Maybe There Is Hope

living with the consequence

Chapter 22

When Adrien came to school the next day, he felt numb. There was no Plagg at his side, no ring on his finger, no sense of freedom in his chest as he walked up to the entrance. Everything felt hollow. How could everyone be this carefree when his entire world had been uprooted yesterday? Didn't they feel the shift in the air, the tension in the room? Chat Noir had vanished, yet nobody seemed to mind.

"Dude, there you are!", Nino greeted him from a bench at side, surrounded by his classmates. "We were worried sick about you, yesterday! Did you see the Akuma Attack? We were all working with Ladybug, it was so cool!"

Adrien flinched, before stomping over to them.

"Really?", he asked, trying to suppress his fury. "That sounds awesome! I was busy looking for Chat Noir, in case you wanted to know! So he could get back to protecting Ladybug."

If Nino noticed how passive-aggressive he sounded, he only shrugged.

"Man, didn't you hear? It was all over the news last night."

Adrien frowned in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Yeah!", Alix chimed in. "Chat Noir is canceled!"

His blood ran cold. Did they... did they know he had lost his ring?!

"Look at this.", Alya demanded and showed him her phone, playing a video on the Ladyblog. "Nino filmed this since I was taken out."

His eyes widened when he recognized the scenery. It was filmed from under the stairs, but Sentiquill and Ladybug were perfectly clear to see. His Lady held the Akuma in place with her yo-yo, ordering Chat to help. Alya was snorting with anger when the hero refused, leaving Rose at Sentiquill's mercy.

"Can you believe it?!", she seethed when the camera panned to Ladybug's pained face, who apologized for rejecting him before asking for his help again. "He made her beg! He let Rose be drained for ink, just so he could force her into his stupid power play! And her apology?"

She scoffed.

"I can't believe he would ask that of her! As if she owed him anything for rejecting him!"

"Don't forget the part where he almost killed Ladybug!", Chloé spoke up. "If I ever see his ugly ass face again, I won't need a Miraculous to rip him apart."

"But," Adrien stammered, "We don't know the whole story! Maybe he had a valid reason to-"

Chloé laughed and pinched his cheek.

"Oh, silly Adrikins. I always forget how little experience you have with people."

Kim nodded.

"Yeah, if you get rejected, no matter how you gotta accept it. Doesn't mean you gotta take any shit" - he glared at Chloé, who had the decency to look ashamed - "But you sure have no right to pressure her into anything. And demanding an apology for saying no?"

He clicked his tongue.

"That guy definitely wasn't present for Mendeleiev's lesson on consent."

"He abandoned Rose.", Juleka murmured from the background, holding her unusually quiet girlfriend's hand. "I'll never forgive him for that."

Adrien gulped.

"Well, Miraculous Ladybug always undoes every harm, right?"

"Cut it, Adrien!", Alya snarled at him all of a sudden. Everyone fell silent. The reporter blinked, then leaned back a little to regain control of herself.