ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 9
( Parts 1 - 4) (Parts 5 - 8)
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Lila began her walk to school with a confident stride. She was back. She had a plan, she had her objectives set, and she was going to get what she wanted.
The brunette realized her confident walk and quickly changed pace, making sure it looked less sure of herself, more sullen. She had a role to play today and she was going to play the role to perfection.
As the brunette approached the school, she noticed Nino and Alya standing by the entrance. The glasses wearing couple showed expressions that did not appear friendly. Lila was expecting that they would know about what she did. She was hoping that she would be able to divide and conquer. It is easier lying to one person at a time.
Fuck! I was hoping to catch them on their own. Okay, so plan A is out, switching to plan B. ‘The new leaf’ protocol’
“Nino, I really need to talk to you.” Lila called out as she headed towards them.
Alya quickly got in between the two.
“Interesting, we need to talk to you too.” Alya’s tone barely held back her bubbling emotions.
Lila’s face showed a look of guilt and sorrow.
“…I am guess you found out what happened.” Lila spoke softly.
“So you admit to using Nino’s phone to find out Adrien’s compatibility list?” Alya interrogated. “Thats pretty twisted! I can’t believe you would do something like that! Lila we….”
Lila looked down and cover her face for a second before looking up at the couple now with tears in her eyes, catching the two off guard and stopping Alya’s tongue lashing.
“I am sorry!” Lila cried. “I ju- I Just wanted to know! You- You said Marinette had an account. And I and I thought she would be on Adrien’s list. So I-I-I wanted to check and see.”
Lila’s tears caused Nino and Alya’s view of the situation to shift.
“I-I-i wanted to pair them up so they could be happy! But I needed to be sure they were on each other’s lists. I acted foolishly, I should have asked directly, but I didn’t want anyone thinking I was in love with Adrien after the incident with the photo and I had your phone in my hand and…” Lila blubbered. She covered her face when she uncovered her face again more tears appeared. “ I am so sorry! I realized as soon as I did it how wrong it was. I stupidly deleted the conversation just to pretend like the whole thing never happened. I felt so sick and stressed from the guilt I got such a nasty stomach ache yesterday. I knew that regardless of how you feel about me I needed to apologize.”
“I am super duper mega sorry about causing you all of this trouble. I swear I will never ever betray your trust like that again.” Lila bowed practically prostrating herself. “If you can’t forgive me… I understand.”
Nino and Alya felt their own anger melt as they saw how distraught Lila was. Clearly there was a mistake on her part but she had been beating herself up over it far more then they could ever do.
“You don’t need to beat yourself up over it Lady dude.” Nino answered as he put his hand on her shoulder. “We all get carried away and your heart was in the right place. You should apologize to Adrien too, he was the one whose privacy you breached. But if you just tell him the truth about the situation, I am sure he will understand. Adrien is a softie.”
“I will I promise. I owe him a massive apology and I am not leaving today until I apologize to him.” Lila said with an assuring smile through her tears.
Alya hugged the girl.
“I know what its like to act without thinking. I am sorry I started jumping to conclusions. I should have known you were trying to make up for it, you asked me about it the other day.” Alya assured. “ So please don’t beat yourself up over it. I am sorry for yelling at you.”
Lila hugged alya tightly.
“You two are amazing friends. I am so lucky to have such kind and understanding people at this school.” Lila praised as she wiped her ‘tears’.
The two girls stop hugging as Alya takes a look at her phone.
“Well I am glad we got that sorted out. Now I need to meet Marinette.”
“Okay, also could you tell Marinette to meet me later today. I want to talk with her.” Lila asked. The brunette wanted to know why Alya was so keen on meeting Marinette, but decided to ask later.
“Oh no prob, you can talk with her during Lunch.” Alya assured as she walked off. “Good luck with your apology to Adrien.”
Lila turned to Nino.
“Would you happen to know where Adrien is? I want to talk with him as soon as possible.”
“He should be in the locker room, he had early morning fencing practice. so he should be by his gym locker.” Nino answered.
“I will head there and wait for him outside. Thanks Nino, for being such a wonderful person.”
Lila gave the Dj a hug.
“No probs Lila. Thanks for being honest with us.”
