People have enough of Marinette’s claims about Lila. Things reach a head when Lila makes an accusation against Marinette and someone is finally akumatized over it after Marinette attempts to deny or counter it. The thing is though that they’re turned into an akuma that forces people to tell the truth. So anyone they target is forced to answer their questions honestly.
Chloe is forced to admit feeling unhappy and unloved.
Sabrina is forced to admit to being scared of being alone.
Mylene is forced to admit that she actually doesn’t like Kitty Section’s style of music. (*Gasp!*) She only goes to support Ivan because she loves him so much.
Chat Noir manages to show up, but only sort of slows the akuma down before the akuma manages to find Marinette and forces truth out of her, demanding to know why she hurt Lila and tried to claim she was lying.
And Marinette simply responds that she didn’t do anything to Lila. Lila lied.
Everything stops.
The akuma thinks something is wrong and questions her again.
Marinette again responds that Lila lied.
No matter how many times or in how many ways the akuma asks, Marinette responds the same.
“Lila lied.”
Marinette’s eyes are glowing. She is clearly under the effects of the akuma’s spell. She cannot be lying. So the akuma asks what specifically she has against Lila.
And Marinette proceeds to list in complete detail every single lie Lila told. Every altercation. Every cruel word. Every bit of Lila’s manipulation that she was aware of. How Lila had been akumatized four times previously. How Lila had been the one to steal Adrien’s book and throw it in the trash—resulting in his nearly being taken out of school. How Lila had threatened her in the bathroom when she made it clear she wouldn’t stand by and let her manipulate everyone. And every reaction of the classmates as a result of any lie that Lila told.
The akuma is floored.
Chat Noir is horrified.
The akuma then asks—either incredulous or in shock—if Marinette ever lied about anything.
Marinette responds that she’s the one who made Adrien’s birthday scarf for him and let him believe it was from his father to make him happy.
Chat Noir: D:
Akuma: …Damn. I…wow. Huh.
Assuming the akuma isn’t shocked out of the possession by the truth or that Chat doesn’t take advantage of the situation to Cataclysm the akumatized object, the akuma decides to go after Lila instead and releases Marientte.
When Marinette snaps out of it, she doesn’t know what happened or what she said.
So Lila is exposed and ends up akumatised. Only unlike her other Akumas this one is powered by her being honest.
When she speaks her honest feelings about someone they feel extreme emotional and physical pain.
And Lila is a sick puppy. Her honest opinions are cruel,twisted and nearly inhuman. Things like family and friends don’t really care about each other they just use one another and discard those who aren't useful. And that good deeds are just done to get people to like you. Also a deranged rant about how much she loves being akumatised for the power and that everyone else secretly loves it too because they keep saying yes. Then there are her feelings of wanting to possess Adrian and kill Ladybug. Going into great and disturbing detail.
Worst of all she honestly thinks everyone is just like her only she’s smarter.
Author’s Note: Here we go! An honesty akuma, which was one of things I thought of when this story could barely be considered a story. It's weird to be here, the timeline I've got planned for this story moved faster than I expected. The reference slide for the akuma can be found here!
Anyways, this is the beginning of... a lot. Buckle up buttercups, this is going to be fun!
Chapter Summary: Claude begins scheming. Ladybug and Chat Noir deal with an honesty akuma.
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Marinette’s phone dings on her desk as her friends classmates are standing to go. She crosses her room to pick it up, glancing at the screen, “Oh hey, Adrien got his phone back! He says that he wanted to let us all know that he got into Concours d'arts musicaux!” She starts tapping at the screen, probably sending a congratulatory reply, “Isn’t that great?!”
Allegra smacks her palm against her forehead, “ That’s what I forgot to tell you guys! I don’t know how I forgot. I got in too!”
“You did? That’s wonderful, Allegra!” Marinette gives the taller girl an excited hug.
“Yay! I’m jealous you two will get to spend a bunch of time together though, don’t forget the rest of us when you guys become stars!” Claude joins in the hug, pouting slightly.
“As if you’d let me forget you.”
“Never!”
“That’s great Al’, do you know when it is yet?” Allan gives her a hug too.
“No, but it won’t be for another few months.”
“Congratulations, Allegra!” Felix stands off to the side giving her a smile that she probably can’t see. Claude grabs him by the shirt and pulls him into the hug.
“There is no escaping a group hug, my friend!”
