Disclaimer: I don't own ML.

It's not easy to navigate a building when you're a group of brightly costumed superheroes trying not to be seen, especially when you're looking for a fellow hero with a chance of being under the villain's thumb. Somehow, though, Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Carapace eventually find Chat Noir hiding in the library in the non-fiction stacks, curled in a ball.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug rushes to his side and kneels next to her off-white partner. He squints up at her, and with the words 'Adrien Agreste' painted across his forehead, it's a wonder that Luce Bianca hadn't seen who he was before he could escape.

"Milady?" he croaks. He breaks into a weak grin when he sees Rena Rouge and Carapace behind her.

"How are you feeling, kitty?" Ladybug says, cupping his cheeks. She deliberately doesn't look at the writing scrawled all over his body; he deserves his secrets, and if there's anything he wants her to know then he'll tell her. "Does it hurt?"

"Not now that you're here," Chat Noir says before his weak grin slips. "Honestly, it doesn't. So long as I can't see Luce Bianca, I don't feel like I have to start spilling every little dark secret I have – it's looking at her that hypnotises you into staying close to her. I think I'm pretty useless right now, bugaboo."

"Dude, you're far from useless," Carapace says. "She totally would've gotten those kids if you hadn't stopped her. And there's gotta be some way you can help like this."

"If we could find some way to cut the link between him and Luce Bianca when he's near her, he could get the akuma without the risk of getting zapped," Ladybug says slowly. "I know I usually wait until we're in battle to do this, but…Lucky Charm!"

"Uh, okay," Rena Rouge says slowly when Ladybug's given a ladybug-patterned can of spray paint. "I don't think spray-painting Luce Bianca will do much to stop her."

Ladybug frowns. Her eyes are drawn to Chat Noir, then Carapace's shield, then Rena Rouge, and she suddenly knows what they need to do. "Okay, guys, here's the plan…"

"You think you can humiliate me like that?" Luce Bianca is shouting when the group of superheroes crouch in one of the corridors leading to the courtyard. Ladybug can't help but wonder why Luce Bianca hasn't left but then realises that it's probably easier to keep everyone and their secrets close to her if she's not moving and giving them the chance to slip away. "Well, I'll expose you to the world, Ladybug! How are you going to defeat me without your mangy cat sidekick?"

"Meowch," says a pitch-black Chat Noir. Covered in paint like he is, with a blindfold made of curtain fabric to prevent him from being able to see Luce Bianca, there's no way he can do anything unless he's got someone helping him.

"You're my mangy cat," Ladybug says. "Rena Rouge, Carapace, you ready?"

"Never been readier, dude," Carapace says.

"Damn right," Rena Rouge adds, twirling her flute between her fingers.

"Okay. Just like we planned." Ladybug runs out of the corridor and does a graceful flip to land right in front of Luce Bianca. "Lila, you need to stop this right now!"

"Ladybug!" Luce Bianca clenches her fists. Ladybug shoots a glance at her bracelet, noting how it glimmers. If the akuma's not there then she can't think of where else it could possibly be. "Not very smart of you to show yourself like that when you know I want to crush you."

"I've given you chance after chance to forget about your lies and –"

"I don't want your pity!" Luce Bianca stomps her foot. When the rainbow words shimmer and move with her, Ladybug manages to discern what some of them say. They're names, most likely of everyone she's hit; Juleka Couffaine, Max Kanté, Alice Roux, Louis Martin…

"I don't pity you," Ladybug says. "I want you to be liked for who you are, Lila. I don't want you to feel like you need to tell all these lies just to get people to like you."

"Liar!" Luce Bianca bellows. "You can't lie to me! I want your Miraculous, Ladybug! I want you unmasked! I want the whole world to know that you're nothing but a little snake who puts on a cute smile to make everyone think she's an angel! What would the world think if they knew how you'd treated me when we first met?"

"I already apologised for that," Ladybug says firmly. "You're perfectly entitled to not accept my apology, but you don't get to keep hurting people like you've done. Especially with what you've done to Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Luce Bianca gives a shrill, hysterical laugh. "Her? She's just as much of a snake as you! Always smiling, rushing to help people, acting like she's some pure princess and everyone should rush to cater to her!"