Lila smiled putting the small bottle of eye drops back into her sleeve.
“Anytime.”
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Adrien had put his gym clothes away. He finished showering in the locker room and was dressed in the mostly white attire that he had wore in the cologne ad, the only new addition being the light blue scarf around his neck. He touched the scarf for a brief moment and felt a faint smile across his face.
Still 100% Marinette, just like this scarf is one hundred percent her.
“You are taking the fact that the best gift your father gave you wasn’t actually from him pretty well.”
“It was a bit sad that this wasn’t actually a gift from father.” Adrien spoke. “But I am happy that it was a gift from Marinette.”
“I didn’t expect that frigid assistant of your dad to cave to the questions so easily. You really didn’t need to promise that you wouldn’t tell your pops that you know.” Plagg answered.
“Well, at least he did try to make sure I had a gift, I can’t be mad at him for that.”
“True, you have a mountain of other reasons to be mad at him.” Plagg commented.
Adrien shrugged as he began to walk through the door. Only to find a brunette exchange student waiting outside the door.
“Hi Adrien… I really need to talk with you.” Lila said timidly.
Adrien mentally eye rolled but maintained an emotionless look at the girl.
I wonder if Nino and Alya got a chance to talk to her. Nino mentioned that he would try to. Lila can be sneaky so she might have avoided them just to talk with me.
“I talked with Nino and Alya earlier.” Lila answered. “I told them everything.”
Adrien looked at her surprised.
“You did? You told them about…”
“I told them about my actions. They know about the texting thing.” Lila answered.
There was a brief pause. Adrien did not know what to make of it. Lila seemed different then usual, it was unsettling.
“I apologized to them, just like I am about to apologize to you now.” Lila stated. “Adrien… I am so sorry about everything I have done up until now, not just about tricking you.”
The model was shocked to hear her say it.
“You were right, I needed to be honest with people. Alya and Nino were so kind and accepting of me coming clean. This school is filled with such good people, I think I don’t have to try and pretend to be someone I am not.” Lila explained.
“Oh? Well I am glad you are changing your approach.” Adrien responded, still not entirely sure that this isn’t another lie.
“I can tell you are iffy on me, and I totally understand. But I will show you.” Lila answered.
She went into her phone and showed Adrien a photo of his compatibility list. The one he messaged Nino.
“Wait, you got the photo?!” Adrien exclaimed in shock.
Lila showed Adrien as she deleted the photo.
“Not anymore.” Lila answered. “I know it doesn’t make up for everything I have lied about, but I hope that it is a start.”
Adrien thought hard about what she was saying. Part of him really wanted to believe she is telling the truth.
“I support your new way of going about things. I will be rooting for you, so long as you are being honest.” Adrien responded.
Lila nodded.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me right away, but it means a lot to hear you say that. Thank you.” Lila bowed slightly.
“You are welcome. I wish you luck on this new path.” Adrien smiled.
“Ill see you in class.” Lila returned his smile just before turning to walk away. revealing a far more sinister smirk.
Three handled and one more to go
Adrien watched Lila walk off, reflecting on her words.
Lila is turning over a new leaf. I can’t believe it. This day really seems to be going well. This was exactly what I wanted to hear… why does this feel wrong though.
Regardless of his thoughts, he will be sure to talk with Marinette about it later if he gets a chance before or after the interview.
“You don’t believe that pile of crap she just spouted out of her front butt right?” The black cat kwami questioned interrupting his internal monologue.
“She said she was turning over a new leaf, so I am going to at least give her a chance to prove it. There is a possibility she did really change Plagg. There is some good in everyone Plagg.” Adrien answered.
“Adrien, I don’t understand how you can be not hate someone who lies and is trying to use you for her own benefit.”
“Plagg, if I hated people just because they lied to me and used me for their own benefit, by that logic I would have to hate my father.” Adrien replied with a casual demeanor.
Plagg pauses as he was processing that statement. That explained way too much about Adrien’s thought process. There was a lot to unpack there.
Plagg hugged his chosen neck.
“I promise to share my camembert as long as you never say something that terrible again.”
“I will talk to Marinette about it. See what she thinks about Lila’s new attitude.” Adrien concluded as he began to walk back to class.
