Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. I only own my OCs in this FanFiction.

Enjoy!


Il était une fois

"Once upon a time."

The beginning line of a fairytale in French.


Lila's lies spread like wildfire. Marinette found herself ostracised, isolated, branded a social pariah from the kids who were supposed to be her friends.

Even Adrien didn't move to aid her.

They called her a liar. They asked for proof. They called her jealous. They left her alone.

And now she was sitting in the principal's office. Mr. Damocles even gazed at her with a hard face.

She was getting expelled, she just knew it.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng…"

Biting her lip, she braced for the death sentence.

"Have you heard of a place called Olympe?"

There it is.

"…N-No, sir."

"Its all-girl boarding school for young aspiring female artists such as yourself."

Marinette blanked. Boarding school? It was worse than she thought! She was being sent away to a strict boarding where the students were forced into bland uniforms and follow horrible rules and eat cold school dinners while Lila whisk Adrien away and he would marry her and forget Marinette!

Then Mr. Damocles uncharacteristically blushed. "The headmistress is a…friend…of mine." The word 'friend' rolled slowly off his voice, as if the friend meant more to him. He smiled softly on Marinette. "I've noticed you are a very creative girl. As such, you need to grow in an environment that experiences in creativity. It has a good staff and schedule that can deal your tardiness." He chuckled and continued talking. "I highly recommend of transferring you there with yours and your parents' consent. I don't mind if you choose not to, but I know it is the place you need to attend."

Marinette pondered over the decision. Olympe sounded like a great place to make Mr. Damocles speak fondly of it, especially of its headmistress. Going to a new place may be scary, but nothing was scarier than staying here under Lila's iron grip. This school focused on girls like her. Maybe it would help her.

A fresh new start...

"…Can I call my mom and dad to discuss it?"

"Of course."


Her parents agreed without a second thought.

The transfer was made. She planned to attend Olympe tomorrow morning.

She packed that night. Almost done, she just needed some things on her desk until she came across a framed photograph. A picture of herself and friends in happier days.

Marinette teared up at the sight.

Her. Adrien. Alya. Nino. Ivan. Mylene. Alix. Kim. Max. Rose. Juleka. Nathaniel. Even Chloe and Sabrina at the corner.

And they all abandoned her for Lila.

Coming down to crying, she took the photograph from its frame and threw it into the trash before finishing the rest of her luggage and dove into bed, curled up in the covers, silently crying. Tikki laid on her cheek, buzzing softly.


The next morning came and it seemed like any other morning. However, instead of going to the school across the street, Marinette hopped into her family's car with a suitcase and the vehicle drove away from bakery, in the opposite direction of Fran?oise Dupont.


The Fran?oise Dupont students went on their ordinary morning activities, oblivious to the absence of one student, especially Marinette's 'friends' included. In the room of those 'friends', that class went on as normal. Lila laid her weight on Adrien, flirting with him of whispering sickly-sweet nothings, though the boy was rather uncomfortable with the girl.

Alya glanced from her phone to the empty seat beside her and sighed in exasperation.

"Where is she?" She questioned. "Only one minute to go before class starts."

"Probably late again." Nino commented.

"Never this late." Rose noted.

"She better hurry up. I'm hungry!" Kim exclaimed.

"Who cares?" Lila spoke slyly, still leaning on Adrien. "She's so mean to me, who cares about her?"

Without hesitation, everyone agreed with her. Adrien nodded and gave a shaky smile, as if in disbelief. Just then, their teacher Caline Bustier came in, signaling the start of the day. She did the roll call, calling out everyone present by the last name, checked their presence and finished soon enough.

"Now that settled, let's start w-"

"Wait, miss, Marinette's isn't in." Lila said, smirking to herself, hoping to get Marinette in further trouble and cause more embarrassment.

Ms. Bustier nodded. "I know."

She returned to the board as her students looked confused.

"Uh, what?"

"Miss, what's up with Mari?"

"She's not in at all." Ms. Bustier answered.

"Is she sick?" Adrien asked, the first one to even ask for her.

