lila's revenge

Chapter 42

Marinette's POV:

"Is this true?" Adrien's words snap my attention away from Lila and back to his confused expression.

I nod silently, averting my gaze to the floor. I hear him take a deep breath in as he turns to face Lila slowly.

She looks nervous, and instead of explaining herself, spins on her heels and runs out of the room.

Adrien follows her angrily, calling her name to make her stop. The shouting gets quieter as they run further away, until I can only hear mine and Lucy's quiet breathing.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asks awkwardly, resting her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off and sink to the floor.

"I can't believe he knows." I whisper in response, and she kneels down beside me.

"Now it can go back to how it was?" she replies, confused about my reaction. I nod, still not really showing much emotion.

Tikki flies up beside me and coughs to get my attention.

"Lucy is right, the counter potion is irreversible, so as soon as he's had it, she can't wipe his memory again." 

"See." Lucy says, standing up and helping me up beside her. "Everything will be fine." 

Adrien comes running back into the art room with a frustrated look on his face.

"I lost her." he says in regret.

Then he walks towards me, until hes right in front of me and I'm basically stepping on his designer shoes. His face breaks into a smile as he looks down at me, and his arms wrap me into a hug.

"I'm glad I found you." he whispers and I nod against his chest.

"I'm gonna head off and sort out that counter potion." Lucy says from behind me.

I break apart from Adrien to face her.

"Thanks Luce, i'll be home soon." 

She smiles and waves as she walks away from us both.

"Where will you be then?" Adrien asks as I make my way to the door moments later.

"Well I figured we might have some catching up to do. Our rooftop?" I suggest with a smile and he grins in reply.

"I'll race you." he replies, running towards the school entrance.

I smile at his departing back, before sprinting after him. He may be my best friend and soulmate, but he's still the sore loser catboy that is so fun to beat.

I catch up to him quickly, both of us running into an alleyway to transform.

"Plagg.." he calls before I grab his arm and cover his mouth.

There's rustling further down this alleyway, so transforming would potentially reveal our identities. He listens before hearing the noises too and grabbing my hand as we make our way deeper into the alley.

The noise is coming from behind a set of bins, and it seems to be a string of angry whispers that hang with a bitter tone in the air.

Adrien puts a protective arm in front of me before we step closer and our vision lets us see the other side of the bins. 

Sat there with her arms crossed and an angry expression on her face is the one and only Lila Rossi, and her little puppet Emma.

"Well well, looks like you didn't run far enough away." Adrien says sarcastically, hatred still crossing his features as he locks eyes with Lila.

Emma looks slightly scared, but still doesn't wipe the sarcastic smirk off her face that makes it oh so punchable. I know for a fact that if Lucy was here, she probably would have punched her already, and she's not even aggressive.

"Adrien, Marinette." Lila says, her confidence still high now she had an ally. "I think Ladybug and Chat Noir would be horrified to hear that you two were stalking me and poor Emma and then picking on us. Wouldn't it be a shame for the two superheroes of Paris to find out about this."

I laugh aloud at that, knowing just how impressed Lila will be if she does speak to my alterego.

"You do that Lila." Adrien says smugly "Besides, we're not going to do anything, I think your comeuppance will be soon." 

With that he grabs my hand and we leave the alleyway laughing, leaving Lila with a confused expression.

We run a little further - the race now gone from our memory, instead just trying to get away and be with only ourselves - until Adrien pulls me into another alley and we transform.

"C'mon then kitty." I say, throwing my yoyo and jumping away. I hear his cries of laughter from just behind me as the easy normality falls of us racing over rooftops playfully. I reach our rooftop first, much to his frustration, and settle down to watch the scenes below.

"M'lady, I know I can't remember you, but is there anything else I can't remember?" he says after a while, looking across at me.

"Adrien, I don't want to confuse your memory and stop the counter potion working. There are other things you don't remember, but you'll get it all back when Lucy has finished the memory potion." I explain sadly.

"Why do you trust this Lucy so much. I mean she's Lila's cousin and she only started school today." 

I hesitate and look at him.

"She didn't start today did she? I can't remember her can I?" he asks glumly.

I nod slowly and sigh, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Lucy saved me, and Chloe, and you. She sacrificed all memory you have of her and all memory you have of Chloe, just so I could come back. Without her, I'd still be in Lila's basement and she'd be the queen of the school."

"Why did she do that though, she hardly knows us." he asks incredulously.

"Morals I guess. She fell out with her friends to keep our identities secret, so we were her only friends at the time. And considering you couldn't even remember her and I wasn't there it must have been hard. I know she persuaded Lila to let her speak to Chloe, because initially Chloe was threatened with my safety if she went against Lila's instructions."

"Damn, how did I miss all this?" he asks in horror. " I thought Lila was being a good girlfriend, I never knew how horrible she could be."

"Just wait till you get your memory back." I respond, standing up from the rooftop. He jumps up beside me.

"Where to now m'lady?" he asks with a smile.

"To check on this memory potion, I don't like keeping secrets from you." I reply, not looking back at him and instead throwing my yoyo into the direction of the bakery.

"It's not your fault though." he says quietly, just before I jump away.