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Chapter Text

            Marinette yanked the covers down from her face, gasping for air. “Oh my God, Adrien, I need a break!” she exclaimed.

            Adrien poked his head out, smiling. “Is my lady too exhausted for more sex?” he teased. “That’s downright cat-astrophic!”

            As she groaned and facepalmed, Marinette said, “The puns are never going to end, are they?”

            Adrien chuckled and replied, “Nope.”

            He nuzzled into Marinette’s neck, wrapping his arms and legs around her tiny body. She giggled and rolled over onto her side, running her fingers through his hair. “Admit it, you need a break, too, kitty,” she said softly.

            Adrien hummed and began placing light kisses against her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. “Hm, I could get used to this,” she stated.

            “I’m sorry, I’ve just been in love with you for so long,” Adrien told her. “With both Ladybug and Marinette. I’m so glad it was you, Mari.”

            “Well, I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that,” Marinette replied.

            Adrien closed his eyes and settled in against Marinette as if readying himself for a nap. “I wish I could’ve found out sooner,” he murmured.

            Marinette cringed as the image of Chat Blanc flashed in her mind once again. She heard him calling her by her name—her real name. Bunnyx hadn’t shown up yet, so maybe this particular identity reveal didn’t lead to the end of the world?

            “What’s wrong, milady?” Adrien asked, looking up at her.

            “Huh?” Marinette answered. “Nothing’s wrong.”

            He sat up and looked down at her, pushing a loose strand of midnight hair behind her ear. “I’ve been fighting by your side for four years, plus you’re, like, my best friend. I can tell when something’s wrong.”

            Marinette sighed. Looks like there would be no more secrets between them. “Um…okay….” she started, taking a deep breath. “Remember Bunnyx? You know, time travel miraculous and all that?”

            “Oh, yeah, the one who was stuck in the Egyptian sarcophagus in the Louvre?” Adrien replied.

            “Yeah, her. Well…” Marinette’s voice trailed off as she tried to think of a way to put this.

            Adrien’s brow furrowed. “Why are you suddenly getting so serious?” His eyes widened. “Oh, no, are you going to tell me you’re actually in love with Bunnyx?” He thought about it for a moment. “Hm, that’s kinda hot. I think I could work with that.”

            Marinette burst into laughter. “Dammit, Adrien, stop making me laugh! This is serious!”

            Adrien smiled and snuggled up to Marinette again. “Sorry, milady, please continue.”

            She took another deep breath and said, “Okay, there was this one time sophomore year before I was with Luka and before you were with Kagami, I had made you this beret with a heart on it, and I was determined to make sure you knew it was from me.”

            “Wait, wasn’t that from my fans in Brazil?”

            “No, Ladybug just made that up.”

            “Why?”

            “Because after I left your house, Bunnyx showed up and said something had happened to disturb the timeline. It somehow went back to Chat Noir finding out my true identity because I signed the card I gave you with that beret. At the time, I couldn’t figure out how Chat Noir found out through you, but now it makes a lot more sense.”

            “So what happened to disturb the timeline?”

            “Well, I’m not sure how, but you got akumatized. I had to… fight you.”

            Adrien sat up up one elbow and looked down at her. Her eyes were watery as if she were about to cry. He placed a hand on her cheek. “Hey,” he said quietly, “Bunnyx isn’t here now. Maybe it’s okay this time?”

            She let out a nervous laugh. “Maybe.” She was quiet for a few minutes and then continued, “You weren’t Chat Noir anymore. You were Chat Blanc.”

            “Chat Blanc?”

            “Yeah, your costume and your hair were white and your eyes were blue. You kept trying to get my miraculous. You said you wanted to fix everything and go back to when we were in love. And you called me Marinette. That’s how I knew you figured out my identity.”

            “What did I need to fix?”

            “It looked like Paris had been destroyed. The whole city was flooded. The Eiffel Tower had fallen over. And there was something wrong with…the moon.”

            “The moon?”

            Marinette turned to face Adrien as tears began spilling down her cheeks. “The…uh…akuma gave you some kind of super cataclysm power. Like, destroy-the-world kind of power.”

            Adrien’s eyes widened. “But what about Ladybug? Did Bunnyx send you to a different timeline? Wasn’t there another Ladybug?”

            “I…uh—” Marinette’s voice broke as more tears streamed down her cheeks.

            Adrien lay down next to her, wrapping his arms around her. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.”

            Wiping her face, Marinette replied, “N-no, I think I need to.” She took a few deep breaths to steady herself and then said, “I-I think you had k-killed me.”

            “What?!” Adrien exclaimed, sitting up again. “No! Marinette, I would never—”

            “It’s okay, you were akumatized,” Marinette quickly responded, placing her hand on his arm. “During our fight, I got thrown in the water. I f-found—” she took a deep, steadying breath. “I found what looked like the burnt remains of both Ladybug and Hawk Moth. When I touched Ladybug, she…dissolved…”

            Adrien looked horrified. “No,” he breathed. “I could never…”

            Marinette cleared her throat. “Um…a-after I got rid of the akuma, you were still calling me Marinette. S-so you must’ve known before you were akumatized.”

            “B-but…how could it have anything to do with me knowing your identity?”

            “I don’t know. But when Bunnyx sent me back in time and I erased my name from the card and made up that lie about your Brazilian fans, everything was fine. So that must have been it.”

            Adrien sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees. He thought for a few moments and finally said, “I just don’t get how Hawk Moth even could have akumatized me. I must’ve been so happy to learn your identity.” He turned to look at Marinette. “Like I am now.”

            Marinette smiled and sat up, as well. “We just saw how he akumatized all the students in the school at once. And none of them were necessarily having any bad feelings before that.”

            “Yeah, but that was recently,” Adrien replied. “I think he and Mayura have been working on making his miraculous more powerful. But you said this was sophomore year? I don’t think he could’ve done that then. He must’ve had something on me.”

            “What could he have?”

            “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my perfect model boy image is just what I show to my father and the cameras. When I’m Chat Noir, that’s when I really feel like myself. That’s when I feel true freedom.” He met Marinette’s gaze and continued, “Add that to not only being with my lady, but knowing she’s Marinette and that we’re in love with each other…I just don’t see how I could’ve gotten upset enough to be akumatized.”

            They were quiet for a few minutes while they each pondered this. Finally, Marinette spoke up, saying, “Maybe Hawk Moth found out your identity?”

            “Do you know how he could’ve found out?” Adrien asked.

            Marinette shrugged and replied, “No, I just thought only you knew mine.”

            Adrien thought for a moment, then said, “He could’ve used something against me as Adrien.”

            “It’s possible,” Marinette agreed. “Maybe he threatened me.”

            “That would probably do it,” Adrien declared, looking her in the eye. “He could’ve figured out your identity, too.”

            Marinette shuddered and said, “This is exactly what I’ve been so worried about.”

            “Hey, come here.” Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette pulling her close to him. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t know. Things were probably fine in the other timeline until he found out. We just…have to make sure Hawk Moth never discovers our identities.”

            Gabriel smiled to himself as he sat alone in his office. Although he rarely smiled, he was happy to learn that the twenty thousand euros he had spent on having listening devices hidden throughout his son’s room had turned out to be well worth the money.

Chapter Text

            Gabriel felt panic building as the old Chinese lady put her hand to her mouth, obviously trying to stifle a giggle. He quickly turned to his wife, but of course she was no help, as she had already started laughing. She leaned over and whispered to him, “You told her she has a very lovely chicken.”

            Gabriel grumbled to himself as Emilie had what seemed like an entertaining conversation at his expense in fluent Chinese with the old lady who by now had stopped trying to hide the fact that she was laughing. Finally, Emilie said goodbye and took Gabriel’s arm once again as they strolled through the market. “There are so many countries you could’ve chosen for our second honeymoon where they speak French or English, the two languages I speak fluently,” he remarked, “yet you pick China where only you have mastered the language.”

            “Oh, calm down, Gabe,” Emilie replied. “It’s not my fault my parents insisted I learn Chinese. I’ve always wanted to come here and see the things I had only read about.”

            Gabriel smiled, seeing her beautiful green eyes light up at the simple market around them. He knew he couldn’t stay mad at her. He would travel to the ends of the earth and live in a cave if that’s what she wanted to do.

            “Ooh!” she suddenly exclaimed, heading towards something that caught her eye in a nearby stall. Gabriel followed close behind.

            Emilie was staring down at two brooches. One resembled a small silver butterfly with four wings, a simple purple jewel at the middle. The other had a similar dark blue jewel adorned with blue and purple pieces assembled in the appearance of feathers on a peacock. She couldn’t explain why she was drawn to them. She felt like they were calling to her soul.

            “These are very rare pieces,” the man in the stall told her in Chinese.

            “They resemble a butterfly and a peacock,” she replied.

            “Ah, yes, you have a very good eye,” the man told her. “Perhaps you and your husband are meant to be the new owners?”

            She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? They’re just jewelry.”

            The man chuckled and said, “This is not just any jewelry. These pieces are alive. They choose their owners. No one has ever paid as much attention to them as you have just now. They have chosen you.”

            “What’s he saying?” Gabriel asked her.

            “I want to buy these,” was Emilie’s reply.

            “How much?” Gabriel asked in Chinese, gesturing to the brooches. He scoffed after the man told him. “Are they really worth that much?” he asked Emilie in French.

            The man turned to Emilie and said something to her in Chinese. She said to Gabriel, “He said he’s giving us a discount. Don’t embarrass me, just pay the man.”

            Reluctantly, Gabriel paid the exorbitant price the man was asking for. Emilie smiled as the brooches were carefully wrapped and placed in a bag for her. She cradled them lovingly as they made their way out of the market.

            “Mommy!”

            Emilie knelt down and held out her arms as her beautiful five-year-old son Adrien ran to her at the front door. She and Gabriel had just returned from their two-week stay in China. Emilie wrapped her arms around Adrien, saying, “There’s my little guy. I missed you.”

            “I missed you, too, Mommy,” Adrien replied.

            Nathalie followed close behind Adrien. “I trust everything went well, Nathalie?” Gabriel asked her.

            “Yes, sir, everything was fine,” Nathalie replied.

            “Thank you so much, Nathalie,” Emilie said to her. “We enjoyed China, but it’s nice to be home.”

            “Did you get me anything, Mommy?” Adrien asked.

            “Oh, yes, I got you so much stuff!” Emilie replied excitedly. “Come on, I’ll show you.” She picked him up to take him into the bedroom, Gorilla following close behind with their bags.

            “Ugh, I’d better get back to work and see how much of a mess it’s become in two weeks,” Gabriel declared. “Nathalie, please get my messages.”

            “Yes, sir,” she replied, following him into the office.

            In the master bedroom, Emilie was going through her bag of souvenirs. Adrien was sitting on the bed playing with some toys she had bought him. She pulled out a book and placed it on the bed. Adrien stopped playing and started flipping through the book. “What are these weird writings, Mommy?” Adrien asked.

            “That’s Chinese, dear,” Emilie replied.

            “Can you read it?” Adrien asked.

            “Mostly,” Emilie answered. “Chinese is hard to read. I can speak it, though.”

            “Wow, will you teach me?” Adrien responded.

            “I’ve actually hired a tutor to start teaching you Chinese next week,” Emilie told him.

            “Really?” Adrien seemed excited. He kept flipping the pages, pretending like he was reading the book.

            Emilie found the two boxes her new brooches had been packed in. She took them out and set them on the bed. She slowly removed the lids from each box. Adrien’s attention turned away from the book as he crawled closer to his mom to look at the brooches. “Those are pretty, Mommy,” he remarked.

            “I thought so, too,” Emilie replied.

            “What do they do?” Adrien asked.

            Emilie was taken aback. “What do you mean? They’re just jewelry. You wear them. They don’t do anything.”

            Adrien chewed his lip. “I’m pretty sure they do something. Like give you powers or something.”

            Emilie laughed and picked him up, tickling his sides. “You’re so silly!” she exclaimed. “According to you, everything gives you superpowers!”

            “Grr, I’m a monster!” Adrien shouted, making what he must have believed to be a monster-like face before throwing his arms around his mother’s neck.

            Emilie held her boy close to her as she stared down at the brooches. Now she was sort of expecting them to do something, too.

*          *          *

            “Mom, why can’t I go to school like everyone else?!” Adrien demanded. “I’m tired of being stuck in here all day!”

            Emilie sighed and said, “Adrien, just do your schoolwork!”

            Adrien plopped down in his chair and crossed his arms. “I don’t feel like it.”

            “You need to finish your math. Mr. Chen will be here soon for your Chinese lesson.”

            “I don’t care! I don’t want to learn Chinese! What’s the point if I have no one to speak to anyway?”

            “Adrien, that’s quite enough,” Gabriel stated, stepping into the room. “Finish your lessons like your mother said.”

            Adrien pouted but didn’t argue further. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled.     

            Gabriel and Emilie stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. “We’re probably going to have to let him go to school soon,” Emilie said.

            “I would rather he didn’t,” Gabriel replied. “You were homeschooled your whole life.”

            “Yeah, but I had my sister,” Emilie answered. “He’s almost eleven. He needs other kids his age around.”

            “We allow him to have play dates with that horrible Bourgeois girl,” Gabriel remarked.

            Emilie cringed. “Maybe some better kids his age.”

            Gabriel shrugged. “I’ll have Nathalie ensure that he finishes his lessons. You go take a break.”

            A worried look crossed Emilie’s face. “Are you sure?” she asked.

            “Yes,” Gabriel replied. “You’re exhausted. Go take a nap.”

            Back in the master bedroom, two beautiful brooches were resting in their place of honor on Emilie’s dresser. Above them floated two tiny gods known as kwamis. One was light purple with the wings of a butterfly, and the other was dark blue with the feathers of a peacock. “I don’t know if we should make ourselves known yet, Duusu,” the purple one was saying. “The boy is not yet old enough.”

            “But I know he has the power to be a miraculous-wielder, Nooroo!” Duusu exclaimed.

            “I have felt that from him, as well,” Nooroo agreed.

            “And also his mother,” Duusu added. “Surely, she could help him until he can do it on his own.”

            “I do feel that both of them would be a good use of our powers,” Nooroo answered. “But the man—there’s just something wrong…” Nooroo’s voice trailed off as he shuddered.

            “The man is crazy,” Duusu agreed. “But if we gave power to the woman and her son, surely they could overcome him!”

            “You always forget that you are damaged, Duusu,” Nooroo reminded her. “We don’t know what could happen if a human uses your miraculous.”

            “It’s not that bad!” Duusu protested. “The woman and the boy are both strong.”

            Emilie stood outside the bedroom with her ear to the door. She could very clearly hear two voices in there. She was sure it wasn’t the TV. There was someone in her room!

            She ran down the hall back to the study where Gabriel was just shutting the door behind him after he had sent Nathalie in with Adrien. “Gabriel!” she exclaimed.

            He noticed the terrified look on her face and replied, “Emilie? What’s wrong?”

            “There’s someone in our bedroom!” she hissed.

            “What? How did they get in?”

            “I don’t know, but I can hear them talking!”

            Gabriel hurried to the bedroom, keeping Emilie behind him. Pressing his ear to the door, he thought he could hear two voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Do we have a weapon?” he asked his wife.

            “A weapon?” she replied quietly. “No, we’re French!”

            Gabriel rolled his eyes and said, “Check Adrien’s room. I’m sure he has a baseball bat.”

            Emilie rushed to Adrien’s room and returned with the requested weapon. Gabriel slowly turned the knob on the door and crept inside. Emilie peeked around the door frame but didn’t enter the room.

            Raising the bat, Gabriel glanced around the room, seeing nothing at first. The afternoon sun streamed through the windows. The covers on the bed appeared undisturbed. Something moved quickly in his peripheral vision. He spun around so that he was facing Emilie’s dresser. All he saw were the brooches she had bought when they had visited China almost six years before. But wait…it looked as if one of them was moving. It was the butterfly one. It looked as if someone had just thrown it down and the silver wing pieces were still shaking a little. Lowering the bat, he crept closer to the dresser.

            “Gabriel,” Emilie called. “What’s going on?” She slowly stepped into the room.

            “It’s the brooch,” Gabriel replied. “It looks like someone moved it.”

            “A-are they still here?” Emilie asked fearfully.

            “I don’t think…” Gabriel said to himself, picking up the butterfly brooch. He carefully pinned it to the front of his shirt.

            Suddenly, a tiny purple creature zoomed out, saying, “Nice to meet you!”

            “What the hell?!” Gabriel exclaimed, raising the bat again. Emilie screamed and ran to hide behind the bed.

            “So sorry to scare you,” Nooroo said. “My name is Nooroo. I’m the kwami of the butterfly miraculous.”

            “You’re the what of the what?!” Gabriel shouted. “What the hell are you doing in my house?!”

            “You brought me here,” Nooroo replied. “I came from the brooch you’re wearing.”

            “The…brooch…?” Gabriel responded, looking down at the butterfly brooch he had clipped to the front of his shirt and dropping the baseball bat. Emilie slowly peeked over the top of the bed.

            “You didn’t know the brooches were miraculouses?” Nooroo asked.

            “They’re…what?” Gabriel glanced at the peacock brooch. “Are you…are you saying there’s another creature like you in the other one?” Emilie slowly began making her way around the bed towards them.

            “Yes, if you wear the peacock brooch, you’ll meet the kwami Duusu,” Nooroo replied.

            “I see…” Gabriel replied slowly.

            “Gabriel,” Emilie spoke up, “I’m going to try on the other one.”

            “No, Emilie!” Gabriel exclaimed. “We don’t know what these things are. They could be dangerous!”

            “I can assure you that the miraculouses were created to protect humankind with good magic,” Nooroo told them.

            “Magic?” Gabriel repeated.

            “Yes, we kwamis are ancient beings with magical abilities that we have always used for the good of Earth and her inhabitants,” Nooroo explained.

            “I see…” Gabriel said again.

            “See, Gabriel, it’s fine,” Emilie said, and before he could stop her, she rushed to the dresser and pinned the peacock brooch to her shirt.

            A dark blue kwami adorned with beautiful peacock feathers spun out of the brooch. “Hello!” she greeted them excitedly. “My name is Duusu! I’m so happy to meet you! I’m also so happy to stretch!” She stretched out her tiny arms as far as they would go. “Ah, that feels so good!”

            “This one seems…different,” Gabriel observed.

            “Duusu is eccentric,” Nooroo agreed.

            “She’s so cute, Gabe!” Emilie declared, holding out her hand where Duusu landed, seeming quite content.

            Gabriel frowned but said nothing.

            “Oh, Nooroo, did you already tell them about our powers?!” Duusu squealed.

            Nooroo rushed to Duusu to try to quiet her, but it was too late. “Yes, do tell us about these powers,” Gabriel said. “These would be the ‘magical abilities’ you mentioned earlier?”

            “Yes, I can make amoks, and Nooroo can make champions!” Duusu explained animatedly.

            “And what would these amoks and champions be, exactly?” Gabriel asked.

            “Duusu, no,” Nooroo whispered, but the peacock kwami either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore him.

            “If you wear my miraculous and say the magic words, I can help you turn an object into a sentimonster,” Duusu was explaining as she zoomed off Emilie’s hand and began flying in circles. “Don’t worry, sentimonster sounds scary, but it’s really just a powerful creature that you can control. You can use it to save people. Like for example, if the city was flooding, your sentimonster could pick people up and get them out of harm’s way.”

            “Interesting,” Gabriel replied slowly. He pointed at Nooroo. “And the champions are your specialty, I presume?”

            Nooroo sighed and said, “Yes, I use butterflies to turn into champions. You can send the champion to anyone who is having a strong emotion so that you can turn them into a superhero for you.”

            “A strong emotion?” Gabriel inquired.

            “The idea is to find someone who has a strong desire to help others and turn them into a temporary hero,” Nooroo explained.

            Gabriel thought for a moment and said, “But what if they were to, say, have a negative emotion? What would happen if I sent a champion to them?”

            Nooroo shuddered and answered, “It could probably make them into some type of villain. I wouldn’t recommend it!”

            Emilie laughed and said, “Gabe, why are you asking all these silly questions? What would we possibly need superpowers for anyway?”

            “You never know, Emilie,” Gabriel responded. “There is quite a lot of crime in a city of this size.”

            “Don’t forget to tell them about the magic words!” Duusu exclaimed.

            “Duusu!” Nooroo hissed.

            “Yes, do tell us the magic words,” Gabriel said with a smile.

            Duusu flew back to Emilie and said, “If you want to use my miraculous, just say, ‘Duusu, spread my feathers!’” Emilie giggled.

            “But I wouldn’t recommend using the peacock miraculous!” Nooroo spoke up. “It’s been damaged! We don’t know what could happen!”

            “Hm, maybe you should tell us your magic words, Nooroo,” Gabriel remarked. “Unless there’s some reason we shouldn’t use your miraculous, as well?”

            As a kwami, Nooroo was not able to withhold this information from the human wearing his miraculous, even if he did get a terrifying vibe from him. “My magic words are, ‘Nooroo, dark wings rise,’” Nooroo told Gabriel.

            “Nooroo, dark wings rise,” Gabriel suddenly said. A bright purple light filled the room. Emilie had to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, her husband was dressed in a dark purple suit and wore a silver mask that covered his head and most of his face. He held a dark cane with both of his hands. “Not bad,” Gabriel remarked, glancing at himself in the full length mirror next to Emilie’s dresser.

            “Whoa, Gabriel,” Emilie breathed. “How do you feel? Do you feel strong or powerful?”

            “I’m not really sure,” Gabriel replied. “I would like to test out the powers Nooroo was talking about.

            “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Emilie asked. “He said you have to use it on other people. What if we hurt someone?”

            Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door. “Mother?” Adrien called. “Are you in there?”

            “Oh, shit!” Emilie exclaimed. “Duusu, what do we do to turn it off?”

            “If you want to release Nooroo’s transformation, say, ‘Dark wings fall.’”

            Gabriel said the words and his transformation released. He and Emilie returned their brooches to the dresser, and the two kwamis rushed to them quickly and disappeared.

            “What’s wrong, dear?” Emilie asked Adrien, opening the door.

            Gabriel followed his wife out of the room but stopped to take one last look at the brooches on the dresser. He stared at the butterfly miraculous for a long moment before shutting the bedroom door.

Chapter Text

            Chat Noir followed closely behind Ladybug as she bounded across the buildings of Paris. She was fast, but he could keep up. It was late at night, so there weren’t many people out. The full moon shone on the superheroes as they hurried across the rooftops.

            Chat absolutely loved following his lady as they ran across the rooftops of Paris. Her skin-tight costume left nothing to the imagination, and he could see the muscles in her perfect legs flex as she jumped off one roof and landed on the next one. Her arms glided gracefully through the air as she effortlessly tossed her yo-yo to the next building, pulling herself across in what always seemed like slow motion in his mind. Plus, he got a really great view of her ass.

            Just as he thought that, his baton slipped off the edge of the building as he misjudged how far to place it. He stumbled off the building and plummeted to the ground, but his baton opened once again just in time, and he jumped across an alleyway, landing expertly on a building where Ladybug had stopped and turned around.  “Careful, Chat,” she called, “the akuma is distracting you!”

            She took off again, knowing he was following close behind, watching her. She stopped at the next building and watched him jumping across to catch up with her. The moon shone against the tight leather of his suit, seeming to make his muscles seem more defined. And she could swear the bulge between his legs had gotten a little bigger.

            With one last glance over her shoulder, she tossed her yo-yo, which of course missed the next building since she wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, she had already jumped off the first building out of habit and was now quickly on her way to the pavement below. Thinking fast, she threw her yo-yo onto a street lamp, flipped over it, and landed gracefully on the sidewalk. “I think it’s gotten to you, too!” Chat called from the top of the building she had just fallen from.

            She smirked and released her yo-yo to toss it to the next building, being sure to pay attention this time, and sailed into the sky once again. Her kitty opened his baton and followed her, like he always would.

            Ladybug landed on the roof of a tall apartment building. She peeked around the roof access door and then leaned against the brick wall. “Okay, I think we lost the akuma,” she said to Chat who landed on the roof soon after her. She suddenly heard a noise like a motor starting. It seemed like it was getting closer. “Wait, what’s that sound?”

            Chat stepped close enough so that she could place her hand on his chest. She realized he was vibrating. “It-it’s you,” she said, looking up at him. “Are you purring, Chat?”

            “I can’t help it, milady,” he replied, his eyes glazed over with lust. He pressed himself against her and began kissing and nipping at her neck.

            “Chat,” she gasped. “The akuma…it got you… You have to…resist!”

            “Mm, I can’t think of any reason why I should,” he responded before he captured her lips with his mouth.

Ladybug gasped as he pressed his thigh into her crotch. “Chat, this isn’t you,” she continued. “It’s the akuma! It’s trying to distract us with sex.”

“I’d say it’s winning,” Chat replied in a sultry voice, reaching behind Ladybug’s neck and pulling down the zipper on her suit.

“Oh, no, I think it’s gotten to me now,” Ladybug replied shakily, as she pulled on Chat’s bell, unzipping his suit, seemingly against her will. “Now all I can think about is your perfect body,” she declared, rubbing her hands over the well-defined muscles of his chest and stomach.

Chat chuckled and replied, “I think it’s making you a little overheated. Let me help you out of this suit.” She pulled away just long enough for him to pull the top half of her suit down and then pressed her breasts against his bare chest. “Oh, milady, this is my favorite akuma so far,” he told her.

Ladybug giggled and pulled his face in for a passionate kiss as she pulled the top half of his suit off him. Chat stopped the kiss just to admonish her, “No, milady, stay in character. I’ve never seen Ladybug giggling during a battle.”

“Silly kitty,” Ladybug replied before capturing his mouth again.

She wrapped her legs around him as he picked her up, pushing her up against the brick wall. She moaned into the kiss as he pressed his clothed erection against her. After a few thrusts, he relased his hold on her ass so she dropped her feet to the ground again, and he began peppering his kisses down her chest. He moved lower and lower across her body, slowly dropping to his knees as he pulled the rest of her suit down to the ground. “Milady, I think the akuma is making me crave the taste of…you,” Chat breathed as he moved closer to her core.

“No, Chat,” she replied, gasping, “you…have…to…” But the end of that sentence turned into a loud moan as she felt his tongue softly caressing her folds. It was a little difficult to keep up a character while his tongue was moving around like that.

Chat chuckled to himself when he heard Ladybug’s words turn into moans. Let’s see if I can just make her forget words in general, he thought, pushing his tongue into her slowly. Her moans increased in volume as he pulled his tongue out and pushed it back in, increasing the speed each time, until he was practically lapping her up while she screamed out, “Oh, God, Chat!”

She could feel moisture running down her thighs, but he showed no signs of slowing down, and she couldn’t bring herself to make him. At one point, she thought of Tikki getting mad about her messing up the suit, and then all thoughts left her mind, only to replaced by the feeling of his tongue inside her and pure pleasure flowing through her. She grasped at the bricks on the wall unsuccessfully and then grabbed at his blonde hair with one hand. She felt like she was gasping for breath and she could see the stars in the sky swirling around her as if she were drunk, but his tongue just moved faster and faster. Eventually, it seemed he had reduced her vocabulary to oh, God and Chat, yet only after she felt herself explode at least three times did he finally stop and stand up, wiping his chin.

He grinned at her and then pressed himself against her, capturing her mouth in another sloppy kiss. She desperately pushed the rest of his suit down until she felt his hard cock pressed against her stomach. She grabbed it and began pumping as fast as she could. He stopped the kiss to groan against her mouth. “H-hold on,” he gasped, “I have the ultimate protection against this damn sexy akuma.”

He bent down to reach the zippered pocket in the top half of his suit that had fallen to the ground and stood back up holding a condom. She smiled and said breathily, “Dammit, even girl superheroes are denied pockets.”

He chuckled as he put the condom on. He then lifted her the rest of the way out of her suit, pressing her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around him once again, and he pushed himself into her. They both gasped as he thrust in and out as quickly as he could. Using the wall to help him hold her up, he wrapped his arms around her, desperately pumping into her. He felt her tighten her hold around his waist with her legs. He was beginning  to see stars, but he didn’t want to be done just yet. He slowed down a little as he grabbed onto her neck with his teeth and sucked the skin.

She cried out when he bit her, burying her face into his neck. She could feel his body pressed against hers, their sweat mingling. She didn’t even care that her back was pressed painfully against a brick wall, as long as the rest of her could feel him. She arched her back against the wall, pushing herself into him as much as she could with the position she was in.

He got the hint and picked up the speed. He dug his nails into her ass, lifting her and pushing himself as deeply into her as he could manage. If he wasn’t a superhero, his arms probably would’ve given out long ago. He pushed himself closer so the building could do most of the work, placing his arms against the wall so the only thing holding her up was his cock. She cried out as he slipped further into her. He bent his knees and sort of bounced up into her over and over, eliciting a beautiful cry from her each time.

Oh my God, Ladybug thought. How many times am I going to come? He violently thrust into her so that she once again screamed, “Oh, Chat!” It felt like it would last forever until she heard the telltale sound of his grunts growing louder; he let out a gasp as he finally came. He wrapped his arms around her to catch her just before she fell, knowing he would be slipping out soon.

They were both gasping for breath as Chat carefully lowered her feet to the ground. Chat rested his hands on his knees for a moment before removing and tying off the condom. He knew he would have to hold onto it until he could find a trash can, and he chuckled thinking of the bitching he was going to hear from Plagg later.

Ladybug leaned against the brick wall. Her legs were still shaking and she didn’t trust herself to stand up on her own. “Are you okay, milady?” Chat asked her. He tried to sound concerned, but his proud grin was giving him away.

Ladybug smiled and said, “Y-yeah. Damn, Adrien, I think you’re getting better at that.”

“Practice makes perfect,” he told her, wiggling his eyebrows.

She giggled and replied, “I think the akuma got away.”

“I’ll play dirty role play with you anytime, milady,” Chat told her with a devious look in his eye.

They both pulled their suits back on and then plopped down on the ground. Chat leaned against the wall and Ladybug leaned against him, resting her head on his chest. “I wonder if the people who live in this building can hear us?” she wondered.

“They should be used to it by now,” Chat answered.

Downstairs, Monsieur Boudreaux once again tapped his broom against the ceiling of his apartment. “Damn raccoons!” he grumbled.               

Chapter Text

            “So how does this work?” Emilie asked while watching out the window of the master bedroom.

            “Yes, Nooroo, please explain this to us,” Gabriel ordered, taking a seat at the window next to his wife.

            Nooroo sighed and explained, “Once you’re using the butterfly miraculous, you’ll be able to feel emotions from the people nearby. Strong emotions will stand out more than weak ones. If you are able to make someone into a champion, then you can communicate telepathically with them and see what they see.”

            “And what about your power, Duusu?” Emilie wanted to know.

            Spinning around like a tiny tornado, Duusu exclaimed, “Yes, ma dame, I’d love to tell you!” She stopped spinning and took a few seconds to catch her breath before launching into the explanation of her own powers. “When you transform, you’ll also be able to feel emotions of people nearby. I’ll give you an awesome feather fan, and you can turn a feather into an amok. Then you send the amok into an object and—woo!” Duusu spun around again. “That object now becomes your own personal sentimonster that you can control! Or you can amokatize an object belonging to a champion to give them extra power!” Duusu threw her little hands in the air like she was telling the world’s most exciting story. “Oh, and you can also see everything your sentimonster sees, and if it gets a little too cheeky, you can destroy it at any time!”

            “Wow, it’s so much to remember,” Emilie commented.

            “It sounds like, essentially, a champion works on a person and an amok works on an object,” Gabriel declared. “Am I correct, Nooroo?”

            “Yes, sir,” Nooroo replied.

            “So we can both transform and find someone who needs help,” Emilie told Gabriel. “You can make them into a champion and I’ll create a sentimonster to help them!”

            Gabriel thought for a moment and then said to the kwamis, “Didn’t you say earlier that the peacock is damaged?”

            “It’s not that bad,” Duusu insisted, flying in erratic circles around Emilie’s head, “I feel better than ever!”

            “There was an incident at the temple where we were housed,” Nooroo spoke up. “In the aftermath, the peacock miraculous was damaged. It hasn’t been used since then so we don’t know how or if it would affect its holder.”

            “It’ll be fine,” Duusu declared, landing on Emilie’s head.

            “I think I would feel more comfortable with you not using the peacock miraculous for now,” Gabriel stated.

            “Oh, come on, Gabe,” Emilie whined. “Duusu said it was fine.”

            “Yes, as much as I’m sure that little creature is a reliable source of information,” Gabriel responded, “I’d feel better trying to figure out how these miraculouses work using an undamaged one for now.”

            “Fine,” Emilie and Duusu both conceded at the same time.

            After transforming, Gabriel sat by the window for a while. Emilie sat next to him in silence while Duusu aimlessly fluttered around the room. After a while, Emilie asked, “So do you feel any strong emotions?”

            “I mostly feel boredom, and a few people seem to be really hungry,” Gabriel replied. “Never mind, one of them just got a crepe.”

            Emilie sighed and said, “This isn’t as exciting as I was hoping.”

            “What were you hoping for, Emilie?” Gabriel wanted to know.

            “I don’t know,” she said, staring dreamily out the window. “I just loved the idea that we could be helping other people. Like we could be some kind of superheroes or something.”

            Gabriel chuckled and replied, “Have you been reading Adrien’s comic books?”

            Emilie narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t respond.

            After a few more minutes, Gabriel suddenly said, “Wait! I’m feeling a strong emotion now…”

            “Ooh, what is it?!” Emilie asked, sitting up straighter. Duusu also flew over to the pair.

            “It’s…anger,” Gabriel declared. “It’s a policeman. He’s chasing a purse snatcher, but the criminal is getting away.”

            “You should make him a champion!” Emilie exclaimed. “You could make him strong enough to catch the criminal!” Duusu began flying in excited circles again, emitting squeaks of joy.

            Gabriel stood up and realized he was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of pure white butterflies. Emilie gasped and leaned away from him. He held out his hand for a butterfly to land on. He covered the butterfly with the other hand, and when he removed it, the butterfly had turned a deep dark purplish color, almost black. “Ah, you must be my first champion,” Gabriel stated. “Find this angry policeman and give him the power he needs to stop that purse-snatching criminal!” The butterfly flew from his hand, and Gabriel opened the window to allow it access to the outside world.

            “Can you see where it’s going?” Emilie asked him.

            “No, but I can feel the anger getting closer,” Gabriel answered. “I think my champion has almost reached the policeman.”

            Suddenly, the bright purple outline of a butterfly appeared in front of Gabriel’s face. Emilie watched him in shock as he seemingly held a conversation with the policeman, telling him he was going to give him the strength to overtake the criminal. “I can see through the officer’s eyes!” he told his wife excitedly. “I see him chasing the criminal. He’s almost caught up to him!”

            Emilie watched as Gabriel lost himself in the thrill of the chase, living out a scene she couldn’t witness. After a few moments, though, the excited look on his face was suddenly replaced by one of sheer terror. “What’s wrong, Gabe?” Emilie asked in a trembling voice. “D-did something happen?”

            “Th-there’s more of them,” Gabriel stammered. “The cop followed him into an alley, and the rest of the gang was waiting for them.” Gabriel gulped. He launched into another conversation with the officer, but after the butterfly outline faded, he looked wide-eyed at Emilie and said, “I’m afraid my champion is not strong enough to save him.”

            Emilie nodded as if she understood and called out, “Duusu, spread my feathers!”

            Gabriel was going to protest even as she started to transform, but as he watched through the officer’s eyes as the criminals all began to beat him, he knew something had to be done, or he would have to live with the fact that he had gotten this policeman killed. His every attempt at strengthening the champion seemed to fail as the criminals continued to pound the officer into the pavement.

            Then he was suddenly aware of a transformed Emilie talking to him. She wore a long blue dress and her blonde hair was up in a French twist with peacock feathers sticking out of it. She held a large fan made of feathers. He had to struggle to pull himself from the battle scene to understand what she was asking. “Gabe,” her voice seemed to float through a fog, “is there something the cop has that I can send my amok to? I need an object that he can use. Gabe! Look around! What can I send it to?”

            “His-his…nightstick,” Gabriel panted. Then he shouted, “His nightstick!”

            Emilie was already at the window. He noticed she had pulled out a feather from her fan and was blowing on it so that it flew out the window. As he watched the battle scene between the policeman and the gang, a small black feather floated into his nightstick.

            Then the nightstick seemed to gain sentience. It jumped out of the policeman’s hand of its own accord and grew to several times its original size. It also seemed to be growing arms and legs. Gabriel could hear faint talking in the back of his mind and realized Emilie was talking to the policeman now. She was telling him he had control of this…sentimonster?

            Now Gabriel and Emilie both had a front row seat to the battle. The nightstick sentimonster had started pulling the startled criminals off the officer and tossing them aside like rag dolls. The championized officer quickly got his strength back now that he was no longer being beaten, and he and his new nightstick partner each started fighting back. With the help of the sentimonster, they easily beat the entire gang back. The officer began quickly cuffing each one as the living nightstick monster helped him to keep them under control. Once they were all cuffed, Gabriel and Emilie each pulled back their respective champion and amok and released their transformations.

Back at the battle scene, the officer’s flabbergasted backup finally showed up, shocked to see that he had taken down an entire gang by himself. Even the officer in question couldn’t explain it. The last thing he could remember was chasing a purse snatcher, and now he was standing here, eight handcuffed and beaten gangsters on the ground around him. He also felt a bit sore himself.

In the master bedroom of the Agreste mansion, Gabriel was still having some trouble shrugging off the image of the gangsters beating up the championized officer when Emilie collapsed on the floor in a coughing fit. “Emilie!” Gabriel exclaimed, rushing to her. Without thinking, he sent an alert on his phone to Nathalie, which would prompt his assistant to immediately come to their aid. She was in the bedroom in less than a minute to find Gabriel hovering over Emilie, still coughing uncontrollably.

“What happened, sir?” Nathalie asked, furrowing her brow.

“Quick, get her some water!” Gabriel commanded.

Nathalie ran to the bathroom to fill a glass with water and returned quickly. Emilie managed a few gulps in between coughs, and slowly, the hacking subsided. “Are you okay now, Emilie?” Gabriel asked her.

“I-I think so,” Emilie replied.

Nathalie knelt down next to her and began slowly stroking her golden hair. Emilie let her head fall against the woman’s shoulder. Nathalie was so busy comforting her that she almost didn’t notice the movement out of the corner of her eye. When she looked up, two…creatures were flying rapidly around Gabriel’s head. They were too large to be bugs, and Gabriel seemed to be watching them. Then one of them started talking.

“Are you okay, Miss Emilie?” it asked.

“What the hell is that?” Nathalie asked in her usual calm voice, though her eyes widened a bit to betray her surprise.

Ignoring her, Gabriel said, “That’s enough from you, Duusu. Nooroo, is she suffering the effects of using that broken piece of jewelry?”

“It’s possible, sir,” Nooroo replied.

“I-I’m fine, Gabe,” Emilie declared weakly before taking another sip of water.

“No, you’re not,” Gabriel responded. “I forbid anymore use of these miraculouses.” He removed the brooches from himself and his wife, causing both kwamis to disappear.

Emilie tried to laugh but it quickly turned into a cough. “You can’t forbid me, Gabriel,” she said.

Gabriel stood up and walked to her dresser, setting both brooches back in their original place. “Maybe not,” he admitted. Turning around, he added in a more pleading tone, “But look at yourself, Emilie. What has that thing done to you?”

Emilie sighed and dropped her head back against Nathalie’s chest. Still not understanding what was going on, Nathalie placed a kiss against the woman’s golden head. “Please take care of yourself, madam,” she whispered.

Gabriel’s face softened at the sight of the two women. He slowly made his way to them and knelt down beside them, looking Emilie in the eye. “Emilie, we don’t really understand what these things are,” he explained. “Plus, what if you hadn’t been able to fix things? We could’ve gotten that policeman killed by those thugs.”

Emilie’s eyes widened at the thought, but she said nothing.

“I think it’s best if we don’t use them again,” Gabriel continued. “At least, maybe not until we’re able to get some more information about them.

Emilie paused for a moment and then slowly nodded in agreement.

Chapter Text

            “So Luka broke up with you and you started dating Adrien the same night?” Alya asked incredulously.

            “Uh…yeah?” Marinette squeaked.

            They were sitting on a blanket in the park, Nino eating a sandwich next to Alya, and Adrien resting his head in Marinette’s lap. Alya and Nino had come to meet their friends at the park and been a little surprised to see them being so affectionate with each other.

            “To be fair, Kagami broke up with me the same night,” Adrien spoke up. His eyes were closed as he appeared to be taking a nap in his girlfriend’s lap. He seemed nonchalant about the whole situation.

            Alya pursed her lips as she pondered the new couple. Nino shrugged and said, “I always knew you two would end up together.” He took another bite of his sandwich.

            “Why do you say that, Nino?” Marinette asked.

            “Well, I know you used to have a huge crush on him—” Marinette’s face turned bright red— “and with the way my bro was always looking at you, I was pretty sure he liked you, too.” Adrien’s eyes flew open as a deep blush formed on his own face. “And then after you two became, like, best friends, you were constantly flirting with each other.”

            “That’s true,” Alya agreed. “We always thought you did flirt a lot. I mean, for people who were supposed to be in relationships with other people.”

            “Um…well…uh…” Marinette stammered.

            Adrien chuckled as he sat up and slipped his arm across her shoulders. “It’s okay, milady. We’re together now, so the past doesn’t matter.”

            Marinette smiled and dropped her head against Adrien’s chest. She thought that would be the end of it, but of course her journalist friend had other ideas.

            “Milady?!” Alya exclaimed. “Isn’t that what Chat Noir calls Ladybug? Are you trying to be as smooth as the superhero, Adrien?”

            It was then Adrien’s turn to start stammering. “Uh…” he replied, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck.

            Alya elbowed Marinette and asked, “Does he know about your history?”

            “Alya!” Marinette scolded, attempting to look as horrified as possible.

            Adrien, who of course knew, decided to run with it. “Your history, huh?” he said teasingly.

            Marinette turned to him, narrowing her eyes for a second, before she replied in an embarrassed tone, “It was…before you.”

            “Wait,” Nino stated. “Marinette and Chat Noir…?”

            “Oh, speaking of Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Alya suddenly interjected, pulling her phone out of her pocket, “look what some fans sent in to the Ladyblog!” She held out her phone to show Ladybug and Chat Noir making out on a beam in the Eiffel Tower, to which Marinette and Adrien both tried and failed to not blush profusely. Luckily, Alya didn’t notice as she was still scrolling through more pictures and talking excitedly, “Who knows, Marinette? Maybe when Ladybug found out that Chat got tired of waiting for her and went for a civilian, she finally decided she liked him. Maybe you finally got them together!”

            “So Marinette was with Chat Noir but was still dating Luka?” Nino wondered to himself.

            In an attempt to change the subject, Adrien spoke up, “So Chat Noir was the one you were telling me about?”

            Alya stopped scrolling and looked back at her best friend. “You told Adrien you cheated on Luka?” she asked.

            “M-maybe,” Marinette responded, torn between throwing Alya’s phone in the lake or punching her boyfriend in the face.

            “She didn’t tell me with who!” Adrien replied. Looking at Marinette with a sultry, half-lidded gaze, he said softly, “I didn’t know you had a thing for the black cat, Mari.”

            She pushed him away, replying, “The infatuation is quickly dying.”

            “Aw, why doesn’t anyone ever tell me anything?” Nino whined and returned to his sandwich.

            “Oh, wow, Adrien, you already knew about it,” Alya said, shaking her head. “I hope Luka doesn’t find out.”

            The smile dropped from Adrien’s face. “What do you mean?” he asked her.

            “Well, I know he’s pretty sure Marinette cheated on him,” Alya explained. “And he already wants to kill you.”

            “K-kill me?!” Adrien replied anxiously.

            Alya turned to see Luka and Kagami heading their way and said, “Oh, speak of the devil.”

            Adrien let out a manly squeal and hid behind his girlfriend.

            Marinette, however, noticed that Luka and Kagami were holding hands as they joined the four on their picnic blanket. “Hey, guys, how’s it going?” Luka greeted them. “Hey, Marinette.” He smiled. “Adrien.” His face darkened for a moment, causing Adrien to try to shrink behind Marinette some more, before he turned to Alya with his usual easygoing demeanor. “I see you guys are enjoying this nice summer day.”

            “Want something to eat?” Nino offered, pushing the picnic basket towards them. Kagami gratefully took a sandwich and began eating.

            Marinette cleared her throat and spoke up, “So are you two…uh…” she glanced down at their still intertwined hands.

            Luka smiled and said, “Yes, Kagami and I have been spending some time together and have realized how much we have in common.” He turned to look at her and added, “I guess it’s safe to say we’re dating.”

            Kagami quickly swallowed her bite of sandwich and smiled at him.

            “S-so that’s good,” Marinette said nervously. “It looks like things worked out.”

            Luka turned to look at her and replied, “Yes, I think all is forgiven. Without you, I may not have met Kagami.” Without turning to look at the blonde who was still hiding, he said more loudly, “That goes for you, too, Adrien.”

            Adrien peeked out from behind Marinette and smiled nervously.

            “Oh, did you guys want some food?” Alya asked Marinette and Adrien, gesturing towards the picnic basket.

            “No, we’re supposed to have dinner with my parents soon,” Marinette replied.

            “Oh, right, your parents!” Adrien piped up. “Shouldn’t we, uh, maybe get going? So we’re not late?”

            “R-right,” Marinette answered, standing up with Adrien. “It was nice to see everyone!” she called as Adrien practically dragged her away.

            Back in Marinette’s bedroom, she said with a smirk on her face, “You’re not actually scared of Luka? He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

            “But it’s always the quiet ones you have to worry about, Mari,” Adrien replied. “That’s what they always say about serial killers. That he was so quiet and nice and no one suspected him.”

            Marinette rolled her eyes and replied, “Oh, look at the great Chat Noir, shaking in his boots over Ladybug’s ex-boyfriend.”

            “Hey, I’m not wearing my boots right now,” Adrien responded, pouting.