"No, just not attending now or in the future. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is no longer a student at Fran?oise Dupont."

Her class erupted.

"WHAT?!"

"No longer a student?!"

"She dropped out?!"

"I don't believe this!"

"How could she do something like this without telling us?"

"She lives right across the road! How can she drop out?"

"Who gonna give us pastries then?"

"Is food all you can think about?"

"Considering I haven't had breakfast yet, YES!"

The teacher glanced around, puzzled. "I assume you all knew. You're all so close."

Alya stuttered out her demand. "T-T-T-T-Then where is she?"


She was standing before the gates of her new school. She wasn't sure how to feel. Nervousness, anxiety, excitement, so many emotions devouring her petite form. Her parents dropped her, gave her goodbye kisses and drove back to the bakery for the afternoon, leaving her outside her new home.

"I don't know about this. Maybe I should go back…"

Tikki peeked out of Marinette's pocket, offering wise advice. "Don't give up. It will be fine. A change could be good for you. Mr Damocles won't refer you here if he didn't believe in you."

"I hope so."

She stared up at the school again. Nuzzled between two streets, 3 Romain and 7 Palumbo, the boarding school was bigger than her old one. This boarding school was like a palace out of a fairytale, guarded by golden gates, a beautiful garden of trees, rose bushes and the building held strong of pointed navy roofs, soft cream walls, white windows, and flawless white doors standing grand. Vines crawled up the walls, blossoming roses. Above the doors, the school chest adorned proudly, a simple gold 'O' on a powder-blue background, the mascot of a white goose in French Rococo style, and a Latin motto written on a ribbon under the chest, "Vita est mediocris fabula est."

This place was majestic.

"I was so sure last night. What change my mind again?"

"You got nervous again."

"Oh, hello!"

Marinette gulped as an old woman dashed down the path. The gates opened at her command, Marinette silently bracing herself for an interaction. When she reached her, the woman took her hand and smiled.

"You must be Marinette from College Fran?oise Dupon. Mr. Damocles has told me so much about you. I am Ms. Auberon, headmistress. I am pleased for another girl to join us."

Ms. Auberon was old and young as was Mr. Damocles. The woman possessed fair skin, a few wrinkles here and there, kind blue eyes behind black glasses with soft blue lenses and short curly hair, white as snow and almost as a cloud sitting on her head. Not even dressed as a stereotypical teacher, she instead had a magenta blouse wrapped around her of nice silk, long puffy sleeves and long cuffs at wrists, tied into a bow at the left side, embellished with silver beaded stars and a smooth navy skirt falling to her ankles in ruffles, showing a pair of magenta shiny loafers. She also wore big and long silver chandelier-earrings falling down to her shoulders and a silver necklace of a thick elaborate chain and a big star pendant.

Despite her age, she was gorgeous. And so pleasant! No wonder Mr. Damocles spoke fondly of her.

He definitely had a crush on her.

Marinette returned the smile at the warm welcome. The woman wrapped an arm around her and begun to pull her in.

"Come along."

Marinette followed Ms. Auberon inside. The inside was even better. Cream and yellow, shining bright on the marble floors and stairs, crystal chandelier and stars on the ceilings, paintings paved the walls and fresh flowers sweetening the air.

"This is Olympe College for Young Ladies, named for Olympe du Gouges, a forgotten French woman. We're dedicated to educating girls in the performing arts and encouraging them to their full potential. We're twinned with the Alfea college in Italy, another great boarding school for young ladies. My girls are in their dorms now and will be heading down to the cafeteria for lunch. And here is your room."

The woman pulled the girl into a room that took the latter's breath away for the third time.

The room stylized in the French Rococo way. A powder-blue floral room twice as big as her room back home, a polished wooden floor, gold-ascent white ceiling, two white beds of matching pillows, gold headboard and a gold duvet printed of white swirly designs, each had a gold-tassle-trimmed blue throw-pillow and a powder-blue lamp by the side. Opposite the beds was a widescreen TV on the wall. The rest consisted of two gold desks where each had fresh flowers in a vase, white doors leading to a bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe, and white French windows which lead to a small, circular balcony of cursive black bars, overlooking Paris, where one could see Eiffel Tower in the distance.