Plagg was right. Lila was a liar and she was very manipulative. But right now, Adrien didn’t have much reason to doubt that Lila was trying to turn over a new leaf after she owned up to all the lies and deceit she did to him. She had apologized for lying to Adrien, but did that include the lies she told Chat noir? Chat noir knows about how she blatantly lied to try and get Ladybug hurt, Chat noir is completely aware of how nasty and dangerous of a liar Lila can be, akumatized or not. She maybe be able to trick Adrien, but she wasn’t going to fool chat noir, not again. Lila’s new attitude better be genuine, because she should know crossing a black cat can be very unlucky.
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“So everything is in there.” Alya inquired as she walked with Marinette. Marinette held the outfit in a protective clothing cover. Its a surprise and she wanted to be sure it stayed perfect until she needed it.
“Yup, I finished the stitching on it last night and its ready to go.” Marinette assured. “But I don’t know if I am ready for it.”
Alya placed her hand on Marinette’s shoulder.
“Trust me girl. With that outfit you will be…”
“If you love me you won’t say another cat pun.” Marinette interrupted.
“Party pooper.” Alya puffed her cheeks pretending to be hurt. “No cake for you.”
Marinette laughed at her friend’s reaction.
“The cat puns are only cute when Chat noir does it.” Marinette mentions as they walk. Realizing what she just said after she finishes talking, causing the girl to get flustered. “Cause its his gimmick not because he is cute or anything! Not that he isn’t but…”
Alya raised an eyebrow as Marinette just closed her mouth to stop talking.
“Well plan B, if Adrien doesn’t work out, I will help you steel chat noir away from Ladybug.”
“Can we please move on from this? I think we are focusing on the wrong blond.” Marinette tried to change the subject. She wanted to focus on Adrien, not chat noir.
“Alright, fair point. Speaking of Mr.Model, how is the compatibility? Are you two still perfect for eachother?” Alya inquired.
Marinette opened her phone showing her best friend the results with glee.
“It really doesn’t get boring seeing that 100% does it? Nino and I just barely cracked 86%” Alya responded.
“It did help me get me out of bed when I remembered to answer the questions. This time I made sure to be out of bed to answer them.”
“Smart call. Speaking of smart calls, Alix picked up my request.” Alya exclaimed as she pulled out a box.
Inside was a small bottle of a perfume called ‘odeur d'amour’ a very nice and very expensive bottle of perfume.
“How did you get this?! Isn’t it crazy expensive?” Marinette questioned as she looked at the box.
“Yes and no. Rose just happened to know a place that was offering a sale and also happened to have a cousin that made it 80% off. Alix went to go get it while it was still in stock. Two months of Allowance later and here we are.”
“Two months! Alya I can’t accept it.” Marinette said solemnly.
“I am not giving you the bottle. This one is for me. I just am going to let you use some for today.” Alya smiled.
Marinette almost knocked over Alya in her embrace, making her almost drop the perfume box.
“Easy Mari! I love you too, but I don’t love you enough to not be mad if I lose this.” Alya answered.
Marinette stopped and apologized, forgetting herself for a moment.
“Sorry. I got caught up in how amazing you are.”
“You are forgiven.” Alya patted her head.
“Oh, before I forget. Lila asked me to tell you she wanted to meet you at Lunch today.”
Marinette stopped walking immediately.
“What?!” Marinette exclaimed.
“Relax Girl. I talked with Lila earlier today. She admitted to making some mistakes, and I think you should talk with her. She just wants to be friends.” Alya answered. “I am not asking you to become besties, but at least hear Lila out.”
Marinette wanted to scream that there was no way that evil, manipulative goblin was ever going to want to genuinely be her friend. But, Marinette didn’t. The designer took a deep sigh.
“Okay, I will talk with her. But I don’t promise anything.” Marinette answered.
“Thank you Marinette. I am sure if you got to know Lila, you would see that she isn’t evil.”Alya assured.
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It was lunch time when Marinette walked into the library, the place was practically empty as she saw Lila sitting at a table and looking at her phone.
Marinette took a deep calming breath. She looked into her purse, where her red Kwami was holding her phone.
“I am ready when you are Marinette.” The ladybug Kwami assured.
