanced at her. "Well, aren't you here for a reason? Tell me what you desire, Little Fox,"

  "I... I would like to be famous," She replied, trying to seek shy and meek. "It's been my desire-"

  "So you want a little fame?"

  "A little fame? I want more then just a little fame!" She gasped, pinching her nose before realizing she almost lose her cool. She took a deep breathe and shot him a smile. Not that he was looking. He was holding one of his snakes and sticking his tongue out at it in a playful manner. It made her feel sick when she saw it was forked. "I mean I want to be the most famous person on the planet if you can do that. I really want my name in every newspaper and to be up there on the red carpet with all of the A listers. I want to be so famous no one will ever forget my name,"

  "Interesting," He replied as she took a breathe. "I can definitely do that. Is there anything else you want?"

  "Oh yes, there is," She replied, ready to turn on the water works. "T-There's this woman who has been making my life awful since high school. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She use to bully me and she constantly makes it hard for me to reach and work for companies. I'm sure she's had me blacklisted. I can't even order of her website because of this,"

  She began to cry, making the fae frown but not for the reasons she thought. He heard the name Marinette Dupain-Cheng before. He was sure she was a friend of his sister and Juleka had said she was nice. He turned his attention to Lila. Depending on what she said depended on what he could do.

  "I'm sorry... I just..." She sniffed. "I j-just want her to finally get what she deserves. I've tried to be the bigger person but... she just doesn't stop,"

  "I see," He replied, frowning. He wasn't sure he believed her but he couldn't tell with her pendent on. Luckily, she had said 'get what she deserved' which meant he could easily work it so he doesn't harm her. 'Getting what she deserves' can be considered a grey area, meaning he can do anything he wanted as long as he deemed it 'what she deserved'. Yes, he could still honor the contract without harming anyone. Sure, he had cursed a few people but he didn't like to if he didn't have to. "Well, I can easily do those things. Fame and fortune. It's yours and getting even with this person. Easily done,"

  "Really?" She gasped, surprised. "When can you do it?"

  "I can start immediately. Of course, it will take a little time for your fame to skyrocket but I promise it will," He replied, making her frown a little. "It's only natural that I have to make some spells and pull some strings but of course, none of this can happen until we've discussed a price that is,"

  "A Price?" She questioned surprised. She had heard Faes didn't charge a fee. "I was unaware,"

  "Of course, my services don't come free," He replied, smirking. She frowned as if she hadn't expected that. "All magic comes with a price, Lila and fae magic is typical expensive,"

  "Expensive?" She echoed. "I don't have a lot of money,"

  "My price is fairly simple in it's nature but still rather costly," He replied, waving his hand. A contract appeared out of thin air, making Lila gasp. "€150. Once you sign the contract, it can't be altered or amended,"

  "That's all?" She asked, making him nod. She would have to live with all her fame and her enemies getting what they deserve. It sounded like a fair price to her. "That seems pretty cheap and fair to me,"

  "Then if you're satisfied, sign the contract," He smiled, holding out a pen. Lila snatched it out of his hand and grabbed the paper, signing on the line at the bottom. As soon as she did, the contract and pen appeared in the fae's hand. "Excellent! Glad to do business with you, Little Fox,"

  "Oh thank you so much!" She gasped, smiling before she left as he smiled back. As soon as she did, the smile left his face as his snake moved around his neck.

  "She wass wearing a protection amulet," The snake hissed. "Are we sure she's telling the truth? Should we grant her wissh, Luka?"

  "A deal is a deal, Sass," He replied, folding up the contract and putting it with the others he had. "She will have her fame and Miss Dupain-Cheng will get everything she deserves,"

  ~A Couple of Weeks Later~

  Since making the deal with the fae, Lila's life had dramatically improved. She went from been a barely known actress to an A-star Celebrity. Woman wanted to be her and men wanted her. She had adoring fans who screamed her name and cried when she walked past. She had landed herself in a relationship with a pretty handsome man. She was on top of the world and richer then she had ever imagined. She had it all but it wasn't enough. She could have all the money and fame in the world and it would still not be enough because Marinette Dupain-Cheng hadn't suffered yet. Her business was still successful. She hadn't been made an example of nor had she disappeared of the face of the earth. If anything, she was getting more popular. To say Lila wasn't happy was an understatement. Sure, the fae had told her that it would take sometime but she wanted her nemesis to fall now! Which was why she was storming towards the fae's boathouse to demand he destroy her life. She stormed onto the boat and stalked into the living area, where the fae was sat with his snakes.

