Marc x Nathaniel Stories

Rise of Mariquita and Shvartse Kats

"MARINETTE!"

"NO!"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!"

"STAY AWAY FROM HER! SHE'LL HURT US!"

'Shut up, Lila.'

Marc watched the scene unfold. Students were crowding the courtyard of the school. On her knees, shaking and crying as her classmates yelled, was his cousin Marinette, the sweetest, the most upbeat person he knew with Hawkmoth's symbol displayed over her face. Her pink signature purse is pitch black. Adrien was kneeling in front of her, grasping her shoulders and telling her to fight off Hawkmoth's control. He was the first one to see the Akuma go into Marinette's purse when he came back from lunch. The second was Marc when he walked out of the library. They tried to get her to calm down, only to be met with her muttering something about, 'Lies.' 'Don't hurt me.' 'I'll have no one.'

Her classmates' shouting wasn't doing anything to help her, so Marc told her in a calming voice, "Mari, please. Remember, you have people on your side," Marc tried reminding her as he held her hand, "Remember that, please." The students behind him all agreed, giving her words of encouragement to fight Hawkmoth's control. Four of them were Juleka, Rose, Alix, and Nathaniel. Marinette's rapid breathing began to slow down. The Akuma symbol on her face started to flicker, much to everyone's relief. Just as things were getting better, Lila had to ruin it.

"There's no helping her!" Lila screamed so everyone could hear, "I saw her grab the Akuma! She wants to hurt me!"

Right after she said this, Marinette made this sound that sounded like a muffled scream. Marc saw Alix pushing her way in front of the crowd. She sent Lila a glare before yelling, "DO YOU PEOPLE HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT MARINETTE WOULD GO FOR AN AKUMA?!"

Mme. Bustier's students went silent for a moment, and immediately, loud insults were thrown at them by the other students.

"Unbelievable!"

"She's your friend!"

"You believe some liar over her?!"

"Idiots!"

"She'd never go for an Akuma!"

"It's true! I saw it out of one of the classroom windows!"

"NO, YOU DIDN'T! YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE MARINETTE LOOK LIKE A VILLAIN, YOU BITCH!"

"She's been after me ever since I came here! It's obvious she got herself akumatized on purpose just to hurt-" Before she could finish, Alix pounced on her and tackled the Italian to the floor. She grabbed the front of her romper and started hitting her back against the floor while Alya and Mylene tried to pry her off.

'That's not what happened, THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!'  Marinette kept telling herself. She was in the bathroom. She had a fight with Alya about Lila during lunch and, she needed some space. Then,  she  walked in... After that, it was all just a blur, and then she started crying. She just wanted to go home and cry in her room. She would lose her friends, her support group... Everything! She'd lose it all to HER!

That's when she heard,  "Hello, Princess Justice."  and she quickly removed her earrings before everyone crowded around her and hid them in her pocket.

"Tired of the guilty going free? Don't you want them to pay for their crimes and expose them for who they really are? Let me give you the power to make it so. All shall be revealed. Just bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."

'... My Miraculous... Tikki...'  She needed to get her out of here. Her shaky hands made their way to her blazer pocket, reached in, and pulled out her earrings. Everyone was too busy trying to pry Alix off of Lila or shouting at her classmates who were defending the liar to notice. Who would she trust to become Ladybug while she was out of commission? Not Alya. She'd blab to the world that her best friend is Ladybug. She's just so desperate for views on her blog right now. Not Chloe. The two had an unspoken alliance when it came to Lila, but she just couldn't trust her to wield a Miraculous... Adrien?... No, not him. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't give her earrings to him.