Trust Takes Moments to Break, But Time to Create

29-Marinette

Felix traces my bare shoulder gently, his arms around my waist. It's a comforting gesture after what just transpired in my bed in our dorm. 

We might not make it through the night, and I gave my consent. 

We both had wanted this, and I don't regret one moment. 

Not in a million years, or even lifetimes for that matter.

I turn, facing him in the bed, the covers covering me as he kisses my forehead. My eyes close, not looking forward for what awaits us at the Eiffel Tower tonight. "Felix, I hate to say this, but we need to get up." He nods, his face slightly scrunched in disapproval. We both get ready, heading into a more serious mode. 

We need to begin preparations. 

Sitting on the floor with several papers I had gathered from articles back in my Francois Dupont days, and go over the information, looking for anything that could give us a leg up in our fight against Lila. After twenty minutes, a paper at the bottom catches my eyes. More specifically, the headline. 

Emelio Rossi Exposed! Disappearance of the Rossi Family!

I stare at the headline, quickly reading into it. I can feel Felix reading over my shoulder, curious at what I had found. My heart sunk as I kept digging into the case. 

Emelio Rossi, Lila Rossi's father, had been exposed as using manipulation and lies to not only make deals in the black market, but also to hide the fact that he had a considerable alcohol addiction. He had been abusing his daughter and wife for at least ten years before he was caught and put away. He was found with only a diadem in his car along with several bottles of beer. Once he was sentenced, Lila and her mother disappeared from Italy. 

The exact same time that, a week later, she had shown up at Francoise Dupont. 

"She must have been down the same path as her father, but to get attention and love she lacked at home." I nod, considering my feeling on this new development. "It makes me feel sorry for her, even if what she did wasn't right. I think now, I can finally have peace." Felix nods, his facial expression thoughtful. 

"You are better than me Milady. I could not make peace with her if I was in your situation." 

"I'm not saying I can pardon her for her actions, she still is acting on her rampage, but I can understand her initial decisions. But now, things are different. It's gone from simple white lies of her knowing this or going there, to destruction and murder. She needs help, she's not in her right mind right now." Felix nods, pondering my words. 

"We should contact the authorities as Ladybug and Cat Noir. Once we have the brooches, they can take her away. She needs to go to a mental facility for help. Somewhere safe from herself." I nod in agreement. "But how do we explain the fact that a teenager is a serious danger? Lila's crafted herself out of consequences before." It takes me back to all the times I tried to tell an adult the truth. No one believed me, Lila creating a false reality where I was the villain, her the victim. 

She always won.

Eventually, I stopped trying. After seeing that no one cared for me enough to fact check her claims, I realized that it wasn't worth the effort. Felix and the kwamis were the only ones who I trusted at the time. Even if I only knew him as my feline partner, he and the kwamis were the ones who got me through that awful stage of my life. 

But we aren't out of the woods yet. 

"You do have a point, but we are superheroes. We have an impact on the general public and have had this for years now. Our word will have more power than those of teenagers. Besides, we have our team as witnesses. Surely, that would be proof enough. If it is a means of the safety of the civilians of Paris, the authorities will believe us." I nod, but still not convinced. 

Lila is a crafty foxlike lying magician. 

She's quick on her feet. 

Our word won't be enough. 

"I've known Lila for a long time Chaton, she has to have some tricks up her sleeve to keep her hide out of trouble. We'll need a backup plan." Felix's face turns thoughtful before Plagg and Tikki whiz out of their hiding place with the other kwamis. 

"Mare! Felix! We sense Nooroo and Dusuu! We've been able to briefly contact them!" Both of us whip our heads towards our kwamis. "What did you find then Tikki?" 

"Emelio Rossi had a corrupted miraculous. A diadem, and Lila plans to use it to take over Paris!"

"Plagg, what miraculous is that diadem?" Tikki and Plagg share a look of what I can tell to be utter fear. 

"The miraculous of souls."