Felix sighs, accepting his fate for a moment and joining their hug before pulling away and straightening himself out. The other four break apart too.
“I’m so happy for you!” Claude is shaking in excitement.
Allegra shakes her head, smiling, “Claude, it hasn’t even happened yet.”
“Still!”
Eventually they do manage to get downstairs. As they say their goodbyes, Claude holds up his hands, “Wait!”
“What is it Claude?” Felix and the rest turn back to him. Marinette pauses in closing the door, looking at him questioningly.
“I have forgotten my textbook in Marinette’s room!”
“Oh, you can come back up and get it then.” Marinette opens up the door to let him back in. He races in.
“Do ya’ w-” Allan starts to shout after him before Claude calls down.
“No need to wait for me! You may go on without me, my pals!”
Allan shrugs, “That answers that question then.” He waves, “Bye ‘Nette!” The three turn and walk back to their respective homes.
Marinette shuts the door and exhales heavily, allowing the smile to fall from her face for one of the first times that day. That is, of course, until she hears Claude bounding back downstairs. At that, she fixes the look back onto her face, turning to greet him.
“Find it okay?”
“Yep!” He holds it up triumphantly.
She opens the door for him, “That’s a relief.”
He smiles at her, “Thanks for having us over again, Mari. It’s fun.”
She shrugs it off, “It’s no big deal-”
“We really enjoy hanging out with you, ya’ know.”
If Marinette had allowed herself to imagine him saying anything of the sort before, she may have reacted differently. However, as it was, she considered such a statement completely unrealistic and her surprise showed. She’d honed her acting skills in recent weeks though, so she was able to recover quickly, “Aw, you guys are sweet. It was nice having you over, goodnight Claude.”
Claude smiled at her, giving her a quick hug - seemingly on impulse - as he skipped out the door, “Goodnight Marinette!”
She shut the door, and as she did, his smile faded. He didn’t want to worry her - thank his wonderful acting skills for allowing him to pull that off - but she sounded more than just surprised by his simple statement - which would have been concerning enough on its own. She seemed completely caught off-guard, shocked - astonished even - and though he thought he’d noticed some hopefulness, it had gotten crushed immediately. The pig-tailed girl had better acting skills than he would have given her credit for, making him think through some things he’d filed away in the back of his mind as ‘off’ about her before. By the time he arrived home, he’d come some rather concerning and alarming conclusions. Pulling out his phone, he started putting a plan together.
He wouldn’t allow this to continue.
---
Marinette had actually gotten a reasonable amount of sleep when she woke up the next day. She’d slept in a little, which was a nice and surprising rarity. Checking her phone, she sees Claude’s usual good morning text.
Directly above it is an akuma alert. Darn it.
A type five too, fun . It could take a while, so she decides to quickly scribble a note to her parents that she would be out today in case they came up to her room. Saturdays can be pretty busy, but type fives are pretty annoying, and she didn’t want them to worry. Better safe than sorry.
Turning to her desk, she found her Kwami, still resting,“Hey, Tikki, you up?”
“I am now. What is it, Marinette?” the little Goddess sat up, looking to her chosen.
“There’s an akuma - type 5.”
“Okay, let’s go de-evilize it!” She floated up to be at eye-level as Marinette spoke the words.
“Tikki, spots on!”
Feeling the magic wrap around her, Ladybug takes a moment to prepare herself to go against another akuma. It is her job, yes, but keeping up the act when she is in front of a few people is very different than all of Paris. Not to mention the added stress of magical monsters and probably Alya.
She hasn’t spoken to her as Ladybug since before… that Thursday. As Marinette, not since she left.
She exhales deeply. Ladybug doesn’t have time for this, not with a type five on the loose. Shoving everything deep back down where it belongs, she hops out of the bedroom. Swinging in the direction of the akuma, she focuses on getting her mind back together. It is a little ways away, so she has time.
Ladybug is definitely approaching the akuma now. She can see plenty of citizens out on the streets. They look pained, and a few are speaking rapidly, many are crying. Others look upset or surprised at the very least. One couple seems to be in the midst of an impromptu proposal… interesting timing?
“Ladybug! Over here!”
Ladybug lets out a genuine smile for a moment at her partner. He’s one of her favorite people, and- no focus. If you can’t even stay on task you don’t deserve your miraculous. Quit smiling you moron.
She lands beside Chat Noir, “Sorry I’m late. Last time I’ll let myself sleep in.”