  "Hello, Little Fox," He stated, making her glare at him. "Something wrong?"

  "Wrong?!" She screeched, making him frown. "Wrong?! You were suppose to punish Marinette and make her suffer!"

  "Hmm I don't recall that been in the contract," He replied, making her grit her teeth. "But I don't really see the issue. You have your fame and fortune. Why fixate on Marinette?"

  "Because I want her to suffer!" She screamed, stamping her foot before she pointed at him. "That was part of our deal! You need to honor it! My wish was for her to suffer!"

  "Incorrect," He replied, causing their contract to appear in a puff of teal smoke. "I have it right here and it states 'I want Marinette to get what she deserves' nothing more, nothing less. Since you failed to specify exactly what that was, I decided the best course of action was to leave her alone since that's what she deserved,"

  "What?!" She screamed. "You useless puck!"

  The entire room's feeling changed as soon as that word left her mouth. The term puck was considered extremely offensive against the fae. It basically implied that they were nothing but pranksters and trouble makers. The fae's eyes turned green and more snakelike as Lila stepped back, realizing her mistake before she ran out of the boathouse. The fae's eyes narrowed as he watched her scamper out. She thought she could run from him but that wouldn't help her. He had cursed people for less.

  "Luka," Sass's voice made him look over and stroke the snake's chin. "Are you ok?"

  "I'm fine, Sass," He replied, looking at the contract in his hand. "Isn't the first time and won't be the last I've been called that but like the last time, her deed won't go unpunished,"

  "What do you intend to do?"

  "Lila asked for fame and for this girl to get what she deserved right?" He answered, making the snake nod. "Well then I think Miss Rossi should get exactly that. By the time, I'm done with her, she'll wish she never met me but first I think it's time I paid Miss Dupain-Cheng a visit to determine exactly what she deserves. Though I have a feeling it won't be what Lila envisioned,"

  "And the fame part?"

  "Oh, I'll give her a week to enjoy her new lifestyle while I deal with the second part of her contract. Once that's done, Lila will go down in history. Everyone will know her name and never forget her," Luka replied, making the snake look at him but the devious smirk on his lips told him that it was as simple as Lila been famous for been an actress. "She will get exactly what she wanted whenever she wants it or not,"

  "She'll learn the hard way why one should not make themselves the enemy of a fae,"

