Missing My Other Half

A Girl Like Her.

The clouds had ceased their downpour, but the air was cruel and the halls of the school seemed more frigid than normal.

It was time for lunch but a certain dull-eyed girl didn't care. Sitting at a cafeteria table, her arms covered in goosebumps, all Marinette could think about was the look on Chat Noir's face when she failed to save him. It was always the same. No matter how disparate the scenarios were, and no matter how differently her strategies of protecting him were, the nightmare always ended with an all too familiar moment on the battlefield. One with Chat's mouth agape, opened in pain. His face draining of color along with the light of his prairie green eyes.

A tear escaped Marinette's blue orbs, running down her pale face, and staining her cheek. She ignored it, instead continuing to stare at the wall with a blank expression. However, Alya did see and was hurt that her best friend would not confide in her. It had been weeks since the clumsy girl had been her true, awkward, lovable self. Alya noticed that she had no longer been sketching in her journal, showed up to class not looking like a zombie, or even splurging over her favorite topic: Adrien.

"Marinette?!" The sudden change in volume shocked the bluenette out of her dreamlike stance. "Girl are you okay? I've been trying to talk to you all day but you've been so distant..." Alya said, obviously worried.

"Oh, sorry." Marinette said quietly. 

"Aren't you even going to tell me what's going on?" the ombre questioned.

"Don't worry... it's nothing." Marinette said putting on a fake smile. "So what have you been up to lately?" She said.

At that Alya seemed to forget about Marinette's strange behavior, but deep down she was hoping that her friend would eventually come to her, willingly, and finally tell her why she had been acting so strangely as of lately. To ease the tension between them, Alya jumped right in to talking about her Ladyblog.

"I've been trying to figure out our spotted heroine's identity and this time I think I'm really close! I've come the conclusion that she is in fact a student at Collège Françoise Dupont!

"What?!" Marinette exclaimed, her mind suddenly distracted from her earlier thoughts, instead overtaken with fear.

"Exactly my reaction!" Alya squealed. "I was looking back at some of my older posts on the Ladyblog and realized that Ladybug knows all the names of our classmates here. And she has showed up to fight battles in the school even when the it was completely sealed. Meaning she must have already been present. Like when the akuma turned Mylene into Horrificator!" she stated. "That nasty goo was indestructible, so Ladybug must have already been here when  Horrificator was attacking the school!" Marinette seemed to be very intrigued by the conversation, so Alya couldn't help but think that she was providing some support and escape for her.

By this time there were multiple people listening in on the conversation

"So... who d-do you think it is." Marinette stated quietly, staring down at her hands.

Just then Chloe and Sabrina walked over with sly, identical smirks plastered on their faces.

"Well, let's see." Chloe said. "Since I am Ladybug's number one fan, I know exactly how she acts. She is super smart, and willed, and strong, and totally awesome. She is always there to save the day, and never fails at anything. She is the best superhero there is, and considers me a personal friend." Chloe stated with pride.

Marinette laughed at that last part, knowing it was the furthest thing from the truth.

This angered Chloe and she decided it was time to give her pig-tailed classmate a taste of her signature poison.

"You know what I've come to notice Maritrash?" She said, spitting out the words like venom. "You and Ladybug couldn't be any more opposite."

At this Marinette was confused. How could she not be anything like Ladybug when that was who she really was? Or did people truly not see any connection between her and Ladybug at all? Did Chloe have a point?

This made the blonde smirk. "I mean seriously, if you were the protector of Paris it would have burned to the ground by now. Knowing you, you would have been too late to defeat the akuma or would have been clumsy enough to let it go. And let's face it, your brain's not big enough to form an actual plan, and you're too weak to fight an akuma."

Marinette's face grew paler, if that was even possible.

Still not satisfied with her schoolmates level of embarrassment, Chloe continued, turning toward the rest of her classmates. "Seriously people, do any of you really think Marinette comes close to being anything like Ladybug?"

Marinette turned to see the shaking heads of all her classmates. Even Alya. Even... Adrien.

Is this how they all really see me? Am I really nothing compared to Ladybug? Nothing but a clumsy, stupid girl? Tears fought their way to the surface, but Marinette refused to let them out.

The rest of the cafeteria seemed to return to normal. Marinette's peers turned away to continue their earlier conversations, thinking what Chloe had said as nothing more then a joke, but she could not get those words out of her head.

"Alya will you please tell Ms. Bustier I wasn't feeling well." She said before turning to leave, struggling to keep her head held high.

Tikki then peaked out of her hiding place, searching for Plagg. When their eyes met they shared a worried glance.

Once Marinette exited the doors of the school, she was sprinting faster than her feet could carry her. The shaking heads and chuckles playing over and over again in her mind. It was just a joke. Just a joke. She tried to convince herself.

As she came upon an alleyway to hide in and away from prying eyes, Marinette finally allowed her tears to fall.

"Tikki, spots on!"