“I get that feeling. You let yourself get a few extra moments of well-deserved beauty sleep and Hawkmoth slaps you across the face with a dose of evil butterfly magic.”
“Heh. You been here much longer than me? Anything on the akuma?” Joking with her friend partner was something she didn’t earn today. She’d already treated herself to a few extra moments of sleep anyways. Time to actually do your job you airhead.
“Yeah, it’s going to be risky for us. We should really try to avoid getting hit…” Chat takes a moment to survey the area, making sure the akuma isn’t going to sneak up on the duo. She gives him a quizzical look before he continues, “It’s an honesty based akuma. She’s got two abilities. She can hit her gavel, which lets out a wave - if you get hit, it’ll slow you down- all of this is from observation. Don’t worry, she hasn’t seen me yet. Anyways, what we got to really look out for is when she throws her gavel - or the other circle-thing. If someone gets hit by either of them, they spill their guts. Seriously, these people just, like, let it go. It looks like you can hold it off for a little, but it looks painful? I’m not sure. I think people’ll tell more if someone asks them a question.”
“Yeah, okay we definitely need to be careful. Our secret identities are on the line.” Stupid, he already knew that.
Chat Noir nods, bowing, “Shall we?”
Ladybug scoffs, taking a few steps before leaping off the roof heading towards the akuma that has wandered a few blocks away. Her partner follows behind her dutifully.
Ladybug finally laid eyes on the victim. She has long hair and is dressed like Lady Justice but without the scales and sword. In place of the blindfold she has glasses. Her wrists are wrapped in thick, heavy chains, which trail behind her on the ground, ending in a ball, her ankles similarly have a weighty pair of ball and chains cuffed to them. Despite the burden, she moves quickly and purposefully, holding her arms aloft as she wanders the streets. In her hands she holds a gavel and a circular wooden sound block. Ladybug observes her for a moment longer, waiting to see her abilities in use.
She doesn’t have to wait long, soon enough the akuma hit the gavel to the sound block several times, releasing blue crescent shaped waves that rush out towards the people closest to her. Some get out of the way in time - others not so much. They slow considerably, and one unlucky soul gets hit by two and could probably end up losing a race to a snail.
Ladybug decides she’d done enough surveillance. She quickly puts herself ahead of the akuma, but stays on the roof. She shoots out her yo-yo, and as much it would be nice to wrap-up this akuma quickly (Chat would have liked that pun), she knows better. Type fives are never quick, and never easy. So while she is aiming to have her yo-yo wrap around the woman, she mostly wants the akuma’s attention. Knowing their goals and views on their task often helps to defeat them,
The akuma notices the weapon immediately, hitting it back with her gavel.
“Ladybug! Chat Noir! So you’ve finally decided to show up, huh? I am The Revealer, I was hurt by the truth being kept from me, so I’m going to make sure no important truths are kept from anyone! All secrets must be revealed, including yours!” She punctuates the statement by throwing each of the objects in her hands at the superpowered pair.
Ladybug steps out of the way, and Chat bats the one aimed at him away with his baton, “Thank you for the exposition, but I’m afraid some secrets are meant to stay that way. Purr -haps you could encourage good communication instead?”
“No! Lies will persist without my intervention.”
“I can agree with you there - no one like a liar.” Ladybug really sympathizes with this woman, she knows firsthand the pain lies can bring about, “But forcing people to tell the truth in this way could hurt more people than it will help.”
“If they lied,” the akuma bangs her gavel a few times, before throwing it and the block again - summoning new ones to replace them, “then they deserve any pain this brings about!”
The gavel hits a man walking with one of his friends. He immediately collapses - much to the concern of the friend. They drop to his side, and evidently hear many surprising and upsetting things. They pull out their phone, dialing a number before speaking rapidly both to the person on the other end and to the man when he snaps out of it. Grabbing their friend’s wrist, the pair hurry away.
Many similar scenes are playing out all over - Ladybug can hear the yelling of a woman who was cheated on and crying from various others. The akuma is blind to the hurt around her and continues throwing things.
“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” The Revealer has focused back on the heroes, “Paris demands to know the identity of the so-called heroes protecting them. How can we trust those that we know nothing about?!”
Dodging the projectiles, Ladybug calls back, “It is for our own safety that our identities are secret. We get the job done, that’s all you need to know.” She hooks her yo-yo above her, swinging to get behind the akuma.
