Work Text:
Lila arrived at the reunion 10 minutes before it started, clinging to Adrien's arm. Caline Bustier allowed them to enter the venue early, enjoying the conversation from her old students. Others began to arrive shortly after that. Alya and Nino were the second group to show up. Juleka and Rose with Luka and Chloe following behind. Alix showed up alone followed by Max and Kim—a surprising relationship—Ivan and Mylene with Sabrina in tow. Nathaniel and Marc show up a few minutes later, chatting with Felix and Kagami. The mingling starts, waiting for Marinette to show up.
People talk about their relationships, jobs and families. Kim and Max aren't home often enough to want or need kids, with Max being a technician and Kim being in the Olympics. Alix is still single along with Sabrina, each having a respectable job. Alix became an art teacher while Sabrina is an officer. Mylene is five months pregnant, taking a temporary leave from her acting while Ivan and the rest of Kitty section-minus Luka-are still a fairly popular band. Alya is a low-class reporter with Nino, stuck being a DJ, having not gotten into a university film class. They have 2 children, Amanda being their oldest daughter and Marlo being their youngest son. Nathaniel and Marc work together on their comics still, branching out to make new series on different topics. Nathaniel takes art commissions for some extra spending money. They adopted a son, Samuel, being 8. Juleka and Rose have an adopted daughter, Marrie, being 10. Kagami and Felix are busy, Kagami being a fencing teacher and Felix taking over his father and mother's film company. Lila and Adrien have decided not to have children until they finish their modelling careers. Chloe is 3 months pregnant, being a co-CEO of some fashion brand. Luka split from Kitty Section and started working alone, becoming a pretty popular musician.
"I hear Marinette was blacklisted from the fashion industry. MDC did it. Spreading her name and helping make sure she doesn't get a job within the community. I tried to stop him. But he sees me as a little sister, and hearing about how she bullied me, well, he just couldn't bare the thought of her working alongside him as a designer." Lila started whimpering, eyes filled with unshed tears. "I mean, I tried to help her, but she was just so mean! I wouldn't be surprised if she was alone and working at a gas station." She let a few tears fall down her cheeks, selling the image of innocence.
"Girl! That's not your fault! It's her own! I'm sure if she apologized to you, things would go her way for her dream! She doesn't deserve to be in a relationship. If she is, she's probably with some poor guy." Alya immediately goes to comfort her best friend, being the good lap dog she is. A scoff is heard from Chloe who overheard the conversation, having only been a few feet away. Luka had his arm wrapped around his wife's shoulder, on his phone texting someone. Kagami, Felix, Nathaniel and Marc were talking with the two, also overheard and turned to stare at Lila and Alya.
"Marinette is more successful than you will ever be." Kagami defends her first friend, Felix supporting his wife. "She is married as well." Marc adds in, Nathaniel nodding along. Luka looks down at Chloe. "She said they got held up a little bit. They should be here soon." The group smiles, hearing his words.
"Who?" Juleka asks her brother in wonder about who was coming. "You'll see." He leaves the who as a mystery. The doors to the venue open the clicking of heels before the bang of the doors being shut. "Finally!" Chloe exclaims while Kagami and her lightly run over to the person.
A long asymmetrical hem dress fading from pale pink to a vibrant red is what the person is wearing. Their deep maroon heels contrast just enough to showcase the vibrancy. The person has long hair, reaching what could be assumed to be their waist. A black leather jacket is resting over their shoulders, giving a punk vibe to the exquisite dress. Once Chloe and Kagami move out of the way, Marinette comes into view. She has minimal makeup, A neutral smokey eye with a pink lip tint. She has mascara on with a little bit of dark brown eyeliner and lip gloss.
"You wore it!" Chloe has a tone of approval in her voice. "Of course I wore it." Marinette smiles at Chloe before hugging Luka who sauntered up to the friends. Felix joins the group, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist, and nodding to Marinette. "Where is Shara?" Kagami is the one to ask. "She will be in soon. Wanted to touch up her hair and makeup." Marinette responds with a shrug.
