Hey, there. This is my first time ever writing/posting fanfiction, so if I've screwed up horribly, you know why. All rights to the creators of this beautiful show.

Chapter 1 - Lila's POV

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news. I'm Nadja Chamack, and today police officers had to break up a fight at College Francoise Dupont, after some students got into an argument about the recently declared missing students."

Portraits of Marinette and Adrien appeared on the screen of Lila's tablet, with their respective names below.

"For those who don't know, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste both went missing the night before last, seemingly vanishing out of thin air. Marinette was last seen at her friend Alya Cesaire's house, where the two girls were working on homework. A little past 18h00, Marinette left to go home, but never made it. She was noticed as missing two and a half hours later, when Mrs. Cheng called the Cesaire household to see if her daughter was still there.

"Adrien Agreste returned home from school earlier that same afternoon and was dismissed to his room to practice his piano. Both his bodyguard and his father's assistant reported nothing unusual in the teen supermodel's behavior. They heard piano music coming from his room all afternoon. It was roughly the same time Marinette disappeared when the assistant, a woman named Nathalie Sancouer, came to tell the boy his dinner was ready. She found an alarming sight: the music was coming from a recording on his phone, a single window was hanging open, and Adrien was nowhere to be found. The checked the house's security tapes to find out where he'd gone, only to find them missing.

"Ever since, the communities around College Francoise Dupont high school, and the people of Paris in general, have been in a riot. Two high-profile students, from the same class and happened to be friends, disappearing without a trace? From one of the most reputable public schools in Paris?

"This exclusive footage shows the emotional tensions between Marinette and Adrien's classmates. This morning, Officer Roger Raincomprix and two of his deputies arrived to question the students about their missing peers."

Oh, yes. Lila remembered this morning quite well. While she hadn't been particularly worried, the same could not be said for the rest of her classmates. What happened, or what could be happening to Marinette and Adrien was alarming. It made them all deeply uncomfortable, and scared.

Rose and Juleka had been caught several times in the past two days crying and clinging to each other. Mylene had grown shy and timid, like a mouse, and she stuck close to Ivan. Nathaniel had been twitchy and distracted; constantly dropping his pencil, or being called out by Ms. Bustier for not paying attention. Kim and Max were constantly wearing worried frowns.

Alya and Nino were openly train wrecks, not even making an effort to hide their bloodshot eyes. Lila found herself constantly drawn to them, offering up sympathy for them and expressing worries about Marinette and Adrien.

"I know you and Marinette didn't exactly get along, so it's nice to hear how concerned you are for her." Alya said yesterday at lunch. Meanwhile Nino winced at her choice of verbs. Didn't.

The only loose points were when Alix and Kim started to roast each other, though everyone knew it was just to break the tension. Their hearts weren't really in it.

Even Chloe was terrified, though she tried her best to hide it.

Which was how situations like the one this morning came into existence.

The footage on the news broadcast showed the class, right after the police had finished taking each student out of class one by one for questioning. It was taken by Alya, who'd been recording Officer Raincomprix speaking a few minutes earlier.

"Psh, I don't get what everyone's so worked up about. Dupain-Cheng probably just fell down a hole somewhere, and Adrikins is probably just playing hooky," said Chloe. "There's not really anything to worry about." Of course, nobody believed her.

"Not really anything to worry about?" This came from Nino, who'd been on the verge of a breakdown all morning. "They've been missing for a day and a half, no one knows where they are, and you think there's nothing to worry about?!" His hands clenched the desk in barely controlled anger, and he was shaking. Could anyone really blame him? His best bro was missing, along with classmate and friend Marinette, who he'd known for years. "They could be injured, kidnapped, or dead. Who knows, maybe Hawk Moth has them!" He narrowed his sickly eyes at Chloe.

She winced at his tone, but didn't back down. Instead, she huffed, "Watch and see, it'll be nothing. You're all being ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous?" Nino squeaked, jumping out of his seat and grabbing Chloe by the collar of her shirt. "How can you say that?!"

"Woah dude, get off of her. Chloe was just trying to calm everyone down." Kim shoved Nino off of her, but the DJ wasn't having it.

He pushed back at Kim, while shouting to Chloe: "How can you say that about them?! It's Marinette and Adrien! MARINETTE AND ADRIEN!"

Kim punched Nino in the ribs, and then the two were down on the floor in a heap. From behind the camera, Alya shouted, "Hey! DON'T HURT NINO!" Alix and Ivan got up from their desks, as if to join in, but neither made it that far.

"ENOUGH!" Officer Raincomprix heaved the two boys up off the floor, roughly shoving them away from each other. "I get it. These are stressful times right now. I'll say it like it is. Two of your classmates are gone, and we have no idea if they've run away, if they were kidnapped, or if they're dead or alive. But starting fights isn't going to help get them back. Honestly, would you want Marinette and Adrien to see you like this-young lady, put that phone down!" The last part was directed to Alya, and the recording stopped abruptly.

Lila shut off her tablet when the clip finished playing. If she was being honest, she didn't know how to feel. She was mostly just confused. While she didn't really care what happened to Dupain-Cheng, she hoped Adrien was okay. It would be a real shame if the two had run away together or something. Adrien was way too fine to be wasting his life with bratty little Marinette.

Maybe Marinette had kidnapped him. She didn't strike Lila as maliciously evil, but she certainly could be the obsessive type. It seemed extreme that she would kidnap him but certainly not out of the realm of possibility. And if Lila was right, hmm…. This gave her an idea.

She grabbed her tablet and looked up interviews from Marinette and Adrien's families. The case of the missing Parisian supermodel and his quirky school friend had blown up on social media for the past two days, and every news station in Paris had tried to get a scoop of the juicy mystery.

What Lila found most interesting was how their parents had reacted to the situation. Marinette's were clearly devastated and terrified. They had the same vibe of loving and good as Marinette, the vibe Lila absolutely hated. Why couldn't she just be loved like that? In news footage they were teary eyed as they begged for their daughter's and her friend's safe return.

But Gabriel was… different. Lila couldn't quite put her intuition into words, but her gut instinct never failed her. His piercing blue eyes were slightly bloodshot as he shouted at the police to not rest until his son was safe and back where he belonged. The footage was kind of terrifying. Gabriel's voice was loud and harsh, and the officers in the clip looked lowkey scared.

But underneath the concerned to near hysteria that Gabriel clearly conveyed, there was another emotion, less sure of itself but persistent nonetheless. An emotion that intrigued Lila to no end.

Guilt.

aand that's all I got for you today! I hope you enjoyed this, and if you could leave a review that would make my day. Thanks for reading!

Until next time! :P