As I walked through the halls of hell, I could sense that something was up. It's a natural intuition of sorts for a leader to know when their land is under attack, I suppose.

    My only question: Who were the invaders? That was answered soon enough, as I walked into class, meeting Rossi's wicked grin. 'Oh god, what now?' I thought, sighing.

    Alya, the second I showed my face, walked up to me and began yelling. Not that I cared - I've grown used to this type of greeting over the past week or two. A traitor's betrayal can only remain fresh for so long, no matter how much you pick at the wound.

    All I could really do was take my place in the back of the class and rot away while our teacher rambled on and on about the war between America and Britain. I had only recently started to notice just how many details she would skip over. Anything even remotely violent was censored by her, anything that could be perceived as offensive. I suppose that's Mrs. Bustier for you.

    The day seemed to fly by. Nothing seemed that out of place, until I came back from lunch period. I headed to my locker, only to find the worst thing that could have ever possibly greeted me in it.

    "She.. ripped my sketchbook.." I was entirely motified. That book had a design for Clara Nightingale. She was expecting it in a month! That wasn't enough time to redraw the design and make it!

    As I read the note attached to the ruined sketchbook, my fists clenched harder and harder. There are deadlines I have to follow! Times I have to finish by!

    The day continued to breeze by, the emotions building up like the had been for the past month, until finally I was rushing up to my room, ignoring the concerned calls of my parents.

    I put my back against the wall of my bedroom and slid down to the floor. My ruined sketchbook lay in front of me, and the crumpled sticky note was clutched in my left hand. I curled into a ball and read it again. Finally, I noticed the small drops of water landing on the note. I was.. crying?

    "Marinette?" Tikki spoke softly. "Yeah, Tikki?" I wondered what she'd say. Hopefully nothing that had to do with the godforsaken high road that ought to be renamed the highway to hell.

    "I am done with that Lila girl. She is rude, she is a horrible person - okay, in all honestly, she is a downright bitch. I have seen many bad people throughout the centuries, but she has got to be the worst. I have seen villains with far kinder hearts then hers!"

    I was shocked. My innocent little goddess had just gone to the dark side in a matter of seconds. "Wow, Tikki, that was.. uh.. rather unexpected. But I agree."

    With a little more thought, I continued to speak. "I think I know what I have to do, I just hope they agree." Then again, they didn't want to disband until I told them it was a trick..

("BURROW! Let's take a trip into the past..")

(No one's POV)

    "DISBAND?!" Chloe shrieked. "What?" Nathaniel dropped his pencil. They were both equally shocked. They had just taken down Decklyn Snacks, who was guilty of sexual harassment, bullying, abuse, and much more.

    "Is it because of what Decklyn did to you personally?" Chloe asked, compassion, caring, and worry in her eyes. Not many people knew this, but Decklyn tried to get Mari to be his girlfriend. She refused, and he did a lot of things to her, plenty of them illegal. He was now sitting in a jail cell with a nice sentence of.. well, let's just say he won't be seeing the outside for a long, long time.

    Marinette shook her head. "Not exactly. Here's the thing." the bluenette started. Chloe and Nath looked at each other with a confused and intrigued look. "Well, we're waiting?" Chloe said expectantly.

    "You see, we didn't know anything." Marinette sighed. "We had not the foggiest idea of what Decklyn was really doing until it was slammed right into our faces. Hell, I'm sure most of the students figured it out before we did." Chloe and Nath both looked down guiltily, hating the thought but knowing it to be true.

    "And why is that, do you think?" Marinette asked. Nathaniel's hand shot up instantly. "It's because we're the Royals. Every bully, liar, or rulebreaker in all of Paris knows to fear us at all times, so therefore they're far more careful around us." Marinette blinked. How was that kid so good at reading her?

    No matter. She shook her head and continued. "Right. Everyone who's so much as made a rude joke knows to stay out of our way and play nice around us, because we're, well, us." An 'oh' expression dawned on Chloe and Nathaniel's faces-they were catching on.

    "So what you're saying is.." Nath began, but this time Marinette decided that she wanted to speak her own thoughts. "Yep. We're going to pretend to disband so the bullies, liars, and other guilty citizens will come out of hiding. When a particularly nasty one appears, and our roles don't allow us to help, we reveal that we never disbanded."

    Chloe nodded, but Nathaniel had a logical question, as always. "All well and good, but what role will each of us play?" he asked.

    Marinette had to ponder for a moment before finding an idea she liked. "I'll play the role of the class sweetheart. Y'know, like every basic protagonist. People like that are easy to pick on, so it'll help my cover. You guys?"

    Nath raised his hand. "Timid artist, please. Everyone underestimates the timid people, in fact, they're barely ever noticed. Makes my job a whole lot easier, and it makes sense." Marinette nodded her approval.

    "I think I'll be playing the role of the spoiled brat who bullies the protagonist," Chloe said, smirking at Marinette. "We can stage a fight at lunch tomorrow. I'll get Mireille and Aurore to help, the two lesbian lovebirds are shockingly good at spreading gossip."

    The group all nodded in agreement. "Nath, do your thing and gather as much info as possible from the shadows." Nath gave Mari a wicked grin. "I'll see what I can do, then.."

("BURROW! Back to the future we go..")

(Mari's POV)

    I took a few deep breaths and pulled out my phone. I clicked on a group chat from around a year ago. I hesitated. But then I remembered that I didn't have to hesitate anymore if I was doing this.

    The shy, innocent, clumsy Marinette was now officially gone. The powerful, regal, real Empress was back.

    With that empowering thought in mind, I began typing.

The Royal's group chat:

That's it. Lila has got to go. :Mari

Chloe: What did she do?

She ripped my sketchbook. :Mari

It was in my locker with a note. Here: :Mari

    I took a quick picture of the note and attached it.

Chloe: Sausage bitch can't even spell right.

    I chuckled despite myself. Leave it to Chloe to be mad about proper spelling. Tikki started to take an interest in what was going on as she began reading. "Huh?" the kwami asked, confused as hell. "I'll explain later," I promised, and got back to the group chat.

You in, then? :Mari

Chloe: You need to ask? You've gotten rusty, Empress.

Nath, I know you're reading. If we're gonna take down Rossi, we need the Scarlet Prince back. We need you. :Mari

Nath: I'm in. Woman framed me for stealing her art, now my sketchbook's ruined. Rossi couldn't draw a stick figure if she was taught by van Gogh himself

Good: Mari

Nath: ❤

Chloe: 💛 

💜 :Mari

    I gave an evil smirk, a fire being relit after such a long period of dormancy. "Marinette, you've got me intrigued. What is it?" Tikki asked. Our blue eyes met each other's.

    I gave a soft, yet wicked, laugh. "My beautiful, sweet, innocent little Tikki. Don't you know? Can't you sense it in the air? Rossi's about to face hell."

    "And I'll be the one placing it on her doorstep."