  ~Marinette's Shop~

  Marinette hummed to herself as she flicked through the magazine she was reading. Lila had been on the front cover but despite what people now believed about her, Marinette wasn't mad. She was actually happy for Lila. She had never wanted to be her enemy and just didn't get why the girl couldn't be honest. Even after Lila had tried to destroy her, Marinette had given her a second chance. Come clean to the class and all will be forgiven. She had done the same with Chloe so she could do the same with Lila. Unfortunately Lila decided not to and proceed to turn almost everyone against Marinette. Something that lasted through her adult life too. Even after they had left school and moved on their careers, Lila chose to slam her at every chance she could. Whenever it was a snide comment when she saw her, whispering horrible rumors about her to her ex best friend who would then post said rumors on her news blog or just leaving a bad review on her shop, Lila was determined to ruin her. Luckily, she still had a small number on her side but she had lost a lot of 'friends' to Lila over the years but she guessed they weren't her true friends anyway. If they were, they wouldn't have believed Lila nor encouraged her to do the embarrassing and frankly creepy things in her attempt to get the attention of Adrien Agreste, one of the few faes in the city who weren't treated badly. That was probably because he was rich and part of the seelie court, which was also known as the summer court but he didn't stay by her side, despite insisting he was. No, he insisted she take the 'high road' and got annoyed at her when she decided not after losing her crush on him. Honestly, she didn't see what her younger self saw in him. She was grateful to the people who did stay by her side though. One of the people who did side with her was part of the seelie court just like Adrien but she was treated badly due to her choice of lover. Her name was Rose and her girlfriend was Juleka, the other person who stayed on Marinette's side. The thing was Juleka was half fae, half human. She didn't fit in anywhere. She was considered a freak to most witches and humans for been half fae, she didn't fit in with the seelie court as her family were part of the unseelie court but she didn't really fit in with them either. Though from what she had told Marinette, none of her family members fitted in with the unseelie court despite been full bloods either. In school, she was picked on for it, especially by Chloe, though the blonde had since changed her tune after been cursed by Juleka's brother. According to her, her brother was one of the most powerful faes in the unseelie court and had cursed Chloe with a karma spell. To say it humbled her was an understatement and she wasn't the first person to be cursed by him nor the last. Apparently, he had cursed the musician XY and his father, Chloe's own family and a number of other people but from what Marinette had heard, most of them deserved it. That didn't mean she wasn't afraid of him. She had made a mental note to never piss him off if she met him. Of course, his curses had put him at odds with the magical councils yet he got away with it. She was pretty sure he only got away with it because they were scared of him and because none of his 'victims' had been mortally wounded nor were they really victims. It had turned out that each one of them had done something wrong. XY and his father had stolen music and other creative ideas from a number of musicians, Chloe's family were corrupt to the bone and arguable to blame for Chloe's own behavior. Sure, she was partly to blame as well but she never would have become that bad in the first place if her parents hadn't given into her every whim. His other victims were far from innocent too. They ranged from criminal gangs to other corrupted politicians. Either way, his curses had been blessings in disguise. Chloe had since became a way better person, her family humbled, the artists that had their work had their thieves brought to justice and their work returned to them and the victims of the other cursed got justice. All in all, it worked out for the better. The bell rang, making her jump a little and look up.

  "Hi, welcome-" The greeting died in her throat as she stared at the very fae she had been thinking about. Luka Couffaine, Juleka's older brother. She never thought she would ever see him in her store. From what she knew, he tended to stay at his boathouse at the Seine, preferring to deal with his magic and his snakes but she had seen enough photos of him to recognize him. As she stared at him, the fear she felt disappeared and was replaced by attraction. She knew fae were extremely beautiful. Rose, Adrien and Juleka all were but Luka was something else. Not only was he gorgeous but he had an air about him too. Everything about him screamed hot. His hair, his body shape and his eyes. Oh his eyes. They were so hard to look from. They were snakelike but ocean blue in color. As he stepped into the shop, Marinette couldn't help the little whine that escaped her lips. She felt like she was in the presence of an actual god. The pictures she had seen did not do him any justice at all. "H-Hi, can I help you?"

  "Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" He asked, making her want to faint with just the way he said her name. She weakly nodded and tried not to faint as he tilted his head to the side as a smile appeared on his lips. "Well, Juleka never told me how pretty you were,"

  "I... um..." She blushed as he smiled. "S-Same here,"

  He chuckled as she went bright red before he closed the door.

  "I need to talk to you about a recent contract of mine," He stated, making her frown. Luka was what you might call a deal maker but it was rare for a witch to get involved with it. She walked over to the door and moved the sign to say closed. "Is there somewhere private we can go?"

  "We can talk in the back," She replied, making him nod and follow her as she lead him to her reading room. "So this contract-"

  "I was contracted by one Lila Rossi to make her famous and to give you 'what you deserve'," He stated, making her frown. So that's how Lila got famous and now he was here to act Lila's revenge. She frowned but she wasn't surprised. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to curse her but when it didn't occur, she opened her eyes and found him look at her with interest. "There's more to the story,"

  "Oh?" She asked, feeling a little silly.

