I've read a few fanfics of Marinette getting framed by Lila and end up akumatized as Princess Justice or mostly Lady Fortune, its always repetive when some of the plot takes place from the episode 'Ladybug' in season 3. Mine will be more different than that since a few years we all never thought that Lila Rossi was a fraud in disguise and her name was a fake. I've seen how in fanfics they always have Lila get forced to confess all her lies but never her deception disguise which we all didn't know the whole time. Especially when season 5 came out, we now can see that it was more than meets the eye.

Characters belong to (c) Zag.

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Ever since the wrath of Monarch with the stolen miraculous, Ladybug and Cat Noir were the only heroes left to defend Paris while their only time tracker Bunnyx remains in her burrow to protect the rabbit miraculous. As civilians (without knowing they are superheroes to each other), Adrien and Marinette have been bonding more, despite their dates nearly ruined by Akumas getting in the way or Adrien's father ordering him to stop being with Marinette, it never stops them due to their strong love. No matter how hard Gabriel tries to tell his spy Lila Rossi the pathological liar to dismantle the relationship, she would always fail again. No one but the two lovers is aware of Lila being a pathological liar trying to lie her way out of trouble or make lies about Marinette. Despite how Marinette tries to prove to her friends she's a liar, no one sees evidence at all, not even Alya who only thinks she's jealous of her going bear Adrien; so much for a reporter who has no experience yet.

Right now, Ladybug and Cat Noir are stopping an akumatized victim known as Youther, turning adults and teenagers into kids since he was mad at the adults for never watching a grown-up movie that was for older kids.

And of course, the heroes got turned into 5 years old but their behavior or mentality remains grownup level.

"Ah, man! I never thought I would be back as a kitten! And my voice is too high!" Cat Noir complaining about how he forgot what it's like being a kid again.

"Stop complaining, Kitten Noir! We gotta stop that akumatized kid before there's no more growing up for adults!" Ladybug smacked his back head.

"Ow! Yes, well, at least we still have our grownup behavior, except being at age 5, we have no idea what happens if we use our powers this young! We could detransform in seconds rather than 5 minutes! Like our battery can drain fast!" Cat Noir said.

"Very good point but no matter how close we get, will disappear into the age of 0 like we were never born nor existed!" Ladybug points out.

"Why do I feel like I'm scared of monsters?" Cat Noir shuddered at wanting to fight the akumatized brat but at the same time, was too scared to try.

"Must be childhood fears coming back, Kitty" Ladybug said.

"Ladybug! Cat Noir! Come out and give me your miraculous! You're already such babies now!" Youther trying to find them anywhere.

"Okay, you're right. It does feel scary when you're a 5 year old" Ladybug shuddered.

"Get it together. Find our inner teenage mind" Cat Noir tries to remain calm and try not to think he's a kid mentally.

"Okay, Lucky charm!" Ladybug summons her lucky charm, "A cat plushie?"

"Seriously? Does it meow by squeezing it for stress relief?" Cat Noir asked.

"Well, he's a kid. If kids can't stop throwing a tantrum, then squeezing a noisy stuffed animal calms their stress" Ladybug said.

"Good idea, milady" Cat Noir grabs the plushie.

"And don't be such a brat, Kitten Noir," Ladybug said.

"I'm no kitten, I'm a big strong cat," Cat Noir said before coming out to squeeze the cat plunging to make a meow noise, "Meow, meow! Hey meanie! You want a kitten, come and get it!" He jumped and tagged the akumatized kid, "Boop!"

"Give me that!" Youther chased him.

"Too slow! Haha! So not a big boy yet! Definitely not a big man yet, Monarch! I suppose you didn't grow up completely without a sense of morality!" Cat Noir dodged every shot from nearly getting younger to a toddler.

"Hold still or you'll be a really baby kitten to cry to mommy cat!" Youther getting very angry at missing each shot.

"Not until you get a time-out from your mommy!" Cat Noir said and stopped, "Unless you want to be grounded by mommy for the rest of your life for helping Monarch. And definitely, no more toys to play with. Isn't that right, Mr. Whiskers?" Cat Noir squeezed the lucky charm stuffed cat which let out meows.

"No! Please don't tell Mommy!" Youther begged.

"What's it gonna be, Youther? The Akuma or your mom?" Ladybug swung in.