The bed furthest from the balcony and the space around it was decorated lavishly, sporting posters and a collage of pictures and magazine cutouts, some framed photos, CDs and DVDs, a few plushies, a purple blanket and clothes tossed on the side carelessly. The bathroom door opened to a girl dancing away, oblivious to her new audience.

"Vanessa." Ms. Auberon called, but the girl blissfully ignored her.

"Vanessa!" She said louder, catching the girl's attention.

She gasped, took out her earplugs and grinned. "Oh, hello!"

"Marinette, this is Vanessa Camberwell. Vanessa, this is our transfer student, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She'll be your new roommate. I expect you to show her the rest of our school and be good to her."

"Yes, Ms. Welcome!"

Vanessa offered her hand out to Marinette, who took it in hesitation. The new roommates gave a steady handshake.

Marinette took Vanessa's appearance in. Quite a pretty young girl about her age, her long hair in a mix of black, brown and caramel, all in curly twisted box-braids, dark skin smooth to the touch, big pretty violet eyes, and grinning plum-coloured lips. Her thin, slender body donned a large lavender hoodie, black tight pants, white sneakers and a purple beanie on her head.

Apart being pretty to look at, there was something odd about her. Something familiar...

"I allow you two to become acquainted then. Enjoy staying here, Marinette."

"Yes, Ms. Auberon."

With that, the woman left the room. Once she was gone, Marinette let out a deep sign she didn't realize she carried as she began to unpack.

"So…What's your art?" Vanessa asked.

"Fashion designing mostly."

"Cool. Mine's dancing." Vanessa stared at the new girl, laying her eyes to match her grin in a knowingly way. "You're the one who designed Jagged Stone's album cover. And you won Gabriel Agreste's hat-designing competition."

The blue haired girl froze. Her eyes shifted up. "How did you…"

"I read the news all the time."

Vanessa gestured to her space, to her collage. Pictures pined up, magazine cutouts, even her open laptop screened famous sights. Among the collage, she was here. There was a framed picture on her desk, her and her family. A normal family, her father, mother and older sister.

Marinette walked over to the frame to pick it up, wide-eyes in recognition of the sister.

"Is that Crystal, the actress?"

"Yep, at daddy's last banquet before she left last year for Borneo."

Crystal was a famous actress from England. One of the hottest stars of today and Lila claimed to be getting private acting lessons from her.

Marinette squinted her eyes at Vanessa's father. A black man of a much darker tone, wearing a stern face, the man more intimidating than Gabriel Agreste himself! And like his daughter, he seemed so familiar, though she thought of his name a second later.

"Is that…the Mayor of London?"

"Yep." Noting Marinette's bewildered face, Vanessa giggled. "If you don't believe me, I got a world wide web proving it."

That was why she was so familiar.

"You're the daughter of the Mayor of London and Crystal's sister?"

"Half-sister, but still so close. Anyway, come on! Time for lunch."

Marinette stopped herself from leaving to look down on her regular clothing, suddenly feeling out of place in her plain old outfit that she wore in her old life.

"Made if I change first? I want to make a good impression." She asked.

"Of course. Change away!"


Notes:

The streets, 3 Romain and 7 Palumbo, where Marinette's new school is, is a reference to Code Lyoko, a French cartoon by Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo. The cartoons feature a boarding school, Kadic Academy.

The school is described having vines. This is a reference to Madeline, a French children's book by Ludwig Bemelmans.

The vines and roses also relate to Sleeping Beauty, the fairytale.

The school's motto, Vita est mediocris fabula est, means 'Life is a Fairy Tale.'

The school itself is a tribute to Olympe de Gouges.A French feminist, playwright and political activist. Unlike most women, she was stubborn, outspoken and intelligent in her views of improving the conditions of slaves in colonies and written Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen to encourage women's rights.A woman like Olympe is a headache to the male authority of the time.

The collage in Italy that Olympe's is twinned with is based on the Alfea school in the famous Italian cartoon by Iginio Straffi, Winx Club.