  "Don't feel silly. It's a natural reaction to assume I'm here to exact her 'vengeance' and technically I am here to honor that part of the contract," He replied, making her gulp. "However, Lila failed to tell me exactly what she wanted. She told me to 'give you what you deserve'. I decided to leave you alone but apparently that wasn't good enough for her so she came by and demanded I do my job,"

  He rolled her eyes at that.

  "She was extremely angry that I had decided that course of action to the extend where she called me a 'useless puck'," He explained, making Marinette gasp and began to apology to him. He held up his hand, stopping her. Though he appreciated the sentiment. "You do not need to apology for her. I simply came here to talk to and determine exactly what I should give you,"

  "Give me?"

  "Part of Lila's contract was to 'give you what you deserved' which is why I'm here. I need to determine exactly what that is since she never actually said," He explained, making Marinette nod. "But in order to do so I need to know the full story. Why does Lila Rossi hate you so much?"

  "Because I caught onto her lies," Marinette sighed, making Luka frown. He had suspected that Lila had been lying but hearing it from someone else annoyed him more. This was no longer just about contracts and magic. This was now about pride. Lila thought she could fool him and get him to do her dirty work while getting to live a good life. Well, not on his watch. "That's why she wants me to get what I deserve. She's made it her mission to destroy me,"

  "So she does lie. How disappointing," He muttered, frowning. It wasn't a surprise. Faes themselves couldn't lie and had to tell the truth but they also couldn't stand liars. "That explains her pendent,"

  "So what are you going to do?" She asked as he made a face. "I know a little about contracts and I know they are unbreakable. Whatever you do, she'll use it to her advantage as long as she has that silver tongue of hers. It's her biggest strength. I know from personal experience. No matter what I did to show people the truth about her, she always spun it to make me look like the bad guy and she'll do the same to you. You try and break the contract, she'll made it so you're the bad guy. You try to alter it and she'll make you look evil. You have no choice but to honor it in the way she intended,"

  "I see," He muttered, making her frown. She would have some sort of punishment. "Then I'm going to honor it,"

  "Then please don't be too harsh on me," She muttered, closing her eyes as Luka stepped closer to her. "I accept whatever you decide to curse me with,"

  "I'm not going to curse you," He replied in a gentle voice, causing her to snap open her eyes. "Did Juleka tell you why us unseelie are hated compared to the fae of the seelie court?"

  "No?"

  "It's because people believe us to be malicious," He replied, making her frown. "But the truth is we're not. No fae is benevolent or malicious. We simply grant what we are asked to so when I say I'm going to honor her contract, it will be done to the exact detail,"

  "But isn't that giving her what she wants?" Marinette asked, confused. "She'll be happy with it. I suffer and she gets to be the most famous person,"

  "Oh, I doubt she'll be happy with what she gets, Marinette," He smiled in a dark manner. "You see we unseelie are what you might call tricksters and mischievous. We have no rules nor do we play to others. Lila thinks she can control me but she can't. Personally, I don't like it went people act entitled nor do I like been insulted so it's my duty to punish her for her entitled and frankly awful behaviour. Lila wants fame. Well, I'll make sure no one will ever forget her name again. She wants you to 'get what you deserve' then I'll do exactly that. She's going to get exactly what she asked for whenever she liked it or not,"

  "I think I understand," She replied, nodding. "I'm just sorry you had to take her job,"

  "Hmm, I'm not," He replied, shrugged. "Paid for food for a week. Besides, I get to punish one of the wicked again and I know exactly how to turn this around without breaching my contract with her. Starting with you,"

  Marinette closed her eyes as she expected him to reign down fury and fire on her but to her surprise, she simply felt his lips brush against her cheek as he placed a gentle kiss there. She opened her eyes as she felt magic flow through her body but it didn't feel wicked or cursed. It felt... good and light. Like she was on cloud nine. It continued to flow even as he pulled away.

  "As par to my contract, I have given you what you deserve," He stated, making her look at him. "Which is a blessing of prosperity. May your future be a bright one,"

  "A blessing?" She asked, generally surprised. "But isn't that breaking your contract?"

