Dark Coccinelle

Chapter 3 - Alone

The next day at school was lonely. Lila had spread another lie that Marinette had tried to trip her while she had a 'twisted' ankle. Alya and Nino both wouldn't talk to her and even though Adrien was trying to talk to Marinette she just ignored him or made some excuse to walk away.

The lessons weren't very different except for the fact that her class mates were taking turns glaring at her and that Adrien glanced at her every now and then with a worried look.

At lunch Marinette sat alone at a table in the cafeteria whispering into her purse to talk with her only completely loyal friend.

"Tikki, I feel so alone." Tikki was down-heartened by the look on her friends face. She tried cheering her up, telling her that her friends will come to their senses and realise she would never do something like that but it didn't do much good.

"You still have me." 

Marinette nodded and smiled. "Yes, you're right Tikki."

But Marinette still felt lonely in the next lesson and later as she walked home slowly. She barely had any homework but she stayed in her room until she had patrol.

She only felt a bit better when Chat was cheering her up with his jokes and puns.

"Thanks Chat."

He looked at her, confused. "For what M'Lady? I thought you always hated my puns."

She giggled, "I do hate your puns!" She smiled warmly, "Thanks for always being there for me, even when I feel so alone." She hugged him. The hug took him by surprise so he went stiff but soon softened and hugged her back.

"What's wrong M'Lady?"

She smiled sadly, she knew she should not tell him for the identity matter so she kept it simple, "There's just a lot going against me at school and it isn't great." She was sniffling a bit.

"Hey, shh, it's ok, I'm here." He hugged her gently and she did not pull away.

She let out a few unwilling sobs as some tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. "A-and I c-can't tell a-anyone about t-the... pressure of b-being the M-Miraculous box holder." She gave him a watery smile, "Except you," she added, "Thanks Chaton."

They sat there together, Chat comforting his Lady.

"We're always talking about me, what about you? How are you?"

Chat smiled at her thoughtfulness, "Everything's good with me. I have to admit that fight did shake me up a bit. Hawmoth is getting stronger and I have to admit, every time I see him I shiver!"

Ladybug laughed.

"Seriously! He's so creepy! Anyways, he's getting stronger but so are we. We made it. Us two against as always." He held out his fist.

Ladybug bumped it with her own, "You're right, we are getting better. We've worked together for quite long now and we know each others strategies well. We understand each other without having to communicate."

"Of course! I can read your mind..." Chat was rubbing his temples with his index fingers and closing his eyes, "You're thinking about eating croissants!"

Ladybug burst out laughing, "Not exactly what I meant but yeah," She smiled at her partner's playful acts.

They enjoyed their evening until it started turning darker and Ladybug looked at her partner with a tired yet content smile, "It's late, I should probably head home. Okay Chat?"

He nodded, "Yeah, you're right." They split up, each heading to their own home.

When Chat got home he detransformed and thought about what Ladybug had mentioned about her situation. He was worried about her. She always seemed so strong, not that he didn't think of her as strong, but now that she told him more about how she felt she... well, she felt more like a real human being, not some unreachable heroine who never got anything wrong.

Ladybug detransformed and headed down, knowing her parents were probably preparing dinner. She was right and jumped in to help them. She was in a much better mood now, after her partner had comforted her. She was glad he was always there and she would not know what to do without him. But even with all his condolence she still felt alone. He had helped her but she missed Alya and Nino. She hoped they would not believe Lila for much longer.

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A/N: Sorry that this chapter was also short. It was kind of a filler for the climax I guess.