            Marinette giggled before she allowed a more serious look to come to her face. “I’m actually glad we came back here a little early. I had something kind of important to talk to you about.”

            “Oh?”

            “Yeah, I need to show you something.”

            “Hm, I thought I had already seen all of you, milady,” he purred, slipping his arm around her waist.

            “Not on me, you pervert!” Marinette exclaimed, pushing him away. “Come on, follow me.”

            Dejected, Adrien lowered his head and followed her to the closet. She knelt on the floor and pulled out the ladybug-patterned miraculous box. Adrien’s eyes widened when he realized what it was. “That’s the…miraculous box,” he breathed.

            “Yeah,” Marinette replied. “Remember, Master Fu made me the new guardian? I’ve been trying to avoid it, but after that big fight with the sentimonster, I don’t think I can anymore. Besides, since we know each other’s identities now, I may as well show you where I’ve been hiding it. You know, in case something happens—”

            “No!” Adrien interrupted. “Nothing’s going to happen to you!”

            Marinette sighed and set down the box. Wrapping her arms around Adrien, she said, “Of course I don’t expect anything to happen, but you never know. I just wanted you to know where it was in case you need to use it.”

            Adrien returned her hug for a moment, trying to catch his breath. When he felt more like himself, he scooted closer to the box and began to examine it. “How do I open it?” he asked.

            Marinette showed him how to open it, and he gasped at the sight of all the miraculouses inside. “I’m just showing you in case we need to get backup, and I’m not able to get to the box,” Marinette explained. “I never meant for us to reveal our identities before we defeated Hawk Moth, but now that it’s happened, we should try to use it to our advantage.”

            “I won’t let you down, milady,” Adrien promised.

            Just then, Marinette’s mother called them for dinner, so they put the box away and headed downstairs.

            It was his first time having dinner with his girlfriend’s parents, so Adrien was nervous. He also wondered if they liked Luka more and if they would think it was weird that Marinette moved on so quickly, but luckily, they never brought that up.

            Adrien found a simple table set with place settings for four and piled with what seemed to him to be delectable treats. Marinette’s mother had prepared a roast with carrots and potatoes, and a bowl of buttery croissants was set next to it. Another bowl held some sort of brown gravy. Tom also announced he had made something special for dessert. This was more food than Adrien had ever been allowed to eat in an entire day, much less one meal. He sat down and quickly began filling his plate with food. He stopped when he realized everyone was staring at him.

            “W-what?” he stammered, face quickly turning red.

            Marinette giggled and Tom remarked, “You seem hungry.”

            “Oh,” Adrien replied, pausing with the spoon over his plate. “Is-is that bad?”

            “No, dear, help yourself,” Sabine answered, smiling. “You can have as much as you want.”

            Throughout the meal, Marinette’s parents were nothing but kind and caring to Adrien. It reminded him of that breakfast he had had so long ago with them as his alter ego, although he shuddered to think that he had rejected Marinette then. But he pushed those thoughts aside as he took one helping after another of the delicious food and even asked for more croissants. If his father knew he was eating all this, he would have a coronary.

            “I hope you saved room for dessert,” Tom announced, glancing in Adrien’s direction, as he brought in a tray of four individual chocolate crème brulees. He set one down in front of Adrien who looked as if he was about to cry.

            “Are you okay, Adrien?” Marinette asked him.

            Adrien slowly nodded as he broke the sugar crust with his spoon and stuffed a huge bite in his mouth. “It’s just so delicious,” he mumbled with his mouth full.

            “I take it you’re not allowed sweets very often?” Sabine asked, giggling.

            Adrien shook his head as he stuffed a second bite in his mouth before he had quite finished the first one.

            After dinner, they sat together on the couch watching TV. Adrien cuddled with Marinette, grateful for the feeling of being with a real family again. He hadn’t had this in such a long time.

            “Did you enjoy dinner, Adrien?” Sabine asked him.

            “Yes, ma’am, I’m stuffed,” Adrien replied. “Thank you so much for having me.”

            “We like having a guest who enjoys our cooking so much,” Tom declared. “Marinette never shows her appreciation anymore.”

            Marinette scoffed and said, “That’s not true, Papa. You know I love your cooking.”

            “Why don’t you come back next weekend, Adrien?” Sabine requested.

            “I’m sorry, I can’t,” Adrien answered. “There’s an event I’m required to attend.”

            “An event?” Marinette spoke up. “What event? You didn’t tell me about any event?”

            “It’s just another boring fashion banquet my father makes me attend,” Adrien explained.

            “A fashion banquet?” Marinette repeated. “Like, a fancy party with fashion tycoons and rich people food and stuff?”

            “Uh…yeah?” Adrien said. “You didn’t want to go, did you?”

            “No, Adrien, I, as an aspiring fashion designer, who loves to get dressed up and go to fancy places, would never be interested in going to a fancy fashion banquet being thrown by Gabriel Agreste himself,” Marinette replied with no expression on her face.

            “Oh, okay then,” Adrien responded.

            “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Marinette exploded, jumping off the couch as both of her parents burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Of course I want to go! I will break up with you right now if you don’t take me, Agreste!”

            At first, Adrien was too shocked to reply. Finally, he stammered, “W-would you like to go with me, Marinette?”

            The anger instantly disappeared from Marinette’s face as she settled demurely next to her boyfriend and replied sweetly, “Why, yes, Adrien, I would like to go. Thank you for asking.”

            Poor Adrien sat shell-shocked next to his girlfriend for a moment before Tom rested his large hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, “Good job, son. Now who wants to play video games?”

            “Ooh, I do!” Marinette exclaimed, scrambling for a controller.

            And that’s when Adrien discovered that every member of the Dupain-Cheng family could kick his ass at Ultimate Mecha Strike IV.

            Meanwhile, at the Agreste mansion, Gabriel and Nathalie were planning their next move. “Are you sure she’s ready?” Gabriel was asking.

            “She has been going through intense training for the last two years,” Nathalie responded.

            “Hm, so she can fight?” Gabriel replied.

            “Yes, sir,” Nathalie answered. “They also did mental training so she would be able to withstand a miraculous.”

            “But is she as reckless as she used to be?” Gabriel wanted to know.

            “I don’t believe so, sir,” Nathalie told him.

            Gabriel nodded and said, “Send her in.”

            Nathalie opened the door to allow two mercenary soldiers to step inside. After speaking to them in fluent Italian, another soldier guided the girl in question into Gabriel’s office. “Hello, sir,” she said in a quiet, respectful tone.

            “Miss Rossi,” Gabriel said. “Welcome back to the team.”

Chapter Text

            Tell me if you see anyone who's in trouble, Duusu. Emilie spoke to her kwami telepathically as she sat at the window of her personal study, transformed by the peacock miraculous. Despite what Gabriel had told her and her reaction to using the miraculous the first time, she felt drawn to the power and often found herself coming back to her study, where Gabriel never visited, in order to test the kwami’s powers. She had already provided small sentimonsters to a few people, helping them to escape from dangerous situations. There had been a teenage girl who had been cornered by four men, a tourist couple getting robbed by their taxi driver, and an old woman who had been attacked while walking her dog. She had managed to turn a small item on each of them into a weapon, allowing them to fight off their attackers long enough to retreat from the danger. She always felt completely drained after each one, her body racked with coughs. After de-transforming, she always hid in her bedroom to take a nap so Gabriel and Nathalie wouldn’t notice. She had to admit it took a lot out of her, but she was happy to do it, just to make a small difference in her city and other people’s lives.

            Today, she had been transformed for a while with nothing to show for it. But she didn’t mind. She enjoyed staring out the window and people watching, and it was nice knowing that everyone was going about their business without worries. Just when she began to think that the criminals in the neighborhood had decided to lay low, she sensed a commotion at a nearby bakery. A large man who appeared to be an employee of the bakery was attempting to fight a group of men who had been harassing a small, scared Chinese woman. Both the man and the woman were probably in their late twenties, a little younger than she and Gabriel. She knew this bakery was a family-owned operation and assumed this was the couple that owned it. She quickly realized that the Chinese woman was not a native Parisian as Emilie could hear her frightened, scrambled thoughts in Chinese, trying to talk herself through ways to get away from the men. Emilie removed a feather from her fan and sent her amok to a pile of bags of flour lying next to the front door of the bakery.

            “Nǚ zhànshì,” Emilie said to the woman, speaking Chinese in what she hoped was a  soothing tone of voice, “the bags of flour behind you are yours to control. They will form a sentimonster which you can use to defend yourself and the boy from your attackers.” Finding there was no Chinese translation for the word sentimonster, Emilie just said the word outright, which the woman repeated in a confused tone. Then, hearing a sound behind her, she spun around and gasped as the bags of flour rose strategically, forming a roughly human-shaped body.

            The woman lifted her right arm, and the flour “man” appeared to lift its right arm, as well. She stomped her left foot, and the sentimonster responded in kind. She seemed to catch on quickly as she spun around to where the men were fighting the one who Emilie assumed to be the woman’s boyfriend or husband and sent the monster towards them. The men barely had enough time to look up before they saw what appeared to be bags of flour heading straight for them. The woman’s husband was able to jump out of the way as the men were all toppled to the ground by bags of flour.

            A few of the men attempted to stand up again only for the flour man to stand up, as well, and begin punching all of them back to the ground. Imagine getting knocked in the face full force with a full forty-pound bag of flour. Emilie giggled as she saw the men resume their prone position on the ground just as people began running out of the nearby businesses, and the distant sirens seemed to be getting closer. Emilie released the amok from her sentimonster so the police would find an unconscious gang of thugs lying on the sidewalk, lifeless bags of flour littering the ground around them.

            The scene disappeared from Emilie’s mind as she de-transformed, collapsing on the floor of her study in yet another coughing fit. Duusu spun around in wild circles over her head, crying, “We did it, Miss Emilie! We helped two more people! Doesn’t it feel incredible?”

            “Yes…Duusu,” Emilie managed to respond between coughs. She had come to the study prepared, however, and reached for her glass of water and bag of cough drops.

            Once Emilie’s body had calmed to the point for her to feel confident enough to brave opening the door, she quickly rushed through the hallway and to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Duusu flew out of her pocket as a few more stray coughs escaped her. “Oh, I’m exhausted Duusu,” she said, falling onto her bed. “Why does this keep happening?”

            “I’m not sure, Miss,” Duusu replied. Then she raised her tiny arms and, flying a figure eight through the air, exclaimed, “But you’re the best miraculous holder I’ve ever had! We’re doing so much good in this city!”

            Emilie rolled over onto her side and looked up at her excitable kwami. “But is Gabriel right?” she asked. “Is it dangerous for me to be using your miraculous?”

            Duusu stopped flying and appeared to think for a moment. Then her eyes lit up as she once again broke into erratic flying patterns, proclaiming, “I don’t think so, Miss Emilie! I can sense your innate power for being a miraculous holder, and you are so strong! I’m sure you can withstand anything!”

            Emilie chuckled and replied, “I hope you’re right, Duusu.” Sitting up, she added, “I’m going to have to put you away now before someone sees you.”

            Duusu immediately stopped flying and dropped her chin to her chest. “Aw, do you have to?” she whined. “I was having so much fun!”

            “I know, Duusu, but I think I’m done for the day,” Emilie answered.

            “All right, I understand,” Duusu conceded. “I’ll see you soon, Miss Emilie.”

            “Good night, Duusu,” Emilie said. She removed the brooch and set it back on her dresser next to the butterfly miraculous before returning to her bed. After changing into some silk pajamas, she called down to the kitchen to have some hot tea with honey delivered and then made herself comfortable in the bed.

            After a few moments, she called, “Come in” to a soft knock at the bedroom door. Nathalie entered with her tea and quietly closed the door behind her.

            “Nathalie?” Emilie said, sitting up. “You didn’t have to bring that. You could’ve had one of the staff do it.”

            “I know,” Nathalie replied, setting the tea down on the nightstand, “but I’m worried about you. I wanted to see you to make sure you’re okay.” She sat down on the edge of the bed.

            “I’m fine, I just get tired in the afternoons,” Emilie told her. She lifted the hot tea to her lips and took a sip.

            “You weren’t always this way,” Nathalie observed, furrowing her brow. “You used to have so much energy. You would make Gabriel and me tired just by watching you.”

            Emilie chuckled, setting down her tea. “I guess my age is catching up to me,” she said.

            A small smile ghosted Nathalie’s lips, but her concerned expression remained. “I just…want you to be okay,” Nathalie said softly as she moved closer to the blonde woman. “You and Gabriel have been so good to me. I can’t lose either one of you.” She reached out to cup Emilie’s cheek. “Especially you,” she barely whispered.

            Emilie’s eyes fluttered closed as the brown-haired woman softly pressed her lips against hers. She opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, and Emilie responded in kind. Nathalie pressed her hands against Emilie’s sides, slowly moving them down over her body and across her hips. Her mouth moved away and down her jawline and neck. Emilie sighed and held her head back against the pillow to allow her better access. Nathalie always knew just how to make her feel better.

            Nathalie kissed and gently bit her way down Emilie’s neck as she slowly pushed her fingers under the bottom of the woman’s shirt. She lightly brushed her sides, causing Emilie to shiver with delight. After a few moments, Nathalie’s fingers found Emilie’s bare breasts and began lightly pinching the nipples, causing them to harden. Emilie moaned as the woman switched to kneading and massaging the perfect mounds.

            Before long, Emilie’s shirt was gone and Nathalie’s mouth was on her breast, gently sucking and biting the nipple. She gave each side equal attention as Emilie’s moans grew louder. Once she was satisfied, Nathalie slowly began moving down the woman’s stomach, lightly kissing and licking along the way. She stopped at the hem of her pants where her fingers hooked under the waistband, slowly pulling them down along with her underwear. Nathalie continued lightly kissing and licking her way downward until she found Emilie’s clit where she began moving her tongue around in a circular motion. Emilie let out a louder moan of pleasure.

            She always knows exactly what to do, Emilie thought as she felt the woman’s tongue lightly brush over her folds before slowly diving in. Nathalie slowly circled her tongue around in between Emilie’s folds, occasionally bringing it back out to lap at her clit some more. Each time, she brought her tongue back inside, she thrust it in a bit deeper, much to the blonde’s delight. Nathalie could feel her own wetness as the sounds of Emilie’s moans steadily increased in volume until she cried out in pleasure as Nathalie pushed her tongue inside as far as she could.

            They both stopped and looked up when they heard the bedroom door open and then they both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it was Gabriel. “I see you both got started without me,” he remarked, shutting the door behind him.

            He undressed as he made his way to the bed, watching intently as Nathalie resumed eating out his wife. It was a sight he never grew tired of. As he climbed into bed next to them, Emilie reached over and began stroking his semi-hard cock, bringing it more to attention. She could feel her orgasm building and squeezed him harder as she cried out. Nathalie gripped Emilie’s hips, showing her no mercy, tongue never slowing. Gabriel moaned as Emilie tightened her grip, moans and ragged breaths escaping her lips as Nathalie lapped up her juices. Pulling himself from her grip, Gabriel sat up higher on his knees so that Emilie could pull him into her mouth. She lightly licked his tip as Nathalie began to finally slow her ministrations. Gabriel groaned as Emilie wrapped her mouth around him. Nathalie pulled her mouth away but began to slowly enter her fingers. She moved them in and out, Emilie tightening her lips around Gabriel as Nathalie increased the speed of her fingers.

            When he felt he was getting close, Gabriel gently pulled away from Emilie and tapped on Nathalie’s shoulder. Nathalie slid off the edge of the bed as Gabriel took her place. Settling between his wife’s legs, he used his own fingers to feel her dripping wetness, bringing some moans from her himself, before he lined up with her entrance and pushed himself in, grateful for the vasectomy he had had years before when the three of them had decided that one child was enough to satisfy all of their parental urges.

            As Gabriel fucked his wife’s brains out, Nathalie quickly undressed, the sounds of the woman’s cries inspiring her to move faster. She returned to the bed next to Emilie who reached out her hand and pushed her own fingers into Nathalie. She twirled her thumb around Nathalie’s clit as she pushed two fingers inside, moving them in and out, pushing harder as Gabriel hit a particularly sensitive spot. Nathalie cried out, feeling her own juices dripping onto her beautiful girlfriend’s hand. She moved so that she was hovering over Emilie’s face, her hands gripping the headboard behind her for balance. Emilie reached up with her tongue, swirling it around Nathalie’s clit and dipping it in between her folds as Gabriel pounded into her. Nathalie watched as Gabriel moved in and out of his wife, the sight making her almost as wet as Emilie’s tongue did. Emilie could feel liquid dripping down her cheek as she pushed her tongue in more and more, Gabriel helping her to move back and forth as he drove her body into the mattress. Emilie moaned as her tongue swirled inside Nathalie, the vibrations causing the brunette to cry out.

            Gabriel pushed into Emilie once last time as he finished, crying out her name. Emilie could feel one more building up and squeezed her eyes shut, seeing fireworks as she cried out against Nathalie’s folds. Nathalie herself also saw those fireworks as she cried out one last time before collapsing on the bed next to Emilie. The three lay there, panting heavily as fingers still ghosted each other, lightly touching or pressing, and a few more small moans were heard.

            After a few minutes, Emilie spoke up. “Hey, Gabe, where’s Adrien?” she asked.

            “Uh…” Gabriel responded, pressing his fingers against his eyes, attempting to get his brain to start working again. “I, uh, sent him to the hotel to visit Chloe.”

            Nathalie snorted before she burst into laughter. “What’s so funny?” Emilie asked her, smiling.

            “You,” Nathalie replied, noticing the way the afternoon sun caused Emilie’s golden hair to shine. Everything was all business in her life, but she lived for these little moments when she could let go and be herself around her two most favorite people in the world.

Chapter Text

            “I will be bringing a date to the Prada event this weekend, Father,” Adrien declared.

            “All right,” Gabriel replied. “I thought Miss Tsurugi found our fashion events to be a bit on the boring side for her?”

            Adrien paused and then said, “I-I’m not with Kagami anymore.”

            Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “And who might the lucky lady be?” he inquired.

            “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

            “Ah,” Gabriel responded. He thought for a moment and then said, “Isn’t she friends with Miss Tsurugi?”

            Adrien furrowed his brow and answered slowly, “Yes…”

            Gabriel chuckled and said, “Aren’t you moving on a bit quickly? And with her friend, no less?”

            Anger started to well up in Adrien’s chest, but he forced himself to keep his cool. It was just what his father wanted—to provoke him. “It was mutual between Kagami and me,” he explained. “She has moved on, and so have I.”

            “Yes, but how will this affect your image?” Gabriel pressed.

            Adrien took a deep breath and replied in the most steady voice he could muster, “The tabloids will say what they want. I’m eighteen now, and this is my decision.”

            “I see,” Gabriel said with a slight nod. “Very well, be sure to tell Miss Dupain-Cheng to be ready for pickup at precisely seven o’clock.”

            “Thank you, Father,” Adrien answered and rushed out of the office.

            Once he was gone, Gabriel let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and plopped down in his desk chair in a very undignified way. Since he was no Father of the Year, he mostly avoided Adrien, sending Nathalie or other assistants to speak with him when necessary, so this had been his first encounter with him since discovering his alternate identity.

Of course, he had had his suspicions before, which was why he had the listening devices installed in the first place. He often heard Adrien having a conversation with someone whom he assumed to be his kwami, but since recording devices cannot pick up kwamis, he had never heard any words from the creature itself. But then his suspicions had been confirmed without a doubt once he heard the conversation between his son and Miss Dupain-Cheng. He had already known the reason Adrien had moved on so quickly long before the boy had entered his office today. And he shuddered to think how happy he was that he hadn’t also installed cameras, judging from the other things he had heard that night.

Now he knew the true identity of both of his enemies and exactly who stood in the way of finally reviving his beloved wife. But he had also heard that story Marinette had told of the alternate universe in which he had apparently gotten himself killed by an akumatized Chat Noir. He knew he couldn’t rush into things, although he had been dying to attack them both since he found out. However, his alternate self had probably done just that in the other universe and had gotten himself killed. No, he would have to be more careful this time. He needed a plan.

He hadn’t yet told Nathalie what he had discovered. He knew he would have to bring her up to date eventually. She wanted Emilie back almost as much as he did, and he knew she was willing to do anything to achieve that goal. Miss Rossi was a bit of a wild card, however. She had failed in her previous attempts to seduce Adrien, and they had come up with a new plan since then. But Miss Rossi had really just been a backup in case their merging of the akumas and sentimonster didn’t work, which is exactly what had happened months ago. Now even that backup plan would have to be tweaked as well, in light of recent discoveries.

Gabriel set his glasses down on his desk, resting his forehead in his hand. What could he do next?

“Sir, are you all right?”

He looked up to see Nathalie standing in the doorway with a concerned look on her face.

“Nathalie, it’s so good to see you,” he greeted her, slipping his glasses back onto his nose. “Please come in. And shut the door. I have something to talk to you about.”

Marinette was scrambling to put the finishing touches on her dress for the Prada show. Adrien would be there in about thirty minutes. He had had a pair of the latest Prada shoes sent to her, which was probably the most expensive gift she had ever received in her eighteen years of life, and she had attempted to make a statement dress that would match them. The shoes were black leather sandals with a stiletto heel—she had been practicing walking in them—with red straps, so she thought a red and black dress would work. She had the dress on and her hair curled, and her mother was helping her put the feathers in her hair when she heard the doorbell.

“Ugh, he’s early,” she whined.

“Don’t worry, your father can keep him entertained for a few minutes,” Sabine replied, adjusting the feathers just so.

Adrien stood in the living room of the Dupain-Chengs’ apartment. He was curious about Marinette’s dress for the evening. She had refused to tell him anything about it. He had tried to drop in on her a couple of times during the week as Chat Noir, but she had always managed to cover the dress with a towel or blanket before he could get in through the trap door, claiming it would be a surprise. He was excited to see his princess, but for now he was alone with her father. He was wearing a suit so he looked presentable, and he had given a friendly greeting, flashing his model smile. Yet something about the man still made him nervous. He was pretty sure Marinette’s parents knew they were sleeping together and didn’t have a problem with it, but the things he had done to this man’s daughter… Then a sudden flashback of Weredad beating up Chat Noir made him shudder.

The man had been nothing but kind to him, inviting him to sit next to him on the couch while he watched a baking competition on TV. He liked to laugh at the contestants’ amateur mistakes and explain why certain things were fake as there was no way they could be done within the restrained time limit. Adrien was sure to laugh at appropriate moments as Tom ridiculed the show.

Then Tom turned to him and said, “So how are things going with Marinette?”

“U-uh…” Adrien stammered. “Great!” He flashed another model smile.

“She sure moved on from Luka fast, huh?” Tom remarked.

“Y-yeah,” Adrien answered. “I-I guess.”

“You know, she had a crush on you all through high school.”

Adrien began rubbing the back of his neck. “S-so I’ve heard.”

“So what took you so long?”

Adrien turned to see that Tom was staring right at him. He looked into his eyes for what seemed like an eternity (it was probably only two seconds) and finally admitted, “I was dumb for a while. I liked Marinette for a long time but I just never realized it. When I finally did, she was with Luka and I was with Kagami, and I was afraid I would just mess things up.”

Tom looked at him for what seemed like an eternity (another two seconds) and then replied, “Good answer” before laughing and slapping the boy on the back, causing him to almost fall off the couch. Adrien nervously laughed along with him.

“Papa, are you giving Adrien a hard time?” came Marinette’s voice from behind them.

Adrien jumped up and turned around in one motion. When he saw Marinette standing at the bottom of the stairs in her dress, his jaw dropped open. He paused for a moment before he finally said, “You made that in a week?!”

She wore a saloon-style dress that matched the red and black of her shoes. Her red corset was laced with black ribbon over her black high-low skirt that flowed behind her. The skirt was decorated with three rows of large red ruffles. Puffy black short sleeves popped out on either side of the corset, as did black lace along the top. An intricate black lace pattern also decorated the corset. Her hair hung in ringlets framing her face from a messy bun on top of her head, out of which stood several red feathers. But Adrien’s favorite part was the fishnet pantyhose she wore with her new shoes.

Marinette shrugged and said, “Yeah, it’s summer. I had some free time.”

“That’s so creative, Marinette,” Adrien complimented her. “I never would’ve thought to pair an Old West-style dress with those shoes.”

“I wanted to stand out so the designers there will remember me,” Marinette declared.

“Oh, I think they’ll remember you,” he replied, making his way across the room to her. He brought her hand to his lips before saying, “Our carriage awaits, milady.”

Marinette giggled and took his arm. Her parents followed them to the front door to say goodbye. She started to head out, but Tom gently pulled Adrien back by his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t mess it up.” Adrien smiled nervously and quickly nodded before Tom let him go and he hurried to catch up with his princess.

Adrien couldn’t remember when he had enjoyed himself this much at a fashion event. Usually, he hated attending them, but Marinette’s enthusiasm seemed to rub off on him. Between sampling at least one of every appetizer and thanking people who complimented her “unique design” and “extraordinary talent,” Marinette was a ball of happy energy. He was also pleasantly surprised that no one asked him about Kagami or why he “moved on so quickly” or anything like that. Admittedly, Kagami had stopped attending these events with him as she found them boring, so maybe most of the guests assumed he had been single for a while.

“Adrien, I never realized how many things you can put on canapes, and I’ve lived in France my whole life!” Marinette exclaimed, holding a new plate of appetizers she had recently acquired. “Ooh, this one has shrimp!” She happily took a bite.

“To be honest, I usually grab some fast food after these events are over,” Adrien told her.

“Adrien Agreste!” she scolded. “I can’t believe you would waste all this delicious fancy food like that!”

Adrien shrugged and said, “Well, I should probably at least get some cheese for Plagg.”

“Ooh, get him some of these gougeres,” Marinette replied, holding up the tiny round pastry puff. “Inside is like a pillow of cheese.” She popped it in her mouth and let out a moan that brought a bit of a blush to Adrien’s cheeks.

“Uh, maybe I’ll grab a few more of those,” Adrien responded and rushed to the buffet table.

Still chewing, Marinette was about to signal to one of the waiters carrying a tray of champagne-filled flutes when a sweetly familiar voice said, “Marinette, is that you? It’s been so long!”

Marinette swallowed her cheese puff pastry ball as she turned and came face-to-face with Lila Rossi. It had been over two years, but she still got that immediate feeling of disgust in the pit of her stomach. “Hi, Lila,” she said, forcing a smile. “What brings you here?”

“Oh, you know, I have to support the Italian designers,” she said with her usual flourish. “And your dress, it’s so…um…original!”

“Thanks,” Marinette replied before shoving a smoked salmon canape in her mouth.

Lila herself was wearing a long tight silver mermaid-style gown with two slits up both sides that almost reached her hips. Her boobs looked like they were about to burst out of the top of the dress. Her hair was pulled up into a messy French twist with curly tendrils falling past her face to her bare shoulders. She held a flute of champagne in her hand and had a flush on her cheeks that made her appear as if she had already consumed quite a few of them. “So what are you doing here, Marinette?” she asked.

“She’s with me.” Marinette heard Adrien’s voice behind her and turned around to find her boyfriend holding a plate of gougeres with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“Adrien!” Lila exclaimed, rushing to get between Adrien and Marinette who had to jump back to avoid having champagne spilled on her dress. “It’s so good to see you! How have you been?” She threw her arms around Adrien’s neck. He glanced at Marinette and rolled his eyes. She stifled a giggle with a slice of an onion and bacon tart.

“Uh…it’s nice to see you, too, Lila,” Adrien replied, pulling her arms off of him and pushing her away gently but firmly. “How was Italy?”

“Oh, you know, it’s nice to go back home, but I just can’t stay away from Paris,” she gushed. “I mean, I was modeling all over Italy, of course, but something about France is just so much more sophisticated, you know?”

“Right,” Adrien agreed, slowly inching away from her and closer to Marinette.

Lila continued to ramble about her supposed modeling life in Italy until Adrien and Marinette were pretty much leaning against the wall, the black-haired girl still stuffing her face with appetizers. “Oh, Marinette!” Adrien suddenly exclaimed. “I noticed you still haven’t made it to the dessert table! Let me show you this chocolate torte our chef makes that is to die for. Excuse us, Lila!” He began dragging Marinette towards the buffet tables, leaving a confused Lila standing alone.

Lila narrowed her eyes as she watched Adrien leading Marinette away. They did stop at the dessert table, and Marinette did grab a slice of chocolate cake, but they seemed a little too close for comfort. Were they…dating? Why would Gabriel make all those promises to her if he knew his son was unavailable?

“Oh my God, this is to die for,” Marinette declared after she took a bite of the chocolate torte. “Are you sure you don’t want some, Adrien?”

“Are you kidding?” Adrien replied. “My dad will kill me if he sees me eating that.”

“In front of all these witnesses?” Marinette asked.

Adrien chuckled and said, “Please, he’s Gabriel Agreste. He could literally get away with anything.”

Marinette smiled and shoved another bite of chocolate torte in her mouth. She stopped chewing when Adrien leaned in right next to her face and whispered, “You’ve got a little bit of chocolate on your lip. I’m sure no one will know if I just lick it off.”

Marinette’s face turned red (how could he still do that to her?) as she stammered, “Uh, I-I don’t know if you want to kiss me. I’ve been eating a lot of onions and garlic.”

Adrien gave her that half-lidded sultry gaze that he knew she couldn’t resist and softly pressed his lips against hers, showing blatant disregard for the state of her onion breath. “Are you fucking kidding me?!” someone suddenly screamed.

Adrien, Marinette, and several of the guests looked up to see Chloe storming her way to the couple. “Adrien!” she hissed in a much lower tone of voice once she was close enough for him to hear. “First the Japanese girl and now you’re with Dupain-Cheng?! What about me?!” she whined.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Marinette piped up, quickly making her exit.

“Chloe,” Adrien said to her, “what are you talking about?”

“Ugh, Adrikins,” Chloe answered, now on the verge of tears, “I was just hoping that I could maybe finally have my chance with you.”

Adrien smiled and said, “Chloe, you know I’ve never felt that way about you.”

“I know,” she replied, pouting. “A girl can dream, right?”

“What happened to Pierre?”

“Oh, please, I just brought him to prom to try to make you jealous.”

Adrien sighed. “Chloe, I’m sorry. You’re one of my best friends. But I’m totally in love with Marinette.”

Crossing her arms, Chloe huffed, “I don’t see why.”

“Oh, come on, you know why. She’s so kind and sweet. Everyone likes her except you. And I thought you were going to try to make more of an effort to like her.”

“It’s not going to be easy knowing she stole you away.”

“She didn’t steal me, Chloe. I was never yours.”

Now a few stray tears did fall down the blonde’s cheeks, which she quickly brushed away. “Look, you’re the only one who knows I still feel guilty about the whole Queen Wasp thing. And how I can never forgive myself knowing that Ladybug will never ask me to be Queen Bee again. I just feel so close to you, and I don’t know how I could ever feel that about anyone else ever again.”

Adrien placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling softly. “I know you will, Chloe. Just give it some time.”

She smiled as more tears fell, and he pulled her into a hug.

Off to the side, Lila was fuming. Her worst fears had been confirmed: Adrien and Marinette were together. How could Gabriel do this to her? He had promised that Adrien would be hers if she followed his plans and did exactly as he ordered. But it seemed he had only been using her all along. She knew she would have to change up the plan to make sure things went her way.

After Adrien finished his tearful exchange with Chloe, he headed out of the ballroom. Lila’s curiosity got the best of her as she silently followed him. He stopped in front of the women’s restroom where Marinette was exiting. She threw her arms around his neck, giggling. He, in turn, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

Lila quickly ducked behind a corner and leaned against the wall. Why am I doing this to myself? she thought. Then her feelings quickly turned to anger as she thought, What the hell does he see in that bitch?!

“They had mouthwash in the bathroom,” Marinette said giggling as Adrien pulled her in for a kiss.

“Mm, minty,” he replied with a wink. “Hey, bugaboo, what do you say we get out of here?”

“Ooh, naughty kitty,” Marinette teased.

“Only for you, milday,” Adrien answered, holding out his arm.

She took it and he led her out of a back door of the hotel. Once outside, she said, “Mm, it’s a mysterious deserted alley. Do you bring all your dates here?”

“Only the ones I’m trying to take advantage of,” Adrien replied with a smirk, pushing Marinette against the building as he pressed his body against hers.

Marinette moaned as he began sucking on her neck, lifting the front of her skirt and pressing his erection against her. “How are you already ready to go?” she managed to ask.

“Mm, I’ve been ready since I saw you in this dress,” he breathed. He thrust his hips against her, causing her to gasp.

“Adrien, w-what if someone sees us?”

“We’re in a dark alley at a fancy party, milady. None of those rich fucks are going to come out here.”

“Hm, in that case…”

The neck Adrien had been sucking on suddenly disappeared, and he opened his eyes to see that Marinette had dropped to her knees. She began fumbling with his belt, quickly unlooping it and unzipping his pants at the same time.

“Milady…?”

“You said no one would come out here.” She pulled his hard cock out of his pants as he gasped. Taking the tip into her mouth, she swirled her tongue around it before licking up and down the shaft. She increased her speed as Adrien’s groans increased in volume. He had to lean his hands against the wall to hold himself up when she took his full length into her mouth.

She continued to swirl her tongue around him as she bobbed her head up and down. The intensity of his cries only encouraged her to move faster. Holding him at the base, she used her other hand to gently fondle his balls as she pushed herself onto him as far as she could handle. She slowly pulled back and then slid her mouth down quickly as far as she could again. She would’ve smiled if she could when she heard him cry out, “Oh, God, Marinette!”

She tightened her mouth’s grip, moving her head up and down as fast as she could, as she moved her hand along the rest of him just as quickly. She could tell he was close. She felt him twitch a couple of times. She moved even faster until she felt warm liquid spill into her mouth and heard his cries die into gasps. She swallowed what she could, wiping off what was left to keep it from getting on his expensive pants, before she tucked him back in and zipped him up again.

He was still panting heavily when she stood up to wrap her arms around her neck. He pulled her in and began kissing her passionately, tasting himself on her. “Yeah, so,” he said as language began to return to him, “let’s, uh, get out of here.”

Marinette giggled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her back inside, pulling his phone out of his pocket to call for their ride. The Gorilla was outside waiting by the time they made it out the front door.

            In a dark corner of the alley where she had managed to hide, Lila was beyond angry. “How dare he?!” she shouted. “They couldn’t have just gotten together! How long did he know?!”

            She punched the building and then cried out, pulling her now bleeding hand back to her chest. “Ugh,” she moaned. “I’ll just have to play this game my way.”

Chapter Text

            Emilie had settled into a routine over the past several months. She began visiting the bakery owned by the couple she had saved, whom she now knew as the Dupain-Cheng family. She would go in the mornings for breakfast and chat in Chinese with Sabine, claiming she wanted to practice the language so she wouldn’t forget. She quickly became friends with the woman and also got to know her husband Tom. In the mornings, their beautiful young daughter Marinette was often rushing off to school as she had a tendency to oversleep. Emilie never had a chance to talk to the girl but smiled fondly at her thinking that maybe it could be time for Adrien to start going to school and make some friends like her.

            After breakfast, she would hide out in her study with Duusu. She didn’t transform every day, but she did use the kwami when she felt that they could do some good. She kept her water and cough drops nearby and even started having more vitamins added to her diet, but she couldn’t deny that she was steadily feeling weaker, like a sickness was very slowly taking over her. She was sure she hid it well enough from Gabriel, but she thought that Nathalie might be more wary. Nevertheless, she would think of the people she had already helped, like the Dupain-Chengs, and knew that she couldn’t give up just because she felt a little sick.

            On days when she would transform, she would often need an afternoon nap, but she tried to spend her evenings with Adrien as much as possible, usually eating dinner with him. She also had to make time for Gabriel and Nathalie so they wouldn’t be too suspicious. She loved spending time with her family, but she still felt like her true purpose was to use the peacock miraculous to stop any evil she could find in her city.

            Gabriel surprised her one morning when he decided to pay her a visit in her study. She was sitting on her chaise lounge by the window when she heard a soft knock at the door. She hurriedly placed her peacock brooch into a wooden box she kept on a nearby table along with some books and papers that had been left there to give the appearance that Emilie stayed busy at something other than pretending to be a superhero. She quietly closed the lid of the box as the doorknob slowly turned and Gabriel stepped in. “Emilie?” he quietly called. “May I come in?”

            “Yes, Gabe, of course,” Emilie replied.

            He made his way to a chair beside the table and sat down across from her. “Nathalie tells me you’ve been spending your mornings in here,” he said. “I was just wondering what you were up to.”

            Emilie chuckled and replied, “I don’t really have much to do these days. Nathalie’s pretty much taken over Adrien’s schooling, and I’m not working anymore. I guess I’m trying to find a new hobby.”

            “Or an old one?” Gabriel inquired, picking up a stack of papers that had been stapled together. Emilie suddenly realized he had picked up a script from a show she had acted in years before. That script must have been sitting on this table for a long time, and she had never realized it. “Did you want to get back into acting?” he asked her.

            “Oh, no, of course not,” Emilie answered, waving her hand as if to brush the thought aside. “I had to travel so much when I was acting. I would never get to see Adrien.”

            “But you loved it at one time,” Gabriel pointed out.

            Emilie sighed and said, “Yes, I did.” She bit her lip. She hadn’t thought about getting back into acting for such a long time. Maybe it could distract her from this unhealthy obsession she had developed?

            Suddenly, Emilie doubled over into a coughing fit. Gabriel jumped up, grabbing the glass of water on the table and handing it to her. She managed to swallow a few mouthfuls before the coughing finally subsided.

            “You’ve been so weak lately,” Gabriel remarked, rubbing her back. “Should I call the doctor?”

            “No, I’m fine,” Emilie said in a shaky voice before a few more stray coughs escaped.

            “I don’t think you’re fine,” Gabriel said a little more harshly, helping her to stand and guiding her to the bedroom, where he gently helped her into bed.

            Emilie wanted to protest, but the bed felt so soft, and the pillow seemed to be enveloping her head as she lay back on it. She drifted in and out of sleep and noticed at one point that Gabriel’s personal doctor was there. She wanted to say that it was unnecessary but couldn’t seem to sit up or get her mouth to work in order to speak. Soon, blackness took over, and the bed swallowed her up again.

            When she finally woke up, the light outside her window had faded into darkness. She rolled over and gasped to see that Nathalie was sitting on the edge of the bed. A worried expression fell across the brunette’s face.

            “I was almost afraid you wouldn’t wake up,” Nathalie breathed, lightly stroking Emilie’s cheek.

            “W-why would you think that?” Emilie stammered.

            “You just didn’t seem like you wanted to wake up,” Nathalie replied. “The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with you, either. He said you must be stressed about something because there was no physical reason for you to be so tired. He even said your lungs sounded clear and couldn’t give an explanation as to why you keep having those coughing fits.”

            “It’s probably just dusty in my study,” Emilie answered with a nervous laugh. “I should go outside more.”

            Nathalie narrowed her eyes and said, “You’d tell me if something was going on, right?”

            Emilie’s voice caught in her throat for a moment. She swallowed and replied, “O-of course, Nathalie. N-nothing’s going on.”

            “It’s just…” Nathalie’s voice trailed off as if she was trying to find the right words to say, which was unusual for the most quick-witted woman Emilie had ever met. She cleared her throat and continued in her usual straight-to-the-point manner, “Ever since you and Gabriel discovered those creatures in that jewelry, you seem to be getting sicker and sicker. Did it affect you so strongly? I mean, you haven’t used it again... have you?”

            “No, of course not!” Emilie replied quickly. Too quickly, she thought. She took a deep breath and placed her hand over Nathalie’s hand and said, “I’m okay, Nathalie. Don’t worry. It’s true I haven’t been feeling like myself lately, but I just need to get out more.”

            Nathalie smiled softly. She seemed like she was about to say something but was interrupted by a sudden voice saying, “Mother? Are you all right?”

            Both women turned their heads to see Adrien slowly pushing open the bedroom door and peering around it.

            “Oh, Adrien!” Emilie exclaimed. “I must have missed dinner! I’m so sorry!”

            Adrien slowly made his way to the bed just as Nathalie stood up. “I’ll leave you two alone,” she said with the slightest of nods before departing the room.

            Emilie took Adrien’s hand as he sat down next to her on the bed. “Are you sick, Mother?” he asked.

            “Just a little, baby, but I’ll be all right,” Emilie answered. “I’m so sorry I slept through dinner.”

            “It’s okay, Mother,” Adrien replied.

            “How was fencing today?”

            Adrien shrugged. “It was okay. I beat everyone in my class again.”

            “Well, that’s wonderful!”

            “I guess.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just so easy for me. I kind of want more of a challenge. I mean, sometimes, I even try to do a little worse, but I still end up beating them.”

            “That’s okay, Adrien. Not everyone can be as good as you.”

            Adrien sighed. “It does make it a little hard to make friends, though. I mean, no one in my class seems to like me.”

            Emilie suddenly thought of the young Dupain-Cheng girl at the bakery and smiled sadly. “Yeah, you do need some more friends your age.”

            Adrien nodded. “Sometimes, I wish I could just be normal like all the other kids out there.”

            “Well, I’m sorry that you weren’t born into a normal family, Adrien.”       

            He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I hear it from Father all the time.”

            Emilie smiled and said, “I tell you what: I’ll see what I can do about possibly helping you to make some more friends your age.”

            Adrien had recently started modeling for Gabriel’s new teen line, and he had the natural ability to plaster perfect smiles on his face, bringing a spark to his photos that she hadn’t seen in the fashion industry in a while. But the smile he gave her just then surpassed all the recent modeling work she had seen from him. He lit up the room, and she couldn’t help but smile back. “Really, Mother?” he asked. “That would be awesome, thanks!”

            He leaned down to hug her, and she hugged him back as tightly as she could. “Feel better soon, Mother,” he told her as he made his way out of the room.

            “Good night, Adrien,” Emilie called softly.

            The next morning, Emilie awoke feeling much better. She took her regular morning stroll to the Dupain-Cheng bakery where she chatted with Sabine for a while and enjoyed some chocolate croissants and coffee. At one point, Sabine’s daughter stumbled in from upstairs, barely awake, as Sabine handed her a bag of pastries for breakfast and told her to have a good day at school. The girl mumbled something before walking like a zombie out of the door.

            “Will she make it to school okay?” Emilie asked. “She seems more tired than usual.”

            “She’ll be fine,” Sabine replied, returning to her coffee. “She’s an aspiring fashion designer and she keeps staying up late practicing on her sewing machine. She says she has to get it just right or she’ll never be able to break into the industry.”

            Emilie smiled to herself. She had been thinking about trying to convince Gabriel to send Adrien to public school for a while. She was hesitant to broach the subject with him, but maybe she could point out that there were nice aspiring fashion designers just like he had been once. Adrien could possibly make some friends he would approve of.

            Later that evening, as she ate dinner with Adrien and Gabriel, she remembered her thoughts from this morning. She wasn’t sure what came over her—it was a sudden burst of courage—when she blurted out, “Adrien, honey, how would you like to start going to public school in September?”

            Adrien’s face lit up. “Really?!” he exclaimed. “You really mean it?!”

            Gabriel, on the other hand, seemed to choke on his food. He grabbed his water and began gulping it down as Emilie continued speaking. “Yeah, I think you’ve done well in your lessons here at home, but you’re almost thirteen now. You’re old enough to go out and make some friends.”

            Adrien’s smile started to fade when he glanced at his father, but then his gaze shifted back to his mother as he beamed again. “That’s amazing, Mother!”

            “Now remember,” Emilie told him, “you’re probably further ahead than they will be at school. It may be a lot of review for you.”

            “That’s okay, Mother!” Adrien replied excitedly. “I don’t mind.”

            Gabriel seemed to regain his breath and spoke up. “Adrien, you look like you’re about done with your dinner. Why don’t you go up to your room now? Your mother and I need to have a discussion.”

            Adrien’s face immediately fell as he glanced back at his father. “Uh…y-yes, sir,” he stammered. He stood up and threw his arms around his mother’s neck. “Thank you so much, Mother!” he told her before hurrying up the stairs to his room.

            Once he was gone, Gabriel turned to her. “What was that, Emilie?!” he demanded.

            The smile also fell from Emilie’s face. “What do you mean, Gabe?” she asked. “We’ve talked about him going to public school.”

            “We’ve barely talked about it, and we hadn’t yet come to a decision,” he stated. “Why would you go and tell him that?!”

            “Gabriel, we can’t keep him locked up forever. He needs to get out and make some friends.”

            “He attends plenty of extracurricular activities in which to make some friends.”

            “It’s not the same as school. He doesn’t see those kids every day. And they don’t really get any extra time to just talk and hang out like teenagers do.”

            “Well…what about you? You were homeschooled your whole life, and you turned out fine.”

            “Actually…there are a few things I never told you about.” Emilie couldn’t fight back the blush that was rising to her cheeks.

            “Really? Like what?” Gabriel inquired.

            “My sister and I…we, uh…” Emilie took a deep breath before she blurted out, “We used to sneak out and go to high school and college parties.”

            “You did?” Gabriel replied incredulously. “You never told me that.”

            “Yeah, how do you think I heard about you? Some girl was gushing about your designs at one of the parties. It made me curious enough to be at that fashion show where we first met.”

            Gabriel paused for a moment, contemplating her words. When he didn’t say anything after a minute, Emilie continued, “See? Adrien needs to go out in the world. His future wife is out there. He has best friends waiting and experiences to have. At that bakery I like to go to, they have a daughter who—”

            Emilie was about to tell him about the aspiring fashion designer, but Gabriel interrupted her by snarling, “That’s where you’ve been getting these ideas. You need to stop hanging around those peasants.”

            At first, she gasped at his statement. Then she narrowed her eyes and said, “Gabriel, there’s no need to be a snob. As I recall, it was my parents who said the same thing about you.”

            Gabriel stood up from the table angrily, his chair loudly clattering to the floor behind him. “He is not going to public school!” he shouted. “This conversation is over!”

            He stormed out of the dining room, leaving his angry, bitter wife sitting at the table alone.