  "No, it isn't," He smiled, making her blush a little. "Lila only said to give you what you deserved. She never said what that was,"

  "Oh," She replied before smiling brightly. "Then thank you,"

  ~One Week Later~

  Marinette couldn't help the massive grin on her face as she walked through the Gala, getting everyone's attention. She got endless compliments and couldn't believe her luck but when she thought about it, she knew it was because of Luka's gift. Apparently, this was his definition of 'what she deserves'. In other words, success and happiness. And happy she was. She had never had such a successful run before nor had she been in the spot light like this. She just wish she could thank her fae friend. After all, he had been the one to change her life.

  "Marinette!" A familiar voice called, causing her to look over and see Adrien. If she had been 14 years old again, she might have fainted from his amazing smile but she was over him these days. Having said that, he still looked beautiful, just not as otherworldly as she once thought. "Wow, you look amazing,"

  "Thank you," She smiled but it didn't last long as Lila stormed over.

  "Marinette," She grinned falsely. On the outside, she looked happy for her rival but on the inside, she was fuming. Apparently, that stupid fae had helped Marinette become a sensation overnight, despite her contract with him. Anyone who was anyone wanted a MDC original, which was why Marinette was here and Lila hated it. She had gotten an invite because she was the current it girl. Anyone who was anyone knew her name. She was so famous that she couldn't walk down the street and she loved it but tonight someone else was outshining her and that someone was Marinette. Lila had to admit she looked amazing but it wouldn't last long.  It enraged her that Marinette was stealing her limelight and she was determined to destroy her but she would wait til Marinette lose her defense pose. "I heard you've been getting more successful recently. Oh maybe we could work together. With my status and your designs, we could do great things,"

  "Oh, I'm not interested Lila but thank you," Marinette replied, making Lila grit her teeth as she stepped forward.

  "Listen here, Dupain-Cheng," She hissed, getting closer to her. "There is nothing special about you as I know for a fact you had that puck help you but he also helped me and I intend to keep my throne so either you get in line or I'll destroy you again,"

  "I'm not afraid of you, Lila," Marinette replied back. "And his name is Luka. Yes, he gave me a blessing and maybe that's why I'm successful but unlike you, I'm grateful for his help,"

  "Typical," Lila gasped, turning on her heel and walking away from Marinette. Marinette shrugged and turned back to people as a waiter came by with glasses of red wine. Seeing her chance, Lila took one and was about to 'trip' into Marinette, planning to ruin her dress with the wine but before she could, someone caught her by the waist, removed the glass in her hand and pulled her into a dance, making her glare at Luka. "You! You broke-"

  "Now, now. Don't make a scene," He replied as they glided across the floor. "There are a lot of cameras and I'm sure you don't want them to see you arguing with the son of Jagged Stone now, especially if you decide to use those racial slurs again,"

  "I-" She gasped, glancing around and saw he was telling the truth. Of course he was. Faes can't lie. "You stopped me from ruining her. If you hadn't cheated-"

  "I did no such thing," He replied, making her grit her teeth. "You were the one who didn't say exactly what to do with Miss Dupain-Cheng so I improvised,"

  "So you made her more successful?!" She gasped in annoyance. "That is not what I wanted,"

  "I care not for your wants but for the contract's words. It said to give her what she deserved and that's what I did. If anyone is to blame, it is yourself for not been exact in your wording," He shrugged, making her gasp in annoyance. "But relax. I'm not here to cause any trouble. Actually, I'm here to grant the final part of our contract,"

  "I'm already famous!"

  "Are you?" He questioned, making her look around. Despite dancing with him, no one seemed bothered by her. All eyes were still on Marinette. "Seems like to me no one's really paying attention to you,"

  She gasped as she realized he was right. She was famous but not enough. She turned to him with a begging expression.

  "You need to honor-"

  "Don't worry, Miss Rossi," He smiled but to her surprise, he roughly grabbed her arm, causing it to feel like it was burning. "I'm here to make sure everyone remembers you forever,"

  The way he said it sent a shiver down her spine and she panicked, trying to pull her arm away from him as it continued to burn before he suddenly let go.