The group walks back to where Nathaniel and Marc stayed. Before warm welcomes can be said, Lila had to speak. "Marinette! Who did you bribe to get you that dress?" She sounded concerned. "No one, Lila. I made it." Marinette sounded annoyed. "Yeah, right girl. I'm sorry, but I know you don't have enough skill to come up with something like that. Besides, we all know that MDC designed that. You stole his design!" Alya started to yell at Marinette.
"What the hell is happening here?" A calm but authoritative voice rings through the venue. All the students turn to the voice. They see a girl with tailbone-length platinum blonde hair styled in a siple half-up ponytail, showing off the natural waves. Her sea-green blue eyes penetrated their souls, staring back at them. She had on a mint blue to dark green fade dress, the same style as Marinettes. Her heels here a vibrant teal colour, bringing the blue tones out in the dress. Her own black leather jacket matched Marinettes with some embroidery running down the sleeves. Her heels made her stand at 5 feet 8 inches tall, only slightly taller than Marinette in her heels. She had tattoos across her chest, going up her neck, appearing to not end. The floral lines have skulls randomly throughout. Cat paw prints in red and black colouring seem stamped around the main tattoo. Her black smokey eyeshadow with a black winged liner looked perfect. The light dusting of freckles over her nose and cheeks stood out against the pale skin. Her black lip added a mysterious vibe to her. The septum piercing glimmered in the light, accentuating the medusa piercing. While Marinette had dainty jewelry with her usual black studded earrings, the stranger had on heavy jewelry, multiple rings, layered necklaces with a choker, leather bracelets and gauge earrings. Her long coffin nails stood out, red and black with a pink accent nail.
Everyone took a look at Marinette. She had almond-shaped nails that were shorter in length. The colouration is similar to the strangers. Black and green nails with a blue accent nail. One ring on each girl stood out. A simplistic rose gold band with a shiny rose quartz heart surrounded by angelite crystal studs sits on Marinette's left ring finger, while an antique silver band with an angelite heart surrounded by rose quartz studs sits on the stranger's left ring finger.
"And who are you?" Alya sasses the stranger. The stranger scoffs. "I'm Seraphina. Seraphina Roselyn Dupain-Cheng. I would appreciate you not bad-mouthing my wife." Alya doesn't respond, looking confused. Lila said that Marinette's partner was 1) a he, and 2) poor. "That can't be true. You aren't a guy and you don't look poor." Alya can't wrap her head around what is happening. "That's because I'm neither. I'm not a man, never have been, never will be, nor am I poor. Unlike you, I can see." Seraphina back talks Alya.
"Whatever Marinetten is paying you to seem like her date, I'm sure I can double. You can tell us the truth. My Adrien would gladly help deface my biggest bully." Lila steps up to the plate. "If I remember correctly, you must be Lila. The skank who can't keep her mouth or legs shut." Seraphina glances at Marinette who is giggling behind her hand. "I mean," She continues, "After all. Word gets around. You aren't very silent. Maybe you should learn to keep your mouth shut before you cheat on your husband." Lila just gaps, like a fish out of water.
Seraphina turns towards the group she is standing with when Lila lets out a crocodile sob. "How could you accuse me of being a slut!" Lila cries out. "First of all. I never said the word slut. I specified skank. Secondly, shut up. No one important cares about your sob stories. Thirdly, I hope you are ready for our lawyers to come raining hellfire on you. Hope your husband has enough money to keep you a free woman." Seraphina turns away again.
"And just who do you think you are, threatening Lila like that?" Sabrina asks. Chloe scoffs this time. "Well. It isn't a threat, sadly. I never threaten people. I only make promises. As for who I am, well, I do a lot. I'm a writer, of all sorts, I work in forensics, science and phycology, I'm a detective, only called in for nearly impossible cases that the usual can't solve, and let's not forget the most important thing. I am related to the Royal Family from Romania and am married to my designer, MDC, who is rebranding very soon to MRDC. I believe I have more power, wealth and status than anyone here." After exposing herself as distant royalty she turns to Chloe. "Am I correct in saying that?" She questions. "Yeah. Pretty much. Not even I hold as much power as you and my Father is surprisingly still standing as the Mayor and I'm MRDC's co-CEO." She states with a matter-of-fact tone. "Shara, don't forget your pen name. You are one of the most popular writers at the moment, your stories are from the villain's point of view or hero's turning villainous." Kagami adds in. "My wife is so amazing." Marinette sighs dreamily. She shakes her head and focuses back on the current issue.