"Or maybe you're so used to lying that you've even succeeded at lying to yourself," Ladybug says. She drops her right hand down to her side and counts down from three; when she reaches zero, she hears faint flute music and a call of "Mirage!" In the blink of an eye, the courtyard is filled with hundreds of Ladybugs and Rena Rouges.

"You think that'll stop me?" Luce Bianca aims at one of the Ladybug illusions and fires a beam of white light, which makes the illusion ripple out of existence. The way she'd used her left hand – the one with the bracelet – only confirms that the akuma has to be there. "You think you can out-illusion Volpina? I'll destroy every single one of them and then expose you and Rena Rouge! And I'll take the Fox Miraculous for myself – it should be mine!"

The courtyard is utter chaos as Luce Bianca and her minions attack. The illusions put up a good fight, jumping and darting out of the way, but it's only a matter of time before they're all destroyed, so the heroes need to act fast. Out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug catches sight of the real Rena Rouge joining the fray to aid as a further distraction, while Carapace and Chat Noir edge around to get close to Luce Bianca. Whenever a beam of white light gets too close for comfort, Carapace deflects it with his shield while still guiding Chat Noir by the wrist.

"You ready, kitty?" Ladybug says when Carapace and Chat Noir draw level with her.

"I'm always ready, bugaboo," Chat Noir grins. "Cataclysm!"

Once his ring is sparking, Ladybug takes over the job of guiding him from Carapace. With the number of illusions now severely depleted and Luce Bianca getting angrier and angrier, Carapace ducks away from Ladybug and Chat Noir to cover Rena Rouge's back so that she doesn't get hit. This also has the added effect of infuriating Luce Bianca even more, consequently keeping her attention off Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Follow me," Ladybug murmurs to Chat Noir, leading him around the edge of the chaos by the wrist. Thankfully, none of Luce Bianca's minions seem to realise that a Ladybug illusion wouldn't be guiding a blindfolded Chat Noir, otherwise Ladybug's plan may have been utterly ruined.

"Enough!" Luce Bianca shrieks. "Give me your Miraculous, you fake fox! Then I'll take Ladybug and Chat Noir's for Hawkmoth!"

"Fake?" Rena Rouge says, nimbly leaping over a minion. "How am I the fake one when Ladybug chose me?"

Luce Bianca screams and shoots a series of beams in quick succession. There's no chance for Rena Rouge to dodge even one of them…and she would have been hit if not for Carapace crying, "Shellter!" to create a glowing green force field that deflects every single beam.

"Now, kitty!" Ladybug dashes forward with Chat Noir while Luce Bianca is throwing her tantrum and focusing on Rena Rouge and Carapace. Luce Bianca seems to realise what's happening a split second too late, as she whirls to meet Ladybug and Chat Noir just as Ladybug plants Chat Noir's sparking hand on Luce Bianca's bracelet.

"No!" As the blackened butterfly escapes from the ruined bracelet, Luce Bianca dives for it and tries to snatch it back. But Rena Rouge and Carapace are there in a heartbeat, each grabbing one of her arms and holding her tightly as she wails and writhes.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma!" Ladybug swipes open her yo-yo and swings it around to gather momentum as she usually does, then tosses it out to catch the akuma. "Time to de-evilise! Gotcha!" She frees the now-white butterfly and waves it off with a, "Bye-bye, little butterfly!"

"This isn't fair!" Luce Bianca furiously yanks and heaves against Rena Rouge and Carapace's grips, but they hold on tight. "You've ruined everything, Ladybug! You and Rena Rouge! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Not even sparing Luce Bianca a glance, Ladybug retrieves her spray can Lucky Charm from inside her yo-yo, then throws it up in the air and calls, "Miraculous Ladybug!" The healing ladybugs zoom around, reverting all of Lila's victims to their former selves and fixing the damage in the courtyard caused by the battle with the illusions. Chat Noir beams and looks himself over when the blindfold and spray paint are dissolved along with the effects of Luce Bianca's exposing beam and he's back to his usual self.

"White's never been my colour," he says, cracking his knuckles. "I've always been more of a dark, mysterious, dashing guy."

