Ladybug's Darkside

Chapter 3

Marinette's POV

I'm actually feeling a semblance of happiness, but all of my anger is all still here, just below the surface like a riptide, just waiting for a victim to fall prey to the calm surface and test their luck. All throughout the day random students were staring at me, watching me intently for my next move, not having seen me this calm in months, even the teachers were nervous. I heard everybody take a breath of relief every time I left the room without doing something to someone, that actually made me feel good about something, knowing that most people who have common sense know better than to screw with me anymore.

After school I went back to the hotel in the limo with Chloe, who surprisingly didn't say a word, though she did stare at me the entire ride. I got out of the limo, heading straight for the gym like usual but Chloe finally spoke up.

"Dupain-" I cut her off before she could go any further.

"Chloe, I am finally calm for the first time in months, don't ruin it for me." I said to her in a cold tone.

"Fine, why does my mother parade you around like a trophy?" Chloe asked, too nervous to demand like she normally does.

"I am not at liberty to answer that, you'd have to ask your mother yourself." I said with a shrug, cold tone replaced by a blank tone.

"Fine, I'll do so the next time I see her." Chloe huffed. "Why are you even living here anyways?"

"Oh, now that is quite the story, though I'm not sure you can handle it." I said with a faux thoughtful look, a smirk slowly rising onto my face. "Got anywhere to talk away from prying ears, including your butler Jean?"

"Obviously." Chloe said with a huff, fighting a smirk of her own.

I changed course and followed Chloe into the elevator and then into the suite across from hers, my new room. But Chloe noticed and didn't say a word about my stuff being in here.

"Jean has never once found me while I was here, hell I don't think he actually looks for me if I don't call him." Chloe answered, flopping on the bed while I sat on the bench at the vanity. "Now, spin your tale and get this over with."

"Well, as everybody probably knows by now, Lila was nothing but a liar as I proved earlier today." Chloe huffed and got an annoyed look in her eyes since she was there for the show. "What nobody but your mother knows is that Lila didn't stop at the school, she went directly to my parents and started spilling all kinds of lies to them as well." She looked shocked but she didn't interrupt, which is really unlike her. "Well, after months of listening to and believing her lies they got fed up with me."

"They didn't." Chloe gasped, now sitting up properly.

"Tom told me that I wasn't his daughter before punching me in the face hard enough to send me across the room and into the tv, breaking the tv and winding up with a cut on the opposite cheek of the one he punched from the broken glass." I continued. "That's why half of my face was pretty much black for almost a month."

"How did you meet my mother?" Chloe asked, wanting to move on from the previous subject quickly, and I don't blame her.

"Well, I walked around Paris for hours, stewing in my anger that quickly turned to fury and rage, not paying attention to the time." Chloe was seemingly entirely wrapped up in my story, eager to hear more. "I heard a familiar voice start shouting at somebody so I started walking in the direction I heard it from and found your mother in the process of being mugged, now this part doesn't leave this room, when your mother and I left that alleyway I left the man with several busted ribs and a busted wrist."

Chloe gasped in surprise before hugging me, startling me enough to almost pin her to the floor from reflex. After about a minute Chloe let go and someone cleared their throat from the doorway to get our attention.

"I see you've told her how we met." It was Audrey, Chloe's mother.

"Not everything, just about the failed mugging attempt." I answered. "Told her she'd have to get the other answers from you if you wanted her to know."

"Very good, someone with both brains and brawn is both rare and dangerous." Audrey commented. "I was going to wait at least another year, if not until she was an adult, but I guess she can know now."

"Know what?" Chloe asked confused, unsure of what's going on.

"About how your father and I got enough money to build and run this hotel." Audrey answered before turning her attention to me. "We're taking her to watch baby league, where you started out five months ago."

"Baby league, we're going to watch babies?" Chloe asked, even more confused than before and probably questioning our sanity and her own.

"In a sense, not age wise babies though." I answered. "Baby league as in those brand new to the competition."

"Be warned Chloe, you cannot breathe a word of this outside of private areas, not even to someone you know knows about it." Audrey warned her, getting a nod in return. "Part of it is less than legal, your father is the one that keeps the cops away."

"What do you mean, less than legal?" Chloe questioned, confused and alarmed.

"She means, you talk about this at the wrong time and you could get a lot of people thrown in jail for a long time and make yourself so many enemies that even the devil couldn't save you from them all." I answered bluntly, probably scaring her, and Audrey nodding in agreement made it worse.

"That's why it's a good thing we'll have you there with us." Audrey said and I nodded. "You know, I came from money, when I parted ways with my parents after an argument where my mother went to hit me but was stopped by my father I had just enough to get me and your father into this secret club." I listened intently, as Audrey's never mentioned how she came to be a member of it. "Andre was my fighter, the champion I signed up with initially, I made the bets and earned the extra money while he fought and earned us the big money, and it worked out well as is evident by our surroundings." Chloe was shocked, as was I. "He was the reigning champion for about seven weeks, the longest anyone's held the champion title to date, until he was hit with someone he just couldn't beat, no matter how many times Andre hit this opponent they just laughed it off and swung back, but Andre was quick despite his size so this opponent couldn't touch him until he was tired." Chloe was chewing her nails with nerves, worried for her father despite this being a story of their past. "This opponent, the one that beat him, is someone the both of you know."

"Who was the opponent?" Chloe asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"His opponent was..."