Youther looked back and forth and then decided to choose his mother. The Akuma was his toy-age gun and he gave it to Cat Noir to cataclysm it, ignoring Monarch's protests in his face.

"Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug caught it to purify it, "Miraculous Ladybug!" She tossed her lucky charm and turned everyone who were kids back to their real proper age, including the heroes.

"Ah, yes! My masculine voice! My biceps! And my big boy attitude!" Cat Noir said.

"Heh, more like your cockiness grew up too fast, kitten" Ladybug rolled her eyes but at least she has her kitty back to his sense of self.

"Yeah, and you sure grew up fast too Bugaboo" Cat Noir said.

"Let's see if you can grow a beard or mustache to become a big boy. For whiskers" Ladybug chuckled.

"Heh, maybe. Pound it!" They fistbump.

-

Marinette was so tired and annoyed with her friends but Adrien sided with Lila's deceptive lies once again. Especially hearing how that liar came back from India to raise charity fundraising when there was no charity fundraising to help children. If there was one, there would have been an article about it on the news. Plus, it is very cruel to make up a charity that hasn't been made and if people sell change for it, it would only lead to fraud to have money for themselves instead of using it to help the world.

"This doesn't really make sense" Marinette mutters to herself.

Another one was when Lila met a famous celebrity who helped her with understanding the secrets of beauty cream but according to social media, the celebrity never reveals secrets to anyone.

Marinette went to a bench, trying to ignore the others chatting with Lila. Adrien decided to side with Marinette, despite how he did nothing to warn them about Lila being a pathological liar. But he did make Lila make a white lie to bring Marinette back to school in exchange for a photoshoot which was too cruel but he wanted Marinette reinstated in school since she has done more help to him, it was his turn to do the same.

"Mari, you were right. Liars can hurt people. I've never been lied to by anyone all my life. I just thought people lie to protect but I guess they can also lie to hurt people too. I'm so sorry that I stopped you from exposing her that day she got akumatized into a shapeshifter" Adrien said, letting out all his guilt and shame that all he did was let his perfection and kindness blind him from doing nothing but give people a second chance to change.

"It's alright, Adrien. You really came to your senses" Marinette said.

"Way too long to come to my senses, my love. And so far, I feel very protective of you. I lost my mother, I don't want to lose you too" He hugged her.

"You won't lose me, my prince. You wanna know why I never told you about my first heartbreak with Kim? Despite knowing how you found out?" Marinette asked.

"You were afraid I would do the same like him?" Adrien guessed.

"No, because if I told you it was Chloe who caused this, I was afraid you would never wanna be my friend anymore. Chloe was the only friend you had when you were young, I didn't want to ruin what you had" Marinette explained.

"Mari, I appreciate how kind you are to me and everyone, despite the trauma you went through. You were my friend the whole time because you were so special. Despite having Chloe being my only friend, I learned the hard way about how she treated you and everyone. From what I learned now, I ended my friendship with her since I gave her multiple chances to be a better person and since she never did, it opened my eyes to see how much she made everyone suffer, and not a single remorse in her made her feel nothing" Adrien explained his end of friendship with Chloe because of his experiences and growing up.

"You did the right thing there," Marinette said.

"She only sees everyone as doormats," Adrien said.

"So you can see what people see in her?" Marinette asked.

"I've noticed a lot each time she behaves horribly towards our friends," Adrien said.

"Which is why I despised her so much for putting me through hell. I did think she could change for Ladybug and everyone but we can't change who she is raised to be, Adrien. She doesn't have the same perception you have. As for Lila, she only wants people to love her by rushing her moment and pace. Like an envy controlling her mind" Marinette said, knowing what a person can do when they feel a lot of envy.

"Lila really is a strange person" Adrien replied.

Marinette felt like telling him about her trauma in the bathroom incident but she didn't want Adrien to be involved in this, despite the burden she's carrying for so long.

"I just hope Lila doesn't get me expelled again," Marinette said.

"She almost did but I just hope everyone can see why she's targeting you instead of me. She goes against those who see through her lies. Come, let's just ignore them" Adrien brings Marinette out of the park since it's becoming too stressful to hear Lila lying about the heroes.

Marinette looks back, scowling that Alya still listens to her.

"Mari, remain calm. You cannot look bad in front of them" Adrien said, not wanting to overreact in front of them again because it would only make them see she was jealous of Lila

"Right," Marinette nodded.