            Emilie spent the next few days alone in her study, only coming out to sleep in her bedroom and to have dinner with Adrien. She had her other meals delivered to her study. She did not transform but instead stared out the window, thinking about what to do next. Duusu tried her best to cheer her up. At dinners with Adrien, she had not told him that his father refused to allow him to attend public school, but he seemed to already know. He would smile at her, but she could still see the sadness in his bright green eyes.

            “I should’ve talked to Gabriel about it first,” she told Duusu one morning. “I should not have gotten Adrien’s hopes up.” She let out a long sigh.

            “You could transform and help someone out,” Duusu suggested, excitedly spinning around in circles. “That always makes you feel better!”

            “But is it safe, Duusu?” Emilie asked. “I feel like I’ve been getting sicker the longer I’ve been using your miraculous.”

            “Of course it’s safe!” Duusu exclaimed. “You had a break for a few days, and you’ve recovered fully! You’re strong enough to transform now!”

            “You think so?” Emilie replied. She turned back to the window to watch the people walking around. “I have sort of missed it.”

            After a couple of hours of people-watching, however, Emilie sighed and said, “I can’t sense anyone who needs help right now. I seem to be here at the wrong time of day, Duusu.”

            “What do you mean, Miss Emilie?”

            “Well, have you heard of the new serial killer?” Emilie asked, pulling out her phone. “They’re saying he’s on his way to being the most prolific serial killer Paris has seen since the Beast of Bastille.”

            “Oh, that sounds terrible!” Duusu replied, shuddering.

            Emilie scrolled through the new story on her phone. “So far, he’s attacked and killed four women. But he only attacks at night. Police have warned women about walking alone at night.”

            “It sounds like something we could probably help with, Miss Emilie!”

            “Yeah, it’s not like I’ve been able to sleep at night anyway.”

            Marie cursed under her breath as she quickly made her way down the dark sidewalk. Why had she stayed past her tour to help that one last student who wandered into the tutoring center at closing time? Now she had to walk home alone in the dark. And with a serial killer on the loose, no less.

            She gripped her can of mace tighter in her hand as she turned around a blind curve. She could walk this neighborhood in her sleep. Just five more minutes, and she would be safe in her apartment…

            A blinding pain suddenly caused her vision to go black for a moment as something heavy slammed into the side of her head. She lost her balance and felt herself falling to her knees. She lost her grip on the mace and could hear the can rolling down the cobblestone street. She reached out for it but felt nothing in the dark.

            It was then that she felt a large hand wrapping around her throat and felt a brick wall slam against her back as she was forced to her feet. The hand loosened only for her to feel cold metal pressing against her throat. She blinked a few times as her vision slowly came back into focus, blurry at first. The next thing she saw was a horribly ugly man with huge bulging eyes sneering at her under the brim of an oversized top hat. “Hello to you, girlie,” he greeted at her in broken French. He had a heavy accent, but she couldn’t quite place it. Eastern European, possibly. “You give me your money, yeah?”

            “Y-yes, of c-course,” Marie stammered, attempting to reach for the strap of her purse on her other shoulder.

            However, before she could hand it to him, he yanked it off her shoulder, laughing. He pulled it so hard, she let out a whine from the pain. He moved closer to her face. She could smell his foul breath as he said, “No worries, it will not hurt anymore.”

            She felt his sharp blade pressing into her throat and felt a sudden pain as it cut through the skin. She felt something wet roll down her throat. Afraid to swallow, she began to think that this was it for her.

            “Don’t worry, I’m here to help you.”

            At first, she thought the voice was just her own conscience talking to her as she started to die. Or maybe the ghost of her grand-mère was there to help her to the other side. She thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and decided that it was definitely that ghost she had thought of.

            She realized the voice was not coming from herself or her grand-mère when it said, “I have turned your mace can into a sentimonster. I am giving you the power to control it. You can use it in self-defense against your attacker.”

            Marie heard the man gasp just as she realized the blade was no longer pressing into her throat. She opened her eyes to see that his gaze was not focused on her anymore but on something that seemed to be next to her. She allowed her eyes to follow his and saw—no, there’s no way she saw what she thought she saw. Perhaps she had already died and gone to some weird afterlife plane of existence. Because what she thought she saw was her mace can now ten times its original size standing on what appeared to be metal legs. The can itself was also sporting some metal arms sprouting from either side.

            Well, if she was already dead, she had nothing to lose, did she? Deciding to follow the advice of the strange voice in her head, she mentally told the monster to move. She jumped when it actually did and heard the clatter of the knife falling to the ground as her attacker dropped it in surprise. She told the monster to move towards the man. As it obeyed her, the killer’s big eyes appeared to bulge out of his head even more as he slowly backed up against a building, softly whimpering.

            Marie relaxed now that she was no longer being forced against the wall and thought to herself, This is a can of mace, isn’t it? She used her new abilities to mentally press the button on top of the can just as she shielded her eyes. She could hear a loud spraying noise coming from the can and could hear the man screaming. She felt droplets of mace landing harmlessly on her hands as she held them tight over her eyes. The man screamed and screamed, but she continued to tell the “sentimonster”—that’s what she had called it, right?—to spray until it sounded like there was nothing left in the can. When it stopped, the night was deathly quiet except for a few whimpers she could hear coming from her former attacker.

            Later, the police were amazed that Marie managed to mace the serial killer as much as she had from such a tiny can. They took the small can into evidence as an EMT looked over Marie’s superficial injuries. The killer had been placed into an armored ambulance, and several police officers had thanked Marie and congratulated her on her survival. Everything passed by in a blur to her. What the hell had happened? She still wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t already died.

            When Emilie de-transformed in her study, it was different from when she usually de-transformed. Usually, she could see the magic fade away as Duusu started to appear in front of her. She would feel weaker but still awake and proud of what she had accomplished.

            This time, however, it seemed like her vision was refusing to refocus. She could hear Duusu talking, but the kwami sounded so far away. She started coughing and gagging and fell to her knees. She struggled to stand, but it felt as if her arms and legs wouldn’t work. She reached out, trying to find her glass of water. She felt it but couldn’t grasp it, instead knocking it over onto the carpet. She could feel a wet spot where the water had spilled. Her vision went black, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath through the coughing. She was sure she could hear Nathalie’s voice screaming at her now, but she seemed even farther away than Duusu. The coughing finally started to subside, and she tried to answer, but it felt like it took so much effort just to speak. She let out a few more whimpers as she felt soft clouds envelop her. Her vision had already faded, but everything around her seemed to continue to get darker and darker. She felt warmer, and the noises around her faded until she felt soft and comfortable and at peace…

            Nathalie had drifted off to sleep in the room next door to Emilie’s study. She had been working on some of Adrien’s lesson plans while also trying to schedule fittings and viewings of Gabriel’s new line when her head had fallen to the desk and she had passed out from exhaustion. The next thing she knew, she heard terrible coughing coming from Emilie’s study.

            What’s she doing in there? she thought. I thought she was in bed.

            She rushed inside the study to find Emilie sprawled on the floor coughing her lungs out. A tiny voice was screaming, “Miss Emilie!” over and over. Nathalie realized with a start it was that peacock kwami thing they had discovered over a year earlier. The one Emilie had assured her she was no longer using.

            “Out of the way, you damn creature!” Nathalie exclaimed, swatting it away as she ran to Emilie’s prone body. “Emilie!” she called. “Can you breathe?”

            She pressed an emergency call button on her phone that called Gabriel who had fallen asleep in his studio down the hall. He was there within seconds, but by the time he made it, Emilie had stopped coughing and closed her eyes.

            “She still has a pulse, sir,” Nathalie said, feeling the side of her neck. “She just won’t wake up.”

            “Emilie!” Gabriel exclaimed, lightly shaking her. “Emilie, wake up! What’s going on?”

            “It’s because of that, sir,” Nathalie said, narrowing her eyes at the scared blue kwami that was curled up in a shaking ball on the chaise lounge.

            “You!” Gabriel exploded, jumping up.

            Duusu squeaked and flew out of his grasp as he reached for her. “You convinced her to keep using the miraculous, didn’t you?” he demanded.

            “I’m so sorry, sir,” Duusu replied in a rushed voice. “I thought she was strong. I thought she would be okay.”

            “Well, wake her up!” Gabriel ordered.

            “I-I can’t, sir,” Duusu stammered.

            “What do you mean you can’t?!” Gabriel roared.

            “M-my magic is damaged,” Duusu shakily explained. “N-nothing can wake her.”

            Gabriel was about to scream something else but instead buried his hands in his hair, pulling on the perfectly coiffed strands. Nathalie held Emilie’s head in her lap as tears fell down her cheeks.

            Adrien awoke to the sun streaming into his bedroom. Strange, Nathalie hadn’t woken him for breakfast or lessons. He glanced at his bedside clock. 9:30? Was that right? He had never been allowed to sleep that late before.

            He padded downstairs but stopped with a gasp as he saw his father and Nathalie talking with a police officer in the foyer. “Did she have any enemies?” the officer was asking. “Maybe a crazed fan who was mad she quit acting or something?”

            “No one comes to mind at the moment,” Gabriel said quietly. He appeared tired and shaken, nothing like the man Adrien knew and feared. He appeared to be in the same clothes he had worn the day before, except that they were badly wrinkled, tie undone and shirt partially unbuttoned.

            Nathalie looked up and noticed Adrien standing at the foot of the stairs. She whispered something to Gabriel and then made her way to him.

            “Come, Adrien,” she told him, ushering him back up the stairs. “We will not be having lessons today.”

            “What’s going on, Nathalie?” Adrien asked. “W-where’s Mother?”

            But she pushed him back into his bedroom and shut the door without a reply.

            Gabriel sat by his wife’s side in a back bedroom even Adrien hadn’t known about. She appeared to sleep peacefully in the hardly used dusty bed. Her hands were folded over her chest as if she were ready to be buried.

            Gabriel sighed and let his head fall into his hands. How could this have happened? If only he had known she was still using that damned miraculous.

            He looked up as Nathalie almost silently opened the door and closed it behind her. She quickly strode across the room and sat beside him, taking his hand in her own. “How are we going to make it without her?” Gabriel asked her.

            “I don’t know, sir,” she replied.

            They sat in silence for a while. The official story was that she had disappeared in the night, possibly kidnapped. Gabriel tried to make it sound like she hadn’t left on her own, as none of her things were missing, but he knew the cops thought she left him. They probably weren’t spending a lot of resources on finding her. It didn’t matter anyway since she wasn’t actually gone.

            Adrien had taken it hard. He had seemed confused at first and couldn’t believe she was gone. Nathalie had mostly dealt with him, as Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to face him.

            There were also a few trusted doctors that Gabriel had called to check her condition. They knew what the news was saying, but it was amazing how much doctors could keep from the press when you paid them enough. They, however, couldn’t find anything wrong with her, just as Gabriel had feared would happen.

            “What will you do now, sir?” Nathalie finally asked him.

            “I’m…not sure, Nathalie,” Gabriel answered slowly. “I have been thinking that perhaps I will use the other miraculous to find out some answers on my own.”

            “Will you pick up where she left off?”

            “What—become a superhero?” he scoffed. “Not likely. The people of this damned city don’t deserve a superhero. They didn’t deserve her. She sacrificed herself to protect them, and they don’t even know, nor would they care.”

            Nathalie nodded, agreeing with him, as she turned back to watch the love of her life. She looked so beautiful as she slept.

            “Emilie was a good person, and she tried to do the right thing,” Gabriel continued, “but I am not her. And I will find a way to save her, by any means necessary.”

Chapter Text

            “I always found it odd that you live on a boat,” Kagami declared.

            Luka chuckled and replied, “Technically, it’s a houseboat. And people live in them. It’s a thing.”

            Luka and Kagami were sitting on the couch in Luka’s living room. Ever since the fateful night of the graduation party at Adrien’s house, they had been hanging out more and more. It seemed like an unlikely pairing, but the more they talked, the more they realized they had in common and just enjoyed each other’s company in general.

            Kagami enjoyed Luka’s quiet demeanor and how she could relax in his presence. She would often bring her homework to his house and just work on it while he practiced his guitar. She found the music soothing, which was something she never thought she would appreciate. Of course, she had loved when Adrien played the piano because she had always believed that the piano was a more refined instrument than the guitar. But when she really sat and listened to Luka play the guitar, she realized how magical and beautiful the music coming from those strings could be. And when you really thought about it, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. The piano was technically a stringed instrument, too, after all.

            Luka also enjoyed the quiet afternoons he spent with Kagami, but at the same time, he enjoyed their discussions. She was often studying something from history or literature that peaked his interest, and they would end up in lively conversations about it. When he wasn’t practicing music, he was reading any book he could find, and it was always nice to find someone to exchange ideas with. He had had discussions with Marinette, of course, but she wasn’t as much of a reader and was more the type to want to go out and do something. Luka had enjoyed the quiet days he spent with her, watching her get absorbed in her latest design creation, but he had gotten the feeling that she sort of resented it and wished they would go out more.

           On this particular afternoon, Luka was struggling to write some new music for his band Kitty Section while Kagami was trying to get some reading done for a summer literature class she was taking. While Luka played different notes on his guitar, stopping occasionally to write something down, Kagami was beginning to wonder why she had taken that guidance counselor’s advice and had enrolled in this course. Frustrated, she dropped her book on the coffee table and said, “Luka, can you teach me how to read music?”

            Luka chuckled and replied, “Tired of reading classic literature, huh?”

            “I just need a break,” Kagami answered.

            “And you think learning music will be a break?” Luka asked.

            “Sure, it doesn’t seem that hard.”

            Luka scoffed and replied, “Okay, let’s hear you play something,” and handed her his guitar.

            A horrified expression came to Kagami’s face as she took the guitar and said, “I just told you I don’t read music.”

            “Oh, please, I was playing by ear long before I learned how to read music. Aren’t you good at everything, Miss Tsurugi?” he teased.

            “Hmph,” Kagami mumbled, and began strumming the strings. “Sure, I can play something.” She continued to strum, but no recognizable sound came from them.

            After a few minutes, Luka gently took his guitar back, saying, “It’s okay, not everyone can play by ear.”

            Kagami let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Well, just teach me how to read music.”

            “Yes, ma’am,” Luka replied with a chuckle. He pulled out some of the lined paper he had been working on. “Okay,” he said, pointing to a section of lines, “this is a measure.”

            “Why are there numbers on it?” Kagami asked.

            “The fours mean it’s 4/4 time, also known as common time,” Luka answered. “That means there’s four beats in each measure. The lines represent notes on my guitar and each symbol on them tells me how many beats to play at each note.”

            “This sounds more complicated than I previously thought,” Kagami commented.

            “Careful, Kagami, I might think you’re starting to gain an appreciation for music,” Luka told her with a wink. Kagami narrowed her eyes at him while he continued, “These symbols are called notes and they will always add up to four in each measure. Well, in this particular piece of music since the measures are in 4/4 time. This is a quarter note, this a half note, and this is a whole note.”

            “Oh, so there’s math involved?” Kagami inquired.

            “Yeah, it is sort of like math,” Luka replied. “See, even musicians can have some intelligence. I may even be able to help you with your book there.” He nodded to the paperback she had discarded on the coffee table.

            “Ugh,” Kagami huffed, picking up the book. “I don’t know why you French people are so obsessed with this Voltaire guy.”

            “Are you kidding?” Luka responded. “Voltaire was amazing. He was way ahead of his time. He got imprisoned and exiled from France because he believed in religious freedom and the separation of church and state. And his best work is the one you’re holding there. I love Candide.”

            “I don’t know what’s so great about it,” Kagami answered, opening the book and trying to find her place again. “The teacher said it’s a satire, but the way he talks about it is just so dry and boring. I mean, I can read French, but I don’t seem to be getting it.”

            “Voltaire was making fun of the religious beliefs in his times,” Luka explained. “But it’s also full of slapstick comedy. Try to keep track of how many times Cunegonde dies or how many times Candide gets flogged and should have died. And then Pangloss just keeps saying they’re in the best of all possible worlds. It’s like an insane cartoon.”

            “Hm, well, it does sound a little more interesting when you explain it to me,” Kagami admitted. “I guess you’re getting me to appreciate new things today.”

            “You know what I appreciate?” Luka asked, his voice dropping a few octaves.

            “What?”

            “The way the light coming in through the window shines on your hair and adds a little sparkle to your eyes.”

            Kagami blushed and let out a nervous laugh. “Y-you’re such a hopeless romantic,” she stammered.

            “Maybe,” Luka replied, softly stroking her cheek. Kagami closed her eyes at his touch. He leaned in and softly brushed his lips against hers. She sunk her hands into his strands of blue hair and began kissing him back, their kisses slowly increasing in fervor. He pressed her into the couch cushions and climbed on top of her. His tongue traced her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth to allow him in, deepening the kiss. His fingertips softly brushed the skin just under the hem of her shirt.

            Kagami broke the kiss only to whisper, “Is the rest of your family here?”

            “Let’s move this to my room,” he replied huskily.

            Luka stood from the couch and, before Kagami could stand, picked her up bridal style and carried her to his room as she let out a squeal. Upon entering the bedroom, he shut the door with his foot, almost dropping Kagami in the process, and then quickly deposited the laughing girl on his bed. He climbed on top of her and looked down at her with a smirk. “Now where were we?” he said, moving in for a kiss without waiting for her reply.

            Kagami felt like she had never been kissed like this before. Luka pressed his lips against hers so softly before slowly deepening the kiss, pushing in his tongue to taste her. She responded, moaning into his mouth as he pressed his body against hers. He lifted her skirt slightly and pushed his thigh in between her legs, kissing her harder as moans escaped from her mouth. She tightened her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers through his blue locks.

            This was the most they had ever done before. Kagami had enjoyed lazy afternoons with Luka and already felt so close to him. He hadn’t yet made a move on her until today, but he had also made it obvious that he wanted to with side glances and little movements. Now that they were making out, he was holding nothing back. Adrien had been so shy and timid at first, and Kagami had felt like she had had to instruct him, but Luka was currently taking charge. She had thought it was cute how shy Adrien had been, but now she was suddenly enjoying Luka pushing himself on top of her as he shoved his tongue down her throat and let his hands wander all over her body.

            Luka had been so used to Marinette stopping him at the beginning of their relationship that he kept glancing to Kagami in a sort of bid for permission as he moved his hands around her body and under her clothes. At first, she nodded and then she started allowing her own hands to wander his body, and finally she just just lifted her shirt and put his hands on her boobs. That made things clear enough for Luka. Of course, he always wanted to make sure his partner was comfortable, but if Kagami wanted him to touch her, he would definitely oblige. He massaged her breasts, stopping only to pull her shirt the rest of the way off and unhook her bra. Then his mouth went to one of her nipples, flicking it with his tongue before sucking on it to the sound of her beautiful moans.

            When Luka sat up, Kagami quickly pulled his shirt off him and ran her hands over the planes of his chest and stomach. He wasn’t a model like Adrien, but he wasn’t too bad himself. He clearly did spend some time working out, Kagami noticed as she traced her fingers over the lines of muscles. He smiled as she touched him and then bent down to lavish attention on her other breast as she groaned in approval, wrapping her arms and legs around him. She felt his erection pressing into her crotch just as he gave a particularly hard suck to her nipple, and a moan escaped her throat followed by a whisper of “Oh, Luka.” She wasn’t sure he had heard her until he looked at her with a smirk. His hooded eyes screamed, “Sex!” and Kagami decided right then that that was all she wanted.

            He returned to her body, kissing between her breasts, down her stomach, until he reached the top of her skirt. He started to look up, but she hooked his fingers into the skirt and pushed down so that he could easily pull it and her panties off in one motion. He moved slowly but deliberately, softly kissing and licking each part of her skin until he reached her clit. When he began to softly lick the sensitive nub, Kagami cried out. It had taken so long to teach Adrien how to do that, and here was Luka doing it immediately.

            He circled his tongue around her clit, relishing in her appreciative moans and cries, slowly pushing one, then two fingers into her. She lifted her hips and thrust herself against his fingers as he began pumping them into her. He lowered his tongue to her folds, moving it in along with his fingers, pumping rhythmically, occasionally flicking his tongue back to her clit. He moved his fingers faster but continued to taste as much of her as he could.

            Kagami could feel the pressure building in her abdomen. She grabbed on to Luka’s hair, the sheets, the head board, whatever she could grab. Her moans increased in volume until she was crying out. Something released from inside her and she couldn’t have controlled her own cries even if she had wanted to. Her head swam delightfully as stars swirled in her vision. She felt herself releasing onto Luka’s face and hand as he showed no signs of slowing down.

            Finally, Kagami caught her breath as Luka lifted his head from between her legs and slowed his fingers, softly ghosting them over her folds. She opened her eyes and glanced down to see that he was still wearing his pants. Well, that just wouldn’t do. She reached down to unbutton and unzip them with one hand. Luka smirked and pulled his pants off the rest of the way, allowing his erection to spring free.

            Kagami wasted no time sitting up and then kneeling into his lap, softly pressing her tongue against his tip. Luka groaned as Kagami slowly licked up and down his length. He then gasped as she took him into her mouth, bobbing her head up and down his length as she used her hands to hold him steady. She slowly began to increase her speed when he began to push up on her chin until she released him. She looked up at him, confused at first, until she realized that at some point he had grabbed a condom from his nightstand drawer.

            “If you keep that up, I won’t last much longer,” he told her. Gesturing to the condom, he asked, “Did you want to?”

            “God, yes,” Kagami replied without a second thought.

            He roughly kissed her on her mouth but at the same time so gently pushed her back onto the bed. Kagami heard him rip open the condom package, and he pulled away just for a second to put it on. Then he was on his knees on top of her, straddling her and lining himself up with her. He looked at her for a moment before she demanded, “Fuck me already, Luka.”

            He bit his lip to stop himself from coming just at her command and pushed himself into her. He began a steady rhythm, but Kagami arched her back and pushed herself more roughly against him until they had both picked up the pace. She lifted herself up onto her elbows, and he wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her up into a sitting position in his lap. She pressed her feet against the bed so she could bounce on him as he thrust into her more forcefully. Her breasts brushed against his chest as she threw her arms around him, nails digging into his back. She bit the area between his neck and shoulder in an attempt to stifle her cries, and he groaned and pushed harder and harder. They both started to cry out as they each moved faster and faster until they both released and collapsed onto the bed, trying to catch their breath.

            Kagami lay back against Luka’s pillows as she felt his arm wrap around her waist. “That was…uh…” she panted. “I’m not sure I know the French word for it.”

            “Incredible?” Luka suggested. “Amazing? Fucking awesome?”

            Kagami laughed and replied, “All of the above.” She rolled over to softly kiss Luka’s lips, twisting her fingers lightly in his hair.

            “Mmm,” Luka moaned into the kiss. “I’m so glad I met you, Kagami.”

            Kagami smiled and answered, “I, too, am glad you met me.”

Chapter Text

            Gabriel sat at his desk holding his head in his hands. That Prada party had given him a pounding headache that simply wouldn’t go away, and now the Rossi girl was in his office screaming something about Adrien and waving her phone at him. “Look at it! Just look at it!” she was yelling.

            “Just hand it to me, please,” Gabriel sighed, holding out his hand.

            Lila thrust the phone at him, and he looked down to see a picture of Adrien in what appeared to be a dark alley. The Dupain-Cheng girl—he knew it was her by the dress she had worn to the party—was on her knees before him, and—”Oh my God!” Gabriel exclaimed, practically throwing the phone back at the Italian girl. “Why would you show me that?!”

            “Because you told me Adrien would be mine!” Lila seethed. “You failed to mention the girl he’s already dating!”

            “Look, I can’t control the boy,” Gabriel started to say.

            “Oh, please, isn’t that your whole fucking power?” Lila interrupted him. “Just akumatize him.”

            Gabriel looked up at her. “You want me to akumatize my own son?”

            “Yeah, weren’t you and Nathalie supposed to be cooking up some new super-akuma or something? Just use that.”

            “We’ve never tried it before.”

            Lila’s eyes narrowed. “Well, I can’t think of a better person to test it on than your sworn enemy Chat Noir.”

            Gabriel let out an exasperated sigh and said, “I shouldn’t have told you everything.”

            “Well, you did. And if you don’t fix this, every news site in Paris will somehow get a copy of this picture,” Lila threatened, holding up her phone.

            Gabriel tore his eyes away, not wanting to see the picture again. “Fine,” he conceded. “You can leave my office now.”

            “Hmph,” Lila replied, turning on her heel and storming out of the office. Gabriel winced as she slammed the door behind her.

            “Use the Italian girl,” Nathalie said. “She’ll be a great asset,” Nathalie said.

            Gabriel downed some Tylenol with a shot of the scotch he kept in his desk drawer as he started to rethink their whole plan.

            Marinette awoke to the sun streaming in through the wall of windows in Adrien’s bedroom. She realized she was naked and looked down at the mop of blonde hair on her chest. It was attached to a peacefully sleeping man who also appeared to be naked under the soft blankets that covered them both.

            “Good morning, Adrien,” Marinette murmured, softly kissing the top of his head.

            “Mmm…” Adrien mumbled, wrapping his arms around her bare waist.

            She laced her fingers into his soft blonde locks. “We should probably get up soon,” she said softly.

            “Why?” Adrien replied without opening his eyes. “I’m so comfortable here.” As if to emphasize his point, he snuggled his cheek into her breast.

            Marinette smiled and slowly wrapped her legs around his. She let one hand fall from his hair to his face where she lightly stroked his cheek. He smiled and moved closer to her breast, placing his mouth over her nipple, licking and sucking it. She quietly moaned, moving her hands down his body, feeling the well-defined muscles in his arms and back. He continued to circle his tongue around her nipple, slowly ghosting his fingers down her body until they reached just the edge of her folds. He lightly teased her a bit before gradually pushing one finger in. She moaned, faintly scraping her nails across his back. “Hm, I see that my lady wants me so early in the morning,” he murmured with approval.

            “I always want you,” she breathed.

            He lifted his head to press his lips against hers, licking her bottom lip until she opened her mouth to allow his tongue in. She could feel his erection pressing against her thigh, and she moaned into the kiss as he pushed another finger in, slowly pumping them both in and out.

            Suddenly, his phone rang loudly, and Adrien let out an exasperated groan. Marinette whined as he pulled his hand away and sat up to answer the phone. “Yes, Father,” she heard him mumble. “I’ll be right there.”

            “We don’t have time for a quickie?” Marinette asked after Adrien hung up the phone.

            He gave her his best Chat Noir grin and replied, “I never said that.”

            Several minutes later, Adrien was struggling to kiss Ladybug goodbye as he was pulling on a pair of jeans. He waved as she yo-yoed out his window, then rushed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and throw on a shirt. He had no idea what was so urgent that his father absolutely had to speak to him this morning, but he figured he probably shouldn’t push his luck by making him wait much longer.

            He arrived at his father’s office to find both Gabriel and Nathalie waiting for him. “You wanted to see me, Father?” he asked.

            “Yes, nice of you to finally join us,” Gabriel replied, looking up from his tablet.

            Adrien stepped closer to his father’s desk. “W-what is this about?” he inquired.

            Gabriel laced his fingers together, placing them under his chin. “Someone at the the party last night took a photo that was rather…incriminating,” he stated.

            Adrien cringed on the inside but tried not to show it. “And what was that?” he asked as calmly as he could manage.

            Nathalie pressed a button on her tablet and showed the picture of him and Marinette in the alley that had been so graciously forwarded by Lila. This time, Adrien was not able to hide the outward cringe. “I-I’m so s-sorry, Father,” he stammered. “Did it get leaked to the press?”

            “No, not yet,” Gabriel replied with a sigh. “I have managed to smooth things over…” he paused for dramatic effect, “for now anyway.”

            “I promise this will never happen again, Father,” Adrien declared shakily. “I-I know we should’ve waited. Next time, I’ll tell her—”

            “I’m not sure if there should be a next time, Adrien,” Gabriel interrupted.

            Adrien stopped shaking and stared at his father. “What do you mean?” he said carefully.

            Gabriel sighed as he stood up from his desk. “I mean I’m not sure if this Dupain-Cheng girl is right for you. These things never happened when you were dating Miss Tsurugi.”

            “But we broke up,” Adrien reminded him.

            “See, that’s the problem I’m having now,” Gabriel replied, turning away from his son.

            “What do you mean?” Adrien wanted to know. “What problem?”

            “Kagami’s mother and I had a sort of agreement,” Gabriel explained, facing the wall. “It involved her future…with you.” He placed emphasis on the last word as he turned to look his son in the eye. When Adrien didn’t respond, he continued, “You could call it an engagement of sorts, a betrothal, if you will.”

            “Wait,” Adrien spoke up, “are you trying to tell me I’m betrothed to Kagami?”

            Gabriel gave him a wide grin that didn’t quite look right on the normally serious man’s face. “Yes, Adrien, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Gabriel affirmed. “So you can see the predicament here.”

            “That’s ridiculous, Father,” Adrien spat back. “People aren’t betrothed these days. This isn’t the 1800’s. And we certainly aren’t royalty!”

            “Be that as it may, Adrien,” Gabriel calmly answered, “this was a very serious agreement I made with Mrs. Tsurugi.”

            “Why didn’t you ever mention it before?” Adrien demanded.

            “Well, when you two started dating, I just assumed everything would work out on its own,” Gabriel explained. “And when you ‘broke up,’ so to say and you began dating the Dupain-Cheng girl, I thought maybe you just needed a break and wanted to have a little fling.”

            “Marinette is not a fling,” Adrien declared through gritted teeth.

            “Yes, I’m beginning to see that,” Gabriel answered, “hence why I am telling you this now.”

            “You can’t make me do this,” Adrien insisted. “I’ll move out of your house. I can get modeling jobs on my own now.”

            “It would be difficult starting out without your trust fund, wouldn’t it?”

            “Half that money is from Mother’s family. It’s already in my name. You can’t touch it.”

            “I could if you were, let’s see,” he paused as if he were thinking about something, “found to be legally incompetent. Why, in your delirious state, you not only tried to break your engagement with Miss Tsurugi, but you also couldn’t possibly be trusted to handle your own funds. The court would need to appoint a guardian to you. Your only living parent, perhaps?”

            Adrien clenched his fists until his fingernails were digging into his skin. It was taking everything within him to keep from attacking his father. “You wouldn’t…” he fumed.

            “Wouldn’t I?” Gabriel responded. “Tell me again how many lawyers you have, Adrien?”

            Adrien wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off his father’s face. He was sure he could literally see red at this point. He was so angry, he failed to notice the gold coin Nathalie slipped into his back pocket or the black butterfly that followed him when he turned on his heel and escaped from the office.

            After the door slammed, the smile fell from Gabriel’s face as he turned to Nathalie and said, “You put it in his pocket, right?”

            “Yes, sir,” she replied. “You may proceed.”

            Adrien couldn’t see straight as he stormed down the hall. How dare he do this to him?! Why was he continuing to control his life? What could he possibly gain from it? It wasn’t that he cared about the money so much, but being declared legally incompetent would completely ruin him. He would never be able to get another job nor would he be free to live his life with Marinette. He couldn’t escape because his father would send people to the ends of the earth to find him, and he would have the legal right to do so.

            Without thinking, he punched the wall in the hallway as hard as he could, his fist easily breaking through the wallpaper and sheetrock beneath. He pulled it back to see blood on his knuckles but couldn’t bring himself to care because at that moment, his vision turned black. He fell to the floor and slumped against the wall. He heard a ringing booming in his ears for a minute until it started to fade away as blurry images began to return in his vision. As the ringing faded, he realized the hallway was eerily quiet. He looked around, but it was just his house. Everything seemed familiar to him, yet he felt oddly out of place. He looked at his injured hand. It still looked the same, except for the new blood from punching the wall. His clothes were the same. He felt his face and hair, which still felt the same. Maybe he had started to pass out? “Weird,” he muttered, leaning against the wall as he slowly stood up.

            His thoughts swirled in his head as he made his way back to his bedroom. Betrothed to Kagami? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. If the alternative was to be permanently under his father’s rule, he could probably make it work with Kagami again. He still wanted to be friends with her. They had always gotten along. They had a lot in common. Come to think of it, he couldn’t even remember why he had fallen for Marinette in the first place. She had always been his friend and nothing more. When had that changed? Maybe his father was right. Maybe she was just a fling. He didn’t really love her, right?

Chapter Text

            Plagg heard the bedroom door open but didn’t look up from his camembert. “What’d your old man want, kid?” he called.

            When he got no reply, the kwami looked up to see Adrien standing next to his bed, staring off into space. He appeared to be in some kind of daze. “Kid?” Plagg called, flying to his chosen. He flew a few circles around his head and then stopped in front of his face. “You okay?” he asked.

            Adrien suddenly started blinking as he shook his head. “Y-yeah,” he stammered. “I-I’m fine, I think. I just feel weird.” He furrowed his brow as he slowly sat down on the edge of his bed.

            “Weird?” Plagg repeated. “What do you mean weird?”

            “I don’t know,” Adrien replied in a voice that sounded far away. Then he let out a nervous laugh and said in his normal voice, “It’s nothing. I’m fine, Plagg.”

            “Uh-huh,” Plagg responded, unconvinced.

            Adrien went silent and appeared to be thinking. Plagg took it as a cue that the conversation was over and went back to his snack. Just as he was about to take a big bite of his delicious cheese, Adrien piped up, “I need to go see Marinette.”

            “Why?” Plagg wanted to know.

            “I need to talk to her,” Adrien replied.

            Plagg waited for him to elaborate, but when he said nothing else, the kwami answered, “Well, you don’t need me for that.”

            “Sure, I do,” Adrien declared, standing up. “Chat Noir can get there the fastest.”

            “But my camembert…” Plagg whined.

            Despite Plagg’s protest, Chat Noir was bounding over the buildings of Paris a few minutes later on his way to Marinette’s house. He landed on her balcony with a thud and politely knocked at her trap door.

            Marinette had returned from Adrien’s and gone straight back to bed. She awoke with a start at the knocking. She hadn’t expected a visit from him so soon. “Kitty?” she muttered, lifting up the trap door.

            “Good morning, Marinette,” Chat said in a monotonous voice, “I was wondering if I might speak with you?”

            Confused at his robotic gestures and still half-asleep, she nodded and opened the trap door all the way to allow her partner to come in. They both moved off her bed to the floor where he de-transformed.

            Marinette immediately noticed Plagg’s panic-stricken face as he flew out of the ring. Her eyes grew wide, but he shook his head furiously, pointing to the perfectly calm model standing next to him. Marinette got the hint and showed her best poker face to Adrien. She could’ve sworn Plagg mouthed, “Tikki” to her. Using only her eyes, she glanced up at her bed quickly and then turned to Adrien. “So what’s up, Adrien?” she asked, noticing Plagg zooming up to her bed out of the corner of her eye.

            “I just feel we need to talk,” Adrien replied without a smile or any light in his eyes or any of his usual warm demeanor.

            Marinette suddenly started feeling nervous. “W-what do we need to talk about?” she stammered.

            “My father informed me that I am betrothed to Kagami,” Adrien stated flatly.

            Marinette paused for a moment and then said, “Huh?”

            “I am to marry Kagami,” he explained.

            “I-I know what betrothed means,” Marinette responded. “I just didn’t think anyone did that anymore.” She began to feel dizzy and sat down on her desk chair.

            Adrien turned to face her but remained standing. “I think it’s for the best,” he told her.

            Marinette looked up at him. “You-you what?”

            “I think it’s for the best,” Adrien repeated. “My father can freeze all of my assets and make it extremely difficult for me to ever work again if I don’t do as he requests. We should probably break up.”

            “A-Adrien?” The words he said were bad enough, but the way he said them—that’s what was haunting her. He delivered the words like a robot with no emotion whatsoever. Like he was just giving the facts. Nothing like the Adrien she had fallen in love with.

            She stood up and grabbed his shoulders. He didn’t flinch, didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge her in any way. She stared into his eyes and he stared right back. His eyes were the same bright green they had always been. But something was different. It was like Adrien wasn’t there even though he was standing before her. It couldn’t be him, right? That’s why Plagg had looked so scared?

            “Is that really what you want, Adrien?” she asked him.

            Adrien’s face finally moved a little when he smirked at her. “Did you really think this was going to last, Marinette?” he asked in a condescending tone. “What—did you think that I, Adrien Agreste, would marry you, the baker’s daughter, of all people? And we would live happily ever after?” He let out a short laugh. “You and I both know this was a fling, right? It was fun while it lasted, but it’s over now, okay?”

            It was exactly what Marinette had feared. Even through everything, she had worried deep in her gut that he felt this way, and she had been afraid to say it. But now he was here, confirming it. She couldn’t stop the tears that streamed down her cheeks. Her hands dropped lifelessly from his arms. “Adrien?” she mumbled.

            “Aw, don’t be sad, sweetie,” Adrien told her, patronizingly wiping her cheek. “You’re a cute girl. You’ll find someone else. And you can tell everyone you once had a fling with a famous model. Now let’s not drag this on longer than we have to, huh? Plagg!” he called.

            “No, wait!” Plagg responded, but he was sucked back into the ring as Adrien called the transformation words. Marinette fell to her knees as Chat Noir bounded out of the trap door.

            “Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed, rushing down to her chosen.

            As soon as Chat Noir de-transformed in Marinette’s room, Plagg was desperate to find Tikki. Luckily, Marinette caught on quickly to what he needed, and the next thing he knew, he was on Marinette’s pillow, shaking Tikki awake.

            “What’s going on, Plagg?” Tikki mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

            “Tikki, we have a huge problem!” Plagg whisper screamed.

            “Why are you whispering?”

            “Ssh!” Plagg responded, using only his eyes to glance back down to Marinette and Adrien. Tikki followed his eyes and noticed a very emotionless Adrien starting to say some pretty horrible things to Marinette.

            “Plagg…?” Tikki whispered.

            “I don’t think we have much time. Tikki, he’s been akumatized.”

            Tikki glanced back at him. True, the way he was acting didn’t seem like him, but he still looked the same. “He doesn’t look akumatized.”

            “I don’t know how it happened, but trust me, I know he is. I could hear Hawk Moth while he was transformed.”

            Tikki’s eyes widened. “So it’s another new power Hawk Moth discovered.”

            Plagg nodded and said, “Tikki, there’s more!”

            “What?”

            “Before, we left the house, I could sense Nooroo. I don’t know how I never sensed him before. But he was there!”

            “What do you mean he was there? Nooroo was where?”

            “In the house! Nooroo is in Adrien’s house!”

            If Tikki’s eyes could get any bigger, they would’ve popped right out of her head. “Someone in Adrien’s house is using Nooroo?” she asked.

            “Plagg!” Adrien called.

            “No, wait!” Plagg yelled, but he was pulled back into the ring before he could say anything else to Tikki. The red kwami watched in shock as Chat Noir jumped up to the bed and then disappeared out the trap door. When she saw Marinette fall to her knees out of the corner of her eye, she snapped back to reality.

            “Marinette!” she called, flying down to her chosen.

            The poor girl was sobbing her eyes out with her head in her hands. “I knew it, Tikki,” she mumbled. “I always knew he felt that way.”

            “No, it wasn’t him, Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed. “Plagg said he’s been akumatized!”

            Marinette sniffed and looked up from her hands. “But-but he still looked the same.”

            Tikki shook her head. “We don’t really know what’s going on, but Plagg was sure he was akumatized. Trust me, he wouldn’t lie about that.”

            Tears continued to pour down Marinette’s cheeks. “What he said,” she was whispering. “Th-the way he looked at me…”

            Landing on her chosen’s shoulder, Tikki insisted, “Come on, Marinette, you know as well as I that that wasn’t really him. You’ve known Adrien for years. He would never say those things.”

            Marinette sniffed again and slowly nodded. “Y-you’re right,” she stuttered. “H-how did this happen?”

            “We’re not sure,” Tikki replied. “But there’s more, Marinette.” The raven-haired girl looked at her curiously but didn’t respond. “Plagg said…uh…he said…”

            “What did he say, Tikki?” Marinette wanted to know.

            The ancient being took a deep breath. “He said he could tell Nooroo was in Adrien’s house. That someone in Adrien’s house was using his power.”

            Now it was Marinette’s turn for her eyes to almost pop out of her head. She fell from her knees to her butt, trying to contemplate everything that had happened in the last few minutes. Suddenly, everything made sense. Who else wanted complete and total control of Adrien?

            “Marinette, are you okay?” Tikki called, flying toward her.

            “Tikki,” Marinette responded slowly, “Adrien’s father…is Hawk Moth.”

Chapter Text

            Chat Noir swung into his bedroom through the window he had left open to find Lila sitting on his couch. Any other time, he might’ve thought that was strange, but for some reason right then, it seemed normal to him. Isn’t it strange that I don’t find it strange? he thought but shrugged it off as he de-transformed in front of her.

            “Welcome back, Adrien,” she greeted him with a wide smile. She patted the cushion next to her. “Come sit with me.”

            A tiny voice in the back of Adrien’s mind was screaming, “No, Adrien!” (actually, it might have been Plagg), but he ignored it and went to the couch to sit next to Lila.

            Immediately, she placed one hand over his and began running her other hand through his hair just the way he liked. “What’s wrong, my Adrien?” she asked him, in the way a mother might speak to her infant. “You look like something’s bothering you.”

            “Nothing,” Adrien replied with a calm smile. “I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.” He let out a long sigh.

            “That’s right, Adrien,” Lila told him. “You stay here and relax, and I’ll take care of you.”

            “That sounds nice,” Adrien responded softly, allowing his head to rest on her shoulder.

            “No, Adrien, don’t listen to her!” Plagg yelled, flying in circles around the couch. “It’s a trick! You’ve been akumatized! Adrien!”

            Adrien began to lift his head from Lila’s shoulder.

            “And maybe we need less interference from outsiders,” Lila muttered, pulling Adrien’s ring from his finger. In an instant, Plagg disappeared. “That’s better,” Lila said cheerfully,  dropping the ring in her pocket. Adrien relaxed against her once again. She laced her fingers in his hair and wrapped her other arm around him.

            After taking some time to calm down and transform, Ladybug arrived at Adrien’s house just in time to see him cuddling with Lila in his bedroom. Ugh, that makes me sick, she thought. The window was still open, so she let herself in.

            “Ladybug!” Lila exclaimed, fake enthusiasm dripping from her voice. “How nice of you to visit us!”

            “There is no us, Lila,” Ladybug declared. “Adrien isn’t yours. I know he’s akumatized.”

            “Are you sure about that?” Lila replied with a smirk. “Maybe he just doesn’t want you anymore, Marinette!”

            Ladybug gasped. Now that was a plot twist she hadn’t been expecting.

            Lila giggled. “You didn’t know I knew, did you?” she teased. “Well, I do, and now Adrien is mine!”

            She began to tighten her arms around Adrien. But then something happened that Lila hadn’t been expecting. Adrien pulled away from her and said, “Yours? I’m not yours. I’m supposed to marry Kagami.”

            Lila’s mouth dropped open. For a moment, she just stared at Adrien. Finally, she squeaked out, “Kagami?”

            “Yes, my father told me I’m betrothed to her,” Adrien explained. “I’m very sorry, Lila. But we can still be friends.”

            Ladybug burst into laughter. “You didn’t expect that, Lila, did you?!” she exclaimed.

            Lila made a growling sound before she grabbed Adrien by the shoulders and screamed in his face, “That’s not what you promised, Gabriel!”

            Adrien furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment before his eyes glazed over and he appeared to be in a trancelike state. Ladybug saw the bright purple outline of a butterfly appear over his face and then slowly fade away. So Lila knows, too, and she’s working with him, Ladybug thought.

            Lila let go of Adrien and made her way to Ladybug. “You’re the one I need to get rid of,” she seethed, her voice lowering a few octaves. “I’ll deal with Gabriel later, but you’re really the one in my way.”

            “Lila, you can’t make Adrien love you,” Ladybug told her.

            “Maybe not yet,” Lila replied with a smirk. “Not without your miraculous, anyway.”

            Lila lunged for Ladybug’s earrings, the superhero only realizing what was happening about half a second before the Italian hit her mark, barely dodging out of the way. “Argh!” Lila screamed. She ran towards Ladybug and jumped through the air, raising her leg for a kick aimed right at the heroine’s head. Ladybug threw her yo-yo around Lila’s outstretched leg, sending her tumbling to the ground.

            “De-transform and fight me yourself, Marinette!” Lila ordered.

            “I don’t know why you think I’m Marinette,” Ladybug replied, holding up her arms as if she were ready to attack.

            Lila charged her again, throwing punches with both hands, landing one square in Ladybug’s jaw. Ladybug managed to stay on her feet, grabbing the girl’s hair and tossing her aside like a rag doll. She used her yo-yo to go up to the second floor of Adrien’s room to catch her breath.

            “If you’re not Marinette, de-transform and prove it!” Lila called, pulling herself to her feet.

            “Nice try, Lila,” Ladybug answered.

            Lila cried out in frustration and began looking around the room for a weapon. She grabbed a few of Adrien’s smaller trophies and starting throwing them at Ladybug who found the girl had extremely good aim as she jumped around the balcony to dodge the projectiles. A heavier trophy crashed through the glass railing, causing Ladybug to use her yo-yo to jump out of the way. Lila took her chance to race up the spiral staircase holding a large trophy above her head. Ladybug almost crashed into her trying to jump off the balcony, but Lila slammed the trophy into the superhero’s side, throwing her against the bookshelves.

            The heroine hardly had a chance to gasp in pain before she saw Lila approaching with the trophy. Thinking fast, she reached behind her for whatever was on the shelves and begin throwing them at Lila. The Italian girl used the trophy at first to block the flying books, DVD’s, and video games, but as it slowed her down quite a bit, Ladybug was able to gather more strength to continue her onslaught of what seemed like never-ending ammunition. Soon, Lila was forced to drop the trophy and turn away so that the objects only hit her back as she jumped over the balcony railing and slid down the fireman’s pole back to the first floor.

