Marinette Dupain- Cheng against the world

Chapter 2

Y/N woke to the sound of hushed whispers. She groaned and sat up from the tiled floor, gingerly feeling the back of her head and pulling away with blood dripping on her fingertips. "Oh my god Mari-" She glanced up to see the anxious face of Alya Cesaire, Marinette's best friend. An ally. "You scared me, girl! How did you manage to live? I swear you have nine lives-" A hand gently pulled Alya aside, and a new face entered her vision. Nino frowned at his girlfriend. "Give her some space, Al- she just fell down, like, 50 feet." He glanced back at her, and although his voice held discernible amounts of sarcasm, his eyes lingered on the blood from her head, his eyes hardening as he realised that this couldn't possibly have been from an accident. A shrill voice pierced the air. Y/N felt a surge of hatred that surged through her body (that couldn't be her, could it?) as she craned her neck to see Lila Rossi, in full "I'm a victim" mode.

"Marinette! Oh, thank goodness you're okay- it scared me so much, how you tripped and fell down the stairs! You need to be more careful!" She inwardly rolled her eyes as she noticed the crocodile tears beginning to form in Lila's eyes.

Any moment now. Lila Rossi didn't know how Marinette survived that fall, but she was certain that the incident would end like any other. First, marinette would jump up and accuse her with her fiery temper. Honestly, it almost amazed her how someone so small could have so much energy. Almost. It didn't matter though. Because while Marinette spewed her accusation, she would stand, cry, and gain the pity of the onlookers. Marinette would be seen as the crazy girl who tried to commit suicide. And she would be the martyr. The one who had shed tears and screamed for help. It was perfect. Until it wasn't.

Y/N winced as Alya and Nino helped her up from the ground. Hidden behind an open door, she could see the unmistakable blond tufts of Adrien Agrest's hair, Marinette Dupain- Cheng's unrequited crush. Their eyes meet, and she notes the sadness in his eyes before turning to Lila. There. The flash of anticipation. The look every person got before getting into a fight. The look of someone expecting to win. With the growing crowd of students and teachers, all gaping at her obvious predicament. She couldn't afford an outburst, so how should she deal with this...? She closed her eyes, and allowed herself a moment to collect herself. 1 blink. 2. And she smiled.

Adrien was beside himself. When he heard Lila's scream coming down the hallway, he instinctively knew that something was wrong. But he didn't know what exactly was the problem, until he saw her. Marinette. Lying on the ground in a very, very scary pool of blood. He had never liked Lila. But now he hated her. The fact that she would do something so cruel- it had been the final turning point for him. Lila Rossi was an absolute monster. And it had taken the pain of someone so pure the world didn't deserve her- for him to realise it.

It was a bright, easy going smile, the one someone had when they received a present, or had been praised by their first grade teacher. Not one of someone who just had a close brush with death. "Oh, why is everyone here?" Y/N raised her (Marinette's?) eyebrows, glancing around as if just noticing the crowd. "Did something happen?" She tilted her head to the side, widening her eyes. (This was, as Paimon would later recall, the "dumb, innocent rabbit" look) In the back of her mind, she could feel Alya's grip on her arm tighten in confusion. Nino slowly turned his head towards her, probably wondering if something happened to her brain when she hit her head. But she didn't care. No, she was a hunter pursuing her prey. And Lila was caught in her trap.

"Oh right!" Y/N jumped forward and clasped Lila's hands in her own. The girl flinched, every so slightly as Marinette's blood dripped down their entwined fingers. Good. Let her suffer. "You all must be here for Lila, right?" Alya jerked towards her. "Mari-" Y/N dropped one of her hands, waving it at the girl in dismissal. "You see, Lila must have been having leg cramps!" She could feel delight welling up inside of her as she watched the confusion bloom on Lila's face.

She batted her eyelids. "You see," she said. "We were just talking at the top of the stairs, nothing much, just normal things, you know-" Y/N spoke a bit louder, so everyone could hear. "When Lila's leg must have had a spasm of some sorts! I tripped over it, and fell- clumsy me-" She giggled, letting go of Lila's hands, turning around to accept a bag of ice from Nino before glancing back. "You should really get that checked!" She ended her act with the soft smile of a close, worried friend. One who meant no harm at all. Even though she did. "Oh yes- I should probably go to the nurse's office, right?" With that, she began to march back up the stairs, not caring as the blood dripped onto the floor. She'd won this round. The angered look on Lila's face confirmed it.

Five minutes later, she sat on a small cot in the school's makeshift infirmary, feeling slightly out of breath after the nurse's frantic questions. It turned out that Marinette actually had a lot of people who cared about her. After the poor woman had left to call her parents, Marinette turned to her friends, which now consisted of Alya, Nino, and Adrien, who had slipped in when she didn't notice. "So. I guess you guys pretty much know what happened, right?" She said dryly. Alya's face twisted in anger. She burst forward and wrapped her arms around Y/N in a tight embrace as she muffled her angry screams into her cherry blossom shirt. "Lila pushed you, didn't she?" Adrien said as he stared at the floor.

Y/N raised an eyebrow. She hadn't really expected him to admit it. Adrien Agreste was the one who told Marinette to tolerate Lila as much as possible. Which meant ignoring her and her lies. Which Marinette found exceedingly hard to do. Which lead to her death. I guess seeing one of you're closest friends half dead really makes you change perspectives, she mused. 

"Yup," She replied. She propped her chin up on her fist. Alya jerked upwards. "That's sick!" She shook her head. "I can't believe I used to think she was actually a good person..." She flops onto the bed, and turns towards her. "Are you sure you're alright?" Y/N grinned, hoping the expression looked reassuring to the girl. (Apparently she looked like she was about to commit murder when she smiled) "Yeah, I'm fine!" She said. The system had really worked its wonders. She could only feel a dull ache where the wound used to be, and the bleeding had stopped. She internally reminded herself to reward Paimon later.

Nino side eyed her suspiciously. "You sure? Don't get me wrong, but the way you handled Lila was a little... different." Y/N laughed at that. "Yeah, I guess it was, wasn't it? But you know what they say- fight fire with fire!"