Robin's Angel

Chapter Two- Nathaniel

Nathaniel watched as his two classmates- that were known enemies of each other- sent notes back and forth. At one point he saw Marinette have to hold back a giggle and it occurs to him that he can't remember the last time he heard her laugh. Or even smile for that matter. And somehow Chloe, a person that Marinette used to sneer at daily, was able to achieve this. Nathaniel was never really one to choose sides, he mainly liked staying in the background, making his own judgments about something and avoiding conflict, but something was definitely up if Marinette and Chloe were getting along.

At break he saw both Mari and Chloe give each other a knowing glance and basically flew out of their seats towards the door before anyone, specifically Lila, could even have the chance to harass them. Nathaniel took off after them, seeing them head out of the school and take a sharp left. Nathaniel hid behind a pillar, watching as they both made their way to the other side of the school. It slightly occurred to Nathaniel that Chloe may be trying to lead Marinette somewhere to bully her, but something inside told him this was different. Chloe hadn't bullied anyone in months, so why would she start now?

"Chloe, what's wrong? What happened?" Nathaniel peaked around the corner to see Marinette facing a distraught Chloe. Nathaniel balked at the sight before him: Chloe, with tears and mascara running down her cheeks and hugging herself around her midsection, seemingly trying to gather courage. In Nathaniel's mind, Chloe was the most confident person he had ever known. Even after the Miracle Queen incident happened and people started saying she was a terrorist, even after Sabrina left her, she always seemed like the picture of self-assured and composed. But now, it looks like her unperturbed demeanor had crumbled into nothing.

And then the words that Nathaniel never thought he would hear came crashing out of her mouth, "I'm so sorry Marinette!" Nathaniel could see Marinette was just as shocked as he was, but was still trying to console her by unsurely patting Chloe's shoulder as Chloe threw her arms around Marinette. "I'm so sorry I bullied you for all those years! I don't know how you've been able to keep it together and not be akumatized. People have only been terrorizing me for a couple of months and I can barely hold it together as it is." Loud sniffles and sobs could be heard from Chloe as she stuffed her face into Marinette shoulder.
Marinette, once unsure in consoling her, understandingly pulled her into a strong and comforting hug to try and give the blonde some warmth. "It's alright Chloe, I forgive you. It's going to be okay."

Chloe immediately pulled away, both girls holding each other's forearms for support.  "How can you forgive me so easily? After everything that I've done?" Both girls were crying now.

"Because you're sorry, that's all that matters to me. You apologizing to me shows me that you're becoming a better person and that's all I've ever wanted for you." Nathaniel couldn't believe what he was seeing. Both girls, that he used to consider to be complete opposites, were holding each other, trying to wipe the others' tears off. "Besides, you were nowhere near as bad as Lila. The things she's done to me make your stunts look like party tricks," Marinette continued. That caught both Chloe and Nathaniel's attention, and Nath briefly thought maybe he should be recording this to show others.

He pulled out his phone just as Chloe asked, "what do you mean, what things has she done to you?"

"Do you remember when I was expelled?" Chloe nodded. "Earlier that day, Lila had confronted me in the bathroom after I had tried to clear up one of her lies. She told me that she would take everyone from me, that all of my friends would soon become hers, that I would have no one left by my side when she was done with me, not even Alya or Adrien. Then Lila framed me for pushing her down the stairs, I tried to tell them she was lying, but everything I said just made it worse, nobody even checked the CTV cameras or anything. Nobody listened to me, not even when I pointed out that Lila didn't even have a scratch on her.

"From then on, she did everything in her power to make me look like the bad guy. She framed me for cheating on a test, she told lies about how I was bullying her, she would even steal stuff from my friend's locker to pin the blame on me. After a while, everyone left, I tried to take the high road like Adrien told me, but that just made everything worse because people saw that I wasn't defending myself so they assumed the rumors must be true. Adrien didn't even defend me, even though he knows she lying-"

"Wait, Adrien knows and he didn't do anything to help you?" Nathaniel had about the same reaction as Chloe, anger showing on both of their faces.

"He thought that taking the high road would be better to keep Lila from becoming akumatized again. He told me that as long as she wasn't really hurting anyone that we should just leave her be."

"God, Adrikins can be so dense sometimes, he knows nothing about the real world."

"I don't really blame him, anything negative he does could get back to the media and Gabriel could pull him out of school."

"That doesn't excuse him prioritizing Lila over you just because she might get akumatized." Both Chloe and Nathaniel could see that Marinette flinched at the word 'akumatized' and Chloe immediately picked up on it.

"... How many times?"

Marinette suddenly looked nervous. "What do you mean Chloe?"

"How many times have you almost been akumatized?" Chloe asked more sternly. Nathaniel almost gasped at the realization.

Marinette avoided eye contact as best as she could before she responded, "Three." Chloe gasped, horrified that the person she viewed as the most positive person alive had almost been taken advantage of by a monster multiple times.

"How did you avoid it?" Chloe asked breathlessly, almost in shock.

"I focused on my parents and how happy they make me, any positive memory that I have with them to drive the akuma away." Marinette was almost in tears again and Nathaniel's anger rose with each second that passed. He ended the video and turned on his heel, determined to confront Agreste. It was his fault that Marinette felt this way, it was his fault that nobody believed Marinette, It was his fault that she felt miserable and alone, it was his fault that she was almost akumatized

He rounded the corner and immediately set his sights on Adrien standing on the stairs talking to Nino with no one else around. "Agreste!" Nathaniel shouted, making Adrien turn towards him. Nathaniel's eyes narrowed at him as he got closer to him, his fist clenching in absolute rage. Getting right up to him, Nathaniel pulled his arm back and in a quick moment, sent a punch straight into Adrien's gut, sending him to the ground.
Normally, Nathaniel would never have found the confidence to do what he just did, but the circumstances called for it and he was not letting Adrien get away with hurting his friend and ex-crush.

"What the hell dude, what was that for?" Nino squared up ready to defend his friend when Nathaniel said something that made him pause.

"That was for Marinette!" Nathaniel paused, taking a deep breath, getting ready to unleash the words that would let Agreste know exactly what he thought about him. "You knew Lila was lying this whole time, and you did nothing to stop her from isolating Marinette until she had no one!" Nathaniel paused, letting those words sink in before he launched in once again.
"In fact, you told her to "take the high road" so that Lila wouldn't be akumatized. But did you for once think that by protecting that liar, you were hurting Marinette? No! You let Lila threaten her in the bathroom, frame her for things she didn't do, turn her friends against her, and almost get akumatized! Out of all of us, you are the most guilty, because you allowed her to feel miserable, you allowed her to feel like she had no one!" Nino stood, frozen, looking between both Adrien and Nathaniel in confusion. Adrien was still on the ground, also frozen in shock by Nathaniel's words.
"Nath, are you for real? Marinette's almost been akumatized?" Nino asked, seemingly in a daze.

"Yeah, she's almost been akumatized three times because of Lila's lies, and it definitely didn't help that Adrien knew she was lying and never said a word to anyone! He probably didn't even tell you, did he? As far as I'm concerned, he's worse than Lila, and he never deserved to be Marinette's friend in the first place." And with that, he turned and left to go find Marinette and apologize for not being there for her when she needed someone to lean on.