            Using her yo-yo, Ladybug quickly followed her. In the split second between Ladybug’s yo-yo releasing from the balcony and her feet landing on the floor, Lila let loose a spinning kick that connected with the superhero’s legs, causing her to fall backwards. Ladybug landed hard on the floor, letting out a loud grunt. Lila tried lunging at her before she had a chance to stand up, but the heroine was quick; she used her arms to propel her feet forwards, delivering a double kick to Lila’s stomach. The Italian girl stumbled backwards into Adrien’s dance revolution machine, setting off the lights and music. She cried out in pain and frustration and quickly righted herself to charge once more.

            Meanwhile, Adrien had been fighting his own internal battle with Hawk Moth. His consciousness faded in and out as he alternated between watching the girls fight and feeling an intense pain in his head. Hawk Moth was trying to tell him something, but he seemed far away. Suddenly, his voice was booming in his head, telling him to leave the girls and go find Nathalie or his father. But his Lady… He couldn’t leave her…

            Adrien’s own voice pushed its way through to the front of his mind. There’s gotta be an akumatized object on me somewhere, he thought. What could it be?

            He began feeling his pockets when Hawk Moth sent another searing pain through his head. He cried out and fell to his knees, gripping the sides of his head. He reached for his couch to try to balance himself to stand, but his hand slipped and his feet seemed to go numb and slip out from under him. He fell hard on his tailbone. Letting out a tiny whine, he thought he felt something pressing into his right butt cheek. The model pushed himself back up and rolled over. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a strange gold coin he had never seen before. He was examining it when the sound of his dance revolution machine coming on brought him back to the girls’ fight.

            He saw that Ladybug was on her feet when Lila came at her. They both gripped onto each other’s arms, trying to force the other down. Ladybug was a little surprised at the sheer hatred in Lila’s eyes. She may have been a little distracted by it because she was caught off guard when Lila lifted her leg and kneed the heroine in the stomach. Ladybug let go of Lila’s arms and fell backwards onto Adrien’s bed. Lila grabbed the globe from Adrien’s desk and went to slam it into Ladybug’s head, but she rolled out of the way just in time. The globe landed harmlessly on the mattress. Ladybug turned and ran up the skate ramp, vaulting onto what was left of the balcony. Lila followed her and managed to also land in front of her. She threw a punch at the heroine but missed. They took turns throwing punches and missing until the battle devolved into a slap fight with both of them screaming obscenities at each other.

            Something stirred within Adrien as he watched. Th-that’s kinda hot, he thought.

            Back in his butterfly lair, Hawk Moth rolled his eyes. This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to akumatize Adrien. He had spent too much time in the head of teenage boys for his liking, but he especially didn’t want to be privy to his son’s private thoughts. He sighed and declared, “Adrien, you need to get out of there. Stop thinking with your hormones.”

            “Father?” Adrien said aloud, suddenly feeling very confused.

            Oh, shit! Hawk Moth thought. “N-no, of course n-not!” he stammered.

            Finally, Ladybug had had enough of the girl fight and hooked her yo-yo to the rafters of the ceiling and swung away, kicking Lila in the face in the process. The Italian fell hard on her ass while Ladybug landed on the first floor of the room. “Ugh,” Lila groaned in frustration. “That’s it! I’m done with this shit!”

            She took something out of her pocket and put it on her finger just as Ladybug realized in horror that it was Chat Noir’s miraculous. Plagg zoomed out of the ring. “Ohhh, no!” he exclaimed. “I’m not transforming you!”

            “Nice try, but you don’t have a choice,” Lila snarled. “Plagg, claws out!”

            Ladybug gaped as a green cloud enveloped Lila. She emerged in a skin tight black leather corset-like top laced with neon green ribbon. Her shoulders were bare, but her arms were covered in black leather. Her gloved hands revealed long claws that had been painted blood red. Under the corset were black leather shorts that stopped just above her black leather thigh high heeled boots. Her brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail nestled between two cat ears. She had what looked like a regular cat tail, instead of Chat Noir’s signature belt, with a bright green bow at the end. Her normally light green eyes glowed behind her black mask, the pupils narrowing into cat-like slits.

            “Ah, that’s so much better!” Lila declared.

            Ladybug glanced at Adrien who, even in his akumatized state, was staring with a horrified expression on his face. She readied herself for more fighting.

            Instead, the new Chat Noir/Lila announced, “I’m bored of fighting you, Marinette. I think I’ll go pay a visit to my favorite bakery!” She pulled out Chat’s silver baton, and before Ladybug could react, she bounded from the balcony and out the open window.

            “Adrien, we have to stop her!” Ladybug screamed, scrambling for the window. She glanced back at him and only then realized that he was holding the gold coin in the palm of his hand and just staring at it.

            Luckily, she understood. She grabbed it from him, broke it, and quickly purified the akuma that escaped from it.

            Adrien blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head, his hair flying wildly about. “L-Ladybug,” he stammered. Then realization dawned on his face. “Marinette! I’m so sorry! I don’t remember anything, but I’m sorry for whatever happened.”

            “It’s okay, Adrien, we can talk about it later,” Ladybug replied in a rushed voice. “She’s going after my parents! We have to stop her!”

            “Plagg, claws—” but Ladybug stopped him by grabbing his right hand, and that’s when he realized he wasn’t wearing his ring.

            He looked down at his hand, and Ladybug told him, “She took your ring.”

            His eyes widened as he looked up at her. Without further explanation, she picked him up, took out her yo-yo, and jumped out the open window.

Chapter Text

            It was a day like any other day in the bakery. Tom was preparing a new batch of croissants to be baked, and Sabine was happily chatting with some customers. The stream of orders in the day had been relatively steady, but they were now enjoying a much-needed break. The only customers were the two talking with Sabine and one who was perusing the display case of goodies.

            Suddenly, something large crashed through a front window, spraying glass shards across the tiled floor. Seeing only the cat ears and silver baton at first, Tom whispered, “Chat Noir?” Then, as more of the person came into focus, he realized they were definitely female. Wait, he thought, Adrien’s not—

            His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash. He looked up to see that Sabine had pushed the cash register on the floor when the Chat Noir imposter had attempted to lunge over the counter at her. Sabine raced back to the prep area with Tom while her attacker was distracted. The bell dinged on the front door as the few customers ran away screaming.

            “Th-that’s not Chat Noir!” Sabine stammered as she hid behind her large husband.

            “Sabine, go hide,” Tom told her. “And call Marinette!”

            Sabine turned and raced through the back door that led to their residence. Tom stepped out of the prep area to face the new Chat Noir who was now readying her baton for a fight. She swung at the large man with her weapon. He held up his arm to block her so that she missed his face. She continued swinging wildly as he tried his best to dodge her attacks, but as he was such a large target, she was able to land a few blows on his arms and across his back. He managed to avoid a particularly strong swing, which resulted in her destroying the display case as he ducked underneath it.

            Lila growled as she jumped away from the flying glass. Wincing at the pain her previous blows had caused, Tom reached into the display case, grabbing an armful of pastries. He began to throw them at the girl as he attempted to escape backwards towards the kitchen. Lila easily evaded most of the pastries, although she did get a little annoyed when a chocolate éclair smacked her in the face. She noticed that Tom was trying to escape, so using the baton, she bounded through the air, landing on his shoulders. She managed to get in a few whacks during her impromptu piggy-back ride before he was able to throw her to the ground.

            Okay, no more holding back, Tom told himself. He had felt weird at first about hitting a girl, but now he knew he had to defend himself and keep her from getting near Sabine. When she came at him again, he threw a punch directly at her face, sort of like how he had done to the real Chat Noir as Weredad (although he didn’t remember it since he had been akumatized). Tom’s large fist connected with Lila’s cheek, throwing her head back, followed by her entire body as she fell roughly against the hard tiles. She lay prone on the floor, not moving.

            Tom looked up to see Ladybug standing in the doorway, her mouth hanging open. “Wow,” she proclaimed, “go, Da—uh, I mean, Monsieur Dupain.”

            Tom smirked and then fell to his knees as the adrenalin of the fight began to wear off and the pain hit him all at once. “You’re injured!” Ladybug exclaimed, running to him.

            Her father looked up to see that Adrien had entered the bakery behind her. At least he knew it was definitely not the real Chat Noir he had been fighting. “A-Adrien,” he choked out, “how did she—”

            “Don’t try to talk,” Ladybug interrupted. “Let’s get you in the house.”

            Adrien rushed to join Ladybug in helping the big man through the back door and into the hallway. Sabine was sitting on the stairs with her phone to her ear, a worried expression on her face. “Tom, Marinette’s not—” she started before looking up to see the superhero with her husband. Relief washed over her face and then quickly turned back into worry as she saw that her husband had been injured.

            “He’s okay, let’s just get him upstairs so he can rest,” Ladybug told her.

            The three of them helped the big man up the stairs and to the living room where he lay down on the couch. “I’ve got it from here,” Sabine said. “Thank you, Ladybug.”

            Ladybug nodded and walked out of earshot with Adrien. “Go up to my room and get the miraculous box,” she whispered to him. “Take miraculouses to everyone who’s ever had one. We have to stop Lila and get your ring back.”

            “But it will take me too long to get to all of them, milady,” Adrien protested.

            “Use the horse miraculous,” Ladybug demanded. “Tell Kaalki it’s a favor for me. Now go!”

            Adrien raced up the ladder to Marinette’s room while Ladybug raced back downstairs to the bakery.

            Once in Marinette’s room, Adrien went straight for the closet and easily found the miraculous box. He opened it and began digging through it to find the miraculouses he needed. After opening all the compartments, he found some loose papers at the bottom of the box. Strange, he hadn’t remembered those being there when Marinette had first shown him the box. Of course, they hadn’t dug through it to the bottom like he was doing now.

            Leaving the papers in the box, Adrien found a small bag in the closet and deposited the needed miraculouses. He then put on the glasses of the horse miraculous and out came the kwami Kaalki. “Are you glorious and fa—” she began and then stopped when she saw who it was. “Oh, hello, Adrien,” she greeted him dryly. “I suppose you’re famous enough for me.”

            “Kaalki, Ladybug’s family is in danger!” Adrien exclaimed, ignoring her remark. “I need you to teleport me so I can hand out mirculouses to our friends and get some help!”

            “Well, why didn’t you say so?” Kaalki scolded him. “You know the words.”

            “Kaalki, full gallop!” Adrien called, which pulled the kwami into the glasses and transformed him. The plain glasses of the miraculous turned into sunglasses. His blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail of braids. He wore a dark brown skin tight suit covered in buckles, and winged tennis shoes adorned his feet.

            Adrien quickly called on the kwami’s power of Voyage and teleported into Kagami’s bedroom…which was empty. Damn, he thought, where could she be?

            That’s when he remembered that day in the park. She was there with him. With Luka.

            “Ugh, I’m gonna have to go to his house, aren’t I?” he said aloud. Shrugging, he added, “Hope I don’t die.”

            “Oh, Luka!” Kagami called out as her boyfriend pounded into her. She thought she saw a flash of light through her closed eyelids and reluctantly opened her eyes only to see, over Luka’s shoulder, a strange blonde man clad in a brown suit who was standing in the bedroom, blushing furiously. “Who are you?!” she cried.

            “Huh?” Luka asked, turning his head and peering over his shoulder. Kagami groaned at how quickly he pulled out and threw the blanket over both of them. “What the fuck?!!”

            Adrien quickly de-transformed, which only seemed to make the couple even angrier.

            “What the fuck, Adrien?!” Kagami shouted, while Luka followed up with, “I don’t care if I’m naked—I’m so going to kill you!”

            “Wait!” Adrien cried just as Luka began moving towards the edge of the bed. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to disturb you! I brought your miraculouses! Lila got Chat Noir’s miraculous! Marinette’s parents are in danger!”

            “Tom and Sabine?” Kagami replied.

            “Well, why didn’t you just lead with that, you idiot?!” Luka exclaimed.

            Adrien all but dropped the miraculouses on the bed before transforming again and teleporting away.

            Kagami picked up her choker after he was gone. “Well, we should go help,” she said. “Tom and Sabine have always treated me like family.”

            “Me too,” Luka agreed, taking his bracelet. He gave Kagami a quick kiss on the lips and said, “To be continued.”

            “Oh, God, not you, too,” Adrien grumbled, quickly shielding his eyes. He had teleported to Alya’s room where Nino was currently fucking her stupid.

            “Aaahh, what the fuck?!” Nino exclaimed, pulling out of his girlfriend.

            “Ninooo….” she whined. She turned just in time to see Adrien de-transform. “Adrien?! What the fuck are you doing in my room?!”

            “I’m sorry!” Adrien exclaimed. He decided he should maybe shorten his story, so he explained, “Marinette’s parents are in danger! Here’s your miraculouses! Go to the bakery!”

            He tossed their miraculouses at them and teleported away.

            “Well, I guess duty calls,” Alya declared, slipping the necklace over her head and giggling to herself.

            “Hold on, still trying to catch my breath,” Nino replied, panting.

            “Oh, thank God you’re not having sex,” Adrien stated, breathing a sigh of relief. He had teleported to Chloe’s penthouse suite where she was curled up on her couch, watching TV.

            “And a good afternoon to you, too,” she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Who are you and what are you doing in here dressed in those rags? I thought our doorman was supposed to keep homeless people out of the building.”

            “Chloe, it’s me,” Adrien said as he de-transformed.

            “Adrien?” she responded, her voice softening. “Is something wrong?”

            “Yes, Marinette’s parents are in danger, and I need your help,” he told her.

            “Why?” she asked. “What about Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

            “Ladybug’s there already, but, um, well, something happened to Chat Noir’s miraculous,” Adrien answered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

            “What happened?” Chloe inquired, narrowing her eyes.

            “Lila may have…gotten it?” Adrien said slowly.

            Chloe’s eyes flew open in shock as she jumped off the couch. “What?!” she exclaimed. “How did Chat let that crazy bitch get a hold of his miraculous?!”

            “I don’t know, but she’s attacking Marinette’s parents, and we could really use all the help we can get,” Adrien explained.

            Chloe suddenly noticed he was pulling something out of a bag, and, throwing her hands over her mouth, she replied, “You don’t mean…?”

            Adrien held out the hair clip of the bee miraculous and said, “You said you wanted to try to be better. Plus, this would be a huge favor to me to help rescue my future in-laws.”

            “Yes, Adrien!” she cried, giggling and jumping up and down.

            She took the clip from him and quickly put it in her hair. A familiar tiny yellow figure floated out and bowed to her, saying, “My Queen.”

            “Oh, Pollen, it’s so good to see you!” Chloe exclaimed, wiping a tear from her eye. “We’ll see you there, Adrien!” she called as he teleported away.

            “Yeesh, here we go again,” Adrien said, once again shielding his eyes. He had teleported to Kim’s room who was in bed with his girlfriend Ondine.

            Ondine screamed and exclaimed, “Kim, who’s that?!”

            Adrien had never seen Kim look so angry as he stared at him, fully prepared to jump out of bed naked as Luka had been. Quickly de-transforming, Adrien decided to shorten his story: “Marinette’s parents are in danger! Here’s your miraculous! Meet at the bakery!”

            He dropped the headband on the bed and teleported out as quickly as he could.

            “Y-you have a miraculous?” Ondine asked him, staring at the jewelry on the bed.

            “Of course I do, baby,” Kim replied confidently, picking up the headgear. “And if they’re asking me to help, it must be really serious.”

            “Well, you should go help if Marinette’s parents are in danger,” Ondine told him.

            “Right,” Kim agreed. “You can hang out here until I get back.”

            “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint, Max,” Adrien declared. “You’re never having sex!”

            “Uh…” Max replied, staring at the figure who had just appeared in his room. The figure who vaguely looked like he was using his horse miraculous. For once, he couldn’t come up with anything to say.

            However, his trusty A.I. could. “Max, there appears to be an intruder in your room,” Markov stated.

            “Oh, sorry,” Adrien replied, de-transforming. “Max, here, I was borrowing your miraculous because Marinette’s parents are in danger. We need your help, and also I need you to teleport me back to the bakery!”

            Understanding flashed in Max’s eyes as he responded, “Tom and Sabine? They’re my beta testers! Of course I will save them!”

            By the time they made it to the bakery, the battle was already well underway. Pegasus quickly joined the other miraculous holders, and Adrien sighed in relief as it appeared they were defeating Lila. He hoped to have his own miraculous back soon.

            He raced into the bakery and up to the living area where he found Tom and Sabine. He was on the couch applying an ice pack to his arm while she stood behind him holding ice packs against his back. “Is he hurt?” Adrien asked.

            “She hit me a few times with your baton,” Tom muttered. “How did she get your miraculous anyway?” he asked, turning to face Adrien.

            Adrien froze. “W-what are you talking about?” he stammered.

            Sabine gave him a gentle smile. “We figured it out a long time ago, dear,” she told him. “We know about Marinette, too.”

            “Oh,” Adrien replied quietly.

            He joined Sabine behind the couch, taking an ice pack and holding it against Tom’s back.

            “Thanks, my hand was frozen,” she said.

            Adrien laughed nervously. “The thought of someone discovering my identity has always terrified me,” he began, “but I actually feel kind of relieved knowing that you guys know.”

            “We know you care about her,” Sabine replied.

            “I love her more than anything,” Adrien declared. He winced when Tom grunted.

            “You still didn’t answer my question,” Tom spoke up.

            “He’s a little irritated at getting beaten up,” Sabine explained.

            “No, it’s a fair question,” Adrien responded. “The short answer is that I got akumatized. One minute I was talking to my father, and then—” His voice stopped abruptly as realization began to dawn on him.

            “And then?” Sabine prodded. When he didn’t reply, she asked, “Is everything okay, dear?”

            “I was talking to my father,” Adrien said to himself, “and I know the coin in my pocket wasn’t there before…” He turned and stared wide-eyed at Sabine.

            “A-Adrien?” Sabine said slowly. The terrified look on his face was beginning to scare her.

            “M-my father,” Adrien replied in a shaky voice. “He’s…Hawk Moth.”

Chapter Text

            After confirming that her parents were all right, Ladybug swore her vision literally turned red as she headed downstairs in pursuit of Lila. She arrived in the bakery in time to see the new miraculous holder pushing herself up onto her knees. “Ugh,” Lila said dramatically when she saw the superhero. “I have to fight you again?”

            “Get up, bitch,” Ladybug commanded, narrowing her eyes.

            Lila jumped to her feet and pulled out her baton. She stood ready in a fighting stance, but before she could strike, Ladybug snatched the baton out of her hands with her yo-yo. They heard  a crash and the clang of metal on the cobblestones outside as she swung it out through the window behind her. “Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” Lila said with a smirk.

            All Ladybug could think of was wiping that smirk off Lila’s face…with her fists. So that’s what she set to doing. It seemed to catch the girl off guard as Ladybug swung blow after blow with both hands aiming for the face and throat. She landed a few before Lila’s brain caught up with her body and she started dodging them. Ladybug chased her in circles, throwing punches wherever she could land them. Frustrated, the superheroine threw herself at her to try to grab her around the waist, but the Italian girl jumped backwards onto the counter at the last moment.

            Lila thought she heard a growl escape her opponent’s throat before the yo-yo string was wrapped around her leg, and she was yanked off the counter, landing hard on the tile floor. Ladybug wasted no time rushing to her and began kicking at her as she lay on the floor. Lila held up her arms to shield her face and attempted to kick back, but Ladybug was in a better position to keep from getting hit herself as she drove her foot into the girl’s sides over and over.

            That was how Viperion and Ryuko found them when they arrived at the bakery. Viperion immediately ran to Ladybug and pulled her off Lila. Ryuko called on Wind Dragon, blowing the girl out of the bakery onto the street and then followed behind her. “Let me go!” Ladybug screamed as she struggled against Viperion’s grasp. He was a little surprised to find her so angry. What had Lila done to the Dupain-Chengs? He couldn’t see them anywhere. Speaking of the Dupain-Chengs, Luka realized that Ladybug’s current actions reminded him a lot of Marinette the handful of times he’d seen her really angry.

            Viperion underestimated Ladybug’s anger, and she was able to squirm out of his grasp, throwing him to his knees. Ladybug rushed out the front door as Viperion scrambled to his feet and raced after her. A crowd had gathered to watch Ryuko and the new Chat Noir fighting in the street. Viperion stopped to listen to the murmurs from the people around him. “Who is that? I don’t think it’s Chat Noir?” “What happened to him if that’s not him?” “It looks like a girl. Did she hurt Chat?” “Whoever she is, she’s getting her ass handed to her by the dragon girl!”

            It was true. Every punch and kick Lila gave was blocked expertly by Ryuko who then easily landed her own blows. Ryuko did not have a scratch on her and had not even drawn her weapon yet, while Lila’s nose was bleeding profusely as were several new wounds across her cheek and shoulders. Ladybug gasped in awe, and Viperion couldn’t help the proud smile that came to his lips.

            Ryuko’s reign quickly came to an end, however, as Ladybug went barreling after Lila, once again. Viperion took off after her out of instinct, thinking he should stop her from killing anyone, but he skidded to a halt when Ryuko shook her head at him. Right, we’re supposed to be fighting her, Viperion thought.

            Lila backflipped across the road as Ladybug chased after her. The spotted hero pulled out her yo-yo and attempted to grab hold of Lila with it several times like she had before, but it seemed her nemesis had caught on to that trick already and was able to dodge her every attempt. Lila was about three steps ahead of the heroes when they noticed too late that she was headed for a specific destination. She had seen where her baton had landed when it was thrown out the window, and she reached it before the others could stop her. By the time she grabbed it, Ladybug had reached her. Lila jumped and struck her baton in a downward motion at the same time and would have landed her blow on the top of Ladybug’s head, but Viperion jumped in at the last moment and blocked her baton with his harp. A loud off-key twanging noise was heard as the baton collided with the strings of the harp.

            Lila was a little jostled by the sudden strike with the harp and backflipped some distance away from the heroes to try to catch her breath. Ladybug and Viperion readied themselves for a fight as they approached her but were surprised by the sound of Ryuko screaming, “Stop!” They turned to look at her just in time to see her readying her lighting dragon. She expertly aimed it for Lila’s baton, effectively electrifying the metal rod in the girl’s hands, causing her to shriek and drop it in the road.

            Lila’s lips curled into a snarl as she stared down at her burnt hands. Bits of her hair were also standing straight up out of her ponytail, which did not go unnoticed by Ladybug who was poorly attempting to stifle her laughter. This only enraged the Italian girl more. “That’s enough from you!” she screamed, sloppily charging Ryuko, blinded by rage. The Japanese girl easily vaulted out of the way, resulting in Lila ramming straight into Ladybug. She managed to headbutt the spotted hero in the stomach; however, Ladybug quickly recovered, grabbing the Italian girl by the sides and hoisting her up and over her head and flipping her backwards onto the concrete. Lila grunted as she landed hard on her back.

            Gasps rose from the surrounding crowd as Ladybug spun around on her heel and faced Lila, flanked by Viperion and Ryuko. “Give us the ring, Lila!” Ladybug commanded.

            Lila groaned as she rolled over onto her stomach and pulled herself up onto her hands and knees. She looked up to see the three heroes staring at her, all standing ready in fighting stances. Howling in fury, Lila used all the strength she had in her arms to push up her whole body in one fluid motion. She aimed her hands for Ladybug’s head and her knee for her face. The angle she rose at was perfect, and she knew she would meet her mark. Reaching out for Ladybug’s head with her knee at the ready, she grabbed her by the pigtails…only for them to dissolve in a puff of smoke in her hands. Before she knew what had happened, she had fallen through Ladybug and landed on her shins, her knees slamming into her face as her whole body drove into the ground.

            As Lila lay moaning on the ground, she could hear laughter behind her. She looked up to see Rena Rouge holding a flute, a stupid smirk on her face. Lila growled at her, but it turned into a groan as she noticed the pain in nearly every muscle of her face. She rolled over onto her back and looked up to see that Ladybug, Ryuko, and Viperion were now staring at her from the other side of the street. To her left, Carapace had managed to round up the crowd into one group and was protecting them with his Shell-ter. Something caught the sun to her right, and she looked to see that she had fallen close to her baton. Rena Rogue yelled something to the heroes across the street, and they looked up at her. Rena turned to enter the bakery, and Lila took her chance to roll to the baton. In one motion, she grabbed it and jumped up to her feet.

            Ladybug, Viperion, and Ryuko all noticed that Lila had regained her baton just as Queen Bee came swooping in. She landed on the street close to the heroes, quickly assessing the situation. The string she had been traveling on disappeared back into her top, which she then threw towards Lila, the pointed end aimed straight for the girl’s heart. Quick on her feet, Lila hit the top with her baton like she was holding a baseball bat. The top went sailing over the heroes’ heads and bounced harmlessly off Carapace’s Shell-ter. Queen Bee scrambled to catch the top before it hit the ground and then ran to the bakery to recharge her kwami, passing Rena Rogue on her way out.

            “Some heroes! Can’t even hold onto your power for that long!” Lila taunted. “Maybe you should all go in the bakery to recharge your kwamis!”

            Ladybug, Viperion, and Ryuko all rushed at Lila from their side of the street, but it was Rena Rouge who reached her first, surprising her by barreling into her side. Lila was thrown to the ground just as Ladybug reached her. Ladybug raised her foot to stomp onto Lila, but she quickly rolled out of the way. Ladybug was thrown off balance when her foot hit the ground, and Lila took the opportunity to swing her baton at her, only to have her attack blocked by a well-placed kick from Ryuko. The kick sent Lila into a spin towards Viperion who grabbed her and pushed her towards Rena. Rena spun her again as Ladybug threw out her yo-yo. She twirled the string around Lila and threw her, releasing her high into the air. Rena high-jumped with the help of her fox kwami and hit Lila with her flute just as Lila had hit Queen’s top earlier. The girl went sailing through the air, but she threw out her baton and managed to land safely on the other side of the street. She was about to yell something derogatory at the heroes when King Monkey came bounding into her, throwing her face-first to the ground, just in time for Queen Bee to step out of the bakery and burst into laughter.

           A growl started low in Lila’s throat that slowly erupted into a scream as she pushed herself back to her feet and faced King Monkey. “Cataclysm!” she shrieked. A swirl of black smoke appeared around her right hand, and King Monkey jumped back as sparks started to fly out. She glared at him but then shifted her focus to the bakery. He followed her gaze and then realized her intent with horror just as she ran full-speed toward the building. “Uproar!” King Monkey called, and a toy frog appeared in his hands. She was almost to the bakery, and he had only a few seconds. He took a moment to aim and then threw the toy at her as hard as he could.

           She felt something soft hit her in the back just as she placed her hand on the building. Nothing happened. She looked at her hand and saw that the smoke and sparks had disappeared. Dammit, she had forgotten that stupid monkey’s power. She spun around and held up her baton in both hands, fury written across her face. Ladybug, Viperion, Ryuko, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee had run towards the bakery, and King Monkey, while celebrating a moment for hitting his target, was rushing to join them. Knowing she couldn’t face them all at once, Lila threw the end of her baton on the ground, bounding to the roof of the nearest building. Ladybug, Viperion, Ryuko, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee all took off after her.

           King Monkey and Carapace, however, were running low on power and needed to go to the bakery to recharge. Carapace was relieved to see the heroes chasing Lila away from the crowd, so he wasn’t worried about removing Shell-ter from the crowd and joining King in the bakery. They were both approaching the front door when Adrien and Pegasus teleported in the street. “Awesome, more help!” King exclaimed.

           “Nice to see you, dudes,” Carapace greeted them. “We really need to recharge our kwamis.”

           “It would appear that that is the case for me, as well,” Pegasus agreed.

           “Where’s Lila?” Adrien demanded. “And Marinette’s parents?!”

           “Relax, dude,” Carapace replied. “The rest of the gang is taking care of Lila. And Marinette’s parents are inside.”

           “We’d better get inside, too, before this whole crowd finds out who we are!” King spoke up.

           The four of them rushed into the bakery, Adrien shutting the door behind them. The three heroes de-transformed and grabbed whatever pastries they could find to feed their kwamis. “I’m going to check on the Dupain-Chengs,” Adrien announced before disappearing up the stairs.

           “It’s good that Adrien is looking out for the Dupain-Chengs,” Kim remarked, breaking off pieces of a croissant to feed Xuppu. “I wonder where Marinette is?”

           “It does seem odd that she is not present and accounted for,” Max agreed as Kaalki munched on a chocolate éclair.

           “Maybe Adrien was just in the neighborhood,” Nino surmised, pulling a fruit tart out of the case for Wayzz. “But it’s Sunday. Where could she be?”

           Meanwhile, as Lila was jumping from one building to the next in her attempt to escape the heroes, she looked down and noticed that the crowd that had been milling around the bakery was now following her path on the streets and sidewalks below. She turned back towards the bakery to see that Carapace was no longer keeping the crowd under control. Maybe she could make one last attack on the Dupain-Chengs before Ladybug caught up? As she drew closer and closer to the bakery, she thought she could make out a figure in the window of the living quarters above the bakery. It soon became apparent that it was Adrien watching, which further enraged her. What the hell was he doing with Marinette anyway?!

           Carapace, King Monkey, and Pegasus stepped out of the bakery just as Lila landed on the building next door. Pegasus looked up just in time to see her bounding towards them. Thinking quickly, he threw a teleport circle onto the ground under her just before she landed. Lila disappeared into the circle and reappeared in the middle of the street as a tour bus came barreling towards her. The horn blared as she barely managed to dive out of the way. Tripping over the curb, she landed on her hands and knees just outside of the park entrance.

           Ladybug, Viperion, Ryuko, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee had turned to follow Lila when she had headed back towards the bakery earlier, and were now heading back in time to see Carapace and King Monkey running towards the park, while Pegasus ducked back inside the bakery. Lila had pulled herself back to her feet and stood ready with her baton at the park’s entrance.

           “Stop!” Ryuko yelled to the others before they stepped into the street in front of the park. They all stopped and looked at her. She raised her arms and called, “Water Dragon!” Water poured down the street, instantly flooding it and rising in a small tidal wave over the curb, washing Lila through the entrance into the park. Ryuko allowed the waters to recede enough for everyone to run across the street to the park, and she herself turned back to the bakery to recharge her kwami.

           The heroes found Lila lying in a huge mud puddle. She was tugging on her boots, crying out in frustration, and appeared to be stuck. Her baton was clear on the other side of the park. Ladybug saw her opportunity and jumped into the puddle, throwing punches at the girl. Queen Bee couldn’t stand aside and allow Ladybug to fight alone, so she, too, jumped into the mud and began fighting, soon followed by Rena Rouge. The guys were about to join them, but King Monkey stopped first to stare at the mud-covered girls clad in skintight costumes punching, biting, kicking, pulling each other’s hair.

            “What are you—” Carapace began, and then stopped and saw how the mud dripped down between Rena Rouge’s breasts just before she pushed Lila back into the mud, and Ladybug raised her perfect ass in the air, diving for Lila, and Queen Been arched her back just right before throwing a punch. Viperion stopped behind them, and while his first instinct was to admonish them, he also fell under the spell of the hot, sticky, slippery superheroines…

            Pegasus sighed loudly behind them and tapped his foot while he waited for one of the guys to make a move. “My preference continues to remain A.I., thank you,” he declared.

            Longg ate quickly, and Kagami transformed back into Ryuko inside the bakery before racing across the street to the park to join the others. She came to a halt when she saw the girls fighting in the mud. Then she noticed King, Carapace, and Viperion staring and exchanged glances with Pegasus, who just shrugged. She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Oh, for the love of…” Raising her arms, she called, “Wind dragon!” The wind helped the mud to blow off the girls as well as pull them apart from each other, much to the chagrin of the guys who had been enjoying the show. Ryuko aimed an extra hard blast at Lila, throwing her roughly against a tree. She blacked out for a moment and slumped down onto the grass.

            The girls were confused for a moment, and Viperion broke out of his trance a little quicker than the other guys. He beat the others to Lila and found her just waking up. She sat up and looked at him. He knelt down beside her and asked, “How do you feel?”

            “Uh…not good…” she slowly replied.

            “Good,” he answered with a smile. “You deserve it.”

            She had barely managed to say, “Huh?” before Viperion punched her square in the nose, causing her to cry out and fall back into the grass.

            “Hey that was pretty fun,” Viperion said to himself. “Second chance.”

            Time moved backwards to the point when Viperion was just reaching Lila and she was looking up at him. Without hesitation, he punched her again, and she fell once again into the grass. Viperion giggled and thought, Just one more time. “Second chance.”

            A few punches later to Viperion but only a few seconds to everyone else, the heroes all caught up to where Lila was lying in the grass. “You seem exceptionally pleased with yourself,” Ryuko remarked to Viperion.

            “I may have been abusing my powers just a little,” Viperion told her, blushing.

            “I believe a punishment may be in order later,” she said softly, causing his blush to deepen.

            Ladybug stood over a bruised and bleeding Lila as she called her Lucky Charm. A red and black-spotted rope fell into her hands. “Yes! Finally, an easy one!” she exclaimed. Without hesitation, she tied Lila sitting up to the tree she had crashed into, forcing the girl’s arms to her sides. When Lila was sufficiently tied up, Ladybug pulled Chat’s miraculous off her finger. A green light engulfed her, leaving behind a de-transformed and very beaten Lila.

            “About time, Ladybug!” Plagg scolded her.

            “Sorry that took so long, Plagg,” Ladybug responded.

            The others started to cheer when they realized that Ladybug had gotten the ring back, but Lila interrupted them. She spoke softly at first, her bruised lips hardly moving and her eyelids drooping. Ladybug held up her hands to the others, gesturing for them to quiet down so she could hear.

            “It doesn’t matter that you got the ring,” Lila slurred. “After you do your Miraculous Ladybug, I’ll be good as new again. Then you’ll de-transform, and I’ll take care of you. I don’t need a Miraculous to do it.”

            “Ha!” Rena Rouge shouted. “You had a miraculous and you couldn’t stop us!”

            “Pathetic,” Queen Bee remarked. “Utterly pathetic!”

            “She does have a point,” Ladybug spoke up. The superheroes around her gasped. “I mean, I do need to Miraculous Ladybug the damage. Look at what she did to the bakery.”

            “I’ll take care of her, Ladybug,” Queen Bee told her. “I won’t miss this time.”

            King and Viperion stood on either side of Lila as Ladybug went to retrieve her rope. Once she was loose, Lila slumped against the tree. Each of the guys took an arm as Ladybug threw the rope in the air, calling, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

            The magical ladybugs flew through the air, repairing the bakery and damages in the street and also healing Lila. She immediately began to fight against the grasps of King and Viperion, but Queen Bee pulled out her top, shouting, “Venom!” She stabbed Lila with it, and the girl fell back against the tree, completely immobile. Her wide eyes stared straight ahead as her hands lay useless in her lap.

            “Right, now watch her while I’m gone,” Ladybug told them. “I need to go to the bakery to charge my kwami, and then I’m going to find Chat to give him his ring back. I’ll be back as soon as I can!” She tossed her yo-yo to the roof of the bakery and swung across the street, disappearing through the front door.

            All the heroes turned to look down at Lila. “Okay, we have her,” King Monkey declared. “Now what?”

Chapter Text

            Ladybug entered the now pristine bakery and de-transformed back into Marinette. She left a plate of macarons for Tikki and then hurried upstairs to check on her father. She found him on the couch laughing with her mother and Adrien. “Dad!” she exclaimed. “I-I heard you were hurt!”

            “Marinette!” Adrien greeted her. “We saw you get the ring from Lila!”

            “W-what are you t-talking about?” she stammered.

            Sabine turned around and smiled softly at Marinette. It was the look she gave her when she knew her daughter was hiding something. Marinette gulped and thought, Uh-oh.

            “We know you’re Ladybug, dear,” her mother told her. “We figured it out a long time ago.”

            “You can only skip school so many times before we start putting the pieces together,” Tom spoke up.

            Marinette suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. She felt dizzy and stumbled back against a bookshelf. Sabine immediately grabbed her arm, and Adrien rushed to her side. “Are you okay, Mari?” he asked.

            “I-I-uh…” she stumbled over her words. So many thoughts swirled around in her head, and she couldn’t seem to put a cohesive sentence together.

            “Marinette, it’s okay,” Adrien was telling her. “Your parents have already known for a while. It’s not like we’re going to announce to Hawk Moth that they know.”

            “They-they know,” Marinette repeated. Her head whipped towards Adrien and her eyes blew wide open.

            He sighed, knowing what she was asking him. They had been partners for years; they didn’t need words to communicate. He nodded and replied, “Yes, they figured me out, too.”

            “I think it’s wonderful,” Sabine gushed. “I mean, you had such a huge crush on him in high school, and now it turns out that you’re fated to be together!”

            Marinette seemed to momentarily snap out of her stupor long enough to shout, “Mom!” while her cheeks turned beet red. Adrien himself was also looking a little pinkish.

            Sabine and Adrien helped Marinette to the couch where she sat down next to her previously injured father. “Doing okay, kid?” he asked her.

            Marinette looked up at him and laughed nervously. “I-I guess I should be asking you that,” she responded.

            “Eh, I’ll be fine,” Tom replied. “I was just a little mad that she got a couple of good hits in. I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad, though, seeing as how she had Chat Noir’s ring and all.”

            “Oh, yeah, my ring, please, milady,” Adrien requested, holding out his hand.

            Still feeling a little dazed, Marinette pulled the ring out of her pocket and deposited it in his open palm. He gasped when he saw it and returned it to its rightful place on his finger. Out came the familiar black kwami. “Don’t ever let that happen again!” Plagg exclaimed.

            “I’m with him,” Tom agreed. “Who is that anyway? Is that how you get your powers?”

            “Tom, Sabine, this is Plagg,” Adrien introduced them. “He’s the god of destruction, but he’ll do anything you say for a piece of cheese.”

            “Camembert, to be exact,” Plagg huffed.

            “Oh, I think we have some in the fridge,” Sabine spoke up and rushed to the kitchen.

            “This is so weird,” Marinette said, mostly to herself, burying her face in her hands. It felt so surreal, yet she figured it would’ve happened sooner or later.

            Sabine returned with a full wheel of camembert, which she set down on the coffee table. Plagg’s little green eyes seemed to double in size. “I like her!” he declared as he practically fell on the cheese and began devouring it.

            “Do you have one, Marinette?” Sabine inquired.

            “Huh?” Marinette replied. “One what?”

            “A little creature who gives you powers,” Sabine answered, gesturing towards Plagg.

            “Oh, y-yeah,” Marinette said, her voice wavering a little less than before. “T-Tikki. She’s, uh, in the bakery.”

            “I’ll go get her,” Adrien offered, hurrying out of the room.

            Marinette had returned to burying her face in her hands when she felt a slight movement in the couch from her petite mother settling down on her other side. “Are you all right, dear?” Sabine asked, placing her small hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

            Marinette let her hands drop in her lap and looked at her mother. “Yeah, I guess,” she replied. “I mean, there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’m just going to be more worried about your safety, that’s all.”

            “Well, your father put up a pretty good fight against that crazy girl,” Sabine answered. “At least that’s what he told me.”

            “Yeah, I’m not so helpless after all,” Tom added.

            “I saw the punch you gave her, Dad,” Marinette agreed. “That was pretty awesome.”

            “I take it you know who she is?” Sabine asked.

            “I do,” Marinette responded. “It was that bitch Lila who was always spreading lies and got me kicked out of school that one time.”

            “Oh, she’s back?” Tom said. “That can’t be good.”

            “Yeah, well, you can see how it turned out,” Marinette stated matter-of-factly.

            “If it makes you feel better, we’re proud of how you managed to be a superhero and graduate from high school,” Sabine piped up.

            “Yeah, even if you did miss quite a few classes,” Tom added with a chuckle.

            Marinette laughed nervously and replied, “Thanks, that does help a little.”

            They all turned to the sound of the front door opening and Adrien loudly saying, “Well, I didn’t tell them!”

            “Then how did they find out?” a high-pitched voice replied.

            “We can hear you guys,” Marinette called to them.

            Adrien and Tikki immediately stopped talking and looked up. Adrien blushed and closed the door behind him, and Tikki—well, Marinette swore she may actually have become a little redder.

            Adrien walked around the couch and sat down on the chair across from the family with Tikki following close behind. “Mom, Dad, this is my kwami Tikki,” Marinette introduced them.

            “It’s so nice to meet you!” Sabine said excitedly. “And, uh, I’m sorry if we weren’t supposed to discover Marinette’s secret. But we’re just so proud of her!”

            “Yeah, it’s not every day you find out your daughter is a superhero,” Tom added.

            “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, too,” Tikki told them. “Marinette is my favorite out of all the Ladybugs I’ve had.”

            Marinette blushed and said, “Thanks, Tikki.”

            Having finished his fill of the cheese, Plagg flew beside Tikki and said, “This is all nice and heartfelt, but don’t we have something more pressing to acknowledge and deal with?”

            “Right,” Adrien agreed. “Oh, Marinette, I figured out my father is Hawk Moth.”

            Instead of screaming and falling off the couch like Adrien had expected, Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and replied, “Good, I don’t have to tell you.”

            Adrien furrowed his brow. “Wait…you already knew?” he responded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

            “Oh, I just found out today,” Marinette answered. “When you were akumatized earlier, actually.”

            “Yeah, that’s how I figured it out, too,” Adrien mumbled.

            Sabine had stood up and was looking out the window. “Well, it looks like that Lila girl has woken up. She’s talking to the other superheroes in the park. Maybe you need to go take care of that?”

            “Yes!” Marinette exclaimed, jumping up. “We definitely need to take care of that.”

            “We shouldn’t let them see Ladybug and Chat Noir coming from your house,” Adrien cautioned.

            “Let’s go out my balcony,” Marinette told him. "We can swing around a few buildings and act like we were coming from a different direction."

            “You kids be careful!” Tom called as they disappeared up the ladder to Marinette’s room with their kwamis.

            Meanwhile, back in the park, Queen Bee’s Venom was starting to wear off Lila. Chloe had already de-transformed, but the other heroes were watching Lila as she began to stir.

            “Uh…guys, it’s wearing off!” King Monkey called. “What do we do now?”

            “We’re supposed to wait for Ladybug,” Chloe declared.

            “I don’t see any sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir,” Ryuko said.

            “It would appear that an alternative plan is needed,” Pegasus added. “Surely, we are just as capable of dealing with a villain as Ladybug or Chat Noir would be.”

            “Well, we’re going to find out soon because I think she’s awake,” Viperion piped up.

            Lila stretched her arms and opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Wow, Chloe,” she finally said, “that is one hell of a power you have there!”

            Chloe scoffed and replied, “Whatever, bitch. You need to tell us what you were doing with Chat Noir’s miraculous!”

            “Yeah!” King exclaimed. “How did you get it?”

            “And why were you attacking Marinette’s parents?” Rena Rouge demanded.

            “Oh, is that what you thought I was doing?” Lila replied, laughing. “I was only trying to visit my favorite bakery! Apparently, Ladybug wasn’t too happy about that and started a fight with me.”

            “Why would she do that?” Rena Rouge inquired, narrowing her eyes.

            Lila sighed and said, “Well, just between us, I think she’s jealous.”

            “Jealous?!” Chloe repeated. “Of you?!”

            “That seems unlikely,” Ryuko agreed.

            “She’s jealous of how close I’ve become to Chat Noir,” Lila explained. “That’s why I had his miraculous. We’ve been hanging out a lot lately, and I asked him if I could borrow it. I think she knows he’s getting tired of her, and she’s just out to get me.”

            “The Ladyblog hasn’t made any mention of them having problems in their relationship,” Rena argued.

            “Yeah, in fact, there was a new picture of them holding hands on the banks of the Seine just the other day,” Carapace added.

            “Oh, please, the press doesn’t know everything,” Lila replied in a condescending tone, adding another laugh for good measure. “Of course they don’t want anyone to know they’re having problems, so they just pretend like everything’s okay when the cameras are around. But Chat Noir and I are besties now, and he tells me everything.”

            “I find it hard to believe that Chat Noir’s suddenly not in love with Ladybug anymore and has decided to replace her with you,” Chloe stated, rolling her eyes.

            “Yeah, that does sound a little far-fetched,” Rena agreed. “Plus, I still remember how you told all those lies to get Marinette kicked out of school that one time. I’m not sure if we should believe you.”

            “Ugh, I already told everyone that was a condition I had,” Lila responded in an exasperated voice. “Look, Viperion, Ryuko, you were the first ones in the bakery after Ladybug. Did either of you see me attack the Dupain-Chengs?”

            Viperion hesitated before finally replying, “Uh…no. They had already gone upstairs by the time we got there.”

            “It is true we only saw you fighting Ladybug,” Ryuko confirmed.

            “And you saw how mad she was,” Lila answered. “She’s so worried I’m trying to take her man. But it’s really her own fault he doesn’t love her anymore.”

            “I’m still not convinced,” Chloe maintained.

            “Yeah, Adrien came and got us,” Viperion spoke up. “He seemed pretty sure you wanted to hurt the Dupain-Chengs.”

            “Come on, not one person here can tell me they don’t know about Adrien’s huge crush on Ladybug,” Lila countered. “He’d believe anything she said to him.”

            “He used to have it pretty bad for her,” Carapace agreed, “but that was a while ago. Now he’s dating Marinette.”

            Lila’s eye twitched at that statement. “Well, I’m sure his heart still has a special place for Ladybug,” Lila replied, forcing her voice to stay even. “Besides, what are you going to do with me anyway? Tie me up and keep me here indefinitely? Call the police without any proof? Are you going to come to court dressed as superheroes and testify against me when you didn’t actually see anything? I mean, you don’t even have the ring I supposedly stole.”

            Rena sighed and began rubbing her forehead. “Dammit, she has a point,” she conceded.

            “Like I said, what do we do with her?!” King exclaimed.

            “It appears that our only option is to relinquish our hold on her for now,” Pegasus told them. “There is no further action we can take at this time.”

            Sighs and swears erupted from the group as they reluctantly agreed.

            “Are you fucking serious?!” Chloe shouted to everyone. “We can’t just let her go! I don’t believe for a second that Chat just gave his miraculous to her!”

            “But how can we prove it?” Carapace asked. “There’s nothing else we can do now.”