“Even we don’t know each other’s identities.” Chat chimes in as he ducks beneath the gavel aimed at his forehead. “ Purr -tty sure that how superhero-ing works.”
The gavel keeps flying and hits someone standing nearby, “Babe! You good?”
Ladybug freezes - only her momentum keeps her moving - she knows that voice, even if she hasn’t heard in weeks. Nino .
Nino. Which means… if he’s talking to someone here - at an akuma attack - someone he called ‘babe’ then that could only mean…
She recovers, turning her head to the voice, and seeing him, and on the ground near him is Alya. She’s clutching at her chest and speaking rapidly. The heroine hears ‘Ladyblog’, ‘not good enough’, and ‘jealous of my best friend’, but can’t make out much more. The last statement throws her for a loop. Jealous of her best friend? She hasn’t seen Marinette in weeks, what is there to be jea-
Oh.
Lila.
Nevermind, she gets it now.
Stupid girl. Why would anyone be jealous of you ? You’re just some fool playing superhero until they find someone better. You’re not anyone’s best friend because no one would want to spend time - Wait hadn’t Claude said-
A crescent wave goes right past her face, snapping her out of her thoughts. Turning to Nino and (the now-recovered) Alya she says, “Get out of here. It’s dangerous.”
Alya is holding her phone, still recording, “Girl, I’m fine, I already got hit anyways and this isn’t live so nothing important can get out.” she looks to Ladybug, winking, “Unless you need some back-up?” She and Nino turn to her, smiling eagerly.
Ladybug stiffens slightly, though the pair don’t notice. Someone else does though, “She’s right. You two need to get out of here.” Chat blocks another gavel with his baton as he lands near them. Ladybug recovers, nodding in agreement before swinging back into the battle.
“Finally see sense? Have you decided to let Paris see your truths?”
“Sorry ma’am, but Chat and I have good reasons for the lies we tell.” Do you though? Not all your lies are about your Ladybug identity. Sometimes you just lie because you want to, sounds like someone else you know…
“I doubt that! You don’t feel the weight of your lies on your chest! You need me to show you just how wrong you are! Without me, how are you going to know all that you’ve done wrong? How will you make things better?! For that you need the truth!”
Ladybug scoffs quietly, muttering under her breath, “Ha! Joke’s on you lady, I already know that I’ve messed up big time! There is no righting my wrongs - truth won’t help me.” She’s quiet, and distracted with blocking more attacks. She misses how her partner’s fake ears twitch before he shoots a confused and concerned glance her way.
The Revealer hits her gavel several times, spinning in a circle and sending the glowing crescents everywhere. Ladybug returns to the rooftops and Chat Noir isn’t far behind. Seeing the heroes are out of her range, the victim moves on to reach more areas.
“Uh, Ladybug, you good?”
“What?” Ladybug hears concern in his voice and her stress sky-rockets, what did she do?
“I just, uh, thought I heard you say something…? I thought maybe I should check on you…” He cocks his head, green eyes looking at her patiently.
You know the rules. You’ve memorized the rules. The rules are there for good reason and you can’t even follow them correctly.
She’s memorized the rules, and she knows them by heart and could recite them top to bottom, left to right, and she knows the last one well. It’s one of the more important ones, with them now numbered it’s #11.
Rule #11: Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don’t make them regret it.
It’s since been edited to include her partner, because unlike those she originally mentioned, he doesn’t even have a choice. His obligation to Paris requires him to put up with her idiocy on a near daily basis.
Stupid stupid stupid stupid you brainless numbskull. You’ve broken one of the rules, he’s worried about you now. For absolutely no reason. Fix this - now.
“Oh no, I’m fine kitty.” She puts on her most convincing smile, and pumps her voice with false sweetness and happiness that she doesn’t feel, “I think I just needed some more rest, that’s all!”
He keeps looking at her,”Are you sure? If something’s wrong…?”
“No, nothing’s wrong! I just need to be sure to get proper rest today, that’s all!”
He smiles at her weakly, “Alright, if you say so…”
“Mhm! Now, lets go get that akuma!”
“Right!”
The duo swings toward the direction they last saw the akuma head in. Ladybug’s thoughts trail behind her as she goes.
