Masked Permanently

Fault

"I swear I checked around the mall! I didn't just check the trash cans, Daddy!" Ladybug heard Chloe arguing into the phone.

Chloe hung up the call angrily, throwing her phone with force into the bed, causing it to bounce off and hit a carpet floor. Ladybug leaned down and saw that it wasn't cracked.

"He thinks I bullied Marinette and made her leave! Where did he even get that idea?!" Chloe questioned, slamming her face into her bed.

Ladybug hummed softly in response, but she wasn't paying attention to her words. All she knew was that people assumed she left because of someone.

She looked at her duffel bag and saw her Lucky Charm's diary pages still inside. Maybe if she just wrote a note explaining that it was no one's fault but her own?

It wasn't even her own fault.

In fact, she wasn't even sure who or what was responsible for what happened. Unless Tikki was playing some sort of an unlikely April Fool's joke on her, there was nothing she could do that would fix whatever was happening.

"I honestly think Marinette left because she overheard Adrien telling Nino that she's just a friend. No competition there," Chloe shrugged snobbishly.

"Aren't you Adrien's friend?" Ladybug replied, her voice monotone.

"I'm his best friend! He loves me, but is too shy to say it," Chloe told the annoyed heroine.

"Hmm," Ladybug hummed in reply. She honestly couldn't tell whether or not the blonde was kindhearted or selfish. Chloe flipped her good and bad sides like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She could see that Chloe was a little self-absorbed, but she had her moments of kindness. Those moments didn't last long, but they still existed.

A part of the realization had suddenly dawned on her that Adrien saw her as no more than a friend. Was that just Chloe saying that or was that true?

Did he even care if she came back or not?

Regardless of whether he actually did care, she knew her parents, friends, and classmates did care about her. Alya was on the verge of tears, as was her mother at one point. Her father believed that Ladybug would return Marinette safely.

If she could bring Marinette back, she definitely would. However, she was not in control of the situation and she assumed it would be a while.

After doing some homework, which Chloe basically copied off of Ladybug without her noticing, the girls went to sleep.

When Ladybug (fully disguised once more) and Chloe got to school the next day, Alya wasn't in her seat, Adrien was arguing with Nino, and the class was louder than usual.

"What's going on?" Ladybug asked Chloe.

"I'm not sure, Bridgette. I'm assuming we have a test today," Sabrina popped in.

"No, it's Marinette. It turns out she ran away!" Kim exclaimed.

"She didn't run away, dingbat. She said that in her letter," Alix told Kim, showing the girls the note that Alya took a picture of.

"How do we really know Marinette wrote that letter? How can we be so sure it wasn't her kidnapper?" Kim asked, causing Alya to break into tears and a bunch of her classmates to blow up in controversy.

"I'M PRETTY SURE IT WAS FROM MARINETTE, whoever that is!" Ladybug screamed out, trying not to break into a panic.

"Bridgette, I'm going to literally go deaf," Chloe scoffed.