“Thanks Tikki.” Marinette whispered.
Marinette was not going to face Lila without a back up plan. She has Tikki recording her ‘Exchange’ with Lila, should she threaten her again. Marinette would have definitive proof of how nasty of a person Lila is.
Marinette approached Lila.
“You wanted to talk?” Marinette did her best to not sound angry or irritated.
“Yes, Please sit right next to me.” Lila spoke with a peppy tone.
Marinette obliged, still suspicious of the brunette’s actions.
“I need a simple favor.” Lila asked sweetly. “After that, I won’t ask anything else.”
Marinette’s eyes narrowed.
“Whats the favor?”
“Nothing much, just answer this quiz honestly for me.” Lila explained as she passed her phone to Marinette, showing the Soulmate Searcher app.
Marinette quickly realized what she was doing. Adrien mentioned that Lila knew about his list, therefore she knows the person that has the highest compatibility, which is her. So having her answer the questions would give Lila the score to match with Adrien.
“No.”
“Oh please Marinette! You are the only one who can do it.”
“I am not going to let you cheat to get a high compatibility score.” Marinette exclaimed.
Marinette stood up and began to leave.
“Then I guess I will have no choice but to post the list.” Lila spoke unnaturally casual.
Marinette stops.
“What do you mean?”
Lila smiled as she walks over to Marinette and shows the photo of Adrien’s list. She has multiple copies on her phone and at home. Lila had planned for this encounter all day yesterday. She was three for three and she would end strong.
“If I was on his list there would be no reason for me to share this with the world. But if you are gonna be selfish, then I think the world needs to see who Adrien’s ‘Perfect match’ is.” Lila smiled. “I can imagine angry fangirls screaming with rage as they pursued you.”
“You’re threatening me?”
“Oh nothing of the sort, its just a fact that Adrien has some rather, ‘Extreme’ fans. Of course, those fans will likely find out where you go to school, where you live, who is close to you.” Lila detailed. “They would find ways of ruining your existence in a flash.”
Marinette glared at Lila. She would not be threatened like this.
“That isn’t going to work on me Lila.”
“Then after you, they would go after Kagami.”
“Kagami can protect herself fine.” Marinette assured. “If anything I would be more worried about you if Kagami found out.”
“What about the girl in third place? And the girl after her, and the girl after her and so on? Would you let seven innocent girls get mobbed and hurt because you wouldn’t answer a quiz?” Lila twisted the dagger.
“They wouldn’t believe its real.” Marinette exclaimed.
“Just like how your friends and classmates believed you before?” Lila’s words cut deeply.
Marinette knew she couldn’t risk it. Lila was crazy enough to do it. But Marinette did have Tikki recording the whole situation, so at least she can show proof to school that Lila isn’t who she says she is.
“Okay. I will answer the quiz.” Marinette answered in defeat.
“Good girl. And before you think about deleting the photo from my phone, I already have back ups on my computer.” Lila answered.
“Just give me the quiz.” Marinette growled irritated.
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“Its alright dude, it isn’t the end of the world.” Kim tried to comfort his best friend.
The buff athlete padded the robot enthusiast as he looked distraught over what was on his screen. The blond model noticed the two in the classroom as he went to grab something from his desk.
“Whats wrong Max?” Adrien asked as he happened to walk by.
“My days of research have all been for nothing. Most of my dummy profiles have been wiped from the server!” Max answered in anguish.
“Dummy profiles?”
“Max made some like fake people to test stuff about the app. But the people that run the app called foul on his accounts and gave them the red card.” Kim explained in a mix of sports metaphors.
“Um… Sorry, I didn’t follow that.” Adrien confessed.
“I made test accounts to explore the app’s algorithm. But thanks to last nights update, all bots are being wiped from the server. And any account that mods suspect is a bot is put under suspension. Days of work down the drain.”
Adrien felt bad for the tech genius. but also found himself curious on how this happened.
“How did the mods even know about your fake accounts?”
“Well, I rigged most of my accounts to have identical answers, right down to the the write in questions. From what I gathered, the mods figured that no two profiles are ever the exact same, so the earliest profile with those answers are kept.”
“Wow, I guess that makes sense on how they figured it out. Thats a pretty creative solution.” Adrien responded. “Sorry, that was insensitive of me.”