It was just past noon, and they’d been at this for well over three hours and had gone through several Lucky Charms. Nothing seemed to be working, and it was hard to concentrate on setting up a trap for her when she was set on hitting them over the head with a gavel, or playing a painful game of frisbee with the sounding blocks, not to mention all the close calls with being slowed by a neon crescent wave.
“Maybe we should take a lunch break…” Chat has his hand on his knees, breathing heavily. They’re both tired, and have lost the akuma again.
Ladybug is about to protest - they need to do their job - but looking at her partner, doubled over and clearly overworked, she realizes he certainly deserves a break. He’s worked hard today, not to mention that she’d worried him earlier.
“Yeah, maybe we should. You certainly deserve one - be sure to eat something. Maybe check in with some people so they don’t wonder where you’ve been all day.”
“Bug, you deserve one too. We both have been at this all day. Besides, you must be tired out from being so radiant all day long.” He winks at her.
She huffs, folding her arms and turning away so he doesn’t see her blush. She is blushing from the compliment thank-you-very-much. She certainly doesn’t have any sort of crush on her partner. That would be unprofessional. She has a crush on Adrien and only Adrien . Not Chat Noir too - nope, no way.
“Farewell, my lady, enjoy your break!” Chat waves goodbye as he leaps away.
“Same to you, mon minou!” Ladybug heads in another direction, swinging from roof to roof until she lands on a familiar balcony.
“Tikki, spots off!” The Kwami in question shoots out of her earrings. Tikki waves tiredly at her as she floats down to presumably rest somewhere inside. She certainly deserves it - Marinette spent most of today transformed, with only a few very short breaks.
The tired and overworked girl flops onto her bed as soon as she’s inside. She wants to sleep, but her body refuses to shut down. Maybe it’s because she hasn’t eaten at all today. She’s fairly certain there’s leftovers in the fridge if she wanted them, but stairs seem like so much effort after hours of rooftop parkour. Her leg muscles are done with movement for now.
Her phone dings. Checking the screen she realizes that her friends have been messaging quite a bit while she was out, and there’s several messages asking about her. That’s right, she never responded to the good morning text from Claude - they’re probably worried now, good going.
Kid Mime: ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Good morning my stars!!! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Felix: Good morning, Claude.
Melodie: It’s too early to be up do you wake up early just to send a text?
Melodie: I know you’re not a morning person how do you do it?
Kid Mime: i’ll never tell
Kid Mime: my secrets shall remain that way for all of eternity
Kid Mime: i’m taking them to the grave
The Mom Friend: youd better not be heading there any time soon
Kid Mime: i dont plan on it
Kid Mime: whats this??!!
Kid Mime: Allan isnt the last one up!
Kid Mime: this is almost unheard of!
The Mom Friend: im not?
Kid Mime: nope, Maris been quiet so far
The Mom Friend: huh
Felix: Perhaps she is sleeping in. She likely needs the rest.
The Mom Friend: that she does
Kid Mime: also unheard of! Today is a day of surprises!
Melodie: Marinette honey I hope we don’t wake you up.
Felix: I am fairly certain that we won’t. She may just have her phone off, or maybe it isn’t near her bed.
Kid Mime: maybe shes talking with adrien. I still wnat his number especialy now he has phone back
Melodie: How did he lose it again?
Kid Mime: i dunno
Felix: If I recall correctly, he did not perform as well as expected on a photoshoot, so his father decided to remove distractions, I believe he was pulled out of school for some time as well.
The Mom Friend: translation his dad sucks
Kid Mime: translatin allan is totally going to kidnap adiren
The Mom Friend: no I won’t
The Mom Friend: … not yet at least
Melodie: I’m in
Felix: You are all terrible influences on each other.
Kid Mime: u loooooveeee us!!!! :))
Felix: …
Felix: …
Felix: I do.
Kid Mime: YAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!
The Mom Friend: awww
Melodie: You’re all adorable.
Kid Mime: u no who els is adorable????
The Mom Friend: marinette!
Kid Mime: ding ding ding!
Kid Mime: where is are favorite fabulous fashionista???
Kid Mime: i miss herrrrrrrrr
Kid Mime: :(((((
Kid Mime D:
Felix: You just saw her yesterday.
Kid Mime: but i stil miss her
Melodie: Oh got to go for a moment.
Melodie: I’ll be back eventually
The Mom Friend: careful theres a akuma out
Melodie: I will!
The Mom Friend: you better
Kid Mime: maybe she’s been kidnapped!!!