  "That's our contract fulfilled," He stated, walking away from her and picking up a glass of wine from a nearby waiter. He held up the glass to her with a smirk on his face "Have fun now,"

  With that, he turned on his heel and walked over to Marinette, causing the witch to smile as she greeted him. Despite his promise, that annoyed her and if he wasn't going to punish Marinette, she would. She began to storm over but was stopped by one of the other people there.

  "Oh, isn't Marinette such a darling?" She asked, mistaking Lila for one of the crowd who was admiring the girl. Lila couldn't believe her luck. She could easily corrupt this person's mind. "I would love one of her design,"

  "Oh, she is the most talented designers in the world and I hate her for it," She stated, surprising herself and causing the person to look over at her before shaking her head. "I mean we were in school together and she was always so nice to other people, it made me sick. She told me to stop lying so I destroyed her life and turned most of her friends against her,"

  "What?" The woman asked, looking wary as Lila covered her mouth.

  "I didn't mean that," She gasped, thinking she was able to lie. "I mean I totally meant it. She was such a goody two-shoes and I hated her guts. I even framed her for stealing another person's designs once. Her class actually believed it. They were so stupid. All that to do was turn around the sketch and they would have seen her signature. The best part is she wasn't the first person I did this too,"

  At this point, everyone was looking at Lila with shock and disgust, apart from Luka. He simply held up his glass to her as she glared at him. She had realized that burning feeling he had created was a curse. A curse of truth but all she had to do was remain quiet until it lifted.

  "I caused a girl to kill herself," She suddenly blurted out, causing a number of people to gasp. "I laughed at her funeral and pretended I was crying,"

  Lila clapped her hands to her mouth but it didn't stop her from talking. One by one, all of the lies she had said throughout the years came out in front of everyone at the gala including the cameras that were filming everyone. People were whispering to each other and pointing at her. In sudden realization, Lila realized that everyone was no longer looking at Marinette but in fact were all looking at her. They were taking her picture and the cameras and reporters covering the event were filming her too. She knew by morning her career was over and it only got worst as security came over.

  "Miss, come with us please," They stated, making her look at them.

  "What?!" She gasped, annoyed. "Do you know who I am?!"

  "Yes, you're Lila Rossi and due to your confession the police have been called," The man answered, making her go pale. "Come quietly,"

  "Quietly?! You stupid buffoon!" She screamed, despite trying to act 'innocent'. "I am Lila Rossi! I'm the best thing here and you think you can force me from here?! I deserve to be here!! Not these morons! Me! I'm the Queen! You should be begging for my attention!!"

  Apparently, whatever Luka had done to her didn't just cause her to tell the truth but to drop her act. However, the security guard didn't care and went to take her arm, causing her to hit him which only made the situation worst. Soon, her downfall was filmed by all the cameras and bystanders as she was frogmarched out, shrieking like a banshee. Actually, scrap that. Banshees had nicer voices. Luka smirked as he watched her spill more lies and cause a scene, enjoying it.

  "What did you do to her?" Marinette asked, causing him to turn his attention to her.

  "I gave her a blessing,"  He replied, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Unlike yours though, I gave her a blessing of truth. She can't lie about anything now. Not through words or through her personality. I would guess that she is going to be trending on social media. She wanted to be famous after all,"

  "That is brilliant," Marinette smiled before turning to him. "Thank you for my blessing by the way. It's really helped my business take off but I feel kind of bad that I'm riding on your magic for all my success. I wouldn't have gotten this far without it. Is there anyway to thank you?"

  "You know I only gave you a little boost of prosperity right?" He asked, making her look at him. "Everything else was all you.. but I would love to get to know you better if you're interested and if you insist on thanking me, you could get me a danish from your parent's bakery. They're my favorite treat,"

  "I would you to get to know you better as well," Marinette flushed, making him grin. "And getting a danish wouldn't be a problem... want to dance?"

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