            Chloe huffed and proclaimed, “Fine! But I have eyes all over this city. And I’ll be watching you, bitch!” She glared daggers at Lila who held eye contact with her for a few seconds before speaking again.

            “Well, it was so nice seeing all of you again!” Lila declared, breaking out into a huge grin. “Have a good summer!” With that, she waved as she spun on her heel and walked away.

            A few minutes later, Ladybug and Chat Noir came swinging in from the other side of the park.

            “Uh…guys,” Ladybug said, “where’s Lila?”

Chapter Text

            Lila hurried away from the park before any of the idiot superheroes could change their minds. Once she was out of their sight, she crossed the street and ducked behind the first building. She kept close to the side of the building as she made her way closer to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. As she drew nearer, the sounds of Ladybug’s and Chloe’s screaming voices became louder as they were carried on the wind from the park. Lila could tell they were both angry at the rest of the heroes. She giggled to herself. She’d never been able to fool Marinette, and while she had managed a few pranks on Chloe at the beginning, the blonde had quickly learned not to trust her. The others, however, were stupid putty in her hands. She felt confident that she could easily convince them of just about anything.

            The building next door to the bakery jutted out just enough to make a nice hiding place for her. She could hear the arguing and see the heroes as they began making their way out of the park and back towards the bakery. She knew Marinette would eventually have to go home. She didn’t really care about hurting her parents—she really wanted to hurt the girl herself. After all, she had to get the competition out of the way if she was ever going to have a chance with Adrien.

            The yelling died down as the heroes gathered on the sidewalk in front of the park entrance. Chloe still seemed angry but had switched from screaming at the top of her lungs to texting furiously on her phone. Ladybug and Chat Noir were talking quietly to each other, while the rest of the heroes stood in awkward silence, looking a little bit ashamed. Lila peeked around her little corner and was able to just see into the bakery through a side window. Marinette’s parents were back in there, surveying their newly cleaned workplace. Tom seemed to have been healed of his injuries by the Miraculous Ladybug, as well.

            Lila knew there was a side door that bypassed the bakery itself and led straight to the stairs. It was just out of her view as long as she barely peered around this ledge, but as soon as the bakers turned their backs to the window…there! A quick glance behind her confirmed that the heroes at the park were still too distracted to look in her direction, and then she snaked around the corner and made a beeline for the side door, letting out a sigh of relief when she found it unlocked. She raced up the stairs to the living quarters before the Dupain-Chengs even thought about turning around.

            Once inside the living room, she looked around for what could be a door to Marinette’s bedroom. What could it be? A pink door? she thought. She likes pink, right? Maybe with pictures of Adrien plastered to it? She tried not to gag at the thought. The place was so tiny, and she only saw one door on her right side. Peeking inside the room quickly proved to be a dead end, as it was clearly the master bedroom of an older couple and not a teenage girl’s bedroom. Ugh, these people and their little peasant apartments, she grumbled to herself.

            She had first disregarded the white staircase next to the bedroom door, thinking it only led to an attic. But now that she realized how small the living space was, she thought that maybe Marinette’s room could possibly be in the attic. She climbed the stairs, pushed open the trap door at the top, and was immediately assaulted by all the pink everywhere. Jackpot! she thought, entering the room.

            She looked around and scoffed at the pictures of Adrien on her wall. Some of them had Chat Noir masks and ears drawn on them, which nearly made Lila’s eyes roll out of her head. These days, the pictures had been joined by photographs of Marinette’s friends and of her and Adrien looking like a loving couple together. Lila had to fight the urge to rip them all down. She didn’t want Marinette to know she was here just yet.

            She began looking around for a place to hide and spotted a large trunk that she thought she may be able to fit in. Opening it, she found it full of gifts. “Ugh, what—does she already have Christmas planned for all her friends?” Lila wondered aloud. She added in a mocking tone, “Oh, Marinette’s so sweet. Everyone just loves her!” Slamming the trunk lid down, she decided to search for another place to hide.

            The closet proved to be too full of clothes, but she did find stacks upon stacks of fabrics piled along the floor under the desk. Just in time, too, as she heard the front door open and two voices speaking to each other. She noticed brief flashes of green and pink light through the cracks around the trap door and figured it was Ladybug and Chat Noir de-transforming, so she probably didn’t have much time. She dove behind the stacks of fabric, just managing to completely conceal herself a few seconds before she heard the trap door creaking open. She glanced between two stacks of fabric and was relieved to see that Marinette was alone. Her kwami wasn’t even with her. She must have stayed behind in the kitchen to eat, Lila decided.

            Lila waited a few minutes for Marinette to get settled into the pink chaise lounge by the window. Marinette pulled out her phone and began scrolling through it. Suddenly, Lila pushed the stacks of fabric aside and jumped out from underneath the desk. “Lila!” Marinette exclaimed, dropping her phone to the floor. Lila kicked it to the other side of the room as she sneered down at the girl.

            “W-what are you doing here?!” Marinette stammered.

            “Just finishing what I started,” Lila replied. “I didn’t really care all that much about your parents. I just need to get you out of the way so Adrien can be mine!”

            Marinette leaped off the chaise just as Lila charged at her. The Italian girl slammed her face into the pink cushions and growled. She spun around and shouted, “Stay still, you bitch!”

            But Marinette was running towards her phone. She managed to hit the call button on the last number she had dialed—which just happened to be Adrien’s—before Lila grabbed her by the ankles, dragging her away. Marinette kicked until Lila let go of her and then scrambled to her feet to face her. She threw a punch but missed; Lila responded by slamming her fist into Marinette’s cheek, causing her to stumble backwards.

            Lila noticed right away that Marinette was a much less skilled fighter out of costume. She was suddenly happy for all that training in Italy Gabriel had insisted she take. Maybe teaming up with him wasn’t such a bad idea after all…

            Grabbing her by the shoulders, Lila shoved Marinette against the wall. Marinette struggled to escape, and when she found her attempts to be futile, raised her knee, aiming for Lila’s stomach. The angry Italian girl realized her plan at the last moment and jumped backwards, causing her to release her hold on Marinette. The pigtailed girl seized the opportunity to race to her trap door. She fell on her knees and reached to open it. Lila spun around and slammed her foot against Marinette’s side, causing her to roll into the fabric piles under the desk.

            Marinette groaned, clutching her side. She looked up just in time to see Lila running towards her and forced herself to jump up. They collided, grabbing onto each other’s arms as they each tried to force the other down. Marinette managed to win that one, tossing Lila to the ground. Unfortunately, she landed right on the trap door, so Marinette spun around and headed up the ladder to her loft bed. She was almost to the top when she felt Lila pulling on her legs and the edge of her bed slipped from under her hands. She bit her tongue as her chin slammed into the wooden frame of the bed just before she slid down the ladder to the floor.

            Marinette pushed herself to her hands and knees, spitting blood onto her pink rug. Not waiting for her to get up, Lila kicked her again, this time in the stomach. Marinette cried out as the wind was knocked from her and rolled across the floor. “You’re making this too easy!” Lila teased. “I know I could’ve stopped you way back in Adrien’s room if you hadn’t been too cowardly to de-transform then!”

            Marinette grumbled at being called a coward and forced herself to her feet, panting heavily. She stood unsteadily and swayed a bit, but the look she gave Lila was filled with all the anger and hatred she felt at that moment. “W-what makes you th-think Adrien would want you anyway?” she inquired between breaths.

            Lila let loose an infuriating laugh and answered, “Why wouldn’t he want me? The way I see it, you’re the only thing standing in my way!”

            Marinette wasn’t sure what took over her next. Maybe it was the fact that Lila was making it sound like her relationship with Adrien was not the result of years of working together as superheroes, trusting their lives to each other, on top of becoming best friends throughout high school. That he somehow did not love Marinette with all of his heart and soul and would be able to just brush off her memory if she were gone. Or maybe it was simply the disgusting idea of Adrien being with Lila. Whatever it was, Marinette let out what she could only describe as a war cry as she lunged at Lila, tackling the girl and forcing her to the ground. Lila’s head thumped hard against the wall on her way down. She grunted and immediately began rubbing the back of her head. Marinette screamed again as she kicked Lila as hard as she could, causing the girl to roll into the corner of the room, curling up into a ball.

            Without thinking, Marinette rushed up the ladder to her bed and was out the ceiling trap door in a flash. Once on the balcony, all she could think was to get Adrien’s attention. Maybe he could transform and get her down or something. She ran to the edge of the balcony and peered over the wrought iron railing, but he wasn’t on the sidewalk where she expected him to be. Dammit! she thought. He just left! Where could he be? She ran to the other side of the balcony to check down by the park, but he wasn’t there, either. What she did see when she turned around was much, much worse…

            “You…thought…you…could…stop…me,” Lila wheezed, gulping for air between words as she slowly pulled herself up through the trap door.

            “H-how did you recover so quickly?” Marinette demanded, attempting to appear more intimidating than she felt.

            Lila stood on the balcony on wobbly legs and let out a raspy, breathless laugh. “What…you did…” she began to explain, “is nothing…compared to…the training Gabriel had…me go through…for the last…two years…”

            Marinette gasped. “Gabriel…?” she breathed. Then her eyes narrowed in anger. “I knew you were working with Hawk Moth!” she exclaimed.

            Lila let out another raspy laugh and replied, “So you…know…” She slowly began making her way across the balcony towards Marinette. “Well…you know something…else, Marinette?” she continued. “That’s how I know…who you are…He told me…”

            Marinette’s eyes grew wide as the realization of what Lila just said sunk in. She didn’t even notice how close the girl had gotten to her…

            Meanwhile, after Adrien said goodbye to Marinette’s parents and stepped out of the bakery into the street, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He took it out, furrowing his brow when he saw that it was Marinette calling. Why would she call? He had literally just left her house. “Hello?” he said into the phone. “Marinette?”

            At first, when there was no answer, he assumed it was a butt-dial and was just about to hang up when he heard the faintest sound. Was that…Marinette groaning? “Marinette!” he called into the phone. He heard a few more scuffling sounds and then what sounded like someone yelling. No, not someone…Lila!

            “Oh, shit!” Adrien exclaimed. He spun around and raced back into the bakery. “Marinette’s in trouble!” he screamed at her parents as he rushed past them and up the stairs. Tom and Sabine dropped their baking supplies and quickly followed close behind him.

            Adrien was up the stairs to Marinette’s room and opening the trap door before he even registered his own movements. He looked around the room only to find it empty, but a small stain on Marinette’s pink rug caught his eye. He climbed into the room and bent down to inspect the rug. Was that…blood?

            He realized he was hearing voices above him. He looked up to see that the trap door in the ceiling was open. He dashed up the ladder, barely touching the bed as he scrambled out of the trap door. He was vaguely aware of Marinette’s parents yelling below him, but time seemed to stop as he stood on the balcony watching Lila reaching out to Marinette as she was pressed up against the balcony railing.

            Marinette—his lady—the love of his life—her head falling backwards as her feet left the concrete of the balcony, as her body flipped in slow motion over the railing, as she reached out to Adrien who tried desperately to grab her, the tips of their fingers barely touching, her bright blue eyes widening in fear, her perfect lips forming an “O” as she screamed, as Adrien watched her fall to the ground three stories below.

Chapter Text

            “No! And don’t call me again!” Gabriel screamed into the phone. He pressed the end call button before throwing his cell phone across the room. He missed the old days with real phones back when hanging up on someone was so much more satisfying.

            He dropped into his office chair and leaned his elbows onto his desk. Why did this have to be his life? he wondered. His wife in a coma, his son his mortal enemy, and now this stupid girl who was supposed to be helping him but now fucking up all his plans? Why did he listen to Nathalie about her?

            Lila had always been too emotional and spontaneous as a teenager. Gabriel knew she had wanted more attention from Adrien, and he had used that to his advantage at first, but she ended up becoming more of a liability than an asset. Nathalie had assured him that sending her to that training program back in her homeland of Italy would not only teach her to fight but would straighten her out mentally and emotionally. “It will make her more strategic and capable of stopping your enemies.” Those had been Nathalie’s exact words.

            Gabriel rubbed his temples as he remembered all the money he had been shelling out for the last two years for this program. All to recruit a new member for their cause. At first, he had been pleased with the results when he saw through Adrien’s akumatized eyes how quickly Lila was able to steal his miraculous. But things soon devolved after that. It appeared the girl still had not learned to control her emotions. Her infatuation with Adrien had caused her to push his girlfriend off a balcony. His girlfriend who just happened to be Ladybug and was still wearing her miraculous when she fell. Not only did Lila not take it, but now she managed to get herself arrested, as well. That stupid girl’s lucky she didn’t actually kill her, Gabriel grumbled to himself.

            And now she was trying to drag him into it? She was calling him from jail and demanding that he bail her out?! What if word got around that Gabriel Agreste was aiding this crazy girl who tried to kill someone? Not just someone, but a young girl who Gabriel knew was loved by everyone in her community. What if word got out that she was actually Ladybug? Would anyone connect the dots to him being Hawk Moth? Would Adrien? How would he react to his father teaming up with the person who tried to kill his girlfriend? Despite appearances, Gabriel did care for his son. And even since finding out Adrien’s superhero identity, he never wanted either Ladybug or Chat Noir dead. They were kids, for God’s sake. He only wanted to bring his wife back. Besides, he couldn’t very well wake up Emilie and then tell her he had to kill Adrien in order to save her. She would never stand for that.

            Gabriel let out a grunt of frustration as he swept all his papers off his desk onto the floor. He stood up and spun around to let his head rest on the wall. Why did the boy always have to defy him? It was one thing to want to go to school, to make friends with peasants, to have stupid teenage parties. But to become a superhero? Really? How did that even happen? He turned his head slightly to stare at the wall adorned with framed pictures of Adrien. Why did he have to look so much like her?

            Nathalie sat in her own office, staring blankly at her phone. She had her own network of informants who had already told her what had transpired at the Dupain-Cheng household that day. She knew that Lila was now in jail and had called Gabriel requesting bail money and that he had denied knowing her. She knew she was going to have to face the consequences of her suggestion to use Lila again, especially after knowing that her volatile temper had almost ruined things for them the last time. At least she had her network so she wouldn’t be blindsided when Gabriel finally confronted her.

            She had really thought that Italian program would work. She had been about Lila’s age when she had gone through it herself. She had learned to gain complete control of her emotions and had gone on to work with high-ranking officials and well-respected members of France’s elite. She had only faltered once when, upon being assigned to the Agreste household, she had fallen in love with Emilie.

            Of course she hadn’t expected it to happen. She’d never dated a woman before. She always thought she was straight, but there had been something about Emilie that had drawn her in. From the first day she met Emilie during her initial interview for the position of Gabriel’s assistant, Nathalie knew she would forever want to be near the blonde woman.

            Nathalie had always been fascinated with Gabriel’s work, so during a lull between jobs, she jumped at the chance to apply to be his new assistant. The interview had started normally enough in Gabriel’s home office where the two of them were the only ones present. Nathalie found Gabriel curt and demanding but precise, which she appreciated. She had enough respect for him to know that he had earned the right to expect things a certain way, and he seemed particular enough that she knew she would be able to handle things exactly the way he wanted them.

            Then Emilie had walked in. Nathalie had gasped unconsciously at the woman’s beauty before she remembered to close her mouth. Emilie introduced herself, telling Nathalie she was only present as they would occasionally ask Nathalie to tutor or baby-sit their son and wanted to make sure she was okay with that. Adrien had been a toddler at the time, and Nathalie herself had decided not to have children of her own, but she figured she could handle one child, especially as a favor to this goddess. Luckily, despite every opportunity to become a spoiled rich kid, Adrien had turned out to be a sweet child, and Nathalie had grown to care for him almost as much as she did for his parents.

            Nathalie had no intention of entering into a romantic relationship at the beginning, of course, but things seemed to gradually head that way the more she and Emilie spent time together. Nathalie often took her tablet into the living room where Emilie was watching Adrien, and they would talk for hours. Nathalie played with Adrien, and the three of them watched his kids’ shows together. Sometimes, Nathalie would even daydream that the three of them were their own happy little family. Gabriel would often work on his own and did not spend much time with them, but he never seemed to mind when Nathalie did. She felt truly welcomed into the family.

            Things started to change after Nathalie moved in. The job was not originally advertised as a live-in position, and Nathalie had her own apartment and would commute to the mansion every day. After about a year, when Nathalie had mentioned her lease was about to be up and she was thinking of moving, Emilie asked if she would like to move into their mother-in-law suite. It was like an apartment by itself with its own kitchen and large living space, and it was closed off from the rest of the house so Nathalie could have privacy. Of course, the best part was that they wouldn’t charge her rent, so Nathalie jumped at the opportunity.

            As Nathalie spent more time in the house, she noticed little things, mostly from Emilie but even from Gabriel, too. Little glances here, little touches there. Emilie would scoot closer to her on the couch or brush her hand when taking a cup of tea. The few times when Gabriel was in the room with them, Nathalie could’ve sworn he was watching the two women as they leaned into each other.

            It all came to a head late one evening. Adrien and Emilie had already gone to bed, but Gabriel was working late in his office. Nathalie was finishing a spreadsheet for him in her office. She had just sent it to him from her tablet and was about to go to bed herself when she suddenly received a text from Emilie. The blonde woman was asking her to come to the bedroom. Thinking she was in some kind of trouble, Nathalie rushed to the room. Once she arrived, she quietly knocked on the door. She barely heard Emilie quietly call for her to come in.

            She remembered thinking it was strange that Emilie was still in bed. She thought it even stranger when Emilie asked her to sit down on the bed next to her. They talked for a while, and eventually, Emilie began to tell her that she was developing romantic feelings towards Nathalie. It was at that moment that the brunette woman realized that she shared those feelings.

            Nathalie had been a little nervous to kiss a woman for the first time, especially after she had been infatuated with this particular woman for so long, but when it finally happened, she found it oddly comforting. Her lips were so soft and warm, and her tongue worked its way into her mouth just the same as any other man Nathalie had been with. But the difference was clear once Nathalie’s hands began moving over Emilie’s smooth skin.

            As their hands, lips, and tongues explored each other’s bodies, Nathalie became more and more aware of the pure ecstasy of being with a woman. She loved the beauty of it all: the softness of her skin, the lightness of her touch, the little moans escaping from her throat. How her mouth parted slightly as she sighed and gasped, a light sheen of sweat glistening on her brow, her blonde locks spread out over the bed as she arched her back, thrusting her perfect nipples into the air as Nathalie lightly teased and licked her folds. The brunette relished in the sounds of Emilie’s groans as they slowly grew in volume until she was crying out in the darkness of the room as Nathalie’s fingers and tongue plunged in and out of her, as her thumb lightly pressed against her clit. Nathalie knew all about the female orgasm, being a woman herself who had had them before, whether it was from a partner or her own lone adventures, but when she felt Emilie’s juices pouring into her hand and mouth as the blonde woman’s thighs stiffened and her voice reached even higher octaves, the brunette couldn’t help but feel quite proud of herself.

            That first time Gabriel had walked in on them, Nathalie had panicked. Both women were completely naked, and Emilie’s face and chest were flushed with post-orgasm bliss, so there was no denying what they were doing. Nathalie wasn’t sure how Gabriel was going to react, but she definitely wasn’t expecting him to begin undressing as he encouraged the women to continue. She was a little surprised when Emilie took her own turn pleasuring Nathalie as Gabriel watched with hungry eyes, pumping himself until he reached his own release.

            Gabriel and Emilie eventually confessed to Nathalie that they hadn’t hired her by accident. Inviting a third person was something they had both wanted to do for a while, and Nathalie had seemed like the perfect candidate during her interview. They of course wanted to get to know her well before they began a relationship, hence the waiting for a year. But the longer Nathalie was around, the more the couple had agreed that she was the perfect addition to their little family, and she couldn’t help but feel honored to accept their invitation.

            After a while, Nathalie grew to love both of them for different reasons. Gabriel was more aggressive in bed than Emilie, so when Nathalie felt that she needed to be pounded into the mattress, Gabriel always satisfied that need. She even loved watching him fuck Emilie, her screams alone sometimes causing the brunette’s release. When she felt that she needed something soft and tender, Emilie was the one for that. She even loved how Gabriel would eagerly watch them, usually joining in once they were ready for him.

            Of course, everything had ended that fateful night they had lost Emilie. Nathalie couldn’t help but bitterly feel that she always seemed to lose every good thing in her life. She shuddered when she remembered how she had found Emilie seemingly coughing up her life force before falling limp in the brunette’s hands. Nathalie had felt like her own life had ended that day. When Gabriel had made his declaration of doing anything to save Emilie, Nathalie knew she would follow him wholeheartedly. It seemed that trying to save Emilie was the only thing that could really keep her going.

            Nathalie and Gabriel had tried to keep the relationship going, but it was difficult without Emilie to balance them. The blonde had been the only one who could really calm Gabriel during his tirades. Nathalie tried her best to be there for him, but she knew that she wasn’t the one he truly wanted. Still, he hadn’t asked her to leave, and she herself had every intention of staying. No one else would ever really understand what they were going through, nor would anyone else fight as hard as they would to bring back what they had lost. And so she stayed and continued to stand by him, using the peacock miraculous before it had been fixed, even after seeing what it had done to Emilie. Anything to save her.

            The slamming of her office door jolted Nathalie from her thoughts. Gabriel had decided to discuss their situation with her in person instead of calling. This can’t be good, she thought.

            He knew that she knew how angry he was, especially after slamming the door like that, but he took a deep breath and placed his hands behind his back, slowly walking towards her desk. “You said the Italian program was what she needed,” he began.

            “I thought it was, sir,” Nathalie replied, but closed her mouth when Gabriel raised his hand for silence.

            Clasping his hands behind his back once again and continuing his steady stride to her, he continued, “You said it would teach her to help us. That she could be a trusted ally in our quest to save Emilie.”

            Nathalie swallowed but said nothing.

            “But that hasn’t been the case, has it?” Gabriel asked, stopping at the edge of her desk. When she didn’t answer, he pounded his fist on the desk and demanded more loudly, “Has it?!”

            “N-no, sir,” Nathalie stammered.

            Gabriel cleared his throat and straightened up, quickly returning to his original composed stance. He slowly made his way around Nathalie’s desk until he was standing beside her as he once again spoke calmly, “I suppose it’s also my fault for agreeing to give the girl another chance. I had a gut feeling that she could not be rehabilitated, but your words convinced me to ignore that feeling.” He had stopped at Nathalie’s chair now. She stared up into his ice blue eyes.

            Without warning, he dropped to his knees and ripped open her blouse, popping off the buttons in the process. Dammit, that was Chanel, Nathalie thought. He undid the front clasp of her bra and practically dove onto her breast, sucking the nipple as hard as he could before he began lightly nibbling it. Nathalie let out a loud moan as he continued to leave a bruise on the sensitive skin. She had loved being with Emilie, but the woman was always tender and never used her teeth or caused any type of discomfort. The mixture of pain and pleasure was something she only got from Gabriel, and it was so mind-numbingly amazing.

            Gabriel let her nipple go and began tracing his tongue across her chest on his way to the other one. As if he had been reading her mind, he asked softly, “Do you like it when I do that, Nathalie?” He began swirling his tongue around her other nipple, drawing more moans from her. He stopped only to say, “Emilie was always so gentle. But you like it rough, don’t you?” With that, he bit down on her nipple, causing her to cry out and bury her fingers into his hair.

            He let go and continued to kiss and lick his way down her stomach. “Or do you miss her like I do, Nathalie?” he asked as he worked his way down. “Do you wish she were here now?” He reached her pants and began working the button and zipper. She lifted herself from the chair to make it easier for him to pull down her pants and underwear as he inquired, “Do you wish I were her?” She gasped as he shoved a finger inside her. Not one for taking things slowly, he furiously moved it in and out of her before adding a second and finger fucking her until her cries echoed in the small office. He lowered his head and ran his tongue in circles over her clit while he continued to finger her, softly chuckling to himself when he felt her come, her juices pouring down his hand.

            Nathalie barely had a chance to catch her breath before he lifted her from the chair and practically threw her across the desk so that she lay down on her stomach. “Were you imagining you were with her instead of me?” he demanded as he continued to finger her soaking folds from behind. She could hear him unzipping his own pants. Even though he scared her, she couldn’t help but get incredibly turned on when he did this. She loved when he had his way with her, something Emilie never really did.

            He dropped down beside her so that his lips were next to her ear. “I know you always loved her more than me,” he growled. “Are you thinking of her right now? Is she really the only one who could make you come?” He bit her earlobe, causing her to groan before he stood up over her once again. She gasped and grabbed onto the edge of the desk when he slammed into her. He grunted as she lifted up against him, meeting his every thrust. He pushed her until her thighs were hitting the back of the desk, and then he sped up, slamming her even harder. Her cries increased in volume, and he called out to her, “Could she fuck you like this, Nathalie?”

            “No, sir!” Nathalie cried.

            He leaned over her so he could speak into her ear but did not slow down. “Do you want me to fuck you harder?” he breathed.

            “Yes, sir,” Nathalie replied, gasping.

            Gabriel managed to move even faster. He was slamming her into the desk so hard that Nathalie was sure her hips and thighs would be covered in bruises. Despite his quickened pace, he continued to interrogate her. “Do you love me, Nathalie?”

            “Y-yes, sir.”

            “Do you still want her?”

            “Yes, sir.”

            “And you’ll do anything I say from now on?”

            “Yes!” Nathalie called out as she came once again, Gabriel gasping as he also found his own release.

            Gabriel slowly pulled out of her, and she heard him zip up his pants. She felt him pull her pants back up her legs before he helped her to stand up from the desk. She quickly zipped them back up as he hastily smoothed his hair once again. Then he walked around her desk and composed himself as if nothing had happened.

            “I’m going to tell Adrien,” he declared.

            Nathalie gasped. “S-sir,” she stammered. “Y-you can’t—”

            Gabriel silenced her by narrowing his eyes at her. “Nathalie,” he warned. “You will not argue with me on this.”

            Nathalie bit her lip, carefully considering her words. “Are you sure he can handle it?” she slowly replied.

            “He was too young five years ago,” Gabriel conceded. “But he is an adult now. And nothing else we’ve tried has worked.” He turned to walk to the office door. Placing his hand on the handle, he turned back to Nathalie once again and said, “Who knows? Maybe he’ll just give us his miraculous. After all, she is his mother.”

            With that, he opened the door and left.

Chapter Text

            Adrien couldn’t sit still as he sat in the waiting room of the hospital. He alternated between bouncing his leg nervously and getting up to pace around the room. Marinette’s parents sat a few seats away, Sabine quietly sobbing as Tom held her against him. Adrien had called all their friends right way, and Alya and Nino had showed up first, followed by Rose and Juleka. Alya and Rose were sitting with Tom and Sabine offering comfort, while Nino and Juleka sat nearby with shocked expressions on their faces.

            “What happened?” Luka’s voice called out. Adrien looked up to see him rushing into the hospital followed by Kagami.

            They stopped in front of Tom and Sabine, but as they seemed in no condition to talk, Adrien spoke up, “Lila pushed Marinette off the balcony. Marinette’s in surgery now. We don’t know anything.”

            Luka glared at Adrien but said nothing. “Where’s Lila now?” Kagami asked softly.

            “In jail, hopefully,” Adrien answered angrily. “The cops arrested her.”

            For once, Luka felt that he had to agree with Adrien on something. He nodded at Adrien and then joined Kagami in comforting Tom and Sabine. Adrien returned to his nervous pacing until a doctor finally arrived.

            “Visitors for Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” he asked, glancing down at his clipboard.

            Adrien and Alya rushed to him. Sabine looked up, tears rolling down her cheeks, and stammered, “We-we’re her p-parents.”

            The doctor moved closer to them, Adrien and Alya eagerly following, and replied, “She’s going to be okay.”

            Sabine let out a strangled cry as she threw her face into her hands. She began shaking and mumbling, “Thank you” into her hands as she sobbed. Tom wrapped his arm around her more tightly and asked the doctor, “Can you give us details?”

            The doctor glanced down at his chart and began reading to him. “Her femur is broken in two places. She also had a dislocated hip and shoulder and some bruised ribs. We were able to set the bone in her leg and put back her shoulder and hip, but she will need surgery on her leg in the morning.” He looked up and added, “She’s very lucky. I honestly expected it to be much worse. Your girl is very strong.”

            “Thank you,” Tom answered, his voice cracking only slightly enough to betray the calm composure he was struggling to maintain. “W-when can we see her?”

            “She’s resting now, so I think parents may go see her,” the doctor responded. He looked at the eager faces around the room. “The rest of you may take turns as long as she’s up for it,” he added.

            Tom helped Sabine to stand, and the doctor led them away. Alya plopped down next to Nino, but Adrien knew he was not going to be able to sit down. He hurried to the nearby bathroom. After a quick glance around and a check under the stalls, he opened his shirt so Plagg could fly out.

            “Plagg!” Adrien exclaimed. “I can’t take this! I need to see her!”

            “Hey, she’s okay,” Plagg reassured him, landing on his shoulder. “Just remember that she’s going to be okay. I’m sure it was Tikki who saved her.”

            “Ugh!” Adrien replied, pacing around the bathroom. “Why didn’t she transform and save herself?”

            “I don’t know,” Plagg answered honestly.

            “I know Lila said something to her before she pushed her,” Adrien declared, biting his thumb nail. “Why didn’t I get there in time?!”

            “Don’t blame yourself,” Plagg told him. “This is in no way your fault.”

            By the time Adrien left the bathroom, the Dupain-Chengs were back, and Alya had gone to see Marinette. He sat next to Sabine and held her hand, but he couldn’t stop his nervous leg-bouncing. After what seemed like ages but was probably only about ten minutes, Alya came back and informed Adrien that Marinette was asking for him. He bolted up and ran past the girl, barely registering the room number as she shouted it to him.

            Adrien burst into her room but managed to compose himself just enough to softly shut the door behind him. She was lying in a bed with an I.V. in her arm. A nearby heart monitor steadily beeped. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping, but they slowly fluttered open when Adrien approached and stammered, “M-Marinette?”

            She attempted a smile and then winced in pain. “Hey,” she barely whispered. “D-did you get…earrings?”

            It was then that Adrien realized that her miraculous was not in her ears. Before he could answer, a tall, robust nurse came into the room and said in a cheerful voice, “Ah, you must be Adrien.”

            “Y-yes?” Adrien replied.

            The nurse handed him a small baggie, and he gasped when he saw the plain black earrings inside. “She was very insistent that I only give these earrings to you,” the nurse explained. “We had to take them off her when she went to surgery, and let me tell you, she was not happy about it. I’ve never seen someone injured like her try to get out of the gurney like she did before I promised to give them to someone she trusted. Must be some special jewelry.”

            “Um…th-they are,” Adrien said, taking the baggie. “They’re a, uh, family heirloom.”

            “Thanks, Celia,” Marinette mumbled, attempting to speak above a whisper.

            “Of course, dear,” Celia replied. “Now I’ll let you two have some privacy.” She leaned towards Adrien and whispered, “She’s still a little woozy from the medicine.”

            She spun on her heel and sauntered out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. As soon as she was gone, Adrien began to open the baggie and said, “Here, I’ll put these back on you.”

            “No,” Marinette softly answered. “I have…surgery…morning…You…keep them…”

            “Seriously, bugaboo?” Adrien responded. “You want me to hold both of the most powerful miraculouses?”

            “Only…trust you…kitty,” Marinette said, her eyelids fluttering shut.

            “Wait, Marinette, before you go to sleep, I need to ask you a question.”

            Marinette slowly opened her eyes, humming, “Hmm?”

            “Why didn’t you transform? Before you…uh…fell.” Adrien shuddered when he pictured her falling once again.

            Marinette furrowed her brows and appeared to be thinking of a response. Finally, she whispered, “I…forgot. Lila…she said…”

            Adrien perked up at that. “She said? What? What did she say?”

            “She said…your dad…Hawk Moth…”

            Adrien cringed as she referred to his father as Hawk Moth again. He still hadn’t quite had a chance to process the information. “It’s okay, milady,” he said softly. “You can tell me. Please tell me.”

            “She said…he…he knows…”

            Adrien stiffened. He knows? He knows what? No, it couldn’t possibly be that. “What does he know?” Adrien pressed, afraid of the answer.

            “Who…who we are.”

            Hoping with every ounce of his being that he had misheard her, he slowly replied, “He knows we’re Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

            “Y-yeah,” she mumbled as her eyelids drooped. Soon, she was snoring softly as if she hadn’t just dropped the world’s biggest bombshell on him.

            If Adrien had felt nervous at the hospital, it was nothing compared to how he felt now in his bedroom as he harbored both of the miraculouses. Plagg and Tikki were attempting to calm him down as he paced around the large room.

            “He knows,” he was saying. “That’s, like, the worst possible thing. That was the whole reason we had to hide our identities for so long—so he wouldn’t know. I mean, as soon as Lila found out, she attacked Marinette’s parents. That’s why we had to keep it a secret. How does he know?!”

            Adrien plopped down on his bed, his hands tangled in his hair. Tikki flew to him and landed on his shoulder. “You’re right,” she told him, “your identities were supposed to remain secret. But now that everyone knows, we need to find a way to deal with it.”

            “Tikki, why couldn’t you stop her from falling?” Adrien asked desperately, tears falling from his eyes.

            “I couldn’t transform her since she didn’t say the words,” Tikki explained, “but I was able to use my magic to protect her as much as I could. I think without a miraculous, she might not have made it.”

            Adrien gasped at the thought of living without his lady. “I can’t do this without her,” he declared. “She’s the strong one, not me.”

            “My magic will heal her fairly quickly,” Tikki told him, “but in the meantime, you need to stay strong for her.”

            “We’ll help you as much as we can,” Plagg told him. “We’re both here for you.”

            A soft smile began to form on Adrien’s mouth, but it was suddenly interrupted by his cell phone ringing. “Oh no, it’s Nathalie!” Adrien exclaimed, picking up the phone. “Do you think she knows, too? What if my father knows I know now?! Should I answer it?”

            “Uh-oh, he’s starting to sound as crazy as Pigtails,” Plagg mumbled.

            Tikki shot him a glare before saying in her most soothing voice, “It’s okay, Adrien. Just answer, and try to sound calm.”

            Adrien took a deep breath. “Hello?” he said into the phone.

            “Adrien,” came Nathalie’s monotone voice. “Your father would like to see you in his office.”

            “N-now?”

            “Yes, please hurry.” He heard a click as she hung up abruptly.

            “Please hurry?” he repeated. “Please hurry?! What the hell does that mean?!” He noticed the worried glances exchanged between Plagg and Tikki and added, “He’s going to kill me, isn’t he?”

            “Adrien!” Tikki exclaimed. “He’s your father! You don’t really think—”

            She looked to Plagg for reassurance, but the black kwami just shrugged and said, “Eh, I give it 50/50.”

            “Plagg!” Tikki hissed.

            Adrien shuddered and said, “Okay, I’m not going in there unarmed. Plagg, you’re coming with me, but Tikki, you stay here. There’s no way I’m walking up to Hawk Moth with both miraculouses on me.”

            “St-stay here?!” Tikki sputtered. “You can’t leave me here! Marinette trusted you to keep the earrings safe!”

            “And they will be safe,” Adrien told her, “here in my room. No one ever comes in here. Besides, my father doesn’t even know I have the earrings.”

Chapter Text

            Adrien stood outside the door of his father’s office and took a deep breath. He had been mostly kidding when he said his father was going to kill him. Well, here goes nothing, he thought as he lightly tapped on the door.

            “Come in, Adrien,” Gabriel called.

            Adrien gulped before slowly opening the door and poking his head into the room. “Y-you, uh, wanted to see me?” he squeaked.

            Gabriel stood from his desk and said, “Please come inside, and close the door behind you.”

            Adrien did as he was instructed but kept his place near the door, not daring to step any closer to his father.

            “I assume from your reaction that you have discovered my identity?” Gabriel asked.

            The blonde slowly nodded his head. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and closed it again. His father sighed and slowly began stepping towards him. “I have learned of your identity as well, Chat Noir. And I understand your trepidation.” Adrien held his breath as the tall man drew closer. “You’re the hero of Paris. I’m your sworn enemy. But please know, my son, that I would never hurt you.” As if to emphasize his point, he stopped a good six feet from Adrien and held out his hand. “There is something I want to show you. I want you to know the reason I’ve been doing all this. I only ever wanted you to be happy.”

            At his words, Adrien furrowed his brows, his emotions morphing from fear to anger. “Happy?” he repeated in a tone so low that Gabriel almost didn’t hear him. “You wanted me to be happy?!” His voice began to rise in volume. “That’s almost laughable. I haven’t been happy since Mom disappeared!”

            “I know, Adrien! That’s why I’ve been doing all this!”

            “What?” Adrien replied, staring dumbstruck at his father.

            “Adrien, please come with me!” the man begged.

            “Come with you where?” his son asked.

            Instead of answering, Gabriel turned to the painting of Emilie Agreste across from his desk. Adrien narrowed his eyes as he watched. He was confused as to why his father was reaching out to touch the painting—that is, until the parts he touched appeared to move under his fingers like buttons and a circular opening appeared in the floor, which Gabriel deftly avoided. Gesturing towards the new opening and looking up at his son, he said, “If you will come with me, I will show you everything.”

            Every voice inside Adrien’s head was screaming at him to not join his homicidal father on a secret lift down to an unknown evil villain lair—it could have also been Plagg whisper screaming at him from his inside shirt pocket—but as the old saying goes, his curiosity won and he found himself joining his father on the tiny platform as they slid below the floor.

            At first, they plunged into darkness and Adrien instantly regretted his decision to go with his father. But then he began to notice dots of light below them, and as his eyes adjusted, a large circular window loomed before them. As the lift approached the ground, he saw greenery everywhere. What the hell was this? Was his father keeping an underground greenhouse for some reason? Then it hit him. His father must be suffering from dementia! That’s why he was transforming into Hawk Moth and terrorizing Paris! All Adrien had to do was find a good doctor—

            “We’re here, Adrien,” Gabriel said, interrupting his son’s thoughts.

            Adrien looked up to see a metal bridge stretching out in front of them, leading to the plants beyond. As they crossed the bridge and drew closer, he could see small white buds dangling from the leaves. No, wait, those weren’t buds, those were…cocoons? He was harvesting butterflies to turn into akumas?

            As they stepped off the bridge, Adrien noticed something else. A coffin-shaped chamber stood among the plants. They had been blocking it from his view until now. Adrien narrowed his eyes. Its double doors were closed, hiding whatever was inside. It looked just big enough for one person. What could it be?

            Gabriel stood next to the coffin chamber thing and said in a somber tone, “Adrien, I have something very important to show you. I hope you will understand why I…I…” His voice trailed off. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and continued, “Why I’ve done the things I’ve done.”

            Adrien gulped. He was a little scared of what his father was going to show him. He had never seen him like this. Sure, he was always serious, but this was different. He seemed almost…ashamed?

            Gabriel pressed a button on the chamber and the doors began to open slowly. Adrien wasn’t sure what he expected, but it definitely wasn’t what he saw.

            “M-mom?!” Adrien stuttered. He rushed to the coffin and pressed his hands against the glass. She just looked like she was sleeping.

            Tears streamed down Adrien’s cheeks. “Mom, is that really you?” he sobbed.

            “Yes, Adrien, it is her,” Gabriel replied softly.

            Adrien turned to his father. “Is she dead?!” he asked, a desperate tone in his voice.

            “No, she still has a pulse, but she appears to be in a stasis of some kind,” Gabriel answered. “Nathalie and I found her like this one night. She had apparently been using the peacock miraculous without our knowledge.”

            Adrien was staring at his mother through the glass door. “A miraculous did this?” he said incredulously.

            “Yes, the peacock miraculous was somehow damaged before it fell into our hands,” Gabriel told him. “Its kwami always seemed a little…off.”

            “Wait…” Adrien mumbled, slowly dropping his hands from the glass. “Nathalie…she had the same symptoms as Mom before she…” He turned to Gabriel. “Nathalie’s Mayura, isn’t she?” he demanded.

            Gabriel gave a barely perceptible nod, but Adrien caught it.

            Adrien crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at his father. “So you just let Nathalie use the peacock miraculous, knowing that it did this to Mom?” he declared. It wasn’t a question. “Jesus, Dad, are you just trying to destroy everyone?”

            “I never let Nathalie use the miraculous,” Gabriel argued. “I specifically told her not to use it.”

            Adrien closed his eyes and shook his head. He opened his mouth to retort but stopped when Gabriel interrupted his thoughts by mumbling, “Besides, we fixed it now.”

            The anger instantly dropped from Adrien’s face. “What did you say?” he inquired.

            “The peacock miraculous,” Gabriel stated simply. “We fixed it.”

            Adrien unfolded his arms and stepped closer. “How?”

            “We got a hold of the old guardian’s tablet,” Gabriel explained. “He had translated part of the Grimoire and it had instructions on fixing a broken miraculous.”

            “The Grimoire,” Adrien muttered to himself as if he had suddenly remembered something. He turned back to the case containing his mother, staring at her as he thought. After a moment, he suddenly turned to his father and exclaimed, “The Grimoire may have something in it about how to help Mom!”

            Gabriel let out an exasperated sigh and replied, “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? I searched through all the translations on his tablet but found nothing.”

            “Maybe he didn’t get to translating that part yet,” Adrien countered. “We just need the book.”

            “We?”

            “Well, Ladybug, to be precise. She’s the new guardian. She’ll be able to read it and tell us how to save Mom!”

            Gabriel raised one eyebrow at his son. “Do you really think she’d help you?” he asked quietly.

            Adrien’s hopeful smile disappeared. “Y-yes,” he answered shakily. “Why wouldn’t she?”

            “Open your eyes, Adrien,” Gabriel said more sternly, causing a shiver to go up Adrien’s spine. “She doesn’t love you. She lusts after you. How many times did you profess your love to her as Chat Noir? But she only had eyes for the handsome fashion model Adrien Agreste.”

            The fear quickly subsided in Adrien’s mind, morphing into confusion as his father continued, “Hell, I think you only lust after her, as well. It’s not love, it’s hormones. I can tell by the way you talk to each other. Miss Tsurugi was so much better for you.”

            “What do you know about how we talk to each other?” Adrien asked quietly.

            Seeming to not have heard him, Gabriel prattled on, “She’s the guardian of ancient magic, Adrien. She’s not going to drop everything just on the off-chance that she might be able to help us.”

            He might have kept going, except that he was interrupted at that moment when Adrien screamed, “What do you know about us?!”

            Gabriel’s mouth hung open as a look of guilt washed over his face. He quickly straightened himself up and returned to his usual emotionless face, but Adrien was quick. He had seen the slight change in his father’s countenance, and the gears were turning in his head. For so long, he had been so oblivious to what was right in front of him, but now all the parts of the puzzle were coming together. It was as if he had Ladybug’s Lucky Charm showing him all the pieces. “Did you bug my room?” he asked in a low, threatening tone. “Did you…listen to us?”

            For the first time in Adrien’s life, Gabriel seemed to be at a loss for words. After a short pause, he began with, “Adrien, I—”

            He was once again interrupted, but this time it was by Tikki frantically phasing through the floor and flying towards Adrien, desperately clutching the Ladybug earrings in her tiny hands. “Adrien!” she cried. “She knew I was there!” Adrien didn’t need to be told that Nathalie had gone into his room to find the earrings.

            Gabriel forgot about any brief shame he had felt as rage filled him at the sight of the red kwami. “Adrien, you know the wish is the only way to save her!” he yelled at his son.

            “You can’t do that!” Adrien yelled back. “You can’t just wish away reality without paying the consequences!”

            “I will pay any price to get her back!” Gabriel declared. “I will give my own life for hers! Wouldn’t you like that? To have her instead of me?! Just give me the ring and the earrings!”

            Gabriel lunged at Adrien who scrambled out of the way just in time. “Plagg, claws out!” he called, taking a flying leap over his father as soon as he transformed. Tikki was following close behind and nearly slammed into him as he landed on hard concrete on the other side of the plants. Suddenly, he felt the ground beneath him moving and felt himself rising. He looked down to see that he was on another circular lift like the one in his father’s office. But it wasn’t taking him back to the office—it looked like it was going to another level of this strange underground lair. When the lift stopped, he was in a small, pitch black room. His night vision showed him the one butterfly-shaped window and the hundreds of white butterflies fluttering around the room.

            “This must be where he sends the akumas from,” Chat Noir breathed.

            “Adrien, we need to get out of this house!” Tikki urged.

            “Right,” Chat agreed. He ran and jumped towards the window, shoving his baton through it and shattering the glass. Orange and pink rays from the setting sun flooded the room as Chat and the butterflies made their escape through the broken window.

            Gabriel had followed him, but the lift brought him up just in time to see the leather-clad hero jump out the window. He pulled out his phone to call his assistant. “Nathalie, he’s leaving the mansion dressed as Chat Noir,” he told her. “You need to follow him.”

            After losing the kwami, Nathalie had left Adrien’s room and was already running down the steps towards the front door when Gabriel called her. Adrien’s bodyguard was seated next to the front door reading a book. Nathalie rushed to him and explained, “Adrien is Chat Noir and he’s escaping the grounds. Hurry, we have to follow him!”

            Then something strange happened.

            You see, Adrien’s bodyguard was a quiet, reserved man. He had worked for the Agrestes for longer than Nathalie, and yet she had never heard him utter a word. She wasn’t even sure of his real name, as he was always lovingly referred to as Gorilla. She knew he cared deeply for Adrien and would do anything to keep him out of harm’s way, as a bodyguard should. However, she always got the feeling that it was more than a job for him. That he would do anything to protect the boy. Even what he was about to do now.

            For in that moment, the Gorilla stood up slowly, looked Nathalie in the eye, and said, “I quit.”

            And with that, he slowly strode out the front door, leaving Nathalie behind, a dumbfounded gaze on her face.

Chapter Text

            Chat Noir jumped from building to building, watching the road out of the corner of his eye. He expected his bodyguard to drive by at any moment with Nathalie and his father in the back of the car. He hadn’t seen them yet when he dropped into an alley to de-transform.