"Right, of course. My pen name is Finna Sapphire. A little play on my given name if you will." With that, Marinette and Seraphina glide over to the snack table set out. Chloe, Kagami, Felix and Luka follow, laughing at the shocked faces of the class. "You really should heed her warnings, Lila. Shara is one powerful woman. She doesn't let anything stop her. Didn't you just claim that MDC was a guy? That Marinette's partner was a guy? That Marinette's partner was poor? Face it. Your empire is officially falling." Marc finishes off the final blows to Lila's ego before leading Nathaniel to the snack tables.
"Lila, please tell me that isn't true?" Alya begs. "Nevermind, I'll find out myself." With that, Alya pulls out her phone, searching up Seraphina Roselyn, getting images from her and Marinettes public wedding, Luka, Chloe, Kagami, and Felix all being seen in multiple photos. Alya frantically searches for some truth in Lila's words, finding nothing. Well, except for marrying Adrien Agreste. Alya starts looking back at earlier dates and lies, finding nothing but her old blog. Lila's empire of lies has officially fallen. Adrien sneaks away from the rising commotion, heading over to the snack table. Getting near, he overhears a conversation.
"Chat was retired early for, personal reasons. He was, clingy, at best. It was more disappointing to find out that he was Adrien." Marinette sounded saddened. "But luckily, only a few weeks beforehand I had met Seraphina, who matched Plagg's chaos energy so well! Being a true creation holder, having a close but a not perfect match for destruction was... difficult. Reversing the damage took more energy than it should have. Giving Shara the ring was the best decision in my life. It brought us closer together. We started dating after the defeat of Hawkmoth. More specifically, after I turned 18 and was kicked out of my parent's house. I called her, devastated, and she gave me a place to live, with her, free of charge. I felt guilty at first and threw myself into doing commissions to rack up money. I figured I needed enough to pay my portion of the bills or to move out. After a month of non-stop commissions, she forced me to relax with her in the living room. One thing led to another and the next day we were dating." Marinette told the story of how they got together.
"I'm so proud of you. I'm thankful you gave me a second chance." Chloe had tears filling her eyes. Marinette and her hug, Kagami joining, adding her own thanks for the trust of using the miraculous again. "It seems like all of us are true holders. Chloe and Pollen get along like two peas in a pod, Kagami and Longg are both super disciplined, Felix and Trixx are both tricksters, Luka and Sass are calm and collected, Marinette and Tikki are both creative while Plagg and I have more chaos energy. It's nice. Sorry, Marc, and Nath, but you weren't involved." Shara apologizes to the two left out.
Adrien inches closer. After learning that Marinette is Ladybug and that his ring was in close reach, he needed to get both back. He starts inching closer, quietly and undetected. He is so close to reaching his lady. A screech causes the group to abruptly turn around. Felix and Luka step in front of Adrien, dragging him towards the scream, the rest following behind. Reaching the scene, the group finds Alya and Alix being held back by Nino and Kim respectively. Mylene and Rose are crying, being comforted by their partners. Max looks ashamed with Ivan keeping a stone-hard exterior. Juleka looks ready to cry. Kim and Nino look angry while holding back the two enraged girls. Lila is on the ground, a red mark on her right cheekbone indicating that she had been hit. Alya had reddening knuckles on her right hand. Sabrina had called over some security to help defuse the situation, looking guilty. Caline just looked shocked.
"Marinette never pushed you down the stairs, did she!" Alya was still screaming at Lila, while Alix was intelligible. The screaming drew the attention of other classes from their year attending as well. Adrien gives Marinette a pleading look which she ignores, Seraphina stepping between their lines of view of each other. Lila spots Adrien, using him as a scapegoat. "Adrien knew the entire time that I was lying!" With that, Luka and Felix toss him to the wolves, leaving the two with their chosen fate.
"Wanna go get some ice cream?" Seraphina asks as if nothing was happening in front of them. Chloe laughs while Kagami and the others agree. Marinette grabs Shara's hand, leaning against her arm, smiling like a dork. "Ice cream sounds great, love."