Ladybug, Chat Noir, and the Golden Tabby

Adrien and his High Road

Alice, after the battle, fumed. She fumed the whole of two days, locking herself in her room, staying silent with no commotions, and missing a day of school. Gabriel, Natalie, and Adrien all had no clue what was going on with the quick gears in her brain.

In the morning, Alice avoided all eye contact with Adrien and only spoke in sweet, but polite, tones.

"Want some butter, sis?" Adrien asked nervously, probably scared Alice would glare at him and stuck a butter knife up his-

"I can get it myself, thanks," Alice said, not looking him in the eye as she reached for the butter.

Gabriel was terribly confused-- as was Natalie. They were sure the twins had argued, as they vaguely remembered the same thing happening when Adrien broke Alice's plane when they were six.

"H-Have a good day?" Natalie told them as they walked out the door, Alice aggressively trying to lug her backpack down the stairs, which was two times larger than usual. Her brother looked terrified as if he thought she was carrying a chain saw.

The car ride was silent, Adrien trying to make conversation but closing his mouth every time she closed her eyes, which was every five seconds.

Alice spent the ten-minute car ride remembering what she had done the last night:

The Golden Tabby stared awkwardly at Ladybug, who was sobbing. She patted the other heroine's back awkwardly, staring as salty droplets splashed rhythmically onto a stranger's roof. 

"I-I... can't believe I was akumatised!" Ladybug said, puttering her face in her gloved hands. "I've spent more than a year trying to push away all the negative emotions-- I thought I would last longer!"

"I-It's alright. You shouldn't bottle up emotions anyway..." Golden Tabby bit her lip, trying to find the right thing to say. "You crying right now is a good way to lose the pain."

Ladybug gasped, and the moon shone on her tear-stricken face as she looked at Golden Tabby in fear. "Oh no! I could attract an Akuma right now! And in my hero form!"

She went back to a bawling mess, and Golden Tabby sighed. "Ladybug, no one is perfect, even though you are very close, considering the tiers of perfection. It's okay if you get akumatised. I've got you're back."

Ladybug sent Golden Tabby a sad smile of gratefulness. "Thanks, Alice. I don't know what I would do without you..."

"Evil insects would probably swarm Paris, and Butterfly-man would rule the earth, taking selfies with your bootiful earrings and showing off Noir's ring on the bedazzled-by-purple-moths Eiffel tower?" Golden Tabby joked.

Ladybug gave a short laugh, before hugging her. "Really, thank you."

Gorilla snorted, making Alice jump out of her reverie. "Here."

Alice nodded, heaving up her backpack. She had used the time between two A.M. till dawn perfecting the project she had assigned herself. Alice merely slept a little over one hour before preparing for school.

She yawned as she glared at Lila, who was standing with her idiot fans-- probably blabbing about how terrifying the hospital stay had been. Alice rolled her eyes, huffing angrily as she passed the Italian, who ignored her presence.

"H-Hey, Alice," Marinette's timid voice made her smile, and she leveled her gaze to the bluenette's, which was a little lower than usual since the girl was slouching pitifully.

"Hey, Marinette. I've done something super exciting, and I want everyone in the class to see my accomplishment!" Alice said it extra loud, to entice the attention of Lila's group, which was most of the class, excluding Adrien, Nino, Marinette, Chloe, Sabrina, and Alice herself.

It worked, and everyone slowly followed Alice into the classroom.

"Ugh, what is it?" Lila drawled. "I'm only here since it might be about one of the many celebrities that I personally know, and I don't want to worry if it's that you killed Jagged or Clara."

Alice bit back a remark that would've mentioned something about Lila's stupid, rambling, dirty, fat mouth. Instead, she sent the Italian imbecile the sweetest smile she could muster when staring into the vile creature's face. 

"No need to worry, Lila. Not everything has to do with celebrities." Alice unzipped her backpack. 

"I created something yesterday," she added. "And no, Lila, it isn't a robot that will worship the ground you walk, you've already got your friends for that."

Proudly, Alice reached into her backpack and pulled out two objects: a cube the size of her fist, and a super long tube-stick-thingy she called the Cretin-Tracker.

"What are those?" Max said, obviously interested.

"I call them the High Road Duo." Alice grinned, shooting Adrien, whose eyes had widened expectantly, a quick glare. "The cube is sort of like a machine that can hear you and consider your words carefully, which I named the Facet, and the tube thing is called the Cretin-Tracker."

And because most of the class were idiots and probably would have failed the grade if not for Ms. Bustier, they didn't know what cretin meant. Only Max, Adrien, Marinette, and Chloe did, the latter gaining an evil smile.

"I'd like to try it out on you guys," Alice suppressed a smirk as they all murmured agreements, staring at her in curiosity. "Okay, let's start."

Alice put the cube to her face, whispering, "Golden Tabby," and the cube opened up like a mechanical flower, revealing some sort of microphone.

"Lila is an idiot," she said loudly, and the microphone emitted a giggle. It sounded creepily like Lila.

"I am not!" Lila shrieked, and the microphone shrieked as well, but in Marinette's voice.

"Wow, that's kinda cool," Marinette grinned, dimples showing, and the microphone started singing a lullaby.

"How does it work?" Max asked, pushing back his blocky glasses. The microphone hummed in an older, female voice.

"That sounds like your mom, bro!" Kim guffawed, and the microphone sighed as if disappointed. 

"Well, I think that the stupid machine is broken!" Lila complained in a whiny voice, making the microphone shriek again. "See?"

"It's not broken," Alice said, and the microphone quieted. "It's supposed to track your tone and emotion, before allowing a reaction from an ideal person. And obviously, whenever you lie, on purpose or accident, there's the sound of Marinette shrieking."

Max raised a brow before muttering something incoherent. Adrien's eyebrows narrowed as he pushed through the mass of classmates. "What are you saying?"

Alice smirked. "I'm saying, Lila obviously threatened Marinette in the bathroom allowing her to become fearful of Lila. That's why the microphone's reaction is scared. Lila is a menace."

There were angry hisses from the classmates, and Adrien shook his head. "I thought my own twin sister was better than this."

"No, you can't be the one saying that." Alice snarled. "I am better, better than you. And I thought my own twin brother was better than somebody that goes on and on about the high road when he knows that his friend is being bullied!"

Adrien's face turned into one of shock. "How-How did you know about that?"

Everyone turned to Adrien, anger building up and tension increasing around him like barriers from the past friendship they had. "Is what Alice saying true? About the high road?"

Adrien didn't speak. He just nodded.