“No, you are right, it is theoretically sound reasoning. No person would ever try to make a real account have the exact same answers as another, that would be incredibly stupid.”
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“To the letter. All of your answers have to be exact. I want to reach 100%.” Lila exclaimed. “Don’t try to cheat me by messing up once.”
“I know I know.” Marinette grumbled. “I am doing it exactly as I did it before.”
Whether it was fortunate or not, over the course of improving her profile Marinette has seen all of the questions that Lila’s core profile was being made from. Marinette answered them to the letter as Lila requested, much to her disgust.
“And done.” Marinette spoke as she pushed the phone to Lila.”There, now we are finished.”
Marinette tried to walk off but Lila grabbed her shoulder.
“I need to make sure you didn’t try to screw me over.” Lila answered. “You are staying to see the results.
Marinette felt her stomach flip in disgust. Nothing sounded less appealing to her. She had helped Lila reach her objective of 100% compatibility with Adrien, and Lila was going to make her watch.
Lila smiled as she pressed the button.
After about a minute, a notification popped up.
Lila looked at the message.
‘We regret inform you that this account is under investigation. We apologize for the inconvenience and after our mods are finishing investigating and deem the account real we will reinstate your profile and you are free to try and recreate your core profile. Thank you for your patience…’
Marinette looked at the screen and looked at Lila’s shocked expression. The look on lila’s face was something that gave Marinette a feeling that could only describe as ‘if Christmas and her birthday combined into one.’.
Marinette started laughing. She almost fell on the floor laughing as Lila stood frozen looking at her phone. This was too perfect.
Lila was fuming.
“What did you do!?” Lila hissed.
“I ha ha I did what you asked.” Marinette spoke between fits of laughter. “Exactly like you asked.”
The brunette felt her frustration and anger boil.
“You KNEW this would happen Didn’t you!?” Lila accused.
Marinette began laughing louder.
“I wish I did, but I am so glad I didn’t.” Marinette laughed. “This is perfect. You are such a liar that the app thought your profile was a bot!”
“This is bullshit! You… You conniving little toad! I will get to the bottom of this, and you will pay.”
Marinette’s giggle fit calmed down. She wiped the tear that was coming out of her eye. Marinette was done laughing.
She went into her purse. And pulled out her phone.
“I think not.” Marinette says with confidence.
She presses play and watched as Lila’s anger shifted to one of surprise. She heard their conversation, her threat to her, to other people. Lila went pale for a moment.
“I have the recording drafted on a message ready to be sent to all of my contacts. You try anything and its over.” Marinette answered. “So do yourself a favor and stop trying to manipulate me and my friends.”
Lila scoffed. She absolutely despised Marinette. It was starting to get close to her hatred of Ladybug, but it was still not there yet, and Marinette hasn’t won yet.
“This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.” Lila grumbled as she stormed off, leaving Marinette with a confident smile on her face.
“I think I might have gone a little too far.” Marinette confessed.
“Lila may get akumatized over this, but this isn’t your fault, it is hers.” Tikki assured. “I think you made the right call. And if she does get akumatized, we will handle it.”
“Thanks Tikki” Marinette sweetly pat her Kwami on the head as they began walking out of the library.
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In a room filled with white butterflies. stood a man in a purple suit and a silver face mask. The window opened to reveal the villain of Paris known as Hawkmoth.
“Oh the amount of negative emotion is tempting. But I will hold off for now. After all, the main event has yet to come and that will be something with far more bite. But for now, let it fester, let is gather, and let it grow.” The villain monologued
Hawkmoth had an inkling on who this person was. Oh Miss Rossi would make a good akuma right now, but he would hold off, he wants to catch the heroes off guard, and the best time will be during that interview. Besides, Lila’s negative emotions can still grow, if he is going to act on them, he wants them at their highest emotional distress.
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Part 9 is finished I am living for all of this spectacular feedback and you guys keep me inspired to keep writing this. The day has arrived and the ball has begun to roll. (over 1000 notes on part 8 within 24 hours. Just spectacular)
Part 10 is the interview.
Please Keep up that amazing feedback. I love seeing those notes and comments, It really feeds my impulsive need to write.
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