            Plagg hungrily ate the only spare piece of camembert Adrien had had in his shirt pocket as the model assessed his situation. Luckily, his phone and wallet had still been in his jeans pockets so he had those along with his miraculous. Those were the only things he had managed to escape the mansion with. “Okay, I can do this,” he said to himself.

            “We need to get the earrings back to Marinette,” Tikki reminded him.

            “Yeah, that’s our first priority,” Adrien agreed. He peeked around the corner of the alley. Still no sign of his bodyguard, Nathalie, or his father, but he knew they would be out looking for him. How was he going to get to the hospital without being seen?

            “I’m sure my father is following me or having me followed,” Adrien explained to the kwamis. “The hospital is too far to walk from here, and they’ll definitely find me if I try to take the metro.”

            “Won’t the hospital be the first place they go to look for you?” Plagg inquired. “Your dad knows your girl is there.”

            “Let’s solve one problem at a time, Plagg,” Adrien responded, scanning through the contacts list on his phone. “I’m calling Nino.”

            After explaining that he had run away from home and was hiding in an alley, Nino and Alya hurried to pick him up. Luckily, Alya had bought her own car after high school once she had realized that it was difficult to chase after stories when you had to wait for the metro. Adrien was a little surprised at how quickly they had reacted and the fact that they had asked no questions. His father had been such an asshole for so long, they must have just assumed he had finally had enough, and he didn’t need to go into too many details.

            When they arrived, they parked at a nearby shop. Nino got out of the car wearing a hoodie that covered most of his face. He slipped into the alley and pulled another hoodie out of the front pocket, handing it to Adrien. “You’ve done this before?” Adrien asked, slipping the hoodie over his head.

            Nino shrugged and replied, “Alya knows how to blend in.”

            The two hooded figures made their way back to Alya’s car as evening was slowly turning into night in the Parisian streets. Adrien glanced around as best he could while still keeping his face hidden, but he didn’t see anyone he knew, and no one seemed to be paying attention to them.

            “Where to?” Alya asked when they were both in the car.

            “You can hide out at my place if you need to,” Nino offered.

            “Thanks, but I really need to get to the hospital to see Marinette,” Adrien replied.

            “Dude, isn’t that, like, the first place they’ll look?!” Nino exclaimed.

            Adrien could’ve sworn he heard a tiny chuckle coming from his inside shirt pocket. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he answered, “I know, but I just really need to see her. Visitor hours are over soon, so I’m hoping they can’t get in.”

            “Well, let’s make sure you can get in,” Alya remarked as she pulled out into the road. Adrien had barely put on his seat belt before she was zipping through the streets, arriving at the hospital in record time.

            Before Adrien could get out of the car, Nino turned around in the front passenger seat and said to him, “Call me if you need anything else.”

            “I will,” Adrien promised, reaching for the door handle.

            Nino leaned over the seat and grabbed Adrien’s arm. “I mean it, dude,” he said in a more serious tone. “You can call at any time. It doesn’t matter. We’re pretty much together all the time anyway.”

            “We’re always here for you, Adrien,” Alya piped up.

            “Thanks, guys,” Adrien replied with a small smile. Then he was out of the car and walking into the lobby with the hoodie over his head.

            A quick glance at a nearby clock told Adrien the time was 8:50. Visitor hours were over at nine. He would have to thank Alya later for getting him here so quickly. He slipped past the receptionist without catching her attention and went straight to the elevators. In a manner of minutes, he was slowly opening the door to Marinette’s room.

            She was sleeping peacefully. She looked the same as she had when he had left her earlier that day. He pulled up a chair to her bed and sat down. Her eyelids fluttered open when he placed his hand over hers.

            “A-Adrien?”

            Her voice was weak. Still resting on the pillow, she had turned her head to see that it was him. She gave him a small smile.

            “Hey, bugaboo,” he greeted her. “How are you feeling?”

            She rubbed her free hand over her face and groaned. “Like I fell three stories from a balcony,” she grumbled.

            “So I guess the drugs have worn off then?” Adrien inquired.

            Marinette let out a nervous laugh and replied, “Yeah, I guess so. Was I babbling incoherently earlier?”

            “Actually, you said something very interesting,” Adrien told her.

            “I did?” Marinette answered, suddenly confused. “What did I say?”

            “You said that Hawk Moth—well, more precisely, my father—you said he knew our secret identities.”

            Marinette turned to stare at the ceiling. “Oh,” she said as the memories flooded back. “Lila told me just before she pushed me. It distracted me enough that I forgot to call for Tikki, and now I’m stuck in this hospital bed.”

            “Well, Tikki told me she was still able to help you survive and she’s hoping to also help you heal faster.”

            “That’s good.” Marinette sighed. “So you’ve been watching Tikki?”

            “Yeah…” Adrien’s voice trailed off.

            “What?” Marinette asked, turning to look at him again. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

            Adrien nervously rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure how to begin. “I… uh… well…” he stammered.

            “Tell me, Adrien,” Marinette demanded in the best Ladybug voice she could manage at the moment.

            “I went to see my father,” he blurted out.

            Marinette yanked her hand from him, using her elbows to start pushing herself up in bed. “You went alone?!” she cried out in a hoarse voice.

            The creaking of the opening door caused both of them to stop and look up as Marinette’s nurse Celia stepped into the room. “All right, lovebirds, visitor hours are over now,” she announced.

            Shit! Adrien thought. He hadn’t gotten to the important part, and he really had nowhere else to stay tonight anyway. “Uh…” he spoke up, “I was sort of hoping… to… spend the night? I can sleep in this chair,” he quickly added.

            Celia rolled her eyes and replied, “Look, honey, I was being nice to you earlier, but I know who you are. I know you’re all rich and famous and you’re not used to people telling you no—”

            “Please, Celia!” Marinette suddenly exclaimed. She seemed a little surprised when the other two turned to look at her, but she quickly remembered what she was going to say. “I-I’m scared of surgery tomorrow,” she lied to the nurse. “I really don’t want to be alone tonight. Please can he stay?”

            Celia’s face instantly softened. She quickly stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. “Well, I’m not supposed to,” she said in a much quieter voice.

            “I promise I can stay super quiet,” Adrien told her.

            Celia bit her lip and appeared to be thinking for a moment. Finally, she said, “Okay, my shift is almost over. The night shift will probably come check on her about three. Make sure you’re out of sight.” She pointed at Adrien. “And they’re coming at six a.m. sharp to take her to surgery so you need to be gone by then. Can you do that?”

            Adrien held up his right hand and declared, “I swear on Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

            Marinette rolled her eyes, and Celia frowned as if she was having second thoughts. However, she just nodded and told Marinette, “Good luck tomorrow, dear.” Then she was gone.

            Adrien let out a sigh of relief once they were alone again. Marinette, however, hadn’t forgotten what they had been talking about before the interruption. “So why did you go see your father without me?” she demanded.

            His body tensing again, Adrien replied, “He’s my father, Marinette. I didn’t think he’d actually hurt me.”

            “Did he hurt you?” she asked more softly but with anger still burning in her eyes.

            Adrien paused for a minute. He wasn’t sure how to word this. “Not…physically,” he finally said, allowing his voice to trail off.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” Marinette inquired.

            Adrien let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. He dropped his elbows onto the bed and let his forehead fall into his open palms. “Mari…he…uh…” His eyes were growing hot and he could feel tears forming. Marinette stayed quiet as he tried to figure out how to explain things to her. “He told me why he became Hawk Moth,” he whispered.

            At first, Marinette didn’t respond. Adrien was beginning to think she hadn’t heard him when she finally asked, “Why?”

            Adrien smiled the coldest smile she’d ever seen on his face as he let his hands drop on the bed and turned to look at her. “Let’s just say I kind of understand,” he answered. “I’m kind of thinking that maybe we should give him our miraculouses.”

            “What?!” Marinette shouted, her eyes widening in a shocked expression. She suddenly remembered that they were supposed to be quiet and continued in a lower voice, “Adrien, why would you want to do that? You know there could be a terrible price to pay. What possible reason could he have to risk it?”

            “My mother, okay?” he exclaimed, tears streaming down his face. He quickly covered his mouth and stood up, walking away from the bed.

            Now Marinette was silent. Adrien had never given her much information about his mother. Of course, she had heard all the stories and read all the tabloids about how she had mysteriously disappeared, perhaps run away from Gabriel or even worse, possibly murdered by him. She had always known it to be a touchy subject for Adrien, and it was one she never dared to bring up. “Y-your mother?” she finally said softly.

            Adrien turned around and walked back towards the bed. “She’s alive, Marinette!” he said excitedly but also as quietly as he could manage.

            Marinette’s eyes widened, then narrowed again as she thought more about his words. “How do you know?” she asked. “Did he tell you that? He could’ve been lying—”

            “No, Marinette, I saw her!” he cried, kneeling by the bed to grab her hands and look her in the eye.

            “R-really?” Marinette replied. “You saw her—like, in person? Did you talk to her? Where has she been all this time?”

            Adrien bit his lip. “I…uh…that’s the thing…” He looked away and continued, “She’s in some kind of magical coma. He’s got her in some type of containment chamber below the mansion.”

            “What?” Marinette responded, a bewildered look on her face. “What the hell did he do to her?”

            “No, it wasn’t him!” Adrien quickly corrected her. “It was the peacock miraculous.”

            Marinette just stared at him for a moment before eventually saying, “Okay, I’m lost.”

            Adrien sighed as he sat down in the chair next to her bed again. “My father said she had been using the peacock miraculous without anyone knowing. But it was broken. She ended up using it so much, she went into some kind of magical coma. He said doctors have checked her, and her body is functioning normally, but she just won’t wake up.”

            “But Mayura uses the peacock miraculous,” Marinette pondered. Her eyes lit up as something suddenly dawned on her. “Does that mean you know who Mayura is, too?”

            “Yeah, she’s Nathalie.”

            “Nathalie?” Marinette repeated. “As in your father’s assistant?”

            “That’s her. Apparently the most dedicated assistant ever.” Adrien rolled his eyes.

            “But if the peacock miraculous is damaged, how come Nathalie didn’t end up in a coma, too?”

            “My father said that they were able to get the translated notes from Master Fu, and it told them how to repair the miraculous,” Adrien explained. “It must’ve been during that last big fight we had with Hawk Moth before Fu made you the guardian.”

            Marinette cringed at the memory. She had never quite forgiven herself for leading Hawk Moth directly to Master Fu. Apparently, she could add strengthening Mayura’s power to her list of mistakes, as well.

            Adrien seemed to notice her reaction and smiled softly. He placed his hand tenderly on her cheek and said quietly, “Hey, this has been way too much stress for the past few years. The miraculouses have done nothing but complicate our lives. Let’s just give ours to my father, bring my mom back, and put all this behind us, okay?”

            Marinette closed her eyes and sighed. As much as she wanted this to all be over, she knew it never would be. She wanted so badly to help Adrien, but she absolutely did not trust Gabriel. There could’ve been another way to save his wife without terrorizing Paris for years. Plus, she knew they could not combine their miraculouses to make that wish. The universe would demand payment in return, most likely a life for a life. What if it demanded Adrien’s life? No, she couldn’t let that happen.

            Marinette slowly opened her eyes and looked into the tear-stained ones of the man she loved. “I’m sorry, Adrien,” she said in a hushed tone. “You know we can’t do that.”

            Adrien’s lip trembled as his hand dropped from her face. His eyes overflowed with tears once again as he sobbed, “But, Marinette, it’s my mom!”

            “I know,” Marinette replied, grabbing onto his hand. “But this isn’t the way to save her.”

            “I don’t know of any other way!” he wailed.

            “I do,” Marinette declared.

            Adrien wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his free hand. “You do? What is it?”

            “Well, I may know a way,” she corrected herself. “I know Master Fu didn’t finish translating the Grimoire, but I do have paper copies of all the pages. When I first became guardian, I glanced through them to see if I really could read the coded language. I guess I still couldn’t believe I was actually the guardian.” She chuckled nervously.

            “And could you?” Adrien asked. “Read it, I mean?”

            “Yes, I could,” Marinette affirmed. “I’ll admit I didn’t study it too much, but I did read through a lot of it. I remember seeing something about a miraculous putting its holder in some kind of stasis for protection.”

            “What kind of protection?”

            “I’m not sure.” Marinette bit her lip as she thought for a moment. “Do you remember when we first met Bunnyx? In the museum?”

            Adrien nodded. “Yeah, she was trapped in that Egyptian stone. She said I broke her miraculous. Or I’m going to break it or something.”

            “Right, she said Timetagger sent her back in time to Ancient Egypt. When you got her out, I remember her yawning like she had been asleep. So maybe her kwami put her in some kind of stasis so she could survive in that stone for thousands of years?”

            “And you think that’s what happened to my mom?”

            “Maybe?”

            “But why would the kwami put her in stasis? What was it protecting her from?”

            “It could’ve been a glitch since the miraculous was broken. Maybe the kwami didn’t realize what it was doing.”

            “So you think you know a way to wake her up?”

            “I remember the book said something about waking up the holder, but I don’t remember exactly what it said. I need the papers, but they’re back in my room with the miraculous box.”

            “Well, I don’t want to go out as Chat Noir now to get them. I know my father and Nathalie are out looking for me.”

            Marinette paused for a moment. “And why would they be out looking for you?” she wanted to know.

            Adrien’s eyes grew wide as he suddenly realized he hadn’t told her the rest of the story. “Uh…” he responded, “I sort of…ran away?”

            “Why...?”

            “Well, the reason my father knows who we are is because he bugged my room. So he also knew I had your miraculous, and he sent Nathalie to get it while he was talking to me.”

            “Oh my God, did he get it?!” Marinette exclaimed, struggling to sit up in her bed.

            Tikki flew out of Adrien’s front pocket, shouting, “Don’t worry, Marinette! I’m safe!”

            “Oh, thank God,” Marinette replied, her head falling back onto her pillow.

            Plagg poked his head out of the pocket and told Adrien, “Maybe you should’ve led with that, kid.”

            “Yeah,” Adrien replied, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “So I had to run away to keep him from getting both miraculouses.”

            Marinette turned her head to look at Adrien and narrowed her eyes. “Let me get this straight,” she said. “Your dad knows you have both miraculouses?”

            “Yeah.”

            “And he knows I’m in the hospital.”

            “Yeah.”

            “And he knows you’d probably come here to see me first.”

            Adrien gulped. “Well, it’s after visitor hours. Maybe security will keep him out?”

            Just at that moment, they heard a loud crash in the hall followed by several screams.

Chapter Text

            Gabriel quietly grumbled to himself thinking of all the time they had lost when Adrien’s damn bodyguard decided to choose that day of all days to suddenly quit; however, they had quickly recovered and taken the Bugatti from the garage. Now Nathalie was expertly zooming the luxury car through the streets of Paris in search of the elusive black cat or blonde model as Gabriel rode in the passenger seat. Unfortunately for them, he was doing a pretty good job of staying hidden. But they knew Marinette was still in the hospital and there was no way he wouldn’t eventually end up there, so that’s where they headed next.

            As soon as they entered the lobby, Gabriel knew he was there. He had always been able to feel Adrien’s emotions but had resisted akumatizing him in the past. Now his anger and fear struck him as hard as if someone had punched him in the face.

            They approached the receptionist who cheerfully told them, “I’m sorry, visitor hours are over at nine. You may come back to visit tomorrow morning at eight o’clock!”

            “I apologize, but it’s very urgent that I see my son,” Gabriel responded in his usual overly calm tone.

            The smile never left the receptionist’s face. “I understand, sir; however, we have many patients who need to rest so we can’t allow visitors at this time.”

            “Perhaps you don’t know who I am,” Gabriel tried.

            The receptionist’s tone grew dark as the smile on her face seemed to widen unnaturally. “I don’t care who you are, sir,” she answered. “I will not have anyone disturbing my patients tonight. Please come back tomorrow.”

            Gabriel noticed a large security guard behind her stepping towards them. He wished at that moment that they still had the Gorilla with them to look intimidating; as it was, though, an older well-dressed man and his female assistant did not seem to deter this guard.

            “Very well,” Gabriel declared with a small nod. He and Nathalie turned to go.

            “Nathalie, I know he’s in there,” Gabriel whispered as they pushed open the glass doors into the nighttime air. “I can feel his emotions. We must get back to the mansion.”

            “It looks like you will be disturbing her patients after all, sir,” Nathalie replied with a smirk.

            Back at the mansion, they wasted no time getting to the butterfly lair and transforming into Hawk Moth and Mayura. Hawk Moth focused on the hospital. The place was absolutely full of negative emotions from the sick and injured patients, to the worried family members who were leaving or still waiting in the lobby, to the overworked doctors, nurses, and staff. He had a hard time focusing in on anyone who could actually be of any use to him. He found Adrien, but the boy’s emotions had lessened since they were last there. He was no longer quite as fearful as he had been, and Hawk Moth didn’t think he would be able to get a good enough grip on him, especially considering the fact that he would likely resist. He continued to search until he found the security guard from earlier. The guard was still a little annoyed at the pompous rich man who didn’t think he had to follow rules and somewhat resentful that he had to stand here all night at his second job just so he could pay his rent. Hawk Moth shrugged and decided that those negative emotions would have to do.

            “Praetorian,” Hawk Moth said to his new victim once the akuma had attached itself to his badge, “you no longer have to feel exhausted at work or deal with self-entitled visitors. I’m giving you the power to command others to follow your will. Your shield will stop them and put them in a daze as they await your command. You can use your sword to spawn a new sword for them and they will follow you. Create your own army! All I ask in return are the miraculouses of Ladybug and Chat Noir, who already happen to be in the hospital with you!”

            “Yes, Hawk Moth,” the akumatized victim replied. The purple butterfly outline around his eyes glowed as his light blue shirt disappeared to reveal a heavily muscled torso. His black slacks morphed into an Ancient Romanesque tunic made of black and brown leather with a metal belt and guard over the front. His shiny black police shoes turned into leather sandals, straps crisscrossing up his muscular legs. On his top half he wore only metal shoulder pads held on by a brown leather strap and a metal helmet that protected him from the eyes up, leaving the bottom half of his face bare. He held a large bronze sword, and his badge had transformed into a large metal shield complete with a lion carving on it.

            “You’re going with the Roman gladiator look?” Mayura inquired, raising an eyebrow.

            Hawk Moth shrugged and replied, “I’m not the one who picks it. This man is apparently interested in Roman history.”

            “Hmm… it’s going to seem odd with my sentimonster,” she mumbled.

            “Why is that?” he asked.

            “I’m working on making one out of the aquarium in the lobby,” she told him.

            “The aquarium?! What’s so scary about an aquarium?”

            “It has a nurse shark in it!”

            Praetorian had already used his shield to stun the receptionist and any other doctor, nurse, or visitor who happened to be nearby. Many of them screamed and scrambled to get away, but Praetorian’s speed had been enhanced by Hawk Moth, and he was able to stop them before they could leave the lobby. He then rushed down the line of people, turning each into a member of his new army. When he was done, every person he had stunned now wore a simple Roman tunic and leather sandals and carried a bronze sword. None, however, had been granted the security of a helmet or shield.

            The akumatized security guard was admiring his work when some more people who had been running down the stairs towards the commotion in the lobby began screaming. He then noticed a shadow of something large behind him and spun around. He gasped in awe at what he saw before him.

            The lobby aquarium appeared to be rising. As it rose, two vertical aquariums seemed to grow from the bottom of it, as if it were sprouting legs. Then two more smaller aquariums grew from the sides, apparently serving as its arms. The new aquariums were filled with water and sea creatures just like the original. The fish swam from one fishbowl to the next without a care in the world. The newly formed Aquarium Man stood up to its full height, about ten feet tall, disconnecting the original aquarium from its holding place in the lobby. It turned towards the Praetorian. One couldn’t say it was looking at him because it didn’t have eyes, yet he felt as if he were being watched. He was just about to run away when a female voice spoke loudly in his mind.

            “Praetorian,” Mayura said, “this sentimonster is yours to control. It will follow you and help to attack your enemies. Think of it as an added weapon.”

            Praetorian smirked. It was an odd weapon to be sure, but he figured it could probably be useful. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was supposed to control it, so he pointed his sword at it, then turned and pointed at the people still cowering on the stairs. He looked back at Aquarium Man who tilted its large aquarium forward a bit—perhaps nodding? It then reached into itself with one of its smaller appendages and pulled out a large octopus, which could never have possibly fit in that aquarium, but hey, magic. The sentimonster threw the octopus with blinding speed at the employees Praetorian had indicated. He whipped his head around to see the octopus slam into a doctor, its tentacles spread out to knock down everyone else around him. Praetorian burst into laughter and raced towards the victims to add them to his army.

            Nadja Chamack was grateful that the news studio was so close to the hospital when her contact called her to tell her of a possible akuma attack. Hawk Moth had been taking long breaks in between attacks, so she knew she absolutely had to get this story. She and her crew arrived at the hospital lobby just in time to see what appeared to be a monster made of aquariums throwing a giant octopus at a group of doctors and nurses while a Roman gladiator laughed maniacally. “That camera had better be on!” Nadja shouted as she ran in.

            Alya and Nino had barely made it back to Alya’s house and turned on the TV when Nadja Chamack appeared on screen, reporting an akuma attack at the hospital. “Well, I don’t know about Adrien’s dad, but it looks like Hawk Moth and Mayura sure found him,” Alya observed.

            “We’d better go suit up and help them out,” Nino replied.

            Adrien ducked back into Marinette’s room after checking the hallway, quickly closing the door behind them. “There’s something going on in the lobby,” he told her. “I think it’s an akuma!”

            “Wow, it’s been a while,” Marinette remarked.

            “Yeah,” Adrien responded, voice trailing off. He stared at Marinette, and she stared back. Finally, he asked, “So…can you suit up?”

            Marinette scoffed and replied, “Are you kidding me, Adrien? I can’t even sit up. Come see my leg under the covers.”

            Adrien stepped closer to the bed and gingerly lifted up the covers. He tried not to audibly gasp. There was a large splint extending from her hip to her knee, held together by bandages. She groaned a bit and mumbled, “Put them back, please. It’s cold.”

            He covered her back up and, taking her hand, said, “So what do we do?”

            Plagg and Tikki had been sitting on the bed with Marinette. Tikki flew to Adrien and told him, “I might be able to help. If you transform, Marinette, I can give you strength to walk and fight. You won’t be at full strength, of course, since I’ve been working to heal you.”

            “I don’t want to overwhelm you, Tikki,” Marinette answered. “Besides, I’m not supposed to be moving my leg at all. The splint is a temporary fix until I have surgery.”

            “But how will we cleanse the akuma without you, milady?” Adrien inquired.

            “He has a point, Marinette,” Tikki agreed.

            “If you help me to fight tonight, Tikki, then you won’t be at full strength to heal me,” Marinette observed. “I mean, if Hawk Moth is already attacking us, I really need to heal as quickly as possible.”

            “I’ll find a way to make it work,” Tikki said hopefully.

            Adrien chewed on his lip for a few minutes before speaking up, “I think I have an idea.” Marinette and the two kwamis turned to look at him. “How about I call for some backup,” he continued, “and also call your parents, Marinette, to bring as many baked goods as they possibly can? Then I’ll come back to get you when we’re ready to cleanse the akuma, and we’ll have lots of food to help Tikki recharge and hopefully heal you quickly. Would that work?”

            He felt a little nervous as the room stayed silent for a moment. Of course it wouldn’t work! What was he thinking?! But then a small voice said, “I think that could work.” It was Tikki.

            “You think so, Tikki?” Marinette asked, worry still evident in her voice.

            They heard some more screaming from the lobby.

            “It’s worth a shot,” Tikki replied. “And from the sound of things, we should probably put this plan in action quickly!”

            Adrien sent a quick text to Marinette’s parents and gave her a kiss on the cheek before transforming and bounding out the window. “I hope everything works out,” Marinette whispered to his retreating form.

            Chat Noir swung down from Marinette’s window to the front doors of the hospital. What he saw when he entered was a bit…unexpected. Nadja Chamack and her news crew were gathered in front of what appeared to be a group of Roman gladiators, their leader obviously the akumatized victim, and a large…aquarium? With more aquariums for arms and legs? Chat shook his head. Hawk Moth and Mayura really did seem to be running out of ideas.

            “I thought something fishy was going on here,” he declared.

            A few nearby members of the news crew groaned at the pun. He smirked before he heard a familiar voice behind him say, “Really? That’s the best you could come up with?”

            He turned and gasped with relief at the very welcome sight of Rena Rouge and Carapace. “Hey, guys!” he exclaimed. “I was just about to call you! It’s like you can read my mind.”

            “Or we can watch the news, dude,” Carapace replied.

            “Whatever,” Chat responded. “Looks like we have our work cut out for us tonight!”

            “Where’s Ladybug?” Rena asked.

            Chat paused before hurriedly replying, “She’ll be joining us later. Come on, let’s go!”

            He took out his baton and plunged headlong into the group of Roman gladiators. Attempting to use his fencing abilities with a lunge here and a parry there, he was able to fight off most of the gladiators in his efforts to get to the main guy. But there were just too many of them. When Chat knocked down one, four more took their place. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by followers all striking at him with their heavy bronze swords. Luckily, he had magical armor with his suit, but he was unable to move forward and barely able to even move at all. Praetorian was laughing loudly and babbling something to his followers about grabbing Chat’s miraculous when he felt himself being dragged out of the fray by his tail. Rena Rouge had managed to grab onto him and pull him out.

            “What the hell? I was making progress!” Chat yelled at her.

            “What?” Rena responded, a shocked look on her face. “No, you weren’t.”

            “Dude, what was that?!” Carapace demanded. “You can’t just rush in without a plan!”

            Chat let out an exasperated sigh and exclaimed, “We don’t have time for his stupid akumas right now! Ladybug won’t be able to help us fight. She needs to heal.”

            “What do you mean—heal?” Rena asked, but before Chat could reply, they realized they were suddenly being pelted with wet, stinky flying projectiles.

            “Shell-ter!” Carapace called out.

            Once they were protected under the glowing green dome, they were able to get a good look at what was being thrown at them. “Is that aquarium dude throwing fish at us?” Carapace asked incredulously.

            “Yes, that’s exactly what it is,” Rena told him.

            “Hey, I know cats love fish, but this is just ridiculous!” Chat remarked.

            “Okay, guys, we need to come up with a plan!” Rena announced.

            “Well, the Roman guy keeps adding to his army,” Carapace observed.

            Indeed, Praetorian had turned more doctors and nurses who had come to investigate the noises into his followers, as well as some of Nadja Chamack’s news crew. The remaining members of the team were scrambling for cover as Nadja herself desperately tried to continue narrating the scene.

            “We need to get him away from people so he can’t add them to his army,” Chat stated. He looked up to see more employees filing down the stairs only to meet up with Praetorian who was stunning them with his shield in one hand and turning them with the sword in his other. Aquarium Man was helping by throwing fish at anyone who tried to get away, knocking them down until Praetorian could get to them.

            “This is a really weird combination of bad guys, but they’re working well together,” Rena noted.

            “Then we’re just going to have to work well together, too,” Chat replied. “Let’s try to get them both outside. Most Parisians know to stay inside during akuma attacks now. Carapace, you can Shell-ter anyone who does come out. Rena, you can distract Praetorian by making illusions of more people so he’ll keep trying to build his army. I’ll take the giant aquarium monster thing.”

            “That sounds great, dude, but I’m gonna have to recharge my kwami,” Carapace spoke up.

            “The cafeteria is right through that door,” Chat told him, pointing. “On my count, you run there to get some food for your kwami, and Rena and I will take the other two.”

            “You seem to know the hospital pretty well, Chat,” Rena remarked.

            “I’ve been here a few times recently,” Chat answered. “Okay, you guys ready? One, two…”

            On the count of three, they all moved at once. Carapace took off at full speed towards the cafeteria. Chat pounced onto the largest fish tank on Aquarium Man, causing the monster to begin flailing his two upper appendages. Rena began making illusions of more scared people as she steadily led Praetorian and his army out the front doors.

            Chat was beginning to think that jumping on top of the aquarium was a bad idea. For one thing, there was no lid so as he gripped the edges, his body was dipping into the water, allowing him to be attacked by the fish inside. At the same time, more fish were flying out of the smaller tanks that were waving dangerously close to his head. Chat’s fingers were slipping against the slick edges of the aquarium as the monster violently shook itself back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the leather-clad superhero. With one particularly aggressive lunge, Chat was propelled to the ground along with a few gallons of water, which allowed him to slide across the marble floor until he slammed against the wall. He rubbed the back of his head, barely registering the flopping fish and skittering crabs on the floor around him. Luckily, Chat’s focus returned just in time for him to look up and see Aquarium Man pulling out—oh, God, of course it’s a shark, he thought.

            Chat held up his baton to block just as the shark (which had been enhanced quite a bit by Mayura from its original nurse shark form) was flung forward at him. The superhero managed to knock it back into the open aquarium. The monster pulled it back out and attempted to swing it at Chat again. By now, the hero had managed to scramble to his feet and held up his baton once again, only for the shark to clamp down on it with its rows of sharp teeth. It couldn’t bite through the magical weapon, though, and Chat flung it away from him until the shark let go. Aquarium Man still held on to it as the kitty turned tail and ran out the front door and into the street. Cars skidded to a stop as the giant aquarium followed him out. That’s when people began looking out their windows, stepping out of their cars, and walking towards them on the sidewalks to see—well, who can blame them, really?—what had turned into a fencing match between Chat Noir and Aquarium Man, baton against shark.

            “Scratch anything I’ve ever said before,” Chat declared, parrying against the shark and then attempting to beat it back into the aquarium. “This is definitely the strangest thing I’ve ever done!”

            Meanwhile, Rena Rouge was using her mirage power to mimic hospital employees attempting to flee from Praetorian. He hadn’t yet touched any of them, which had been her plan so far. She didn’t want him to realize they were fake until she managed to get him outside the hospital. She saw Chat flailing around with Aquarium Man out of the corner of her eye as she tried to focus on her task. Rena pressed her back against the front door, pushing it open as she played her flute, allowing her mirages to run out the open door, followed closely by the Praetorian and his army. When about half the army were through the doors, that’s when Chat also took off running outside, followed by the sentimonster who was splashing water everywhere, causing most of the remaining army to lose their balance and end up sprawled across the lobby floor.

            Rena gulped when she saw Praetorian’s face light up at the sight of all the bystanders coming to watch the fight between Chat and the giant aquarium. As if on cue, Carapace came bounding out of the hospital, expertly avoiding the slippery puddles on the marble floor. Because the two heroes could work so well together, Carapace set up his Shell-ter to protect the people who had come outside at the exact same time that Rena made an exact replica of the gawkers and on-lookers in front of them. They worked so quickly that, as far as the Praetorian was concerned, it was the same crowd that had been there when he stepped outside.

            As Rena and Carapace were working to protect the real crowd, Chat realized too late that his baton was getting more slippery from the splashing water of the giant aquarium. The shark got a good grip on it with his teeth and flung it out of the hero’s hands. “Shit!” Chat exclaimed, watching it fly across the street and land on a sidewalk several buildings away.

            Chat expertly dodged the shark as he ran towards the hospital building. Trying to position himself directly under Marinette’s open window, he yelled as loud as he could, “Sure could use a Lucky Charm about now!”

            After a couple of excruciating and terrifying minutes of dodging shark teeth, Chat noticed something fall out of Marinette’s window. He held up his arms and caught a red and black polka-dotted fishing pole. He sighed with relief at knowing exactly what to do with it. He held up his arm and cast the line at the shark, the hook immediately catching onto the animal’s upper lip. Before it knew what was happening, it was flying through the air. Chat called out, “Cataclysm” just as he noticed the shark landing dangerously close to Carapace and the crowd he was protecting. “Oops,” the black cat mumbled.

            Then two things happened at once. Praetorian stepped towards the “crowd” holding up his shield. Just as the shield touched the first person who began to disintegrate into swirls of smoke, Rena Rogue stepped out of the shadows and knocked the shield out of his hand with her flute. Before he could react, she jumped on it, snapping it in half and releasing the akumatized butterfly inside. Carapace would’ve cheered at his girlfriend’s success if he hadn’t been freaking out at the now angry shark that was somehow pushing itself across the pavement towards him. At the same time, Chat ran towards Aquarium Man as fast as he could, aiming for the largest tank. Just as the shark seemed like it might be close enough to bite off Carapace’s ankle, Chat smashed his right hand into the aquarium, shattering the glass, water and fish spraying everywhere for a moment before everything, including the crawling shark, disappeared, and a single black feather began floating to the ground.

            “Grab that akuma!” Chat cried to Rena as he himself grabbed the amok.

            Rena managed to catch the butterfly before it could fly too far, and she and Carapace ran from the scene of confused people (the turtle hero stumbling a couple of times while recovering from his near shark attack in the middle of the street) to the solitude of an alley where they could de-transform. Rena took one last look over her shoulder and saw Chat extending his baton to jump back into the hospital through a window. Wait, isn’t that the floor Marinette’s on? she thought but was interrupted by Carapace pulling her into the shadows just as she de-transformed.

            “Cutting it kinda close there, Als,” Nino told her. He pulled some snacks from the cafeteria out of his pocket, and held them out for Wayzz and Trixx.

            “I could’ve sworn Chat Noir just went to Marinette’s room,” Alya remarked, clutching the struggling black butterfly to her chest.

            Both Alya and Nino gasped when they saw Chat slowly lowering himself back to the ground, this time with Ladybug in his arms. He gently set her on her feet, and while she was able to stand, she moved with a limp while her face contorted in pain. After she cleansed the amok, Chat looked around for the other heroes and, thanks to his night vision, spotted Nino waving in the alley. He picked up Ladybug once again and took her to the alley. She took the butterfly from Alya and cleansed it. Then, picking up the fishing pole from the ground where Chat had left it, she threw it in the air, Miraculous Ladybugging the hospital and all the damages. Once she was done, she leaned against the brick building behind her and slowly sank to the ground.

            “What’s wrong with her?” Alya inquired, kneeling down.

            Chat was already by her side. Sweat poured down her forehead as she panted heavily. They could all hear her earrings beeping out the warning that her transformation was about to end. “Can you make it back to the room if I take you?” Chat asked.

            Ladybug shook her head and stammered, “It-it hurts…”

            With that, her transformation wore out, leaving behind Marinette wearing nothing but a hospital gown and a large splint with bandages covering her leg. Nino gasped, and Alya covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Marinette’s skin was ghostly pale, and Tikki fell into her outstretched hand, looking equally worse for wear. Chat looked up at his stunned friends and said, “Surprise,” as he let out a nervous laugh.

            Alya was sure now that she wasn’t going to scream as she removed her hand from her mouth and placed it on Marinette’s shoulder. “Oh my God, Marinette,” she breathed, “it was you all this time.”

            “How are we going to get her back to her room?” Nino asked.

            “I can’t move her like this,” Chat told them. “She needs surgery on her leg, and I could permanently injure her if I try to move her. If you’ll excuse me for just a moment, I think I see her parents at the front door.”

            Chat bounded out of the alley. Nino peeked around to see him meeting the Dupain-Chengs at the front entrance of the hospital. They handed him a large cloth bag, which he quickly brought back to the alley. The smell of fresh baked goods coming from the bag seemed to wake Tikki.

            “Okay, I have to shock you guys again,” Chat told his friends. He then de-transformed into Adrien, causing Alya to bite into her fist and Nino to bury his face in Alya’s hair.

            Plagg helped Tikki into the bag where they both began stuffing their faces. When Nino regained his bearings a bit and sat up, he whisper-screamed at Adrien, “What the hell, dude?! It’s been you all this time?!”

            Adrien shrugged and replied, “Sorry, we couldn’t tell you guys.”

            They were joined just then by Marinette’s parents who had made their way to the alley. Sabine rushed to Marinette’s side and knelt beside Alya. “Oh, my baby!” she exclaimed, but quietly. She turned to Adrien. “Is she going to be okay?”

            Tikki poked her head out of the bag and said, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, I’m getting my strength back. We’ll get her back in her room as quickly as possible.”

            Once the kwamis were recharged, both Adrien and Marinette transformed. It was a little more tricky now since things outside were returning to normal, but Chat managed to stay in the shadows as he jumped to the window and took Marinette back to her hospital bed. Once he returned, he assured everyone that she was safe. “I had to hide, but I made sure she called a nurse and got something to help her sleep,” he told them. Tom and Sabine breathed out sighs of relief.

            Chat de-transformed, and Tikki floated out of his hoodie pocket. “Marinette needs to rest,” she told everyone, “but in the meantime, the rest of us have some work to do.”

Chapter Text

            The five humans and the two kwamis reconvened in the Dupain-Chengs’ living room half an hour later. Per Tikki’s instructions, Adrien retrieved the miraculous box from Marinette’s bedroom and was able to open it. Some of the kwamis came out to say hello while Adrien gathered all the papers Marinette had stashed inside.

            “Oh, they’re so cute!” Alya gushed over the kwamis.

            Sabine smiled at the kwamis but then turned her attention to the papers Adrien was stacking on the table. They seemed to contain artist’s renderings of the different superheroes she had seen in Paris, albeit in more old-fashioned costumes. But the writing next to the pictures was not in any language she had ever seen before. “What are these strange writings?” she asked Adrien, picking up one of the pages.

            “It’s from an old book about the miraculous,” Adrien explained. “Master Fu had translated it on his tablet, but Marinette had decided to keep some hard copies. I’m glad she did since my father and Nathalie stole the tablet.”

            “They stole it?” Sabine replied, looking up. “But what does that mean? Could they become more powerful?”

            “Well, my father told me they already used it to fix the peacock miraculous,” Adrien responded.

            “Wait a minute, dude,” Nino spoke up. “Your father? What does he know about miraculouses?”

            Alya had also lost interest in the kwamis, and both of them were now staring intently at Adrien. “Right, you guys don’t know,” Adrien mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

            “It’s okay, Adrien, I’ve got it,” Tikki called, flying into the middle of the group. Plagg followed behind her but stopped to rest on Adrien’s shoulder.

            Tikki took a deep breath and said to Alya and Nino, “We have recently discovered that Adrien’s father is Hawk Moth.”

            “What?!” Alya exclaimed.

            “No way, dude!” Nino shouted.

            “Adrien, I’m so sorry!” Alya declared, pulling the blonde boy into a tight hug.

            Plagg flew away and landed on Tom’s shoulder. “Wow, and they don’t even know the rest of the story!” he blurted. Tom raised his eyebrow at Plagg but didn’t respond.

            Alya pulled away from Adrien. “Wait, there’s more?!” she cried.

            Tikki sighed while glaring at Plagg and then turned back to Nino and Alya. “We also learned that Adrien’s mother is in grave danger,” she told them.

            “His mom?!” Nino repeated. He turned to Adrien, “You found her?”

            Adrien gulped as he felt tears spring to his eyes. Sabine noticed right away, and the mother in her took over. “Look,” she said, “let’s stop bombarding Adrien with questions. This is obviously a lot for him right now. Tikki wanted to tell us something.” She turned to the kwami. “Tikki, how is Adrien’s mom in danger and what can we do?”

            Tikki nodded and replied, “I believe she is in stasis.”

            The humans all looked confused, but the kwamis immediately began conversing amongst themselves. Sabine heard some of them gasp at Tikki’s words and saw some of them shake their heads or bury their faces in their hands.

            “What exactly does that mean?” Sabine asked Tikki.

            “It’s one of the powers we have as kwamis,” Tikki explained. “It’s not something we do very often. In fact, it’s more like a last resort. But if there is some kind of danger to our chosen, we can put them in stasis to protect them. It’s sort of like a magical coma.”

            “So Marinette’s theory was right?” Adrien said quietly.

            “Yes, I heard Marinette mention it earlier in the hospital,” Tikki answered. “I’m actually really glad she said she saw something about it in the guardian’s notes. I’m hoping there will be more answers about how we can help your mom.”

            “You mean you don’t know?” Alya demanded. “Well, how have you kwamis gotten your people out of stasis in the past?”

            The murmurings began again among the kwamis as Tikki responded, “Like I said, it’s not something we use often. The few times a kwami has used it, only that kwami was able to wake up their chosen.”

            Nino turned to the kwamis and said, “Well, which one of you did it? You can just wake her up, right?”

            “Th-that’s the thing,” Tikki stammered. “The kwami that put her in stasis isn’t here. And we know from Master Fu that her miraculous was damaged.”    

            At her words, all the kwamis instantly went silent. After a few moments, Trixx spoke up and said quietly, “Duusu was damaged?”

            Tikki didn’t reply but only nodded.

            “But she’s fixed now,” Adrien spoke up. “So she can wake up my mom, right?”

            Tikki turned to look at Adrien. The worried frown on her usually cheerful face was disconcerting, to say the least. “The problem,” she told him, “is that she was damaged when she put your mom into stasis. She may not even realize she did it, which means we don’t know if she can wake her up, even if she is fixed.”

            “How can we find out?” Adrien inquired.

            Tikki nodded at the stack of papers on the table. “It’s all in there.”

            “Well, what are you waiting for?” Alya replied. “Read it, and tell us what to do!”

            Adrien sighed and said, “They can’t read it. Only Marinette can.”

            “Why Marinette?” Sabine asked.

            “Only the guardian can read the ancient language,” Tikki stated.

            “And Marinette is… the guardian?” Sabine asked incredulously.

            “Wait, wait, wait!” Alya exclaimed, holding up her hands. “I just found out my best friend is Ladybug. And now you’re telling me she’s also some kind of guardian?”

            “When Chloe revealed all your identities to Hawk Moth, Master Fu, the old guardian, gave up his power and turned it over to Ladybug,” Adrien explained. “Now she’s the guardian and is the only one who can read those papers. I’m going to take them to her tomorrow so we can come up with a plan.”

            “We’re coming with you,” Alya declared. It wasn’t a question.

            Sabine exchanged glances with Tom. “This is all so much,” she remarked, “but we’d like to help, too.”

            The next day after lunch, the group (minus the kwamis, except for Tikki and Plagg, of course) met in the hospital lobby. It was about the time when Marinette was supposed to be waking up from surgery. They had only waited for a few minutes when a nurse told them they could go up to see her.

            Marinette was sitting up in bed flipping through the channels of her TV when the five of them walked into her room. Adrien thought her face seemed to have more color than it had the night before, and her eyes had a bit of their old sparkle back. “You’re looking better, milady,” he remarked, slipping his arm across her shoulders.

            “Hey, kitty,” she replied, turning to kiss him softly on the cheek.

            “Hey, girl, you’re looking a lot better,” Alya declared, settling at the foot of the bed.

            After Tom and Sabine shut the door behind them, Tikki and Plagg came flying out of Adrien’s hoodie pocket. “And once you get your earrings back on, you’ll start healing much faster!” Tikki exclaimed.

            Adrien held out the miraculous box, and Marinette eagerly took and put her earrings back in her ears. She let out a sigh of relief now that they were in their rightful place again. Then she noticed that Alya and Nino were staring at her. “So…uh…” she stammered. “Sorry I didn’t tell you guys…”

            “It’s okay, Mari,” Alya responded, waving her hand as if to dismiss the subject. “We understand why you didn’t, and we’re not mad.”

            “Yeah, no worries,” Nino added.

            Setting his shoulder bag down on the bed, Adrien asked, “So are you ready to get started now? Or do you need more time to rest?”

            Marinette shook her head and replied, “We’re running out of time. Hand me the papers.”

            Adrien retrieved the papers from his bag and handed them to her. Her brow furrowed as she rummaged through them until she seemed to find what she was looking for. “Okay, yes, it does say that the kwamis can put their holders in stasis if the threat of death is imminent,” she read aloud, moving her finger along the writings on the page.

            “I already knew about that,” Tikki told her. “Does it say if anyone else can wake them up?”

            Marinette continued to read as everyone leaned forward, waiting for her response. But when her shoulders dropped, they knew it was going to be bad news. “It says only the original kwami who put them in stasis can wake them up,” she said.

            Tikki sighed and Plagg exclaimed, “Dammit, Tikki, why do you always have to be right?”

            “Does it say anything about if the miraculous was damaged when the holder went into stasis?” Tikki asked.

            Marinette read for another minute before answering, “No, there’s nothing about it on this page.”

            “Well, do we have the formula to fix a broken miraculous?” Adrien spoke up. “It has to be in the book since they fixed the peacock.”

            Marinette flipped through a few more pages until she found one entitled When the Sacred Jewelry is Damaged. “Here’s something,” she remarked. The room was quiet as she read. “It’s the formula for fixing the damaged miraculous,” she said after a few moments.

            Tikki let out an exasperated sigh, but Marinette said, “There’s still more.” Everyone held their breaths as she continued to read. Finally, she said, reading from the page, “If the jewelry was in a damaged state, then all effects to the holder remain permanent.”

            “Permanent?” Adrien gasped. He could feel hot tears forming in his eyes once again.

            “Wait,” Marinette told him, placing her hand over his. “Using damaged jewelry can be dangerous to the human,” she continued to read. “If harm comes to the human, the responsible kwami and the guardian may be able to repair damages. If the damages are extreme or if a considerable amount of time has passed, the kwami of creation may be needed to restore the health of the human. However, even this kwami’s powers are not limitless. This spell must be followed exactly if there is to be any hope of restoring the human.” She looked up at Adrien and added, “There’s a spell here that I think I can perform with Tikki’s help. The only catch is that we’re also going to need Duusu.”

            “And she’s locked away in my father’s house,” Adrien mumbled.

            No one said anything for a few minutes. Finally, Alya spoke up, “We’re going to need a plan. And we also need the help of all the other heroes.”

            “I agree,” Nino replied, nodding. “You guys can’t do this on your own. I know all the other heroes would be willing to help, as well.”

            “I guess we’ll have to tell them who Hawk Moth really is,” Adrien declared with a sigh. “And they’ll probably figure me out when they see how badly I also want to save his wife.”

            “Maybe it’s time to give up our secret identities,” Marinette suggested.

            Adrien gasped and said, “Really? You were always so adamant about keeping them.”

            “Well, that was to keep our loved ones safe from Hawk Moth,” Marinette responded. “But now that Hawk Moth knows who we are, there’s really no reason to keep it from our allies.”

