Persona

A Beautiful Mess

Marinette

My mom came up a couple times to take my temperature.

She said to yell if I needed her and she'd call the school later to let them know I wouldn't be in the rest of the week.

I hated to miss so much school, but I also thought it was for the best.

I didn't feel sick at all, I was faking very well.

I was still throwing up every time I thought about The Mercenary, so I let that be my stomach virus I claimed to have.

I sat then in my bed, scrolling through my laptop at the news of The Mercenary.

I just couldn't believe how I didn't hear it in the news, there were so many articles about it.

I even found one where someone had recorded the whole thing.

I watched it, and of course threw up.

But I watched it over and over again, trying to regain the memory in my head.

But all that came was disappointment.

I found a few sections that were silly, saying things people claimed and how I should be locked up for murder.

I'd want me locked up too.

But the one I found most interesting was post  from Alya on the LadyBlog.

I hadn't looked at it yet, but it was a three minute video of her.

My finger hovered over the mouse pad; I wasn't ready to see this.

What if it was horrible?

What if she was furious?

I swallowed my pride and clicked on it, taking in everything I saw.

It was her standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with a ton of police tape everywhere.

"Do you see this?" her voice asked as she showed the camera the tape and police officers.

"This is where Ladybug, the savior of Paris, has MURDERED an Akumatized victim!" she said, rage burning in the back of the throat.

I bit my lip and tears clouded my eyes.

I paused the video and clicked off the page, not wanting to see anything else she had posted about it.

Alya, my best friend, hated me for what I did.

She's still my best friend, she just hates my alter ego.

I took a minute to evaluate all of my friends.

What I came to was so...terrible.

Nino: completely neutral towards Marinette, hates Ladybug for killing someone, hates Ladybug for hurting the feelings of Alya.

Alya: best friend's with Marinette, hates Ladybug for killing someone.

Adrien: angry/embarrassed/upset at Marinette because of the date, unclear feelings towards Ladybug.

And worst of all was Chat's...

Chat Noir: angry, scared, worried, sympathetic, comforting, sad, and desperately in love with both.

As if fate herself was listening, a tap came to my window.

I jumped, looking at my clock to see it was only 12:30 pm.

I crawled out of bed and rubbed my cheeks till they were red and fluffed my hair to look as sick as possible.

When I pulled back the curtains, I saw Chat Noir standing there.

I cracked the window, but not enough for him to come inside.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, making my voice lower and croaky.

He looked pale, and his eyes had no emotions inside of them.

He didn't say a word, he just stared at me with his blank expression.

"Chat? What's wrong?" I asked, raising the glass all the way up so I could step outside.

"Come out here," he instructed, making me move quicker.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice filled with urgency.

He put his hands on my shoulders and leaning his face towards me, making my eyes widen.

"Chat? Stop it," I said, trying to back up.

I moved to slip out of his grip, but he was holding onto me for dear life.

"Chat Noir!" I said, panicking a little bit.

This wasn't right.

Something was wrong with him.

This wasn't Chat Noir at all.

He stopped moving only to smirk, his eyes going white.

"Hang on tight Purrincess," he said, before covering my eyes and sweeping me off my feet.

"CHAT!" I yelled, my hands sweating and my heart racing a million miles per hour.

He didn't say anything, he just put something in my mouth and jumped up quickly, forcing me to swallow it.

Before I could scream again, I felt a new darkness take over me.

And at that moment, I understood what Chat was trying to tell me.

I didn't kill The Mercenary.

Something was happening to us.