"You're a pussy cat," Ladybug teases, booping him on the nose. Their banter is cut short by Luce Bianca turning back into Lila, whose head darts around to take in her surroundings.

"Did I – Ladybug, was I akumatised again?" she gasps. She looks at Rena Rouge and Carapace, who are still holding her loosely, and then she begins to cry when they release her. "How could I have been so weak? I can't believe I let Hawkmoth akumatise me again! Oh, I'm so ashamed – you all probably hate me –"

"Drop the act, Lila," Kim says, crossing his arms. Everyone else in the courtyard is muttering to each other and staring at Lila. "We all saw the video."

"How do we know that you didn't want to be akumatised as some form of revenge?" Max says. "We can't believe anything you say."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Lila." Ladybug holds out her hand. "You don't have to lie about us being friends. Everyone makes mistakes –"

"Save the speech!" Lila snarls, batting Ladybug's hand away. "You're just trying to make yourself look like the perfect princess in all this! If you really wanted to be friends, then you wouldn't have humiliated me like you did!"

"That was because you were putting yourself in danger from Hawkmoth," Rena Rouge says. "And because you threatened two students."

"I'm not even talking about that!" Lila says. "I'm talking about how you embarrassed me in front of Adrien! How you were so nasty to me, yet everyone thinks that you're like some goddess!"

"I apologised for that," Ladybug says. "I acknowledged that I was wrong to react the way I did. But you never acknowledged that you were wrong for deceiving people and claiming to be a superhero when you weren't. And even if I hadn't been angry, I still would have called you out, because you're only endangering yourself when you do that. We can't allow civilians to put themselves in danger like that, Lila." Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Rena Rouge and Carapace dispersing the crowd so that there isn't an audience to this confrontation, and her gratitude for her two friends increases even more.

"She's only human," Chat Noir adds. "My lady makes mistakes. We all do. Heck, I've made plenty of mistakes."

"What matters is that you want to fix them," Ladybug says. "We can offer you chance after chance, but nothing will change unless you want to change. And we don't pity you, Lila. We sympathise with you. There's a difference."

"How?" Lila laughs bitterly. "Either way, you're still coming from "oh, that poor Lila girl, let's do the heroic thing and be her friend!" I don't want your pity!"

"If it was pity then I wouldn't mean it," Ladybug says. "I'd be saying it out of duty. But I really do mean it, just like the first time I offered. You don't need to lie to get people to like you."

"I couldn't care less if people like me," Lila scoffs. "You don't get anywhere by having people like you."

"It's not as though you're not talented," Ladybug says. She takes a careful step towards Lila, hoping that she doesn't spook the other girl. "You're excellent at crafting stories. You're charismatic. You're smart. And I wasn't lying when I said that I'd like to be your friend. Just because people feel sympathy for you doesn't mean that they feel sorry for you."

"Milady, I'm going to transform back," Chat Noir pipes up.

"So are we," Rena Rouge adds. It's just them in the courtyard now, with no audience whatsoever.

"Then you can take the Miraculouses back, Chat Noir," Ladybug says. "I'm not on a timer, so I'm going to stay here and talk to Lila. And it might be better without others around."

"I'm not delicate!" Lila growls.

"I never said that," Ladybug says. "It'll just feel more equal without my teammates around, is all I'm saying." Once her fellow heroes are gone, she turns back to Lila, trying to figure out exactly what to say to get her point through this girl's head.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Lila scoffs. "I already told you, I don't need –"

SLAP.

Lila gasps and reels back, clutching her face, where a red mark in the shape of a handprint is starting to sear itself into her cheek. If she wasn't so annoyed and furious, Ladybug might be struggling not to be sick with how she had just slapped Lila Rossi across the face; but right now, all she wants is to make this girl see.

"Shut. Up. And. Listen. To. Me," Ladybug says. "Listen. Don't just go off on a self-pitying rant. You think I don't get what it's like to have no friends? You think that I'm just as popular and respected in my normal life as I am when I'm Ladybug?"

"How could you not be?" Lila spits. "Why else would you be picked as Ladybug?"