Kid Mime: we must find her
The Mom Friend: im sure shes good
The Mom Friend: jus getting wel deserved rest
Head Searcher: the hunt is on!!!
Head Searcher: she wil be found!!!
The Mom Friend: fe’ i can hear u sighing from across paris
Felix: Indeed.
Felix: Claude, it is very unlikely she has been kidnapped.
Felix: I agree with Allan’s guess.
Also Head Searcher: wat’s that Felix?
Felix: Nevermind.
Head Searcher: never fear! our cool, cute, and creative companion will be saved fromthe clutches of evil
Also Head Searcher: nice job with the alliteration
Also Head Searcher: ur on a roll today
Head Searcher: thx
Felix: The worst part is that I am unsure whether Allegra would be another voice of reason or if she would join in on your nonsense.
Melodie: What?
Melodie: Oh, hmmmm…
Head Searcher: do it do it do it!!!!
Marinette smiles as she finishes reading the texts she missed. She hates to have worried them, but they seem to think she just slept in so they’re fine. Deciding that she shouldn’t leave them hanging any longer, she hops into the fray.
Patisserie Princess: hi!
Patisserie Princess: im ok guys!
Melodie: Hi!!
Felix: As I said.
Felix: Good afternoon, Marinette:
Kid Mime: YAYYYY!!!!
Kid Mime: (つ・▽・)つ⊂(・▽・⊂)
Kid Mime: (つ≧▽≦)つ⊂(・ヮ・⊂)
The Mom Friend: u get some rest mari?
The Mom Friend: its past noon
Patisserie Princess: nah, i didnt sleep in much
Patisserie Princess: just lost my phone
Lies. They deserve better than that, they deserve someone who can be honest.
Kid Mime: u should sleep some! U deserve it!
Patisserie Princess: thx, but i’ve got to go again
Kid Mime: noooooooooooooooo
The Mom Friend: take care of urself
Melodie: Yes, please do. Have fun with whatever you’re up to.
Felix: Farewell, Marinette.
Kid Mime: buh-bye!
Patisserie Princess: ( ･ω･)ﾉ
Marinette sighs, putting her phone down. Her smile fades eventually as she just stares at the ceiling for a while, thinking of nothing in particular.
After some time she exhales sharply and sits up. Sticking her head over the side of her bed she says, “Tikki, are you up? I think it’s about time we get back to that akuma!”
“Really? That was quick… alright Marinette, let’s go!”
“Tikki, spots on!”
---
Adrien is halfway done with his lunch when his monitor dings. He’s been eating at his computer, keeping tabs on the akuma. Plagg is sitting on the desk, munching on some camembert.
Clicking on the link, he sees that above the footage added this morning, Alya has added a quick clip to the front of the Ladyblog, “What’s up Ladybloggers? Alya here! After what was presumably a break for the heroine, Ladybug is back!” The camera turns around, showing a red and black spotted girl leaping across the rooftops. Alya continues with the commentary as she follows, “One question that remains on most everyone’s mind is where is the back-up lately? I know I for one would love to see Rena Rouge or Carapace out in the thick of it! Anyways, due to the nature of this akuma, I will not be filming this live. Alya out!”
Adrien closes the tab, turning to Plagg, so had been watching with him, “Plagg, I’ve got to go! Ladybug is out there again, she needs me!”
“Sheesh kid, does your partner have any chill?”
“This is serious Plagg!”
“So is your health! The two of you have been at this all day and have only been on break for an hour! You haven’t even finished your food!”
“But Plagg-”
“No. Adrien, you need to at least finish eating before you head back out there. And don’t just stuff your mouth, you’re going to be moving a lot. Can’t be much help if you make yourself sick.”
At Adrien’s doubtful look the cat continues, “Besides, you two have very different personalities. Cats are lazier, and rest more. Bugs are constantly buzzing around, you two are there to balance each-other out. Too much of either mindset would be bad.” he stuffs some camembert into his mouth, swallowing before he adds - almost as an afterthought, “Never leave a Bug and a Bee together on a project - they’ll work themselves to death.”
Adrien sighs, Plagg is right - he won’t be much use if he rushes out now. His Lady must just eat quickly, “Fine. But I’m only staying here another half-hour; 45 minutes tops!”
He resumes eating, albeit at a slightly faster pace.
“Fine by me, kitten.”
