⚠⚠⚠ (!!Warning!! Suicide, abuse, self-harm and bullying are mentioned throughout this chapter and I advise sensitive readers to be cautious reading ahead.) ⚠⚠⚠

Lots of love Abs xx

Staring up from her phone, Marinette looked at the door and let out a sigh of relief at the person who was holding the door handle.

A slight cough came from her small device catching her attention. Looking back down to her phone she's met with the faces of her worried family, it could've been anyone at the door and for all they know, Marinette could be in danger and they would be deemed 'helpless' as they were in two different continents.

"Oh!" Marinette's brows went upwards after realising why they looked like that and turned her phone to show the person at the door.

Cassie stood in all her nurse glory decked out in her scrubs, dyed hair in a low ponytail and worn out white trainers. Her and Marinette met a year back when the teenager found herself with a cast on her leg after being pushed down the stairs by her classmate. Cassie did her job as a nurse wonderfully and was more than concerned for Marinette when she mentioned the bullying and attempted to talk to the head teacher yet nothing happened after that.

And the rest was history really. Cassie looked out for Marinette and as a teenage girl with mental health issues and no friends, the nurse was someone she sought comfort from. A year later and Cassie was one Marinette's closest friends.

No matter how many times Cassie tried to convince Marinette to leave the school or go and complain to the school board, Marinette always had some sort of pathetic excuse and would continuously brush it off saying 'It's fine I'm used to it by now.' So Marinette stayed and would stay there till she finished college.

Now at this point you'd think Marinette would've called her father to go back home but no, being the stupid and stubborn person she is, she wanted to finish her education in Paris because the transfer would be too much hassle and it would only be for another year before everything was over.

Cassie waved to the men on the phone, not much fazed at the fact that the men she was seeing were famous and rich and all over the media. She was introduced to them last year when she called Bruce informing him that his daughter had broken her leg. It was all by accident, she swears! Chloe was talking on the phone with Bruce and Cassie really wanted a strong word to Marinette's parent, desperate to know more background information.

Nonetheless, she got the information she needed and the men were more than happy to know someone as nice as Cassie was looking out for their Marinette besides Sabine and Tom.

But they didn't know the horrible fate of Sabine and Tom.

*****

It was much later on during the day, Marinette hung up the phone so she could have the day with Cassie. Her and the nurse had gone out to eat lunch, Marinette taking the food home as 'leftovers' but as soon as she arrived in the bakery, it was found in the bin straight away.

Due to the lack of friends, Marinette didn't have people around the bakery and would be by herself majority of the time. Most nights, she'd talk to Tikki and rarely slept, nightmares made that hard so she'd sketch the fears away, even though she knew they'd come back; they've permanently scarred her for life. The other hours were spent fighting Akumas, over the past 2 years the akuma's have been getting stronger and battling alone for the majority of the time sucks.

After your partner loses your trust, you start to loose trust in everyone and think back to that one situation when giving out new miraculi, only 4 heroes are in action. Abrielle, Ladybug, Viperion and Ryuko, it was mainly the bee and bug as the other two were always busy and started to travel but now that Chloe is in NY, the red and black bug is alone spending hours and sometimes even a day fighting an akuma.

Everyone who bought from the bakery heard of the Bakers unfortunate death and their daughter was now left by herself, no one could help but feel pity for the girl now all alone in a big world.

It was now around 3am in Paris and Marinette had woke up from another nightmare, Siren. The girl had gone on a bloody rampage after finding out Kim had to break up with her by Lila's pathetic lie. She flooded the whole of Paris drowning nearly every person, no one was spared. Each body floated to the top and lay lifelessly for ladybug to swing by and see, she saw babies to kids in her school to the Mayor and his assistants but most of all she saw her Best friend, blood dripping from her lips and pale cold skin.

She could've given up there and then but love is a power that shouldn't be underestimated, she fought and fought till she was barely able to stand but came out victorious saving everyone, including her abusive class; only if they saw her in action saving their lives basically everyday.

Looking at the clock in the corner of the room and calculating the time difference, she stopped the music bleeding and pressed on the number that belonged to her father but before her finger came in contact with the glass screen she noticed a notification, weird.

She changed her number when the bullying got too much so getting messages from anyone besides Chloe, Cassie or her family was weird.

Opening what she saw was an email, her phone glowed in the dark, the device being the only light source in the room. The email was from the school, there was going to be an essay competition for each class president around Paris, the essay would be sent to the only Bruce Wayne and would get a trip for a week, two if you got first. Hearing this, her mind was instantly made up, treat her class and go home. Eliminating Two birds with one stone.

Leaving the email, she prepared the speech briefly in her head before face timing her father, who after the first ring picked up.

The first thing he noticed was how dark the room was, the light coming from her screen wasn't enough to see her face, her excuse this time wasn't a lie but the plain truth, she didn't have enough money to pay for the electricity, well Tom and Sabine couldn't because the Bakery was slowly losing business, mainly the truth but she's losing business not her parents.

"I've finally decided to take part in the competition you guys thought of last week?"

"What made you change your mind?"

Marinette just shrugged her shoulders despite the fact her shoulders weren't even visible but there was enough light for him to make up her silhouette.

"Woah! Love the whole dark aesthetic, you finally going through your emo stage?" She could hear the sarcasm radiating off the screen from her brothers voice but she couldn't see him though.

Her fathers eyes widened at the thought of his daughter going through a dark era - the gesture was very small but to the people who know him closely could see it as clear as day - earning a giggle from the girl, a genuine laugh, the one that was only heard when she was with them but they didn't need to know that.

"Anyways, back to the competition, wish me luck and judge fairly but I don't think I'll take part in it, my class is probably gonna do all the work." she gave them a soft glare that they couldn't see because of the lack of light. That was a lie, her class wouldn't lift a finger and all the work would be by her hand.

The good thing was, Marinette hadn't told her family her class so they wouldn't be able to know which class was hers.

However, that wouldn't be a problem at all.

It was currently 7pm in Gotham and the two men sat talking with their sister and daughter who lived six hours away.

The night was spent on the phone, if only they could be together then she wouldn't be going through all this but that's when it became tricky.

Marinette would love to go back home to be back with her family, be somewhat more mentally stable and live a life that she can live to the fullest but she's still needed here in Paris, with no Ladybug there would be no one to save Paris from peril.

And, that's the last thing Paris needed at the moment.