"I was picked because I got lucky," Ladybug says. "I was in the right place at the right time. Listen. I've been in the same class with the same people for literally years, and I never had a best friend or a crush or even anyone I was particularly close to until this year. I was friendly with people, but I didn't have friends. You can be yourself and try your hardest and still not have anyone who really likes you."

Lila snorts loudly but doesn't say anything.

"And I know that it can feel like no one will ever like you when that keeps happening," Ladybug continues. "Putting enough trust in others to let them decide whether they like you for you? That's one of the bravest things you can do. I've felt how you felt, Lila. I'm on your side. I was already on your side when I offered to be friends with you after apologising."

"You've never once helped me," Lila says. "All you've done is make things worse. You know who has helped me? Hawkmoth. He gives me the power I need."

"Hawkmoth doesn't care about anyone," Ladybug says. "As cliché as this sounds, he's using you. He's probably said the same thing to everyone else that he says to you. You don't need superpowers to be strong. I want to help you now."

"I can't trust you," Lila says. "How do I know that you won't go and make another video about me if I make a tiny mistake?"

Ladybug sighs. "I'm not sorry for calling you out for threatening Marinette and Alya," she says. "But I am sorry for causing you that pain from making a personalised video like that. The only reason it got to that point is because I know what you've done to Marinette. And when someone is upset enough to tell me about being threatened, especially with video proof? I see it as my duty to help that person. It wasn't to humiliate you, Lila. I was just so desperate to fix the problem and to make sure that Hawkmoth wouldn't mistakenly attack you to get to me."

Lila doesn't say anything. Ladybug can't tell if she's cracking, so she keeps going.

"I won't reject you," she says and holds out her hand. "Do you think you can trust me and forgive me for hurting you? Can I be your friend for real?"

Lila stares at Ladybug's hand with an unreadable expression on her face. Ladybug bites her lip, wondering if she's truly doing the right thing or if she's only rubbing salt in the wound and making Lila angrier and more bitter.

"I can't be your friend," Lila finally says. Ladybug's heart starts to sink, but it stops at Lila's next words. "Not yet. But…I can try not hating you." She reaches out and loosely clasps Ladybug's hand.

"That's a start," Ladybug says with a small smile. Unlike the last time they had interacted, when she had been Chameleon, Lila's not wearing a fake smile and cheerfully accepting a truce. Ladybug's still not fully sure, but it does feel like Lila's at least genuine about this.

"Everyone's going to hate me anyway," Lila says when she lets go of Ladybug's hand. "They all saw the video. So I'm not even sure what the point of this is."

"I'll ask Alya to take that video down," Ladybug says. "I'll even film another video asking people not to harass you. And you never know. There might be one or two people who still want to be your friend."

"Not likely," Lila says, but she's not screaming hateful things anymore, so Ladybug counts that as a win.

"I have to go," she says. "Will you be alright? Do you want me to take you home for the rest of the day?"

"No," Lila says. "I don't need to make people pity me like that. I don't need them to like me." With that, she turns and heads back into the school with her nose in the air. Ladybug watches her go, then heads in the opposite direction and ducks inside an empty classroom to detransform.

"I'm proud of you, Marinette!" Tikki says as Marinette rummages in her purse for a cookie. "It would have been so easy to give up on Lila and condemn her for what she did."

"I thought about that," Marinette admits. She finally finds a cookie and holds it out for her kwami. "But then I realised that we'd only be going in circles. She'd get angry, get akumatised, I'd defeat her, she'd hate me more. Part of being Ladybug is taking down hate wherever I see it."

Tikki beams and grabs the cookie, taking a huge bite out of the sugary treat. "Exactly," she says. "Do you think Lila was genuine about not hating you anymore?"

"I'm not sure," Marinette says. "But there's only one way to find out."

After the chaos of Luce Bianca, everyone is quiet as they finish off their work in class, deliberately not looking at each other in the wake of exposed secrets. Even Lila is focusing on her work, refusing to meet anyone's gaze when they look back at her, but also refusing to curl in and look pathetic. It's such a stark contrast to her previous persona of constantly talking and making herself look small and helpless that Marinette can't help but wonder which parts of Lila are just acts and which are genuine. But she can't focus on that right now; if she looks back at Lila one more time, she's got no doubt that Alya's going to start asking questions.

