Robin's Angel

Chapter Three- Redemption

    "Mari, did you hear that? It sounded like shouting." Chloe asked, breaking their hug. Marinette nodded, still trying to find her voice through her tears. "Ugh, I wonder what's happening now? Can't those peasants live without drama for one day?" Marinette managed a giggle while wiping the tear stains off her face and clearing her throat.

    "Let's go find out what it is, just in case they're spreading rumors about us again. We might as well hear it for ourselves so we know what's coming."

    After they both helped each other clean up their slightly puffy faces, Chloe grabbed Marinette's hand and led the way back to the front of the school, constructing her face back into an unfazed mask that no one would ever be able to break through. However, the scene they encountered before them caused them both to stumble to a stop.

    There, standing on the steps was an angry Nathaniel yelling at a very confused Nino with Adrien holding his stomach in pain while staring up at Nathaniel, transfixed. "-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."

    Marinette was stunned: Why was Adrien on the ground? Why was Nathaniel yelling at them? How did he find out Lila was lying?

    Nathaniel turned away, satisfied that he got his point through to Adrien, when he faltered at seeing Marinette and Chloe both staring at him in confusion and shock respectively.

    "Where was this confidence when I used to bully you?"

"Chloe!

"What? It's true!"

Nathaniel ignored what Chloe said, wanting to at least apologize to Marinette. "Marinette, I'm really sorry I didn't stand up for you when Lila started lying about you. I thought it was best to stay on the side lines so that things wouldn't escalate, but I didn't think about how you would be feeling in all of this. In my past experience, with Chloe's bullying, I knew that just ignoring it was better than fighting back because it would only make it worse. But with Lila, she never stops and I'm so sorry I didn't stand by you when you needed me."

Chloe took a little offense to that, but knew she deserved that so she chose to stay silent and see what Marinette would do.

Marinette was astounded, it had never occurred to her that someone would ever figure out the truth and apologize to her. To be honest, it had been so long since people had believed in her that she couldn't completely understand what was happening.

"How did you find out? Nobody else in the class believed me when I said she was lying, so why do you?" Marinette was still hesitant to trust him, the mistrust from the class having affected her more than she'd like to admit.

"I followed you and Chloe: I heard you guys talking about everything she had done. That's when I finally took a step back and realized her words never matched up with the facts, I'm so sorry I didn't put the pieces together sooner Marinette." Nathaniel looked at her with hopeful, but reserved eyes, not wanted to make her feel forced to forgive him.

With one last uncertain look, Marinette took a deep breath and said, "I forgive you." Nathaniel took in a huge gulp of air, realizing he had been holding his breath while waiting for her response.

"But..." she intervened before he could relax too much. "It might take awhile before I trust you again," Marinette was visibly nervous when saying this, leaning closer to Chloe, obviously waiting for Nathaniel to lash out at her for not forgiving him immediately.
Nathaniel slouched into himself, knowing that it was his own fault that she was so reluctant to trust him, or any of their classmates. However, knowing that their friendship was on the mend was a weight off his back. "Thank you Marinette, I promise I won't disappoint you this time," Nathaniel smiled at her.

Marinette nodded and smiled back half-heartedly. "Mari-Bear, come on, we still have thirty minutes left of break and you haven't eaten yet," Chloe broke through the silence that slowly grew between the four of them. She grabbed Marinette's hand, gave Nathaniel a curt nod, and dragged Marinette down the stairs towards Chloe's white SUV that was pulled up at the front of the school.

Shortly after they left, Nino had turned towards Adrien asking if what he just heard was true and a verbal fight broke out between the duo over their respective beliefs. Nathaniel had walked off earlier while rolling his eyes at both of their idiocies. The fight eventually resolved, thankfully before break ended, with both of them near breaking point with tears in their eyes when realizing what they had done to their 'everyday Ladybug'.