---
Despite the break, it’s been another six hours and the akuma is still around. People are starting to get upset, I know, I know, I need to do my job better - be better, please stop yelling at me.
Chat seems to be similarly over tired, having coming awfully close to snapping at a few people. She really needs to step up her game.
They’ve finally tracked down the akuma again, and they drop in front of her, ready to finally end this.
“Ladybug, Chat Noir, ready to admit defeat?”
“Nope.” Chat’s tone is clipped - he dropped the puns and bantering some hours ago.
“That’s a shame, it would make this so much easier!” More hits of the gavel before she tosses the items out of her hands again. It’s a formula they’re well-adjusted to by now and they dodge the projectiles tiredly. Ladybug swings behind The Revealer to be opposite Chat. When it looks like she’s distracted by the feline hero, Ladybug shoots her yo-yo out, aiming to restrain her arms to keep more projectiles from being thrown.
The spotted weapon has almost reached its mark when the akuma turns suddenly, holding her gavel out where the yo-yo is headed. The string makes contact and loops around several times.
The woman grins, letting it go.
If it had been earlier in the fight, or if Chat had been closer, or even if Ladybug had eaten or gotten more rest, maybe things would have been different, but as it was, when the yo-yo wrapped gavel came flying back at her, Ladybug’s reflexes are too slow to do much good.
The wooden mallet makes contact and Ladybug is down.
---
Author’s Note: Should the attack have lasted this long? Probably not. Did I want to make them suffer through an all-day akuma attack? You bet!
Foreshadowing? It was unintentional, but it's there.
A quick note on the music competition - I don't think I ever really explained it. Basically middle-school musicians tried out, and the winners get to practice regularly together to perform a concert in the spring. The concert will be hosted at a local school, but which one will it be? Hmm...
Once again, the reference slide for The Revealer can be found here! I'm tempted to post early in honor of Halloween? Or a bonus chapter maybe? Mostly because it feels weird writing so far ahead of what I've posted. That said, I really have to keep myself on a more reasonable schedule when it comes to updating this. Eh, we'll see.
Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!
Post Honesty Akuma, the next day how the class feel after realizing Marinette was telling the truth the entire time and how their belief in Lila actually endangered her?
Oof, this is an old ask. Better late than never though, right?
The class realizes their mistakes. They feel terribly guilty about it. Adrien feels the worst because he knew about Lila’s habits. He knew she was leading the class on. He didn’t realize that her lies were building up to create Marinette’s downfall. He should have realized that, and he beats himself up because of it.
Marinette didn’t want to go to school the next day, but Tikki encouraged her. It would be better to go back and face everyone now rather than delay the inevitable. It’s like ripping a band-aid off. It’s better to deal with it all at once than to prolong her suffering by avoiding it.
Needless to say, Marinette forgives them. She doesn’t forget, though. She’ll remember how he classmates were skeptical of her when she pointed out Lila’s lies. She doesn’t blame them (too much) though. These are her classmates, and she loves all of them, even when they make mistakes.
The class never fully forgives themselves. They hang onto the guilt of what happened and they try to be better. They listen intently whenever Marinette says something. They stop rumors about Marinette the moment they hear one start. They defend her when she isn’t there to defend herself and they support her when she is. They’re not going to let Marinette get hurt again.
Whenever someone makes an honesty or truth based Akuma it’s always so serious.
So I decided mine should be different. Fun. Gross. Based on classic mythology and Disney films.
Introducing BacChonfessor!
When one of the Mayor’s assistants gets wine drunk at a fancy city function they confess their true feelings about Andre and his family. Climbing a table, making a huge scene and calling out everything he hates about the Bourgeois before vomiting on Audrey.
He wakes up in the morning with a hangover a pink slip and enough negative emotions to attract Hawkmoth. The Akuma goes into the pink slip and it is done.
Appearance: A purple skinned version of the Greek god of Wine and revelry Bacchus. Holding a wine goblet and barrel and riding a winged unicorn donkey.
Power: The wine in his cup homes in on whoever he aims it at. They turn purple and are forced to drunkenly confess all their secrets and true feelings. When they run out of secrets they barf up the wine and return to normal.
He must refill the goblet from the barrel after every three shots and his donkey is erratic but fast.
His target is Andre and Hawkmoth is incredibly excited by the idea of his enemies being both impaired and forced to confess their secrets.
The only way to keep a victim from spilling their guts about something is to ask them unrelated questions.