When the bell rings for lunch, everyone rushes out of the classroom. Lila's left at the back of the classroom without so much as a glance spared her way, but she sniffs and looks away when Marinette tries to catch her eye.

"Alright, come on, you guys," Alya says, shepherding Marinette, Adrien, and Nino away from Miss Bustier's classroom and down the hall to one that's just been emptied. The minute the door is locked, she rounds on Marinette and Adrien, hands on her hips.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir," she announces. "Right under my nose the whole time!"

"I know, right?" Marinette says with a wide, nervous grin. Alya just crosses her arms.

"I have no idea how I didn't see it," she says.

"Miraculous magic?" Adrien offers.

"So, like, did you two really not know who the other was?" Nino says.

"Nope," Marinette says. "We agreed on that for each other's safety. Especially after what happened on Heroes' Day when you two knew about each other."

Alya and Nino wince, but they both sigh and shrug in agreement.

"And even now, it was a total accident, Marinette finding out who I am," Adrien says. He gives Marinette a very Chat Noir-like grin and slings an arm around her shoulders to draw her in close. Marinette swallows and tries to cool down her flaming cheeks while also glaring at a smirking Alya. "We've already agreed that I'm going to ask her out as Adrien, then LadyNoir will be a thing in a few days or so."

"If you call us that, you're getting dumped," Marinette warns. Adrien just laughs and kisses the top of her head, rendering her so speechless that she groans and hides her burning face in his shirt.

"Okay, not that this isn't the most adorable thing I've ever seen, but I'm actually going to be sick if I have to watch more of it," Alya says.

"Now you know how we feel about you and Nino," Adrien shoots back. Marinette snorts loudly. "How do you feel about us just walking into the cafeteria like this, bugaboo?"

"Yeah, I don't think anyone wants to see some grand thing from the biggest drama king around," Alya says.

"Hey!"

"She's got a point, dude," Nino snickers. "Chat Noir's totally dramatic."

"Really? Even my best friend?" Adrien huffs and steers Marinette around. "Come on, bugaboo, we don't need them."

"You really can't call me that when we're not transformed," Marinette says as Adrien unlocks the door and the four of them leave the room and head for the cafeteria.

"Good point." A devilish grin splits Adrien's face. "Princess."

"Oh my god," Marinette whines, while Alya and Nino laugh loudly. "I swear, I will actually dump you."

"We all know you're a big fat liar, Marinette," Alya smirks. Marinette turns and pokes her tongue out.

When they enter the cafeteria, everyone turns and stares at them, and Marinette has to resist the urge to hide her face again. Although everyone's gotten used to having Adrien Agreste among their ranks, he's still a popular celebrity, and so the sight of him with his arm around a girl is triggering a lot of whispers and murmurs around the room as he, Marinette, Alya, and Nino go to line up for their lunch.

"You'd think they'd have something better to talk about," Alya says when they've collected their trays. "Honestly, Adrien, you're not that cool."

"Fight me," Adrien deadpans. "Actually, no, don't do that. You'd slam me into the ground and then Marinette wouldn't have her gorgeous boyfriend anymore."

Marinette makes a high-pitched sound and buries her face in his shirt again at the word "boyfriend".

"Fine, fine," Alya says. "Only because Marinette wouldn't forgive me after all the times she's cried to me about how pretty your face is."

"Alya!" Marinette hisses.

"I'll protect Marinette for you, dude," Nino says when a group of girls shoot them a particularly nasty look on their way to an empty table. "I'll be her shield."

Both Marinette and Alya groan.

"That was terrible," Alya says.

"And I can look after myself," Marinette huffs. Just as they're about to sit down at their table, she catches sight of Lila sitting alone at the edge of the room. Everyone's clearly giving her a wide berth, judging by how people make an obvious effort to stay outside a certain radius if they have to walk past, and something in her stomach twists.

"Where are you going?" Alya says when Marinette picks up her tray again and heads straight for Lila. Everyone around her stares, and Lila narrows her eyes when Marinette draws near.

"Is this seat taken?" Marinette says brightly.

