True Love?

Chapter 12

The day of the dance arrives faster than Marinette thought it would. She has her dress already packed in a garment bag along with the matching shoes and accessories. Since they have to present their costumes Miss Bustier moved their class time to right before the dance. This way the students can go straight to the courtyard instead of having to go home to change. Miss Bustier also gave students an hour and a half to make last-minute changes and prepare for the presentation. Lila has been no help to Marinette's self-confidence. In a span of three days, Lila had successfully pulled all of Marinette's friends away from her. All with extravagant lies. Marinette was heartbroken. She had wanted to get ready for the dance with Alya but now, she was excluded entirely from the new friend group Lila had made. Only Adrien had stayed loyal to her. Adrien. Marinette closes her eyes and imagines the face of her love. The thought of him makes her heart flutter. Their plan worked like a charm. He had slowly (well as slowly as he could in three days) started to show signs of falling for the quiet, brave and clumsy girl who sat beside him in class. Despite the attempts from Lila and Chloe to drag him away, he always stayed near Marinette. It was sweet, really. Now, all they have left to do is place the final step in motion at the party.

"Hurry, Tikki," Marinette says to her little Kwami. "I don't want to be late on the day of the costume reveals!" Tikki flies into Marinette's open purse and settles in for the day. Knowing that it will be a long day, Marinette grabs extra cookies for Tikki to snack on during the day on her way out the door. She rushes across the street to the school and walks inside. Checking the time, she realizes that she is an hour early so she heads to the classroom. Once in her seat, Marinette pulls out her sketchbook while waiting for Adrien. She sketches an image this time rather than an outfit. Her hands fly across the page shading and coloring in the lines. As she is drawing, she doesn't notice Lila sneak into the room and lock the door. Lila manages to get behind Marinette without the young designer noticing. Marinette finishes the sketch of her former friend group. Alya, Nino, herself and Adrien are shown to be hugging and laughing. Her heart aches at the memories she wishes were still a reality. She sets her sketchpad and pencils down to run to the bathroom. Lila sees her chance to pounce and snatches the sketchpad. Marinette tries to open the door only to find it locked. Confused she looks to go back to her desk, only to find Lila standing there ripping pages out of the book. Shocked Marinette tries to run to save her sketches but her injured ankle is too wobbly and she slips on the water that Lila had purposely spilled on the stairs. Marinette falls to the ground and rolls into the teacher's desk. As she tries to get up, Lila suddenly appears right next to her and pushes the young designer back down with the heel of her stiletto and steps on Marinette's shoulder. Marinette cries out in pain as the point pierces her skin. The pain in her ankle and shoulder are almost unbearable. Tears blur her vision but she sees Lila surrounded by black and purple bubbles. After a second Marinette realizes that the girl has transformed into a villain.

"You're so weak you stupid girl," The newly akumatized Lila hisses, digging her heel further into Marinette's shoulder. She screams in agony as Lila just laughs. "You can't even protect yourself. So pathetic. Your friends turned on you so easily. All I did was tell them exactly what they wanted to hear and it worked like a charm. Now, you have nobody and once Adrien is mine you really will be all alone."

"I will never be alone!" Marinette weakly yells back. "Adrien loves me and so do my parents! You can never take them from me!" Lila smirks and digs her heel in further causing another scream from Marinette. At this point, her entire heel is in Marinette's shoulder. Marinette starts to see black spots in her vision from the blood loss. Lila twists her foot and breaks the heel so it stays firmly in the poor girl.

"So while I leave you here to die, I'm going to go claim Adrien for myself! Bye loser!" Lila flies out of a window shattering the glass on top of Marinette. Dizzy from the blood loss, Marinette tries to get up but falls down again.