            Alya reached towards Adrien and gently turned his head so that she could look him in the eye. “I want to help you, Adrien,” she told him. “I want to save your mom. Not just because you’re my friend and a good person but also because I know you’ve given yourself to this city and saved everyone in it countless times. Now that you need help, we’re all going to be there for you.”

            “What she said, bro,” Nino spoke up.

            Now the tears began to fall down Adrien’s cheeks. “Thanks guys,” he answered leaning forward to give both Nino and Alya a hug. Marinette sat up to join in, and Tom and Sabine also stepped closer to the bed, adding themselves to the group hug. Even the kwamis flew in until everyone was hugging and sniffling.

            “Okay, enough of this mushy stuff!” Plagg exclaimed after a few moments, trying to hide the fact that he was wiping his eye. “Let’s come up with a plan, save Adrien’s mom, and finally defeat that asshole Hawk Moth!”

            Marinette spent one more night in the hospital but was released after that. Her doctor remarked that she was recovering much more quickly than he had expected. She returned to the hospital several times over the next three weeks for physical rehabilitation, which was to help to relearn how to walk, but once she was jumping off the mat and landing perfectly without any pain, the baffled therapists decided she was done. They all spoke about how they had never witnessed such a quick recovery, with some even calling it “miraculous.” Marinette had smiled but said nothing.

            Adrien hid out at the Dupain-Chengs’ house, as he had decided he was never going back to the mansion. Nathalie did come to the door a couple of times at first, but Sabine always politely escorted her out as Tom hovered behind his wife. Gabriel never did show himself at the bakery. Adrien knew he wouldn’t dare call the police and possibly cause a media spectacle, but he did wonder what had happened to the Gorilla.

            The couch in the living room pulled out into a bed where Adrien and Marinette slept since it was too awkward to climb up her bedroom ladder with her cast on. She ended up having the cast removed early, much to the hospital’s astonishment, since Tikki was able to thoroughly heal her. Once the cast was off, she and Adrien decided it was time to meet with the other heroes. By that time, she had fully translated the guardian’s papers and had pretty much memorized the spell they needed to save Adrien’s mom. Chat Noir had gone out several times to find the ingredients, and now all they lacked was a certain peacock kwami to complete the ritual. They had been able to avoid Gabriel for this long, but they knew their luck would run out soon. It was time to finally end this.

Chapter Text

            During his excursions for spell ingredients, Chat Noir had found an abandoned warehouse that he thought would be a good place to meet with the other heroes. It couldn’t be anywhere obvious where Hawk Moth could find them. After discussing it with Marinette, she agreed it would make for a good meeting location. Once they were ready, they sent Tikki and Plagg to inform the other kwamis of the time and place since all their friends had kept their miraculouses after the fight with Lila. Now that it was finally time, Ladybug and Chat Noir stood transformed in the warehouse, waiting for their friends to show.

            “You’re shaking, milady,” Chat remarked.

            “I know, I’m just nervous,” Ladybug replied.

            “About revealing our identities?”

            “Yeah, what if they think Marinette is too stupid and clumsy to be Ladybug? Especially Chloe.”

            “Hey,” Chat said quietly, placing his hand on her cheek and turning her to face him. “They won’t think that. Marinette was always amazing. Everyone thought so. They’ll be mad at themselves for not figuring it out sooner.”

            Marinette sighed and smiled at him. “You think so?” she asked.

            “Of course,” Chat answered with a soft smile. Then he shrugged. “Besides, Nino and Alya seemed to be okay with it.”

            As if they had heard them, Nino and Alya opened the door and entered the building. They had had the kwamis tell everyone to arrive in their civilian forms so no one would be suspicious about a bunch of superheroes all heading to the same place.

            Alya stepped to Ladybug and squeezed her shoulders. “You okay, girl?” she inquired.

            Ladybug nodded and answered, “Y-yeah, I think so.”

            Over the next few minutes, their remaining friends filed into the warehouse. Chat and Ladybug both cringed when Luka and Kagami entered. Chloe came in next and stood by herself, an annoyed expression on her face as if she couldn’t understand why she was there. Finally, Kim and Max arrived, and it was time to begin.

            The friends were quietly talking amongst themselves, but silence fell over the room when Chat cleared his throat. “Um, hey everyone,” he began. “Ladybug and I have something important to tell you.”

            “Uh, y-yeah. Th-thanks, Chat,” Ladybug stammered. She took a deep breath to try to calm herself.

            “Ladybug, what’s wrong?” Chloe asked. “I’ve never seen you nervous before.”

            “I would say there is an 83.2% chance that she is about to give us some disturbing information about Hawk Moth,” Max declared.

            “Well, you’re not wrong, Max,” Ladybug replied with a nervous chuckle.

            She looked to Chat for support, but he was only staring back at her. One quick glance around the room revealed that every eye was on her. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for her to speak. “Okay, may as well get it out there,” she declared, dropping her arms to her sides. One more deep breath before she simply said, “Hawk Moth knows our identities.”

            Everyone started talking at once. At first, they blamed Chloe for revealing them during her stint as Miracle Queen, but Ladybug assured them that it was not actually Chloe’s fault this time. Then there were questions, followed by some freaking out, as the volume of the room grew louder and louder. Ladybug pressed her hands against her ears and buried her face in Chat’s chest while he stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her down. He was about to yell at everyone to shut up, but Alya beat him to it with a high-pitched whistle. Immediately, the talking stopped, and Alya exclaimed, “Hey, let’s just listen to what Ladybug has to say, okay?!”

            They stopped and turned back to the superheroes. Ladybug slowly pulled away from Chat and lowered her arms. “O-okay,” she said in a shaky voice. She turned to look at her friends and, mustering as much of her superhero courage as she could, resumed her speech. “It, uh, doesn’t matter how he found out. What’s important is that we also know who he is.” There was a collective gasp from the group, but she continued speaking, “And we, uh…de-decided that since our enemies know who we are, we should tell our friends, as well.”

            This time, no one made a sound. Ladybug’s nervousness began to return as everyone stared at her. Finally, Luka spoke up, “Does this mean that you’re both going to reveal your identities to us?”

            This time, Chat stepped in and answered, “Yes, that’s exactly what it means.”           

            Everyone still seemed to be in shock for a few more seconds before Chloe irreverently commanded, “Well? Get on with it then.”

            The superheroes exchanged glances. They each took a deep breath, closed their eyes, and said their de-transformation words at the same time.

            “What the fuck?!”

            “Adrikins? Dupain-Cheng?!”

            “Ugh, of course it’s Agreste!”

            “Whoa, no way!”

            “I had actually calculated a 94.7% chance it would be them.”

            “Guys, calm down! They still have more to tell us!”

            “Did I hear them say they know who Hawk Moth is?” Kagami spoke up.

            The room went silent as everyone stared at her. Then the five superheroes who weren’t already in the know seemed to all turn around to look at Adrien and Marinette at the same time. When they didn’t immediately speak, the questions began again.

            “Well, who is it?”

            “Oh, I bet it’s Mayor Bourgeois!”

            “As if! There’s no way it’s my Daddykins!”

            “I calculate an 82.5% chance it has to be someone rich and powerful.”

            Just then, a shrill whistle echoed throughout the aluminum-sided building. Marinette was afraid it was a sudden akuma attack before she realized it had been Alya’s second successful attempt at quieting everyone down. “Please just let them talk,” she told everyone.

            They all turned to Adrien and Marinette again. Marinette turned to Adrien, her years of working with him and communicating without words telling her that he was not going to be able to answer this question. She took a deep breath and said, “Hawk Moth is…Gabriel Agreste.”

            There was another collective gasp throughout the group. They all looked at each other and then back at Adrien. He was pressing his hands against his temples, his eyes tightly closed.

            “How do we know Adrien’s not working with him?!” Luka suddenly demanded.

            “Luka,” Alya said in a warning tone, glaring at everyone else before they began speaking.

            “We know because Adrien had the opportunity to give him both our miraculouses while I was in the hospital,” Marinette explained, “and he didn’t do it.”

            Gasps erupted from the group again, but no one spoke. Tikki flew up next to Marinette and told them, “You also know because Plagg and I, as the most powerful kwamis in the known universe, can vouch for the fact that none of us knew until very recently.”

            “Plagg, you never sensed Nooroo in the house?” Trixx asked, floating next to Alya.

            Plagg flew to Tikki and replied, “No, I never did. There must have been some kind of magical barrier between us. I never noticed him until Adrien was akumatized and then transformed into Chat Noir.”

            “When was Adrien akumatized?” Kagami asked.

            “The day that Lila stole Chat’s miraculous,” Marinette responded. “That’s how she got it.”

            Murmurings began among the group as they remembered Lila. “Is Lila working with Hawk Moth?” Chloe inquired.

            “We’re pretty sure she is,” Marinette answered.

            “Oh my God,” Kagami breathed. “That’s why she went after your parents.”

            “And we let her go,” Luka declared, a horrified look on his face. His eyes met Marinette’s. “She almost killed you.”

            Marinette swallowed but didn’t reply.

            “Damn, we’re so sorry, Marinette,” Kim told her, looking like he might start to cry.

            “There is a 100% chance that I feel guilty right now,” Max sadly added.

            “I told you idiots not to let her go!” Chloe declared.

            “That’s enough!” Adrien exclaimed. “There’s still more to tell you.”

            “Adrien, you don’t have to,” Marinette told him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

            He glanced back at her and replied, “It’s okay, milady. I have to face this.” He turned back to his friends and said, “We know why my father became Hawk Moth. He’s trying to save my mother.” It looked as if a few people were going to ask questions, but he continued, “There’s another miraculous. The peacock miraculous. It’s the one that Mayura uses. My mother used to use it, but it was damaged at the time. It put her into a magical coma, and my father’s been keeping her in the basement of our house all this time. Legend has it that anyone who possesses both the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses can make a wish to alter reality. My father wants to get his hands on our miraculouses so he can wish for my mother to come back.”

            “Well, why not let him?” Kim asked. Everyone quickly turned to look at him, and he nervously added, “I mean, it’s your mom, right?”

            “The legend also says that there will be a terrible price to pay,” Marinette explained. “The universe has to right itself, and if he makes that wish, it would most likely put someone else into a magical coma.”

            “I know my mother would not want to come back at that cost,” Adrien said quietly.

            “Then what do we do?” Chloe wanted to know.

            “The peacock miraculous was damaged before Adrien’s mother went into the coma,” Marinette told them. “Hawk Moth and Mayura have managed to fix it. That’s how they’ve become more powerful. I think the peacock kwami, Duusu, put Emilie into the coma by accident, and now that the miraculous is fixed, if I can talk to Duusu, we may be able to work together to wake her up.”

            “But you can’t get to the kwami,” Kagami replied, “because Hawk Moth has the miraculous.”

            “Exactly,” Marinette affirmed.

            “Why don’t we just explain that to your dad?” Kim offered. “We can just tell him there’s another way, and he doesn’t have to be Hawk Moth anymore.”

            “We would,” Adrien answered, “except that the last time I was at the house, he attacked me to try to get the miraculouses, and then he and Mayura attacked us both at the hospital, which I’m sure you all saw on the news, and I haven’t seen my father since.”

            “He’s gone too far,” Kagami said quietly. “He’ll never listen to reason.”

            Adrien made eye contact with her, nodded, and then looked away.

            After a few moments standing in silence, Marinette spoke up, “This is why we called you guys here. We need a plan to get into the mansion, find the peacock miraculous, and figure out how to save Emilie. The two of us alone can’t do this. We need the whole team.”

            Despite whatever reservations anyone might have had previously, the nine teenagers spent the next two hours in that warehouse coming up with a plan. It had been too long since Hawk Moth had last attacked and they knew they had to hurry in order to possibly get the drop on him. For a while, Adrien was even able to push his emotions aside as he became all business devising a strategy with Marinette and the others.

            Finally, Max said, “I think this plan is the best we’re going to formulate for tonight. We should probably all get some rest.”

            “Yeah, I’m beat,” Kim agreed.

            A few nods and yawns around the room confirmed that everyone felt the same way, so they all began getting ready to go.

            Adrien was looking for Plagg when he heard Luka’s voice behind him saying, “Hey, Adrien, can I talk to you?”

            The blonde spun around, a worried look on his face. “Uh…” he began.

            “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not mad,” Luka replied, holding up his hands. He then let his arms drop to the side as a nervous smile formed on his face. Adrien eyed him curiously. “I mean…uh…I just wanna say…” Luka rambled as he fidgeted with his belt loops, “I, uh, am starting to understand why things happened the way they did. And, uh…well…I’m sorry for the things I said to you.”

            For a moment, Adrien stood in stunned silence before he exclaimed, “No, Luka, I’m sorry! I never meant to come between you and Marinette. It just sort of…happened…”

            Luka chuckled quietly and answered, “Well, you two have quite a history together, and things make a lot more sense now. Besides,” he added as Kagami and Marinette both joined them, “if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have met Kagami. And I really like her, so…thanks.”

            Adrien smiled and said, “I’m glad you’re both happy. And I’m sorry to you, too, Kagami.”

            “Don’t be, Adrien,” Kagami responded. “I hope we can all be friends now.”

            “Also,” Luka spoke up, “I have one more thing.” He took a deep breath and looked Adrien in the eye. “Adrien, you’re a hero. To this city and to all of us. And you don’t deserve what you’re going through now. I will do my best to help you and save your mom.”

            Adrien felt tears coming to his eyes, but he fought them back. He couldn’t break down in front of everyone! Instead, he replied, “Thanks, Luka,” and they gave each other a one-handed bro hug.

            As Luka and Kagami made their way out and Adrien and Marinette were turning towards Alya and Nino, another more shrill voice spoke up. “Ahem, Dupain-Cheng, I have something to say,” Chloe declared.

            Surprised, Marinette turned around to face the girl. “W-what is it, Chloe?” she stammered.

            Chloe took a deep breath and looked down at her nails. For a few seconds, she didn’t speak, and then she finally said, “Look, I’m not good at this, okay?”

            “Not good at what?” Marinette inquired.

            Chloe exhaled loudly and looked up at Marinette. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you!” she said quickly.

            “Really?” Marinette replied, a shocked expression on her face.

            “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it, Chloe?” Adrien spoke up.

            “Ugh,” Chloe responded, rolling her eyes. She folded her arms and said to Marinette, “Look, this is a lot for me to process. Not only do you turn out to be my hero, but I also find out that my Adrikins is in love with you, and it’s just a lot for me to deal with, okay?”

            “Chloe, I know you haven’t liked me in the past, and I’m actually not sure why, but maybe we can be friends now?” Marinette ventured.

            “Marinette, you’ve always been better than me,” Chloe blurted out. “Nicer, prettier, smarter. I just couldn’t ever let you know that!” Chloe’s eyes grew wide as she realized what she had said. She raised her hands to her face and mumbled, “Sorry, that sounded really bad.”

            “I think what Chloe is trying to say is that she thinks you’re an amazing Ladybug. Right, Chloe?” Adrien said.

            Marinette’s wide eyes switched back and forth between Adrien and Chloe, but she couldn’t remember how to say words.

            Chloe nodded as she stared at the ground. After a few moments, she looked up at Marinette once again and said, “He’s right, Marinette.” She leaned over to give the brunette a hug. Once she was close enough, she whispered, “And if you break his heart, I’ll break you.”

            Marinette seemed to come back to her senses at the sound of the old Chloe and smiled. She pulled away from the hug and told her, “Don’t worry about that, Chloe. And I’m glad you’re part of the team.”

            “Of course you are,” Chloe responded in her usual fashion. “You guys don’t stand a chance without me.”

            Marinette and Adrien laughed, and Adrien slipped his arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “You sound like yourself again, Chloe,” he noted.

            Chloe scoffed and replied, “Yeah, well, I guess I can get used to you dating my Adrikins, Dupain-Cheng. It would’ve been too weird for us to get together anyway. He’s always been like my naïve little brother.”

            Marinette giggled and Adrien’s brow furrowed. “I’m not naïve,” he mumbled.

            After Chloe left and Marinette and Adrien were discussing the unlikely events that had just occurred, Alya and Nino stepped up to them. By this time, everyone was gone except for the four of them.

            “So…” Alya began nervously.

            Marinette was taken aback. She hadn’t really seen Alya nervous that many times before. “What’s up, Alya?” she asked.

            “Um, well, Nino and I had a proposal,” she began.

            “Yes?” Marinette replied.

            Alya looked to Nino for support, but he just motioned for her to continue. Looking back to Marinette and Adrien, she said, “Well, you see…um…so you know I’m straight, right?”

            Marinette laughed nervously and answered, “Yeah…Where did that come from?”

            “And…uh…you’re straight, Marinette,” Alya rambled on.

            Marinette and Adrien exchanged a quick glance before Marinette slowly said, “Uh-huh…”

            “But…uh…” Alya continued, “I…uh…I’ve always had kind of a girl crush on Ladybug. Just a teeny tiny one,” she added, holding her thumb and index finger close together to indicate how tiny her crush was.

            Marinette once again found herself speechless as she noticed Adrien starting to smile out of the corner of her eye.

            “What I mean to say is,” Alya went on, “if I ever were to mess around with a girl, it would probably be Ladybug, and now that I know Ladybug is my totally hot best friend, I’m kinda starting to realize that if you wanted to, Marinette, I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to it…”

            Marinette swallowed as Alya was rambling and finally found her voice again. “Alya, are you saying you want to…mess around…with me?” she asked.

            Alya chuckled nervously and replied, “Y-yeah.” Then she looked at Adrien and added, “I mean, if it’s okay with—”

            “Yes,” Adrien immediately interrupted. He then cleared his throat and added, “I-I mean, it’s fine with me if Marinette wants to.”

            Finally, Nino spoke up, “So Alya’s family’s out of town. You guys want a ride?”

Chapter Text

            Once the four of them had gathered in Alya’s bedroom, Marinette asked, “So do you want us…transformed?”

            “Can you be transformed and still do…stuff?” Alya asked.

            Marinette and Adrien both nodded, which prompted Alya to add with a sly smile, “Oh, you’ve done that before, haven’t you?”

            At that moment, Plagg poked his head out of Adrien’s shirt and exclaimed, “Oh no! I’m not doing this again!”   

            He flew out in an attempt to escape, but Adrien only mumbled, “Claws out,” which pulled the kwami into his ring, transforming him into Chat Noir. Tikki managed to get in one eyeroll just before Marinette also transformed into Ladybug.

            Alya let out a little squeal before gently taking Ladybug’s hand and leading her to the bed. The superheroine sat down on the edge while Alya positioned herself in front of her. Ladybug let out a small gasp as Alya leaned over her, moving in closer until the girl’s lips touched her own. Ladybug let her eyes close as her best friend gave her the gentlest of kisses, at first, and then slowly pressed her lips against hers more firmly. She couldn’t help but kiss her back, and when Alya swiped her lower lip with her tongue, she obediently opened her mouth to allow her in. Their kisses became more passionate as Alya helped Ladybug to softly lie down on the bed as the redhead crawled on top of her, straddling her but not pressing her weight into her just yet. The mesmerized boys moved closer to the bed for a better view.

            Ladybug couldn’t help but marvel at what a good kisser her friend was as their makeout session began to grow more intense. She buried her hands into the girl’s thick red hair as she arched her back to press herself against her. She felt Alya’s hands begin to wander down over the curves of her body. An involuntary moan escaped from Ladybug as Alya massaged her breasts through the suit. The redhead broke the kiss to let out a chuckle before continuing her kisses down Ladybug’s jaw and throat. “Zipper’s in the back,” Ladybug whispered into her ear, and Alya wasted no time reaching back and pulling the zipper as far down as it would go.

            Alya continued her cascade of soft kisses down Ladybug’s bare skin as she slowly peeled the suit off of her. Ladybug moaned, pulling her arms out of the sleeves and gloves as more of her body was revealed. Once her breasts were exposed, she had a brief moment of clarity when she realized that Nino could also see them before her thoughts were washed away by Alya’s expert tongue swirling around her nipple. The girl teased her nipple for bit with her tongue before slowly taking the whole thing into her mouth and lightly sucking. She was more gentle than Adrien, but it still brought such bliss to the superheroine as she moaned, reveling in the feeling, that familiar ache between her legs beginning to form.

            Despite her insatiable hunger, Alya took her time with one breast before moving on to the next one. This time, however, as she massaged the nipple with her tongue, she allowed her hands to wander. She slowly moved them down Ladybug’s thighs, pressing against the muscles through the suit, until her hands shifted to the inside of her legs and up to the promised land. Reaching it, she pressed her hand against her pussy, the suit still separating them, but she could still feel every fold through the thin material. Ladybug’s groans increased in volume as Alya placed more pressure just where she wanted it, and the boys moved closer to the bed, intensity building in their eyes. Chat could feel his suit growing tighter as he all but drooled while watching his Lady squirm and gasp on the bed.

            Ladybug hadn’t noticed when Alya let go of her breast, but she was now trailing kisses down her toned stomach, just reaching her belly button as she peered down at her through barely open eyes. She could almost just register the girl’s fingers against her hips as she began pulling the suit down more, and when she saw Chat lean over her, she realized that he was helping her to pull it the rest of the way down before she was fully exposed. Before she even had a chance to react, she felt Alya’s tongue against her clit and couldn’t help but to cry out. Alya swirled her tongue in circles before gently pulling her clit into her mouth and sucking lightly. It was the softest of touches, but Ladybug’s cries increased as she felt her body beginning to explode. She instinctively tried to arch her back as Alya pressed her hands against the girl’s hips, sucking just a little bit harder. Ladybug could feel a wetness form under her as she sensed her release, and then Alya’s tongue was on her folds, licking up the juices, and then moving deeper inside of her. She barely had a chance to come down before the pressure was rising again. She swore she heard Chat moan before she cried out, “Oh, fuck, Alya!”

            The redhead slowly began making her way back up the hero’s body with tiny kisses, replacing her tongue with two fingers, slowly pumping in and out. Ladybug continued to moan softly until she felt her friend’s lips against her own. Then Alya made her way to Ladybug’s ear and whispered, “Mm, it’s not every day you can make a superhero come” before lightly nipping her earlobe.

            Ladybug gasped and moved her hands to the front of Alya’s shirt, quickly unbuttoning it. Reaching inside, she unclasped the back of her bra. The redhead pulled away only to throw off her shirt and bra before returning her lips and hands to the hero’s body. For the first time in her life, Ladybug slowly moved her hands over another girl’s breasts. Of course she knew her friend had big boobs, but God, they were fucking beautiful. She pinched each nipple in between her fingers with both hands before grabbing as much as she could, softly massaging them. She felt Alya moan against her as her lips were pressed against her own breasts. Knowing that she caused the girl to moan stirred something within her, and she increased the pressure as Alya’s moans continued to grow.

            The superhero then decided to take charge, sitting up and flipping the curvy redhead onto her back. She climbed over her, leaving her ass in the air as she bent over and began softly sucking on a nipple, swirling her tongue around just as her friend had done to her earlier. As she grew even wetter at the sounds the girl was making, she traced her fingers down her body to her jeans before unbuttoning them. She realized Nino had reached over to unzip them the rest of the way just before she pushed her hand inside the girl’s panties. Alya let out a cry as she pushed two fingers inside her easily, a little surprised at the wetness. She had never touched another girl like this, but she was beginning to enjoy it as her fingers seemed to move in and out of their own accord, increasing the sounds coming from the girl below her.

            She was suddenly glad she had transformed because she wasn’t sure if she would’ve had the courage to do this as her civilian self. But now the more she touched her best friend, the more she craved her. She moved her hands to the girl’s hips to push her jeans off before she realized they were already coming off on their own. No, not on their own, Nino was pulling them off. She hooked her fingers around the girl’s panties, slipping them off. Then, suddenly overcome with superhero boldness, she lifted up a thigh and moved in between the girl’s legs before going to town on her. She swirled her tongue around her clit and softly sucked on it, just as her friend had done to her earlier. It felt so different with a girl. It was so much smaller, but she knew how sensitive it was, and the cries Alya was releasing were more powerful than what she usually got from Adrien. She could feel wetness running over her mouth and down her chin as she moved her tongue inside, swirling it in circles and then quickly moving it in and out, increasing her speed as her friend’s cries grew louder. It tasted a little different but still the same in a weird way, and she kind of enjoyed not having something down her throat but moving herself inside instead. She suddenly felt Adrien’s fingers inside her and knew that he had unzipped his suit so as not to touch her with his claws. She moaned against her friend as her tongue continued to move inside her, which seemed to make the redhead’s cries even more deafening. A few words like “God” and “Lady” and “bug” were escaping her mouth, as if she were trying to call the superhero’s name but couldn’t quite say it all at once. The hero felt a little proud of herself and increased the speed of her tongue as Adrien increased the thrusts of his fingers into her.

            Alya was gasping when the superhero finally moved away and began slowly kissing her way back up the redhead’s body. Ladybug registered movement out of the corner of her eye and saw that Chat was handing something to Nino. She continued to kiss Alya before she realized that Nino was putting on a condom—Oh, God, I saw Nino’s dick!—and then Alya cried out as he entered her. Ladybug pressed her lips against her friend’s before she moaned herself as she felt Chat entering her from behind. She moved her hips against him, feeling his thrusts increase as she gasped against her friend’s moaning lips. Nino increased his thrusts, as well, and Ladybug reached out to rub Alya’s clit. At the same time, Chat was pounding into her, and her other hand was tightly gripping the blankets in Alya’s bed. She lowered her face into Alya’s breasts, panting and groaning as Chat ravished her, feeling her friend bouncing against her as her boyfriend fucked her.

            Finally (they weren’t sure how long it had been), the four of them lay naked—well, the heroes were wearing masks—on Alya’s bed, trying to catch their breath. “Oh my God,” Alya mumbled.

            “That was amazing,” Ladybug muttered, twirling her fingers around a strand of Alya’s hair.

            “Uh-huh,” Chat Noir agreed.

            Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Lila was hurrying out the door of the police station into the night. Convincing that officer to let her go had been way too easy, but she wanted to get away before he changed his mind. She had somewhere she really needed to be.

Chapter Text

            Nathalie was tired of this bullshit. Ever since they had been defeated at the hospital, she had been unable to get Gabriel to leave his office. It was the perfect time for an attack! Ladybug was still injured. They just had to try again to get her miraculous. She had tried yelling this through the door, but Gabriel refused to listen. She heard him mumbling something about how he had to convince his son. It was all for family or some shit like that.

            She had tried going to the bakery herself to convince Marinette and Adrien that they were just being stubborn. There was no reason why they couldn’t help. They were so close to saving Emilie! Now that Adrien knew what was at stake, how could he side with a girl over his family? Yes, Nathalie had tried, but the Dupain-Chengs wouldn’t even let her in the door to speak with the kids. What could she do about it? Mr. Dupain himself was as big as the Gorilla!

            And Gorilla! He had left! After all this family had done for them, he just walked out. And for what? To protect Adrien? It’s not like they were going to hurt him. They were trying to save his mom, for God’s sake! All they wanted was his ring. They wouldn’t even hurt his precious little girlfriend. Why couldn’t he understand that? Nathalie huffed as she once again stomped away from Gabriel’s office door and through the empty corridors of the mansion.

            She had thought about confronting them as Mayura, but she knew she didn’t stand a chance on her own. Even if she was only trying to talk to them, they would see it as a trick and call in all their superhero friends. She would be beaten and humiliated like Lila. She sighed and fell back on her bed.

            Lila was another annoying failure. Since she had turned against Gabriel’s plan, Nathalie knew he blamed her for suggesting that they use the teenager. Nathalie gritted her teeth just thinking about it. How dare that smug little brat make her look bad? After all she had done to gain the trust of the Agrestes, and now everything was just falling apart around her.

            Nathalie’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a tapping sound. She sat up in her bed and looked around the apartment. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and all was suddenly quiet again. No, wait! She heard the tapping noise again. It was coming from the window. She rushed to it, and pulled the curtain back only slightly so she could peek out. The night seemed quiet and still.

            She was just about to turn around when she saw something rush by in her peripheral vision. She turned just in time to see a brown and red blur disappear behind the roof. Where had she seen that before? Dammit, it was one of those heroes—Monkey something or other. Well, so much for convincing Gabriel to catch them off guard. They were already here.

            Gabriel had been going through his own private turmoil for the past month. After their defeat at the hospital, he had locked himself away in his office and refused to come out. At first, Nathalie would knock on the door, and when he wouldn’t let her in, she called him. He answered the first time, listening to her plead with him to attack now before Ladybug had fully healed, but he had refused all her calls since, eventually turning off his phone. After a while, she stopped knocking, and then the silence became deafening.

            Of course, he allowed the chef in for meals and spoke with Nooroo a few times, but other than that, he was alone. He kept going over his last conversation with Adrien. Why hadn’t he agreed to save his mother? What could he have done differently? Maybe he shouldn’t have let it slip that he was listening in on his private moments with Marinette. He was honestly surprised Adrien had picked up on it. He supposed there were a lot of things he didn’t know about his son.

            It was true he had distanced himself from the boy ever since Emilie went into the coma. But really, it was before that. She had always wanted children, but his only dream was to become a fashion designer. He was living his dream, but she still wanted to try for a baby. He would have done anything to make her happy, so he agreed. The day Adrien was born, he thought he had felt something toward the child that he interpreted as love, but as the days pulled his wife away from him more and more, he felt that he began to resent his own son. He had poured himself into his work while she seemed to thrive as a mother.

            He remembered the conversation he had had with Emilie when they felt that their relationship was beginning to suffer. He knew statistically, adding a third person would spell doom for a struggling relationship, but in the end, Nathalie had ended up being a Godsend for them. She had succeeded in bringing Gabriel and Emilie closer. But now that Emilie was gone, Gabriel knew his relationship with Nathalie couldn’t last forever. Something about their dynamic only worked when all three of them were there.

            Now he sighed as he sat alone in his office. Nooroo had stopped trying to talk to him a few days after Gabriel had thrown a chair at him and basically only interacted with his master for food. Gabriel had no idea where the kwami had gone as he sat at his desk trying to concentrate on a new design he had been drawing. However, his mind kept wandering back to Emilie and Adrien and anger at the fact that his only option left was to fight his own son.

            How had it come to this? Gabriel knew the reason that Adrien had turned out as kindhearted as he had was because the only parent who had ever really been in his life had been Emilie. He was as kind and trusting as she had been, always turning a blind eye to the darkness in the world. Gabriel knew it was his fault. He should’ve spent more time with his son. He should’ve taught him to look out for himself. Now he was going to trust Ladybug to come up with some way of saving Emilie instead of the surefire way of just using the wish.

            Gabriel knew Nathalie was right. He knew they should attack while Ladybug was injured. She was the stronger of the two, and without her at her full strength, he and Mayura could finally be victorious in retrieving the miraculouses. He also knew Adrien’s kindness would get the best of him, as he would no doubt have some reservations about fighting his own father.

            But Gabriel just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was no father of the year, but he still couldn’t imagine hurting his own son. Akuma battles were nothing; Chat Noir was tough and Ladybug’s cure always saved everyone. But if he took the boy’s ring, and he became Adrien once again? With all his human vulnerabilities? After also taking Ladybug’s earrings, there would be no cure to undo any damage that had been done during the fight. Plus, he had also been a little surprised to find that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had turned out to be Ladybug. He had always liked the girl and had secretly hoped that Adrien would one day begin dating her. He had seen the girl’s designs and knew that she had true talent, even hoping to recruit her into his company someday.

            The designer chuckled to himself, realizing that he was the one who had reservations about fighting the kids. But he had never really wanted to hurt or kill them, even before knowing their identities. He just wanted Emilie back. Perhaps he had gone about it the wrong way from the beginning.

            Lila slipped out the back door of the hotel and made her way to the Agreste mansion, ditching her maid’s uniform in the bushes on the way. She had found the uniform and managed to hole up in the hotel for a few nights, but a couple of the maids were starting to get suspicious. Besides, she needed to speak to Gabriel. She was still infuriated that he refused to take her calls from jail, leaving her there to rot. Not to mention the fact that he conveniently forgot to ever tell her that Adrien was dating Marinette—the bitch! No matter, she was going to see him tonight to straighten out their little misunderstanding.

            Now she stood in front of the gate to the Agreste mansion wondering how she was going to get in. She didn’t think she could just ring the bell and he would let her in. Besides, she didn’t really want him to know she had gotten out of jail. She wanted to surprise him.

            She started sneaking around the back. The entire property was surrounded by a brick wall. Luckily for Lila, one of the things her training in Italy had included was climbing and scaling fences. She easily found footholds in the tiny cracks between the bricks until she swung herself over the top and carefully lowered herself into the bushes behind them. Stepping onto a thick branch so she wouldn’t make a sound and then gently lowering herself to the ground, she realized she was facing the windows of Nathalie’s apartment.

            She was sure of it because at that moment, Mayura was standing in the window, looking at something on the ground. Lila felt panic in her chest at first, thinking Mayura had spotted her, but then she realized she was slightly turned and looking at something else. Then the blue woman began to carefully climb out the window and make her way down the bricks. What is she doing? Lila thought. She decided to follow her, using the high bushes on the grounds as cover.

            As they both turned a corner, Lila realized that Mayura was sneakily following King Monkey, Chat Noir, and Ladybug who also looked like they were sneaking onto the grounds. Why Adrien had to sneak into his own house she had no idea, but she decided to stay and watch Mayura who was watching the heroes.

            King Monkey hurried to keep up with Ladybug and Chat Noir. The last thing he needed was to get lost somewhere in the Agreste mansion during this important mission. Damn, how did Adrien find his way around his own house? Right, don’t let them get away. Chat said he’s been to this butterfly lair and the rest of them probably couldn’t find it without his help.

            Chat and Ladybug suddenly stopped, bent down, and sneaked next to a large window. King wasn’t sure why, but he decided to do the same. Maybe they saw someone in that room or something. They gathered around the corner and stood up again where King joined them.

            “Sorry, King, we had to sneak by my father’s office,” Chat explained. “He’s in there working, as usual.”

            King nodded while Ladybug asked, “You said the butterfly lair is under his office?”

            “Yeah, he had an elevator that went down to it,” Chat replied.

            “How are we going to find it from the outside?” Ladybug wondered.

            They climbed down a smaller wall that seemed to encapsulate another level of the mansion under the first floor. It wasn’t quite underground because some windows were still visible. King noticed a large circular window decorated with panes in the shape of a butterfly. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked, pointing.

            Chat and Ladybug stopped, and Chat’s jaw practically dropped to the ground. “H-how did I never notice that?” he said to himself.

            “Well, I guess that’s it,” Ladybug responded. “Where’s Pegasus? We need a quiet way in.”

            King turned around, straining over the wall to find his friend. He knew Pegasus had been following them a short distance behind. When he spotted the hero’s ponytail, he waved, and Pegasus quickly joined them. “So have you found the lair?” Pegasus inquired of the heroes.

            “Yeah, it’s right behind this butterfly window,” Ladybug told him.

            Pegasus glanced at the window and then turned to look at Chat. “Y-you never noticed that, Adrien?”

            “Shut up,” Chat answered with an annoyed expression.

            “Never mind, just teleport King and me, please, Pegasus,” Ladybug stated

            “Of course,” Pegasus replied, throwing one of his teleport holes on the butterfly window. Ladybug and King Monkey both easily jumped through it into the room.

            “All right, let’s go get the others and crash my dad’s office!” Chat said excitedly, pulling Pegasus away with him.

            Hidden behind a nearby balcony, Mayura had been listening to the heroes’ conversation. Ah, so that’s the plan, she thought. Ladybug’s heading straight to the butterfly lair. I should probably tell Gabriel, but I don’t want to alarm him just yet.

            As Nathalie, she knew that Gabriel was working late in his office but that Nooroo was probably resting downstairs. She assumed Ladybug had gone there to find the kwami. Luckily, she knew another way into the lair without alerting Gabriel or the heroes. She smirked as she headed back into the mansion.

            Lila saw everyone leave and began to wonder who she was going to follow and how. She’d heard Chat say something about getting the others and crashing his dad’s office, so she was pretty sure she’d get spotted by someone if she went that way. Mayura had gone into the house, and there weren’t so many things to hide behind in there. She knew she wanted to know what was in that room Ladybug had just disappeared into so she made her way to the butterfly window.

            Peering inside, she saw Ladybug and King talking. Hundreds of white butterflies fluttered around them, but she didn’t see anything else in the room. This must be the place where Hawk Moth sent his akumas from. He had never told her about it. She knew if she found a way in now, the two heroes inside would spot her, so she decided to wait for their next move.

            “Okay, we need to find a giant coffin and a tiny purple kwami,” Ladybug declared, standing with King in the top level of the butterfly lair. All she could see were metal walls and floors and white butterflies.

            “This is just a big, empty room,” King pointed out. “Well, except for the butterflies, I guess.”

            “Adrien said there was another elevator that went down to a lower floor,” Ladybug explained. She dropped to her hands and knees to look for a crack in the floor that could signify an elevator. “Help me look!”

            King squinted as he searched around on the floor for anything that looked like it could be an elevator or an opening or something. All he saw was smooth metal. Suddenly, he heard a thump followed by Ladybug yelling, “Aahh!” He turned to see her falling down a circular opening in the floor head first.

            Outside, Lila covered her mouth as she couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Ladybug is such an idiot! she thought.

            Back inside, King shrugged and thought, I guess I’d better follow her. He jumped down the circular shaft after her, landing gracefully on the metal floor of a much larger room below. Ladybug was lying on the ground, groaning.

            Once they were out of sight, Lila decided it would be safe to try to sneak inside. She searched around the outside of the panels until she was able to find a loose spot. Using her bottle opener from her key ring, she carefully pulled out one of the large panels and squeezed herself inside through the opening. She found herself in an empty room with only butterflies as her companions. Not many places to hide, she worried.

            “Ugh,” Ladybug moaned as she sat on the floor, rubbing her head.

            “Where to next, Ladybug?” King asked cheerfully.

            Ladybug looked up and saw the bridge Adrien had told her about. “I think we cross that bridge,” she answered, pointing.

            She stood up and they both slowly crossed the bridge. As they did, they came closer to what appeared to be a large garden. Once they were on the other side, greenery surrounded them, and another butterfly window loomed above them on the opposite wall.

            “Wow, he’s got a whole garden down here,” King observed.

            Ladybug knelt down, noticing the many cocoons hanging off the leaves. “I think he’s harvesting his own butterflies,” she noted.

            “Damn, I always thought Adrien’s old man was weird, but this is some next level crazy shit!” King exclaimed.

            Ladybug continued to kneel as she searched through the leaves and bushes. It was just butterfly cocoons everywhere. How did he manage this? She was coming up with theories when her head suddenly bumped into something so hard, she fell on her ass. “Ow!” she cried.

            “Hey, you found the coffin!” King declared as he bounded over.

            Once again rubbing her head, the heroine mumbled, “Yeah…”

            Using the coffin to pull herself up, she steeled her nerves for seeing Adrien’s mother in the flesh. She was somewhat disappointed when all she saw were two white steel doors covering the glass of the coffin. “Hm,” she said, furrowing her brow, “it’s closed. How do I open it?”

            King, who was also at a loss, replied, “Well, while you’re figuring that out, I’m gonna go look for that kwami we needed to find.” He took off through the gardens as Ladybug continued to stare at the closed coffin. She eventually began to search the coffin for some kind of button or something while King continued to explore the gardens.

            Suddenly, she heard a crash behind her, and she spun around to find Mayura standing on the bridge. She was holding something small and purple in her hand. “Looking for this?!” she demanded, waving her prize at them.

            “Dammit, what’s that bitch doing here?!” Ladybug exclaimed.

            “And she’s got the purple kwami!” King realized. “Don’t worry, Ladybug, I’ll take care of her!” He lunged at her with his staff.

            Easily dodging, she ran past him into the gardens. He’s much stronger than me, she thought. I need to create a sentimonster.

            King took off after Mayura as she hurried through the bushes. She was so busy fumbling with her fan that she didn’t notice when he caught up with her. She saw him take a swing with his staff out of the corner of her eye and instinctively held up her fan to block, which resulted in King knocking her fan halfway across the huge room. “Shit!” Mayura exclaimed.

            She ducked another swing by the hero and ran in the direction her fan had gone. King followed, clearing a path through the bushes with his staff, leaves and cocoons flying in all directions. A few branches landed next to her causing Ladybug to look up. Oh, I need to help King, she realized. Tossing her yo-yo at Mayura, the string wrapped around the villain’s ankle, causing her to trip and fall and release Nooroo from her grip. Ladybug immediately released Mayura and wrapped the yo-yo around the kwami, pulling him to her. Without so much as a greeting, she just yelled, “Nooroo! You’ve gotta help me!”

            The poor kwami held his head, willing the world to stop spinning. “Wh-what’s going on?” he stammered.

            Motioning to the coffin, Ladybug replied, “I think I can save her, but I need to get the coffin open!”

            Nooroo blinked, slowly registering that this was the new guardian speaking to him and that Gabriel was nowhere in sight. “Uh…” he began, “it…uh…it doesn’t involve using me again, does it?”

            “No, but I will eventually need to get a hold of the peacock miraculous,” Ladybug answered.

            “Okay, well, I can open the coffin for you,” Nooroo stated. He flew down to the bottom of the coffin and pressed a button, and the steel doors slowly began to open.

            “Oh my God,” Ladybug breathed as Emilie’s face appeared. She didn’t look dead or in a coma or anything. She just looked like she was sleeping. The only difference was that there was no discernible breathing; she lay completely motionless.

            Ladybug suddenly realized she had zoned out and shook her head to bring herself back to the moment. “Right, I need to get started on the spell,” she said softly. She opened her yo-yo and began removing ingredients and placing them on a table next to the coffin. Nooroo settled himself comfortably on the table to watch her.

            Meanwhile, Mayura had recovered from her fall by Ladybug’s yo-yo and was currently racing from an enraged King Monkey. Finally growing tired of chasing her, King leapt and landed on Mayura’s back, throwing her to the ground roughly as she landed on her stomach. “Oof,” escaped her mouth as the air was knocked out of her lungs.

            King, however, gave her no time to catch her breath as he hurriedly began trying to turn her over to get to her peacock brooch. Just then, she noticed her fan in the bushes! She stretched her arm to it, but it was just out of reach of the tips of her fingers. She managed to move herself a little closer as she struggled with King, then even more close, until King flipped her over onto her back. He was about to reach for her miraculous, but that flip had given her the extra inch she needed.

            Grabbing the fan, she blew a feather at a bush and turned it into a sentimonster. The bush’s vines began wrapping around King’s arms and legs, pulling him far enough away from Mayura for her to jump up and escape. He cried out in frustration as he fought with the bush, managing to free a hand. He was busy beating it with his staff as Mayura hurried closer to Ladybug.

            Nooroo had looked up to see the fight and then told Ladybug, “Uh-oh, it’s not looking good for you getting the peacock miraculous.”

            The heroine was busy throwing ingredients into a bowl and mixing them together. “I’ll worry about that in a minute,” she replied.

            “Oh no, not again!” Nooroo cried as he was suddenly sucked away, presumably by Hawk Moth.

            Mayura began laughing and yelled, “You should’ve known you can’t keep a kwami from its holder, guardian!” She then blew a feather onto another bush to make a new sentimonster.

            “Eep!” Ladybug exclaimed as the bush sentimonster slowly ambled towards her. Speeding up her work, she told herself, “Must mix faster!”

            Lila, who had managed to stay hidden from the others and follow them down the elevator, was now hiding in the bushes in the darkest corner of the room. She panicked a little when Nathalie had gotten close to her, but luckily, King had taken her down in that moment. She still wasn’t quite sure what she was waiting for, but she knew that her time would come.

            Back in Gabriel’s office, he was still trying to concentrate on getting some work done. The fall line was pretty much complete, but there were just a few more details he had wanted to tweak. His obsessive compulsiveness never did let his mind rest, even after all the work was done and the clothes were on the shelves.

            The quiet of the room was abruptly broken by a large black object crashing in through the window. Gabriel held up his arms to shield his face from the flying glass shards. When he lowered them, the glowing green eyes of Chat Noir were staring back at him. “Ugh,” Gabriel grumbled. “Did you really have to break the window?”

            “You can afford it,” Chat snapped, rolling his eyes and readying his baton. The other heroes Pegasus, Rena Rogue, Carapace, Queen Bee, Ryuko, and Viperion quickly followed through the broken window.

            Gabriel folded his hands on his desk and said calmly, “And to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

            “This visit is not for pleasure, Hawk Moth!” Rena snarled.

            “Ah, so everyone knows now,” Gabriel stated.

            “Yeah, everyone knows, Father,” Chat growled. “We’re here to stop you.”

            “So you’ve told them your identity as well, Adrien?” Gabriel inquired.

            “We know who he is and we’re with my dude to the end!” Nino declared.

            “Did he also tell you he is betraying his own mother by attacking me?!” Gabriel replied, inadvertently allowing a hint of emotion into his voice.

             “Oh, please, Gabriel,” Queen Bee spoke up, “you and I both know Emilie wouldn’t have wanted you to torture the citizens of Paris for her.”

            “All I want is to make the wish!” Gabriel exclaimed, standing up. “It will bring her back, and then you’ll no longer have to worry about Hawk Moth.”

            “That wish could destroy the fabric of the universe,” Viperion protested. “We can’t let you make it.”

            “You don’t know what will happen!” Gabriel shouted back. “I’m willing to trade my life for hers!”

            “While it is correct that the outcome is unknown, it is probably best to err on the side of caution,” Pegasus remarked.

            “Agreed,” Ryuko replied.

            “Oh, come on!” Gabriel responded with a frustrated groan. “Adrien, didn’t I teach you better than this? To sometimes take some risk in your life?”

            “What are talking about?” Chat asked, raising an eyebrow. “You punished me anytime I dared to disagree with you!”

            “Oh, right…” Gabriel said a little more quietly.

            “Enough of this!” Rena suddenly cried, pouncing at Gabriel. Grabbing him by the shoulders, she pinned him to the floor. “Where’s the peacock, Gabriel?” she demanded.

            “What do you want the peacock for?” Gabriel demanded back.