"Obviously not," Lila scoffs. "And I don't need you to come and start pitying me or whatever just because Ladybug told you to. I know you talk to her."

"Who said this was pity?" Marinette sits down across from Lila and begins to twirl noodles around her fork. "I thought you might want a friend."

"Yeah, right. After how I treated you? The only reason you'd be doing this is to suck up to Ladybug or whatever."

"This might be a strange and foreign concept," Marinette says, "but some people actually do forgive others. I don't like how people are treating you just because Ladybug stood up for me."

"What did she think was going to happen when she spoke out like that?" Lila says, but her shoulders seem just a fraction less stiff.

"Uh, Marinette?" Alya says from behind Marinette. "What's going on?"

"I'm making a friend and I won't take no for an answer," Marinette says. Adrien's the first one to cave, sliding into the seat next to Marinette and smiling at Lila.

"I told you there was no need for lying," he says.

"Oh, shut up," Lila snaps. "I already know you're a smug idiot. You don't need to open your mouth and prove it."

"Harsh," Nino says, but he still sits down next to Lila. "So, what music are you into, dude?"

"Oh, fine." Alya sits down on the outside, next to Nino. "If Marinette can forgive then so can I."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Lila clenches her fists. "What do you want? People are never nice unless they want something. This isn't the first school where someone's tried to make friends with me."

"But it is the first school where people still want to be friends regardless of whether you actually do know all the people you claimed to know," Marinette counters calmly. "And I know what it's like to have no friends. Before I met Adrien and Alya, I had no friends because Chloé would bully me so badly that people didn't want to associate themselves with me. You know, in case Chloé targeted them too."

"Sorry about that, by the way, dude," Nino says. "I shouldn't've let Chloé stop me from being your friend till now."

Marinette just shrugs and takes another bite of her spaghetti.

"How the hell can you forgive people so easily?" Lila demands. "Everyone in the class turned their backs on you. They made you sit up the back. They wouldn't be your friend because it would've made their lives harder. I threatened you and made people hate you. And you just – forgive. Why? How?"

"Because if I held on to all of that bitterness, I wouldn't like the person I'd become," Marinette says. "Just because I forgive doesn't mean I forget what's been done. I just don't cling to it and let it poison me."

Adrien takes her hand under the table and squeezes it, so she smiles back at him. Around the cafeteria, even more people are whispering at the sight of people actually choosing to sit with Lila, but she tunes them out.

"My parents are going out tonight, so I totally have to babysit Chris," Nino says. "You guys wanna come and help? There's Monopoly and Mario Party and unhealthy snacks in it for you."

"You had me at Monopoly," Alya says. "I will crush you, little boy."

"You had me at unhealthy snacks," Adrien says. "Man, I can't remember the last time I ate real teenage junk food."

"I'll bring some pastries, then," Marinette grins. "And I know that Chris likes chocolate croissants, so I'll bring loads of them."

"An angel has descended from the heavens to grace us with her presence!" Alya announces dramatically, waving her hands in Marinette's direction. Marinette rolls her eyes but still laughs.

"You wanna come?" Nino says to Lila, who blinks and looks up from her food.

"What?"

"Do you wanna come and hang out too?" Nino says. "My parents don't care who comes over, so long as the house isn't totalled."

"But if you pick Daisy in Mario Party, there will be consequences," Alya says.

"Alya, you can't threaten people not to pick your favourite character," Marinette says.

"Oh, yeah? Watch me, Peach."

"At least I'm not the one always getting kidnapped by the bad guys in real life."

Without a word, Lila stands up with her tray and stalks out of the cafeteria.

"What's her problem?" Alya says.

"She probably doesn't trust us yet," Marinette says. "But we'll keep trying, even if it takes months."

"And if she still doesn't like us?"

Marinette sighs. "That's her choice. But I don't want to act like she doesn't deserve another chance if even Chloé can get another chance after everything she's done."

"You got a point there, dude," Nino says, reaching across to high-five Marinette.

"Well, I hope you're ready to lose to the power of Waluigi tonight, princess," Adrien says with a grin.

"And Yoshi, when we team up to take down the princesses," Nino says.

"Bring it on, meme lord," Marinette says, cracking her knuckles.