She doesn't say anything, just smiles that cruel smile of hers. "I don't care, don't you know that already?" she says with a laugh. "So, what happened to you this time?" she continues.
I turn away to avoid her gaze. "I'm not in the mood Lila." I say bluntly. She just rolls her eyes.
I stand up to walk away from her, but I only get a few feet away when I feel her pull my wrist.
"What do you want?" I ask in an annoyed tone. She pulls my arm back so that I stumble and I'm standing in front of her. She lets go and glares ar me.
"One thing Alice," she has a look of disgust on her face when she says my name. "why do you always wear that stupid necklace?" she asks. Not gonna lie, my heart sinks a little bit.
"Lila, you gave it to me. So why the heck are you calling something you decided to give me stupid?" I hiss.
I've had enough of her for one lifetime. She looks like she's about to say something, but she hesitates and then walks away in a huff.
I instantly think, "Good riddance."
Suddenly, I'm hit with a wave of nausea. I close my eyes and open them again. I repeat the process, and get the same results. It's nothing. I'm fine. Probably just tired.
As the feeling behind to fade, I head towards my next class, ignoring the sinking feeling that something is wrong.
*After School, Marinette*
"If I was able to put her identity on the Ladyblog, you know how many views I could be able to get?" Alya says to me, a look of slight disappointment on her face.
I put a hand in her shoulder. My best friend would die to know Ladybug's identity, but after what she's been through, she wouldn't have the heart to put it on her blog.
Besides, even if she did know Ladybug was secretly her best friend this whole time, she's smart enough to know posting something like Ladybug's identity could be really dangerous.
"Even if you can't use it for your blog, it would still be pretty cool if you found out the identity of Ladybug, right Alya?" I say encouragingly, while going through my locker at the same time.
Alya gives me a warm smile and points excitedly to her phone, continuing to talk as we leave the locker room.
Unexpectedly, I find an impatient Alice standing near the front doors of the school. She notices me but doesn't say a word. I go up to her and drag Alya with me, which neither of them expected. "Hey! Are you waiting for someone?" I ask.
Alice quickly shakes her head. "No, I'm just..."
She doesn't finish her sentence as she looks at her hands and quickly hides them behind her back. "Actually, I need to go right now." she insists.
She turns and leaves at a pace that would make it look like she wanted to get away from something. Maybe she did.
I go back to talking with Alya, but a few minutes later we both hear screams in the distance. Just great. School just ended, and I already have an akuma to deal with.
"Oh Alya, I just remembered..." I say, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Alya just playfully rolls her eyes.
"I should go cover this for my blog, what about you? Wait, let me guess. You had to help someone and you forgot, you needed to tell your parents something, you had homework missing, you had to fail at confessing to Adrien--"
"All of those! I'll see you tomorrow!" I exclaim. And with that I run out of the building, cross the street, and quickly duck into an alleyway. Tikki perks out of my purse. "Whos been akumatized this time?" she asks in her squeaky voice.
"We're about to find out. Tikki, spots on!"
*
Ladybug*
I run across the the top of a building, towards the direction of supposedly an akuma's next victim. Find the object, capture the butterfly. Simple as that.
Before I can blink I feel the presence of someone running next to me. "Chat Noir. Nice of you to finally join me."
"Sorry M'lady, had to take care of something. So, what are we up to this time?" he says.
"Not sure yet Kitty. There should be something right--"
Without warning the temperature drops drastically, stopping both me and my partner in our tracks. We jump down and end up in the park as dark clouds start to slowly fill the sky. That was so...sudden.
"Chat....something's going on..." I start as we look around us. The area is completely empty, as if it was deserted in a rush. Gosh this cold really isn't helping.
"Um, Ladybug? I think we should look at this." Chat says, concern in his voice. I turn to where Chat is looking, and my blood turns to ice. Right by the fountain, is a girl. She's laying in the grass, most likely passed out.
But what's more worrying is that fact that there's a thick cloud of black smoke around her. "We both notice that it just got darker, right?" Chat asks me.
He's right. Even though it's only the afternoon, it looks as if it's nearly night time, and the clouds above us don't look like they're going away any time soon. "...What are we waiting for? Let's make sure she's okay." I finally say, turning my attention back to the girl.
Chat Noir kneels down so that he's at the same level as the girl, but then his face turns to one of shock. "Alice..."
This catches me by surprise. "Do you know her?" I ask. He quickly shakes his head, then pickes her up in his arms. "Alice, are you okay?" he asks quietly. Alice shifts in his arms but doesn't say a word. Chat then points to the necklace she's wearing.
It isn't noticeable at first, but then I can tell that it's glowing a soft white, and the black cloud around her begins to fade. I remember the encounter we had at school. She hid her hands, then left without saying anything else. What if this is why?
"Chat about, you trust me right?" I ask him.
He smiles at me. "Of course I do. We'll figure this out."
We always do.
Now that I'm reassured, I reach for the necklace. But then a painful shock for my hand makes me let go.
"Something tells me that isn't an ordinary necklace." Chat says.
My mind rushes through multiple plans and ideas, but it all goes down to one thing. I turn to my partner. "You still trust me right? I'll need her for a bit."