            “Ladybug needs it to save Mom,” Chat told him.

            “What?” the designer replied, struggling against the superheroine. “You can’t possibly trust her to save your mother! She doesn’t know what she’s doing!”

            “Oh, and you do?” Viperion asked, joining Rena to help hold the man down.

            “If he doesn’t know where the peacock is, we should at least get the butterfly miraculous from him,” Queen pointed out.

            “I don’t see it,” Viperion responded as he and Rena searched for it.

            “It has to be on him,” Rena mumbled. “Where is it?”

            The other heroes jumped in to help look for it. Ryuko noticed Viperion touching his bracelet and asked, “Did you just use Second Chance?”

            “It’s under his scarf!” Viperion exclaimed.

            Chat ripped off his striped scarf only to find a single circular purple jewel. “That jewel?” he inquired. “That doesn’t look like a butterfly.”

            “That’s it!” Viperion insisted.

            As if to confirm Viperion’s suggestion, Gabriel began fighting the heroes even more violently. He kicked and punched at them, desperately trying to get free of their hold.

            “Venom!” Queen called, pulling out her stinger. She ran towards Gabriel with it, but he managed to push Viperion in front of him so that Queen accidentally immobilized the hero instead. “Oops,” she murmured.

            “Nooroo, dark wings rise!” Gabriel cried. A flash of purple phased through the floor at lightning speed and he transformed into Hawk Moth, the magic pushing all the heroes away.

            “Dammit!” Chat uttered. He had put away his staff but now brought it back out.

            Chat swung his staff at Hawk Moth before his transformation was complete; however, the villain was ready for him, blocking his attack with his cane. Putting his whole weight into it, Hawk Moth lunged at Chat, pushing him backwards. Chat was able to recover, though, backflipping gracefully so that he was a few paces back. He stood at the ready as his father advanced towards him. Hawk Moth feinted left then swung to the right, connecting with Chat’s side. This time, the hero fell to the ground. Carapace rushed to help him up as Ryuko drew her naginata.

            Holding up his cane in triumph, Hawk Moth declared, “You can’t beat me, Adrien!”

            Pulling himself back up, Chat answered, “Maybe not, but she can.”

            The villain had barely registered what he said before he realized that Ryuko was charging him with her sword as she let out a war cry.

            Back in the butterfly lair, as Ladybug continued working on the healing recipe, a bush sentimonster began slowly wrapping its vines around her legs. “Ugh,” she groaned. “This is so annoying! I’m trying to do something here!”

            Setting down the bowl, she pulled out her yo-yo and grabbed the sentimonster, quickly ripping it to pieces. A single black feather floated out, which she caught and purified. She glanced towards King who was fighting off another sentimonster, catching and purifying the amok from that one, as well. Mayura laughed and pulled two more feathers out of her fan. “I could do this all day!” she bragged.

            “Not again,” King muttered as two more amoks floated towards the bushes. “Uproar!” he called, and a stuffed monkey fell into his hands, which he threw at Mayura’s fan, disabling it. At the same time, Ladybug joined him, purifying the two amoks the villain had sent out before they could do any damage. “Ha, good luck stopping us now,” he taunted Mayura.

            She frowned and replied, “But now you’ve used your power! You’re going to transform back!”

            “Actually—ow!” King turned to see that Ladybug was now standing next to him and had elbowed him in the side to stop him from talking. She was giving him a look. It took him a minute, but then he continued, “Uh, I mean, yeah, right, I’m going to transform back.” Suddenly grabbing his hair, he wailed, “Why, oh why, did I use my power so soon?!”

            Ladybug rolled her eyes, thinking he was going a tad overboard.

            Mayura, however, did not seem to catch on. “Ha, as soon as my fan is working again, I’m going to create so many sentimonsters!” she exclaimed.

            Ladybug and King made eye contact for a brief moment, and she gave the slightest of nods. Then King yelled, “You’ll have to catch us first!”

            They both took off towards the elevator. Mayura grunted before following them. Lila smirked and sank back further into the bushes.

            King’s miraculous allowed him to run faster than normal; however, Mayura was quickly catching up to him. As they both approached the elevator, Ladybug took that moment to toss her yo-yo onto a railing above them. Just as King and Mayura both tumbled into the elevator, she grabbed onto the yo-yo’s string and swung herself off the ground. Her partner and the villain began ascending to the levels above as Ladybug pivoted away, landing close to Emilie’s coffin again. She picked up her bowl and ingredients, sighing as she was finally alone and could get back to work.

            Back in Gabriel’s office, Ryuko was wearing down Hawk Moth with her superior fencing skills as Chat Noir waited off to the side in a ready stance, their fight edging ever closer to him. He thought he heard the elevator click behind him before Mayura called out, “Stop attacking Hawk Moth or I’ll send a sentimonster against your friend here! He’s about to de-transform so he’ll have no defense!”

            “De-transform?” Chat wondered aloud, turning his head.

            Ryuko had also looked up, as well, and Hawk Moth took the opportunity to push against her with his staff, knocking her to the ground. He then swung and hit the distracted Chat Noir before laughing maniacally and tossing out a few akumatized butterflies at once.

            Quickly recovering from her fall, Ryuko shot lightning at one of the akumas, evaporating it mid-flight. Queen jumped up with her stinger, paralyzing one of the akumas, which she then trapped under a cup. Rena hit an akuma with her flute towards Carapace who used his Shell-ter to capture it and another one that had been heading towards him. Chat cataclysmed another one. Seeing a black butterfly coming towards him, King pushed Mayura out of the way and produced a stuffed giraffe to toss at the offending insect. It fluttered to the ground useless. Queen pushed it under the cup with the other one she had caught. Lying on the floor, Mayura looked up and thought, Did he just use his power again?

            Viperion, however, was not as quick as his comrades at stopping the akuma headed his way. It settled comfortably into his lyre as a glowing purple mask appeared around his eyes. Overjoyed that he got one of them, Hawk Moth said to him, “Hello, Viperion. Do you really want to help Ladybug? Didn’t she cheat on you with Chat Noir? Are you sure you can trust them?”

            Viperion fell to his knees with his hands on his head, gripping his hair. “No!” he cried. “I love Kagami now!”

            “Viperion!” Ryuko exclaimed as she realized what was happening. She rushed to him and dropped to her knees, as well, wrapping her arms around him.

            “Isn’t Kagami a second choice?” Hawk Moth taunted. “Don’t you wish you still had Marinette all to yourself?”

            “Marinette…cheated…” Viperion muttered as the blackness of the akuma started overtaking his body.

            “No, Luka, don’t let him in,” Ryuko pleaded.

            Mayura made her way to Hawk Moth and stood next to him, smirking. Maybe once he took over this hero and brought another to their side, it would help to even the odds a little. Especially if they can use their powers multiple times…

            Ryuko began to grow frustrated as Viperion showed no sign of fighting off the akuma himself. She turned around and yelled, “Wind!” A hurricane-force blast of wind slammed Hawk Moth and Mayura against the wall, breaking Hawk Moth’s concentration.

            Viperion collapsed as he broke free of the akumatization. Chat reached out to cataclysm the black butterfly that flew away from him. “I-I’m sorry, Kagami,” he stammered.

            “Ssh, it’s okay, Luka,” she assured him, pulling him into a tight hug.

            Mayura groaned into the office floor as she rubbed her head. Hawk Moth took her hand to help her up. The heroes turned to glare at them as they leaned against the wall.

            “Hawk Moth,” Mayura whispered, loudly enough for everyone to hear, “have you noticed that they’re not transforming back?”

            “Yes,” Hawk Moth replied, rubbing his chin, “and they’ve been able to use their powers more than once.” He turned to Chat Noir. “How is this possible?” he demanded.

            “Because Ladybug is the best guardian ever and discovered a formula to keep our kwamis transformed longer,” Chat answered proudly.

            “Just give it up, Hawk Moth and Mayura!” Rena piped up.

            “Yeah, give us your miraculouses!” Carapace added.

            “We need the peacock one so we can save Mom,” Chat explained. Smirking, he continued, “But I’ll take yours, too, Father.”

            “Adrien, how can you trust her so much?” Hawk Moth responded through gritted teeth. “What if she hurts your mother?” Suddenly, something dawned on him. He looked around the room. “Wait, where is Ladybug?”

            “She’s preparing the formula to save Mom now,” Chat replied nonchalantly.

            “You left her alone down there?!” Hawk Moth demanded of Mayura.

            Mayura also began looking around the room. “B-but I thought she was right behind us,” she said shakily.

            Hawk Moth cried out in rage as he took a dive towards the elevator. All the heroes rushed him at once with Mayura also following. It was a swirling ball of limbs and confusion for a moment until Hawk Moth reached up to the painting of Emilie and pressed the magic buttons. The elevator opened underneath him, taking Chat Noir and King Monkey downstairs with him. Mayura jumped into the empty shaft after him.

            As the other heroes were getting ready to follow them, Pegasus called out, “I believe I have an easier way.” He threw out a teleportation spot, and the rest of them easily teleported to the butterfly lair below.

            While the fight upstairs was going on, Ladybug was able to quickly finish mixing the formula since she had no more distractions. Lila was growing bored of watching her and listening to her talk to herself.

            “Finally I’m done!” Ladybug exclaimed with a sigh of relief. Looking to the coffin, she said, “Emilie, I’m about to save you!”

            She began reading over the incantation she had written down to make sure she still remembered how to pronounce all the words when a strange thought suddenly hit her. “Hm, I feel like I’m still missing something,” she pondered. After thinking for a moment, she realized, “Dammit, I still need the peacock miraculous!”

            At that moment, Hawk Moth came down the elevator, squeezed onto the platform with Chat Noir and King Monkey while trying to fight them off. Mayura tumbled down the shaft after them. The rest of the heroes spontaneously appeared next to the elevator. “Well, that’s convenient,” Ladybug muttered.

            Hawk Moth scrambled away from Chat and King and raced across the bridge, shouting, “Ladybug! Stay away from her!”

            “You stay away from my lady!” Chat screamed, taking off after his father.

            Ladybug jumped in front of the coffin to meet Hawk Moth as he came barreling towards her. Spinning her yo-yo, she used it as a shield when he swung his cane at her. He took a few swings, never hitting her, until Chat caught up with him, slamming his staff into Hawk Moth’s side and knocking him to the ground.

            Hawk Moth was quickly back on his feet and charging Chat with his cane. Ladybug threw her yo-yo around his legs, sending him sprawling back to the ground. He cried out in frustration, striking at Chat as he fell and hitting the hero across his legs. Chat also fell, landing hard on his knees. Ladybug rushed to help him up, not noticing Hawk Moth lunging at her from behind. Chat, however, did and raised his staff to parry the villain’s blow from his position on the ground.

            As the other heroes approached the bridge so they could assist Ladybug and Chat, it began to shake. Queen was just starting to step on it, and she jumped back, exclaiming, “What the hell?!”

            The edge of the bridge appeared to remove itself from the ground, curling up into itself. The other end of the bridge formed a head while the railings curled around to shape what looked like limbs on a body. The heroes gasped, realizing the bridge was turning into a moving being, while Mayura chuckled to herself as she worked, thinking, Hey, this is a pretty good one.

            Rena jumped out of the way as the bridge monster brought one of its metal limbs down towards her, smashing it into the ground where she had just been standing. A loud out-of-tune twanging sound came from Viperion’s lyre as he used it as shield against the monster’s other limb that was attacking him. The other heroes jumped back as the ground crumbled below them from the monster’s destructive force.

            King looked around for Mayura and found that she had not been idle after turning the bridge into a sentimonster. She was now using the plain white butterflies that had been fluttering down from the top level to turn into more sentimonsters. Already, four large, menacing butterflies were headed in the direction of the heroes. King bounded after Mayura but was stopped by one of the butterflies. It charged him as he defended against it with his staff.

            Queen quickly sprung into action, calling for Venom and chasing after the butterflies. She managed to sting a few, causing them to fall to the ground, paralyzed. King quickly responded by attacking each with his staff until the amoks flew out, which Carapace then collected under his Shell-ter. Meanwhile, Mayura was attempting to use her jumping and climbing abilities to get closer to Emilie’s coffin while the heroes were distracted with the butterflies and the bridge. Unfortunately for her, King looked up after knocking down another butterfly and saw her. He leapt towards her, knocking her out with his staff, as well. He would have taken her miraculous if another one of the butterflies hadn’t charged him right then. He groaned and went after the remaining monsters, relieved that at least there would be no more of them for the time being.

            Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn’t help but see the bridge rising up into a large monster out of their peripheral vision as they continued to battle with Hawk Moth. Chat tried to move back closer to the bridge to help out his friends, but Hawk Moth had managed to trip Ladybug, then swung his cane at her, and of course Chat used the moment to jump forward and block the blow intended for his lady. Chat and Hawk Moth continued their melee as Ladybug scrambled away. Back on her feet, she gazed up at the bridge sentimonster and was readying her yo-yo when the villain, who had managed to knock down Chat with his cane when she wasn’t watching them, then succeeded in attacking her as well. She fell hard to her knees, but luckily, he couldn’t attack her further as Chat had jumped from the ground feet-first, landing a double kick to the man’s stomach. He grunted as he was momentarily dazed, and Ladybug used the opportunity to grab his cane with her yo-yo, flinging it far across the room.

            Fighting the bridge sentimonster, Ryuko called upon her water power. What seemed to be an ocean washed over the bridge, slowly freezing the movements of the monster, as the metal creaked and groaned and began to rust and crack. After the water was gone, a large, rusted, frozen statue stood before them. Pegasus threw his horseshoe at it, collapsing it to the ground, the infected amok floating out of it. Carapace captured the feather, adding it to his collection. The pile of rubble now created a new bridge for the heroes to cross.

            Rena vaulted across the broken bridge to the other side where Ladybug and Chat were still fighting with Hawk Moth. Crouching through the mess of leaves and bushes, she made her way to Emilie’s coffin and peered inside. After getting a good look at the woman, an idea formed in her mind.

            Hawk Moth was dodging attacks from Ladybug and Chat, frantically searching the huge room for his cane. He ducked a blow from Chat’s staff and was about to advance towards Ladybug when he heard a small, familiar voice call, “Gabriel?”

            He froze in his tracks and looked up. He thought he saw—No, it can’t be, he thought.

            Looking around and rubbing her head as she slowly stumbled towards them was none other than…Emilie Agreste. “Gabriel, where are you?” she murmured.

            “Emilie?” Gabriel gasped.

            Chat immediately heard both of them thanks to his enhanced hearing and also ceased his fighting. He looked up and saw her, too. “Mom?” he whispered.

            Ladybug realized they had stopped fighting and turned to look at what had caught her attention. Her eyes widened and she looked down at her hands, saying, “But I didn’t finish…”

            A sudden tap on the shoulder alerted her to Rena Rouge standing beside her. “It’s a mirage,” Rena whispered in the superheroine’s ear.

            “Gotcha,” Ladybug replied with a sigh of relief. She looked over at Hawk Moth, knowing it would be a great distraction for her to free the real Emilie. But then she realized that Chat was also entranced by the mirage. Oh no, she thought. I should warn Chat!

            “Emilie, it’s me!” Hawk Moth called to the mirage. “Nooroo, dark wings fall!” His transformation melted away, revealing the man underneath. “See, it’s only me, Gabriel!”

            “Who are all these other people?” Mirage Emilie asked.

            “We’re all here to fight Father!” Chat spoke up. “He’s been using his miraculous to terrorize the people of Paris!”

            “What?!” Emilie responded, an appalled expression on her face. “Gabriel, is this true?”

            “I thought it was the only way to save you, Emilie,” Gabriel explained.

            “Save me?” Emilie inquired. “Save me from what?”

            “Chat! Chat, come back!” Ladybug called. She turned to Rena and said, “He’s too busy following your mirage.”

            “Well, come on, let’s wake up the real Emilie before they realize that one’s a fake,” Rena suggested.

            Carapace grabbed the unconscious Mayura and, while holding her, jumped across the rubble left by the bridge to the other side to join Ladybug and Rena. They gathered around Emilie’s coffin where Ladybug purified the amoks Carapace had brought her, while the turtle-themed hero carefully lay Mayura down on the floor next to them. He then quickly called upon his power again to place a Shell-ter around the four of them while Ladybug worked on finishing the spell.

            Queen, Ryuko, Viperion, Pegasus, and King had stayed on the other side to finish off the remaining butterfly sentimonsters. Viperion happened to look up from the fight where he saw Gabriel and Chat Noir appearing to have a conversation with a very awake-looking Emilie Agreste. “Ryuko, look!” he exclaimed, pointing.

            “Did they wake her up already?” Ryuko wondered.

            “Something seems off about her,” Queen remarked.

            The blackness was fading, and the world was slowly coming back into focus. Mayura blinked and looked around. The fuzzy green lines in front of her started becoming clear until she could tell that she was behind Carapace’s shield. She looked around and saw the turtle hero along with Ladybug and Rena Rogue standing above her. Next to them was Emilie’s coffin, and Ladybug was back to mixing something into a bowl. “Huh?” she mumbled, trying to remember what was going on. Why did her head hurt so much?

            Ladybug nodded to herself, confirming that all the ingredients were in the bowl, and the spell was ready to go. She once again picked up the paper containing the spell. “Okay, the incantation is in Ancient Chinese,” she explained. “Adrien helped me with the pronunciation.” Turning to the fox-themed hero, she said, “Rena, can you get me the peacock miraculous?”

            “Sure thing, girl,” Rena affirmed.

            Everything seemed to come back to Mayura as she saw Rena reaching for her brooch. She was too dizzy to stand, but she did sit up and pull herself back away from the heroes, “What? No, Ladybug, wait!”

            “Oh, for the love of the kwamis!” Ladybug cried in frustration.

            It was a minor distraction, but it was enough to break Rena’s concentration on her mirage. Emilie’s image faded into nothingness just as Gabriel reached out towards her. “What? It was a fake?!” he screamed in rage.

            Chat, however, nearly fell to his knees, only stopping himself by leaning on his staff. “Mom?” he murmured, tears forming in his eyes.

            Viperion, who had been watching the exchange, said, “Uh-oh, that can’t be good.”

            “Ha! I knew it wasn’t her!” Queen cried triumphantly.

            Also seeing the mirage fade, Rena mumbled, “Oh, crap.” Looking up at Ladybug, she said, “Uh, you might wanna hurry up there, Ladybug.”

            Mayura had curled herself into a ball, making it impossible for Rena to grab her miraculous. Ladybug knelt down beside her and said in the most patient tone she could muster, “Mayura, I need the peacock so I can save Emilie.”

            “No!” Mayura screamed. “You’re going to hurt her!”

            “I’m not going to hurt her,” Ladybug calmly replied.

            “How can I know that for sure?” Mayura demanded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t lose her! Not again! She’s my everything!”

            It suddenly dawned on Ladybug what was going on. The reason Nathalie had always been so determined to help Gabriel. “Nathalie, I would never hurt her,” Ladybug replied in what she hoped was a soothing tone. “I’m going to save her. For Adrien,” she added.

            “Are-are you sure?” Mayura choked out between sobs.

            “I’m going to try my best,” Ladybug told her. “I would never purposely hurt her.”

            “You have to save her,” Mayura pleaded. “I can’t live alone with Gabriel anymore!” She let out another small whimper before she looked down and nearly whispered, “Duusu, fall my feathers.” She de-transformed and carefully removed her brooch. Gingerly placing it in Ladybug’s outstretched palm, she begged, “Please save her!”

            “I’ll save her,” Ladybug replied, nodding. She stood up to greet the peacock kwami who was hovering above her former master. “Well, nice to finally meet you, Duusu!”

            “Greetings, new guardian!” Duusu responded in a high-pitched, squeaky voice. She then noticed Emilie in the coffin and flew to her. “What happened to Miss Emilie?!”

            “You happened, Duusu,” Ladybug answered, following her back to the coffin. “You don’t remember putting her in stasis?”

            “I did?” Duusu inquired. “A lot of my memories of the past are a blur.”

            “That’s because your miraculous was damaged, but it’s been repaired now,” Ladybug explained. “I have to recite this incantation, but the spell said there’s also something you need to do. Think you can help me wake her up?”

            Duusu bit her tiny lip as she paused for a moment, thinking. She had never put one of her holders in stasis and woken them up before, but she had a general idea of how it was done. “I-I think so,” she stammered. “I mean, I’ve never done it before, but all kwamis know of the theory.”

            “Well, hurry up and remember ’cause we’re running out of time!” Rena exclaimed.

            “Come on, Duusu, let’s get started!” Ladybug declared, giving the kwami a bright smile.

            Meanwhile, Gabriel was beyond furious at the little prank the heroes had pulled on him, involving his wife. He saw them now gathered around her coffin, using the protection spell from that horrid turtle-themed hero so he wouldn’t be able to stop whatever they were doing. He felt himself shaking with anger. “That’s it,” he mumbled through gritted teeth. “I’m not holding back anymore!”

            Chat, by this point, could no longer hold himself up even with his staff. The hero finally fell to his knees, breaking into sobs. His staff clattered to the floor next to him. “Mom, you were just right there,” he muttered to himself. “Now you’re gone again.”

            Seeing a glow emanating from Emilie’s coffin, Gabriel grumbled, “Ugh, there’s no telling what she’s doing now. Nooroo, dark wings rise!” The startled kwami was pulled back into the brooch as Gabriel transformed once again. Seeing Chat on the floor crying, he seized his opportunity and immediately sent an akuma to him. A glowing purple mask appeared around Chat’s eyes, and Hawk Moth told him, “Adrien, your beloved Marinette has been lying to you this whole time.”

            “Sh-she has?” Chat stammered, looking up.

            “She doesn’t want you to save your mother,” Hawk Moth declared. “She’s putting some kind of evil spell on her as we speak!”

            “No!” Chat argued. “She would never do that!”

            “Look at her and see for yourself!” Hawk Moth commanded.

            Chat looked in the direction of his mother’s now glowing coffin. He could see Ladybug, Rena, and Carapace standing around it. “She’s doing a spell to save her!” Chat insisted.

            “That’s the lie she told you!” Hawk Moth countered. “Why would she use Carapace to keep you out if she was saving her? She’s hurting her, possibly killing her!”

            “No! N-not Marinette!” Chat responded, now starting to become unsure of himself.

            “You must become powerful enough to stop her!” Hawk Moth proclaimed.

            Chat shut his eyes tight and pressed his hands against his head. No, he thought, not Marinette…not her…until his own thoughts seemed to fade away and were replaced with But what if she did lie to me? What if she’s hurting Mother? “Yes, I must stop her,” he said aloud as the black akuma magic covered his body.

            The ever-observant Viperion saw the hero as he was being akumatized and remarked to his friends, “Ooh, boy, this is bad.”

            “Any ideas, anyone?” Ryuko asked, looking around at the other heroes.

            “Adrikins! Don’t do it!” Queen Bee yelled across the room.

            “That idea appeared to be ineffective,” Pegasus stated.

            King bounced over to the group after knocking down another giant butterfly and grabbing the amok. “Whew!” he exclaimed. “Finally got the last one!” He noticed the terrified expressions on his friends’ faces as they stared at something on the other side of the room. “Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

            The black akuma cloud slowly gave way to pure white leather. The wind from the receding blackness ruffled his pristine white hair. His eyes opened to reveal cold, light blue orbs. Chat Blanc rose from the floor, unfolding his body to its full height. “Ladybug!” he announced in a booming voice. “I’m going to stop you!”

            Ladybug stopped reciting her incantation and looked up in the direction of the voice. Through Carapace’s shield, she saw the one thing she had feared the most since she and Chat had revealed themselves to each other. She felt the panic rising through her chest, and her entire body began shaking uncontrollably. “No, Gabriel!” she cried. “Stop!” She felt tears starting to roll down her cheeks as she screamed, “He’s going to kill us all!”

            From her crouched position on the floor, Nathalie called, “I’ll stop him, Ladybug! Let me out!”

            Ladybug turned to Nathalie and replied, “No, Chat Blanc will kill you!”

            “You just worry about saving Emilie,” Nathalie responded, jumping to her feet. “I can talk Gabriel down.” She turned to Carapace and shouted, “Let me out already!”

            Ladybug nodded to Carapace. He let down Shell-ter just long enough for Nathalie to escape and then quickly brought it back up again.

            Mustering up whatever strength she had left, Nathalie ran to Hawk Moth as fast as she could. “Gabriel, take back the akuma!” she screamed. “She’s saving Emilie!”

            Unfortunately for Nathalie, she had to pass Chat Blanc on her way to Hawk Moth. The former hero reached out and pushed her, causing her to fly across the room and slam into the wall. She rolled to the floor, unconscious.

            Hawk Moth gasped and cried, “Nathalie!” He had heard her warning and turned to his son. He began to attempt to take back the akuma, but before he could do anything, Chat reached back to strike his father, also knocking him to the floor. Still being transformed, Hawk Moth managed to barely stay conscious as he mumbled, “Oh, no, what have I done?”

            “Shit, we gotta hurry, Duusu,” Ladybug told the kwami. She returned to reciting the incantation as quickly as she could with the difficult Chinese pronunciations.

            Chat Blanc turned away from his father and towards his mother’s coffin, surrounded by the so-called heroes and their bright green shield. He held his right arm above his head and called, “Cataclysm!” A bright white ball of light began to form in his hand, quickly growing larger.

            Across the destroyed bridge, Ryuko stood watching. “I’m sorry about this, Adrien,” she whispered. She then called, “Lightning!”

            A huge bolt of lightning struck Chat Blanc as his cataclysm continued to grow larger. A loud explosion was heard, throwing everyone to the ground, as the entire basement filled with a blinding light.

            Gabriel groaned as the brightness on the other side of his eyelids started to fade. He blinked a couple of times before fully opening his eyes. He was lying on the ground in his butterfly garden in his civilian form. He felt his chest, noticing that his butterfly brooch was not on him. He glanced around him but didn’t see it anywhere. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head. Nathalie was sprawled on the ground near him, also slowly waking up. Adrien was lying unconscious in the middle of the room, de-transformed, a small black kwami lying next to him.

            “Must…have…camembert…” Plagg moaned.

            Marinette woke up in her civilian form with the worst headache she’d ever had. She looked around her to see Alya and Nino also lying on the floor in their civilian forms. Their kwamis Tikki, Trixx, and Wayzz were lying next to them, awake, but not looking their best. She turned to look up at the coffin, but she couldn’t quite see anything. “Did…did it work?” she asked hesitantly.

            Just then, Tikki shouted, “Oh my God! Marinette, look!”

            She saw something yellow poking out of the coffin and suddenly realized it was the top of Emilie’s head as she sat up. “Duusu?” she heard someone say softly.

            Duusu, who had landed inside the coffin with Emilie, exclaimed, “Miss Emilie! You’re awake!”

            “She’s awake?!” Marinette repeated in disbelief. She grabbed onto the coffin to help her stand until she was looking into the woman’s bright green eyes. Eyes that looked so much like Adrien’s. “Uh…” she said stupidly, her mouth hanging open. “H-hello, Mrs. Agreste!”

            “Um, hello,” Emilie replied slowly. “Where am I? Who are you?” She narrowed her eyes, looking at the raven-haired girl a little more closely. “Wait, are you Tom and Sabine’s girl?” she inquired.

            Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t that. “You know my parents?” Marinette asked incredulously.

            Gabriel had already started crawling towards the coffin at the first sound of Emilie’s voice. He now used the other side of it to help himself stand. He felt like his heart stopped when he first caught sight of Emilie’s face. “Emilie!” he breathed. Tears streamed down his cheeks. “Oh my God! You’re alive!” Steadying himself on the coffin with one hand, he used the other to grab onto Emilie’s hand.

            “Of course I’m alive,” Emilie replied, a confused look on her face. “Gabe, what’s going on?”

            Nathalie had also started stumbling towards the coffin. Marinette helped her to stand so she could see the woman for herself. “Emilie?” she whispered as she stood next to the coffin. “Oh, thank God!” she cried, breaking into sobs and grabbing the blonde woman’s other hand.

            “It’s nice to see you, too, Nathalie, but why is everyone making such a fuss?” Emilie wondered.

            “Mom?”

            Marinette looked up and gasped to see Adrien standing on his own. Tears poured down his face as he stared at his mother. He started to lose his balance, and she rushed to help him to the coffin.

            “Huh? Who’s that?” Emilie asked.

            “It’s me, Mom,” Adrien answered as he reached the coffin, holding onto it for support. “Adrien.”

            At first, Emilie didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t deny that she could see her son’s features in this man’s face. “B-but you’re a grown man,” she stammered. “My Adrien is only twelve!”

            “We have a lot to tell you, Emilie,” Gabriel declared.

            While the lovey-dovey reunion was happening, Lila rolled over in her hiding spot, the same place where she had previously passed out during the explosion. Something shiny caught her eye. She looked up to see the butterfly miraculous lying on the floor. Just lying there, like it was waiting for her.

            She glanced around. No one was looking this way. The remaining heroes were approaching the coffin, but no one was even interested in the far corner of the room where she was hiding.

            Quickly, she reached out and grabbed the brooch, shoving it into her pocket. She backed up slowly through the garden until she reached the butterfly window. She was able to remove a pane in this one, as well, but worked as quietly as possible. Luckily, everyone seemed to be talking to the woman in the coffin at once so they didn’t hear her. As soon as she could, she slipped out of the window and into the night.

Chapter Text

            Adrien and Marinette visited with Gabriel and Emilie late into the evening at the Agreste manor. Emilie had made herself comfortable on the couch in the living room, and Gabriel had had her favorite tea and snacks prepared, which Nathalie dutifully served to her. The other superheroes had de-transformed and stayed with the family for a little while, and their kwamis had also enjoyed a tearful reunion with Duusu, but they gradually trickled out, eventually leaving only the four of them together. Even Nathalie had excused herself to her apartment, deciding that she would have more time to spend privately with Emilie later.

            Emilie gushed at how tall and handsome her little boy had become and how he was a superhero who saved the city on a regular basis along with his beautiful, sweet girlfriend. Gabriel smiled, mostly just at seeing her so full of life and hearing the sound of her voice, but stayed quiet throughout their conversations. The chef ultimately brought them an actual meal for dinner, and after they’d all eaten their fill, Adrien realized how late it had gotten.

            “It’s so amazing to see you, Mother,” Adrien said, wrapping his arms around her in a final hug, “but I think Marinette and I should be going.”

            The smile suddenly fell from Emilie’s face. “Oh!” she uttered, pulling away from her son. “B-but I thought you still lived here.” Glancing at her husband, she asked, “Just how long has it been, Gabe?”

            Adrien chuckled and answered, “I’m only eighteen, Mother, and while I technically do still live here, I—uh…” His voice broke off as he looked up to meet his father’s gaze. The older man slowly shook his head.

            “I just haven’t been staying here much lately,” Adrien quickly explained. He dropped his arm across Marinette’s shoulders and added with a sly smile, “Young love, you know?”

            Marinette decided to go along with it and giggled, giving her boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek.

            “Oh, uh, r-right,” Emilie replied. “I-I guess you’re not a little boy anymore.”

            “Good night, Mother,” Adrien said softly. “I’ll be back first thing tomorrow. I want to spend as much time as possible with you now.”

            After the kids left, Gabriel said to his wife, “Well, my dear, it has been an exhausting day bringing you back from the near-dead. Shall we retire?”

            Being in her husband’s arms again that night felt good. Of course, to Emilie, it hadn’t been quite that long since the last time they had made love, but there was still a sort of hazy distance in her memory, as if she knew she were missing quite a bit of time. To Gabriel, however, he was once again with the love of his life whom he had thought was lost to him. He made love to her with a passion she hadn’t felt since before Adrien was born.

            Afterwards, Emilie sat up in bed as Gabriel snored lightly beside her. After sleeping for so long, she was wide awake now. She quietly slipped out of bed and pulled on her favorite robe, noting that Gabriel had left it on the same hook in the bathroom after all this time. She padded downstairs and looked around for Duusu who had flown off to give them some privacy. She found the kwami in the kitchen, asleep in a bowl of almonds.

            Emilie giggled softly, which woke the sleeping kwami. “Hey,” Duusu greeted her groggily.

            “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Emilie responded with a soft smile.

            “It’s fine,” Duusu answered, stretching. “Although it was hard work waking you up. I couldn’t quite remember putting you to sleep.”

            The peacock kwami flew to her reawakened holder, once again taking her favorite place on the woman’s shoulder.
            “What exactly happened to me, Duusu?” Emilie inquired.

            “Well, the way that Ladybug explained it to me is that I put you in a stasis, which is sort of like a magical coma,” Duusu explained.

            “I didn’t even know the kwamis could do that,” Emilie stated, wandering out of the kitchen and through the dark halls of the mansion.

            “It’s supposed to be a last resort. My miraculous was broken, and I couldn’t think clearly for a while. I guess that’s why you were always getting sick,” she added guiltily.

            “It’s okay, Duusu, I don’t blame you,” Emilie replied. “I’m just glad everything’s good now.” She continued exploring the mansion, which looked exactly the way she had remembered it. “Wow, Gabe didn’t change much,” she muttered to herself.

            She pushed open the heavy door of her husband’s office. Everything was the same except for the more recent pictures of Adrien and the large, strange painting of herself. She stepped closer to the painting and just stared at it. A smile graced her lips as she remembered how much Gabriel had adored the original Klimt painting. He must have had this one commissioned soon after she went into her coma.

            Emilie sighed and dropped into Gabriel’s cushioned desk chair. She switched on his laptop and watched it boot up. She had never been much of a computer person, but she had known how to use the internet before all this mess had started. She figured she could probably remember. What exactly had been going on in the world the past five years?

            The world had definitely gone a little topsy-turvy since she had been asleep. There were riots and shootings all over the place. The United States had elected a cartoon character as their President. There were plenty of new things to worry about. She decided to focus on just Paris and the good news of the two superheroes Ladybug and Chat Noir who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere to save the city from a number of villains. Other superheroes had joined them, all of whom Emilie had met in her own house this evening.

            But where exactly had all of these new villains come from? Emilie found a detailed explanation of each one on a website called the Ladyblog. At first, the villains had shown up alone, but later, they were each accompanied by monsters that seemed to do their bidding. The original two superheroes had had to bring in more help as the villains had increased in frequency and intensity. It all seemed eerily familiar to Emilie, and she noticed that Duusu was being uncharacteristically quiet.

            Then Emilie found a section of the blog that was labeled “Hawk Moth.” She had never heard that name before, yet something told her to click on it. She gasped as a picture of Gabriel transformed with the butterfly miraculous they had gotten in China appeared on the screen.

            Tears formed in Emilie’s eyes as she read the description of a powerful supervillain who used akumatized butterflies to turn everyday citizens into villains, threatening the lives of Parisians on a regular basis. She was full-on crying as she moved to the next section, “Mayura,” which was about a partner Hawk Moth later recruited who could create sentimonsters to help the akumas wreak havoc across the city.

            The blog went on to describe the miraculouses, magical jewelry that granted power to the holders, whether they were superheroes or villains. Emilie hadn’t known about the existence of other miraculouses besides the peacock and butterfly until tonight, but using the information she had, she knew Mayura had to be Nathalie. While she had been asleep, Gabriel and Nathalie had been attacking her city, trying to get magical jewelry from the superheroes who protected the city, one of which was her son. Her sorrowful feelings turned into anger the more she read. Was this how Gabriel had brought her back? By threatening everyone? By threatening Adrien? She didn’t want to believe it, but there was the proof, the pictures of villains fighting with her son, the accounts of akumatized victims who were traumatized by what had happened to them, the interviews with the superheroes themselves when they admitted several times that they hadn’t been sure if they would survive a fight. All done by the two people she had claimed to love the most.

            Adrien and Marinette made their way up the ladder to Marinette’s room as quietly as possible, attempting to not wake her sleeping parents. Tikki and Plagg settled themselves on the living room couch to give the kids some privacy, although Plagg claimed it was because they were closer to the snacks in the kitchen.

            Once upstairs, both teenagers climbed the ladder to Marinette’s bed and plopped down simultaneously, immediately erupting into giggles. Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette, pulling her close to him. They lay in each other’s arms for a while before Adrien finally whispered into her hair, “Thank you, milady. Thank you so much.”

            “Of course, Adrien,” she replied, pressing her cheek into his chest. “I love you. I would do anything for you.”

            Adrien lowered his head so that their foreheads were touching and replied, “I love you, Marinette.”

            She lifted her head, meeting his lips in a soft kiss. They exchanged smooth, velvety kisses, slowly becoming more urgent and passionate as hands wandered and clothing was removed. Adrien rolled on top of her, his kisses continuing across her jawline to her earlobe, then down her neck, collarbone, and chest. He quickly removed her bra and pulled a nipple into his mouth, moving his tongue around it before lightly sucking on it. Her soft moans stirred the lust inside him as he moved to give her other breast equal treatment. All he could think of in that moment was worshipping this woman he loved, bringing her as much physical pleasure as he possibly could.

            He steadily kissed his way down her stomach to the top of her panties, pulling away only for a second to remove the obstacle. He ghosted his tongue along her folds, relishing in the fact that they were already dripping wet, thanks to him. He did that a few more times, pulling some quiet moans from her, before he dived in, swirling his tongue around in circles and in and out, humming as he heard her cry out his name. He brushed over her clit, lightly pressing against it and moving around and around, then softly sucking on it until she was a shivering mess below him, mostly forgetting all the words in the French language.

            Once she seemed to stop gasping and screaming and he could feel moisture running down his chin, he began kissing his way back up her body. She arched her back, pressing her body against him as he replaced his tongue with his fingers, relentlessly moving them in and out of her. He was determined to make her come again and again tonight.

            Once he reached her mouth again, Marinette practically ripped his shirt off him. Her hands roamed over the muscles on his chest and stomach, dipping into the waistband of his jeans, which were quickly removed along with his boxers. Once she wrapped her hand around his erection, moans began to escape his own mouth. He groaned as his tongue made his way into her mouth, passionately kissing her as she pumped him, slowly speeding up her movements. He suddenly gasped and reached for a condom from her nightstand. He wasn’t going to last much longer, and he didn’t want to come without her.

            So easily, he slid inside her, then slowly pulled back out almost all the way before slamming into her again. She gasped, planting her feet on the bed and arching her body up against him. He thrust into her over and over, feeling her tighten around him. “Marinette,” he whispered in her ear before taking a nibble of her earlobe, “I love you so fucking much.”

            “Adrien,” she whimpered, pushing herself against him, using the mattress to help her bounce and move along with him. She could feel moisture all along the inside of her thighs as he pounded into her. She lifted herself up as much as she could to get him even deeper, and he seemed to understand as he went faster and harder. Sweat poured from his forehead as he panted, and she moaned and groaned and cried out his name. Her breasts brushed against his chest as the friction between them increased. Faster and faster, until they both reached the peak where they just couldn’t take it anymore. He cried out her name as he came, and she dug her fingernails into his back and squeezed her thighs around his hips. When they finally finished, he lay on top of her, trying to catch his breath, feeling her heartbeat under his cheek, never wanting to move from this spot again.

            Unfortunately, they did eventually have to move, but they curled up together under the blankets, still naked, still giving each other light kisses and touches. “You can’t imagine what you’ve done for me, Marinette,” Adrien said softly, lightly stroking her cheek. “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted and more.”

            “And you have for me, too, Kitty,” Marinette responded, lightly kissing him on the nose.

            He laughed softly and held her closer to him. Together, they slept peacefully after the exhausting battle they’d been through.

            As promised, Adrien returned to the mansion the next morning to visit his mom; however, he wasn’t prepared for what he found. Nathalie opened the door for Marinette and Adrien, the bags under her eyes revealing her fatigue. They could hear yelling coming from Gabriel’s office. When Adrien raised an eyebrow, Nathalie explained, “It’s been going on for hours.”

            Adrien and Marinette both winced as they stepped into the screaming fest in Gabriel’s office. One glance at Gabriel’s laptop open to the Hawk Moth section of the Ladyblog told them immediately what Emilie was so angry about.

            “I only did it for you, Emilie,” Gabriel was trying to tell her.

            “Don’t you dare say it was for me!” Emilie exclaimed. “I would’ve never wanted you to terrorize the city!” She turned to see the kids walking in and gasped when she saw Adrien. “And you put our son in danger!” she added before running to Adrien to envelop him in a hug. “I’m so sorry for what he did to you,” she whispered to him.

            Surprised, Adrien hugged her back. Marinette placed what she hoped was a calming hand on her shoulder.

            During the quiet moment, Nathalie took the opportunity to slip into the office and stand next to Gabriel. She had been hoping to speak to Emilie since she woke, but she had also been hoping that the woman would be in a better mood.

            Much to Nathalie’s dismay, however, when Emilie looked up and saw that she had entered the room, she pulled away from Adrien and began her angry tirade once again. “Nathalie, I can’t believe you even allowed all of this to happen!” she yelled. “You were even helping him!”

            “Emilie, you have to understand, we were desperate to get you back!” Nathalie replied.

            “There you go blaming me again!” Emilie responded, throwing her hands up. “I never asked for any of this!” She stopped for a moment as she stared out the window, arms crossed and brow furrowed in anger. Then something seemed to suddenly dawn on her. She spun around to face Gabriel once again and asked, “Where is the butterfly miraculous anyway?”

            “I, uh,” Gabriel stammered, feeling for the brooch on his chest and realizing for the first time that it wasn’t there. “I don’t seem to have it.”

            “Bullshit!” Emilie screamed. “You give it to me, Gabriel! You obviously can’t be trusted with it!”

            “Emilie, I swear I don’t have it on me,” Gabriel insisted, feeling around in his empty pockets to emphasize his point. “It must be in the basement. Just let me go look for it.”

            “Gabriel Agreste, don’t you lie to me!” Emilie answered in a truly enraged tone that Adrien had never heard his mother use before. “Duusu, spread my feathers!” she called.

            Adrien and Marinette both stared as Emilie’s bathrobe transformed into a long, blue shimmering dress adorned with peacock feathers. Her hair magically floated around her shoulders and into the air, folding itself into a French twist. A blue and purple Mardi-Gras type mask appeared on her face, as did a few peacock feathers poking out of her new hairstyle. She now held a fan of feathers, similar to that of Mayura’s. Plucking a feather from the fan, she softly blew it towards a fountain pen on Gabriel’s desk. The teenagers quickly awoke from their stupor when they realized that the pen was growing quite large and had developed what looked like arms and legs.

            “Oh, shit,” Adrien muttered. He heard Marinette call for her transformation next to him and quickly called for his own.

            The pen sentimonster began chasing Gabriel and Nathalie around the office, squirting ink at them, which was quickly staining all the white marble. It was a little ridiculous but not any more so than any of the other akumas they had faced, and Ladybug and Chat Noir quickly jumped into action. Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around Gabriel and Nathalie, pulling them out of the stampeding monster’s path. Chat attacked it from behind with his baton, causing it to spin around and begin a fencing match with him with its pen-like appendages. He managed to block a few blows before one particularly nasty punch sent him flying towards the wall. Luckily, Ladybug sent her yo-yo after him to soften his landing.

            Ladybug called for her Lucky Charm, which, strangely enough, was a sword. She tossed it to Chat who began fencing with the monster again. As he kept it distracted, Ladybug sneaked up behind it, flung her yo-yo, and tripped it. Using the sword, Chat sliced through the torso section, releasing the amok, which Ladybug quickly purified.

            Standing with his hands on his hips, Chat began, “Well, it looks like—”

            “No, don’t say it,” Ladybug interrupted, reaching out to cover Chat’s mouth.

            The hero stepped just out of her reach and continued, “The pen is not mightier than the sword.”

            Ladybug face-palmed as Chat smirked. She looked at him through her fingers and mumbled, “You’re proud of yourself, aren’t you?”

            All joking ceased, however, as they heard whimpering from the corner of the room. They turned to see that Emilie had de-transformed and was crumpled in a ball, sobbing. Duusu was attempting to comfort her. Both the heroes quickly de-transformed and joined her.

            Gabriel and Nathalie slowly lowered their hands from their faces as they realized the danger had passed. They noticed the kids sitting with Emilie as she cried, and they carefully began to approach them. “Emilie, I…” Gabriel began.

            Emilie looked up at him and started to say something but then choked on a sob as her face fell back into her hands. Marinette wrapped her arm around the woman’s shoulders. Adrien turned to look at him, his eyes narrowing into a glare of hatred. “Just go, Father,” he told him, seeming to spit out the last word. Marinette looked at him for a moment with what appeared to be sympathy in her eyes but then turned back to Emilie.

            Gabriel opened his mouth, but no sound would come out. He turned to look at Nathalie, but she also seemed at a loss for words. Her face had fallen into a sad expression as tears spilled from her eyes. She looked at Gabriel, and they both knew the best thing they could do right then was to leave the mansion.

            “But where is your miraculous?” Nathalie asked once they were outside.

            “I don’t know,” Gabriel answered. “I just noticed it was gone. After all the excitement yesterday, I must’ve dropped it in the basement or something.”

            “We should look for it,” Nathalie stated, chewing on her bottom lip.

            “I agree, but now is not the best time for it,” Gabriel replied.

            They both decided it would be best to get out of town for a few days, so after a quick trip to the garage to pick up a car, they were on their way. They drove in silence, hoping this would only be temporary but fearing that it wasn’t.

            Nooroo slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, but as the room came into focus, he didn’t recognize his surroundings. Where was he? Had he finally escaped Gabriel’s tyranny? Was he free?

            “Hello, Nooroo,” a female voice said to him.

            He turned towards the voice and saw the young Italian girl he had seen working with Gabriel and Nathalie. Well, if she was here, they couldn’t be far behind. “Oh, it’s you,” he groaned.

            Lila titled her head and replied, “Why do you seem disappointed?”

            “I was hoping to escape Gabriel,” Nooroo answered, sitting up, “but you’re probably just going to take me back to him.”

            Lila’s mouth widened into a smile, “Oh, no, Nooroo,” she said, “I’m never taking you back to Gabriel.”

            “R-really?” Nooroo responded, his face lighting up. “I’m finally free?”

            “Well, I am your new holder,” Lila stated. “But don’t worry, I want us to be friends.”