Lila glanced at the lovers walking away, smirking at how easily it would be once she planned on getting everyone to go against Marinette. Last time was a failure but hopefully, she'll come up with something new and persuasive, especially to prove Gabriel to have Adrien all to herself.

"You only delay the inevitable, Dupain-Cheng," She thought.

-

Much later, Marinette was on her loft bed, deep in thoughts about Monarch's cataclysm wound but it kept changing to Lila might cause more trouble to her. Ever since Adrien quit modeling, he was changing more when being with her the same way she was getting over her heartbreak trauma.

"Things can't just get any worse, can they?" Marinette said while Tikki ate a cookie.

"Don't overthink so much, Marinette. You, Adrien, Cat Noir, Plagg, and I already know that Lila is a liar. Whether you hate to see your friends side with her or not, we can't force them to side with you. As long as you have those who believe you, someday karma will strike at Lila" Tikki said.

"I need to think of something," Marinette said.

Cat Noir tapped on the trapdoor which made Tikki hide. Marinette sighs and opens the trapdoor for him.

"Hey, princess" Cat Noir jumps inside.

"Hey, kitty. Am I in danger again?" Marinette asked if there was an Akuma after her.

"No, but I still worry about you. Ever since you fell in love with your prince, I noticed how much you two tried to have the best relationship of love, there's always interruption a lot" Cat Noir said, though knowing how much he was aware of his father forbidding him to not get close to Marinette and the times an Akuma interrupted their moment.

"Yeah, wherever we go there's always chaos," Marinette said.

"Man, sometimes Milady and I ever wonder if that monster ever sleeps for once. Especially with the stolen miraculous, too much power is like it corrupted his madness" Cat Noir slumps down, "It's like Paris is still imprisoned to never feel negative emotions which is very impossible to not feel from"

"It's hard to stay positive all the time, Cat Noir" Marinette pointed out.

"Milady and I never got akumatized which we are lucky or Monarch would know who we are behind the mask. By the way, I've been hearing rumors again. That liar is still on the loose again. She makes my whiskers twitch every time she makes a lie about Cat Noir allergic to seafood. I'm allergic to pigeons, not seafood" Cat Noir growled lowly, wanting to claw that liar for having everyone believe that.

"That makes no sense. You enjoy fish. do you?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah. I eat tuna fish sandwich on my patrol breaks" Cat Noir replied.

"That's what I mean Lila missed out on some facts," Marinette said.

"So did the rest of Paris missing out on facts. Anyway, just making sure you're not having too much stress about it. Even Milady and I get stressed out with strong akumas. Monarch is making things very ugly these past few weeks" Cat Noir said, at the fact that both sides had been going through a lot whenever Monarch gets insane with sending akumas, especially unknown how he can send miraculous powers through them too.

"If only there's a stop to it," Marinette said.

"Someday, my princess. And I hope someday you and your prince get your happily ever after" Cat Noir kissed her cheek, "Who knows, maybe your king and queen will bake a wedding cake too when you become Mrs. Agreste" He teased and received a playful punch on his shoulder.

"You're adorable but he and I are still young. We are just boyfriend and girlfriend relationship style. It sounds like you're being very overprotective of me" Marinette said.

"More like territorial to make sure no Akuma takes my princess away. Did you know that male cats are extremely territorial over a females? But basically speaking, I'm protecting my only favorite princess like a knight" Cat Noir nuzzled her neck.

"I know" Marinette pets him.

He purred at loving to be petted by her, even if she didn't know that Adrien was the feline hero.

"Now then, I must go. Being a house cat at home can be so boring you know. That's why I prefer to be a wild street cat" He kissed her back palm.

"Good luck Cat Noir" Marinette smiled before he left.

Of course, at the mansion, Adrien is going through a fight or flight struggle whenever Nathalie tells him that he has the right to make his own happiness while his father tells him to obey his orders and knows what's best for him. It was as if Adrien felt entirely controlled by both of them while his friends respected his decisions. Marinette never forced him into anything because she's no control freak, unlike Gabriel. She knew he was his own person.

"One day he has to be free of all rules," Marinette said, slumping back on her bed.

"His father is like a control freak. Yes they have to discipline their kid for bad behavior but he's being way too strict and going against Adrien's will" Tikki said.

"Yes. If there's one way to bring justice" Marinette said.